pioneer settler, politician, b. Shrewsbury, Mass. In 1818 he moved west, migrating to Platteville in 1827. In 1828 he settled near Moundville (now Blue Mounds). The first permanent settler in Dane County, Brigham mined lead and farmed, and when settlement increased he opened a tavern and store. He served as justice of the peace, and from the winter of 1830-1831 until 1837, as postmaster of Moundville. During the Black Hawk War a fort was built near Brigham's home and he and his neighbors took refuge there. Brigham was a member of the territorial council (1836-1842), state assemblyman (1848), and the Dane County board of commissioners (1845, 1848-1850, 1854-1855). D. S. Durrie, Hist. of Madison ... (Madison, 1874); Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 1 (1855); Madison Wis. State Journal, Sept. 14, 1861; E. Brigham Papers.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Ebenezer Brigham Papers for details.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]