lawyer, judge, politician, b. Cane Ridge, near Paris, Bourbon County, Ky. In 1831 he moved to Illinois, attended Illinois College, and about 1834 journeyed to Prairie du Chien as tutor to the children of Col. Zachary Taylor. In 1840 he settled in Lancaster, Wis., where he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He practiced law in Lancaster, became active in the Liberty party, and later in the Republican party, and was state assemblyman from Grant County (1856, 1857, 1862, 1879). In 1864 he was elected circuit judge of the 5th judicial district, and served in this capacity from 1865 to 1877. After leaving the bench, he continued to practice law in Lancaster until 1893 when he moved to Manitowoc. He died while visiting a son in Denver, Colo. J. R. Berryman, ed., Bench and Bar of Wis. (2 vols., Chicago, 1898); Wis. Reports, 98 (1898), pp. xlv-lvi; Proc. State Bar Assoc. Wis., 3 (1900); J. T. Mills Papers.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Joseph Trotter Mills Papers for details.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]