Hans Crocker (June 11, 1815 – March 16, 1889) was an American lawyer 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 ...

politician. He began his career as a member of the

Democratic Party of Wisconsin The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is currently headed by chair Ben Wikler. Important issues for the state party include support for workers and unions, strong public educa ...

, but later became a member of the

Republican Party of Wisconsin The Republican Party of Wisconsin is a right-wing political party in Wisconsin and is the Wisconsin affiliate of the United States Republican Party (GOP). The state party chair is Paul Farrow. The state party is divided into 72 county parties f ...

. Crocker was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland in 1815, and emigrated to the United States with his family. He was raised in

Utica, New York Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...

. After high school, he moved to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where he studied law privately. Crocker is closely associated with

Byron Kilbourn Byron Kilbourn (September 8, 1801December 16, 1870) was an American surveyor, railroad executive, and politician who was an important figure in the founding of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the 3rd and 8th mayor of Milwaukee. Biography Kilbour ...

and his projects to develop Milwaukee and Wisconsin over the years. Crocker first moved to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

in 1836 and became the first editor of the Milwaukee's first newspaper, the '' Milwaukee Advertiser''. The Advertiser served as Kilbourn's trumpet to promote settlement in Kilbourntown, the area on the west side of the

Milwaukee River The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 19, 2011 Once a locus of industry, the river is now the c ...

where he owned large tracts of land, over settlement in the neighboring Juneautown. In fact, Crocker bought tracts of land in the Kilbourntown area himself. He stayed on as editor for a few months before entering into a private law practice in the area. He would continue to practice law privately until 1844. Crocker was actively involved in the political and legal fields in Wisconsin. Crocker served as private secretary to

Henry Dodge Moses Henry Dodge (October 12, 1782 – June 19, 1867) was a Democratic member to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son, Augustus C. Dodge, served as a ...

, the first governor of the

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...

, in 1836. In 1838 he was Judge Advocate General of the Wisconsin Territorial Guard. From 1842 to 1844, he served two terms in the upper house of the territorial assembly. In 1853, he served one term as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. He was a Wisconsin delegate to the

1860 Republican National Convention The 1860 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that met May 16-18 in Chicago, Illinois. It was held to nominate the Republican Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election. The conven ...

which selected

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

as its candidate for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

. Crocker also was involved in the development of public improvements in the area, especially those devised by Kilbourn. Crocker was canal commissioner in 1839, president of the Milwaukee Board of Trade in 1850, director of the Milwaukee and Watertown Plank Road and president of the Lake Hydraulic Company in 1852, director of Kilbourn's

Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experience ...

and president of the Milwaukee Gas and Light Company in 1853, commissioner reporting on the

Fox River Valley Railroad The Fox River Valley Railroad was a short-lived railroad in eastern Wisconsin, US from 1988 to 1993 with about 214 miles of track, all of which was former Chicago and North Western Railway trackage. The line ran from Green Bay, Wisconsin, to th ...

in 1856, receiver for the Portage and La Crosse Division of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad in 1857, and vice-president of the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railroad in 1858. In 1856, a private ship named the ''Hans Crocker'' was commissioned in Milwaukee. It eventually would be stranded near

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

in 1876. Crocker married Augusta Potter on March 21, 1844. He died at age 73 and is buried in Milwaukee's

Forest Home Cemetery Forest Home Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in the Lincoln Village neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is the final resting place of many of the city's famed beer barons, politicians and social elite. Both the cemetery and ...

.Forest Home Cemetery
"Self-Guided Historical Tour"
. Accessed February 3, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crocker, Hans 1815 births 1889 deaths Members of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature Mayors of Milwaukee Politicians from Utica, New York Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Editors of Wisconsin newspapers Wisconsin Democrats Wisconsin Republicans 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American politicians Journalists from New York (state)