Arthur MacArthur Sr. (January 26, 1815August 26, 1896) was a Scottish American immigrant, lawyer, politician, and judge. He was the fifth lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, serving from 1856 to 1858, and during that term he served for 4 days in March 1856 as the fourth governor of Wisconsin, due to the dispute over the results of the 1855 gubernatorial election. After his term as lieutenant governor, he served a decade as Wisconsin circuit court judge for Milwaukee and Waukesha counties (1858–1869). He was then appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, serving from 1870 to 1887.
After his judicial service, MacArthur remained in Washington, D.C. He served as trustee, president of the board of regents, and chancellor of National University. He also served as president of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Children.
He was the father of U.S. Army General Arthur MacArthur Jr. and grandfather of General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur is the modern spelling used by his descendants, but in documents from his own time, his name was spelled McArthur.
Education and career
Arthur MacArthur was born on January 26, 1815, in Glasgow, Scotland. His parents were both MacArthurs from the western Scottish Highlands, but his father died before his birth. His mother, Sarah, remarried to Alexander Meggett, and, in 1828, the family migrated to the United States, settling near Uxbridge, Massachusetts.
MacArthur attended Uxbridge and Amherst, but left school to help the family during the depression of 1837. He eventually graduated from Wesleyan University, in Connecticut, in 1840. He studied law in New York, and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1841.
1855 election dispute
The 1855 election, however, also produced a controversy with the apparent re-election of Barstow by a mere 157 votes. Barstow's Republican opponent, Wisconsin state senator Coles Bashford, claimed fraud and challenged the results. On January 7, 1856, both Bashford and Barstow were sworn in as governor of Wisconsin in separate ceremonies.
The outgoing attorney general, George Baldwin Smith, filed quo warranto proceedings to have Barstow removed, and the case Atty. Gen. ex rel. Bashford v. Barstow soon reached the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Barstow initially attempted to challenge the jurisdiction of the court over election results, but eventually relented, and, on March 21, 1856, sent his resignation to the Wisconsin Legislature.
He resumed his duties as lieutenant governor, and officially remained in this position until the end of his term, January 1858. Randall did not run in the election for a full term; MacArthur, while serving as lieutenant governor, ran for and was elected to the position without opposition, taking office the following year. He was re-elected in 1863 and resigned in the fall of 1869.
Washington, D.C.
Federal judicial service
MacArthur was nominated by President Ulysses S. Grant on July 15, 1870, to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (now the United States District Court for the District of Columbia), to a new Associate Justice seat authorized by 16 Stat. 160.
Family
Around 1844, MacArthur married Aurelia Belcher (1819–1864), the daughter of a wealthy industrialist.