William A. Poynter

William Amos Poynter (born May 29, 1848 in Eureka , Illinois , † April 5, 1909 ) was an American politician and between 1899 and 1901 the eleventh governor of the state of Nebraska .

Early years and political advancement

William Poynter attended local schools in his home in Illinois. In 1867 he graduated from Eureka College . In 1879 he moved to Boone County , Nebraska, where he settled as a rancher and farmer. Poynters political career began with his election to the Nebraska House of Representatives in 1884. In 1890 he was elected to the State Senate. He was also on the Nebraska Agriculture Council.

Poynter was a member of the Populist Party , which was a strong political force in Nebraska in the 1880s and -90s and had a governor in 1894, Silas A. Holcomb , who was supported by the Democratic Party . In 1898 Poynter was elected as the joint candidate of the populists and Democrats for the new governor of Nebraska, where he prevailed with 50:49 percent of the vote against the Republican Monroe Leland Hayward .

Governor of Nebraska

Poynter's two-year term began on January 5, 1899 and ended on January 3, 1901. On the whole, his term of office was uneventful. Only the control of the railways was improved and the city of Lincoln was designated as the site of the state exhibition. In 1900 Poynter ran unsuccessfully for his re-election: he was defeated by the Republican Charles Henry Dietrich with a deficit of less than 900 votes. After the end of his tenure, Poynter devoted himself to his private business interests. He died in April 1909. William Poynter was married to Maria Josephine McCorke, with whom he had two children.

Web links

• William Poynter in the National Governors Association (English)
• William A. Poynter in the database of Find a Grave (English)