Representative John Winans

John Winans (September 27, 1831 – January 17, 1907) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from Janesville, Wisconsin. He served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district during the Forty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885). He then served as the 25th mayor of Janesville from 1885 to 1889. Earlier, he represented Janesville and central Rock County for six years in the Wisconsin State Assembly. As a member of the Democratic Party representing Wisconsin, Winans contributed to the legislative process during his term in Congress, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents during a significant period in American political history.

Winans was born in Vernon Township, New Jersey, on September 27, 1831. He was educated in both public and private schools. He came from a family with notable connections in American industrial development: his first cousin Ross Winans became an important pioneer in railroad engineering in Baltimore, Maryland, and Ross’s sons Thomas and William Winans built the first rail system in Russia, amassing substantial wealth through their work in international rail construction. Against this backdrop of technical and commercial achievement, John Winans pursued a professional path in the law and public service.

After completing his early education, Winans studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1855. In 1857 he moved west to Wisconsin and settled in Janesville, where he established a law practice that would remain the foundation of his professional life. He quickly became active in local affairs. In 1861 he served as a member of the Janesville city council, and he was several times chosen as city attorney, reflecting his growing prominence in the community. He also became involved in state and national politics as a Democrat, serving as a delegate to the 1864 Democratic National Convention. In 1868 he was the Democratic nominee for Congress from Wisconsin’s 2nd congressional district, running against incumbent Republican Benjamin F. Hopkins, though he was not successful in that race.

Winans’s legislative career in Wisconsin began in the 1870s. He was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1873 from Rock County’s 5th Assembly district, representing the City of Janesville, as a member of the short-lived Reform Party. This coalition of Democrats, reform and Liberal Republicans, and Grangers had formed in 1873 and was instrumental in electing William Robert Taylor as governor for a two-year term. In the 1873 election Winans received 741 votes to 633 for the Republican incumbent, Henry A. Patterson. In the Assembly he was assigned to the standing committee on the judiciary and was elected its chairman, a role that underscored his legal expertise. Running for re-election in 1874 under the “Democratic Reform” label as the coalition began to dissolve, he was defeated by Republican Hiram Merrill, who received 799 votes to Winans’s 694. During this period he also served as a colonel on the staff of Governor Taylor in 1874 and 1875, further cementing his ties to state leadership.

After his initial legislative service, Winans returned to the practice of law in Janesville but remained active in public life. He was elected again to the State Assembly in 1881 as a Democrat from the newly configured 2nd Rock County Assembly district, which then included the City of Janesville and the Towns of Janesville and Rock. In that election he received 806 votes to 618 for Republican Oscar F. Nowlan and 109 for Prohibitionist G. W. Lawrence; the Republican incumbent, Franklin Lawrence, was not a candidate for re-election. In this term Winans again served on the judiciary committee and was also assigned to the committee on bills on the third reading. In 1882 the Wisconsin Supreme Court selected him as one of the commissioners to represent the court in planning the expansion of the Wisconsin State Capitol Building, a position that reflected confidence in his judgment and understanding of state governmental needs.

Winans reached the height of his political career with his election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Running as an independent Democrat in 1882, he was elected to the Forty-eighth Congress from Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district, unseating five-term Republican incumbent Charles G. Williams. Winans received 12,307 votes to 11,853 for Williams, 2,207 for Prohibitionist C. M. Blackman, and 10 for former state senator William L. Utley, who had previously served as a Free Soiler and Republican but was then a Greenback candidate. During his term in Congress, from March 4, 1883, to March 3, 1885, Winans represented a district undergoing political and economic change in the post–Civil War and Gilded Age era. He did not seek renomination in 1884, choosing instead to run for mayor of Janesville. He was succeeded in Congress by Republican Lucien Caswell.

Following his congressional service, Winans continued to play a central role in Janesville and Wisconsin politics. In April 1885 he was elected mayor of Janesville for a two-year term, defeating Republican Charles Valentine. While serving as mayor, he again sought legislative office and was elected to the Assembly as a Democrat in 1886, after an unsuccessful bid for the United States Senate. In the Senate contest, incumbent Republican Philetus Sawyer won re-election with the votes of 82 legislators, to 37 for Winans and six for Populist John Cochrane. In the 1886 Assembly race, Winans received 1,132 votes to 1,047 for Republican Oscar Nowland (Republican incumbent Pliny Norcross did not run) and 91 for Prohibitionist James Harris. When the Assembly convened, Winans was the Democratic candidate for Speaker, but he lost to Republican Thomas B. Mills in a six-man race. He again served on the judiciary committee and on the committee on bills on the third reading. He did not seek re-election in 1888 and was succeeded by Republican Cyrus Miner.

Winans returned to the Assembly for a final term in 1890, elected again as a Democrat from the 2nd Rock County district. By then the district no longer included the Town of Rock but did include the Towns of Center and Harmony. In that election he received 1,487 votes to 1,308 for Oscar Nowland and 67 for Prohibitionist C. W. Cook. During this last legislative term he once more chaired the judiciary committee and served on the joint committees on charitable and penal institutions and on apportionment, acting as the Assembly co-chair of the latter committee. After the redistricting of 1891, most of his former district was placed in the new 3rd Rock County Assembly district. Winans did not run for re-election and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Agesilaus Wilson. He made another attempt to return to the Assembly in 1896 but was defeated by William G. Wheeler, who had earlier apprenticed in Winans’s law office as a young man.

In his later years, Winans continued to engage in the practice of law in Janesville, maintaining his professional activities until his death. He died in Janesville on January 17, 1907, and was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery. His long career in law and public office, spanning local, state, and national service, left a lasting imprint on Janesville and on Wisconsin’s political history.