James Harrison Earnest (January 11, 1818 – June 12, 1900) was an American Democratic politician and Wisconsin pioneer.
[1] His parents died while he was still young,[2] and, when he was about sixteen years old, he went to Springfield, Illinois, to look for work.
[2] In politics, he became an outspoken supporter of the Democratic Party, which was popular with the laborers in the lead mining region.
He was a constant defender of the economic interests of the lead mining region, until the industry began to decline in the aftermath of the American Civil War.
[3] James Earnest married Mary E. McGown of Mercer County, Kentucky, in 1847.