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William Henry Armstrong (May 1840/1841 – April 14, 1916) was an American lawyer, farmer, and Republican politician. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Lafayette County during the 1873 session.

Background

Armstrong was born in Carrollton, Illinois, in 1840 or 1841 (sources differ), son of Joshua W. and Elizabeth Vanarsdoll Armstrong. He attended public schools until he left to enter military service. He joined the United States Army in September 1861 after the outbreak of the American Civil War, enlisting in the 61st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He progressed from second lieutenant through captain and was brevetted as a major. He came to Wisconsin in 1865 and settled at Darlington, becoming by occupation a lawyer and farmer.

Public office

He was elected as Wisconsin circuit court clerk for Lafayette County, Wisconsin, in 1868 and re-elected in 1870.

In 1872 he was elected for a one-year term as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1873 as a Republican, with 2,078 votes to 1,972 for Democrat Amos W. Hovey, succeeding fellow Republican Thomas Bainbridge. He was assigned to the standing committee on mining and smelting.

Armstrong was not a candidate for re-election in 1873, and was succeeded by John F. Beard of the Reform Party.

Family and later life

Armstrong married first Georgia Wright, who died in 1869. Their child, William Wright Armstrong, would serve as a member of the Utah State Senate. He later married Harriet M. Gray, with whom he had three further children between 1874 and 1884. At some point after leaving the Assembly, the family moved to Kansas, living first in Irving and later in Marysville.

Armstrong died April 14, 1916, in Rock County, Minnesota, and is buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Luverne, Minnesota.

References

1. "Sherman Armstrong" in, Bulletin of Yale University: Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1937–1938 Series 35, Number 12 (1 March 1939); New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University, 1939; p. 285
2. Butterfield, Consul Willshire (1881). History of Lafayette County, Wisconsin. Western Historical Company. p. 492. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
3. Turner, A. J., ed. The legislative manual of the state of Wisconsin: comprising the constitution of the United States and of the state of Wisconsin, Jefferson's manual, forms and laws for the regulation of business; also, lists and tables for reference, etc. Twelfth Annual Edition Madison: Atwood and Culver, Printers and Stereotypers, 1873; pp. 447, 459, 466
4. Turner, A. J., ed. The legislative manual of the state of Wisconsin: comprising the constitutions of the United States and of the state of Wisconsin, Jefferson's manual, forms and laws for the regulation of business; also, lists and tables for reference, etc. Thirteenth Annual Edition Madison: Atwood and Culver, Printers and Stereotypers, 1874; pp. 206, 462
5. Warrum, Noble. Utah Since Statehood: Historical and Biographical (Volume 2) Chicago and Salt Lake City: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1919; p. 82

• People from Darlington, Wisconsin
• Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• County officials in Wisconsin
• Wisconsin lawyers
• Farmers from Wisconsin
• People from Carrollton, Illinois
• People of Illinois in the American Civil War
• 1840s births
• 1916 deaths
• Union army officers
• 19th-century American lawyers
• Military personnel from Wisconsin
• 19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature