James Duane Doty

James Duane Doty (November 5, 1799 – June 13, 1865) was an American land speculator, jurist, territorial executive, and politician who played a prominent role in the early development of the Upper Midwest and the Intermountain West. He served as the 2nd governor of the Wisconsin Territory from 1841 to 1844 and as the 5th governor of the Utah Territory from 1863 until his death in 1865. He also represented Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms from 1849 to 1853. A controversial and energetic figure, he was instrumental in the founding and promotion of Madison, Wisconsin, and in shaping the early political institutions of Wisconsin Territory.

Doty was born in Salem, Washington County, New York, on November 5, 1799, a descendant of Mayflower immigrant Edward Doty. When he was less than three years old, his family moved to Martinsburg, New York, a community founded by his maternal uncle, General Walter Martin. He grew up in this frontier setting and attended Lowville Academy in nearby Lowville, New York. His extended family connections would later include his cousin Morgan Lewis Martin, who also became a notable political figure in the Wisconsin region. These early years in upstate New York exposed Doty to both frontier life and the legal and commercial ambitions that would shape his later career.

In 1818, Doty moved west to Detroit, then the capital of Michigan Territory, to pursue a legal career. There he became an apprentice to Charles Larned, the territorial attorney general. On November 20, 1818, he was admitted to the bar in Wayne County and in the Michigan Territory. He practiced law until September 29, 1819, when he was appointed clerk of court for Michigan Territory. In June 1820 he resigned that position to serve as secretary to the Lewis Cass expedition, a summer-long exploration that made the first American surveys of the territory west of Lake Michigan as far as the headwaters of the Mississippi River—an area that would later comprise the state of Wisconsin. Upon his return to Detroit, Doty resumed his legal practice, and in the winter of 1822 he traveled to Washington, D.C., where, on March 13, 1822, with the sponsorship of Henry Wheaton, he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Doty’s judicial and frontier career began in earnest in 1823, when a new federal judicial district was created for northern and western Michigan Territory, covering what is now Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. President James Monroe appointed him federal judge for this district. Before assuming his duties, Doty married Sarah Collins at Whitesboro, New York, on April 14, 1823. Because federal law required him to reside within his district, the couple moved that year to Prairie du Chien, where Doty regularly held court sessions at Prairie du Chien, Green Bay, and Mackinac. He also served as the first postmaster of Prairie du Chien from 1823 to 1824. In 1824 he relocated to Green Bay, where he lived until 1841. Doty remained the federal district judge until 1832, when he was replaced by David Irvin. During this period he became deeply involved in land acquisition and local affairs, laying the groundwork for his later prominence as a land speculator and political leader.

Following his removal from the bench, Doty entered territorial politics. From 1834 to 1835 he served as a member of the Michigan Territorial Council, representing the western part of the territory. He was an early and persistent advocate for creating a separate territorial government for the region west of Lake Michigan, arguing that the growing population there was poorly served by a distant government in Detroit. As early as 1824 he had supported dividing the territory, contending that votes from residents west of the lake could not reach Detroit in time to be counted and that residents of Lower Michigan had little interest in western affairs. In 1835, as Michigan moved toward statehood, the territorial governor created a separate legislature for the western portion, partially realizing Doty’s long-standing proposal. That same year Doty ran for election as the congressional delegate from western Michigan Territory but lost a three-way race to George Wallace Jones. Both men ran as Democrats, but Doty had little firm party loyalty, generally aligning himself with whichever faction was most influential. After his defeat, he turned more intensively to land speculation, purchasing thousands of acres across the region, including the land that would become Madison, Wisconsin.

The creation of Wisconsin Territory in 1836 opened a new phase in Doty’s career. Although he hoped to be named territorial governor, President Andrew Jackson instead appointed his rival Henry Dodge. Without public office, Doty concentrated on developing his extensive landholdings on the isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona. He had the land surveyed and platted and envisioned a new city, Madison, at this strategic site. To secure Madison’s selection as the permanent capital of Wisconsin, he lobbied the territorial legislature, emphasizing the city’s central location and promising infrastructure such as canals and railroads. He also engaged in aggressive political tactics, including offering legislators choice lots in the new city in exchange for favorable votes; by the time of the final vote, approximately half of the legislators owned land in Madison. Madison was declared the permanent capital in November 1836, and construction began in 1837. Doty’s methods drew criticism, and one of his business partners, Michigan Governor Stevens T. Mason, famously described him as “a liar, a calumniator and a swindler,” reflecting the contentious reputation he acquired in both business and politics.

In 1838, Doty reentered public life when he was elected as the Wisconsin Territory’s congressional delegate, defeating George W. Jones in a rematch of the 1835 contest. Although elected as a Democrat, he cultivated close personal ties with leading Whigs in Washington, including Henry Clay. When Whig candidate William Henry Harrison won the presidency in 1840, Harrison planned to appoint Doty governor of Wisconsin Territory despite his nominal Democratic affiliation. Harrison’s death in 1841 delayed the appointment, but Vice President John Tyler, upon assuming the presidency, carried out Harrison’s intention and named Doty the 2nd governor of Wisconsin Territory that year. Doty’s governorship, lasting from 1841 to 1844, was marked by persistent conflict with supporters of former governor Henry Dodge in the territorial legislature. Most of Doty’s legislative proposals were rejected, and he failed on four separate occasions to secure popular support for Wisconsin statehood. His term ended in 1844, and Tyler did not reappoint him, instead naming Nathaniel P. Tallmadge as governor. Doty then returned to private pursuits.

Doty again played a role in Wisconsin’s path to statehood as a delegate to the First Wisconsin Constitutional Convention in 1846. Attending as an independent but generally siding with the Whigs, he emerged as the principal opposition leader in a convention dominated by Democrats. The convention produced a constitution that many voters considered too radical, and it was rejected in a popular referendum despite public campaigning by Doty and other delegates in its favor. A second convention in 1847 drafted a more moderate constitution, which the electorate approved, enabling Wisconsin to enter the Union in 1848. Shortly after statehood, Doty was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin’s newly created 3rd congressional district. He served in the 31st and 32nd Congresses from 1849 to 1853. After two terms he was succeeded by John B. Macy. During this period, Doty’s family life and connections continued to anchor him in Wisconsin; among his children was his son Charles Doty, and his extended family network, including cousin Morgan Lewis Martin, remained influential in regional affairs.

After leaving Congress in 1853, Doty withdrew from active politics and retired to his property on an island between Neenah and Menasha, Wisconsin, later known as Doty Island. There he lived in a log-cabin home on the island’s east end. The cabin was later relocated to Doty Park on the southeastern riverfront of Doty Island, on the Neenah side, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During these years he continued to be recognized as a prominent, if sometimes controversial, figure in Wisconsin’s early history, with his name attached to various communities and landmarks.

The outbreak of the Civil War brought Doty back into federal service. In 1861, Republican President Abraham Lincoln appointed him Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Utah Territory. In this capacity, Doty worked to manage relations between the federal government and Native American tribes in the region and was generally regarded as effective in the role. In 1863, after Utah’s territorial governor Stephen Selwyn Harding was removed from office following public backlash over his outspoken criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the practice of polygamy, Lincoln appointed Doty as the 5th governor of Utah Territory. As governor, Doty sought to repair relations between the federal government and the territory’s Mormon population, adopting a more conciliatory approach than his predecessor. He also promoted the construction of schools and pursued negotiations with local Native American tribes in an effort to stabilize the territory.

Doty died in office at age 65 on June 13, 1865, shortly after the outbreak of Utah’s Black Hawk War, a conflict between Mormon settlers and Native American groups in the region. He was buried in Fort Douglas Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah. His name endures in numerous places in Wisconsin, including the community of Dotyville, the town of Doty, and Doty Street in Madison. Doty Island, divided between the cities of Neenah and Menasha, and James Island in Menasha also bear his name, as does Doty Park in Neenah. These commemorations reflect his lasting, if complex, legacy as a pioneer, land speculator, and political figure in the development of Wisconsin and the American West.