William L. Smith (1878 - ?) was a barber from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who served three terms as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Background and business

Smith was born in the Town of Franklin in 1878. He attended both public and

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

s, but at the age of fourteen years was compelled to earn his own living. He became a barber's apprentice, and continued in that trade. He opened his own shop on Kinnickinnic Avenue in Bay View about 1897. His official biography boasted, "Smith has always been a union man and employs nothing but union men in his shop".

Legislative service

Smith was first elected in 1912 in the newly- redistricted twelfth

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...

Assembly seat (12th Ward of the City of Milwaukee), succeeding fellow Socialist and union activist Jacob Hahn. Smith received 1,125 votes to 1,007 for Democrat John F. Filut, 450 for Republican Martin Gedlinski, and 31 for Prohibitionist Walter Lewerenz. Smith was assigned to the legislature's joint committee on

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

. In 1914, Smith won re-election, with 932 votes to 828 for Gedlinski (now running as a Democrat) and 329 for Republican John J. Morris; and remained on the joint finance committee. In 1916, he was again re-elected, with 944 votes to 785 for Democrat William T. Langen and 499 for Republican J. Jensen, and remained on the joint finance committee, on which he was now joined by newly elected Republican Assemblyman William L. Smith of

Neillsville Neillsville is a city in Clark County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 2,384 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat. History The Ojibwa were the earliest known residents of the Neillsville area. The first settlers of Europ ...

. In 1918, Smith was defeated for re-election by Democrat

George Czerwinski George Francis Czerwinski (September 19, 1890 – December 4, 1988), later Sherwin, was an American politician who was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate. Biography Czerwinski was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ...

, 1006 to 863.Hunter, Paul F., ed. ''The Wisconsin blue book, 1919'' Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printer, 1919; p. 162
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References

1878 births Barbers Businesspeople from Wisconsin Smith, William L. (Socialist) Politicians from Milwaukee Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin Year of death unknown People from Franklin, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-WIAssembly-stub