George Baldwin Smith (May 22, 1823September 18, 1879) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician. He was the 4th Attorney General of Wisconsin, and the 3rd and 16th mayor of Madison, Wisconsin."A Loss to Wisconsin: Death of Gen. George B. Smith, a leading lawyer and Democratic politician" New York Times, September 22, 1879, at 2. Reprinting article from the Milwaukee Sentinel, September 19, 1879."Smith, George Baldwin", Dictionary of Wisconsin History
Legal and political career
Smith was admitted to the federal bar in to Southport, Wisconsin Territory, (present-day Kenosha, Wisconsin) in 1843. In 1845, he moved to the territorial capital of Madison, where he was appointed district attorney for Dane County in January 1846. He served in this role until 1852. He was elected to represent Dane County at the 1846 Wisconsin Constitutional Convention.Gen. David Atwood, Speech to the Wisconsin Historical Society, November 10, 1879. Reprinted Report and Collections on the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for the years 1877, 1878 and 1879 vol. VIII. Madison, Wisconsin:David Atwood, 1879, p. 111–120.
Smith was elected Attorney General of Wisconsin in 1853, serving from 1854 to 1856; he declined a re-nomination in 1855. After leaving office, his name was drawn into the scandal involving the fraudulent re-election of William A. Barstow in 1855.
He then served as mayor of Madison from 1858 to 1861. He represented the city in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1859, 1864, and 1869. The Democratic Party selected him as their candidate to run for his district's congressional seat in 1864 and 1872, but he failed to win both times. Smith was also the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Senate in 1869, losing to Matthew H. Carpenter.
In 1876 he helped to supervise the canvass of electoral votes in Louisiana in the heavily disputed 1876 presidential election. He was re-elected as mayor of Madison in April 1878, and served until just a few months before his death, in Madison, in 1879.
Personal life and education Smith was born in Parma Corners, New York to Reuben Smith and Betsy Page Smith; his mother died ten weeks after his birth. His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1825, then to Medina, Ohio, in 1827. Smith studied law with attorneys in Medina and Cleveland before moving with his father to Wisconsin in 1843.Letters of George B. Smith , Wisconsin Historical Society
Smith married Eugenia Weed in 1844. They had five children, two of whom survived to adulthood: James and Anna.
Electoral history
Wisconsin Attorney General (1853)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 8, 1853
Madison Mayor (1858)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, March 1, 1858
Wisconsin Assembly Dane 6th District (1858)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 2, 1858
Madison Mayor (1859, 1860)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, March 7, 1859
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, April 3, 1860
Wisconsin Assembly Dane 5th District (1863)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 3, 1863
U.S. House of Representatives (1864)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 8, 1864
Wisconsin Assembly Dane 5th District (1868)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 3, 1868
U.S. House of Representatives (1872)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 5, 1872
Madison Mayor (1878)
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, April 2, 1878
References
External links