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Alson Streeter

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Alson Streeter
Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 24th district
In office
1885–1888
Preceded byJohn Fletcher[1]
Succeeded byOrville F. Berry[2]
Member of the
Illinois House of Representatives
from the 22nd district
In office
1873–1874
Personal details
Born
Alson Jenness Streeter

(1823-01-18)January 18, 1823
Berlin, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 24, 1901(1901-11-24) (aged 78)
New Windsor, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Other political
affiliations		Greenback (1880)
Anti-Monopoly Party (1884)
Union Labor Party (1888)
Spouse(s)Deborah Boone
Susan Menold
Children7
Parents
  • Roswell Streeter (father)
  • Eleanor Kenyon (mother)
EducationKnox College

Alson Jenness Streeter (January 18, 1823 – November 24, 1901) was an American farmer, miner and politician who was the Union Labor Party nominee in the United States presidential election of 1888. He was also an early member of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry following its foundation in the 1860s and supported Granger Laws while in office.

Early life and education

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Alson Streeter was born on January 18, 1823, in Rensselaer County, New York, to Eleanor Kenyon and Roswell Streeter. The family later moved to Allegany County, New York in 1827 and Lee County, Illinois in 1836.[3][4][5] He lived with his parents until his father's death in 1840, after which he became a miner and farmer. He attended Knox College in Illinois in 1846 and graduated in 1849.[6]

Career

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In 1849, he moved to California, but returned to Illinois in 1851. In 1853 and 1854, he returned to California for a short time to drive cattle.[7]

During the Civil War, he supported the War Democrat faction of the Democratic Party. In the 1860s, he entered politics as an unsuccessful candidate for Illinois General Assembly. In 1862, he joined the Mercer County Board of Supervisors.[8][9] Streeter was elected as a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives for the 1873–1874 session from Mercer County. In 1874, he became a member of the recently founded Greenback Party.[10]

In 1878, he was the Greenback nominee for Congress for Illinois's 10th congressional district, and was the party's nominee for Governor of Illinois in 1880, coming in third with over 28,000 votes. In 1884, he was elected under a Greenback-Democratic fusion ticket to the Illinois State Senate and served until 1888.[11][12] In the 1891 United States Senate election, he was narrowly defeated by former Governor John M. Palmer for Illinois' seat in the United States Senate by eleven votes.[13]

In 1884, he served as the temporary chairman of the recently founded Anti-Monopoly Party.[14] In the 1888 presidential election, he won the Union Labor Party's nomination by acclamation on the first ballot, with Charles E. Cunningham as his running mate. Streeter and Cunningham finished fourth in a field of six in the election, garnering 149,115 votes or 1.31 percent of the nationwide total.[15][16]

Personal life

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He was married twice, to Deborah Boone Streeter and Susan Menold Streeter. Streeter had three sons and four daughters.[17]

On November 24, 1901, Streeter died at his home in New Windsor, Illinois from diabetes and was interred in New Windsor Cemetery in Mercer County, Illinois.

Electoral history

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Alson Streeter electoral history
1878 Illinois Tenth Congressional District election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Benjamin F. Marsh 11,814 44.50% −6.59%
Democratic Delos P. Phelps 11,238 42.33% −6.05%
Greenback Alson Streeter 3,496 13.17% +12.64%
Total votes '26,548' '100.00%'
1880 Illinois Gubernatorial election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Shelby Moore Cullom 314,565 50.57% −0.01%
Democratic Lyman Trumbull 277,532 44.61% −4.74%
Greenback Alson Streeter 28,898 4.65% +4.65%
N/A Other 953 0.15%
Prohibition Uriah Copp Jr. (write-in) 122 0.02% −0.01%
Total votes '622,070' '100.00%'
1888 United States presidential election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Benjamin Harrison 5,443,892 47.80% −0.48%
Democratic Grover Cleveland 5,534,488 48.63% −0.22%
Prohibition Clinton B. Fisk 249,819 2.20% +0.70%
Labor Alson Streeter 146,602 1.31% +1.31%
N/A Other 3,203 -0.01%
Socialist Labor Slate of unpledged electors 2,068 0.02% +0.02%
Independent James Curtis 1,615 0.01% +0.01%
Independent Robert Cowdrey 1,032 0.01% +0.01%
Total votes '11,383,320' '100.00%'
1891 Illinois Senate election first ballot
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John M. Palmer 101 49.51%
Republican Richard J. Oglesby 100 49.02%
Populist Alson Streeter 3 1.47%
Total votes '204' '100.00%'
1891 Illinois Senate election second ballot
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John M. Palmer 103 50.49%
Populist Alson Streeter 92 45.10%
Republican Richard J. Oglesby 9 4.41%
Total votes '204' '100.00%'

References

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  1. ^ Illinois Blue Book 1913-1914 page 384
  2. ^ Illinois Blue Book 1913-1914 page 390
  3. ^ "The Light That Failed". Chicago Tribune. 11 March 1891. p. 2. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Alson J. Streeter biography at the Political Graveyard
  5. ^ "Alson Jeness Streeter". Our Campaigns.com. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Alson J. Streeter, Union Labor Candidate For President". The Summit County Beacon. 11 July 1888. p. 8. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Busy Life Of Sage Of Windsor Ends". The Dispatch. 25 November 1901. p. 2. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "New Windsor's presidential candidate: Alson Streeter". The Dispatch. 8 February 1988. p. 11. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Streeter In Rock Island". The Rock Island Argus. 19 October 1860. p. 2. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Alson J. Streeter Passes Away". The St Louis Republic. 25 November 1901. p. 5. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Rose, James A., compiler and publisher. Blue Book of the State of Illinois 1909 Danville, Illinois: Illinois Printing Company, 1909; pp. 281, 292, 294, 338
  12. ^ BATEMAN, NEWTON (1905). HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. CHICAGO: MUNSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY. p. 512.
  13. ^ "IL US Senate". 19 October 2018.
  14. ^ "First In The Field". The Ottawa Free Trader. 17 May 1884. p. 3. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ 1888 Presidential General Election Results
  16. ^ W. Newcombe, Alfred (1945). "Alson J. Streeter: An Agrarian Liberal". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 38 (4): 414–445. JSTOR 40188174.
  17. ^ "Alson Jennese Streeter". Our Campaigns.com. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
[edit]
Party political offices
New political party Union Labor nominee for President of the United States
1888 		Party dissolved
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