newspaperman, politician, author, b. Buxton, Maine. He moved with his parents to Wisconsin in 1855, settling in La Crosse. Usher attended the local schools, spent one year at Lombard Univ., Galesburg, Ill., and in 1873 became a reporter for the La Crosse Republican and Leader. In 1875 he purchased a half interest in the La Crosse Liberal Democrat, changed its name to the La Crosse Morning Chronicle in 1878, and in 1879 acquired sole ownership of the paper. From 1879 to 1889 he published the La Crosse Morning Chronicle in association with his father, Issac Lane Usher, and after his father's death in 1889 continued to publish the paper alone until it was sold to Charles K. Lush in 1901. A Democrat, Usher was chairman of the state central committee (1887-1890), and from 1878 to 1881 was secretary of the La Crosse board of trade. In 1901 he moved to Milwaukee, where for many years he operated his own advertising agency, and devoted much of his time to his interest in Wisconsin history. Usher was the author of an eight-volume history of Wisconsin published in 1914. E. B. Usher, Wis. (8 vols., Chicago, 1914); Biog. Hist. of La Crosse, Trempealeau . . . Cos. (Chicago, 1892); La Crosse Tribune, Dec. 5, 1920; E. B. Usher Papers.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Ellis B. Usher Papers for details.  See also the Ellis B. Usher Black River Falls History Research.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]