William Tripp (November 29, 1817 probably in

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

– March 29, 1878 in

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...

) was an American politician, lawyer, soldier, and surveyor. Tripp's father, also named William Tripp, was a farmer and minister. He married Lucy Tebbets on January 3, 1814, and William Tripp was their second child. After attending the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, he studied law and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one. A

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 ...

, he or his father represented

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

in the Maine House of Representatives in 1841; he represented Wilton in the Maine Senate in 1848–9, becoming Senate President in 1849. In 1852 he was serving as county attorney for Franklin County, a Justice of the Peace, and a Brigadier General (Second Brigade, Eighth Division) of the Maine Militia. In 1852 he left Maine and settled in

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, where he practiced law. In 1857 he moved to

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

, Iowa. At the beginning of the Civil War, he became the commander of Company B of the 1st Dakota Cavalry, serving under General

Alfred Sully Alfred Sully (May 22, 1820 – April 27, 1879), was a military officer during the American Civil War and during the Indian Wars on the frontier. He was also a noted painter. Biography Sully was the son of the portrait painter, Thomas Sully, of ...

on the frontier. By 1862 he was living in Yankton in the

; the first meeting of the Upper House of the Territorial Legislature, in March 1862, occurred at his house there. From 1866 to 1869 he served as Surveyor General for the Dakota Territory under President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...

. In 1869 he formed a law firm in Yankton with his younger half-brother

Bartlett Tripp Bartlett Tripp (July 15, 1839 – December 8, 1911) was a diplomat, Chief Justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court, first professor of the University of South Dakota College of Law and first President of the South Dakota Bar Association. H ...

, later a judge and diplomat. Tripp played a part in the story of the first man officially convicted and jailed by the Dakota Territory. A man named Frank Sullivan was brought to Yankton in October 1870, accused of stealing horses from the Indians. William Tripp managed to get him acquitted. However, while working for William's half-brother Bartlett, Sullivan forged an order for a suit of clothes and fled when his crime was discovered. Brought back to Yankton, he escaped the jail and stole a horse from William Tripp. He was once more captured, while trying to use another forged order, this time from William Tripp, brought back, convicted, and sent to prison in December 1871. William Tripp and his half-brother Bartlett were both defense lawyers in the 1874 trial of Peter Wintermute for the murder of acting governor Edwin Stanton McCook. William was called as a witness at the trial.

Family

Tripp married Sarah Adams Woods (1819-1897) in 1841 and had at least two children - William Wallace Tripp (1843-1863) and Flora Louisa Tripp Voter (1849-1913). Tripp and his wife were divorced in 1862 by act of the Dakota legislature.Divorce: An American Tradition, Glenda Riley, Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1997, p. 98 Tripp then married Martha Atwood (1822-1905) and had three children, two of whom died in infancy, and a son, Henry Tripp (1865-1933).

References

External links

Photo & Bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tripp, William People from Bethel, Maine Politicians from Dubuque, Iowa Politicians from Sioux City, Iowa People from Yankton, South Dakota Maine lawyers Iowa lawyers South Dakota lawyers Dakota Territory officials Surveying of the United States Dakota War of 1862 Democratic Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Presidents of the Maine Senate Democratic Party Maine state senators 1817 births 1878 deaths 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers