Representative Ira Sherwin Hazeltine

Ira Sherwin Haseltine (July 13, 1821 – January 13, 1899) was an American farmer, lawyer, and politician who was active in Wisconsin and Missouri and who served one term in the United States House of Representatives. He was born in Andover, Vermont, where he spent his early years before moving west as a young man. His upbringing in rural New England and subsequent relocation to the developing regions of the Midwest helped shape his later identification with agrarian interests and monetary reform movements.

Haseltine pursued his education in the common schools and, after leaving Vermont, settled in the Wisconsin Territory. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practicing as an attorney while also engaging in agricultural pursuits. His dual experience as both a lawyer and a farmer gave him familiarity with the legal and economic concerns of frontier communities, particularly those of small landholders and local businesses in the rapidly growing settlements of the upper Midwest.

Over time, Haseltine became increasingly involved in public affairs and political activity. Initially aligned with more traditional political currents, he was drawn toward the monetary reform ideas that gained strength in the years following the Civil War, especially among farmers and laborers who were burdened by debt and deflation. His professional background and his own experience in agriculture made him receptive to the emerging Greenback movement, which advocated an expanded paper currency not backed solely by gold, in order to ease credit conditions and support rural and working-class Americans.

As a member of the Greenback Party—also referred to at the time as the National Greenbacker Party—Haseltine was elected to represent Missouri’s 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He served one term in the Forty-seventh Congress, from March 4, 1881, to March 3, 1883. During this significant period in American history, marked by debates over currency policy, economic regulation, and the role of the federal government in supporting farmers and laborers, Ira Sherwin Haseltine contributed to the legislative process and participated in the democratic governance of the nation. In Congress he represented the interests of his Missouri constituents within the broader Greenback platform, which sought monetary policies more favorable to debtors and producers.

After the conclusion of his term, Haseltine returned to private life. He resumed his work in agriculture and remained identified with the causes that had brought him to public office, including the economic concerns of farmers and the broader issues of monetary reform that continued to animate political debate in the late nineteenth century. He lived out his later years in Missouri, where he had established his political base and professional life.

Ira Sherwin Haseltine died on January 13, 1899. His career as a farmer, lawyer, and Greenback Party congressman reflected the economic and political tensions of his era, particularly the struggles of rural Americans in the decades following the Civil War. Through his single term in the House of Representatives and his long engagement in local and regional affairs, he participated in the evolving national conversation over currency, agriculture, and the representation of ordinary citizens in the federal government.