William H. Markham was a member of the

Wisconsin State Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...

Biography

Markham was born on December 13, 1888, in Independence, Wisconsin. He attended

Lawrence College Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducation ...

and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and was later active in the preservation of the

Horicon Marsh Horicon Marsh is a marsh located in northern Dodge and southern Fond du Lac counties of Wisconsin. It is the site of both a national and a state wildlife refuge. The silted-up glacial lake is the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the United Sta ...

. Markham died in 1958.

Career

Markham was elected to the Senate in 1926. Previously, he had been an alderman, City Attorney and Mayor of Horicon, Wisconsin. During the

United States Senate elections, 1928 The 1928 United States Senate elections were elections that coincided with the presidential election of Republican Herbert Hoover. The strong economy helped the Republicans to gain seven seats from the Democrats. Senate Majority leader, Republic ...

, Markham was an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate, losing to incumbent

Robert M. La Follette Jr. Robert Marion "Young Bob" La Follette Jr. (February 6, 1895 – February 24, 1953) was an American politician serving as a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1925 to 1947. A member of the La Follette family, he was a son of U.S. Representative, U.S ...

In 1936, he ran for the

Wisconsin Progressive Party The Wisconsin Progressive Party (1934–1946) was a political party that briefly held a dominant role in Wisconsin politics. History The Party was the brainchild of Philip La Follette and Robert M. La Follette, Jr., the sons of the famous Wiscon ...

nomination for Attorney General of Wisconsin, losing to

Orland Steen Loomis Orland Steen "Spike" Loomis (November 2, 1893 – December 7, 1942) was an American lawyer. He was elected to be the 31st Governor of Wisconsin in 1942, but died before taking office. He previously served as the 28th Attorney General of Wisconsi ...

. He was then an unsuccessful candidate for

Dodge County, Wisconsin Dodge County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 89,396. Its county seat is Juneau. The county was created from the Wisconsin Territory in 1836 and organized in 1844. Dodge County com ...

Judge in 1938. In 1948, Markham ran for 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 ...

nomination for

Secretary of State of Wisconsin The Secretary of State of Wisconsin is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Wisconsin, and is second (behind the Lieutenant Governor) in the line of succession to the office of Governor of Wiscon ...

, losing to incumbent

Fred R. Zimmerman Frederick Robert Zimmerman (November 20, 1880December 14, 1954) was a German American politician from Milwaukee, who served as the 25th Governor of Wisconsin. He served before and after his governorship as Wisconsin Secretary of State—for ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markham, William People from Independence, Wisconsin People from Horicon, Wisconsin Wisconsin state senators Mayors of places in Wisconsin Wisconsin city council members Wisconsin city attorneys Wisconsin Republicans Wisconsin Progressives (1924) Wisconsin Independents Lawrence University alumni University of Minnesota alumni 1888 births 1958 deaths 20th-century American legislators 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century Wisconsin politicians