businessman, speculator, politician, b. Andover, Windsor County, Vt. He moved to Wisconsin in 1837. In 1850 he purchased a quarter section of land on which he platted the town of Richland Center, and in 1851 lobbied successfully for its selection as the county seat of Richland County. He engaged in various business enterprises in the area, and in 1866 established the Richland Center Live Republican, serving as co-editor (1866-1867). A Republican, he was a delegate to the state convention in 1854, a delegate to the national convention in Chicago (1860), and state assemblyman (1867). In 1870 he moved to Missouri where he became a fruit and wool grower. He was elected as a Greenback Republican to Congress in 1880, and served one term (Mar. 1881-Mar. 1883). Defeated for re-election in 1882, he retired to his farm near Springfield, Mo. Biog. Dir. Amer. Cong. (1928); Dist, of Crawford and Richland Cos. (Springfield, Ill., 1884); WPA field notes.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]