Horace Rublee

Horace Rublee (August 19, 1829 – October 19, 1896) was a Wisconsin journalist and newspaper editor, Republican party leader, and ambassador to Switzerland.

Rublee was born August 19, 1829, the son of Alvah and Martha (Kent) Rublee, in Berkshire, Vermont, a community on the Canada–US border. In 1839, his father moved to what was then the pioneer western town of Sheboygan, Wisconsin Territory, where he had an interest at a saw mill, and in June 1840 the rest of the family joined him, traveling via steamship to Milwaukee and by sloop from Milwaukee to Sheboygan.

The Rublee family was among the earliest of young families from New York and New England who settled in Sheboygan County. This new community was intellectually vibrant. Influential were, for example, Horace Greeley and the New York Tribune, which was subscribed to by many in the area, and Combe on the Constitution of Man. There was a debating society well attended by these pioneers in nearby Sheboygan Falls, and among the philosophical trends was Fourierism. In 1843 a school opened, and Rublee was one of the first two students. The teacher frequented the debating societies in Sheboygan Falls, and "he loaned me Scott's 'Lady of the Lake,' 'Nicholas Nickleby,' 'Oliver Twist' and several of Bulwer's novels, which helped to pass the school hours, and wonderfully shortened the long winter evenings." Rublee was academically stimulated, with many influences of high literature. As a young man, he aspired to be a poet. Later that same year, Rublee was appointed Ambassador to Switzerland by President Ulysses S. Grant, serving until 1877. In consequence of this appointment, he sold his interest in the Wisconsin State Journal.

When he returned to Wisconsin after his ambassadorship, he again assumed the chair position of the Republican party, serving from 1877 to 1879. In 1878 he settled the 'Greenback Party Controversy' which threatened to seriously divide the party. In 1879 he went east and served as editor of Boston Advertiser for one year.

After he returned to Wisconsin, in 1881 he and associates purchased the Milwaukee Daily News and renamed it Republican and News. In 1882 he purchased the Milwaukee Sentinel and merged the Republican News into it. He remained the editor of Sentinel until his death in 1896. During his life in Milwaukee, he lived on fashionable Prospect Avenue, home of the cream of Milwaukee's social, political and business elite. He died October 19, 1896, in Milwaukee.