Joseph Wilson Fifer (October 28, 1840 – August 6, 1938) was the 19th

governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its we ...

, serving from 1889 to 1893. He also served as a member of the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

from 1881 to 1883. Fifer was born at

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

on October 28, 1840. At the age of 16, in 1856, he moved with his family to

Danvers, Illinois Danvers is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,089 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Bloomington– Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Danvers is in western McLean County, northwe ...

and worked in his father's brickyard for several years. Fifer enlisted as a Private in the 33rd Illinois Infantry at the start of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

and was severely wounded at

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

during General Grant's

Vicksburg campaign The Vicksburg campaigns were a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi ...

. He refused a discharge and spent the rest of the war guarding a prison boat. After the war, Fifer married Gertrude Lewis and had three children. The oldest child died in infancy, leaving Herman and Florence. He studied law at

Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856. History The in ...

and became the tax collector at Danvers Township. He served as the City Attorney of

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the List of municipalities in Illinois, 13th-most populous ci ...

and as a state's attorney as well.McLean County Museum of Histor
The Fifer-Bohrer Papers Collection
/ref> In 1880, he was elected to the state senate where he served for seven years. left, The Fifer home in Bloomington, IL His name was elevated to state level after fighting with General John C. Black, the pension commissioner, when the latter tried to remove him as a "typical Republican politician who did not deserve a pension." Fifer's pension was $24 a month. Due to his celebrity status, Fifer was elected Governor of Illinois in 1889. One of his notable acts as governor was to commute the life sentence of murderer

Thomas Neill Cream Thomas Neill Cream (27 May 1850 – 15 November 1892), also known as the Lambeth Poisoner, was a Scottish-Canadian medical doctor and serial killer who poisoned his victims with strychnine. Cream murdered up to ten people in three countri ...

, allowing his release, and freeing Cream to commit at least four more murders in London.McLaren, Angus: ''A Prescription For Murder: The Victorian Serial Killings of Dr. Thomas Neill Cream'' (Chicago series on sexuality, history, and society) Chicago and London:

The University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It publishes a wide range ...

, 1995, , p.43 Fifer lost a reelection bid, and then twice refused the nomination to run again for governor. He was appointed to the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

by President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

in 1899. Governor Fifer lived to see his daughter, Florence Fifer Bohrer, elected as the first female state senator of Illinois in 1924.

References

External links

*
bio squib at Illinois National Guard

bio squib at Daily Pantagraph

(in Bloomington)

-

McLean County Museum of History The McLean County Museum of History is an American Alliance of Museums, AAM accreditedList of Accredited Museums institution located in Bloomington, Illinois. It is the principal asset of the McLean County Historical Society, an Illinois nonprof ...

archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Fifer, Joseph W. 1840 births 1938 deaths Republican Party governors of Illinois Republican Party Illinois state senators Politicians from Bloomington, Illinois Politicians from Staunton, Virginia People of the Interstate Commerce Commission 19th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly