Kapp Erasmus Rasmussen (1860-1927)

Portrait from the Law Makers of Wisconsin, 1901.

  The Strangest Names In American Political History makes its first visit to Wisconsin for 2019 with a peek at the life of Kapp Erasmus Rasmussen, a Danish immigrant to that state who represented Barron County in the state assembly for one term. Born in Laaland (Lolland), Denmark on October 17, 1860, Rasmussen was the son of Ole and Marie Rasmussen. In 1865, young Kapp saw his father leave Denmark to seek out a new life for his family in the United States. Two years later, Kapp, his mother, and siblings left their native land behind to join Ole Rasmussen in Pine Lake, Wisconsin.

  Rasmussen's early Wisconsin residency saw he and his family residing in Waukesha County and later relocated to Adams County. His early education occurred in schools in Marquette and Adams County, as well as the "common school at Oxford". Deciding to pursue a career in law, Rasmussen began study in 1881 and in the following year continued studies in the law office of Judge W.P. Swift. He was admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1884 and soon after established his practice in Rice Lake.

  In 1884 Rasmussen made his first foray into local politics, being elected as clerk for the town of Stanfold. He would marry Annie Frances Cordelia Chamberlain (1868-1934) in 1888, and the couple's near five-decade marriage saw the births of at least nine children, those being Harold, Holden V., Daniel, Dayton, Lucille, Rolland, Allerton Kapp, Waldemar Behring, and Frances Cordelia (1895-1904).

From the Rice Lake Chronotype, November 4, 1898.

  Rasmussen continued his ascent through local politics with his election as city attorney for Rice Lake in 1892 and later logged twenty-five years of service as a member of the Barron County board of supervisors, first having a nineteen-year tenure and was later returned to that board for another six-year stint. In 1898 he garnered the Republican nomination for the Wisconsin State Assembly from  Barron County. He would win the election that November, defeating Democrat Frank Partlow by a vote of 1,736 to 613. Taking his seat at the start of the 1899-1901 session, Rasmussen served on the committees on Public Lands and State Affairs.

   In the years following his legislative service Rasmussen resided in Doyle township in Barron County, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising, making a specialty of shorthorn cattle. Rasmussen died in Rice Lake on September 22, 1927, aged 67, and was survived by his wife Frannie. Following her death in 1934 she was interred alongside her husband at the Nora Cemetery in Rice Lake.