Arthur MacArthur, Sr.

Arthur MacArthur, Sr.
Arthur MacArthur, Sr
4th Governor of Wisconsin
In office March 21, 1856 – March 25, 1856
Preceded by	William A. Barstow
Succeeded by	Coles Bashford
5th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
In office January 6, 1856 – January 4, 1858
Governor	Coles Bashford
Preceded by	James T. Lewis
Succeeded by	Erasmus D. Campbell
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
In office July 15, 1870 – April 1, 1887
Appointed by	Ulysses S. Grant
Preceded by	new seat
Succeeded by	Martin V. Montgomery
Personal details
Born	January 26, 1815 Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Died	August 26, 1896 (aged 81) Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Aurelia Belcher MacArthur (m. circa 1844-1864) (her death) Mary E. MacArthur (c. 1865-1896) (his death)
Children	Arthur MacArthur, Jr. Frank MacArthur
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Presbyterian

Arthur MacArthur, Sr. (January 26, 1815 – August 26, 1896) was a Scottish-born lawyer, judge, and politician who served as the fourth Governor of Wisconsin for four days in 1856, in the midst of an election scandal.^[1][2]

Early life

MacArthur was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the descendant of Highlander nobility through his father, who had died just seven days before his birth in 1815. His mother remarried and moved the family to Uxbridge, Massachusetts in 1828. MacArthur attended school briefly at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, but dropped out to help his family through a severe economic depression in 1837.

Career

MacArthur worked as a law clerk in Boston and then New York. He was admitted to the bar in New York in 1841. With the help of his father-in-law, MacArthur established a very successful legal practice in Springfield.

Differences in politics between the immigrant Democrat MacArthur and his conservative Whig in-laws soon led him to move his family from their influence. He set up a law office in New York City in 1845, and finally settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1849. MacArthur quickly befriended the powerful in his new home state, and was elected as the city attorney of Milwaukee in 1851. In 1855, he was offered the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, as running mate to the incumbent, William A. Barstow.

The election ended in scandal. Though Barstow was initially declared winner by a mere 157 votes, the result was challenged as a fraud by Barstow's opponent, the Republican Coles Bashford, and it was substantiated that election returns had been forged from non-existent precincts. Barstow kept hold of the office anyway, and as the rivals' militia forces converged on the state capital of Madison threatening to start a civil war, Barstow and MacArthur were inaugurated publicly on January 7, 1856. Despite his promises to hold on to the office at all costs, Barstow eventually realized that he was fighting a losing battle both legally and in public opinion, and resigned on March 21, 1856, four days before the Wisconsin Supreme Court resolved the controversy in favor of Bashford. MacArthur became acting governor upon Barstow's resignation and initially repeated his predecessor's resolve to remain in office. On March 25, however, when confronted face to face with a threat to use force from Bashford - a county sheriff and a throng of Bashford's followers - MacArthur and his supporters vacated the Capitol. MacArthur finished his term as lieutenant governor, leaving office in 1857.^[3]

The election scandal somehow left MacArthur's reputation relatively unscathed, and he won election for two terms as a judge on the Wisconsin Circuit Court, Second Judicial Circuit, from 1857 until 1869.^[4] On July 15, 1870, President Grant appointed MacArthur as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. This court was renamed the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with the congressional Act of June 25, 1936, 49 Stat. 1921. The seat MacArthur was nominated to was created by 16 Stat. 160. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 15, 1870, and received his commission on July 15, 1870, holding the position until his retirement in 1887. He spent his remaining years in Washington moving in high society, accepting speaking engagements, and writing books.

Death

MacArthur died in Atlantic City, New Jersey from throat cancer and was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington.

Family life

Around 1844, MacArthur married Aurelia Belcher (1819–1864), the daughter of a wealthy industrialist. They had two sons, Frank, and famed General Arthur MacArthur, Jr., born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts in 1845, for whom he had first secured an appointment to the United States Military Academy and then as a first lieutenant in the 24th regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers. Arthur Jr. was himself the father of a general of even greater fame, the World War II commander, Douglas MacArthur, who shared his grandfather's birthday of January 26. He also married Mary E MacArthur (1824 - 1899).

References

1. "McArthur, Arthur 1815 - 1896". Wisconsin Historical Society. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014.
2. Perret, Geoffrey (1996). Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life of Douglas MacArthur (1st ed.). New York City: Random House, Inc. p. 3. ISBN 9780679428824.
3. 3 governors held office within weeks, Dennis McCann. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 10, 1998.
4. History of the Federal Judiciary

External links

• "Judge Arthur MacArthur (1817-1896)". PBS. Retrieved April 27, 2016.

Arthur MacArthur, Sr. at Find a Grave