Solon Pierce

Solon Wesley Pierce (March 7, 1831 – September 23, 1903) was an American lawyer, newspaper publisher, and Republican politician. He served seven terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly between 1870 and 1897, representing Adams County. He also operated one of the first newspapers in Adams County, the Adams County Press.

Solon W. Pierce
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Adams–Marquette district
In office
January 4, 1897 – January 2, 1899
Preceded bySophronius S. Landt
Succeeded byCharles E. Kempley
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Adams district
In office
January 5, 1880 – January 1, 1883
Preceded byCharles A. Cady
Succeeded bySamuel Tanner (Adams–Marquette)
In office
January 1, 1877 – January 6, 1879
Preceded byG. M. Marshall (Adams–Wood)
Succeeded byCharles A. Cady
In office
January 3, 1870 – January 2, 1871
Preceded byOtis B. Lapham
Succeeded byAnson Rood
Personal details
Born(1831-03-07)March 7, 1831
Yorkshire, New York, U.S.
DiedSeptember 23, 1903(1903-09-23) (aged 72)
Adams County, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placeMount Repose Cemetery, Friendship, Wisconsin
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
  • Hester Ann Mosher (died 1865)
  • Harriet E. Waterman (died 1900)
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Volunteers
Union Army
Years of service1864–1865
Rank1st Lieutenant, USV
Unit38th Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Biography

Pierce was born in Yorkshire in Cattaraugus County, New York, in 1831. He studied at the Mendon Academy in Monroe County, New York, and settled in Adams County, Wisconsin, in 1854. He was admitted to the bar in 1858 and started a law practice in the county seat—Friendship. He was first elected district attorney of Adams County in 1861, and the same year (with several associates) founded the Adams County Press, just a few weeks after the outbreak of the American Civil War. Pierce remained as editor and publisher of this newspaper (one of the first published in Adams County) for the majority of the next 40 years until his death in 1903.[1]

In 1864 Pierce enlisted in the Union army, was commissioned a first lieutenant, and saw action (with the regiments that made up the 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac) at the Siege of Petersburg, among other battles toward the end of the Civil War. These experiences formed the basis of his 1866 book Battle Fields and Camp Fires of the 38th Regiment, published by the Daily Wisconsin Printing House of Milwaukee.

After his honorable discharge in 1865, Pierce resumed his law practice and newspaper duties, serving several years as county judge, and beginning in 1870 was elected as a legislator to the Wisconsin Assembly, being re-elected to the same body in 1877, 1878, 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1897. He served as chairman of the Assembly's judiciary committee in 1880, 1881, and 1882. As Adams County district attorney in 1892, he instituted the first successful gerrymander suit in the state of Wisconsin. He is also credited with being the author of an 1882 amendment to the Wisconsin state constitution which provided for biennial elections of legislators.[2]

Pierce died at his home in Friendship.[1]

Published works
  • Pierce, S. W. (1866). Battle Fields and Camp Fires of the Thirty-Eighth Wisconsin Volunteers. Milwaukee: Daily Wisconsin Printing House.

References
  1. "State News: Solon W. Pierce". Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. September 24, 1903. p. 7. Retrieved September 26, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  2. "Adams County, Wisconsin Genealogy".

Further reading
  • Memorial and Biographical Record and Illustrated Compendium of Biography of Citizens of Columbia, Sauk and Adams Counties, Wisconsin. 1901. Chicago: G. A. Ogle & Co., pp. 224–226.
  • Goc, Michael. 1999. From Past to Present: The History of Adams County. Friendship, Wisconsin: New Past Press.
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