Alson Streeter

American politician

Alson Streeter

Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 24th district
In office
1885–1888
Preceded by| John Fletcher[1]
Succeeded by| Orville F. Berry[2]
Member of the
Illinois House of Representatives
from the 22nd district
In office
1873–1874
Personal details
Born|

Alson Jenness Streeter

(1823-01-18)January 18, 1823
Berlin, New York, U.S.
Died| November 24, 1901(1901-11-24) (aged 78)
New Windsor, Illinois, U.S.
Political party| Democratic
Other political
affiliations| Greenback (1880)
Anti-Monopoly Party (1884)
Union Labor Party (1888)
Spouse(s)| Deborah Boone
Susan Menold
Children| 7
Parents|

* Roswell Streeter (father)
* Eleanor Kenyon (mother)

Education| Knox College

Alson Jenness Streeter (January 18, 1823 – November 24, 1901) was an American farmer, miner and politician who was the Union Labor Party nominee in the United States presidential election of 1888. He was also an early member of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry following its foundation in the 1860s and supported Granger Laws while in office.

## Early life and education

[edit]

Alson Streeter was born on January 18, 1823, in Rensselaer County, New York, to Eleanor Kenyon and Roswell Streeter. The family later moved to Allegany County, New York in 1827 and Lee County, Illinois in 1836.[3][4][5] He lived with his parents until his father's death in 1840, after which he became a miner and farmer. He attended Knox College in Illinois in 1846 and graduated in 1849.[6]

## Career

[edit]

In 1849, he moved to California, but returned to Illinois in 1851. In 1853 and 1854, he returned to California for a short time to drive cattle.[7]

During the Civil War, he supported the War Democrat faction of the Democratic Party. In the 1860s, he entered politics as an unsuccessful candidate for Illinois General Assembly. In 1862, he joined the Mercer County Board of Supervisors.[8][9] Streeter was elected as a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives for the 1873–1874 session from Mercer County. In 1874, he became a member of the recently founded Greenback Party.[10]

In 1878, he was the Greenback nominee for Congress for Illinois's 10th congressional district, and was the party's nominee for Governor of Illinois in 1880, coming in third with over 28,000 votes. In 1884, he was elected under a Greenback-Democratic fusion ticket to the Illinois State Senate and served until 1888.[11][12] In the 1891 United States Senate election, he was narrowly defeated by former Governor John M. Palmer for Illinois' seat in the United States Senate by eleven votes.[13]

In 1884, he served as the temporary chairman of the recently founded Anti-Monopoly Party.[14] In the 1888 presidential election, he won the Union Labor Party's nomination by acclamation on the first ballot, with Charles E. Cunningham as his running mate. Streeter and Cunningham finished fourth in a field of six in the election, garnering 149,115 votes or 1.31 percent of the nationwide total.[15][16]

## Personal life

[edit]

He was married twice, to Deborah Boone Streeter and Susan Menold Streeter. Streeter had three sons and four daughters.[17]

On November 24, 1901, Streeter died at his home in New Windsor, Illinois from diabetes and was interred in New Windsor Cemetery in Mercer County, Illinois.

## Electoral history

[edit]

Alson Streeter electoral history

1878 Illinois Tenth Congressional District election  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Republican | Benjamin F. Marsh | 11,814 | 44.50% | −6.59%
| Democratic | Delos P. Phelps  | 11,238  | 42.33%  | −6.05%
| Greenback | Alson Streeter  | 3,496  | 13.17%  | +12.64%
Total votes  | '26,548' | '100.00%' |
1880 Illinois Gubernatorial election  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Republican | Shelby Moore Cullom | 314,565 | 50.57% | −0.01%
| Democratic | Lyman Trumbull | 277,532  | 44.61%  | −4.74%
| Greenback | Alson Streeter  | 28,898  | 4.65%  | +4.65%
| N/A  | Other | 953  | 0.15%  |
| Prohibition | Uriah Copp Jr. (write-in)  | 122  | 0.02%  | −0.01%
Total votes  | '622,070' | '100.00%' |
1888 United States presidential election  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Republican | Benjamin Harrison | 5,443,892  | 47.80%  | −0.48%
| Democratic | Grover Cleveland | 5,534,488 | 48.63% | −0.22%
| Prohibition | Clinton B. Fisk | 249,819  | 2.20%  | +0.70%
| Labor | Alson Streeter  | 146,602  | 1.31%  | +1.31%
| N/A  | Other | 3,203  | -0.01%  |
| Socialist Labor | Slate of unpledged electors  | 2,068  | 0.02%  | +0.02%
| Independent | James Curtis  | 1,615  | 0.01%  | +0.01%
| Independent | Robert Cowdrey  | 1,032  | 0.01%  | +0.01%
Total votes  | '11,383,320' | '100.00%' |
1891 Illinois Senate election first ballot  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Democratic | John M. Palmer | 101 | 49.51% |
| Republican | Richard J. Oglesby | 100  | 49.02%  |
| Populist | Alson Streeter  | 3  | 1.47%  |
Total votes  | '204' | '100.00%' |
1891 Illinois Senate election second ballot  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Democratic | John M. Palmer | 103 | 50.49% |
| Populist | Alson Streeter  | 92  | 45.10%  |
| Republican | Richard J. Oglesby | 9  | 4.41%  |
Total votes  | '204' | '100.00%' |

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Illinois Blue Book 1913-1914 page 384
2. ^ Illinois Blue Book 1913-1914 page 390
3. ^ "The Light That Failed". Chicago Tribune. 11 March 1891. p. 2\. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
4. ^ Alson J. Streeter biography at the Political Graveyard
5. ^ "Alson Jeness Streeter". Our Campaigns.com. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
6. ^ "Alson J. Streeter, Union Labor Candidate For President". The Summit County Beacon. 11 July 1888. p. 8\. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
7. ^ "Busy Life Of Sage Of Windsor Ends". The Dispatch. 25 November 1901. p. 2\. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
8. ^ "New Windsor's presidential candidate: Alson Streeter". The Dispatch. 8 February 1988. p. 11\. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
9. ^ "Streeter In Rock Island". The Rock Island Argus. 19 October 1860. p. 2\. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
10. ^ "Alson J. Streeter Passes Away". The St Louis Republic. 25 November 1901. p. 5\. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
11. ^ Rose, James A., compiler and publisher. Blue Book of the State of Illinois 1909 Danville, Illinois: Illinois Printing Company, 1909; pp. 281, 292, 294, 338
12. ^ BATEMAN, NEWTON (1905). HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS. CHICAGO: MUNSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY. p. 512.
13. ^ "IL US Senate". 19 October 2018.
14. ^ "First In The Field". The Ottawa Free Trader. 17 May 1884. p. 3\. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
15. ^ 1888 Presidential General Election Results
16. ^ W. Newcombe, Alfred (1945). "Alson J. Streeter: An Agrarian Liberal". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 38 (4): 414–445. JSTOR 40188174.
17. ^ "Alson Jennese Streeter". Our Campaigns.com. Retrieved 16 August 2012.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Alson Streeter at Wikimedia Commons

Party political offices

New political party |  Union Labor nominee for President of the United States
1888 | Party dissolved

* v
* t
* e

Historical left-wing third-party U.S. presidential tickets

This group includes only pre-1996 parties that fielded a candidate that won greater 0.1% of the popular vote in at least one presidential election

Presidential
tickets that
won at least
one percent of
the national
popular vote
(candidate(s) /
running mate(s))|

| Greenback|

* Peter Cooper/Samuel F. Cary (1876)
* James B. Weaver/Barzillai J. Chambers (1880)
* Benjamin Butler/Absolom M. West (1884)

|

Union Labor|

* Alson Streeter/Charles E. Cunningham (1888)

Populist|

* James B. Weaver/James G. Field (1892)
* William Jennings Bryan/Thomas E. Watson (1896)

Socialist|

* Eugene V. Debs/Ben Hanford (1904 and 1908)
* Eugene V. Debs/Emil Seidel (1912)
* Allan L. Benson/George R. Kirkpatrick (1916)
* Eugene V. Debs/Seymour Stedman (1920)
* Norman Thomas/James H. Maurer (1932)

Bull Moose|

* Theodore Roosevelt/Hiram Johnson (1912)

Progressive (1924)|

* Robert M. La Follette/Burton K. Wheeler (1924)

Progressive (1948)|

* Henry A. Wallace/Glen H. Taylor (1948)

Other notable
left-wing parties|

* Socialist Labor Party of America
* Social Democratic Party of America
* Independence Party
* Farmer–Labor Party
* Communist Party USA
* Socialist Workers Party
* Liberty Party
* People's Party
* Citizens Party
* New Alliance Party

* Third-party performances in presidential elections
* Labor history of the United States
* Liberalism in the United States
* Progressivism in the United States
* Socialism in the United States

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