lawyer, railroad promoter, politician, b. Genesee County, N.Y. He graduated from Columbia Univ. (1819) and Yale Univ. (1820), studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He moved to Wisconsin in 1850, and in 1851 settled in La Crosse, where he practiced law and was active in numerous railroad ventures. Stoddard promoted the establishment of the La Crosse and Milwaukee R.R. Co. (1852), was instrumental in organizing the Southern Minnesota R.R. Co., of which he was president (1864-1871), and was active in several unsuccessful railroad schemes designed to make La Crosse the railroad center for the upper Mississippi valley. A Democrat, Stoddard held local political offices in La Crosse, and was state assemblyman (1862). After retiring in 1871, he continued to live in La Crosse until his death. La Crosse Co. Hist. Sketches (set. 1, n.p., 1935); A. H. Sanford, et al., Hist. of La Crosse (La Crosse, 1951); Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 8 (1879); La Crosse Morning Chronicle, Jan. 8, 1905.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Thomas B. Stoddard Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]