Solon Pierce

Solon W. Pierce
Member of the State Assembly from the Adams–Marquette district
In office January 4, 1897 – January 2, 1899
Preceded by	Sophronius S. Landt
Succeeded by	Charles E. Kempley
Member of the State Assembly from the Adams district
In office January 5, 1880 – January 1, 1883
Preceded by	Charles A. Cady
Succeeded by	Samuel Tanner (Adams–Marquette)
In office January 1, 1877 – January 6, 1879
Preceded by	G. M. Marshall (Adams–Wood)
Succeeded by	Charles A. Cady
In office January 3, 1870 – January 2, 1871
Preceded by	Otis B. Lapham
Succeeded by	Anson Rood
Personal details
Born	(1831-03-07)March 7, 1831 Yorkshire, New York, U.S.
Died	September 23, 1903(1903-09-23) (aged 72) Adams County, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting place	Mount Repose Cemetery, Friendship, Wisconsin
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Hester Ann Mosher (died 1865) Harriet E. Waterman (died 1900)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Volunteers Union Army
Years of service	1864–1865
Rank	1st Lieutenant, USV
Unit	38th Reg. Wis. Vol. Infantry
Battles/wars	American Civil War Siege of Petersburg

Solon Wesley Pierce (March 7, 1831 – September 23, 1903) was an American lawyer, newspaper publisher, and Republican politician. He served seven terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly between 1870 and 1897, representing Adams County. He also operated one of the first newspapers in Adams County, the Adams County Press.

Biography

Pierce was born in Yorkshire in Cattaraugus County, New York, in 1831. He studied at the Mendon Academy in Monroe County, New York, and settled in Adams County, Wisconsin, in 1854. He was admitted to the bar in 1858 and started a law practice in the county seat—Friendship. He was first elected district attorney of Adams County in 1861, and the same year (with several associates) founded the Adams County Press, just a few weeks after the outbreak of the American Civil War. Pierce remained as editor and publisher of this newspaper (one of the first published in Adams County) for the majority of the next 40 years until his death in 1903.

In 1864 Pierce enlisted in the Union army, was commissioned a first lieutenant, and saw action (with the regiments that made up the 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac) at the Siege of Petersburg, among other battles toward the end of the Civil War. These experiences formed the basis of his 1866 book Battle Fields and Camp Fires of the 38th Regiment, published by the Daily Wisconsin Printing House of Milwaukee.

After his honorable discharge in 1865, Pierce resumed his law practice and newspaper duties, serving several years as county judge, and beginning in 1870 was elected as a legislator to the Wisconsin Assembly, being re-elected to the same body in 1877, 1878, 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1897. He served as chairman of the Assembly's judiciary committee in 1880, 1881, and 1882. As Adams County district attorney in 1892, he instituted the first successful gerrymander suit in the state of Wisconsin. He is also credited with being the author of an 1882 amendment to the Wisconsin state constitution which provided for biennial elections of legislators.

Pierce died at his home in Friendship.

Published works

• Pierce, S. W. (1866). Battle Fields and Camp Fires of the Thirty-Eighth Wisconsin Volunteers. Milwaukee: Daily Wisconsin Printing House. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Battle_Fields_and_Camp_Fires_of_the_Thir/-J0dAQAAMAAJ. 

Further reading

• Memorial and Biographical Record and Illustrated Compendium of Biography of Citizens of Columbia, Sauk and Adams Counties, Wisconsin. 1901. Chicago: G. A. Ogle & Co., pp. 224–226.
• Goc, Michael. 1999. From Past to Present: The History of Adams County. Friendship, Wisconsin: New Past Press.

External links

• Solon Wesley Pierce at Find a Grave
• Solon Wesley Pierce obituary