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Samuel Beall

land speculator, politician, Union Army officer; Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ7410886
Source-derived summary

Samuel Wootton Beall (June 16, 1807 – September 26, 1868) was an American land speculator, lawyer, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the second lieutenant governor of Wisconsin (1850–1852) and lost his leg at the Battle of Shiloh, as a Union Army officer in the American Civil War.

Early life

Born in Montgomery County, Maryland, Beall graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, in 1827.

Career

Beall moved to what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1835, where he made a fortune in land speculation, and was admitted to the bar and practiced law. In the 1840s, he settled in Taycheedah.

Between 1832 and 1856, Beall loaned the Stockbridge and Munsee Indians' delegations to Washington, D.C. some $3,000 for their expenses while they pursued claims against the federal government. He was promised one third of whatever they recovered, but when they won their case, he claimed and recovered only his actual expenditures.

Beall was a delegate to both the first and second Wisconsin constitutional conventions from Marquette County, one of only six men to do so, as most members of the first convention declined to serve in the second.

Beall was a Democrat and was lieutenant governor for Nelson Dewey's second term as governor, from 1850 until 1852.

In December 1859, Beall was appointed by the Denver Town Company to lobby for Colorado's representation in Washington.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Samuel Beall” as land speculator, politician, Union Army officer; Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Samuel, Beall and land.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1807, 1868, 1850, 1852—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Samuel, Beall and land providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Samuel Beall”, the useful work is to connect “land speculator, politician, Union Army officer; Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

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 Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7410886. The first chronological checks are 1807, 1868, 1850 and 1852.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. 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
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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 “Samuel Beall”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Samuel Beall primary sources, Samuel Beall archive and Samuel 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 “Samuel Beall”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Samuel Beall” 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.