Leffler, Isaac (Lefler)

Born: 1788-11-07 Washington County, Pennsylvania

Died: 1866-03-08 Iowa

Flourished: Iowa Territory

Alternate name: Lefler

Isaac Leffler was a lawyer, judge, U.S. representative, territorial and state legislator, and federal government official. Born at "Sylvia's Plain," his grandfather's plantation, Leffler attended public schools in Washington County, Pennsylvania before matriculating to Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. He read law, earned admission to the Virginia bar, and commenced practicing law in Wheeling, Virginia. He represented Wheeling and the surrounding environs in the Virginia House of Delegates, from 1817 to 1819 and from 1823 to 1827. Leffler also served on the Virginia Board of Public Works in 1827. He returned to the House of Delegates in 1832 and 1833. Leffler won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1826, serving from March 1827 to March 1829. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1828. Leffler left Virginia in 1835, moving to that part of the Michigan Territory that would become Des Moines County, Iowa. Earning admission to the local bar in April 1835, he commenced practicing law. In April 1836, Leffler became chief justice of the first judicial tribune of Des Moines County. In 1836 and 1837, he was a member of the Wisconsin Territory Legislative Assembly, serving as speaker in 1837. Gravitating to the Whig Party, Leffler was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for election to the House of Representatives in 1837. In 1841, he served in the Iowa Territory House of Representatives. In December 1843, President John Tyler appointed Leffler U.S. Marshal for the District of Iowa, a position he held from January 1844 to December 1845. After his tenure as U.S. Marshal, Leffler resumed the practice of law in Burlington, Iowa. In 1849, President Zachary Taylor appointed him register of the U.S. General Land Office in the Minnesota Territory, but Leffler declined the appointment. In August 1852, he became receiver at the General Land Office in Chariton, Iowa, a position he retained until removed in March 1853. In 1860, Leffler was farming near Chariton and owned real property valued at $1,000 and a personal estate of $400.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1382; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Whitebreast, Lucas County, IA, 109.