ELISHA P. FERRY
Elisha P. Ferry, the first Governor of the
State of Washington, and Territorial Governor for two consecutive terms
beginning with April, 1872, is remembered among the pioneers as the greatest of
all Governors, I. I. Stevens alone excepted. During his many years' residence in
Olympia Governor Ferry was acknowledged to have been a man of good business
ability, prudent, tactful, painstaking, in thinking as well as in action,
possessed of rare good judgment and great firmness of character, as well as a
good lawyer. He possessed all the acquirements as well as the natural qualities
that go toward making a good executive.
A native of Michigan. E. P. Ferry studied law
there and later in Fort Wayne, Indiana, being admitted to the bar in 1845 at the
age of 20. His first start in life after his graduation was made in Waukegan,
Illinois, where he practiced law until 1869. He was first Mayor of this town,
twice Presidential Elector, a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1861
and afterwards a Bank Commissioner.
When the Civil war began, Ferry served for a
time as Assistant Adjutant General and helped materially in organizing and
equipping many of the early Illinois regiments and getting them ready for the
field. While engaged in this service he became acquainted with U. S. Grant,
which acquaintance soon ripened into friendship, and after Grant became
President he appointed Ferry Surveyor General of the rapidly developing
Territory of Washington. This appointment was made in 1869, and Ferry brought
his family to Olympia, which city they regarded as their home until the removal
of Governor Ferry to Seattle a few years before his death.
In 1872 President Grant appointed Mr. Ferry
Territorial Governor, and at the expiration of that four-year term reappointed
him to the same position. At the expiration of eight years as territorial
executive Governor Ferry began the practice of law in Seattle, continuing until
the admission of Washington into statehood, when he was elected Governor by an
overwhelming vote of the people.
Governor Ferry returned to Seattle, but was
claimed by death within a few years after the end of his term.
His widow made her home with their daughter,
Mrs. John Leary, until the past few years, when she, too, passed away.
Besides Mrs. Leary, there are remaining of the
Ferry family, Pierre and James Ferry.
Source: Early History
of Thurston County, Washington by Georgiana Mitchell Blankenship
Submitted by Barbara
Ziegenmeyer
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