R. N. Messenger

Riley N. Messenger (sometimes spelled Messinger[1]) was an American lawyer and teacher who served in 1848 as a Democratic member of the first Wisconsin State Senate.

Background

Messenger came to Smithville, New York about 1834 from Oneida, New York. He practiced law there until about 1841, when he moved to Milwaukee. (From 1837 until the end of the Van Buren administration he also served as Postmaster of Smithville, a patronage appointment.)

In Milwaukee

In 1846 he was elected to the Milwaukee Board of School Directors from the Second Ward of Milwaukee, but was not re-elected for 1847.[2] On February 18, 1847, he was the marshal from the Second Ward for the parade of Milwaukee Democrats held to support the first Wisconsin State Constitution. He was elected co-secretary of the subsequent meeting.

He represented the 19th Senate District (part of Milwaukee County) in the first session of the state legislature, which convened June 5, 1848 and adjourned August 21 of that year. He was succeeded in the next term by John B. Smith.[3]

In 1856, he was in charge of the Hall of Fine Arts for the Wisconsin State Fair.[4] (In 1852, Messenger had himself taken prizes for "Fine egg plants"; for "Best six varieties" of pansies, and for "Best collection of green-house plants owned by one person" at that year's State Fair.[5]) He was the recording secretary of the Milwaukee Horticultural Society – Association for 1857, at which time he was a justice of the peace for the Sixth Ward of the City of Milwaukee.[6]

John Messenger

It is unknown whether Messenger was related to John Messenger, a contemporary fellow Milwaukee Democrat, who risked his life in helping captured fugitive slave Joshua Glover escape to safety after he was freed from jail.

References

  1. ↑ Journal of the Assembly of the Third Legislature of the State of Wisconsin, Held at Madison, Beginning on the Ninth Day of January and Ending the Eleventh Day of February, A.D. 1850 Madison: David T. Dickson, State Printer; p. 132
  2. ↑ Pereles, James Madison. "The Milwaukee School Board: An address on the history of this organization... delivered before the Old Settlers' Club September 2, 1895" in The American School Board Journal, Volumes 10-11; no pagination
  3. ↑ Warner, Hans B., ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin Madison, 1880; pp. 177, 179
  4. ↑ Powers, D. J.; Skinner, E. W. (eds.) The Wisconsin Farmer, and Northwestern Cultivator; a monthly journal, devoted to agriculture, horticulture, mechanics and rural economy April 1856 (Volume VIII, No. 4); p. 150
  5. ↑ Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, with portions of the correspondence of the secretary Vol. II. Madison: Beriah Brown, State Printer, 1852; pp. 68, 82
  6. ↑ "Horticultural" and "Messinger, R. N." in Milwaukee City Directory for 1857 & 1858 Volume 1 First Series; Milwaukee: Steam Press of King, Jermain & Co., 1858
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