Jason Downer was born at Sharon, Vermont, September 9, 1813. He remained at the family home helping with the farming until he was nineteen years old, and then entered Kimball Union Academy at Plainfield, New Hampshire. He entered Dartmouth College in 1834, and graduated in 1838. He then moved to Louisville, Kentucky where he studied law and it was there that he was admitted to practice. In 1842 he moved to Milwaukee, then a struggling young town, where he settled permanently, his fortune and profession growing with the town.
Upon his removal to Milwaukee he became one of the original proprietors of the Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee's first daily newspaper, holding the editorial chair for about six months. After turning over the editorial position to Rufus King, he began the practice of law. He proved to be very successful in this field, and in November, 1864, he was appointed by the governor as an associate justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, to finish out the term of a justice who had resigned. He was elected to this position without opposition in April, 1865 for the full six year term, but resigned in 1867. He returned to his private law practice where he continued until his death, never holding another public office.
In 1866, Judge Downer was elected to the presidency of the Board of Trustees of the Wisconsin Female College at Fox Lake. He continued in this capacity, giving freely of his time and money, until he died seventeen years later. Judge Downer made the college his residuary legatee in his will, and the name of the school was changed to Downer College to honor his generosity. Downer College later merged with the Milwaukee Female Seminary and is known today as the Milwaukee-Downer College.
Judge Downer died September 1, 1883, just days short of his 70th birthday, an eminent lawyer and jurist and a respected citizen of the city of Milwaukee.
