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

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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 {{Wisconsin-WIAssembly-stub