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William Hoard

William Dempster Hoard
William D. Hoard.jpg
16th Governor of Wisconsin
In office
January 7, 1889 – January 5, 1891
Lieutenant George W. Ryland
Preceded by Jeremiah McLain Rusk
Succeeded by George W. Peck
Personal details
Born (1836-10-10)October 10, 1836
Died November 22, 1918(1918-11-22) (aged 82)
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting place Evergreen Cemetery
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Agnes Elizabeth Bragg
Children 3
Profession Dairyman
Editor
Politician
Military service
Service/branch Union Army
Years of service 1861–1862
1864–1865
Unit 4th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment
1st New York Artillery Regiment
Battles/wars American Civil War

William Dempster Hoard (October 10, 1836 – November 22, 1918) was an American politician, a newspaper editor, and the 16th Governor of the U.S. state of Wisconsin from 1889 to 1891.

Born in , he moved to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.

During the American Civil War, Hoard served in the 4th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment as a musician until he was discharged for medical reasons. He went back to New York to recover and served to the end of the war in the 1st New York Artillery Regiment. Returning to Wisconsin, he got involved with the hops industry, but the glut and decline in the industry left him without money. He was a member of the Republican Party, but was an outsider and an amateur in politics. He was a leading promoter of the dairy industry, through his weekly magazine Hoard's Dairyman.

In 1889, Hoard asked the legislature to pass the Bennett Law, the state's first compulsory school attendance law. It required all public and private schools to teach major subjects in English. The German Lutherans and Germans Catholics, who each had a large parochial school system that used German-speaking teachers, strenuously objected. Hoard made the extremely controversial law the centerpiece of his reelection campaign, rejecting the advice of professional politicians that it would doom the GOP. The law, and Hoard, were repudiated by the state's large German community. Hoard was defeated in an intense campaign by Democrat George Wilbur Peck, the Yankee mayor of Milwaukee.

The Republican establishment was outraged at Hoard. In turn the moralistic rank and file bridled at the boss rule. Hoard joined forces with Robert M. La Follette Sr. and created the Progressive faction of the state GOP. It propelled La Follette to the governorship and the U.S. Senate, but Hoard, still an influential publisher, broke with La Follette in 1912.

Hoard died in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, on November 22, 1918 (age 82 years, 43 days). He is interred at Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.


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