San Francisco County
Biographies
PETER DINWIDDIE WIGGINTON
PETER DINWIDDIE WIGGINTON, deceased, was born in Springfield,
Illinois, September 6 1839. When he was
four years old his parents moved to the lead-mine region of southern Wisconsin,
and his youth was spent in that State. His boyhood was marked by those
incidents and vicissitudes of pioneer life which make the Western man one
peculiarity American. Out of this Western peculiarity has come
that type of manhood of which Abraham Lincoln was a pre-eminent example. In
those days the magnificent public school system of the country, and especially
of the great central commonwealth of the West, which has grown to such gigantic
proportions within a few decades, was unknown. There were no public schools in
southern Wisconsin in 1845, and the boy received his
common-school education in private schools; later he entered the University
of Wisconsin, Where he soon earned
the reputation of a close and faithful student. Leaving the University, he
commenced the study of law in the office of the celebrated jurist, Moses M.
Strong, and in due time was admitted to full practice in all the courts of Wisconsin.
An
ardent admirer of Stephen A. Douglas, the young lawyer became first an active
member and afterward the leader of the “Little Giants”, a club of 245
enthusiastic supporters of Douglas. He was also editor
of the Dodgeville Advocate, an independent paper. Early in 1862, yielding to
the influence of the Salmon river gold excitement, Mr.
Wigginton resigned his editorial position and
his legal practice and went to the Idaho
mines. He remained in Idaho but a short time, and within
a few months after leaving the home of his youth he was in California.
In 1863 he was elected District Attorney of Merced county,
in which capacity he served four years.
Going
from the District Attorney `s office, Mr. Wigginton
went out of politics and applied himself closely to the practice of his
profession until 1875, when at the earnest solicitation of his party, he
consented to become a candidate for Congress from the Fourth Congressional
District. The Democrats of that district had suffered a series of defeats, and
it was evident that the election of a Democratic Representative in Congress
from the southern end of the state could be accomplished only by the nomination
of a man of recognized ability and of such personal popularity that he could
confidently count upon considerable Republican support. P.D. Wigginton was that man. He was elected and went to
Congress, representing a district which included 108,500 square miles; and he
was the first Democratic Representative from the southern district since San
Francisco was set off from its territory. He was
re-elected and served two full terms in the House.
For
ten years prior to his election to Congress Mr. Wigginton
had given the questions of immigration and naturalization deep and earnest
study. In the Forty-fourth Congress he was fully occupied attending to the
interests of his constituency; but in the Forty-fifth he found time to make a
thorough canvass of the members with reference to their views upon amending the
naturalization laws and legislation restricting the indiscriminate immigration
of foreigners. He was gratified to find that two-thirds of the members strongly
favored such action, but disappointed upon discovering that so strong was the
feeling of jealousy between the two great parties, and so general and
widespread the truckling cowardice of politicians, that no concurrence of
Democrats and Republicans could be hoped for on a bill looking to that end.
Each owed and acknowledged fealty to his party, and
each feared the political death that would follow the advocacy of these
American measures. Mr. Wigginton was a member of the
Congress which appointed the committee of the fifteen,--eight Republicans and
seven Democrats, -- that decided against Tilden and made Hayes President; and
his opposition to the appointment of that electoral commission was one of the
official acts of which he was especially proud.
In
Fresno, May 27, 1886, Mr. Wigginton
made a speech in which he proclaimed to the world the doctrine, “America
for Americans”. This was the first gun of the American party. On the 23rd
of September of that year he delivered an able and eloquent address at Stockton
before the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Association, which was replete with
Americanism. On the 28th of September, 1886, he participated in a
memorable Fresno convention, at
which form the fundamental principles of the American national platform. When
the Republican and Democratic nominees for Governor in 1886 refused the
proffered nomination of the American party, Mr. Wigginton,
at the solicitation of Americans, accepted the place of leader, and in a
campaign of less then two months traveled from one end of the state to the
other, making speeches and paying his own expenses, which for the most part
included cost of halls, music, etc. On election day he polled 8,000 votes for
Governor,-- more then the first Republican or
free-soil candidate for President received in the whole United
States.
He
was chairman of the American State Convention held in San
Francisco, July 4, and 5, 1888. He was temporary and
permanent chairman of the American National Convention held in Washington
city on the 14th and 15th of
August, 1888. Upon the declination of Abram S. Hewitt, the National Convention
tendered him its unanimous endorsement as American candidate for President.
This unanticipated honor he declined on the ground that in his belief the first
American nominee for President should be a man living east of the Mississippi.
In this convention, on the platform resolution demanding the
unconditional repeal of the naturalization laws, Mr. Wigginton
called the late Mr. Church, of New York, to the chair, and made one of the most
eloquent, forcible and convincing speeches of his life. As he closed, Mr.
Church, who had opposed the resolution, moved its adoption, and the motion was
carried by a unanimous vote. Upon the resignation of the American party`s nominee for Vice-President, the National Committee
by unanimous choice selected Mr. Wigginton to fill
the vacancy. He accepted and made the fight. The party had no organization
outside of this state, and but an imperfect one here. How many votes the
American party polled for President in California
in 1888 will never be known. It was the policy of the Democratic and Republican
election officers not to count American ballots.
Mr.
Wigginton’s professional practice was very exacting.
As attorney for the Southern Pacific Company, he was much before the courts of
the San Joaquin valley, and it was not unusual for him to leave here in the
evening, travel until after midnight, argue a case during the day, and return
to his home in Oakland by daylight
the following morning. The labor and exposure were too great for even the iron
constitution he possessed, and during the later part of last November he was
prostrated with what the family physician pronounced enlargement of the liver.
For some weeks no serious result was apprehended. Accompanied by his wife he
spent a brief period in San Bernardino
county, but his health not improving, they returned to
their home. Then followed several months of improvement and
relapses. Finally the Physicians agreed that his disease had assumed the
form of quick consumption, and gave little hope of his recovery. There were
days during which for an hour or two he would seem to have a stronger hold on
life, and his wife and children would gladden at the hope that his life would e
prolonged, but the delusion was only temporary. His Strength gradually failed,
and on Monday evening July 7, 1891, he breathed his last, leaving a wife and
three children, two sons and a daughter. As a husband and father he was all a
loving, devoted wife and affectionate children could hope for or desire. He was
one of the few men of whom it may be truthfully said that those who new him
best loved him most.
Transcribed by Kim Buck.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages
493-495, Lewis Publishing
Co, 1892.
© 2006 Kim Buck.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library