John Bannister Sr. (September 8, 1808 – January 3, 1888) was an American farmer, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer.
[2] During that legislative term, he was also one of the founding members of the Wisconsin Agricultural Society.
[4] The next year, Bannister was elected mayor of Beloit, running on the Republican ticket.
[5] The following year, after the start of the American Civil War, he won another term in the Assembly, running as a Union Republican candidate in what was then Rock County's 4th Assembly district (the city of Beloit, and the towns of Beloit and Turtle).
Their only son, John Jr., served briefly in the 40th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment during the Civil War.