Joseph L. Barber

Joseph L. Barber, M.D. (March 24, 1864 - 1940) was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate and the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Biography

Barber was born on March 24, 1864 in Hayton, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1899, he married Ella Webb. Their daughter, Mildred Barber Abel, would become a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. It marked the first time a father and daughter served together in a state legislature in the history of the United States.^[1] Barber was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as well as Modern Woodmen of America. He died on April 6, 1940 and is buried in Wausau, Wisconsin.^[2]

After Barber first began practicing medicine, he would become Health Officer of Greenwood, Wisconsin and Coroner of Clark County, Wisconsin before moving to Collins, Wisconsin. In 1906, he moved to Marathon City, Wisconsin and opened a practice and later a pharmacy.

After serving as President of Marathon, Wisconsin, Barber was elected to the Senate in 1922, where he would serve two terms. He was also a delegate to the 1920 Republican National Convention.^[3] Barber was first elected to the Assembly in 1925 and was re-elected in 1928 and 1934. Additionally, he was a member of the Marathon County, Wisconsin Board of Supervisors from 1924 to 1925 and again from 1931 to 1932.

He died in 1940.

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