Henry J. Berquist was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 26, 1905. He was raised by an aunt in Oneida County, Wisconsin, where he attended Prairie Lake School through the sixth grade. He began working in logging camps when he was 17. He later worked for the Northlands Fur and Packing Company, where he rose to the position of labor supervisor, and was vice president of the American Fur Growers Association. In 1934 he took summer courses at the Farm and Labor College in Tomahawk.
Berquist's political career began in 1937 when he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly on the Progressive ticket as the representative for Florence, Forest, and Oneida counties. He served in this capacity during the 1938, 1940, and 1942 legislative sessions, eventually becoming the 1941 Junior Progressive Floor Leader and Progressive Caucus Secretary. In 1942 he challenged Walter S. Goodland for Lieutenant Governor. Though his unofficial Progressive Party running mate, Orland Steen “Spike” Loomis, won the governorship, Berquist narrowly missed election. Goodland became acting Governor in 1943 when Governor-elect Loomis died suddenly of a heart attack.
In the meantime Berquist had made good on a campaign promise to join the Army if he lost the election. He trained at Fort Reilly, Kansas and in California before being sent to England with the 9th Armored Division as a staff sergeant. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was captured, and spent the remaining months of the war in German P.O.W. camps. Berquist later became Commander of the Rhinelander Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and was a member of the Disabled American Veterans and the American Ex-P.O.W.s.
In 1946 Berquist ran a lively but unsuccessful campaign against Alvin E. O'Konski, the 10th Congressional District incumbent. During the 1950's he ran for State Assembly and State Senate, also without success. He served as Chairman of the Oneida County Democrats, represented the Town of Pelican on the Oneida County Board, and was appointed vice-chairman of the State Board on Aging by Governor Tony Earl.
Berquist retired to New Mexico in 1982. He died May 1, 1990.
