Biographies:  William W. DOWNS, Eau Claire, Eau Claire Co., WI 

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William W. Downs, who ranks among the influential, successful progressive 
members of the bar of Eau Claire county, Wisconsin, was born in Menomonie, 
Dunn county, Wis., November 7, 1851.  His parents, Burhee and Laura J. 
(Dunn) Downs, were natives of eastern Maine, and pioneers of Dunn county, 
having settled at Menomonie in 1849, where the father engaged in the lumber 
business as a member of the firm of Knapp, Stout & Company.  He later was 
a member of the firm of Carson, Rend & Company, and then for a number of 
years was engaged in business alone.  After a residence in Eau Claire of 
a decade or more, he died in about the year 1888 at the age of seventy-four.

William W. Downs came to Eau Claire in 1868, receiving his primary education 
in the public schools of the city.  He afterwards entered the University 
of Wisconsin and was graduated from the law department in 1874.  He 
commenced the practice of law the same year at Eau Claire, where he 
successfully continued until 1886, when he removed to Bayfield county, 
Wisconsin, and was there actively engaged in the practice of his profession 
until 1911, then returned to Eau Claire and resumed his practice there.  Mr. 
Downs is a careful and conscientious student of the law, and in his practice 
employs the force of a clear, logical and judicial mind, thoroughly 
disciplined and trained by varied experiences of his forty years of study 
and practice.

In June, 1874, he was wedded to Alice Daniels, a native of Ohio.  Mr. Downs 
is an attendent and supporter of the Lake Street Methodist church, is a 
member of the Bayfield Lodge Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of the 
Royal Arch Masons of Eau Claire. While a resident in Bayfield, he served 
one term as district attorney for Bayfield County.        

--Taken from "The History of Eau Claire County, 1914, Past & Present",
page 296.