19 Facts About Isaac Stephenson

Isaac Stephenson was an American businessman, Republican politician, and Wisconsin pioneer.

Isaac Stephenson represented Wisconsin as a United States senator from 1907 to 1915, and served three terms in the US House of Representatives.

Isaac Stephenson was a major employer and philanthropist in early Marinette County, and several places in the county bare his name, including the town of Stephenson, Wisconsin, and the Stephenson Public Library in the city of Marinette.

Isaac Stephenson's younger brother Samuel Merritt Stephenson was a member of the US House of Representatives from Michigan.

Isaac Stephenson was born in the community of Yorkton, near Fredericton in the colony of New Brunswick.

Isaac Stephenson's parents were Isaac Stephenson, a lumberman and farmer born in Ireland of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and Elizabeth Stephenson, who was born in London.

Isaac Stephenson was one of the wealthiest lumbermen in the Great Lakes area, with real-estate holdings in Marinette, Green Bay, Milwaukee, and the booming town of Chicago, and throughout the Great Lakes.

Isaac Stephenson owned vast acreages of pine lands in northern Wisconsin and Michigan which were yet to be harvested.

Isaac Stephenson joined the Republican Party, which was popular among his class in the northern tier of states.

Isaac Stephenson was elected to several offices, including town supervisor, county board chairman, and justice of the peace.

Isaac Stephenson was not a candidate for re-election in 1888.

In 1901 Isaac Stephenson established the Milwaukee Free Press, providing Progressive-Republicans with a metropolitan newspaper, and competition for the Stalwart-controlled Milwaukee Sentinel.

In 1907 Stephenson sought the US Senate seat made vacant by the resignation of John C Spooner and, after a brief deadlock, was elected by the Progressive-controlled state legislature.

Isaac Stephenson holds the distinction of being the oldest elected freshman United States Senator; he was 77 when he took office.

Isaac Stephenson is the last senator from Wisconsin's Class 3 senate seat to have retired from the senate.

Paul Husting, Isaac Stephenson's successor, died in office and every senator after Husting was defeated for reelection, either through defeat for renomination or in the general election.

In 1909 Isaac Stephenson purchased a prized Holstein cow as a gift for the 27th President of the United States, William Howard Taft.

Isaac Stephenson published his memoir in 1915 titled Recollections of a Long Life.

The town of Isaac Stephenson, Wisconsin is named in his honor.