{{Short description|American businessman and politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2011}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Harrison Ludington |image = Harrison Ludington.jpg |order = 13th |office = Governor of Wisconsin |lieutenant = Charles D. Parker |term_start = January 3, 1876 |term_end = January 7, 1878 |predecessor = William Robert Taylor |successor = William E. Smith |order1 = 20th & 22nd |office1 = Mayor of Milwaukee |term_start1 = April 1873 |term_end1 = January 3, 1876 |predecessor1 = David G. Hooker |successor1 = Ammi R. Butler |term_start2 = April 1871 |term_end2 = April 1872 |predecessor2 = Joseph Phillips |successor2 = David G. Hooker |party = {{unbulleted list | Republican | Whig (before 1856) }} |birth_date = {{birth date|1812|7|30}} |birth_place = Ludingtonville, New York, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1891|6|17|1812|7|30}} |death_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |death_cause = Stroke |resting_place = Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee |spouse = {{unbulleted list | {{marriage|Frances White|1838|1873|end=died}} | {{marriage|Eve Macy (Tobey)|1875|1891}} }} |children = 6 |relatives = {{unbulleted list | Nelson Ludington (brother) | Henry Ludington (grandfather) | Sybil Ludington (aunt) | Ludington family }} |profession = businessman, politician }}
'''Harrison Ludington''' (July 30, 1812{{spaced ndash}}June 17, 1891) was an American businessman, Republican politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served as the 13th governor of Wisconsin and was the 20th and 22nd mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.{{sfn|White|1904|p=78}}
== Early life and career== Ludington was born in Ludingtonville, Putnam County, New York, in July 1812. He was educated in the district schools in New York, then came west to the Wisconsin Territory with his uncle, Lewis Ludington, in 1838.<ref name="wihist">{{cite web|url= https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS10050 |title= Ludington, Harrison 1812 - 1891 |website= Wisconsin Historical Society |date= August 8, 2017 |accessdate= August 12, 2022 }}</ref>
He became a partner with his uncle and Harvey Birchard in a merchandise business known as Ludington & Company, which operated out of a warehouse previously owned by Solomon Juneau.<ref name="conard">{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofmilwauk01cona/ |title= History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 |year= 1895 |last= Conard |first= Howard L. |volume= 1 |publisher= American Biographical Publishing Co. |pages= [https://archive.org/details/historyofmilwauk01cona/page/365 365–367] |accessdate= August 12, 2022 }}</ref> He continued with this business until 1851, when he became involved in a lumber business in partnership with Daniel Wells, Jr., and Anthony Van Schaick, known as Ludington, Wells, and Van Schaick. Over the next 40 years, their lumber business grew to become one of the largest lumber producers in the northwest states.<ref name="wihist"/>
With his profits, Ludington accumulated a large amount of real estate in Milwaukee, which he developed and leased out. He also established a large farm in the town of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and became a leading promoter of the Wisconsin Agricultural Society.<ref name="conard"/>
== Political career == Politically, Ludington was originally a Whig, but joined the Republican Party when it was organized in 1856.<ref name="conard"/> He was elected to the Milwaukee City Council in 1861 and 1862, and was elected mayor three times, in 1871, 1873, and 1874.<ref name="conard"/> The 1873 election, however, was quite irregular. In the spring general election, Ludington was defeated by his Democratic opponent, Levi Kellogg. However Kellogg was ruled ineligible because he was already holding another office.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107495514/kellogg-not-elected-mayor/ |title= Levi H. Kellogg |newspaper= The Wisconsin State Register |date= April 19, 1873 |page= 2 |accessdate= August 13, 2022 }}</ref> Kellogg resigned his other office, and a special election was called less than a month after the original election. In that special election, Ludington prevailed over Kellogg.<ref name="1873election">{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107495406/milwaukee-mayoral-election/ |title= Milwaukee |newspaper= Vernon County Censor |date= April 30, 1873 |page= 2 |accessdate= August 13, 2022 }}</ref>
During his third term as Mayor, he was chosen as the Republican nominee for Governor of Wisconsin, challenging incumbent Democrat William Robert Taylor. In the 1875 general election, Ludington prevailed with a margin of just 601 votes.<ref name="1876bio">{{cite report|chapter-url= https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/O7IONJRKXFZYY8P |title= The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin |year= 1876 |publisher= State of Wisconsin |chapter= Official Directory |page= [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AO7IONJRKXFZYY8P/full/AZ5IAKWW7SSBGJ8M 449] |accessdate= August 12, 2022 }}</ref>
In his capacity as governor, Harrison Ludington facilitated promotion of commercial activity. He also undid changes in the financial sector made by his predecessor. He stood against state regulation of railroads. Under his administration the infamous Potter law was repealed, which was supposed to drastically increase government intervention in the railroad business. He also replaced the railroad commission, made up of three members with powers of establishing rates for the railroads, by a single commissioner who lacked such authority.<ref name="wihist"/> Ludington declined renomination for the position of governor in 1879 due to pressure from younger members of the Republican party.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=bb043c38f9177010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD |title=National Governors Association |access-date=2010-11-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629133625/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=bb043c38f9177010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
== Retirement == Following his decision not to pursue renomination for governorship, Ludington resigned from public affairs and devoted himself to conducting business. German-American artist Conrad W. Heyd painted his portrait in this period of his life.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/online-collections.asp?ObjectID=58171 |title= Portrait painting: Harrison Ludington, by Conrad W. Heyd |website= Wisconsin Historical Society |accessdate= August 12, 2022 }}</ref>
Ludington died at his home in Milwaukee on June 17, 1891, after suffering a stroke a week earlier. He was interred in Milwaukee's historic Forest Home Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.foresthomecemetery.com/what-makes-fhc-unique/people/|title= Historical People|publisher= Forest Home Cemetery|access-date= May 16, 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160403200220/http://www.foresthomecemetery.com/what-makes-fhc-unique/people/|archive-date= April 3, 2016|url-status= dead}}</ref>
== Personal life and family == Harrison Ludington was the eldest of fifteen children born to Frederick Ludington and his wife Susannah (''{{nee}}'' Griffeth). Harrison's paternal grandfather was Colonel Henry Ludington,<ref>{{cite book|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89062959200 |title= The Compendium of American Genealogy |volume= 5 |editor-last= Virkus |editor-first= Frederick Adams |year =1933 |publisher= The Institute of American Genealogy |page= [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89062959200&seq=180 174] |accessdate= August 12, 2022 }}</ref> who commanded the 7th Regiment of Dutchess County Militia during the American Revolutionary War. He also served as an aide to General George Washington during the Battle of White Plains and served several years in the New York Legislature.<ref name="conard"/> Henry's daughter, Sybil Ludington (1761–1839), was famous for risking her life when she was 16 years old to warn the American militia that British troops were burning Danbury, Connecticut; these accounts, originating from the Ludington family, are questioned by modern scholars.<ref name=":0">Paula D. Hunt, "Sybil Ludington, the Female Paul Revere: The Making of a Revolutionary War Heroine." ''New England Quarterly'' (2015) 88#2, pp. 187–222, quote p 187 [http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/TNEQ_a_00452 online]</ref><ref name=Tucker>{{cite news |title= Did the Midnight Ride of Sibyl Ludington Ever Happen? |last= Tucker |first= Abigail |date= March 2022 |access-date= July 6, 2022 |url= https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/did-midnight-ride-sibyl-ludington-ever-happen-180979557/ |work= Smithsonian}}</ref><ref name=Eschner>{{cite news |url= https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonianmag/was-there-really-teenage-female-paul-revere-180962993/ |work= Smithsonian |title= Was There Really a Teenage, Female Paul Revere? |last= Eschner |first= Sybil |date= April 26, 2017 |access-date= July 6, 2022}}</ref>
The Ludingtons are descendants of William Luddington, an early American colonist from England, who settled at Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1632, and died at the East Haven Iron Works, Connecticut Colony, in October 1661.<ref name="luddington">{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/williamluddingto1904shep/ |title= William Luddington of Malden, Mass, and East Haven, Conn., and his descendants |year= 1904 |publisher= Press of D. Clapp & Son |last= Shepard |first= James |pages= [https://archive.org/details/williamluddingto1904shep/page/n7/ 3] |accessdate= August 12, 2022 }}</ref>
Harrison Ludington married twice. He first married Frances White, on March 25, 1838, in Louisville, Kentucky. With Frances, he had two sons and four daughters before her death in 1873. On June 7, 1875, he married Emeline Tobey (''{{nee}}'' Macy), the widow of Rhodolphus H. Tobey, who survived him.<ref name="conard"/>
==Electoral history== ===Milwaukee Mayor (1871, 1873, 1874)=== {{Election box begin | title=Milwaukee Mayoral Election, 1871<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107494938/milwaukee-election/ |title= The Election |newspaper= The Daily Milwaukee News |date= April 6, 1871 |page= 4 |accessdate= August 12, 2022 }}</ref>}} | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''General Election, April 4, 1871''' {{Election box winning candidate with party link |party = Republican Party (US) |candidate = Harrison Ludington |votes = 5,197 |percentage = 81.17% |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Democratic Party (US) |candidate = Joseph Phillips (incumbent) |votes = 1,206 |percentage = 18.83% |change = }} {{Election box plurality |votes = 3,991 |percentage = 62.33% |change = }} {{Election box total |votes = 6,403 |percentage = 100.0% |change = }} {{Election box gain with party link no swing |winner = Republican Party (United States) |loser = Democratic Party (United States) }} {{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin | title=Milwaukee Mayoral Special Election, 1873<ref name="1873election"/>}} | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''Special Election, April 23, 1873''' {{Election box winning candidate with party link |party = Republican Party (US) |candidate = Harrison Ludington |votes = 4,982 |percentage = 57.26% |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Democratic Party (US) |candidate = Levi H. Kellogg |votes = 3,719 |percentage = 42.74% |change = }} {{Election box plurality |votes = 1,263 |percentage = 14.52% |change = }} {{Election box total |votes = 8,701 |percentage = 100.0% |change = }} {{Election box gain with party link no swing |winner = Republican Party (United States) |loser = Democratic Party (United States) }} {{Election box end}}
===Wisconsin Governor (1875)=== {{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Gubernatorial Election, 1875<ref name="1876bio"/>}} | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''General Election, November 2, 1875''' {{Election box winning candidate with party link |party = Republican Party (US) |candidate = Harrison Ludington |votes = 85,155 |percentage = 50.07% |change = +5.28% }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Democratic Party (US) |candidate = William Robert Taylor (incumbent) |votes = 84,314 |percentage = 49.58% |change = -5.61% }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = |candidate = ''Scattering'' |votes = 601 |percentage = 0.35% |change = }} {{Election box total |votes = 170,070 |percentage = 100.0% |change = +15.02% }} {{Election box gain with party link no swing |winner = Republican Party (United States) |loser = Democratic Party (United States) }} {{Election box end}}
== See also == {{Portal|Biography}} * Nelson Ludington * Henry Ludington * James Ludington * Lewis Ludington * Ludington family
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Sources ==
*{{cite book|last=White|title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gawYAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA78|year=1904|publisher=J.T. White}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{Find a Grave}}
{{S-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before = Cadwallader C. Washburn}} {{s-ttl|title = Republican nominee for Governor of Wisconsin|years=1875}} {{s-aft|after = William E. Smith}} {{S-off}} {{s-bef|before = Joseph Phillips}} {{s-ttl|title = Mayor of Milwaukee|years=1871{{spaced ndash}}1872}} {{s-aft|after = David G. Hooker}} {{s-bef|before = David G. Hooker}} {{s-ttl|title = Mayor of Milwaukee|years=1873{{spaced ndash}}1876}} {{s-aft|after = Ammi R. Butler}} {{s-bef|before = William Robert Taylor}} {{s-ttl|title = Governor of Wisconsin|years=1876{{spaced ndash}}1878}} {{s-aft|after = William E. Smith}} {{S-end}}
{{Governors of Wisconsin}} {{Mayors of the City of Milwaukee}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludington, Harrison}} Category:1812 births Category:1891 deaths Category:19th-century mayors of places in Wisconsin Category:Republican Party governors of Wisconsin Category:Mayors of Milwaukee Category:Milwaukee Common Council members Category:People from Dutchess County, New York Category:People from Kent, New York Harrison Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:Burials at Forest Home Cemetery