Benjamin Spaulding

Benjamin B. Spaulding was an American physician from Arcade (now Brooklyn), Wisconsin who spent a single one-year term as a Free Soil member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Marquette and Waushara counties, which included the area which is now Green Lake County.[1]

Background

Spaulding came to Wisconsin in 1844 from Massachusetts and was the first doctor in the Ripon area.[2]

Political office

Spaulding was elected in 1849 as a member of the Free Soil Party, organized the year before, to serve in the third session of the Assembly for the district including Marquette County and the newly created Waushara County, succeeding Democrat Satterlee Clark, Jr. He was succeeded for the 1851 session by Whig Charles Waldo. That session of the Assembly met from January 9 - February 11, 1850.[3]

After the legislature

As of 1862, the doctor was still engaged in the purchase of real estate from the state's public lands set aside to fund the university and public schools.[4]

Both Spaulding Street in the City of Ripon, and Spaulding Hill in Green Lake County are named after the doctor. It is reported that when the American Civil War broke out, Spaulding's son enlisted in the United States Army; and that the family afterwards moved to Brooklyn, Connecticut.[5]

References

1. "Members of the Wisconsin Legislature 1848–1999 State of Wisconsin Legislative Bureau. Information Bulletin 99-1, September 1999. p. 109 Archived December 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
2. Worthing, Ruth Shaw. The History of Fond du Lac County, as Told by Its Place-Names 2nd edition. Oshkosh: Worthing, 1976; p. 98
3. Heg, J. E., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin 1881 Madison, 1881; pp. 179-181, 183
4. Lewis, James T., et al. "Document J: Annual Report of the Commissioners of School and University Lands, for the Year 1862", in Governor's message and accompanying documents, of the state of Wisconsin for the year A.D. 1863 (Covers 1861/1862) Madison: S. D. Carpenter, State Printer, 1863; p. 1331
5. Worthing, Ruth Shaw. The History of Fond du Lac County, as Told by Its Place-Names 2nd edition. Oshkosh: Worthing, 1976; p. 98