USA > Wisconsin > A political history of Wisconsin > Part 30
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
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Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, has been com- mander of the latter for the Department of Wisconsin, and was once a member of the board of visitors to the naval academy at Annapolis, Maryland. He has been long an active and earnest Republican, and has rendered his party great service in its cam- paigns. When Republican candidate for Governor, in 1894, his plurality was 53.860. His administration is so recent that it is fresh in the memory of the people. Toward the close of his term, his large business interests requiring close attention, he announced that he would not be a candidate for renomination. He has hosts of friends, who are gratified to note the flourishing condition of his vast business interests at Marshfield since he has resumed their active control.
MICHAEL GRIFFIN.
A young sergeant of the Twelfth Wisconsin was in hospital, after the encounter at Bald Hill, Georgia, on the 21st of July, 1864, suffering with a wound in the jaw, which he had received during the charge on the enemy's works. Hearing the noise of battle the next day, though still suffering from his wound, he left the hospital. found his place at the front in the ranks of his regi- ment, and bore his part in the sanguinary fray. Meantime, at roll-call in the hospital, he failed to answer to his name, and was reported as a deserter. When the colonel of the regiment heard the report, he made the remark that he wished all the soldiers in the hospital would "desert" the way Sergeant Griffin did. Michael Griffin, now head of the Wisconsin tax commission, who was the hero of this picturesque incident, has had an interesting history. He was born in County Clare, Ireland. September 9. 1842. Five years thereafter his parents immigrated to America, taking up their residence in Canada. In I851 they moved to Hudson, Sum- mit county, Ohio, where the boy gained, in the common school, the rudiments of his education. In 1856 the family moved to Newport. Sauk county, Wisconsin, where young Griffin continued his studies in the district school. Though but nineteen years of age when the war broke out, he freely gave himself to his adopted
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country, enlisting on the tith of September, 1861. in Company E of the Twelfth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. The company was mustered into service in November, and Griffin was at once made sergeant. He saw service in the Southwest, marched and countermarched under Grant in Mississippi, and participated in the siege of Vicksburg. After the fall of that stronghold the regiment re-enlisted and joined Gen. Sherman's army before Atlanta, participating in the principal engagements of his brilliant campaign. February 11, 1865, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and on the 5th of the following July he received a commission as first lieutenant. On being mustered out of the service at the close of the war, he began the study of law in the office of Jonathan Bowman of Kilbourn City, at which place he entered upon the practice of his profession, after being admitted to the bar, May 19, 1868. He was cashier of the Bank of Kil- bourn from 1871 to 1876, and filled the offices of Town Clerk and member of the Board of Supervisors. In 1875 he was elected to the Assembly from Columbia County. In 1876 he moved to Eau Claire, where he has since resided and has been actively engaged in the practice of the law. He was City Attorney of Eau Claire from 1878 to 1880, and in 1879 was elected to the State Senate. In 1880 Gov. Hoard appointed him Quartermaster-General, with the rank of Brigadier-General. In 1887 he was elected Department Commander of the G. A. R. On the death of Congressman Shaw, in 1894. Gen. Griffin was elected by the Republicans of the Seventh District to serve out his unexpired term, being renominated without opposition in 1896, and elected by a plurality of 12,296. He was chairman of the Republican State Convention in 1896. In ISyy, when the Legislature passed a law authorizing the organization of the State Tax Commission, Gov. Scofield appointed Gen. Griffin to the headship of that important body. Gen. Griffin is a member of the Loyal Legion as well as of the (i. A. R. He also belongs to the Masonic Fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Royal Arcanum. He was married in 1871 at Kilbourn City to Miss Emma I. Daniels. They have had but one child, who died in infancy.
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JOHN C. SPOONER.
John Coit Spooner was born at Lawrenceburg. Dearborn county, Indiana. January 6, 1843. Ilis father, a distinguished lawyer and judge, was descended from a family whose immigrant ancestor came to this country from the neighborhood of Col- chester, England. and settled in Massachusetts in 1637. His mother, whose maiden name was Coit, was a member of a New England family of Welsh extraction, and was a woman of notable intellectual ability and energy of character. The Spooners and the Coits were represented in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. Judge Spooner removed with his faniily to Madison, Wis., in June, 1859, where he spent the remainder of his life in the practice of his profession, establish- ing a reputation for legal acumen, which is largely inherited by his distinguished son. John C. completed his preparation for college in the schools of Madison, and entered the University of Wisconsin in 1860 at the age of seventeen, becoming at once a leader of his class, and graduating with honor in 1864. Scarcely had he closed his university course when he enlisted as a private in Company D, Fortieth regiment of Wisconsin infantry, which was largely recruited from students and teachers of Wisconsin colleges and other institutions of learning. At the end of a hun- died days' service he re-enlisted for three years, or "during the war," as a captain of Company A, Fiftieth regiment, and was detailed to Fort Leavenworth and later to the far Northwest to prevent outbreaks of the Indians. The duties of this frontier ser- vice were performed with that energy and fidelity which have characterized al! his public life: and, when at the close of the war he was mustered out, it was with the rank of brevet-major, and a record for faithful. efficient discharge of duty of which many an older soklier might have been proud. At the close of his military service he was appointed military and private secretary of Governor Fairchild, and, at the same . time. he. began the study of law under the direction of his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1867. The following year he was appointed assistant attorney general to Charles R. Gill. and subsequently to S. S. Barlow; and so faithfully and with such
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ability did he discharge the duties of this position that he acquired a reputation as a lawyer, which soon became as wide as the State and gave prophecy of the distinction which he has since attained in the profession. In ISTo be removed to Hudson. Wis., where be engaged in legal practice, speedily acquiring an extensive and varied business, and enhancing his reputation as a profound, care- ful and resourceful lawyer. In 1872, while still under thirty years of age, he was elected a member of the lower house of the State Legislature, and in this body he, at once, took first rank as a legislator, discharging every duty of the position with that fidelity. discrimination and wisdom which had characterized him in every place to which he had been called. In 1882 he received appointment as Regent of his Alma Mater, the State University, a position for which he was admirably fitted, and in which he rendered the cause of higher education signal and lasting service. This place he held for three years, when other and wider duties compelled its relin- quishment. As the end of the term of Angus Cameron in the United States Senate approached, in 1885, the attention of : many was turned to Mr. Spooner as a fitting successor to Mr. Cameron. Other men of great ability were very properly anibi- tions of the Republican nomination for this position, but the contest narrowed to him and ex-Gov. Fairchild. The contest was a friendly one, alike honorable to both, and for some time very much in doubt as to the result; but as the time for the nomination drew near it became apparent that the supporters of the younger man were in the ascendant, and he received the nomination by a hand- some majority, and was duly elected January 28. 1885. receiving 76 votes to 48 for his Democratic competitor. No one more heartily congratulated Senator Spooner on his nomination and election than Gov. Fairchild. Mr. Spooner entered the Senate at the age of forty-two, served the full term of six years, and was succeeded by William F. Vilas, the Democrats having attained . . control of the Senate in 1891. In 1802 Senator Spooner was made the Republican nominee for Governor, but though he greatly rexluced the Democratic majority of t&go, he was defeated. While one of the youngest men who ever attained a seat in the Senate, he
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at once, on becoming a member of that body, attracted the atten- tion of his colleagues and of the whole country by the industry and wisdom which he displayed, and ere his terin had more than half gone, was a leader of the Senate. He was chairman of the . committee on claims and survey and a member of the judiciary committee and the committee on District of Columbia; and some · of the most effective and valuable work ever accomplished on those committees was performed by him. On the floor of the Senate he occupied a commanding position, taking part in the discussion of great national questions. Nor was he neglectful of the immediate interests of his own State. At the close of his term, his associates in the Senate gave him the unusual compli- ment of a parting reception. When the question of electing a successor to Senator Vilas was broached, the almost unanimous choice was Senator Spooner. Although the Republicans had a large majority in the Legislature, he received every vote in the Republican caucus, and was again elected United States Senator for six years from March 4th, 1897. He was assigned to duty on the committees on relations with Canada, judiciary, privileges and elections, and rules. Mr. Spooner was married on the 10th of September, 1868, to Miss Annie E. Main of Madison, a lady of culture and possessing great musica! talent. They have had four sons, one of whom, John C. Jr., died in ISSI, at the age of six years. The others are Charles Philip, born in 1869, and Willet Main, born in 1873. members of the Milwaukee bar, and Phillip L., a student.
JOHN J. JENKINS.
Jolin J. Jenkins was born at Weymouth. England. August 20, 1843, and came with his parents to Wisconsin nine years later. At Baraboo, where they made their home, he gained an educa- tion in the public schools, and when the Civil War broke out he enlisted as a member of the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, in which regiment he made a creditable record. After his return to Baraboo at the close of the war, he was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court. In 1870 he removed to Chippewa Falls. He was
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a member of the Assembly in 1872. County Judge of Chippewa county from that year to 1876, and City Attorney of Chippewa Falls for five terms. He was United States district attorney for the territory of Wyoming under appointment by President Grant in 1876. In 1804 he was elected to Congress by the Republi- cans of the Tenth district. He was re-elected in 1896 and again in ISOS. As a member of Congress, Mr. Jenkins has served on the judiciary committee, the committee on elections, the committee on District of Columbia, and the committee on irrigation of arid lands. .
HENRY CASSON.
Henry Casson is a native of Brownsville, Fayette county. Pennsylvania, where he was born December 13, 1843. He came West with his parents when but five years of age, and his first western home was in Illinois, where he carly learned the trade of printer, which he followed with slight intervals for some eight- cen. years, or until 1873, when he came to Wisconsin, settling at Viroqua, Vernon county. There has ever since been his legal home, though much of his life has been spent in Madison and Washing- ton, whither his official duties have called him. In 1875 he pur- chased The Vernon County Censor, and for ten years was its editor and publisher. In 1885 Gov. Rusk made him his private secretary, which position he held through the remainder of the Governor's service in the executive office. His thorough knowl- cage of the duties of this responsible post led to his retention in it by Gov. Hoard, and when the political complexion of the admin- istration changed. he retired from the office with the good will of all who ever had any official relations with the executive depart- ment during his connection with it. Gov. Rusk, upon receiving the appointment of secretary of agriculture in President Harri -. son's cabinet, remembering Col. Casson's efficiency and fidelity in the discharge of his official duties, appointed him his private secre- . tary, and this position ile held for a year, when he was made chief clerk of the department. In this place he remained until the expiration of President Harrison's term, March 4th, 1803.
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when he retired. In August, 18)3. he became private secretary to Congressman J. W. Babcock, and held the place for a year, when he was nominated by the Republican convention of Wis- consin for Secretary of State, and elected by a plurality of 60,125. and a majority over his three opponents of 24.704. When his term was drawing to a close there was no suggestion of a change. and he was renominated by the convention by acclamation, and elected by a much larger majority for a second term, which came to a close in January. 18go. Under the Mckinley administration, Col. Casson served as an inspector of rural mail delivery until the assembling of the Fifty-sixth Congress, when he was elected ser- geant-at-arms of the House. Col. Casson was married, in 1874, to Miss Ethel Haughton of Vernon county, Wisconsin, and they have one son, who is the third in the line of descent to bear the name Henry.
S. S. BARNEY ..
Samuel Stebbins Barney was born in Hartford. Washington county, Wisconsin, January 31, 1846. His father, the son of a Revolutionary soldier, was a pioneer, and settled in Hartford before the town was organized, and before the State was admitted to the Union. He was always active in the local affairs of the township. His mother, a not very distant relative of the cele- brated Scotch preacher, Jolin Knox, was a woman of remarkable mental endowment, and from her were probably inherited those high intellectual qualities which have distinguished her son among his fellow citizens. Both parents dying before he was old enough to realize their loss, and leaving a very small estate, the children were reduced to the necessity of making their own way in the world as best they could. When the War of the Rebellion broke ont his two older brothers enlisted and went to the front, one o: them being instantly killed at the bloody battle of Stone River. the other returning with shattered health and dying shortly after- ward. Mr. Barney was educated in the common schools and at Lombard University, Galesburg. Ill., after which he taught school at Hartford during the years 18Gy. Isto and 1871, when he began
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the study of law in the office of the late I. F. Frisby, formerly attorney-general of Wisconsin. He was admitted to the bar in 1872, began practice in West Bend, and has continued it there to the present tinie. He was elected Superintendent of Schools of Washington county in 1875 and held the office for four years fron the Ist of January, 1876. He edited The Washington County Republican, now The Hartford Press, at West Bend, during the years 1872 and 1873. It was about this time that he attracted pub- lic attention outside of his county by an exceedingly able speech in the Republican State Convention at Madison; and when the Republicans, in 1884, sought a candidate for Congress in the okl Fifth district, with whom they might hope to overcome the per- sonal popularity of Gen. Bragg and the large Democratic majority in the district, they nominated Mr. Barney. The odds against him, however, were too great to be overcome, and he was defeated !. although he made a gallant fight and polled the full strength of his party in the district. In the same year he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago which nominated! James G. Blaine for President. In 1894 he was again Republican candidate for Congress, and was successful, receiving 18.681 votes to 16,851 for the Democratic and Populist candidates, or a major- ity over both of 1,830, and a plurality of 5,624. In 1896 he was a candidate for re-election and received 26,613 votes to 17.049. the combined vote of the Democratic and Socialist-Labor candi- dates-or a majority of 9.564. and a plurality of 10,121. In 18os his plurality was 3,823. Mr. Barney is not a member of any club or church. He was married in 1876 to Miss Ellen Mellenry of West Bend. They have four children, Sara, John. Sybil and Marian.
BURR W. JONES.
In the fall of ISS2, while trying a case in a distant county. Burr W. Jones, then as now an attorney, residing at - Madison. was notified by telegram that he had been nominated as the Demo- cratic candidate for Congress in the Third district, the nomina- tion being wholly unsought and unexpected. Although at first (30)
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there seemed little prospect of success, as the campaign progressed the prospects brightened and the situation was made more favor- able for the young candidate by the fact that a bitter struggle was waging in the Republican camp between the rival candidates -- E. W. Keyes and Geo. C. Hazelton. As the contest progressed toward the close it became apparent that Mr. Jones would be the victor, and he was elected by more than 1,300 votes over the combined vote of both his opponents. Mr. Jones was born March 9, 1846, in the town of Union, Rock county, Wisconsin, near the present village of Evansville. He was the son of William and Sarah M. (Prentice) Jones. The youth attended the district school in winter, in summer he worked on the farm. Part of the money with which he defrayed his college expenses was obtained by teaching school. He entered the State university in 1866, taking the classical course; worked on the farm during his vacations to assist in paying his expenses, and graduated in 1870, with one of the honors of his class. While attending the law department, from which he was graduated in 1871, he studied in the offices of John Gurnee and William F. Vilas. He began the practice of his profession at Portage in the winter of 1871-2, but was soon after- ward offered a partnership with Judge A. S. Sanborn, and, in the spring, returned to Madison. In the fall of 1872 he was elected District Attorney of Dane county on the Democratic ticket. was re-elected in 1874, but declined to be a candidate for a third term. Afterward he was, for several years, City Attorney of Madison. His partnership with Judge Sanborn was dissolved in 1873. Then followed successively partnerships with A. C. Parkinson, F. J. Lamb and E. Ray Stevens, the latter being still in existence. Although Mr. Jones has always devoted himself to his profession. he has taken an active interest in public affairs. His first politi- , cal speeches were in the Greeley campaign of 1872, and he has ever since been in demand in political campaigns, and has given such time to his party as could be spared from his professional duties. During his term in Congress Mr. Jones had an oppor- tunity for much more active service than is usually vouchsafed to new members. He was second on the important Committee on - War Claims; and, as the Chairman, Judge Geddes of Ohio, was
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in feeble health much of the time, and unable to perform the duties of Chairman, such responsibilities were thrown upon Mr. Jones that he often participated in the debates and had charge of impor- tant business. He was in accord with his party on the questions of tariff, revenue and finance, and was especially identified with the movement for the reform of Civil Service. He was nominated for reelection in 1884. but the district was Republican, and, though he ran ahead of his ticket, he was defeated. On leaving Congress he continued his professional work. declining opportunities for political preferment, but rendering his party service in its cam- paigns. In 1892 he was temporary and permanent Chairman of the Democratic State Convention, in Milwaukee, and, in his address, indicated the lines on which the campaign should be con- ducted; and, in the two years following, he was a member of the State Central Committee. In the campaign of 186, he, in com- mon with many other Democrats, declined to follow the leader- ship of Bryan, and refused acquiescence in the doctrines of the Chicago convention. He attended the Milwaukee convention which chose delegates to the Indianapolis National Democratic Convention, was selected one of those delegates, and was the one chosen to present the name of General Bragg to the convent on as candidate for President. This he did in an appropriate and impressive speech. Since 1885 Mr. Jones has been one of the professors in the Law School of the University of Wisconsin. His law practice is extensive. Ile is the author of a work on the law of evidence, which has had an extended sale and is highly regarded by the profession. By appointment of Governor Sco- field, he served in 1897-8 as Chairman of the Commission for the Revision of the Tax Laws. Mr. Jones was married in Decem- ber, 1873. to Olive L. Hoyt, daughter of Lansing W. Hoyt, an old resident of Madison and former Treasurer of Dane county. They have one child-a daughter.
JOSEPH W. BABCOCK.
Joseph W. Babcock, who is now serving his fourth consecutive term in Congress as Representative of the Third District of Wis- consin, was born in Swantown, Vermont, March 6, 1850, and
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came West with his parents in childhood, living in Iowa until 1881, and receiving his education and his start in business in that State. He is a lumberman and lives at Necedah. Before his first election to Congress he served two terms in the Wisconsin Legislature. As Chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia, Congressman Joseph W. Babcock of the Third Wis- consin District is, from the point of view of residents of the Capi- tal city, the biggest man in Washington, next to President McKin- ley. His committee fixes the amounts of the appropriations for all improvements in Washington, and maps out the work which the District of Columbia commission afterward executes. He is the only man in the House who has one day in every week over which he enjoys absolute control. This is the day devoted to Dis- trict of Columbia affairs. On this day Mr. Babcock allows other business to be transacted by the House for a little while in the morning, but when he gets ready to transact District business he becomes supreme. He has been courted by Washington people more than any other man in the House, not even excepting "Czar" Reed. Mr. Babcock is also Chairman of the National Congressional Committee-another position which carries with it important influence. He has conducted three national campaigns with marked success.
EDWARD.I. KIDD. .
State Bank Examiner Edward I. Kidd was born in Millville. Grant county, May 10, 18.45, and has always resided in this State. His education was gained in the public schools. supplemented by an academic course, which he had not completed when, on August 9th, 1862, he'enlisted in the Union army. The regiment to which he was assigned was the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin, commanded by Col. Rusk. He served in all the campaigns of this gallant com- mand, including the siege of Vicksburg. the operations about Atlanta, and Sherman's marches' to the sea, and northi through the Carolinas to Washington. Returning home to Millville after the close of the war, he engaged in business, and was elected to various local offices, among which was member of the Board
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of Supervisors of Grant county, which he held for fifteen years. He was a member of the Legislature in 1880, 1881 and 1883; and was a member of the State Senate for two successsive terms- from 1885 to 18gt. He was Chairman of the Joint Committee on Claims in 1885. 1887 and 1889, and was the author of a number of important measures both in the Assembly and the Senate; and. during all his legislative service, he was among the most influ- ential members, because always careful, attentive to his duties and always well informed as to the scope of the measures proposed and their probable effect if they should become laws. In 188y he removed from Millville to Prairie du Chien, where he has been engaged in the banking business. Since his residence in Prairie du Chien he has been Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Crawford county, and in other ways his fellow citizens have shown their confidence in his ability and integrity. The Legislature of 1895 enacted a law providing for an examiner of State and private banks, and Governor Upham appointed Mr. Kidd to the office. concluding that his long and varied legislative experience, his careful methods and conservative views, and his well-known integrity, as well as his familiarity with the banking business, fitted him, in an unusual degree, for the discharge of the responsible duties of Examiner. This position he has continued to hold dur- ing the two terms of Governor Scofield. Mr. Kidd is a Repub- lican, and has always been an active worker for the party.
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