Samuel Ryan, Jr.

Samuel Ryan Jr. (March 13, 1824 – March 26, 1907) was an Irish American newspaper publisher, Democratic politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the founder of the Appleton Crescent (now The Post-Crescent), served eight years as county judge of Outagamie County, Wisconsin (1866–1874), and served one year in the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Biography Ryan was born in Sackets Harbor, New York, in 1824. As a child, he moved with his parents to Green Bay in 1826, when it was still part of the Michigan Territory. As a young man in Green Bay, he learned the printing trade, and worked as editor of several pre-statehood papers in Green Bay, including the Green Bay Spectator and the Green Bay Wisconsin Republican. After coming to Green Bay, Sam Ryan served as quartermaster at Fort Howard and was named a colonel of one of the first two militia regiments in the Wisconsin Territory. Sam Jr.'s younger brother James Ryan also came to Appleton and served as an editor on the Crescent.

He was married three times: He first married Laura E. Knappen on June 1, 1847. After her death in 1850, he married Calista M. Crane in 1853. Calista died in 1869, and in 1871 Ryan married Martha S. Driggs. His third wife died just 8 days before him in 1907. He had no children.