Isaac Stephenson
United States Senator fromWisconsin
In office May 17, 1907 – March 3, 1915
Preceded by	John C. Spooner
Succeeded by	Paul O. Husting
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's9th district
In office March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1889
Preceded by	District Established
Succeeded by	Myron H. McCord
Member of theWisconsin State Assembly
In office January 6, 1868 – January 4, 1869
Preceded by	Daniel H. Pulcifer
Succeeded by	Parlan Semple
Constituency	Oconto–Shawano
In office January 1, 1866 – January 7, 1867
Preceded by	Dennis A. Reed
Succeeded by	Daniel H. Pulcifer (Oconto–Shawano)
Constituency	Door–Oconto–Shawano
Personal details
Born	(1829-06-18)June 18, 1829 York County,New Brunswick Colony,British Canada
Died	March 15, 1918(1918-03-15) (aged 88) Marinette,Wisconsin,U.S.
Resting place	Forest Home Cemetery Milwaukee,Wisconsin
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Margaret Stephenson (died 1872) Harriet Augusta Nelson Anderson (died 1882) Martha Elizabeth Burns (died 1925)
Children	with Margaret Stephenson Margaret E. Stephenson (b. 1856; died 1861) Samuel J. Stephenson (b. 1859–1861) Maggie (Hodgins) (b. 1861–1935) Mary (Brown) (b. 1862–1936) Ella Jane (George) (b. 1864–1908) Georgiana (Ludington) (b. 1867–1953) with Harriet Anderson Elizabeth M. (Morgan) (b. 1876–1933) Isaac Watson Stephenson (b. 1877–1910) Harriet Augusta (Skidmore) (b. 1882–1950) with Martha Burns Grant Thomas Stephenson (b. 1885–1951)
Parents	Isaac Stephenson (father) Elizabeth (Watson) Stephenson (mother)
Relatives	Samuel M. Stephenson (brother)
Signature

Isaac Stephenson (June 18, 1829 – March 15, 1918) was an American businessman,Republican politician, andWisconsin pioneer. He represented Wisconsin as aUnited States senator from 1907 to 1915, and served three terms in theU.S. House of Representatives (1883–1889). He was an important financial backer of Wisconsinprogressive leaderRobert M. La Follette in his initial bids for governor. Earlier in his career, he served two terms in theWisconsin State Assembly, representing the area now comprisingMarinette,Oconto, andShawano counties.

He was a major employer and philanthropist in early Marinette County, and several places in the county bare his name, including the town ofStephenson, Wisconsin, and the Stephenson Public Library in the city of Marinette.

His younger brotherSamuel Merritt Stephenson was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan.

He was born in the community of Yorkton, nearFredericton in thecolony of New Brunswick (now inCanada, but aBritish colony at the time). His parents were Isaac Stephenson (1791–1874), a lumberman and farmer born in Ireland of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and Elizabeth (Watson) Stephenson (1793–1838), who was born in London.^[1]

Stephenson worked in lumbering activities in the eastern U.S. for several years, principally inMaine, close to Canada. In 1845 he moved to Wisconsin, where for a time he managed absentee timber properties, but soon entered the lumber business for himself.

In 1858 he settled permanently inMarinette, where he steadily expanded his lumbering operations, especially during the Civil War. Although Stephenson suffered heavy losses in thePeshtigo Fire of 1871, he recouped. He was one of the wealthiest lumbermen in the Great Lakes area, with real-estate holdings in Marinette,Green Bay,Milwaukee, and the booming town ofChicago, and throughout theGreat Lakes. He also owned vast acreages of pine lands in northern Wisconsin andMichigan which were yet to be harvested.

Stephenson joined the Republican Party, which was popular among his class in the northern tier of states. His wealth and economic power made him a powerful figure in local and state politics. He was elected to several offices, including town supervisor, county board chairman, and justice of the peace.^[2]

Next Stephenson was elected as a member of theWisconsin State Assembly (1866, 1868). In 1882, he was elected to theForty-Eighth Congress, and then reelected to theForty-Ninth andFiftieth Congresses (serving March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1889). He represented Wisconsin's newly created9th congressional district. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1888. In 1899 he was unsuccessful in his bid to win election through the state legislature as aUnited States senator from Wisconsin (as was the process at the time).

In 1900 he threw his support and substantial financial backing behindRobert M. La Follette, in his successful campaign for the Wisconsin governorship,^[3] and for a number of years was a prominent adviser to theProgressive faction of the Republican party, and a liberal contributor to its campaign funds. In the 1904 progressive-stalwart split, Stephenson was chosen by the "gymnasium convention" as one of the progressive delegates to the Republican national convention along with La Follette andWilliam D. Connor. Although the national convention refused to accept the credentials of the Progressive delegation, the La Follette forces were recognized as the legal Republican ticket by theWisconsin Supreme Court (1904).

In 1901 Stephenson established theMilwaukee Free Press, providing Progressive-Republicans with a metropolitan newspaper, and competition for the Stalwart-controlledMilwaukee Sentinel. In 1907 Stephenson sought the U.S. Senate seat made vacant by the resignation ofJohn C. Spooner and, after a brief deadlock, was elected by the Progressive-controlled state legislature. In 1908 he ran for renomination in the Republican primary, was opposed by La Follette, but despite this opposition won the nomination through the aid of the state chairman of the Republican partyWilliam D. Connor and lavish use of his personal wealth, and was re-elected by the legislature in 1909. Although his election was twice blocked by fraud investigations in both the state legislature and the U.S. Senate, Stephenson was eventually vindicated and resumed his seat in the Senate, serving from May 1907, to March 1915.^[4]

Stephenson holds the distinction of being the oldest elected freshman United States Senator; he was 77 when he took office.

Stephenson is the last senator from Wisconsin's Class 3 senate seat to have retired from the senate. Paul Husting, Stephenson's successor, died in office and every senator after Husting was defeated for reelection, either through defeat for renomination or in the general election.

In 1909 Stephenson purchased a prizedHolstein cow as a gift for the 27thPresident of the United States,William Howard Taft. The cow was namedPauline Wayne and she became the last presidential pet cow. Pauline Wayne lived and grazed on theWhite House lawn.^[5]

He published his memoir in 1915 titledRecollections of a Long Life. After returning from Washington in 1915, Stephenson retired to his home in Marinette, where he remained until his death on March 15, 1918.^[6]

Noted for his local philanthropies in Marinette, a park, street, and memorial library are named in his honor.^[4] The town ofStephenson, Wisconsin is also named in his honor.

His younger brother,Samuel Merritt Stephenson, served as a U.S. Representative fromMichigan.

• List of United States senators born outside the United States

• United States Congress."Isaac Stephenson (id: S000863)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Dictionary of American Biography
• Wisconsin Blue Book (1911)

• Maxwell, Robert S.La Follette and the Rise of the Progressives in Wisconsin. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1956.

• 1829 births
• 1918 deaths
• American businesspeople in timber
• Emigrants from pre-Confederation New Brunswick to the United States
• Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Wisconsin state court judges
• People from Marinette, Wisconsin
• People from York County, New Brunswick
• Republican Party United States senators from Wisconsin
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin
• Businesspeople from Wisconsin
• 19th-century American businesspeople
• 19th-century American judges
• Burials at Forest Home Cemetery
• 19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature
• 20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature
• 20th-century United States senators
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

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