labor leader, b. Braggville, Mass. A shoe freer by trade, at the end of the Civil War he brought to Milwaukee the concept of an industrial union for boot and shoe workers. In 1867 he formed Lodge No. 1 of the Noble Order of the Knights of St. Crispin in Milwaukee and went East to organize while he served as grand scribe (1867-1871); the order became the nation's largest union, with 400 lodges and approximately 50,000 members. Although the union used strikes, sometimes opposed machinery, and ultimately aimed at co-operatives (producer and consumer), its major goal was opposition to "green hands" (more workers for the new machines). After new leadership assumed control in 1871, Daniels withdrew and became an entrepreneur in the trade. In 1880 he organized the first assembly of the Knights of Labor in Milwaukee. In the Milwaukee labor sweep of 1886 he was elected sheriff on the People's ticket, and in the 1890's worked with the Populists. About 1897 he retired to a ranch near Guerneville, Calif. D. D. Lescohier, Knights of St. Crispin (Madison, 1910); A. Ballou, Hist. of . . . Milford . . . Mass. (Boston, 1882); Milwaukee Sentinel, Apr. 19, 1904.Learn More
Dictionary of Wisconsin History
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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
