William D. Hoard
William Dempster Hoard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 16th Governor of Wisconsin | |
| In office January 7, 1889 – January 5, 1891 | |
| Lieutenant | George W. Ryland |
| Preceded by | Jeremiah McLain Rusk |
| Succeeded by | George W. Peck |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 10, 1836 Stockbridge, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 22, 1918 (aged 82) Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Resting place | Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Agnes Elizabeth Bragg |
| Children | 3 |
| Profession | Dairyman, Editor, Politician |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1862 1864–1865 |
| Unit | 4th Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry 1st Reg. N.Y. Vol. Artillery |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
William Dempster Hoard (October 10, 1836 – November 22, 1918) was an American politician, a newspaper editor, and the 16th governor of the U.S. state of Wisconsin from 1889 to 1891.
Early life and career[]
Born in Stockbridge, New York, he moved to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. As a boy, he was greatly influenced by the Reverend Thomas D. Cornelius, a Native American preacher of the Oneida Nation and one of the first Native Americans to become an ordained Methodist Minister. He had many close associations with the Oneidas in New York and mastered much of the Oneida language.
During the American Civil War, Hoard served in the 4th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment as a musician until he was discharged for medical reasons. He went back to New York to recover and served to the end of the war in the 1st New York Artillery Regiment. Returning to Wisconsin, he got involved with the hops industry, but the glut and decline in the industry left him without money.[1] He was a member of the Republican Party, but was an outsider and an amateur in politics. He was a leading promoter of the dairy industry, through his weekly magazine Hoard's Dairyman.[2]
Governor of Wisconsin[]
In 1889, Hoard asked the legislature to pass the Bennett Law, the state's first compulsory school attendance law.[3] It required all public and private schools to teach major subjects in English. The German Lutherans and German Catholics, who each had a large parochial school system that used German-speaking teachers, strenuously objected. Hoard made the extremely controversial law the centerpiece of his reelection campaign, rejecting the advice of professional politicians that it would doom the GOP. The law, and Hoard, were repudiated by the state's large German community. Hoard was defeated in an intense campaign by Democrat George Wilbur Peck, the Yankee mayor of Milwaukee.[4][5]
The Republican establishment was outraged at Hoard. In turn the moralistic rank and file bridled at the boss rule. Hoard joined forces with Robert M. La Follette and created the Progressive faction of the state GOP. It propelled La Follette to the governorship and the U.S. Senate, but Hoard, still an influential publisher, broke with La Follette in 1912.[citation needed]
Death and legacy[]
Hoard died in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, on November 22, 1918 (age 82 years, 43 days).[6] He is interred at Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
In honor of Hoard's service to the dairy industry, a statue of Hoard by Gutzon Borglum was erected in 1922 at the head of Henry Mall of what is now the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which was the original quadrangle of the university's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.[7] Gutzon Borglum later went on to create Mount Rushmore.
Hoard's birthday is celebrated in Wisconsin as an official holiday named William D. Hoard Day.[8]
Family life[]
Son of William Bradford and Sarah Katherine White Hoard, he married Agnes Elizabeth Bragg and they had three sons, Halbert Louis, Arthur Ralph, and Frank Ward.
See also[]
- Hoard Historical Museum
References[]
- ^ "Hoard, William Dempster 1836–1918". Dictionary of Wisconsin History. Wisconsin Historical Society. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
- ^ "Hoard's History". Hoard's Dairyman – The National Dairy Farm Magazine. Archived from the original on December 27, 2011.
- ^ "Bennett Law". Dictionary of Wisconsin History. Wisconsin Historical Society. Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
- ^ Richard Jensen, The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896 (1971) online ch 5
- ^ William Foote Whyte, "The Bennett Law Campaign in Wisconsin," Wisconsin Magazine of History, 10: 4 (1926–1927).
- ^ "William D. Hoard Dies". The Marion Star. Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. November 22, 1918. p. 11. Retrieved January 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "W.D.Hoard Gets A Makeover". University of Wisconsin–Madison. October 14, 2002. Archived from the original on June 11, 2010. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
- ^ Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. "Wisconsin Statutes". Retrieved February 6, 2019.
Further reading[]
- Osman, Loren H. W. D. Hoard: A Man For His Time. Fort Atkinson, Wis.: W. D. Hoard, 1985.
- Risjord, Norman K. "From the Plow to the Cow: William D. Hoard and America's Dairyland". Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 88, no. 3 (Spring 2005):40-49.
- Wyman, Roger E. "Wisconsin Ethnic Groups and the Election of 1890". Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 51, no. 4 (Summer 1968): 269–293.
External links[]
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- Governors of Wisconsin
- People from Stockbridge, New York
- People from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
- People of New York (state) in the American Civil War
- People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War
- Union Army soldiers
- American magazine editors
- American agriculturalists
- 1836 births
- 1918 deaths
- Wisconsin Republicans
- Republican Party state governors of the United States
- 19th-century American politicians
- Burials in Wisconsin
- Dairy farmers