This collection (46 items) contains 44 letters that lawyer and congressman Levi B. Vilas wrote to his brother and mother after moving from Vermont to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1851. Vilas discussed family finances, politics, and his impressions of the South while traveling in 1856 and 1857. The collection also includes 1 letter by Harrison Vilas and 1 photograph.
Levi B. Vilas often discussed his family's financial situation, particularly related to their estate in Vermont. Between 1860 and 1861, he expressed concern for his mother's health and questioned the impact that her illness would have on the family. He also provided news of his wife and children, his business affairs, politics, and the local Democratic Party.
In 1856 and 1857, Vilas took extended tours through the South and reflected on aspects of southern life such as the importance of cotton and slave labor. During the Civil War, he expressed concerns for his 3 sons serving in the Union Army. Harrison Vilas wrote 1 letter to his wife and mother recounting a journey from Vermont to Wisconsin (April 27, 1853). The collection also includes a photograph taken in Madison, Wisconsin, of a bearded man sitting at a desk in a study; a manuscript note identifies him as "L.B. Vilas."
Levi B. Vilas was born in Sterling, Vermont, on February 25, 1811, and was admitted to the Vermont Bar in 1833. He established a successful legal practice and political career before moving to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1851, where helped fund a new hotel in 1853; he later bought out the other owners, renaming it the Vilas House. Vilas served as the first president of the Dane County Bank in 1854; Wisconsin state senator in 1855, 1868, and 1873; mayor of Madison from 1861-1862; draft commissioner in 1862; Democratic candidate for Secretary of State in 1865; and speaker of the assembly in 1873. In 1837, he married Esther G. Smilie of Cambridge, Vermont; they had least five children: Henry, William Freeman, Levi, Charles, and Edward. Levi B. Vilas died on February 6, 1879.
William Freeman Vilas served in the 23rd Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War. He later became Postmaster General and Secretary of the Interior (1885-1889) and served as a United States senator (1891-1897).
