Daniel Harris Johnson

Daniel Harris Johnson (July 27, 1825 – June 15, 1900) was an American lawyer and judge. He was a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge for the last twelve years of his life. Earlier he served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Biography Johnson was born in Kingston, Ontario, which was then part of Upper Canada. His father died just two years after his birth. He had been a British Army sergeant under Wellington in the War of 1812, who remained in Canada after the war. His mother was daughter of an American Revolutionary War volunteer. After attending Rock River Seminary, Johnson moved to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in 1848. Here, he began the study of law, and, in 1849, was admitted to the State Bar of Wisconsin.

He practiced law in Prairie du Chien for several years, but, in 1854, he purchased a stake in the Prairie du Chien Courier, and soon became its sole proprietor and editor. He returned to the practice of law in 1856, forming a partnership with W. R. Bullock, a nephew of John C. Breckinridge. The partnership was broken by the American Civil War, when Bullock joined with the Confederacy.

After serving in the Assembly as a Republican, he became associated with the Liberal Republican faction in the so-called "Greeley movement", named for Horace Greeley. He was a delegate for Wisconsin to the 1872 Liberal Republican convention in Cincinnati which nominated Greeley for president. Greeley was subsequently also nominated by the Democratic Party, and, from that point on, Johnson became affiliated with the Democratic Party. He served in various local offices over the next decade, as city attorney and member of the Milwaukee School Board.

Electoral history