Epaphroditus Ransom
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Epaphroditus Ransom (March 24, 1798–November 9, 1859) was Governor and Michigan Supreme Court justice from the U.S. state of Michigan.
Ransom was born in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. There is disagreement about the year of his birth, sometimes given as 1787 [1] (http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/ransom.html#RHI17NSPH), 1796 [2] (http://www.michmarkers.com/startup.asp?startpage=S0569.htm), or 1798 [3] (http://www.micourthistory.org/resources/eransom.php). He was the first of twelve children and was educated at various schools in New England. He studied law and had begun his own practice in Townshend, Vermont by 1823. He was elected to the state legislature but instead moved to Michigan Territory in 1834 with his wife Almira and their children. He took up residence in what is now Kalamazoo, Michigan. He took up farming and other business ventures and soon became active in politics. He served in the state legislature and became that area's first circuit court judge, riding horseback through the wilderness to hear cases.
He was appointed by Governor Stevens T. Mason as an associate justice of the state Supreme Court in 1837 and served as chief justice from 1843 to 1848. In one notable issue, he issued a declaration in 1840 that prevented the removal of the Catholic Potawatomi from their lands in southwestern Michigan.
In 1848, he resigned from the court after being elected Governor. Ransom was the first governor to be inaugurated in Lansing, Michigan, after the state capitol moved there from Detroit. During his term as governor, the first telegraph line from New York to Detroit was completed and the first message sent on March 1. There were two notable immigrations to the state during his administration. A group of Hollanders came to western Michigan, lead by Rev. Van Raalte, of the Dutch Reformed Church. They founded the city of Holland, Michigan and later established Hope College. James Jesse Strang lead the other immigration, consisting of a faction of Mormon followers. They settled on Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan. Strang founded a kingdom there with a capitol, St. James named for himself. Strang was even elected to the state legislature twice, but anti-Mormon sentiment and his totalitarian rule of the island led to his assassination.
Because of Ransom's strong anti-slavery position, the state Democratic Party did not re-nominate him for Governor in 1850. He was elected again to the state legislature in 1853 and 1854.
He was also the first president of the Michigan Agricultural Society, which was instrumental in the creation of both the Michigan State Fair and Michigan State University. He served as regent for the University of Michigan, 1850 to 1852 and was a co-founder of the village of Augusta, Michigan. His private business ventures were ruined by the Panic of 1855, and in 1857, Ransom gratefully accepted appointment from U.S. President James Buchanan as receiver of the public monies for the Osage Land Office in Fort Scott, Kansas.
He died in Fort Scott and is interred at Mountain Home Cemetery in Kalamazoo.
External links
- Biographical Portrait (http://www.memoriallibrary.com/MI/LivIngPB/gov~105-142.htm#Ransom) from 1892 Portrait & Biographical Album of Genesee, Lapeer & Tuscola Counties, Chapman Bros
- Michigan Supreme Court Hitorical Society (http://www.micourthistory.org/resources/eransom.php)