618 Wisconsin Academy of Scieri'Ces, Arts, and Letters. 



His career as a servant of tlie state was most remarkable, 

 especially when it is remembered that his school-days prac- 

 tically closed when he was fifteen years of aoje. But he was 

 always a student, and his nine years of experience in every 

 phase of work to be found in a newspaper office did much to 

 make amends for the loss of school-room instruction in those 

 early davs. He was a thinker, and at all times honest and inde- 

 pendent in his thinking. He was perhaps slow in reaching 

 conclusions, but a conclusion once reached became a conviction 

 to be lived up to. It may seem singular that one who had made 

 no special preparation for educational work should have had so 

 large a part in building up a great and connected public school 

 system, and in directing the trend of educational work in a 

 great state. Yet this is the case. 



In 1856 he taught in an ungraded school near his home in 

 Windsor ; later he was made town superintendent of schools. 

 When this system was abolished by legislative enactment, he was 

 elected to the office of county superintendent, a position which 

 he held for four years. He was most efficient in the discharge 

 of the duties imposed ])y these positions, and his work attracted 

 most favorable notice. In 1861 he was elected to represent his 

 district in the Assembly. He at once became a recognized leader 

 on his side of the House. He proposed and was able to secure 

 much helpful legislation along educational lines, during the two 

 years he represented his district. In 1863 he was elected to the 

 State Senate, and was a member of that body for four years. 

 Part of this time he was president pro tem., and his experience 

 and acknowledged ability enabled him to secure very important 

 ■legislation relating to the organization of our state normal 

 schools, the first of which was opened at Platteville, in 1866. 

 In 1871 he was made a member of the Board of Regents of ]^or- 

 mal Schools, a position which he held continuously until 1892. 

 For nine years of this time, from 1881 to 1890, he also held 

 the position of Assistant State Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction, and in this capacity he was instrumental in securing 

 helpful legislation for the common schools, as well as the inau- 

 guration of needed reforms. The labor of organizing and out- 

 lining the work to be carried on by the teachers' institutes fell 



