Henry Kleist (Sept. 29, 1860 - 1929?) was a farmer from Rantoul, Wisconsin who served one term as a Socialist state senator.[1]
Kleist was born on a farm in the Town of Eaton, Manitowoc. on Sept. 29, 1860. Six years later his parents moved to the Town of Rantoul in Calumet County.. He attended public schools as a boy in the winter, working on the farm in summer, and later worked in the woods in winter. After the 1888 death of his father, he and his brother Charles operated the homestead farm, now known as Kleist Brothers' Grain and Dairy Farm, continued to live with their mother. By 1918, he was president of the Calumet County branch of the American Society of Equity (at that time "the greatest farmer organization that the State had ever known"[2] and the Farmers Advancement Association of Brillion, and a member of the Brillion Masonic and Odd Fellow lodges.
In 1918, he was elected to the State Senate as a Socialist for the 15th district (Calumet and Manitowoc counties), receiving 4,393 votes to 3,611 for Leo P. Fox, a Democrat.[3] He was the Socialist nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, losing to Republican (and fellow dairy farmer) George F. Comings.
He succeeded Henry Rollman, a Democrat, and was succeeded by Alva A. Garey, a Republican.