Milan Ford (February 14, 1822 – August 22, 1900) was an American
farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...
from
Oshkosh,
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 ...
who served two years as a
Greenback 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, ...
from
Winnebago County.
Background
Ford was born in
Kinsman, Ohio
Kinsman (also known as Kinsman Center) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Kinsman Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The population was 574 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Youngstown–Warren metrop ...
on February 14, 1822; received a
common school A common school was a public school in the United States during the 19th century. Horace Mann (1796–1859) was a strong advocate for public education and the common school. In 1837, the state of Massachusetts appointed Mann as the first secretary ...
education, and became a Farmer by occupation. He came to Wisconsin in 1837, and settled in Winnebago County near
Oshkosh. He served as chairman of the
Town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
of
Nekimi, and held other local offices.
Assembly
He was elected in 1877 from the 4th Assembly district of Winnebago County (the Towns of
Nepeuskun, Nekimi,
Poygan,
Rushford,
Utica, and
Wolf River) as a Greenback, with 518 votes to 355 for
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
E. B. Rounds and 261 for
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 ...
George Slingsby (Republican incumbent
Sidney Shufelt was not a candidate for re-election). He was assigned to the
standing committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
on
federal relations, which he chaired (the Democrats and Republicans were almost tied in the Assembly, and the 13 Greenbacks and 1 socialist had a disproportionate influence as tiebreakers).
He was re-elected in 1878, with 660 votes against 536 for Republican
Thomas J. Bowles. He was assigned to the committees on
ways and means, and on the
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1879, and was succeeded by fellow Greenback
David R. Bean.
Death
Ford died on August 22, 1900 in Nekimi, Wisconsin.
['Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at the Forty-Eight Meeting-December 13, 1900, Biographical Sketch of Milan Ford, pg. 97]
References
1822 births
1900 deaths
Farmers from Wisconsin
Mayors of places in Wisconsin
Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
People from Kinsman, Ohio
People from Winnebago County, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Greenbacks
19th-century American politicians
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