Montgomery Morrison Cothren

Montgomery Morrison Cothren (September 18, 1819 – October 27, 1888) was an American lawyer, Democratic politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served 18 years as a Wisconsin circuit court judge, and was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate.

Biography

Montgomery Cothren was born in Jerusalem, New York, in 1819, and, as a child, moved west to the Michigan Territory with his parents. He worked on his father's farm near Kalamazoo until age 19. He had some common school education in New York, but had little formal education in the Michigan Territory. Nevertheless, he studied the legal profession in his free time. At age 19, he went to the lead mining region of the Wisconsin Territory and taught school. He continued to study the law in his free time, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. Shortly after, he was also chosen as Clerk of the County Board of Iowa County, and moved to Mineral Point, where he would reside for the rest of his life.

Electoral history Wisconsin Supreme Court (1863)