Abernethy, Alonzo, 1836-1915.

Civil War officer, academic administrator, politician and author. Abernethy fought in the Civil War with the 9th Iowa Infantry. He attended Burlington University. During his career in education he served as the Iowa Superintendent of Public Instruction (1872-1876), principal, dean and president of Des Moines College (1870-1871, 1884-1885), principal of the Cedar Valley Seminary (1881-1902), president of the University of Chicago (1876-1878), and regent of the University of Iowa (1889-1909). He was a Republican member of the Iowa House of Representatives (1866-1868) and was instrumental in promoting legislation establishing the Iowa State Teachers College. Two of his more notable books are "A history of Iowa Baptist schools" and "Incident of an Iowa soldier's life, or four years in Dixie."

From the description of Papers, 1860-1915. (State Historical Society of Iowa, Library). WorldCat record id: 52080436