Solon Pierce
{{Short description|American politician (1831–1903)}}
{{infobox officeholder
|name = Solon W. Pierce
|state = Wisconsin
|state_assembly = Wisconsin
| term_start = January 4, 1897
| term_end = January 2, 1899
| predecessor = Sophronius S. Landt
| successor = Charles E. Kempley
|state_assembly1 = Wisconsin
|district1 = Adams
| term_start1 = January 5, 1880
| term_end1 = January 1, 1883
| predecessor1 = Charles A. Cady
| successor1 = Samuel Tanner {{nowrap|(Adams–Marquette)}}
| term_start2 = January 1, 1877
| term_end2 = January 6, 1879
| predecessor2 = G. M. Marshall {{nowrap|(Adams–Wood)}}
| successor2 = Charles A. Cady
| term_start3 = January 3, 1870
| term_end3 = January 2, 1871
| predecessor3 = Otis B. Lapham
| successor3 = Anson Rood
|party = Republican
|birth_date = {{birth date|1831|3|7}}
|birth_place = Yorkshire, New York, U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|1903|9|23|1831|3|7}}
|death_place = Adams County, Wisconsin, U.S.
|restingplace = Mount Repose Cemetery, {{nowrap|Friendship, Wisconsin}}
|spouse = {{unbulleted list
| Hester Ann Mosher {{nowrap|(died 1865)}}
| Harriet E. Waterman {{nowrap|(died 1900)}}
}}
|children =
|allegiance = United States
|branch = United States Volunteers
Union Army
|rank = 1st Lieutenant, USV
|serviceyears = 1864–1865
|unit = 38th Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry
|battles = American Civil War
}}
Solon Wesley Pierce (March 7, 1831{{spaced ndash}}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.
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.{{cite news|title=State News: Solon W. Pierce |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3297752/solon_pierce_18311903/|newspaper=Oshkosh Daily Northwestern|date=September 24, 1903|page=7|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = September 26, 2015 }} {{Open access}}
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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wiroots.org/wiadams/solonpierce.html|title = Adams County, Wisconsin Genealogy}}
Pierce died at his home in Friendship.
Published works
- {{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-J0dAQAAMAAJ |title= Battle Fields and Camp Fires of the Thirty-Eighth Wisconsin Volunteers |last= Pierce |first= S. W. |publisher= Daily Wisconsin Printing House |year =1866 |location= Milwaukee }}
References
{{reflist}}
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.
External links
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=Solon Pierce |sopt=t}}
- {{Find a Grave|10519263|Solon Wesley Pierce}}
- [http://www.wiroots.org/wiadams/solonpierce.html Solon Wesley Pierce obituary]
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-wi-hs}}
{{s-bef|before = Otis B. Lapham }}
{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly}} {{nowrap|from the Adams district}} |years= January 3, 1870{{spaced ndash}}January 2, 1871}}
{{s-aft|after = Anson Rood }}
{{s-bef|before = G. M. Marshall
{{nowrap|(Adams–Wood)}} }}
{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly}} {{nowrap|from the Adams district}} |years= January 1, 1877{{spaced ndash}}January 6, 1879 }}
{{s-aft|after = Charles A. Cady }}
{{s-bef|before = Charles A. Cady }}
{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly}} {{nowrap|from the Adams district}} |years= January 5, 1880{{spaced ndash}}January 1, 1883 }}
{{s-aft|after = Samuel Tanner
{{nowrap|(Adams–Marquette)}} }}
{{s-bef|before = Sophronius S. Landt }}
{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly}} {{nowrap|from the Adams–Marquette district}} |years= January 4, 1897{{spaced ndash}}January 2, 1899 }}
{{s-aft|after = Charles E. Kempley }}
{{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Solon}}
Category:Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
Category:People from Friendship, Wisconsin
Category:Politicians from Cattaraugus County, New York
Category:People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War
Category:Editors of Wisconsin newspapers
Category:Writers from New York (state)
Category:Writers from Wisconsin