Wyman Spooner

Wyman Spooner (July 2, 1795 – November 18, 1877)^[1] was an American printer, lawyer and politician from Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

Background

He was born in 1795 in Hardwick, Massachusetts, where he worked as a printer. He studied law in Vermont and was admitted to the Vermont bar. In 1835, he moved to Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law. In 1842, he moved to Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

Public office

From 1847 until 1859 he served as Walworth County's probate judge. He then became a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge. Spooner was an abolitionist and initially a Freesoiler. He was elected in 1849 and 1850 for two one-year terms as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Walworth County's 4th Assembly district. He became a Republican in 1854 upon the organization of that party, and was elected to two additional terms (1857 and 1861) before advancing to the Wisconsin State Senate's 12th District from 1862 until 1863. He served three terms as the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, from 1864 until 1870 under Governors James T. Lewis and Lucius Fairchild.

In 1872 he supported Liberal Republican Horace Greeley for the presidency of the United States. He renounced his membership in the Republican Party entirely in 1876, heading the slate of Democratic presidential electors for nominee Samuel J. Tilden.^[2] He died in 1877 in Lyons, Wisconsin.

Sources

• "Wisconsin Constitutional Officers; Lieutenant Governors" (PDF). State of Wisconsin Blue Book 2005–2006. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. July 2005. p. 31. Retrieved October 6, 2007.

References

1. .History of Royalton, Vermont: with family genealogies, 1769-1911,' vol 1, Mary Evelyn Lovejoy Wood, Free Press Printing Company, Royalton, Vermont: 1911, Biographical Sketch of Wyman Spooner, pg. 626-627
2. "Term: Spooner, Wyman 1795 - 1877" in Dictionary of Wisconsin History Wisconsin Historical Society; accessed April 5, 2013