Henry Kleist

Who is Henry Kleist?

Henry Kleist was a farmer from Rantoul, Wisconsin, United States, who served one term as a state senator. He was a member of the Socialist Party.

Kleist was born on a farm in the Town of Eaton, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin on September 29, 1860. Six years later his parents moved to the Town of Rantoul in Calumet County. He attended public schools as a boy in the winter, working on the farm in summer, and later worked in the woods in winter. After the 1888 death of his father, he and his brother, Charles, operated the homestead farm, now known as Kleist Brothers' Grain and Dairy Farm, and continued to live with their mother. By 1918, he was president of the Calumet County branch of the American Society of Equity and the Farmers Advancement Association of Brillion. He had a long history of activism in both farmers' organizations. He was also a member of the Brillion Masonic and Odd Fellow lodges.

In 1918, he was elected to the State Senate as a Socialist for the 15th district to succeed Henry Rollman, a Democrat. Kleist received 4,393 votes to 3,611 for Democrat Leo P. Fox. He was assigned to the standing committees on the judiciary, and on "Reconstruction and Readjustment".