Charles Doty (August 17, 1824December 17, 1918) was an American

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

, politician, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

pioneer. He was one of the first American children born in what is now Wisconsin, and served in the

1st Wisconsin Legislature The First Wisconsin Legislature convened from June 5, 1848, to August 21, 1848, in regular session. Members of the Assembly and Senate were elected after an election on February 1, 1848, that ratified the proposed state constitution. Major event ...

, representing His father was Wisconsin Territory governor James Duane Doty.

Biography

Doty was born in what is now

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

, on August 17, 1824. At the time of his birth, the area was known as "Shanty Town" and was still part of the

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit w ...

. He was a descendant of ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

'' colonist Edward Doty. He was trained to be a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and

Derry, New Hampshire Derry is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 34,317 at the 2020 census. Although it is a town and not a city, Derry is the most populous community in Rockingham County and the fourth most populous in the ...

. He was the son of Wisconsin territorial governor James Duane Doty and served as his father's private secretary. Doty married Sarah Jane Webster in 1846, and they had three sons. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. After the war, Doty took inventory of supplies for the Native Americans and eventually retired to St. Andrews in Bay County, Florida, where he died. In 1848, he served in the

as a Whig member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

.Wisconsin State Legislature

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Doty, Charles 1824 births 1918 deaths Politicians from Green Bay, Wisconsin People from Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin People from Menasha, Wisconsin People from Bay County, Florida Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Wisconsin Whigs People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War 19th-century American legislators 19th-century Wisconsin politicians