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A. Warren Phelps

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A. Warren Phelps (August 11, 1829 – October 19, 1885) was an American businessman from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who served one term as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Milwaukee, as well as serving on Milwaukee's Common Council and Board of School Directors.[1]

Background

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He was born August 11, 1829, in Fort Covington, New York, son of Daniel and Levica Phelps, both descendants of the Pilgrims; his mother was a cousin of Daniel Webster and a descendant of Doctor and General Joseph Warren. The Phelps family moved in 1838 to Wisconsin, settling for about a year in Johnstown before removing to Milwaukee. Warren studied mostly under private tutors, and finished his schooling at Dr. Buck's private academy. After finishing school, he worked for his father, a tanner, and then for two years as a travelling salesman for a patent medicine company.

Disliking the sales business, he began to work as a bookkeeper for various local businesses, eventually becoming a partner in the lumber business of Benjamin Bagnall in 1857. He remained in this business until 1870, when he went into the coal business instead, at first in partnership with S. L. Elmore as "Elmore and Phelps" and then from 1875 on his own.[2]

Public office

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Phelps served on the Milwaukee Common Council in 1871–1872, and was elected in 1873 to represent the 4th Milwaukee County Assembly district (the Fourth Ward of the City of Milwaukee) as a candidate of the Liberal Reform Party, a short-lived coalition of Democrats, reform and Liberal Republicans, and Grangers formed in 1873 in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, which secured the election for two years of William Robert Taylor as Governor of Wisconsin,[3] as well as electing a number of state legislators. Phelps polled 706 votes to 602 for Republican L. A. Proctor; Democratic incumbent Gottlob E. Weiss, who had won the seat the year before by one vote, was not a candidate for re-election. He was assigned to, and chaired, the standing committee on internal improvements.[4]

He sought re-election in 1874 as a Democrat, but came in third, behind Republican Stephen A. Harrison and independent Julius Wechselberg.[5]

In 1882, he was appointed to the Board of School Directors from the 4th Ward.[6]

At the time of his death, he was an active Democrat, and had been slated to be appointed Postmaster of Milwaukee,[7] a hope later dashed.[8]

Personal life and death

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In 1855, Phelps married Delight Bartlett, with whom he had four children (two still living as of 1877), who died while the children were still young. In 1869 he married Carrie Sumner of Southbridge, Massachusetts.

In October 1885, Phelps died from injuries sustained in a runaway horse accident.[9] The day before Phelps' funeral, Milwaukee Police Chief Ries issued an order to arrest the owners of all horses left unhitched.[10] On December 24 of that same year, Carrie Phelps and their son A. W. Phelps Jr. were injured in another runaway horse incident, when a horse hitched to the same buggy which Warren Sr. had been driving at the time of his fatal accident panicked and careened down Grand Avenue, eventually overturning the buggy and throwing both of them from the carriage.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ "Members of the Wisconsin Legislature 1848–1999 State of Wisconsin Legislative Bureau. Information Bulletin 99-1, September 1999. p. 93 Archived 2006-12-09 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "A. Warren Phelps" in, United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-Made Men: Wisconsin Volume, Vol. 1 Chicago, Cincinnati and New York: American Biographical Publishing Company, 1877; p. 53
  3. ^ "William Robert Taylor, Wisconsin Historical Society". Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
  4. ^ Turner, A. J., ed. 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. Thirteenth Annual Edition. Madison: Atwood and Culver, Printers and Stereotypers, 1874; pp. 463, 475, 479
  5. ^ "The Election; Great Victory Achieved by the Republicans of Milwaukee" Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, November 4, 1874; Vol. XXI, Number 253; p. 1, cols. 2 &3
  6. ^ "Municipal Deadlock All of Mayor Stowell's Appointments, except Wason, Rejected by the Council" Milwaukee Daily Sentinel April 25, 1882; pg. 2, col.2
  7. ^ "A Day in the City Democratic Disposition of Federal Offices; A. W. Phelps Chosen to Reign in the Postoffice" Milwaukee Sentinel December 30, 1884; pg. 3, col. 1
  8. ^ "Standing by Paul; Cleveland Not Apt to Revoke His Appointment" Milwaukee Sentinel May 15, 1885; p. 1, col. 4
  9. ^ "A. W. Phelps Dying" Milwaukee Sentinel October 19, 1885; pg. 2; col. 6
  10. ^ "One Hundred in a Month: Ninety-four Arrests since the Order for the Hitchging of Horses" Milwaukee Sentinel November 20, 1885; pg. 8; col. 2
  11. ^ "A Serious Accident; Mrs. A. W. Phelps and Son Injured on Grand Avenue Today" Milwaukee Daily JournalDecember 24, 1885; p. 1, col. 4
  12. ^ "A Day in the City: Injured by a Runaway: Mrs. A. Warren PHelps and Son Thrown Out of a Buggy" Milwaukee Sentinel December 25, 1885; p. 2, col. 2
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