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Daniel Harris Johnson

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The Honorable
Daniel H. Johnson
Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for the 2nd Circuit, Branch 1
In office
January 1, 1900 – June 15, 1900
Preceded byPosition Established
Succeeded byLawrence W. Halsey
Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for the 2nd Circuit
In office
January 2, 1888 – January 1, 1900
Preceded byCharles A. Hamilton
Succeeded byPosition Abolished
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Milwaukee 7th district
In office
January 1, 1869 – January 1, 1871
Preceded byPatrick Walsh
Succeeded byMatthew Keenan
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Bad AxCrawford district
In office
January 1, 1861 – January 1, 1862
Preceded byWilliam C. McMichael
Succeeded by
Personal details
Born
Daniel Harris Johnson

(1825-07-27)July 27, 1825
Kingston, Upper Canada
DiedJune 15, 1900(1900-06-15) (aged 74)
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Resting placeForest Home Cemetery
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
NationalityAmerican
Political party
Spouses
Children
  • Kate Johnson
  • (b. 1861; died 1892)
OccupationLawyer, judge
Signature

Daniel Harris Johnson (July 27, 1825 – June 15, 1900) was an American lawyer and judge. He was a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge for the last twelve years of his life. Earlier he served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Biography

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Johnson was born in Kingston, Ontario, which was then part of Upper Canada. His father died just two years after his birth. He had been a British Army sergeant under Wellington in the War of 1812, who remained in Canada after the war. His mother was daughter of an American Revolutionary War volunteer.[1] After attending Rock River Seminary, Johnson moved to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in 1848. Here, he began the study of law, and, in 1849, was admitted to the State Bar of Wisconsin.[2]

He practiced law in Prairie du Chien for several years, but, in 1854, he purchased a stake in the Prairie du Chien Courier, and soon became its sole proprietor and editor. He returned to the practice of law in 1856, forming a partnership with W. R. Bullock, a nephew of John C. Breckinridge. The partnership was broken by the American Civil War, when Bullock joined with the Confederacy.[2]

In November 1860, Johnson was elected on the Republican Party ticket to represent Crawford and Bad Ax (Vernon) counties in the Wisconsin State Assembly during the 14th Wisconsin Legislature. After the legislative session ended, in the fall of 1861, he worked as an assistant to Wisconsin Attorney General James Henry Howe.[2]

In November 1862, he moved to Milwaukee and, for the next 16 years, practiced law with a number of different legal firms in the city. In 1868, Milwaukee voters elected him to return to the Wisconsin Assembly. He was re-elected in 1869. In the 1869 session of the legislature, he was chairman of the committee on education, and in 1870, he was chairman of the committee on the judiciary.[2][3]

After serving in the Assembly as a Republican, he became associated with the Liberal Republican faction in the so-called "Greeley movement", named for Horace Greeley. He was a delegate for Wisconsin to the 1872 Liberal Republican convention in Cincinnati which nominated Greeley for president. Greeley was subsequently also nominated by the Democratic Party, and, from that point on, Johnson became affiliated with the Democratic Party. He served in various local offices over the next decade, as city attorney and member of the Milwaukee School Board.[4][2]

In 1887, he was elected to the Wisconsin Circuit Court for the Milwaukee-based 2nd Circuit.[2] He was re-elected without opposition in 1893, and, in 1899, when the circuit was split into two branches, he was one of the two judges elected. He died, however, just six months after the start of his third term.

He died on June 15, 1900, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[4]

Electoral history

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Wisconsin Circuit Court, 2nd Circuit Election, 1887[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, April 5, 1887
Nonpartisan Daniel H. Johnson 14,606 52.54%
Nonpartisan Newton S. Murphy 13,192 47.45%
Scattering 2 0.01%
Total votes 27,800 100.0%
Wisconsin Circuit Court, 2nd Circuit Election, 1893[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, April 1893
Nonpartisan Daniel H. Johnson (incumbent) 30,653 100.0%
Total votes 30,653 100.0% +10.26%
Wisconsin Circuit Court, 2nd Circuit Election, 1899[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, April 4, 1899 (top two)
Nonpartisan Eugene S. Elliott 9,742 25.91%
Nonpartisan Daniel H. Johnson (incumbent) 6,275 16.69%
Nonpartisan Frederick W. Cotzhausen 5,292 14.07%
Nonpartisan James H. Stover 5,062 13.46%
Nonpartisan Jerred Thompson, Jr. 3,470 9.23%
Nonpartisan John M. Clarke 3,431 9.12%
Nonpartisan Joseph E. Wildish 2,883 7.67%
Nonpartisan Daniel J. Dalton 833 2.22%
Nonpartisan Frederick Starr Fish 614 1.63%
Total votes 37,602 100.0% +22.67%

References

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  1. ^ Memoirs. Proceedings of the State Bar Association of Wisconsin. 1902. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Berryman, John R., ed. (1898). "History of the Bench and Bar of Wisconsin". Chicago: H. C. Cooper, Jr. pp. 389–392. Retrieved January 6, 2021 – via archive.org.
  3. ^ "Johnson, Daniel Harris 1825 - 1900". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Sudden Death". The Oshkosh Northwestern. June 15, 1900. p. 1. Retrieved October 28, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ Timme, Ernst G., ed. (1889). "Part III. Election statistics". The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 259. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  6. ^ Casson, Henry, ed. (1895). "Part III. Election statistics". The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 350. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  7. ^ Froehlich, William H., ed. (1901). "Part III. Election statistics". The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 380. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
[edit]
Legal offices
Preceded by
Charles A. Hamilton
Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for the 2nd Circuit
1888 – 1900
Succeeded by
Circuit split
Preceded by
New branch
Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for the 2nd Circuit, Branch 1
1900
Succeeded by
Lawrence W. Halsey