William E. Smith

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William E. Smith

William E. Smith (born June 18, 1824 in Inverness , Scotland , †  February 13, 1883 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin ) was an American politician and from 1878 to 1882 the 14th  governor of the state of Wisconsin.

Early years and political advancement

In 1835, William Smith emigrated with his family from Scotland to the USA. After a few stops in New York and Michigan , he settled in Fox Lake (Wisconsin) in 1849 . There he worked for a trading company and became interested in politics.

At the time, Smith was a member of the Whigs , for which he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly . After the fall of the Whig Party, he was a charter member of the Republicans in 1854 . In the years that followed, he was elected twice to the Wisconsin Senate for his new party . He was also a member of the board of directors of Wisconsin's elementary schools from 1858 to 1876. Between 1866 and 1870 he was the successor of Samuel D. Hastings and Treasurer of his state and then sat again in the State Assembly , where he also acted as speaker . In 1873 he was appointed director of the state penitentiary by Governor Cadwallader C. Washburn . He held this office until 1877. In the meantime, he still found the time to co-found a supermarket chain in Milwaukee ( Round's Supermarket Chain ).

Governor of wisconsin

In 1877, William Smith was elected as a Republican candidate for new governor. He received only 44.2 percent of the vote, but won over the Democrat James A. Mallory (39.6 percent). Smith took up his new office on January 7, 1878 and was able to exercise it after a re-election in 1879 until January 2, 1882. During this time he has shown himself to be less than employee-friendly. When the workers in the sawmills went on strike for shorter hours, the governor complied with the employers' requests and sent the National Guard to suppress the strike. The leaders were arrested.

After his governorship ended, Smith returned to his own business. But he didn't have much time for that. He died in February 1883. William Smith was married to Mary Booth, with whom he had four children.

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