EDGERTON, Sidney, first territorial governor of Montana (1864-66), Was born at Cazenovia, Madison , N. Y., Aug. 17, 1818, youngest son of Amos and Zerviali (Graham) Edgerton. Richard Edgerton, first of the family in this country, was a resident of Saybrook, Conn., as early as 1655, and was one of the founders of Norwich. Through his mother he was descended from both George and William Phelps, early proprietors of Dorchester, Mass., and Windsor, Conn., and was related to many revolutionary soldiers. His father, also a un live of West Simsbury, was a teacher of exceptional ability, and died in the year of his son, Sidney's, birth. At the age of eight Sidney Edgerton began to earn his own living. He paid for tuition at a district school by the labor of his hands, and later attended the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, N. Y. After teaching for a year at Lockport, N. Y., he returned to the seminary and was an instructor there until 1844, when he removed to Akron, O., and began the study of law. He was principal of an academy at Tallmadge, O., in the following winter, and then studied for a year in the Cincinnati Law School. Returning to Akron, lie formed a partnership with Oliver C. Lewis, but soon became a member of the firm of Humphrey, Upson & Edgerton, and continued in active practice until 1859. In 1848 he was a delegate to the convention which formed the Free- soil party, and in 1852 was elected prosecuting attorney of Summit county, Idaho, formerly a part of Washington territory. He was a member of the convention which formed the Republican party in 1856. In 1858 and in 1860 he was elected to congress from the 18th Ohio district. In 1865 congress organized the Idaho territory, and Mr. Edgerton, having been appointed its chief-justice, settled in Bannack. In January, 1864, he went to Washington to secure a division of the territory, and on the formation of Montana territory, May 26th, was appointed governor. The first legislature convened at Bannack, Dec. 18th. In his message he recommended a memorial to congress protesting against the burdens imposed by the mining laws of Idaho, still in force, and against the proposed imposition of a seigniorage tax on the products of placer mining, practically the only ones worked in the territory at that time. The extinguishment of the Indian title to lands in the territory was advised, and the cause of education was commended. His position was a difficult one to fill, for many in the territory had renounced allegiance to the United States. Political resentment in the legislature finally assumed such a form that in 1867 the name of Edgerton county was changed to that of Lewis and Clarke. During his administration many special franchises were granted and many corporations chartered. In the autumn of 1865 he returned to the East, partly to obtain money for the territory, to the running expenses of which he had contributed out of his own pocket. He resigned his position the following year, and during his absence Gen. Thomas F. Meagher, who was secretary of the territory, served as acting governor. Akron again became his place of residence. He was married at Tallmadge, Ohio, in May, 1849, to Mary, daughter of Alpha and Lucy (Foster) Wright, and had nine children. A son, Col. Wright Prescott Edgerton, was professor of mathematics at West Point. Gov. Edgerton died at Akron, O.. July 19, 1900.

SMITH, Green Clay, soldier and second territorial governor of Montana (1866-69), was born at Richmond, Madison ??., ??., July 2, 1832, second son of John Speed and Eliza Lewis (Clay) Smith. His father (b. July 31, 1792; d. June 6, 1854), was a native of Jessamine county, Ky., and a lawyer and planter. He was a skilled Indian fighter; served under Gen. William Henry Harrison in the battle of Tippecanoe, and was his aid-de-camp at the battle of the Thames in 1813. In 1819 he was elected to the legislature of Kentucky; was elected to the national congress as a Democrat in 1821, serving one term, and he was again elected to the state legislature in 1827, becoming speaker of the house. He was appointed by Près. Jackson U. S. district attorney for Kentucky, and was superintendent of public works for several years.- His wife was a daughter of Gen. Green Clay, a distinguished soldier in the war of 1812, after whom the son was named. At the age of fifteen the son went as a volunteer to Mexico in the war of 1846, serving as second lieutenant in company H, 1st Kentucky cavalry volunteers. Returning home he attended Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., and was graduated there in 1849 and in the law department of the same in 1852. He practiced his profession for a number of years in Covington, Ky., and also served in the Kentucky legislature. In the civil war he was mustered into service April 4,1862, as colonel of the 4th Kentucky cavalry volunteers, with which he served some time. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, June, 1862, for services rendered. He was in many engagements, wounded at Lebanon, Tenn. May 5, 1862, and publicly complimented in orders from Gen. Rosecrans for his defeat of Gen. Forest at Rutherford creek, Tenn. He resigned his commission in the army to take a seat in congress in December, 1863, to which position he had been elected while in the field. He was elected for a second term, and served almost to its conclusion, but resigned to accept the office of governor of Montana offered him by Près. Johnson. Here he remained nearly three years, assisting largely in the organization of the territory and promoting its prosperity. In the spring of 1868 the Indians under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were subdued and scattered. He resigned, in 1869, to enter the ministry of the Baptist church in Washington city, D. C., where be remained until his death. He was promoted to brevet major- general for meritorious service, and in 1876 was the candidate of the prohibition party for president of the United States. He was married to Lena, daughter of James K. Duke, of Scott county, Ky., nephew of Chief-Justice John Marshall. He died in Washington, June 30, 1895.

ASHLEY, James Mitchell, third territorial governor of Montana (1869-70), was born near Pittsburgh, Pa., Nov. 24, 1822, son of John Clinton and Mary Ann (Kirkpatrick) Ashley. His first American ancestor was Capt. John Ashley, of London, England, whose name appears in the Virginia charter of 1707. His grandfather, Benjamin Ashley, and his father (1869-70), were itinerant ministère, and followers of Alexander Campbell. At the age of fourteen James Ashley ran away from home and became cabin boy, and later clerk on an Ohio river steamer. After wandering in various states he finally settled at Portsmouth, O., there learned the printer's trade and commenced the publication of the " Democrat," but in 1851 removed to Toledo, where he engaged in the wholesale drug business, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. In 1854 he participated in the first Republican convention of Wood county. In 1858 he was elected a representative to congress from the Toledo district, and served until 1868. He soon became a prominent figure in the Republican, ranks, acting with the most radical abolitionists, many of whom be had Ions known. During the first session of congress, after Mr. Lincoln became president, he introduced a bill for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, which met with no support, and was. finally replaced by another bill, the joint work of Mr. Ashley and Hon. Lot M. Morrill, which was finally passed, April 11, 1862. It appropriated $1,000,000 with which to compensate the owners for their slaves, being supported by Ashley and his friends as the precursor of emancipation. He also introduced a bill for the organization of the territory of Arizona, and aided in securing a Jaw prohibiting slavery in the territories. On Dec. 14, 1863, he introduced the first proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery, but on June 15, 1864, this proposition was defeated in the house. On a reconsideration he succeeded in converting twenty-four border state and northern Democrats, and secured the passage of the measure. He began the movement to impeach Près. Johnson, Jan. 7, 1867, by charging him with "usurpation of power and violation of law, by corruptly using the appointing and the pardoning and the veto power," and on March 7, 1867, he introduced the resolution for the impeachment of Près. Johnson, and a constitutional amendment proposing the election of president by direct vote of the people, on May 29, 1868. In 1869 he was appointed territorial governor of Montana territory, which, with Arizona and Idaho, he had organized and named while chairman of the committee on territories, but he remained only about a year on account of a difference with Près. Grant. Mr. Ashley had consecrated his life to the cause of a race from whom he could not expect any reward save the gratitude and appreciation which he received. The colored people did everything in their power to honor him while living, and perpetuate his memory when dead, making a souvenir volume of his addresses. He retired from public life in 1870, with depleted finances, but, observing that a railroad extending north from Toledo across the peninsula of Michigan, would furnish an outlet for about 300 miles of country then wholly without such facilities, he purchased valuable terminals at Toledo entirely on credit and proceeded to build the road north to Lake Michigan; there, with his oldest son, J. M. Ashley, Jr., he constructed a fleet of train-carrying ferryboats, operating them to and from Gladstone, Wis. This made the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Michigan one of the important lines between the northwest and the Ohio river. Gov. Ashley was married, in 1851, to Emma J. Smith, of Portsmouth, O., and had three sons, James II., Henry W. and Charles S., and one daughter, Mary, wife of Edward Ringold Hewitt, of New York city. He died Sept. 16, 1896.