Edward George Ryan

Born in County Meath, Ireland, Ryan emigrated to the United States in 1830, originally settling in New York City. In 1836, Ryan became a United States citizen and was admitted to the New York bar. He then moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he married his first wife, Mary Graham. In Chicago, Ryan practiced law, edited a newspaper, and worked as a city attorney. In 1842, he moved north to Racine, in the Wisconsin Territory, and continued his law practice. Ryan was elected to the first Wisconsin Constitutional Convention in 1846, though the constitution produced by that convention was rejected by Wisconsin voters. Politically, Ryan was a Democrat, and was a delegate for Wisconsin to the 1848 Democratic National Convention, which nominated Lewis Cass. His wife, Mary, died in 1847. The following year, Ryan moved his law practice to Milwaukee. ==Legal career in Wisconsin==

in Madison, Wisconsin. During his years as a lawyer, Ryan was involved in several notable cases in Wisconsin history. In 1853, he was the prosecutor in the impeachment of Wisconsin circuit court judge Levi Hubbell, on charges of corruption. Hubbell was acquitted by the Wisconsin Senate, though, later in life, he would be forced to resign his role as a U.S. Attorney due to similar corruption charges. Ryan was notoriously bad-tempered, and his prosecution of the case against Hubbell was described as viciously personal, and motivated by personal grievances. In 1854 and 1855, Ryan was the attorney for the United States in the case of Ableman v. Booth, where he prosecuted abolitionist Sherman Booth for assisting a runaway slave in violation of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. In the Booth case, Ryan was opposed by fellow future-justice, Byron Paine. Paine prevailed at the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but the decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States. Booth would ultimately be pardoned by U.S. President James Buchanan. ==Family and personal life==

Ryan's married his first wife, Mary Graham, in December 1842. They had one child, Hugh, before her death in 1847. ==References==