A.G. Wolfenbarger

Andrew G. Wolfenbarger was born in Virginia on 24 March 1856.  His father, William W. Wolfenbarger, was a merchant and Whig politician who held the office of Sheriff of Pocahontas County for 8 years.
     Just before the War Between the States, the family came north and settled in Iowa, where Andrew received a good common-school education and taught 5 years in the public schools.
     Wolfenbarger then became a political journalist and moved to Nebraska.  At the first Prohibition Party convention held in Nebraska, he was chosen Secretary. 
     He served 5 terms as Secretary of the Nebraska State Committee, declining the offer of a sixth.  In 1887, upon the death of John B. Finch, he was named to the Prohibition National Committee representing Nebraska.  He served 4 terms there on the Executive Committee and was also a member of  the Platform Committee.  In 1892, he was Temporary Secretary of the national convention.
     Wolfenbarger was a well-known platform speaker for Prohibition beginning in 1888.  By 1895, he had visited 25 states and Canada, giving 2000 speeches on Prohibition. 
     He ran for office on the Prohibition ticket as a candidate for Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court in 1895 and for Nebraska Attorney General in 1898.
     Wolfenbarger was, professionally, a lawyer with a practice in Lincoln.  He was admitted to the bar of the Nebraska Supreme Court.  He adhered to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Data from An Album of Representative Prohibitionists, 1895

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