Lathrop Burgess

Lathrop Burgess (August 31, 1805 – March 11, 1899) was an American carpenter and farmer from Brighton, Wisconsin, who spent two one-year terms as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Kenosha County; the first as a Freesoiler, the second as a Republican.[1]

Background

Burgess was born August 31, 1805, in Chatham, New York. He worked as a carpenter before he came to Brighton, Wisconsin Territory in 1838 with his wife. He lived there for the rest of his life.

Civic affairs and public office

Burgess held various local offices such as justice of the peace[2] In June 1850, he was one of the founding vice-presidents of the Agricultural Society of Kenosha County.[3]

He was elected to the Assembly from the 2nd Kenosha County district (the Towns of Brighton, Bristol, Paris, Salem and Wheatland[4]) in 1851 as a Freesoiler or "Free Democrat", succeeding Henry Johnson (a Whig). He was succeeded the next year by James McKisson, a Democrat.

In 1852, he was one of the judges for farming implements at the Kenosha County Fair.[5] By September 1854, he was a member of the new Republican Party, and a delegate to its state convention.[6] In 1856, he was again elected to the Assembly from the same Kenosha County district, succeeding the same Henry Johnson. By this time, however, Johnson was also a Republican. Burgess was not a candidate for re-election, and was succeeded by another Republican, Almond Cornwell.[7]

After the Assembly

Until its 1857 merger to form what later became part of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, Burgess was on the board of directors of the Kenosha and Rockford Railroad Company.[8]

His son, Dwight L. Burgess, was elected to the Assembly in 1888.

Burgess died at Brighton on March 11, 1899.[9] He is buried in Salem Mound Cemetery in Salem, Kenosha County, Wisconsin. His papers are in the collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.[10]

References
  1. "Members of the Wisconsin Legislature 1848–1999 State of Wisconsin Legislative Bureau. Information Bulletin 99-1, September 1999. p. 34 Archived 2006-12-09 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Stockwell, Irene Dixon. The Stockwell family: Adventures into the Past, 1626-1982 Janesville, Wisconsin: Janesville Printing Co., 1982; p. 294
  3. Rand, T. J., letter to Albert C. Ingham, Esq., Secretary of the Wisconsin Agricultural Society, in, "County Agricultural Societies", Transactions of the Wisconsin Agricultural Society, with an Abstract of the Correspondence of the Secretary. Vol. I.—1851 Madison: Beriah Brown, State Printer, 1852; p. 107
  4. Manual for the use of the assembly, of the state of Wisconsin, for the year 1853 Madison: Brown and Carpenter, Printers, 1853; p. 69
  5. "List of Premiums: Farming Implements" Kenosha Democrat August 16, 1852; p. 5, col. 3
  6. "Proceedings of the Republican Congressional Convention at Rochester" Milwaukee Free Democrat September 7, 1854; p. 2, col. 2
  7. Crane, L. H. D., ed. A manual of customs, precedents, and forms, in use in the Assembly of the state of Wisconsin: together with the rules, the apportionment, and other lists and tables for reference, with indices Madison: James Ross, State Printer, 1859; p. 60
  8. "Kenosha, Rockford and Rock Island R.R." American Railroad Journal May 30, 1857 Second Quarto Series, Vol. 13, No. 22 (Whole No. 1,102); pp. 345-46
  9. Baker, Florence Elizabeth. "Wisconsin Necrology for Year Ending November 30, 1899: Lathrop Burgess", Appendix H. to, Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at its Forty-Seventh Annual Meeting Held December 14, 1899; and of the State Historical Convention Held at Green Bay, September 5—7, 1899 Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1900; p. 89
  10. Schob, David E. Hired hands and plowboys: farm labor in the Midwest, 1815-60 Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1975; p. 27374
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