Leonard James Farwell (January 5, 1819 – April 11, 1889) was an American politician and public administrator. He was the 2nd Governor of Wisconsin.

Early life

Farwell was born in

Watertown, New York Watertown is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, New York, United States. It is approximately south of the Thousand Islands, along the Black River about east of where it flows into Lake Ontario. The city is bordered by th ...

, the son of James and Rebecca (Cady) Farwell; both his parents died before his 11th birthday. He completed common schooling and apprenticed as a

tinsmith A tinsmith is a person who makes and repairs things made of tin or other light metals. The profession may sometimes also be known as a tinner, tinker, tinman, or tinplate worker; whitesmith may also refer to this profession, though the same w ...

until age 19. At that age, he moved west, settling briefly at

Lockport, Illinois Lockport is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States, located 30 miles southwest of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 26,094. The city was incorporated in 1853. It is situated along the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal, an ...

, where he established himself as a tinsmith. In January 1840, he sold his tinsmith business and moved north, 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 ...

, in 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 ...

. He opened a wholesale hardware business there, which developed into one of the largest in the western territories at the time. He travelled extensively between 1846 and 1849, visiting Caribbean islands, Europe, and the near East. On his return, he settled in Dane County, Wisconsin, where he had invested in a great amount of property and owned roughly half the land of the village of

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, the capitol of the new state. Farwell was active in building up the new capitol—he owned and operated half a dozen mills and shops, and was instrumental in laying out the streets and erecting the public buildings. He contributed to the establishment of the

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...

, the state Agricultural Society, the public school system, and the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

Public career

Farwell was nominated by the Whig Party as their candidate in the

1851 Wisconsin gubernatorial election The 1851 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1851. Whig candidate Leonard J. Farwell won the election with 51% of the vote, winning his first term as Governor of Wisconsin. Farwell defeated Democratic candidate Don A. J. Up ...

. He defeated his opponent, former Milwaukee Mayor

Don A. J. Upham Don Alonzo Joshua Upham (May 1, 1809July 19, 1877) was an American lawyer, Democratic politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served as the 4th Mayor of Milwaukee and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Wisconsin in the 1851 election. ...

, and led the Whigs to a strong showing in the Wisconsin Assembly elections down-ballot, though they did not capture other statewide offices. Farwell's success was likely due to his personal popularity and the contributions he had provided to assist recent immigrants arriving in Wisconsin. He served one term and declined re-nomination in 1853. He was the first and only Whig Governor of Wisconsin.

Governorship

His term as governor had several significant achievements for the state. In the 1852 session, he signed a law which established the official

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin. Location The Wi ...

1852 Wisconsin Act 395
—prior to this law, the Supreme Court had simply been constituted of the judges of the state's circuit courts. He worked with Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate to pass a major banking act
1852 Wisconsin Act 479
which established a bank comptroller, a state banking institution, and significant regulation of commercial banking and lending. This act was also put to referendum and passed with the support of 79% of the electorate in November 1852. He also signed into law the creation of Wisconsin's Commissioner of Emigration
1852 Wisconsin Act 432)
to be established in New York City and to encourage migration to the state. The work of the migration commissioner likely contributed to Wisconsin's population growing by 200,000 over the next three years. In the 1853 session, he signed a historic act abolishing the death penalty in

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 ...

and replaced it with a penalty of life imprisonment
1853 Wisconsin Act 103
. This made Wisconsin the first state to abolish the

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

. In the same session, he signed the acts officially incorporating the State Historical Society
1853 Wisconsin Act 17
, and the State Agricultural Society
1853 Wisconsin Act 5
.

Later years

After leaving the governorship in 1854, Farwell concentrated on his business and local interests. He ran for alderman in Madison but lost by a close margin in 1857. Many of his investments were lost due to the Panic of 1857, and he ended up selling much of his property to pay his debts. He withdrew to his farm on the northern shores of

Lake Mendota Lake Mendota is a freshwater eutrophic lake that is the northernmost and largest of the four lakes in Madison, Wisconsin. The lake borders Madison on the north, east, and south, Middleton on the west, Shorewood Hills on the southwest, Maple Bl ...

and took a role in managing the State Hospital for the Insane. In 1859, he briefly returned to politics when he was elected on the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

ticket to represent northern Dane County in 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, ...

for the 1860 session. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, he served as vice president of the association for the relief of Wisconsin's soldiers, providing services for sick and disabled veterans of the war. In 1863, he accepted an appointment from

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

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 ...

to the

U.S. Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

and moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He would serve as principal examiner of inventions for the next seven years.

Lincoln assassination

On the night of April 14, 1865, he was a witness, at

Ford's Theatre Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in August 1863. The theater is infamous for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater bo ...

, to the

assassination of President Lincoln On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the hea ...

by John Wilkes Booth. He wisely presumed that other high officers of the Lincoln administration might also be endangered by the conspiracy and rushed to the Vice President's boarding place, arriving in time to summon additional guards and save Andrew Johnson from the knife of

George Atzerodt George Andrew Atzerodt (June 12, 1835 – July 7, 1865) was a German American repairman, Confederate sympathizer, and conspirator with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln. He was assigned to assassinat ...

. Governor Farwell then proceeded to Secretary

William H. Seward William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States Senator. A determined oppon ...

's residence but arrived too late to prevent that attack. President Johnson later offered Farwell any appointment he wanted in the federal government, but Farwell declined, choosing to continue his work in the Patent Office.

Return to the midwest

After seven years in Washington, Governor Farwell moved to

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

and started a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

agency, but he fell victim to the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...

of 1871, and thus abandoned the city. He then relocated to the small town of

Grant City, Missouri Grant City is a city in, and the county seat of, Worth County, Missouri, United States. The population was 859 at the 2010 census. History Grant City was laid out in 1864. The community has the name of General Ulysses S. Grant, afterward 18th Pre ...

, where he entered into a partnership in banking and real-estate, and went on to contribute to the building of a new high school, courthouse, and other infrastructure in the city. On April 11, 1889, after a brief illness, Farwell died in Grant City at the age of 70. He was

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at the Grant City Cemetery.

Family life

Farwell was the son of James and Rebecca (Cady) Farwell; both of his parents died in his childhood, leaving him orphaned at age 11. He married Frances A. Cross (spelled "Corss" in many historical documents) on September 20, 1853, while he was serving his term as governor. She was the daughter of General Andrew N. Cross (or "Corss"), of Madison. They had three children together before her death, in 1868, while they were living in Washington.

Electoral history

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, November 4, 1851

References

External links

Leonard J. Farwell, Dictionary of Wisconsin History, Wisconsin State Historical SocietyLeonard J. Farwell, Articles, Wisconsin State Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farwell, Leonard J. 1819 births 1889 deaths Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Governors of Wisconsin Politicians from Watertown, New York Politicians from Chicago People from Grant City, Missouri Politicians from Milwaukee Politicians from Madison, Wisconsin Wisconsin Whigs Whig Party state governors of the United States 19th-century American politicians