George Baldwin Smith

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George B. Smith
4th Attorney General of Wisconsin
In office
January 2, 1854 – January 7, 1856
GovernorWilliam A. Barstow
Preceded byExperience Estabrook
Succeeded byWilliam Rudolph Smith
3rd and 16th Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
In office
April 1, 1878 – April 7, 1879
Preceded byHarlow S. Orton
Succeeded byJohn R. Baltzell
In office
April 5, 1858 – April 1, 1861
Preceded byAugustus A. Bird
Succeeded byLevi Baker Vilas
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Dane 5th district
In office
January 13, 1869 – January 12, 1870
Preceded byLevi Baker Vilas
Succeeded byAlden Sprague Sanborn
In office
January 13, 1864 – January 11, 1865
Preceded byGeorge Hyer
Succeeded byJames Ross
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Dane 6th district
In office
January 12, 1859 – January 11, 1860
Preceded byAlexander A. McDonell
Succeeded byCassius Fairchild
Personal details
Born
George Baldwin Smith

(1823-05-22)May 22, 1823
Parma Corners, New York
DiedSeptember 18, 1879(1879-09-18) (aged 56)
Dane County, Wisconsin
Resting placeForest Hill Cemetery
Madison, Wisconsin
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseEugenia Weed Smith
Children
  • James S. Smith
  • Anna (McConnell)
  • 3 others (died young)
Parents
  • Reuben Smith (father)
  • Betsy (Page) Smith (mother)
Professionlawyer, politician

George Baldwin Smith (May 22, 1823 – September 18, 1879) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician. He was the 4th Attorney General of Wisconsin, and the 3rd and 16th mayor of Madison, Wisconsin.[1][2]

Legal and political career[edit]

Smith was admitted to the federal bar in to Southport, Wisconsin Territory, (present-day Kenosha, Wisconsin) in 1843. In 1845, he moved to the territorial capital of Madison, where he was appointed district attorney for Dane County in January 1846. He served in this role until 1852. He was elected to represent Dane County at the 1846 Wisconsin Constitutional Convention.[3]

Smith was elected Attorney General of Wisconsin in 1853, serving from 1854 to 1856; he declined a re-nomination in 1855. After leaving office, his name was drawn into the scandal involving the fraudulent re-election of William A. Barstow in 1855.[1][3]

He then served as mayor of Madison from 1858 to 1861. He represented the city in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1859, 1864, and 1869. The Democratic Party selected him as their candidate to run for his district's congressional seat in 1864 and 1872, but he failed to win both times. Smith was also the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Senate in 1869, losing to Matthew H. Carpenter.[3]

In 1876 he helped to supervise the canvass of electoral votes in Louisiana in the heavily-disputed 1876 presidential election. He was re-elected as mayor of Madison in April 1878, and served until just a few months before his death, in Madison, in 1879.[4][3]

Personal life and education[edit]

Smith was born in Parma Corners, New York to Reuben Smith and Betsy Page Smith; his mother died ten weeks after his birth.[5] His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1825,[5] then to Medina, Ohio, in 1827. Smith studied law with attorneys in Medina and Cleveland before moving with his father to Wisconsin in 1843.[5][3][6]

Smith married Eugenia Weed in 1844. They had five children, two of whom survived to adulthood:[5] James and Anna.[3]

Electoral history[edit]

Wisconsin Attorney General (1853)[edit]

Wisconsin Attorney General Election, 1853[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 8, 1853
Democratic George Baldwin Smith 31,705 57.03% +1.36%
Whig Orsamus Cole 23,676 42.59% +4.60%
Free Soil Vernon Tichenor 215 0.39% -5.93%
Plurality 8,029 14.44% -3.23%
Total votes 55,596 100.0% +2.88%
Democratic hold

Madison Mayor (1858)[edit]

Madison Mayoral Election, 1858[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, March 1, 1858
Democratic George Baldwin Smith 978 61.98%
Republican Neely Gray 600 38.02%
Plurality 378 23.95%
Total votes 1,578 100.0%
Democratic hold

Wisconsin Assembly Dane 6th District (1858)[edit]

Wisconsin Assembly, Dane 6th District Election, 1858[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 2, 1858
Democratic George Baldwin Smith 663 57.30% +9.42%
Republican Hiram C. Bull 494 42.70%
Plurality 169 14.61% +10.37%
Total votes 1,157 100.0% +16.63%
Democratic gain from Republican Swing 18.84%

Madison Mayor (1859, 1860)[edit]

Madison Mayoral Election, 1859[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, March 7, 1859
Democratic George Baldwin Smith (incumbent) 961 70.77% +8.79%
Republican Frank A. Haskell 397 29.23%
Plurality 564 41.53% +17.58%
Total votes 1,358 100.0% -13.94%
Democratic hold
Madison Mayoral Election, 1860[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, April 3, 1860
Democratic George Baldwin Smith (incumbent) 724 50.21% -20.56%
Republican David Atwood 718 49.79%
Plurality 6 0.42% -41.12%
Total votes 1,442 100.0% -6.19%
Democratic hold

Wisconsin Assembly Dane 5th District (1863)[edit]

Wisconsin Assembly, Dane 5th District Election, 1863[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 3, 1863
Democratic George Baldwin Smith 841 53.77% -6.91%
Republican Joseph Hobbins 723 46.23%
Plurality 118 7.54% -13.82%
Total votes 1,564 100.0% +4.41%
Democratic hold

U.S. House of Representatives (1864)[edit]

Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District Election, 1864[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 8, 1864
National Union Ithamar Sloan (incumbent) 15,148 60.31% +5.88%
Democratic George Baldwin Smith 9,969 39.69%
Plurality 5,179 20.62% +11.76%
Total votes 25,117 100.0% +4.30%
National Union hold

Wisconsin Assembly Dane 5th District (1868)[edit]

Wisconsin Assembly, Dane 5th District Election, 1868[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 3, 1868
Democratic George Baldwin Smith 1,198 53.79%
Republican David Atwood 1,029 46.21%
Plurality 169 7.59%
Total votes 2,227 100.0%
Democratic hold

U.S. House of Representatives (1872)[edit]

Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District Election, 1872[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 5, 1872
Republican Gerry Whiting Hazelton (incumbent) 13,408 53.22% -1.29%
Democratic George Baldwin Smith 11,784 46.78%
Plurality 1,624 6.45% -2.58%
Total votes 25,192 100.0% +19.76%
Republican hold

Madison Mayor (1878)[edit]

Madison Mayoral Election, 1878[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, April 2, 1878
Democratic George Baldwin Smith 1,499 100.0%
Total votes 1,499 100.0%
Democratic hold

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "A Loss to Wisconsin: Death of Gen. George B. Smith, a leading lawyer and Democratic politician" New York Times, September 22, 1879, at 2. Reprinting article from the Milwaukee Sentinel, September 19, 1879.
  2. ^ "Smith, George Baldwin", Dictionary of Wisconsin History
  3. ^ a b c d e f Gen. David Atwood, Speech to the Wisconsin Historical Society, November 10, 1879. Reprinted Report and Collections on the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for the years 1877, 1878 and 1879 vol. VIII. Madison, Wisconsin:David Atwood, 1879, p. 111–120.
  4. ^ "Gen. George B. Smith". Waukesha Daily Freeman. September 25, 1879. p. 2. Retrieved May 29, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ a b c d "George B. Smith". Green Bay Advocate. September 25, 1879. p. 7. Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ Letters of George B. Smith, Wisconsin Historical Society
  7. ^ "The Official Canvass". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. December 10, 1853. p. 2. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "The City Election". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. March 2, 1858. p. 3. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Dane County Complete - Official". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. November 10, 1858. p. 2. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "The City Election Yesterday". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. March 8, 1859. p. 3. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Six Majority for G. B. Smith!". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. April 4, 1860. p. 1. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Dane County Official". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. November 12, 1863. p. 1. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ a b "Wisconsin U.S. House Election Results" (PDF). Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 5, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  14. ^ "Democrats Again Carry Madison". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. November 4, 1868. p. 1. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Gen. George B. Smith Elected Mayor, Without Opposition". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. April 3, 1878. p. 1. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[edit]

Wisconsin State Assembly
Preceded by
Alexander A. McDonell
 Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Dane 6th district
1859 – 1860 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Dane 5th district
1864 – 1865 		Succeeded by
James Ross
Preceded by Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Dane 5th district
1869 – 1870 		Succeeded by
Legal offices
Preceded by Attorney General of Wisconsin
1852 – 1854 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
1858 – 1861 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
1878 – 1879 		Succeeded by
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