Library of Congress

DURKEE, Charles, a Representative and a Senator from Wisconsin; born in Royalton, Windsor County, Vt., December 10, 1805; attended the common schools and the Burlington (Vt.) Academy; engaged in mercantile pursuits; moved to Wisconsin in 1836 and was one of the founders of Southport, now Kenosha; engaged in agricultural pursuits and lumbering; member, Territorial legislature 1836-1838, 1847-1848; elected as a Free-Soiler to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1853); delegate to the World’s Peace Convention in Paris; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1861; Governor of Utah Territory from 1865 until failing health compelled him to resign; died in Omaha, Nebr., January 14, 1870; interment in Green Ridge Cemetery, Kenosha, Wis.