Daniel Mears was born in
Lynn, Massachusetts, in July 1819. He came west in 1848, first settling at
Taylors Falls,
Minnesota Territory, where he operated a store for a year. In 1849, he moved across the Mississippi River to
St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, where he continued his merchandising and also began working in the lumber industry, with the lumber firm Nelson Carlton Company. In 1852, he moved to
Hudson, Wisconsin, where he constructed the first saw mill in the village. He ultimately moved to a farm in
Osceola, Wisconsin, about 1855, where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1857 he was the Democratic Party nominee for
Wisconsin Senate in the vast
28th Senate district, which then comprised nearly the entire northwest quadrant of the state. He won the election due to a split Republican vote; the original Republican nominee George Strong faced a divided party and withdrew from the race a week before the election, his opponent James F. Moore, claimed he was then the Republican nominee, but still faced significant resistance within the district's Republican electorate. Mears went on to represent the 28th district in the
1858 and
1859 legislative sessions. After the outbreak of the
American Civil War, Mears assisted in raising several companies of
volunteers for the
Union Army, and entered the service himself with a company of cavalry known as the "St. Croix Rangers", which elected him as their second lieutenant. He ran again for state office in 1872, running for
Wisconsin State Assembly in the district comprising Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and Polk counties. He was defeated in the general election by Republican
Henry D. Barron. In 1874 he received the coveted official posting of state timber agent. Daniel Mears died at his home in Osceola on September 22, 1906. ==Personal life and family==