Biographical Sketches: JAMES A. FREAR ********************************************************************* USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ File Contributed by Lori Niemuth, dawnlea@ticon.net ********************************************************************* The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin Compiled and Published under the direction of J. D. Beck, Commissioner of Labor and Industrial Statistics 1907. The Wisconsin Blue Book. VII. Biographical Sketches. Members of the Sixtieth Congress. State Officers. Secretary of State, p. 1121. JAMES A. FREAR (Rep.) was born at Hudson, Wis., Oct. 24, 1861. Was attending Lawrence University at Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1878, when with his parents he moved to Washington, D.C. Served five years in the U.S. Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Va., Indianapolis and Washington, in 1884. He was admitted to the bar of the supreme court, District of Columbia, the same year and then returned to Hudson, entering the practice of law in that city. Has held different city offices, including city attorney for several years. He was appointed district attorney for St. Croix county by Governor Upham in April 1896, and was elected for three consecutive terms thereafter. He was appointed on the staff of the governor in 1901 and elected to the assembly in 1902, and to the state senate in 1904. He was appointed chairman of the senate investigation committee on state insurance March 9th, 1905, and at the same session was chosen a member of the Wisconsin Insurance Investigation committee. He served as chairman of both committees during the year 1906. September 4th of that year he was nominated at the primaries for Secretary of State and was elected to that office in November, receiving 178,818 votes, against 100,194 for Clarence J. Noel (Dem.), 24,427 for Chas. V. Schmidt (Soc. Dem.), 8,174 for John E. Clayton (Pro.) and 468 for Albert Wang (Soc. Lab.).