Townsend, Thomas J.

Died: 1862-10-08

Flourished: Wisconsin

Thomas J. Townsend was a state legislator, emigration agent, and surveyor general of Wisconsin and Iowa. In 1849, Townsend represented the town of Winnebago and Winnebago County in the Wisconsin State Assembly. He was among the pioneers of Waushara County, working to get the county created out of Marquette County. In 1851, he laid out the village of Sacramento, and in March of that same year, the Wisconsin State Legislature granted him the right to operate a ferry across the Fox River running through the village. In 1853, he served as travelling agent for the Wisconsin Emigrant Agency. In May 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Townsend surveyor general of Wisconsin and Iowa, a position he held until his death.

J. D. Beck, comp., The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Madison, WI: Democratic Printing, 1909), 942; John Warren Hunt, Wisconsin Gazetteer (Madison, WI: Beriah Brown, 1853), 197, 253; Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette, and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin (Chicago: Acme, 1890), 546; Acts and Resolves Passed by the Legislature of Wisconsin, in the Year 1851 (Kenosha, WI: C. Latham Sholes, 1851), 299; C. Albert White, A History of the Rectangular Survey System (Washington, DC: Bureau of Land Management, 1983), 133, 205, 223; Appointment of Thomas J. Townsend as Surveyor General for Iowa and Wisconsin.