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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] William Freeman Vilas Biography VILAS,
William Freeman (1840-1908). An American lawyer, soldier, and political
leader, born at Chelsea, Vt. In 1851 he removed with his family to Madison,
Wis., and in 1858 he graduated at the State University there. He graduated at
the Albany Law School in 1860 and practiced for a time, but in 1862 entered the
Federal military service, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He
served during the siege of Vicksburg, but in 1863 resigned his commission and
returned to Madison. From 1868 to 1885 he was a professor in the law school of
the University of Wisconsin, and became interested in politics, being a member
of the Democratic National Committee (1876-86). He was a member of the Wisconsin
Legislature in 1885, was permanent chairman of the National Democratic
Convention in 1884, was United States Postmaster-General from 1885 to 1888, was
Secretary of the Interior from January, 1888, to March, 1889, and United States
Senator from 1891 to 1897. When W. J. Bryan was nominated for the presidency, on
a freesilver platform, by the Democratic party in 1896, Vilas was one of those
who helped to organize the National (gold) Democrats. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 151. |