Eugene Wilder Chafin was a lawyer and temperance advocate.

Eugene Wilder Chafin was born in East Troy. In 1875, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelors of Law and shortly after, he was admitted to the bar and set up a law practice in Waukesha.

Temperance Involvement

Early in his life he became active as a lecturer and organizer in the temperance and prohibition movements. At 14, he joined the Order of Good Templars, and then became Grand Chief Templar in Wisconsin from 1886 to 1890, Grand Electoral Superintendent from 1893 to 1901 and a representative to international meetings of the order.

Political Career

Originally a Republican, he joined the Prohibition party in 1881 and was its unsuccessful candidate for a number of state offices. He was a delegate to the party's national conventions from 1884 to 1920, serving as chairman of the committee on the platform in 1900 and a member of the national committee from 1888 to 1896. He also was the unsuccessful Prohibition candidate for President in 1908 and 1912.

Late Life

In 1901, he moved to Chicago where he was superintendent of a home for inebriates. After the adoption of the 18th Amendment in 1919, he went on a lecture tour to Australia and New Zealand in behalf of temperance. His writings include "Lives of the Presidents" in 1896, "Lincoln, the Man of Sorrow" in 1908 and "The Master Method of the Great Reform" in 1913.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]