Samuel Dresser

Born in Bangor, Maine, Dresser received a public school education, and became a farmer. He moved to Taylors Falls, Minnesota Territory in 1851 and was in the lumber and merchant business. Dresser moved to a farm in a part of the township of Osceola, in Polk County, Wisconsin called Osceola Prairie, in 1862.

Dresser was elected as a Republican to the Wisconsin State Assembly seat representing Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas and Polk Counties for the 1870 session, with 620 votes against 305 for Democrat V. M. Babcock, replacing fellow Republican Henry D. Barron, who had just been appointed auditor of the United States Treasury. He was assigned to the standing committees on lumber and manufactures, and on legislative expenditures, chairing the latter.{{cite journal |url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1870 |title=The legislative manual of the state of Wisconsin; comprising Jefferson's manual, rules, forms and laws, for the regulation of business; also, lists and tables for reference |journal=The State of Wisconsin Blue Book |edition=9th |location=Madison |publisher=Atwood and Rublee, State Printers, Journal Block |year=1870 |pages=357, 376, 383}} He was not a candidate for re-election in 1870, and was succeeded by another Republican, Samuel S. Vaughn. Dresser was sheriff of Polk County in 1877 and 1878. By the time of his death, he had also served in various town government offices in Osceola for a quarter of a century.

In 1871, he was appointed Deputy Lumber Agent for the St. Croix-Lake Superior railroad grant lands.{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90946427/deputy-lumber-agent-samuel-b-dresser/ |title=Deputy Lumber Agent |newspaper=The Dunn County News |date=December 30, 1871 |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} He would spend some time acting to protect the timberlands of this district.{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91166649/protecting-the-st-croix-land-grant-1876/ |title=Local Brevities |newspaper=The Dunn County News |date=February 5, 1876 |page=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Dresser died in Osceola on November 20, 1901. Dresser had donated land for a railroad; when the area became a community, it was first called Dresser Junction and later simply Dresser, Wisconsin.{{cite book |last1=Hartman |first1=Jennifer L. |last2=Hannan |first2=Caryn |title=Wisconsin Encyclopedia |edition=2008–2009 |volume=1 |location=Hamburg, Michigan |publisher=State History Publications LLC |year=2008 |page=306 |url={{Google books |iCEl1sqlZLQC |page=306 |plainurl=y}}}}{{cite journal |last=Baker |first=Florence Elizabeth |title=Wisconsin Necrology for Year Ending November 30, 1902 |journal=Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at Its Fiftieth Annual Meeting Held December 11, 1902 |location=Madison |publisher=State Historical Society of Wisconsin |year=1903 |page=143 |url={{Google books |Q5EUAAAAYAAJ |pg=RA6-PA143 |plainurl=y}}}}

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Category:1831 births

Category:1901 deaths

Category:Politicians from Bangor, Maine

Category:People from Chisago County, Minnesota

Category:People from Osceola, Wisconsin

Category:American city founders

Category:Businesspeople from Minnesota

Category:Businesspeople from Wisconsin

Category:Wisconsin sheriffs

Category:19th-century American businesspeople

Category:19th-century American farmers

Category:Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly

Category:19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature

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