Hiram Barber
{{short description|19th century American lawyer and Democratic politician, Member of the Wisconsin Assembly}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Hiram Barber
| image = Hiram Barber.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| state = Wisconsin
| state_assembly = Wisconsin
| district = Dodge 2nd
| term_start = January 10, 1849
| term_end = January 9, 1850
| predecessor = Charles Billinghurst
| successor = James Murdock
| birth_name = Hiram Barber
| birth_date = {{birth date|1800|1|25}}
| birth_place = Hebron, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1888|10|23|1800|1|25}}
| death_place = Horicon, Wisconsin
| restingplace = Juneau Cemetery
Juneau, Wisconsin
| spouse = Salome (Seelye) Barber
| children = 3 sons, 3 daughters
| father = David Barber
| mother = Hannah (Baker) Barber
| relatives =
| profession = businessman, politician
| party = Democratic (before 1876)
Republican (1876)
}}
Hiram Barber (January 25, 1800 – October 23, 1888) was an American pioneer, politician, and businessman in Dodge County, Wisconsin.
Biography
Born in Hebron, New York, Barber taught school and was a merchant. He studied law and was admitted to the New York bar. In 1829, Barber was appointed county judge for Warren County, New York, by Governor Martin Van Buren. He remained in this office until his resignation in 1844.
In 1844, Barber moved to the Wisconsin Territory and settled in Horicon, where he had agriculture, manufacture, and railroad business interests. Barber served in the first Wisconsin Constitutional Convention of 1846.{{cite report|chapter-url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1882 |title= The Blue Book of the state of Wisconsin, 1882 |year= 1882 |editor-last=Heg |editor-first= J.E.|publisher= State of Wisconsin |chapter= Annals of the legislature |pages=175, 179|access-date= June 15, 2019}}
In the run-up to the first Wisconsin gubernatorial election, Barber became a candidate for Governor of Wisconsin, but at the 1848 Wisconsin Democratic Party Convention he lost the nomination to Nelson Dewey.{{cite report|chapter-url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1960 |title= The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1960 |publisher= Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau |editor1-last= Toepel |editor1-first= M. G. |editor2-last= Kuehn |editor2-first= Hazel L. |year= 1960 |chapter= Wisconsin's former governors, 1848-1959|page= 73 |access-date= June 15, 2019}} After becoming Governor, Dewey would appoint Barber to the Board of Regents tasked with organizing the University of Wisconsin.
Later that year, Barber ran for and was elected to represent Dodge County's 2nd district in the 1849 session of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
In 1876, Barber ran for the United States House of Representatives as a Republican in the 5th district, but was defeated by Samuel D. Burchard.{{cite report|chapter-url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1877 |title=The legislative manual of the state of Wisconsin, 1877 |year=1877|publisher= E. B. Bolens, State Printer |editor-last= Bashford |editor-first=R. M. |chapter=Official directory |page=443 |access-date= June 15, 2019 }}
His son was Hiram Barber, Jr., who served in the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. Barber died in Horicon, Wisconsin, in 1888.'Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Historical Society: Madison, Wisconsin, 1896, Biographical Sketch of Hiram Barber, pg. 47'History of Dodge County, Wisconsin,' Western Historical Company: Chicago, Illinois, 1880, Biographical Sketch of Hiram Barber, pg. 655-656
Notes
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Category:People from Hebron, New York
Category:People from Horicon, Wisconsin
Category:New York (state) lawyers
Category:Businesspeople from New York (state)
Category:Businesspeople from Wisconsin
Category:Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
Category:People from Warren County, New York
Category:19th-century American businesspeople
Category:19th-century New York state court judges
Category:19th-century American lawyers