A sketch's subject (later Governor) was elected Secretary of State.

The evidence

• “In the fall of 1858, he was elected a State Senator of the Southern District of Rock County, the Eighteenth District of the State at that date, and continued in that position four years, having been re-elected in 1855, and the last term of which he was President pro tern. In 1859, he was elected Secretary of State, which office he held two years, and was a member of the Board of Regents of the State University, from 1860 to 1862, and was ever'found a true friend, to the cause of popular education. In 1861, he was elected Governor of the State by a large majority, entering on the duties of his position on the 6th day of January, 1862.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/11-rock-county-ch05-press-institutions-tragedy.md, PDF p. 422 / book p. 426

  Butterfield, C. W., et al. The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879. Cornell University Library via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/cu31924028871585.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources

  

• “In 1859 he was elected secretary of state, and in 1861, governor; after his inauguration in January, 1862, he took a great interest in the Wisconsin soldiers and went personally to see to their wants after the disastrous battle of Pittsburg Landing. While upon that trip, distributing the supplies which he had gathered for the Wisconsin troops, he was accidentally drowned in the Tennessee river, April 19, 1862.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/26-history-of-janesville.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 47 / book p. 560

  Brown, William Fiske, editor. Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date. Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908. 2 vols. archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon01brow, archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon02brow.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources