| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honorable |
| Joseph T. Mills | |
| Term Start: | January 2, 1865 |
| Term End: | January 1, 1877 |
| Predecessor: | Montgomery M. Cothren |
| Successor: | Montgomery M. Cothren |
| Office1: | Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly |
| Constituency1: | Grant 2nd district |
| Term Start1: | January 6, 1879 |
| Term End1: | January 5, 1880 |
| Predecessor1: | Thomas J. Graham |
| Successor1: | John A. Klindt |
| Constituency2: | Grant 3rd district |
| Term Start2: | January 6, 1862 |
| Term End2: | January 5, 1863 |
| Predecessor2: | Hanmer Robbins |
| Successor2: | J. Allen Barber |
| Constituency3: | Grant 4th district |
| Term Start3: | January 7, 1856 |
| Term End3: | January 4, 1858 |
| Predecessor3: | William W. Field |
| Successor3: | Charles K. Dean |
| Office4: | District Attorney of Grant County, Wisconsin |
| Appointer4: | Alexander Randall |
| Term Start4: | August 1861 |
| Term End4: | Summer 1864 |
| Predecessor4: | Allen R. Bushnell |
| Successor4: | Allen R. Bushnell |
| Term Start5: | January 3, 1859 |
| Term End5: | January 7, 1861 |
| Predecessor5: | Edward D. Lowry |
| Successor5: | Allen R. Bushnell |
| Party: | Republican |
| Birth Date: | 18 December 1812 |
| Birth Place: | Cane Ridge, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Denver County, Colorado, U.S. |
| Restingplace: | Hillside Cemetery, |
| Relatives: | Benjamin Mills (uncle) |
Joseph Trotter Mills (December 18, 1812November 22, 1897) was an American attorney, jurist, Republican politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served four one-year terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, and was Wisconsin circuit court judge for the 5th circuit from 1865 through 1877.
Born in 1812 in Cane Ridge, Kentucky,[1] near Paris, Joseph Trotter Mills as a youth lived and studied with his uncle Benjamin Mills, who was a judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Moving west, in 1831 Mills studied at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois.
He worked as a tutor in 1834 and 1835, teaching the children of Colonel Zachary Taylor,[1] then commanding officer of Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, Michigan Territory. Later Mills married and had a family.
He prepared to change his work by reading the law with an established firm; in 1844, he was admitted to the Wisconsin bar. He practiced law in Lancaster, Wisconsin. From 1865 to 1877, Mills served as Wisconsin Circuit Court judge. In 1856, 1857, 1862, and 1879, Mills served in the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Republican.[2] His son-in-law, James Sibree Anderson, was also a member of the Assembly.
Mills died at his son's home in Denver, Colorado.[1] [3]