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Edward E. Burns

American politician (1858-1941)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ16066543 ↗
Source-derived summary

Edward Eugene Burns (January 20, 1858 – June 15, 1941) was an American lawyer from Platteville, Wisconsin, who served as a Republican member of the Wisconsin State Senate.

Background

O'Neil was born in what would later become East Dubuque, Illinois, on January 20, 1858. Shortly after he was born, his family moved to Jamestown, Wisconsin, and settled on a farm where he grew up. He attended the Platteville Normal School, later the University of Wisconsin–Platteville; and the University of Wisconsin Law School, graduating in the class of 1887. He practiced law for one year in Boscobel, Wisconsin, then moving to Platteville on December 1, 1890. Burns died on June 15, 1941, while visiting his brother in Galena, Illinois.

Elected office and military service

He was elected a member of the county board in 1895 and 1896, and was the city attorney of Platteville in 1897 and 1898.

In 1898, he entered the Army for two years and served in the Spanish–American War as Captain of Company C of the 4th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment.

He was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate's 16th District (Grant and Iowa Counties) on November 6, 1900 (Republican incumbent Charles H. Baxter was not a candidate), beating Democrat William Synon and Prohibitionist John W. Horsfall; and was re-elected in 1904. He was succeeded in 1909 by John J. Blaine, also a Republican.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Edward E. Burns” is american politician (1858-1941). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Edward, Burns and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1858, 1941, 1887, 1890—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1858-01-20. For this dossier, Edward, Burns and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american politician (1858-1941)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16066543. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1858, 1941, 1887 and 1890.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Edward E. Burns”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Edward E. Burns primary sources, Edward E. Burns archive and Edward research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Edward E. Burns”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Edward E. Burns” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.