Orsamus Cole

Orsamus R. Cole (August 23, 1819 – May 5, 1903) was an American lawyer, judge, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served as the 6th chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and, until 2013, was the longest-serving justice in the Court's history, with nearly 37 years on the high court (1855–1892). He also represented Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 31st Congress (1849–1851). Before Wisconsin's statehood, Cole served as a delegate to the constitutional convention which drafted the Constitution of Wisconsin. His name is frequently misspelled as "Orasmus".

Early life and career

Orsamus Cole was born in Cazenovia, New York, the son of Hymeneus Cole and Sarah Salisbury. Both of his grandfathers had served in the American Revolutionary War. Cole attended the common schools and graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1843. He studied law, and, in 1845, he was admitted to the New York bar. That same year, after a brief stop in Chicago, he moved to Potosi, a lead mining town in Grant County, Wisconsin Territory. At Potosi, he entered a prosperous law practice partnership with William Biddlecome.

Political office

In 1847, he was chosen as one of Grant County's delegates to the 2nd Wisconsin Constitutional Convention. The constitution was ratified by a referendum in May 1848, and, that fall, Orsamus was nominated by the Whig Party as their candidate for Congress in Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district. In the November general election, Cole defeated his opponents, Democrat A. Hyatt Smith and Free Soil candidate George W. Crabb, and earned a seat in the 31st United States Congress.

He resumed the practice of law in Potosi, but, in 1853, stood on the consolidated Whig and Free Soil ticket as their candidate for Attorney General of Wisconsin. The Whig and Free Soil ticket was defeated in nearly all of the statewide races that year, and Cole again returned to his law practice.

At the end of his term in 1892, he retired to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he died on May 5, 1903.

Electoral history

U.S. House of Representatives (1848, 1850)

Wisconsin Attorney General (1853)

Wisconsin Supreme Court (1855)