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William F. Vilas
United States Senator from Wisconsin
In office March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1897
Preceded by	John Coit Spooner
Succeeded by	John Coit Spooner
17th United States Secretary of the Interior
In office January 16, 1888 – March 6, 1889
President	Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison
Preceded by	Lucius Lamar
Succeeded by	John Willock Noble
33rd United States Postmaster General
In office March 6, 1885 – January 6, 1888
President	Grover Cleveland
Preceded by	Frank Hatton
Succeeded by	Donald M. Dickinson
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Dane 1st district
In office January 5, 1885 – March 9, 1885
Preceded by	Dexter Curtis
Succeeded by	Michael J. Cantwell
Personal details
Born	William Freeman Vilas (1840-07-09)July 9, 1840 Chelsea, Vermont, U.S.
Died	August 27, 1908(1908-08-27) (aged 68) Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Hill Cemetery Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political party	Democratic National Democratic (1896)
Spouse	Anna M. Fox ​(m. 1866⁠–⁠1908)​
Children	Cornelia Vilas Henry Vilas Mary Esther (Hanks)
Parent	Levi Baker Vilas (father)
Education	University of Wisconsin, Madison (BA) Albany Law School (LLB)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Volunteers Union Army
Years of service	1862–1863
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel, USV
Unit	23rd Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry
Battles/wars	American Civil War Vicksburg campaign

William Freeman Vilas (July 9, 1840 – August 27, 1908) was an American lawyer, politician, and United States Senator. In the U.S. Senate, he represented the state of Wisconsin for one term, from 1891 to 1897. As a prominent Bourbon Democrat, he was also a member of the cabinet of U.S. President Grover Cleveland, serving as the 33rd Postmaster General and the 17th Secretary of the Interior.

He was a major donor to the University of Wisconsin, leaving $30,000,000 to the school at his death in 1908. He is the namesake of Vilas Hall on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, as well as Vilas County, Wisconsin, and the towns of Vilas, Colorado, and Vilas, South Dakota.

Early life and education

Vilas was born in Chelsea, Vermont, the son of Esther Greene (Smilie) and Levi Baker Vilas, a politician. His grandfather was Nathan Smilie, a Democratic politician who ran for Governor of Vermont in 1839. Vilas moved to Madison, Wisconsin with his family in 1851. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1858, and from the Albany Law School in 1860.

Career

He enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and was a captain in the 23rd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment and later served as the lieutenant colonel of that regiment.

Following the war, Vilas was a Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a regent of the University from 1880 to 1885 and 1898 to 1905. Vilas served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1885, until he was appointed the Postmaster General between 1885 and 1888, and as Secretary of the Interior from 1888 to 1889, both under President Grover Cleveland.

After leaving the cabinet, he led Wisconsin German Americans in the protest against the Bennett Law of 1889 which required schools to only use the English language. From 1891 until 1897, he was a member of the United States Senate, in which, during President Cleveland's second term, he was recognized as the chief defender of the Administration, and he was especially active in securing the repeal of the silver purchase clause of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. He was unsuccessful in an 1896 reelection bid, having been defeated by Senator John Coit Spooner, who held the seat before him and whom Vilas had defeated for reelection in 1890.

Vilas was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention of 1896, but withdrew after the adoption of the free-silver plank. He then became one of the chief organizers of the National Democratic Party, attended the convention at Indianapolis, and was chairman of its committee on resolutions. He was also the main drafter of the National Democratic Party's platform. Vilas, a favorite of the delegates, refused to run as the party's sacrificial lamb.

Back in Wisconsin, he was from 1897 to 1903 a member of the commission that had charge of the erection of the State Historical Library at Madison, and from 1906 to 1908 of the commission for the construction of the new state capitol.

Personal life

He married Anna M. Fox, who had been born in the territory of Wisconsin. Their younger son, Levi Baker, died in early childhood and their elder daughter, Nellie, died in 1893. Their older son, Henry, died in 1899 at the age of 27 from complications related to diabetes.

William and Anna were survived by their younger daughter Mary Esther. He is interred at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin.

Legacy

Vilas County, Wisconsin, is named for William F. Vilas. Senator Vilas is also the namesake of the towns of Vilas, Colorado and Vilas, South Dakota. His childhood home in Madison is located in what is now the Langdon Street Historic District. His family donated land to the city of Madison to build a public park, which later became a part of the Henry Vilas Zoo.

References

1. "Vilas, William Freeman 1840-1908". Wisconsin Historical Society. August 3, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
2. "William Vilas". University of Wisconsin–Madison. July 6, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
3. Merrill, Horace (1954). William Freeman Vilas: Doctrinaire Democrat. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. p. 7.
4. ^ Chisholm 1911.
5. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vilas, William Freeman". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 66–67.
6. Hinman, Ida (1896). The Washington Sketch Book, Supplement. Washington, DC: Hartman & Cadick. p. 11. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
7. "Vilas, William Freeman". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
8. "Vilas County History". Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
9. Dawson, John Frank (1954). Place names in Colorado: why 700 communities were so named, 150 of Spanish or Indian origin. Denver, CO: The J. Frank Dawson Publishing Co. p. 50.
10. Chicago and North Western Railway Company (1908). A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways. p. 134.

Sources

• United States Congress. "William F. Vilas (id: V000099)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on February 15, 2008

External links

• Works by or about William F. Vilas at the Internet Archive

v t e United States postmasters general
Confederal	Franklin Bache Hazard
Federal	Osgood Pickering Habersham G. Granger Meigs McLean
Cabinet level Post Office Department	Barry Kendall Niles F. Granger Wickliffe Johnson Collamer Hall Hubbard Campbell A. Brown Holt King Blair Dennison Randall Creswell Marshall Jewell Tyner Key Maynard James Howe Gresham Hatton Vilas Dickinson Wanamaker Bissell Wilson Gary Smith Payne Wynne Cortelyou Meyer Hitchcock Burleson Hays Work New W. Brown Farley Walker Hannegan Donaldson Summerfield Day Gronouski O'Brien Watson Blount
U.S. Postal Service	Blount Klassen Bailar Bolger Carlin Casey Tisch Frank Runyon Henderson Potter Donahoe Brennan DeJoy

v t e United States secretaries of the interior
Ewing McKennan Stuart McClelland Thompson C. Smith Usher Harlan Browning Cox Delano Chandler Schurz Kirkwood Teller Lamar Vilas Noble H. Smith Francis Bliss Hitchcock Garfield Ballinger Fisher Lane Payne Fall Work West Wilbur Ickes Krug Chapman McKay Seaton Udall Hickel Morton Hathaway Kleppe Andrus Watt Clark Hodel Lujan Babbitt Norton Kempthorne Salazar Jewell Zinke Bernhardt Haaland

v t e United States senators from Wisconsin
Class 1	Dodge Doolittle Carpenter Cameron Sawyer Mitchell Quarles La Follette Sr. La Follette Jr. McCarthy Proxmire Kohl Baldwin
Class 3	Walker Durkee Howe Carpenter Cameron Spooner Vilas Spooner Stephenson Husting Lenroot Blaine Duffy Wiley Nelson Kasten Feingold Johnson

v t e Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on Post Office and Civil Service
Post Office and Post Roads (1816–1947)	Wilson Stokes Lanman Johnson Bibb Grundy Robinson Henderson Merrick Niles Rusk Yulee Gwin Collamer Dixon Ramsey Hamlin Ferry Maxey Ferry Hill Conger Sawyer Vilas Wolcott Mason Penrose Bourne Bankhead Townsend Sterling Moses Phipps Oddie McKellar Chávez
Civil Service and Retrenchment (1873–1921)	Wright Clayton Blaine Teller Butler Hawley Chace Wolcott Call Jarvis Pritchard Baker Perkins Cummins Pomerene McKellar Sterling
Civil Service (1921–1947)	Sterling Stanfield Couzens Dale Bulow Downey
Post Office and Civil Service (1947–1977)	Langer Johnston Carlson Johnston Monroney McGee

v t e Cabinet of President Grover Cleveland (1885–1889)
Secretary of State	Thomas F. Bayard (1885–1889)
Secretary of the Treasury	Daniel Manning (1885–1887) Charles S. Fairchild (1887–1889)
Secretary of War	William Crowninshield Endicott (1885–1889)
Attorney General	Augustus H. Garland (1885–1889)
Postmaster General	William F. Vilas (1885–1888) Donald M. Dickinson (1888–1889)
Secretary of the Navy	William Collins Whitney (1885–1889)
Secretary of the Interior	Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (1885–1888) William F. Vilas (1888–1889)
Secretary of Agriculture	Norman Jay Colman (1889)

• 1840 births
• 1908 deaths
• United States postmasters general
• United States secretaries of the interior
• Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Albany Law School alumni
• University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
• Wisconsin lawyers
• Union army officers
• People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War
• People from Chelsea, Vermont
• Democratic Party United States senators from Wisconsin
• Cleveland administration cabinet members
• Burials at Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison, Wisconsin)
• Bourbon Democrats
• Phi Delta Theta members
• 19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature
• 19th-century United States senators