United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
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BASHFORD, Coles

1816–1878

Office

Delegate

State/Territory

Arizona

Party

Independent

Congress(es)

40th (1867–1869)

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Biography

BASHFORD, Coles, a Delegate from the Territory of Arizona; born near Cold Spring, Putnam County, N.Y., January 24, 1816; attended the Wesleyan Seminary (now Genesee College), Lima, N.Y.; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1842; district attorney for Wayne County 1847-1850; resigned in 1850 and moved to Oshkosh, Wis.; member of the Wisconsin senate in 1853 and 1855; first Republican Governor of Wisconsin 1855-1858; declined renomination; moved to Arizona in 1863; first attorney general of Arizona 1864-1866; presiding officer of first Territorial Council in 1865; elected as an Independent to the Fortieth Congress (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1869); secretary of state of Arizona 1869-1876; resigned and moved to Prescott, Ariz., in 1876, where he engaged in business; died in Prescott, Ariz., April 25, 1878; interment in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Calif.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

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External Research Collections

State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Archives Division

Madison, WI
Papers: In the Barstow-Bashford contested election papers, 1855, 0.1 cubic foot. Includes photostat copies of Wisconsin supplementary election returns used in the Coles Bashford-William Barstow gubernatorial election controversy in which these supplementary returns proved to be fraudulent. Original copies are in the Wisconsin Secretary of State's Office.
Papers: In the Bashford family genealogical records, 1880-1956, 0.1 cubic foot. Includes a genealogical chart, 1813-1946, with emphasis on descendants of Coles Bashford. A photocopy of family burial records, 1880-1956, at Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California, is also included.
Papers: In the papers of William C. Rogers, ca. 1856, 0.1 cubic foot. A political speech by the editor of the La CrosseIndependent, speaking against Wisconsin governor William Barstow and his alleged illegal activities while in office and urging voters to elect Coles Bashford the next governor.
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Bibliography / Further Reading

Arizona (Ter.). Laws, statutes, etc. The compiled laws of the Territory of Arizona, including the Howell code and the session laws from 1864 to 1871, inclusive : to which is prefixed the Constitution of the United States, the mining law of the United States, and the organic acts of the Territory of Arizona and New Mexico. Compiled by Coles Bashford. Albany, N.Y.: Weed, Parsons and Co., printers, 1871.

Bashford, Coles. The Trial in the Supreme Court, of the information of a Quo Warranto, .. Coles Bashford vs. Wm. A. Barstow, contesting the right to the Office of Governor of Wisconsin. Madison, Wisc.: N.p., 1856.

Visser, Kristin, comp. Wisconsin trivia. Revised by Diana Cook. 1994. Revised, Nashville, Tenn.: Rutledge Hill Press, 2001.

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