Edward Keogh (May 5, 1835 – December 1, 1898) was an Irish American immigrant, printer, Democratic politician, and pioneer settler of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served 17 years in the Wisconsin State Assembly between 1860 and 1895, representing Milwaukee's 3rd ward, and was the 37th speaker of the Assembly. He also served two years in the State Senate.[1]
Edward Keogh | |
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| 37th Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly | |
| In office January 11, 1893 – January 7, 1895 | |
| Preceded by | James J. Hogan |
| Succeeded by | George B. Burrows |
| Member of the Wisconsin Senate from the 6th district | |
| In office January 6, 1862 – January 4, 1864 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Egan |
| Succeeded by | Hugh Reynolds |
| Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Milwaukee 1st district | |
| In office January 2, 1893 – January 7, 1895 | |
| Preceded by | Humphrey J. Desmond |
| Succeeded by | Henry Schooley Dodge |
| Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Milwaukee 3rd district | |
| In office January 3, 1887 – January 2, 1893 | |
| Preceded by | Michael P. Walsh |
| Succeeded by | Gustav J. Jeske |
| In office January 3, 1876 – January 1, 1883 | |
| Preceded by | William J. Kershaw |
| Succeeded by | Michael P. Walsh |
| In office January 2, 1860 – January 6, 1862 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas H. Eviston |
| Succeeded by | George K. Gregory |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 5, 1835 County Cavan, Ireland, UK |
| Died | November 29, 1898 (aged 63) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Resting place | Calvary Cemetery, Milwaukee |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Occupation | Printer, politician |
| Signature | .png){kind=small} |
Early life
editEdward Keogh was born in County Cavan, Ireland, on May 5, 1835.[note 1] His parents emigrated to Utica, New York, in 1841, then relocated to Milwaukee one year later. He was educated in public schools, and learned the printing trade.[2]
Legislative service
editKeogh first became a member of the Assembly in 1860 to succeed Independent Thomas H. Eviston in representing the 3rd Milwaukee County district (the 3rd Ward of the City of Milwaukee); and was assigned to the standing committee on enrolled bills.[3] He was re-elected for 1861, and was assigned to the standing committees on incorporations, on privileges and elections, and on ways and means; and to the joint committee on printing.[4]
For 1862, he was elected to the Senate for the Sixth District (the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Wards of Milwaukee, and the Towns of Wauwatosa, Greenfield, Lake, Oak Creek and Franklin), becoming the youngest member of that body at the age of 28. He was assigned to the committees on legislative expenditures, on internal improvements, and on engrossed bills.[5] He was re-elected for 1863, and returned to the joint committee on printing as a Senate member.[6] He was succeeded in the Senate in 1864 by fellow Democrat Hugh Reynolds.
After the Senate
editIn 1867 he established his own printing company as the senior partner in the firm of Keogh & Schroeder. According to his official biography of 1876, "He twice received the Democratic nomination for the Assembly in the first ward of Milwaukee, but 'was beaten through railway influence' by a small majority at each election". One of these was presumably the election of 1869, which he lost to Republican Stephen Harrison by 45 votes.
In 1875, he was again elected to the Assembly from his old (third) district, with 583 votes to 339 for James McGrath, who had served several terms as a Democrat but had become an Independent. He returned to the committee on incorporations, and was put on the joint committee on apportionments.[7] He was re-elected in 1877 (1,032 votes to 382 for Republican E. Rosenkranz); and 1878 (642 votes to 191 for John Meinecke (running as both Republican and Greenbacker). In 1879 he defeated a fellow Democrat, ex-Assemblyman and Senator Patrick Walsh; was unopposed in 1880; in 1881 received 1,043 votes to 396 for Republican J. M. Connolly; in 1882 polled 695 votes to 61 for Republican B. Farrell.
In 1882 he ran for the Seventh District Senate seat that had been held by Republican Edward B. Simpson, which included his own Third Ward and another (the 4th) which had been in his old Senate district; he lost to Republican William Stillman Stanley Jr., who received 2,449 votes to 1,662 for Keogh and 1,655 for another Democrat, John S. George.[8] His Assembly seat was taken by fellow printer Michael P. Walsh, President and nominee of the Milwaukee Trades Assembly, a labor federation which was an antecedent to Wisconsin's Union Labor Party.
Again in the Assembly
editIn 1886, he reclaimed his old seat in the Assembly, which had been held for two terms by Michael Walsh, with 703 votes to 308 for Populist P. J. Reilley and 206 for Republican R. G. Owens.[9] He was re-elected in 1888, with 1,177 votes to 429 votes for Edward J. Kelly, of the Union Labor Party; and in 1890, by 962 votes, to 85 for Republican William Gunnis.[2] Milwaukee County assembly districts were all changed before the 1892 election; Keogh was elected to the new 1st Milwaukee County district (the third and seventh wards of Milwaukee), drawing 1,698 votes to 1,420 for Republican Albert E. Smith and 40 for Populist Charles Hambitzer. Keogh was elected speaker of the Forty-First assembly on January 10, 1893. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1894, and was succeeded by Republican Henry Schooley Dodge.
Edward Keogh died at his home in Milwaukee on November 29, 1898, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery.[10]
Notes
edit- ^ The National Cyclopaedia (1895) gave his DOB as January 22, 1835, but the Wisconsin blue books all agree on May 5, 1835, as well as his obituaries in 1898.
References
edit- ^ Cannon, A. Peter, ed. Members of the Wisconsin Legislature: 1848 – 1999. State of Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Informational Bulletin 99-1, September 1999; pp. 10, 70 Archived December 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. I. James T. White & Company. 1893. p. 465. Retrieved April 27, 2021 – via Google Books.
- ^ Crane, L. H. D., ed. A Manual of customs, Precedents, and Forms, in Use in the Assembly of Wisconsin: Together with the Rules, the Apportionment, and Other Lists and Tables for Reference, with Indices: Second Annual Edition Madison: James Ross, State Printer, 1860; p. 14, 35
- ^ Crane, L. H. D., ed. A Manual of Customs, Precedents and Forms, in Use in the Assembly of Wisconsin; Together with the Rules, the Apportionments, and other Lists and Tables for Reference, with Indices: Third Annual Edition Madison: James Ross, State Printer, 1861; pp. 9, 15
- ^ Warren, John H.; Dean, John S., eds. The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin. Comprising Jefferson's Manual, the Rules; also lists and tables for reference, with indices: First Annual Edition Madison: Smith and Cullaton, State Printers, 1862; pp. 72, 74, 113
- ^ Dean, John S.; Stewart, Frank M., eds. The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin; Comprising Jefferson's Manual, the Rules, Forms and Laws for the Regulation of Business; also, lists and tables for reference: Second Annual Edition Madison: Atwood and Rublee, State Printers, 1863; pp. 76, 78, 126
- ^ Bashford, R. M., editor. The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin: Comprising the Constitutions of the United States and of the State of Wisconsin, Jefferson's Manual, Forms and Laws for the Regulation of Business; also, lists and tables for reference, etc.: Fifteenth Annual Edition Madison: E. B. Bolens, State Printer, 1876; pp. 389, 471, 490, 491
- ^ Heg, J. E., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin 1883 Madison, 1883; p. 475
- ^ Timme, Ernst G., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin 1887 Madison, 1887; p. 502
- ^ "Edward Keogh Dead". Iowa County Democrat. Milwaukee. December 1, 1898. p. 3. Retrieved April 27, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.