Salomon, Edward, 1828-1909

Dates:

Birth 1828-08-11

Death 1909-04-21

Gender:

Male

Nationality: Americans, Germans

Language: English, German

Biographical notes:

Edward Salomon (August 11, 1828 – April 21, 1909) was a Jewish American politician and lawyer. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the eighth Governor of Wisconsin, having ascended to office from the Lieutenant Governorship. He was the first Jewish Governor of Wisconsin.

Born in Ströbeck, in the Province of Saxony, in what was then the Kingdom of Prussia, he attended the University of Berlin before fleeing the country in 1849, immigrating to the United States and settling in Manitowoc, Wisconsin where he was a school teacher, a surveyor, and served as deputy circuit court clerk. In 1852, he moved to Milwaukee, where he read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1855. Initially aligned with the Democratic Party, he changed from his party affiliations to support Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. In 1861 was nominated by the Republican Party on their Union Party ticket as candidate for Lieutenant Governor; he won the election by a narrow margin. When Governor Louis P. Harvey drowned, Salomon became Wisconsin's first German-born and Jewish governor. After failing to be nominated by the Republican Party in 1863, he returned to practicing law in Milwaukee.

In 1869, Salomon moved to New York and opened a new practice focusing on German interests and immigration law. In 1894 he retired and returned with his wife to Germany. He died in 1909 at his home in Frankfurt-am-Main. He is the only former Wisconsin governor to be buried on foreign soil.