Sam Fifield
Order14th
OfficeLieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
GovernorJeremiah Rusk
Term startJanuary 2, 1882
Term endJanuary 3, 1887
PredecessorJames M. Bingham
SuccessorGeorge W. Ryland
Order 126th
Title 1Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly
Term start 1January 12, 1876
Term end 1January 1, 1877
Predecessor 1Frederick W. Horn
Successor 1John B. Cassoday
State 2Wisconsin
State senate 2Wisconsin
District 224th
Term start 2January 1, 1880
Term end 2January 1, 1882
Predecessor 2Dana Reed Bailey
Successor 2James Hill
Term start 3January 1, 1877
Term end 3January 1, 1878
Predecessor 3Henry D. Barron
Successor 3Dana Reed Bailey
State assembly 4Wisconsin
District 4Ashland-Barron-Bayfield-Burnett-Douglas-Polk
Term start 4January 1, 1874
Term end 4January 1, 1877
Predecessor 4Henry D. Barron
Successor 4Woodbury S. Grover
Birth dateJune 24, 1839
Birth placeCorinna, Maine, U.S.
Death dateFebruary 17, 1915 (aged 75)
Death placeAshland, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placeMount Hope Cemetery
Ashland, Wisconsin
PartyRepublican
Spouse
  • Stella Grimes
  • (died 1913)

Samuel S. Fifield (June 24, 1839 – February 17, 1915)[1] was a Wisconsin politician and influential businessperson. The Town of Fifield in Price County, Wisconsin is named after him.

Biography

He was born in Corinna, Maine, in 1839 and received an education as a printer. He moved to Wisconsin in 1854, where he worked as a clerk on a steamboat on the St. Croix River. He founded the Polk County Press in 1861.[2]

After the American Civil War, he entered politics and served as a Sergeant-at-Arms for the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1871 and 1872. He later served as a Republican member of the Assembly from 1874 through 1876, serving as speaker the last year.[2] He was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1876, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Henry D. Barron. He served in the state senate until 1881, at which time he was elected as Wisconsin's 14th Lieutenant Governor.[2]

He lived in Ashland from 1872, and helped found the Ashland Press newspaper. He was the chairman of the first board of supervisors in June 1872.[2]

After retiring from politics in 1887, he served as postmaster in Ashland,[3] and opened a summer resort on Sand Island in Lake Superior.[4] Named Camp Stella, after Fifield's wife, the camp was one of the first successful resorts in northern Wisconsin.[3] The site is now within the boundaries of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore; many of the buildings are still standing, and one, the Sevona Memorial Cottage, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[4]

Fifield died in 1915 at his home in Ashland.[2] In Ashland, there is a street of historic homes named Fifield Row in his honor.

References

  1. ^ *Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (ed.) (2005). "Wisconsin Constitutional Officers, 1848-2005". State of Wisconsin Blue Book 2005–2006. Madison: Wisconsin Legislature Joint Committee on Legislative Organization. p. 725. Retrieved April 3, 2018. *"Sam S. Fifield". Office of the Lieutenant Governor. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  2. ^ James E. Heg (ed.) (1885). The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin. 23 ed. Madison: Democrat Printing Co. p. 416.
  3. ^ Peterson, Sheree L. "Camp Stella: Meeting Place of Kindred Souls," report for the Eastern National Park and Monument Association, 1997
  4. ^ Busch, Jane C. People and Places: a Human History of the Apostle Islands, prepared for National Park Service, 2008.