Summary Information
Matthew Hale Carpenter and Paul D. Carpenter Papers
1848-1918, 1961
- Carpenter, Matthew H. (Matthew Hale), 1824-1881
- Carpenter, Paul D., 1867-1932
SC 1089; Micro 572
0.1 c.f. (1 folder) and 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
A family collection including papers of lawyer and U.S. Senator Matthew Hale Carpenter, consisting of letters written to his benefactor, Paul Dillingham of Vermont, while Carpenter was a cadet at West Point, speeches, mementoes, condolence letters, and fragmentary correspondence with political contemporaries. Papers of his son, Paul Dillingham Carpenter, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, deal with his Roman Catholic religious convictions and his political career as a county judge. Other papers of the family consist of a genealogy chart, a diary kept by Matthew's daughter Lillian while a Washington debutante in the 1870s which contains much information on fashions and Reconstruction era social life, and other documentation.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-micr0572 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Matthew Hale Carpenter (originally named Decatur Merrit Hammond Carpenter), lawyer and U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, was born in Moretown, Washington County, Vermont on December 22, 1824, the son of Ira and Esther Ann Carpenter. At age eleven, after the death of his mother, young Carpenter was sent to live with his father's friend, Paul Dillingham of Waterbury, Vermont. Dillingham, who was later to become governor of Vermont and then a United States Senator, helped Carpenter obtain a cadetship at West Point in 1843. After two years, however, Carpenter was forced to leave the Academy because of poor eyesight.
Under the instruction of Dillingham and Rufus Choate, Carpenter then began the study of law and he was eventually admitted to the bar in Vermont and in Massachusetts. In 1848, he started a private practice in Beloit, Wisconsin. During the next two years Carpenter suffered from total blindness and gave up his law practice. When his eyesight returned, he again took up the law and about this time changed his forenames to Matthew Hale. In 1852 he was elected to the post of district attorney for Rock County, Wisconsin. Three years later he married Caroline Dillingham, Paul Dillingham's youngest daughter. They had two children, Lillian and Paul Dillingham Carpenter. Returning to the private practice of law after his term expired as district attorney, Carpenter gained statewide attention as one of the attorneys for William A. Barstow in the disputed gubernatorial election of 1855.
Moving to Milwaukee in 1856, Carpenter rose in Democratic and legal circles. He supported Douglas in the presidential election of 1860, but with the Civil War he became a “war Democrat” and joined the Republican Party.
He was chosen by the Republican State Legislature to run for the United States Senate and was elected in 1869 and 1879 but defeated in 1874. In his two Senate terms, Carpenter identified himself with the radical supporters of President Grant. His insistence on legalism and seeming lack of deep-rooted loyalties, however, gave political ammunition to his enemies who attempted to make him the symbol of reconstruction corruption. This tactic was successful in Carpenter's defeat in 1874 yet its effects were limited, and he was reelected in 1879 and served in the Senate until his death.
Matthew Hale Carpenter's legal career was no less successful than his political life. He argued his first Supreme Court case in 1862. He acquired national status as a lawyer in the McArdle case (1869) and was acknowledged to be the legal advocate for reconstruction policies. His other well-known cases of national significance included the Slaughterhouse cases (1873), the defense of Secretary of War William K. Belknap in the impeachment proceeding of 1876, and his retention by the Democrats in 1877 to present the case of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden to the electoral commission investigating the disputed election of 1876.
Carpenter died on February 24, 1881 in Washington, D.C.
Paul Dillingham Carpenter , lawyer and county judge, son of Matthew Hale and Caroline Dillingham Carpenter, was born in Milwaukee on January 26, 1867 and was educated in public and private schools in Milwaukee and Washington D.C. He attended Columbia Law School and was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar in 1891. In November 1891 he married Emma Falk, of a prominent Milwaukee family. They had three children: Paul Vincent, Matthew Aloysius, and Agnes Mary.
Running on the Democratic ticket, Carpenter was elected in 1901 and again in 1905 as county judge for Milwaukee County. He retired in 1910. A convert to the Roman Catholic Church, Mr. Carpenter was an outspoken defender of his religious beliefs and freedoms. A member of the Knights of Columbus he served at one time as grand knight of the Milwaukee Council. He also held membership in the Athletic Club and the Milwaukee Yacht Club and belonged to both the Wisconsin and the American Bar Associations.
After he retired as county judge, Carpenter practiced law until his death on December 26, 1932 in Milwaukee.
Scope and Content Note
The entire collection is available on microfilm; only seven printed speeches and a few other items are also available in original paper form. The collection has been organized in three parts: Matthew Hale Carpenter Papers, 1844-1882, 1961; Paul D. Carpenter Papers, 1894-1918 (primarily 1894-1912); and Carpenter Family Papers, 1867-1918.
The papers of Matthew Hale Carpenter include correspondence with his benefactor, Paul Dillingham of Vermont, while young Carpenter was at West Point (1844-1847), and an 1878 letter from Matthew Hale Carpenter to a relative, Alice Bloomer, which is discussed by their descendants in two letters dated 1961. Materials dealing with Carpenter's political and legal career include a file of his speeches; mementos from the Senator's years in Washington; and various letters and resolutions of condolence sent to his widow in 1881. Personal letters to political contemporaries were temporarily removed from other collections owned by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and reproduced in the microfilm version of these Carpenter papers.
The papers of Paul Dillingham Carpenter stress two highly visible elements in his life: his religious faith and his political career. The correspondence and the major portion of the speech file deal with Carpenter's reflections on and defense of Roman Catholicism. The remainder of the speech file and two scrapbooks of newspaper clippings are concerned with political events. There is little material on Carpenter's private life.
The papers of the Carpenter Family consist of a few business letters, a genealogy chart, wedding invitations, photographs, and other family items. Included is the diary of Lillian Carpenter, daughter of Matthew Hale Carpenter, kept when she was a debutante in Washington society in the late 1870s. Her entries are among the most informative reading in the collection. She carefully noted all social functions she attended and her choice of clothes for each occasion, providing a unique look at women's fashions and social life in the Reconstruction era. Copies of six photographs of family members from the collection have been placed in the Visual Materials Archive of the State Historical Society in the Matthew Hale Carpenter and Family name file.
Some of the clippings in the two scrapbooks in the Paul D. Carpenter files also deal with other members of the Carpenter family.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Original materials loaned for microfilming by Mrs. Carl Bruce, great-granddaughter of Senator Matthew Hale Carpenter, July 7, 1975. Accession Number: M75-305
Processed by Paul Beck (Intern) and Joanne Hohler, March 18, 1976.
Contents List
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Micro 572
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Series: Matthew Hale Carpenter
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Correspondence
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Reel
1
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1844-1847; 1872; 1961
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Drawn from other collections owned by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1850-1883
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Brian J. Castle Papers (Wis Mss ES)
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Reel
1
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Matthew Hale Carpenter to Brian J. Castle, May 14, 1874.
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F. A. Flowers Collection (Wis Mss BK)
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Reel
1
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Correspondence between Decatur Merrit Hammond Carpenter and Francis B. Crowninshield, 1850-1860
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Reel
1
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U. S. Grant to Frank A. Flowers concerning Matthew Hale Carpenter, April 23, 1883
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John Goadby Gregory Papers (Wis Mss JQ)
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Reel
1
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Matthew Hale Carpenter to William E. Cramer, June 11, 1872
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Timothy Otis Howe Papers (Wis Mss L)
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Reel
1
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Matthew Hale Carpenter to Timothy Otis Howe, May 28, 1868.
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Josiah A. Noonan Papers (Wis Mss WQ)
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Reel
1
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Matthew Hale Carpenter to Josiah A. Noonan, April 1863-March 1864
Twelve letters
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Reel
1
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A. W. Randall to Josiah A. Noonan concerning Matthew Hale Carpenter, April 1864
Two letters
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Charles D. Robinson Papers (SC 229)
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Reel
1
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Matthew Hale Carpenter to Charles D. Robinson, August 1863-August 1865
Eleven letters
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Edward Salomon Letters (File 1862 November 21)
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Reel
1
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Xeroxed letter of Matthew Hale Carpenter to Major General John A. McClernand, September 7, 1863
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Reel
1
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Speeches, 1862-1880
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SC 1089
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Paper copy
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Micro 572
Reel
1
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Memorial letters, addresses, and resolutions
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SC 1089
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Paper copy
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Micro 572
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Series: Paul Dillingham Carpenter
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Reel
1
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Correspondence, 1894-1909
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Reel
1
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Speeches, undated
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Reel
1
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Scrapbooks, 1904-1919
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Series: Carpenter Family
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Reel
1
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Diary, 1876-1879
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Reel
1
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Correspondence, 1918-1928
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Photographs, 1887-1910
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Reel
1
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Lillian Carpenter, December 1887
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Reel
1
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Paul D. Carpenter and daughter Agnes, September 1893
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Reel
1
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Otto H. Falk (Uncle Otto), undated
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Reel
1
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Paul D. Carpenter and daughter Agnes, July 1896
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Reel
1
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Emma Carpenter with children: Agnes, Matthew, and Paul, 1898
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Reel
1
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Paul D. Carpenter, 1910
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Reel
1
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Miscellaneous, undated
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