Granger was born October 9, 1835 in Monroe County, New York, the youngest of eight children born to TRUMBULL and SALLY (DIBBLE) GRANGER.   Granger died October 26, 1915 at Long Beach, California at 80 years of age.  He was buried at Oakland Cemetery in Waukon, Allamakee County, Iowa in November 1915.

In 1837 the Granger family removed to Ohio, where a few years later his mother died.  His educational opportunities were limited.  He moved to Illinois in 1848, where young Granger helped his family farm and attended school briefly at the Waukegan Academy.

In 1854 Granger was married to Miss SARAH H. WARNER, who was born in 1835.  They moved to Allamakee County, Iowa, and the following winter he taught school on the Yellow River in Franklin Township.  The next winter he formed a partnership with Mr. Gilson, for the purpose of erecting a sawmill near the present site of the Forest Mills, but before the mill was completed he sold his interest to his partner.   After selling his interest in the sawmill, he returned to Illinois in August 1855 and again attended Waukegan Academy for several months.  Granger then returned to farming for several years.  While farming he also began the study of law, which he pursued by borrowing books from lawyers in a nearby town.

In March 1860 he returned to Allamakee County, Iowa, read the law in the office of Hatch & Wilber in Waukon, and was admitted to the Iowa bar later that same year.  Granger then moved to Mitchell County, Iowa and returned to teaching because there was little law business at that time.   In 1861 he was elected county superintendent of schools in Mitchell County.  In June 1862 his wife Sarah died and was buried in the Osage City Cemetery.

In August 1862 Granger resigned his position as county superintendent and enlisted in Company K of the  27th Iowa Infantry, which included men from both Mitchell and Allamakee Counties.  He was chosen captain and served as such until mustered out of service August 8, 1865.  His regiment served in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee during the war.

Granger was very popular with his command, and his legal training caused him to be called upon frequently to serve as a judge advocate.

After being discharged from the army, Granger went back to Mitchell County.  A few months later, he accepted an offer from Leander O. Hatch and returned to Waukon, where he became a member of the law firm of Hatch & Granger effective January 1, 1866.

On April 15, 1868 he married ANNA MAXWELL, who was born in 1837.  She was a charter member and officer of John J. Stillman Post #123 of the W.R.C., which was organized at Waukon on August 7, 1884.  Anna died March 17, 1890.  They had two children:   ULA A. GRANGER, who was born in 1870 and died May 14, 1891; and ROLLO S. GRANGER, who was born in 1874 and died December 12, 1920.   Anna, Ula and Rollo are all buried at Oakland Cemetery in Waukon.

Granger was appointed District Attorney for the 10th Judicial District Iowa effective January l, 1869 to fill a vacancy, was elected to that office in the fall of 1870, and remained in the position until the fall of 1872 when he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court of the 10th Judicial District.   He continued as Circuit Judge until 1886 when that position was abolished, and was then elected District Judge of the 13th Judicial District.

In 1888 he was elected to a six-year term as a Judge of the Iowa Supreme Court, was reelected to that court for another six-year term in 1894, and retired on December 31, 1900.  During his last two years on the Supreme Court he served as Chief Justice.   Judge Granger wrote the famous meteorite decision of the Iowa Supreme Court reported at 86 Iowa 71.

Judge Granger was also active in Masonic organizations for many years.  He was made a mason in Antioch Lodge, Antioch, Illinois in 1860 and affiliated with Waukon Lodge No. 154 in 1866.  In 1884 and 1885 Judge Granger was elected Grand Master of Masons in Iowa.

The November 10, 1915 issue of The Waukon Democrat provided a detailed account of Judge Granger’s funeral and observed that it was "probably the most impressive event that ever took place in Waukon."  The body laid in state in the vestibule of the Barthell Opera House and was viewed by large numbers of old neighbors and friends.  Speakers at the service included the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, the Grand Master of Masons in Iowa, local ministers and many others.  A large contingent of Masonic and veterans organizations participated in the funeral procession.

The author of Hancock's History of  Allamakee County, Iowa (1913), observed at page 174 of volume I:

"From the beginning of his public service Judge Granger's familiarity with legal principles, his common sense in their application to the case in hand, and his clear, fair, and convincing style of argument, attracted at once the attention of the bar and the people, and their judgment of his qualifications proved correct.  As a judge the language of his decisions was always simple, clear and vigorous.  The decisions themselves were models of clearness, and always unquestionably in harmony with a keen sense of justice."