The Honorable
Orsamus R. Cole
6th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
In office
November 11, 1880 – January 4, 1892
Appointed byWilliam E. Smith
Preceded byEdward George Ryan
Succeeded byWilliam P. Lyon
Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
In office
June 1, 1855 – January 4, 1892
Preceded bySamuel Crawford
Succeeded bySilas U. Pinney
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Wisconsin's 2nd district
In office
March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851
Preceded byMason C. Darling
Succeeded byBen C. Eastman
Personal details
Born(1819-08-23)August 23, 1819
Cazenovia, New York, US
DiedMay 5, 1903(1903-05-05) (aged 83)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US
Resting placeForest Hill Cemetery
Madison, Wisconsin
Political party
Spouses
  • Julia A. Houghton
  • (m. 1848; died 1874)
  • Roberta C. Noe Garnhart
  • (m. 1879; died 1884)
Children
  • Sidney H. Cole
  • Orsamus Cole
Parents
  • Hymeneus Cole (father)
  • Sarah Salisbury (mother)
Alma materUnion College

Orsamus R. Cole (August 23, 1819 – May 5, 1903) was an American lawyer and judge. He served as the 6th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and, until 2013, was the longest-serving justice in the Court's history, with nearly 37 years on the high court. He also represented Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 31st Congress (1849–1850).[1][2] His name is frequently misspelled as Orasmus.

Early life and career

Orsamus Cole was born in Cazenovia, New York, the son of Hymeneus Cole and Sarah Salisbury. Both of his grandfathers had served in the American Revolutionary War. Cole attended the common schools and graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1843. He studied law, and, in 1845, he was admitted to the New York bar. That same year, after a brief stop in Chicago, he moved to Potosi, a lead mining town in Grant County, Wisconsin Territory. At Potosi, he entered a prosperous law practice partnership with William Biddlecome.[3]

Political office

In 1847, he was chosen as one of Grant County's delegates to the 2nd Wisconsin Constitutional Convention. The constitution was ratified by a referendum in May 1848, and, that fall, Orsamus was nominated by the Whig Party as their candidate for Congress in Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district.[4] In the November general election, Cole defeated his opponents, Democrat A. Hyatt Smith and Free Soil candidate George W. Crabb, and earned a seat in the 31st United States Congress.[3]

In Congress, Cole sided with the anti-slavery Whigs and refused to support the fugitive slave provisions of the Compromise of 1850. He ran for re-election in 1850, but was defeated by Democrat Ben C. Eastman.[5]

He resumed the practice of law in Potosi, but, in 1853, stood on the consolidated Whig and Free Soil ticket as their candidate for Attorney General of Wisconsin. The Whig and Free Soil ticket was defeated in nearly all of the statewide races that year, and Cole again returned to his law practice.[3]

Supreme Court

Following their defeat in 1853, Whig and Free Soil remnants went on to form the new Republican Party. In the 1854 elections, the new Republican Party was very successful and captured a majority of the Wisconsin State Assembly. That winter, they selected Cole to be their candidate against incumbent Associate Justice Samuel Crawford in the April 1855 Supreme Court election.[3]

Cole defeated Crawford, largely because of his opposition to the fugitive slave laws,[4] and took office the following June. He was re-elected to six-year terms in 1861, 1867, 1873, and was then re-elected to ten-year term in 1879. In November 1880, Cole was appointed by Governor William E. Smith to fill the vacant Chief Justice role created by the death of Justice Edward George Ryan. He was elected to a full ten-year term as chief justice in April 1881.[3]

Justice Cole served thirty six years and seven months on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and was the longest-serving justice in the history of that court until he was surpassed by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in 2013.[6]

At the end of his term in 1892, he retired to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he died on May 5, 1903.[4] He was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Personal life and family

He married his first wife Julia A. Houghton in 1848. They had two children, Sidney, who lived to adulthood, and Orsamus, who died as an infant in 1853. Julia died in 1874. He married his second wife, Roberta C. Noe Garnhart, the widow of John H. Garnhart, on January 1, 1879, at Madison, Wisconsin. She died June 17, 1884.

His former home, now known as the Carrie Pierce House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[7][8]

Electoral history

U.S. House of Representatives (1848, 1850)

Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District Election, 1848[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election
Whig Orsamus Cole 6,281 45.23%
Democratic A. Hyatt Smith 5,690 40.97%
Free Soil George W. Crabb 1,916 13.80%
Plurality 591 4.26%
Total votes 13,887 100.0%
Whig gain from Democratic
Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District Election, 1850[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election (partial returns)
Democratic Ben C. Eastman 7,262 55.38%
Whig Orsamus Cole 5,852 44.62%
Plurality 1,410 10.75% +6.50%
Total votes 13,114 100.0% -5.57%
Democratic gain from Whig Swing 15.01%

Wisconsin Attorney General (1853)

Wisconsin Attorney General Election, 1853[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election
Democratic George Baldwin Smith 31,705 57.15%
Whig Orsamus Cole 23,776 42.85%
Plurality 7,929 14.29%
Total votes 55,481 100.0%
Democratic hold

Wisconsin Supreme Court (1855)

Wisconsin Supreme Court Election, 1855[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, April 3, 1855
Nonpartisan Orsamus Cole 32,881 55.95%
Nonpartisan Samuel Crawford (incumbent) 25,733 43.79%
Nonpartisan James H. Knowlton (Write-in) 64 0.11%
Scattering 90 0.15%
Plurality 7,148 12.16%
Total votes 58,768 100.0%

References

  1. ↑ "Orsamus Cole (1819-1903)". Wisconsin Court System. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Cole, Orasmus - Biographical Information".
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Tenney, H.A.; Atwood, David, eds. (1880). Memorial Record of the Fathers of Wisconsin. David Atwood. pp. 196–200. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 "Death of a Jurist". The Post-Crescent. May 6, 1903. p. 1. Retrieved July 31, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ↑ "Cole, Orsamus 1819 - 1903". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  6. ↑ Hall, Dee J. (April 12, 2013). "Shirley Abrahamson — first woman on Wisconsin Supreme Court — now also longest-serving member". Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Pierce House Historical Marker".
  8. ↑ "Carrie Pierce House".
  9. ↑ "Official Returns". Potosi Republican. December 7, 1848. p. 2. Retrieved May 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Official Canvass". Wisconsin Democrat. December 14, 1850. p. 2. Retrieved May 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Official Canvass". Daily Free Democrat. December 10, 1853. p. 2. Retrieved May 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - Official". Daily Free Democrat. May 26, 1855. p. 2. Retrieved May 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.