John Hubbard Tweedy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H._Tweedy

John Hubbard Tweedy (November 9, 1814 – November 12, 1891) was a delegate to the United States Congress from Wisconsin Territory from September 1847 to June 1848 being elected from the Whig Party.

Career

Tweedy was born in Danbury, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in 1834, where he was a member of the secret society Skull and Bones; he then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1836, where he practiced law. He served in the Wisconsin Territorial Council, the upper house of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature in 1841-1842, and later served in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1853. Tweedy was also a member of the first Wisconsin Constitutional Convention of 1846. Tweedy was prominent in business involving railroads and public affairs. He died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, aged 77, and was buried in Danbury.

Private papers

His son, John H. Tweedy, Jr., donated his papers to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

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Lawyer, politician, territorial delegate to Congress, businessman, b. Danbury, Conn. He graduated from Yale Univ. (A.B., 1834; LL.B., 1836), and was admitted to the bar. In 1836 he moved to Wisconsin, settling in Milwaukee, where he set up a law practice, and from 1841 to 1847 practiced in partnership with Hans Crocker (q.v.); after 1847 he retired from active practice.

A Whig, Tweedy was an important figure in early Milwaukee politics. He was a member of the upper house of the territorial legislature (1841-1842), and was the only Whig member from Milwaukee County to be elected to the first state constitutional convention of 1846. In the convention, Tweedy was an influential figure, served on several important committees, but eventually fought ratification of the 1846 document largely because of an article in the constitution prohibiting banking. Elected on the Whig ticket, Tweedy served as territorial delegate in Congress from Mar., 1847, until Wisconsin was admitted to the Union (May 29, 1848). In 1848 he ran as Whig candidate for governor, but was defeated by Democrat Nelson Dewey (q.v.), and in 1853 served one term as state assemblyman. In 1854 he joined the Republican party and, although declining public office after that date, remained an important figure in state party affairs.

Tweedy was prominently identified with many of Wisconsin's early business and railroad ventures; in 1852 he played a leading role in the campaign that deposed Byron Kilbourn (q.v.) from the presidency of the Milwaukee and Mississippi R.R.

Tweedy retired from active business and politics in the 1860's, but continued to live in Milwaukee until his death.