Herman Leon Humphrey

Herman Loin Humphrey (March 14, 1830 – June 10, 1902) was an American attorney, judge, and Republican politician who served three terms in the United States House of Representatives, representing Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district from 1877 to 1883. Some sources give his middle name as Leon. Over the course of a long public career in Wisconsin, he also served as a circuit court judge for a decade, a member of the Wisconsin State Senate, and later a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Humphrey was born in Candor, Tioga County, New York, on March 14, 1830. He was educated in the public schools of the region, with one year of additional study at the Cortland Academy in Homer, New York. At the age of sixteen he began working as a merchant’s clerk in Ithaca, New York, an experience that introduced him to commercial life and the growing communities of upstate New York in the mid-nineteenth century.

While residing in Ithaca, Humphrey undertook the study of law in the office of the firm Walbridge & Finch. He read law in the traditional manner of the period and, after completing his legal studies, was admitted to the bar. Sometime prior to 1854 he moved west to Wisconsin, becoming one of the early settlers of the village of Chippewa Falls. At the initial organization of Chippewa County, he was the only lawyer present at the first session of the court in January 1854 and was appointed the first district attorney of the county, marking the beginning of his public legal career in the state.

Humphrey soon relocated to Hudson, in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, where he established a legal practice that would remain his professional base for the rest of his life. In 1860 he was appointed county judge of St. Croix County to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge E. A. Clapp, and in the spring of 1861 he was elected to a full four-year term. He resigned the judgeship after less than a year when he was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in the fall of 1861. As a Republican state senator, he represented his district in the 1862 and 1863 legislative sessions. At the Republican State Convention in 1863 his name was placed in nomination for lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, but he finished a distant third when the convention selected Wyman Spooner for the office. In 1865 Humphrey was elected mayor of Hudson and served one year, reflecting his growing prominence in local and state affairs.

In the spring election of 1866, Humphrey defeated incumbent Lucien P. Wetherby for a seat as judge of the Wisconsin circuit court in the 8th judicial circuit, extending his judicial service to a broader region of western Wisconsin. He was re-elected to a second six-year term in 1872, giving him a total of ten years on the circuit bench. His decade of service as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in western Wisconsin further established his reputation as a leading legal figure in the state and prepared him for higher office.

At the 1876 Republican convention in Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district, Humphrey’s name was placed in nomination against incumbent Congressman Jeremiah McLain Rusk, with Gilbert E. Porter of Eau Claire also seeking the nomination. After ten ballots without any candidate securing a majority, both Porter and Rusk withdrew, and Humphrey was unanimously nominated. Running as a Republican, he was elected to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses and served from March 4, 1877, to March 3, 1883. As a member of the Republican Party representing Wisconsin, Herman Leon Humphrey contributed to the legislative process during three terms in office, participating in the democratic process during a significant period in American history and representing the interests of his constituents in a post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction Congress. Following the 1880 census and subsequent reapportionment, Wisconsin gained an eighth congressional seat, and Humphrey was placed in the new district. His effort to secure the Republican nomination for another term was defeated at the district convention by William T. Price, who enjoyed strong backing from the Temperance faction.

After leaving Congress in 1883, Humphrey returned to Hudson and resumed the practice of law. He continued his involvement in public affairs and was elected to one final term in state government, representing St. Croix County in the Wisconsin State Assembly for the 1887–1888 session. This service capped a public career that had included local, judicial, legislative, and congressional responsibilities.

Humphrey died in Hudson, Wisconsin, on June 10, 1902. He was interred in Willow River Cemetery in Hudson. His former residence in the city, now known as the Herman L. Humphrey House, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, reflecting his lasting association with the community he helped to shape over nearly half a century of legal and public service.