Charles Sholes

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American politician and newspaperman (1816–1867)

title: "Charles Sholes" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1816-births", "1867-deaths", "politicians-from-norwich,-connecticut", "mayors-of-kenosha,-wisconsin", "members-of-the-wisconsin-state-assembly", "wisconsin-state-senators", "editors-of-wisconsin-newspapers", "journalists-from-wisconsin", "american-male-journalists", "19th-century-american-male-writers", "19th-century-american-newspaper-founders", "19th-century-american-journalists", "19th-century-members-of-the-wisconsin-legislature", "speakers-of-the-wisconsin-state-assembly", "members-of-the-wisconsin-territorial-legislature", "19th-century-mayors-of-places-in-wisconsin", "burials-at-green-ridge-cemetery-(kenosha,-wisconsin)"] description: "American politician and newspaperman (1816–1867)" topic_path: "people/1810s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sholes" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician and newspaperman (1816–1867) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Charles C. Sholes
image	Charles Sholes.png
order	8th
office	Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
term_start	January 10, 1855
term_end	January 9, 1856
predecessor	Frederick W. Horn
successor	William H. Hull
order1	3rd
title1	Mayor of Kenosha, Wisconsin
term_start1	April 1852
term_end1	April 1856
predecessor1	David C. Gaskill
successor1	Volney Hughes
state2	Wisconsin
state_senate2	Wisconsin
district2	8th
term_start2	January 10, 1866
term_end2	October 5, 1867
predecessor2	Anthony Van Wyck
successor2	Anthony Van Wyck
state3	Wisconsin
state_assembly3	Wisconsin
district3	Kenosha 1st
term_start3	January 1, 1855
term_end3	January 7, 1856
predecessor3	Samuel Hale, Jr.
successor3	Henry Johnson
office4	Representative to the Legislative Assembly of the Wisconsin Territory from Brown County
term_start4	November 6, 1837
term_end4	December 7, 1840
birth_name	Charles Clark Sholes
birth_date
birth_place	Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.
restingplace	Green Ridge Cemetery
Kenosha, Wisconsin
party	National Union (1866-1867)
Republican (1850s)
Liberty Party (1843-1848)
Democratic (before 1843)
nationality	American
occupation	politician
spouse	Sarah Elizabeth McKinney (died 1895)
children	Frank

Edward

Winnie L.

Charles

Harry

Madge

William O.

Mary Jane (Berger)

Edward

Winnie L.

Charles

Harry

Madge

William O.

Mary Jane (Berger)

Susy

| father = Orrin Sholes | mother = Catherine (Cook) Sholes | relatives = Christopher Latham Sholes (brother)

Charles Clark Sholes (January 8, 1816 – October 5, 1867) was a Wisconsin politician and newspaperman. He was the 8th Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly and 2nd Mayor of Kenosha, Wisconsin. He also served in the Wisconsin State Senate. His younger brother was Christopher Latham Sholes, the inventor of the typewriter.

Biography

Born in Norwich, Connecticut, to Orrin and Catherine Sholes, he worked for a time in Pennsylvania and learned printing. In 1836, he moved to Green Bay, in the Wisconsin Territory and published his own paper, the Green Bay Wisconsin Democrat. He was also a publisher of the first newspaper in Madison, the Wisconsin Enquirer. While in Green Bay, he first entered politics, serving as a Democrat in the lower chamber of the Wisconsin Territorial Assembly during the first and second sessions (1837-1840).

In 1840, he moved his plant and paper to Kenosha, then known as "Southport", and renamed the paper the Telegraph. In Kenosha, his brother Christopher Latham Sholes managed the paper, and eventually purchased the business from Charles.

In 1843, he foreclosed a lien on the Wisconsin Enquirer and moved that company to Milwaukee, where the paper was renamed the Milwaukee Democrat. That same year, however, Sholes stopped production of that paper and began publishing a new paper called the American Freeman, affiliated with the abolitionist Liberty Party. Sholes was managing editor of that paper until 1846.

In 1847, Sholes returned to Kenosha and made his home there. He was elected Mayor of Kenosha, serving from 1852 to 1856. And was elected as a Republican to represent Kenosha in the Wisconsin State Assembly for 1855, he was also chosen as Speaker of the Assembly that year. Later that year, he was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, but was defeated by Democrat Arthur MacArthur, Sr., who went on to briefly serve as Governor due to a controversy over election fraud in the gubernatorial election.

Along with Zalmon G. Simmons, he was the founder of the Wisconsin State Telegraph Company, and in 1855 he became president of that company.

Sholes returned to politics one more time in 1865, earning election to the Wisconsin State Senate on the National Union Party ticket for the 1866 and 1867 sessions.

He died in 1867, after the legislative session was over, but before the official expiration of his term as Senator.

He was married to Sarah Elizabeth McKinney. Together they had nine children, though only three lived to adulthood.

Notes

References

"The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Shoaf to Shorr".
"Sholes, Christopher Latham 1819 - 1890".
"Sholes, Charles Clark 1816 - 1867".
"Archived copy".
(8 August 2017). "Sholes, Charles Clark 1816 - 1867". [[Wisconsin Historical Society]].

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