Randall Wilcox

Randall Wilcox (November 9, 1793 – October 18, 1872) was an American businessman, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the first village president of De Pere, Wisconsin, and played an important role in the early work to develop the Fox River system for navigability. He also served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly and—prior to Wisconsin statehood—he served two years on the Wisconsin Territory council during the 4th Wisconsin Territorial Assembly.

Biography Randall Wilcox was born in Lee, Massachusetts, in 1793. As a child, he moved to Pennsylvania, with his parents, where he was raised and educated. He worked on many bridge and dam projects in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

He moved west to the Wisconsin Territory in 1836, and settled on a plot of land along the Fox River, in the area that is now De Pere, Wisconsin. He quickly became involved in bridge and dam construction again, and became affiliated with pioneer John Penn Arndt as president of his De Pere Hydraulic Company, where he managed the building of the first lock and dam on the Fox River.

In 1838, the territorial legislature named the area around their settlement as the town of "Wilcox", named for Randall Wilcox. The next year, however, that town was divided—the area east of the Fox River became the town of De Pere and the area west of the river was re-absorbed into the town of Howard.

In 1844, Wilcox was elected to represent the northeast quadrant of Wisconsin on the council (upper house of the legislature). He served in the 3rd and 4th sessions of the 4th Wisconsin Territorial Assembly.

After Wisconsin achieved statehood, Wilcox was the first chairman of the Brown County board of supervisors under state government, and remained in that office until 1852. He served in the 6th Wisconsin Legislature and did not run for re-election in 1853.

In 1857, the Legislature passed an act incorporating the village of De Pere. At the charter election, Wilcox was chosen as the first president of De Pere. He was re-elected to another term in 1858 and subsequently won three more one-year terms in 1861, 1863, and 1864.

Their eldest daughter Mary Catherine married John Wallace Arndt, the son of De Pere pioneer John Penn Arndt and the brother of Charles C. P. Arndt, who was infamously killed by a fellow councilmember during an 1842 session of the Wisconsin Territory Council. George Robinson went on to become Secretary of State of Wisconsin and mayor of Green Bay.

Wilcox died on October 17, 1872.