Francis Steffen (November 5, 1836 - ?) was an American farmer from Hortonville, Wisconsin who spent two terms as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Outagamie County, being elected first as a "Reform Democrat" and then re-elected as a Democrat.[1]
Background[]
Steffen was born in Orenhofen, Rhenish Palatinate, Prussia on November 5, 1836. He received a common school education, and became a farmer by occupation. With his family he emigrated to the United States in 1848, and settled for a while in Schuylerville, New York, before coming to Wisconsin in 1852 with his parents, who settled in Hortonville.
Service in the American Civil War[]
Steffen entered the 32nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment in August, 1862; was with Ulysses S Grant in the Vicksburg Campaign in 1862-63; marched with William Tecumseh Sherman on the Meridian, Mississippi campaign in 1864: took part at the Siege of Atlanta and the Battle of Jonesborough; marched with Sherman to the sea and into South and North Carolina; took part in all the engagements with the command; marched through Washington, took part in the Grand Review of the Armies in May, 1865, and in June 1865 was mustered out.
Public office[]
Steffen held various local offices, having been five times elected chairman of his town without opposition. In 1858 he was elected county coroner as a Democrat. He was elected clerk of the circuit court in 1866, and chairman of the county board of supervisors in 1877. He was elected as a member of the assembly in 1877 as a "Reform Democrat", receiving 1,011 votes to 818 for Greenbacker W. D. Jordan (Democratic incumbent John James Knowlton was not a candidate for re-election); and re-elected as a Democrat for 1S78, receiving 1,256 votes against 297 for Republican Dr. L. Tabor and 593 for the Greenback Jordan. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1879, and was succeeded by Republican James McMurdo.
References[]
The original article can be found at Francis Steffen and the edit history here.