Representative Mason Cook Darling

Mason Cook Darling (May 18, 1801 – March 12, 1866) was an American medical doctor, legislator, and Wisconsin pioneer who became a member of Wisconsin’s first delegation to the United States House of Representatives after statehood and later the first mayor of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he attended the public schools. As a young man he taught school in the State of New York before turning to the study of medicine. He enrolled at Berkshire Medical College in Massachusetts and graduated in 1824, after which he practiced medicine for thirteen years, establishing himself in his profession in New England.

Darling’s early public career began in Massachusetts. While still residing there, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving in 1834 as a representative from the town of Greenwich in Hampshire County. This experience in state government preceded his move west and provided him with legislative experience that he would later bring to the developing political institutions of the Wisconsin Territory. In addition to his legislative work, he continued to practice medicine during this period, balancing his professional and public responsibilities.

In 1837, Darling moved to the Wisconsin Territory, joining the wave of New Englanders who migrated to the Old Northwest. He became one of the original settlers at Fond du Lac in 1838, at a time when the community was just beginning to form. In the territory he quickly emerged as a civic leader. He served as a member of the Territorial legislative assembly from 1840 to 1846, participating in the formative lawmaking of the region. He then served in the Territorial Council in 1847 and 1848, helping to guide the territory through the final years before statehood. During these years he also continued his medical practice and engaged in local affairs in Fond du Lac.

Upon the admission of Wisconsin as a state into the Union in 1848, Darling was elected as a Democrat to the Thirtieth Congress. He represented Wisconsin’s newly created 2nd congressional district and served from June 9, 1848, to March 3, 1849, as part of Wisconsin’s first delegation to the United States House of Representatives after statehood. As a member of the Democratic Party representing Wisconsin, Mason Cook Darling contributed to the legislative process during his one term in office, participating in the democratic process during a significant period in American history and representing the interests of his constituents in the rapidly developing state. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1848 to the Thirty-first Congress and was succeeded by Orasmus Cole, a member of the Whig Party.

After leaving Congress, Darling returned to Fond du Lac and remained active in public and civic life. In 1849 he founded Fond du Lac Lodge No. 26 of the Freemasons and served as its first Master, reflecting his prominence in the community’s social and fraternal circles. He was elected the first mayor of Fond du Lac in 1852, further cementing his role in the city’s early municipal history and overseeing aspects of its transition from a frontier settlement to an organized city. A street in Fond du Lac, Darling Place, was later named in his honor, commemorating his contributions to the city’s founding and development.

In his private and professional life during these years, Darling resumed the practice of medicine and also became a dealer in real estate in Fond du Lac, activities he pursued until the mid-1860s. His family was likewise connected to regional public figures; in 1848, his daughter Helen married John A. Eastman, linking the Darling family to another prominent Wisconsin family. In 1864, Mason Cook Darling moved to Chicago, Illinois, at the same time as the Eastmans, marking the close of his long residence in Wisconsin.

Darling died in Chicago on March 12, 1866. His body was returned to Wisconsin, and he was interred in Rienzi Cemetery in Fond du Lac, the community where he had been an original settler, physician, legislator, and first mayor. His career spanned New England and the Old Northwest, encompassing service in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the Wisconsin Territorial legislature and council, the United States House of Representatives, and the municipal government of Fond du Lac.