Henry H. Conklin

Henry Hewitt Conklin (May 29, 1819 – July 17, 1884) was an American lawyer, land speculator, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was one of the earliest settlers of the city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, he was the first village president when Sheboygan was incorporated as a village, and was then the first mayor when Sheboygan became a city in 1853. With his father, Henry Conklin, he was also one of the first American settlers in what is now Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin.

Biography Henry H. Conklin was born into a wealthy family in Dutchess County, New York, in 1819. He was raised and educated in Dutchess County, then obtained a collegiate education at Trinity College, graduating in the class of 1833. He then went on to attend lectures at the City University of New York City, including early lectures by Samuel Morse on the concept of electric telegraphy.

His family's fortunes suffered significantly from the Panic of 1837, and his father, Henry Conklin, decided to sell their properties in New York to seek new opportunities in the western territories. Conklin traveled with his family to the Wisconsin Territory in 1841. Shortly after the family was established at , however, Conklin went east to invest in land at the site that would become Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in partnership with Joseph L. Moore. Conklin established a general store in Sheboygan, and invested in several critical infrastructure projects for the new settlement; he was an investor in the project that established the first shipping pier at Sheboygan and an officer in the Sheboygan and Plank Road company, establishing an overland road to . Conklin, along with other early landowners, deeded land to the city for use as a cemetery, but that cemetery was later replaced by a municipal park.

Conklin and his family were active in the Whig Party, and he attended the 1844 Whig state convention as a delegate from Sheboygan. In 1846, the Wisconsin Territory legislature incorporated Sheboygan as a village, and at the first election in the village, in February 1846, Conklin was elected village president.

In 1853, the Wisconsin Legislature incorporated the city of Sheboygan, the first city election was held April 5, 1853, and Conklin was elected the first mayor. In Fond du Lac, Conklin became associated with the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Later in life, Conklin moved to Walnut, Kansas. He suffered a stroke a few months after his arrival and never recovered; he died at Walnut on July 17, 1884. Henry and Catherine had 9 children together, though at least five died in childhood. Catherine died in 1868, and Henry never remarried.