Benjamin Nute

Benjamin Nute (August 12, 1800 – December 1, 1877) was a farmer and businessman from Milford, Wisconsin, who served a single one-year term as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Jefferson County during the 1849 session (the 2nd Wisconsin Legislature).[1]

Benjamin Nute
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Jefferson 1st district
In office
January 1, 1849 – January 7, 1850
Preceded byWales Emmons
Succeeded byAbram Vanderpool
Personal details
Born(1800-08-12)August 12, 1800
Farmington, New Hampshire, U.S.
DiedDecember 1, 1877(1877-12-01) (aged 77)
Waterford, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placeOak Hill Cemetery, Waterford, Wisconsin
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Sarah Brooks
​
​
(m. 1824; died 1876)​
Children3 sons, 3 daughters

Background

Nute was born in 1800 in Farmington, New Hampshire. He spent some time in the boot and shoe industry, first in Boston and then in Utica, New York.[2] He married Sarah Brooks in Utica in 1824, and their son Benjamin Jr. was born there.[3] In 1837 he moved to Wisconsin Territory, becoming the first white settlers in what would become Milford (it was originally part of the Town of Aztalan).[4] In 1840, he and frequent partner William Lamphear built a sawmill on the south side of the Crawfish River, and Nute built a 15-room hotel in the Milford village on the road to Aztalan proper. The first (wooden) bridge across the Crawfish, built there at the mill ford with funding from the Town of Aztalan was known as "Nute's Bridge".[5] Nute would operate the hotel until selling out in 1858.[6]

Public service

In 1839, he was elected a county assessor.[7] At the time he took office in the Assembly in January 1849, succeeding fellow Democrat Wales Emmons, he was reported to be 49 years old, a farmer from New Hampshire, and to have been in Wisconsin twelve years.[8] For the 1850 session he was replaced by Abram Vanderpool, yet another Democrat.

Personal life

In 1852, he was one of the three experts chosen to judge vegetables at the Wisconsin State Fair (then known as the "Wisconsin State Agricultural Society Annual Cattle Show and Fair") in such categories as "Best six heads of cauliflower", "Best twelve parsnips" and "Largest pumpkin".[9] In 1859, he was elected a vice-president of the Jefferson County Agricultural Society.[10]

Nute moved to Waterford before 1870, when he was elected "Supervisor" in the 1870 municipal election.[11] In March 1877, he and partners bought and remodeled a sawmill and wooden products factory in Waterford.[12] Nute died in Waterford on December 1, 1877, not long after his wife; they left three sons and three daughters behind.

References
  1. State of Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. "Members of the Wisconsin Legislature 1848–1999". Information Bulletin 99-1 (September 1999), p. 89.
  2. "Obituary Notices. Benjamin Nute." Wisconsin State Journal December 7, 1877; p. 1, col. 1
  3. Grant, William Henry, compiler. Minnesota Society Sons of the American Revolution Year Book: 1889-1895 St. Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Society Sons of the American Revolution, 1895; p. 395
  4. Ott, John Henry, ed. Jefferson County Wisconsin and Its People Volume 1. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1917; pp. 297-98
  5. Lehrke, Jennifer L. & Robert Short. Northwest Quadrant of Jefferson County, Wisconsin: Architectural and Historical Intensive Survey Report Sheboygan, Wisconsin: Legacy Architecture, Inc., 2012 (for the State Historical Society of Wisconsin); pp. 19-20, 27, 40, 49, 112
  6. Liebenow, Roland. "Milford, Our 'Sister City'" Lake Mills Leader January 21, 2010
  7. The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin, Containing . .. Biographical Sketches Chicago: Western historical Company, 1879; p. 353
  8. "List of Members of the Assembly of the State of Wisconsin" Wisconsin Express January 30, 1849; p. 4; via Newspapers.com
  9. Wisconsin Farmer and Northwestern Cultivator August, 1852 (Vol. 4, no. 8) Racine, Wisconsin: Mark Miller, 1852; pp. 172-74
  10. The History of Jefferson County...; p. 370
  11. The History of Jefferson County...; p. 449
  12. The History of Jefferson County...; p. 428
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