Adams
County, Wisconsin
Biographies
Adams
County, Wisconsin
Biographies
Pierce, Solon Wesley
1831 – 1903
Definition: lawyer, politician, newspaperman, b. Yorkshire, N.Y. He attended Menden Academy, Menden, N.Y., and in 1854 moved to Wisconsin, settling in Cascade (White Creek), Adams County. He studied law in a local office, was admitted to the bar (1858), and set up a law practice in Friendship. In 1861 he founded the Friendship Adams County Press, and was its editor and publisher (1861-1864). During the Civil War, Pierce served as 1st lieutenant, Co. K, 38th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry (1864-1865), and on being mustered out of the service, returned to Friendship where he resumed the editorship of the Adams County Press. Pierce was editor and publisher of this newspaper until his death. A Republican, he held local political offices in Adams County, was its district attorney for many years, and was state assemblyman (1870, 1877-1878, 1880-1882, 1897-1898). His son, HARRY SOLON PIERCE, assumed editorship of the Adams County Press on his father's death in 1903, continuing in this capacity until 1918 when he sold the newspaper, acquired the Friendship Reporter, and edited this paper until his retirement in 1940. M. M. Quaife, Wis. (4 vols., Chicago, 1924); P. M. Reed, Bench and Bar of Wis. (Milwaukee, 1882); Friendship Adams Co. Press, Oct. 3, 1903; Adams Adams Co. Times, June 14, 1945.
(Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography - Submitted by Marla Zwakman)
