Edward Dwight Holton
| Edward Dwight Holton | |
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April 28, 1815 Lancaster, New Hampshire |
| Died | April 21, 1892 (aged 76) Savannah, Georgia |
| Occupation | Merchant, railroad promoter, banker |
| Known for | Abolitionism, temperance, Republican Party co-founder, namesake of Holton, Kansas |
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Edward Dwight Holton (April 28, 1815 – April 21, 1892) was a nineteenth century Wisconsin political and business leader. Holton was Milwaukee's first sheriff and was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, but despite never holding a higher office he was influential in the early political development of the state. He was a candidate in the pivotal 1857 gubernatorial campaign, and was well known as an important leader on the subjects of abolitionism and temperance. He also had a strong influence on the development of the state through his involvement in the banking, railroad and insurance businesses.
Holton was born in Lancaster, New Hampshire, and from an early age was raised by his mother alone. At age fourteen he was indentured by her for four years as a clerk in Bath, New Hampshire. He attended ordinary public schools, but was able to achieve qualifications to teach, and when the term of his indenture expired he returned to Lancaster to teach for a year. His general aptitude and business experience as a clerk led to a job in Buffalo as a bookkeeper in the shipping department of a wholesaler. In 1838 he made a brief trip to the recently organized Territory of Wisconsin, returned home when he was disillusioned with the collapse of the real estate market (which had bubbled in 1836,) and in 1840 settled in Milwaukee for good.
In November 1840, he set up his first shop in the corner of a warehouse. He soon engaged in the surging wheat business, being the first to ship wheat from the port of Milwaukee in 1841. The wheat exports from Milwaukee were trivial in 1841, leaped to 95,000 bushels in 1845, and reached 1.1 million bushels in 1849, and Holton's fortune was well endowed by this trade. In 1849 he helped establish and became president of the Milwaukee Board of Trade, which was responsible for coordinating the wheat trade.
In 1849, Holton helped found the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railroad, and served as superintendent until 1851.
In 1853, he helped form the Farmers and Millers Bank (a predecessor of Firstar Corporation) and became its first president. During this period there was a good deal of turmoil in banking laws, and Holton was a key factor in rewriting legislation to settle the free-for-all laws.
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