Romanzo E. Davis
Romanzo Ellis Davis was an American farmer, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was a member of the Wisconsin Senate for eight years, representing Dane County from 1870 through 1878. He was a Republican, who transitioned to the Liberal [Republican Party (United States)|Liberal Republican] faction, and eventually became a Democrat.
Background
Romanzo Davis was born on April 8, 1831, in Varysburg, New York. He was raised and educated there, and moved to Attica in Green County, Wisconsin Territory, in 1846 with his parents. He attended the University of Wisconsin for three years, graduating in 1851, and then later spent some time in business in Cole County, Missouri. He returned to Wisconsin in 1861, first to Cross Plains, where he became a farmer and grain merchant. He moved to Middleton in 1856, becoming active in the shipping of produce and grain from 1863 to 1873.Elective office
Davis was an unsuccessful independent candidate for the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1864, running in what was then Dane County's 3rd Assembly district.In 1869 he was elected as a Republican to the Senate's Wisconsin's 26th [State Senate district|26th District]. He was re-elected in 1871. In 1873 he changed his affiliation to Republican Party (United States)|Liberal Republican], and was re-elected with 2,019 votes to 1,668 for Republican Assemblyman Phineas Baldwin. He was re-elected once more in 1875 as a member of the Liberal Reform Party, a short-lived coalition of Democratic, reform and Liberal Republicans, and The [National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry|Grangers], receiving 2,662 votes against 1,667 for Republican Assemblyman Sereno W. Graves.
In 1877, Davis was the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, but lost his race to James M. Bingham. The next year, he was the Democratic nominee for the United States [House of Representatives] in Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district. He lost to incumbent Lucien B. Caswell, a Republican, who polled 12,607 votes to Davis' 9502 and Greenback Horace A. Tenney's 2,376. He was succeeded in the Senate by Matthew Anderson, also a Democrat.
He also served on the board of trustees for the Mendota [Mental Health Institute|Wisconsin Hospital for the Insane] through April 1879.