Eliphalet S. Miner

Eliphalet Steele Miner (March 20, 1818 – February 9, 1890) was an American merchant, Republican politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the first American settler at Necedah, Wisconsin, and represented Juneau County for four years in the Wisconsin Legislature. He was also the first county judge of Adams County, Wisconsin, despite not having a legal background. In historical documents, his name is frequently abbreviated as E. S. Miner.

Early life Miner was born on March 20, 1818, in Madison, New York. At age 10, he came west with his family to Green Bay, which was then part of the Michigan Territory. His father was a Presbyterian missionary, preaching to the Stockbridge Indians. Just a few months after their arrival, before their home had been finished, the family was stricken with Dysentery, which killed Miner's father and infant sister. Eliphalet and his siblings were also sick at the time, and his mother brought the children back to New York, where they remained until 1834.

Wisconsin pioneer In 1834, he returned to the west, laboring on a farm in Illinois until 1841, when he returned to the Wisconsin Territory with his earnings. In 1848, Miner went into business with John T. Kingston and others in the firm T. Weston & Co., to profit from lumber transportation on the Wisconsin River and its Yellow River tributary. The firm operated successfully and Miner remained a stockholder through at least 1881, when it became the Necedah Lumbering Company.

While serving as judge, he relocated to Necedah, Wisconsin, in May 1850. In Necedah, he maintained a store and was appointed the first postmaster there when the mail route was extended to that place. Necedah was organized as a town in 1853, at which point Miner was chosen as town treasurer and justice of the peace. In 1870, he was elected on the Republican ticket to the Wisconsin State Senate to represent the 9th State Senate district. Redistricting occurred in the 1871 session, and, as a result of the map changes, Miner became the representative of the 29th State Senate district for the 1872 session. During the 1871 session, he was one of a number of legislators appointed to a special committee to investigate the state penal and charitable institutions.

Miner did not run for re-election to the Senate in 1872. He continued to serve as postmaster at Necedah until December 1885.

Personal life and family Miner was the eldest child of the Presbyterian missionary Reverend Jesse Miner and his wife Amanda ( Head). In November 1845, Eliphalet married Serena Elliott, an immigrant from Upper Canada. They had at least six children together.

Electoral history Wisconsin Senate (1870)