Wisconsin's Governors

May 3, 1841 William H. Upham, the 18th governor of Wisconsin, was born on May 3, 1841 at Westminster, Massachusetts. He came to Racine with his mother in 1853. Upham enlisted in the Civil War and was shot in the lungs at Bull Run. He recovered in a confederate prison and was released as part of a prisoner exchange. President Lincoln offered Upham a cadetship to West Point. He left the military in 1869 to return to Wisconsin where he entered the lumber business in Kewaunee and Angelica. By 1871 Upham had moved to the new village of Marshfield. His Upham Manufacturing company grew to huge proportions but suffered great losses when Marshfield was destroyed by fire in 1887. Upham revived his business and Marshfield. He was elected governor in 1894 but chose not to seek a second term. Died: July 2, 1924.