Tuesday
was the birthday of the state's most eccentric governor, Nelson Dewey.
Convinced that Wisconsin's capital would be on the Mississippi, Dewey founded the town of Cassville in 1836. After the capital passed it by, Cassville became home to the state Agricultural Museum instead. In 1848, when infighting paralyzed the Democratic convention, Dewey emerged as a compromise candidate for governor. To everyone's surprise, he won the popular election and became Wisconsin's first chief executive.
Chain-smoking cheap cigars and "never backward about coming forward and calling the average grafter 'a damned scoundrel,' " Dewey's main job from 1848 to 1852 was to get the government up and running.
His most lasting legacy is the state motto, "Forward." Supreme Court justice Edward Ryan wanted "Excelsior" engraved on the state seal but Dewey, who was remembered as "not being an easy man to get along with (and) bound to have his way," ultimately prevailed. Forward the state went.
Being Wisconsin's first governor didn't guarantee fame or fortune, though. A staunch Democrat, Dewey was marginalized when Republicans seized control of the Capitol after the Civil War.
He later eked out a living as a pugnacious attorney but ultimately lost his savings, his home and even his family. In old age he was given a sinecure as a prison inspector, living out of a suitcase and sleeping on a cot at Waupun.
Dewey died in 1889 as a wretchedly poor man. A friend surmised that most people "did not know whether he were living or dead" when he finally passed away.
- Wisconsin Historical Society
www.wisconsinhistory.org
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