40 Facts About Nelson Dewey

Nelson Webster Dewey was an American lawyer, land speculator, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer.

Nelson Dewey was the first governor of Wisconsin, and served in the Wisconsin Senate and served several years in the Wisconsin Territory government before Wisconsin achieved statehood.

Nelson Dewey was particularly important in the development of Cassville, Wisconsin, which he had at one time hoped to make the state capitol.

Nelson Dewey's family moved to Butternuts, New York the year following his birth and he attended school there and in Louisville, New York.

Nelson Dewey attended the academy for three years, and then returned to Butternut to teach.

Ebenezer Nelson Dewey, Nelson Dewey's father, was a lawyer, and wished his son to join the same profession.

Nelson Dewey became a citizen of the territory in 1836.

On March 4,1837, Nelson Dewey was elected Register of Deeds for the newly formed Grant County; he was appointed the county's Justice of the Peace by Territorial Governor Henry Dodge the same year.

Nelson Dewey was, and continued to be for the rest of his political career, a member of the Democratic Party.

In November 1838, Nelson Dewey was elected to the territorial assembly as representative from Grant County; he was reelected in 1840 and became that body's speaker for one session.

Nelson Dewey served as an assemblyman until 1842, when the voters of Grant County elected him to the territorial council; during the 1846 session, during which an upcoming convention which would produce a draft constitution for the State of Wisconsin was discussed, he served as the council's president.

Nelson Dewey failed to be re-elected in 1846, due to a new Whig majority in Grant County.

The party hoped that Nelson Dewey might attract voters from the then-Whig majority Grant County.

The election was held on May 8,1848; Nelson Dewey defeated Whig candidate John Hubbard Tweedy and the independent Charles Durkee, and thus became the first governor of the State of Wisconsin.

Nelson Dewey encouraged the development of the state's infrastructure, particularly the construction of new roads, railroads, canals, and harbors, as well as the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers.

Nelson Dewey was known for opposing the spread of slavery into new states and territories and for advocating the popular election of US Senators.

Nelson Dewey was elected the first president of the Wisconsin Historical Society the same year.

Nelson Dewey lost much popular support during his terms as governor, due both to his inability to overcome the factionalism within his own party and to his association with Wisconsin's lead-mining regions, which were losing power in Wisconsin politics.

Nelson Dewey remained active in politics, however: in 1853, Dewey ran against Chief Justice Orasmus Cole for a seat in the Wisconsin State Senate for Wisconsin's Sixteenth District; he was elected by a majority of three votes, serving a two-year term.

Nelson Dewey acquired about 2,000 acres of land northwest of Cassville, on which he built a three-story Gothic-revival mansion, which he named "Stonefield", at a cost of about $70,000; he expended another $30,000 on eleven miles of stone fence.

Nelson Dewey lived in Cassville for the rest of his life, except the time from 1858 until 1863, when he lived at Platteville, Wisconsin.

In 1863, Nelson Dewey unsuccessfully ran for Lieutenant Governor; he lost his 1869 and 1871 attempts at re-election to State Senate.

On January 2,1873, Nelson Dewey's mansion was destroyed in a fire, and he was forced to give up the property to pay his creditors.

Nelson Dewey's property passed into the ownership of Walter C Newberry of Chicago.

Also this year, Nelson Dewey lost his entire investment in the railroad line during the Panic of 1873.

At some time during this period, Nelson Dewey was involved in another financial setback involving the estate of the deceased Ben Eastman, a former Congressman, of which he was the executor.

On February 22,1889, Nelson Dewey suffered a stroke while at court in Lancaster.

Nelson Dewey was paralyzed and was brought home to Cassville the next day.

Nelson Dewey was not well prior to this, and was apparently aware of the possibility of becoming paralyzed.

Nelson Dewey died in poverty at the Denniston House, which he had helped rebuild, a few minutes past midnight on the morning of July 21,1889, after being unconscious for the previous forty-eight hours.

Nelson Dewey was at one time considered a wealthy man, but by the time of his death, he had little money.

Nelson Dewey was buried on July 23,1889, in the Episcopal cemetery in Lancaster, next to the graves of his brother Orin and his son Charlie.

Nelson Dewey married Catherine Dunn in 1849 during his first term as governor.

In 1886, Nelson Dewey filed for a divorce from his wife, but the matter never came to trial.

Nelson Dewey had a brother named William Nelson Dewey, who survived him, and another brother, Orin, who died in 1840.

Nelson Dewey a third brother, John J Dewey, who was a physician who lived in Saint Paul, Minnesota and was a member of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature.

Nelson Dewey was called a "friend of the poor" and known for his generosity.

Nelson Dewey opposed the spread of slavery into new states and territories and advocated electing United States senators by popular vote.

Nelson Dewey was described as one of "the old guard that never surrendered".

The former Nelson Dewey Generating Station was named after the governor.