Thomas Mohr (April 21, 1831 - May 10, 1907) was an American farmer and politician from Kossuth,

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 one-year terms (1876-1877) as a 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

Manitowoc County Manitowoc County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 81,359. Its county seat is Manitowoc. The county was created in 1836 prior to Wisconsin's statehood and organized in 1848. Manitowoc County ...

Background

Mohr was born in

Leuchtenberg Leuchtenberg is a municipality in the district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab in Bavaria, Germany, essentially a suburb of nearby Weiden in der Oberpfalz, and a larger historical region in the Holy Roman Empire governed by the Landgraves of Leuchten ...

in the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

on April 21, 1831, and received a common school education. He came to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1843, ending up in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, the same year. He became a farmer.

Coming to Wisconsin

Mohr was one of the first white settlers to come to Kossuth, arriving in 1850. Mohr married Maria Hassenfus (also a native of Bavaria) on January 15, 1857 in Manitowoc Rapids. In 1859, he married Margaret Zinkel, and as of 1860 they were living with his son John, at that time two years old (Maria may have died in childbirth). Between 1861 and 1881, they would have nine children of their own: George, Henry, Edward, Theresa, Anna Margareth, Frank, Mary Margaret, Josephine and Michael. In 1875, Mohr had already served several years as chairman of his

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

, two terms on the county commission, and two years as town treasurer. While generally a Democrat, Mohr was elected to the second Manitowoc County Assembly district (the Towns of Cato,

Cooperstown Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the ...

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, Kossuth, Manitowoc Rapids and Maple Grove) as a member of the Reform Party, a short-lived coalition of Democrats, reform and

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, and

Grangers The Grange, officially named The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, is a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and ...

formed in Wisconsin in 1873, which secured the election of a

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and a number of state legislators. He received 632 votes against 562 for Republican R. S. O'Connell. Mohr 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 ...

engrossed bill In the United States Congress, an enrolled bill is the final copy of a bill or joint resolution which has passed both houses of Congress in identical form. In the United States, enrolled bills are engrossed—prepared in a formally printed copy� ...

s. He was re-elected the next year even though his district had been

redistricted Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each decennial census. The U.S. Constitution in A ...

, receiving 1,314 votes against 628 for Republican M. Kellner. He was assigned to the committee on town and

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

organization. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1877, and was succeeded by Democrat William F. Nash. Mohr had first been elected to the county's board of supervisors from Kossuth in 1873, and would serve on and off in that position through 1901, for a total of eleven years, including two terms (1879 and 1886) as chairman of the board.

Death

Mohr, who had been retired for some time, died on May 10, 1907 in Kossuth, having broken his hip in a fall the previous autumn from which he never fully recovered.Epitaph in ''

Der Nord-Westen ''Der Nord-Westen'' was a German language weekly newspaper published in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. It began publication on September 5, 1855, under Carl Schmidt, suspended publication in November 1860, resuming publication in February 1865, and contin ...

'' May 16, 1907 He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Manitowoc. Margaret died August 29, 1907.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohr, Thomas 1831 births 1907 deaths Bavarian emigrants to the United States Politicians from Buffalo, New York People from Kossuth, Wisconsin Wisconsin Reformers (19th century) 19th-century American politicians County supervisors in Wisconsin Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly