Walter D. McIndoe

Walter Duncan McIndoe (March 30, 1819  August 22, 1872) was a Scottish American immigrant, lumber industrialist, and politician. A Republican, he represented Wisconsin for two terms in the United States House of Representatives (from 1863 to 1867).

Walter D. McIndoe
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
In office
March 4, 1863  March 3, 1867
Preceded byDistrict Created
Succeeded byCadwallader C. Washburn
ConstituencyWisconsin's 6th district
In office
January 26, 1863  March 3, 1863
Preceded byLuther Hanchett
Succeeded byIthamar Sloan
ConstituencyWisconsin's 2nd district
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
In office
January 11, 1854  January 9, 1856
Preceded byGeorge W. Cate
Succeeded byJoseph Wood
ConstituencyMarathonPortage district
In office
January 9, 1850  January 8, 1851
Preceded byJohn Delaney
Succeeded byThomas J. Morman
(MarathonPortage)
ConstituencyPortage district
Personal details
Born
Walter Duncan McIndoe

(1819-03-30)March 30, 1819
Dumbartonshire, Scotland, U.K.
DiedAugust 22, 1872(1872-08-22) (aged 53)
Wausau, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placePine Grove Cemetery
Wausau, Wisconsin
Political party
Spouse(s)
Catherine Harriet Ann Taylor
(m. 1845)

Biography

Born in Dumbartonshire, Scotland, McIndoe immigrated to the United States in 1834. He engaged in business in New York, Charleston, and St. Louis, finally settling in the Wisconsin Territory in 1845 where he became involved in the lumber business.

He served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1850, 1854, and 1855. In 1850 as a member of the Assembly he introduced a bill changing the name of his home community from "Big Bull Falls" to Wausau and creating Marathon County. Initially a Whig, in 1854 he became a member of the newly formed Republican Party.[1]

He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of Wisconsin at the 1857 Republican state convention, contending with Edward Dwight Holton, with both candidates losing to the eventual nominee and governor, Alexander Randall.[2][3] During the American Civil War he was provost marshal of Wisconsin.

McIndoe was first elected to Congress in the December 1862 special election to replace Congressman Luther Hanchett, who died three weeks after the 1862 general election. Hanchett was the incumbent in Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district and, in the 1862 general election, had been elected to Wisconsin's newly-created 6th congressional district. McIndoe's election allowed him to replace Hanchett for the last months of the 37th Congress and also for the full term of the 38th Congress. He was subsequently re-elected in 1864 to the 39th Congress, ultimately serving from January 26, 1863, until March 3, 1867.

During the Thirty-ninth Congress, he served as chairman of the House Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. In 1866, McIndoe declined candidacy for renomination, instead resuming his interests in the lumber business. He died in Wausau, Wisconsin, on August 22, 1872, and was interred at Pine Grove Cemetery.[4]

Electoral history

U.S. House of Representatives (1862, 1864)

Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District Special Election, 1862[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Special Election, December 30, 1862
Republican Walter D. McIndoe 7,070 57.29% +0.13%
Democratic Charles S. Benton 5,271 42.71%
Plurality 1,799 14.58% +0.25%
Total votes 12,341 100.0% -21.94%
Republican hold
Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District Election, 1864[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 8, 1864
National Union Walter D. McIndoe (incumbent) 13,462 66.31% +9.02%
Democratic Henry Reed 6,840 33.69%
Plurality 6,622 32.62% +18.04%
Total votes 20,302 100.0% +64.51%
Republican hold

References

  1. "Mcindoe, Walter Duncan 1819 - 1872". Dictionary of Wisconsin History. State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  2. Commemorative biographical record of the upper Wisconsin counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano. Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co. 1895. p. 20. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  3. "State Convention of 1857". The Milwaukee Sentinel. March 18, 1896. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  4. United States Congress. "Walter D. McIndoe (id: M000476)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  5. "Wisconsin U.S. House Election Results" (PDF). Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 5, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Luther Hanchett
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district

January 26, 1863  March 3, 1863
Succeeded by
Ithamar Sloan
New district Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Wisconsin's 6th congressional district

March 4, 1863  March 3, 1867
Succeeded by
Cadwallader C. Washburn
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