Elisha P. Ferry
Encyclopedia
Elisha Peyre Ferry was the first Governor of the U.S. State
of Washington. He had been the tenth governor of Washington Territory (1872–1880) and became the first governor of Washington upon its admission into the Union on November 11, 1889. He served a single term, 1889-1893. He was a Republican
. He served as mayor of Waukegan, Illinois
. He was the only territorial governor to serve two terms under the title, and once Washington was finally granted statehood in 1889, it was Ferry that was called upon to become its inaugural governor.
As a child and into his adulthood Ferry was well liked by both teachers and peers, and regarded as smart, driven, and tactful. Throughout Ferry’s adolescence he attended public school, eventually graduating from high school at an early age. He excelled in his academics and after graduation pursued a career as a lawyer.
Ferry attended Fort Wayne Law School in eastern Indiana. He graduated law school and passed the bar examination in 1945, at the ripe, young age of 20. The following year Ferry moved back to Waukegan, Illinois where his family still lived. There, he worked as a successful lawyer for 23 years until 1869. During Ferry’s time as a lawyer he was known for having a firm moral character and he was dedicated to helping the people in his community.
While living and working in Waukegan he started a family of his own. Elisha married Sarah Brown Kellog and together they had five children. Their eldest was their daughter Eliza who was born in 1851 and lived until 1935. Ferry’s first son, James, was born in 1853 and lived until 1914. Their third and fourth, Lincoln and Julia, lived from 1860–1911 and 1864-1894 respectively. Elisha and Sarah’s youngest son was born in 1868. His name was Pierre and he lived until 1932. All of Ferry’s children had the middle name ‘Perye’, which was his mother’s maiden name, and was passed down through Elisha to all his descendants.
Ferry’s parents were members of the Episcopal Church. Ferry grew up attending church services and the Ferry home had strict religious rules. Ferry adopted the same religious values as his parents and was known to put his religion above all else. Elisha and his wife Sarah did much volunteer work for the church and he frequently conducted the services.
Elisha P. Ferry also had a very active public life. He became the Presidential Elector of Illinois in 1852 and was later elected as the Village President of Waukegan, Illinois and served from 1856-1857. Ferry then ran for mayor of Waukegan in 1859 and won by an overwhelming majority to become the first the town’s first mayor. In 1862 Ferry used his political experience to act as a delegate at the Illinois State Constitutional Convention.
Prior to his placement of Ferry, Grant had appointed the only Jewish Governor of Washington Territory in Edward S. Salomon, a native Prussian whom immigrated to the United States at a young age. Salomon, also from the Midwest, was appointed by Grant in 1869 to be the territorial governor where he remained at his post until his resignation in 1872 when he was caught in one of Grant’s administration’s scandals. This cleared the way for Ferry to make his mark. In 1869 President Grant appointed Ferry to the position of the Surveyor General of the rapidly developing Washington Territory. Ferry then moved his family to their new home in Olympia.
The railroad played a large role in the development of the Washington Territory and, in the process, bribed many prominent businessmen and politicians. As Surveyor General, Ferry was among those who benefited from the Northern Pacific’s expansion. By the 1880s Ferry’s close relationship with the Northern Pacific linked Republicanism with the railroads in the public mind.
Ferry and the railroad also became intertwined during Olympia’s quest to build a line of its own. Beginning in 1873, the Olympia Railroad Union (ORU) began an effort at construction supported by Governor Ferry and several other federal appointees. Initial progress proved to be excellent until the project stalled in June 1877 when the Thurston County Railroad Construction Company, organized under Governor Ferry, took over from the ORU. By August 1, 1878 the entire fifteen mile line was in working order.
In 1872 President Grant appointed Ferry as the Territorial Governor, and then after the end of his four-year term reappointed him to the same position. While in office Ferry was the beneficiary of Congress’ decision to make the auditor, the treasurer and other officials whom were previously elected by the assembly, the new gubernatorial appointees. These three dozen jobs made Ferry the first governor of the Washington Territory, other than Isaac Stevens, to hold any real power. For Ferry, however, authority proved to be more of a detriment than a meaningful influence as was the case with pardoning. Widely criticized during the 1870s as a pardon broker, Ferry was nearly dismissed from office after freeing a convicted murderer, who was the son of an ally.
Despite Ferry’s shortcomings, he proved effective in pulling the territory out of debt. As governor Ferry was able to greatly improve the financial affairs of the Washington Territory. Many counties were negligent in paying their share of the taxes due to the territory and ineffective laws did little to speed this process along. Nonetheless, Ferry insisted on legislation that would enforce payment. It nearly took Ferry’s entire term to fix, but the next governor inherited a Washington Territory almost free of debt.
Ferry was linked again to the railroad during his time as governor and in 1873. During the first legislature under his administration, Washington Territory’s first railroad law was passed. The law provided that rates should be reasonable, and that one patron should not be charged more than another for the same service. An act to encourage the construction of railroads was also passed that made taxation of railroads very light until their completion. These acts were intended to help the people of Olympia, Seattle, and Walla Walla prosper in new enterprises.
The counties of the Washington Territory received a financial respite in 1877 when Governor Ferry entered into a contract to create a penitentiary. Counties had previously been required to prosecute and house criminals, all the while paying the cost. The new two-story building in Thurston County allowed the government to pay for and oversee all of Washington Territory’s major criminals. There was now only one large prison, in comparison to prisons in every county.
In 1880, after two successful terms of territory governorship, Ferry moved to Seattle to practice law. He continued to practice law for seven years until he became the Puget Sound National Bank’s Vice President in 1887. Ferry continued at this job for two years before Statehood was finally granted to Washington, and the Republican Party nominated Ferry to be the first state Governor.
The first couple of months of Ferry's term were uneventful. In the summer of 1889, three of the state’s most important cities were consumed by fire. Flames destroyed an estimated $15 million worth of property in Seattle alone. A month later an ocean of flames would sweep through Ellensburg on the far side of Snoqualmie Pass. In the first week of August, fire would consume 30 square blocks in Spokane Falls. All of these cities would rebuild using modern construction materials such as brick and stones, instead of creating large cities made of timber. The reconstruction of the cities and their rapid recovery drew widespread attention, as property values doubled between 1889 and 1890, due in part to Ferry's prompt response to the crises.
Borrowing money was another problem that Ferry and Washington encountered as a new state. The main factor for this was the new railroads and the actual construction of them. In fact, the state of Washington completed more annual mileage of railroad in 1889, 1890, and 1891. This would normally be a good thing, but in December 1889, the Northern Pacific would take legal control of the Puget Sound Shore, which was the rail connecting Elliot Bay and Tacoma. Now in formal control of its own lines, Northern Pacific could charge the citizens of Seattle and Tacoma the same high rates to use the transportation, justifying the expense of improved service as their reason for the outrageous prices.
Ferry’s governorship was marked by Washington State’s interest in private ownership, bouts of labor unrest, and his own failing health. In the first decade of Washington’s admittance to the union, the Pacific Northwest was becoming an international trade spot. For this reason, large private interest drove Washington State politics as lobbyists sought to secure valuable land. However, because of his failing health, Ferry could not play the dominant role he had once taken on in the government. Despite being somewhat of a figurehead due to his bad health, Ferry tried to give critics to privatization representation.
The best example of Ferry’s efforts to put critics at ease came during the summer of 1890, when the federal government ceded the title to Puget Sound and Gray Harbor tidal lands to Washington State. Public controversy over how to appropriate these lands ensued between officials who favored full public ownership and representatives from the railroad and sawmill industries who desired to at least buy waterfront properties already occupied. These interests were mainly divided across the Cascades. While on the western part of the state public opinion favored local commercial interests, eastern public opinion objected that the tidal flats were public domain. Ferry therefore appointed a commission to decide a resolution for the issue. In doing so, Ferry took his time to make sure and appoint a commission that represented the competing interests with members from both the eastern and western parts of the state. However, the commission could reach no compromise by the time their term expired in January 1893, leaving corporations in a strategic place to buy up those lands. Robert Ficken, a scholar who specializes in Pacific Northwest history, concluded that “The tidal flat issue… demonstrated the behind-the-scenes power of special interest in capital-oriented affairs of Washington state.” That is to say that during Governor Ferry’s time in office, Washington was developing into a capital-oriented state.
Following that summer controversy, Ferry took a leading role in the reorganization of Washington’s counties. The next were scheduled for November 1890, and the state constitution required the legislature to redistrict itself before that time. Neglected for so long, this mandate became a critical project for Elisha Ferry in September as he called a meeting in Olympia to sort the problem out. Without the redistricting, Washington’s electoral process was in jeopardy. However under Ferry’s leadership, the legislature finished the project in eight days using preliminary census data.
Governor Ferry’s health was failing, and a much needed break to warm California came during a pivotal moment in corporate negotiations. The controversy this time came when high railroad costs inspired unrest from eastern Washington grain companies. On the other hand, western Washingtonians thought that the state was still too new to mount a fight against the railroads. By January 1891, two possible pieces of legislation existed. The first would create a railroad commission. However, some theorized that the commission could come under the influence of rail companies. The second, the Wasson bill, would cut grain rates by 15 percent. However Ferry left during the middle of the session, leaving Lieutenant Governor Charles Loughton in charge. In Ferry’s place, Loughton vetoed the Wasson bill. Contemporary newspapers speculated that Ferry had to be deathly ill to leave Loughton in charge, who had a reputation of being corrupted by corporate influences. By the time Ferry returned to Olympia in April, he was so ill that he refused to override the veto for the sake of avoiding unneeded controversy in his fragile state of health. In this way, Ferry’s health affected his decision making abilities as he became too ill to deal with supremely controversial issues.
Racially charged labor unrest called for Ferry’s attention in June 1891, just one month after returning from his recuperation break. This time it was the coal industry that took center stage when the Oregon Improvement Company (OIC) sparked labor and racial conflict. A persistent fire in the Franklin meant that the company had to close down that mine. To deal with this loss, the company underwent an extensive effort to modernize their Newcastle mine. Additionally, to cut costs, the OIC decided to replace expensive white workers with 600 less expensive black workers upon reopening the Franklin location in May. In preparing for angry white workers, the OIC made a sort of barbed wire fortress that protected workers from outside attacks. In response, white workers shut down the Gilman, Black Diamond, and Newcastle mines. However, the company had created a profitable model for the company, who decided to send black workers to the Newcastle location in June.
The mob violence that ensued as labor unrest hit Newcastle demanded attention from Governor Ferry. He sent in the publicly financed National Guard to restore order. However, the crudely trained militia-like National Guard could restore order only by turning their guns on the population. The incident became more controversial when Ferry demanded reparations from tax payers. Ficken asserts, “A growing public feeling that something was going awry in the late 19th century Washington was not assuaged when Governor Ferry demanded that King County tax payers reimburse the state for costs incurred in the intervention.” In dealing with an incident of labor unrest, Ferry did nothing to discourage the sentiment that the Washington State government was on the side of corporations.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Washington. He had been the tenth governor of Washington Territory (1872–1880) and became the first governor of Washington upon its admission into the Union on November 11, 1889. He served a single term, 1889-1893. He was a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. He served as mayor of Waukegan, Illinois
Waukegan, Illinois
Waukegan is a city and county seat of Lake County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 87,901. The 2010 population was 89,078. It is the ninth-largest city in Illinois by population...
. He was the only territorial governor to serve two terms under the title, and once Washington was finally granted statehood in 1889, it was Ferry that was called upon to become its inaugural governor.
Early life
Elisha Peyre Ferry, politically referred to as Elisha P. Ferry, was born on August 9, 1825 to Peter Ferry. and Clarissa Perye-Ferry, an upscale wealthy family. He was born in Monroe County, Michigan, near Detroit on Lake Erie. On his mother’s side he was French, however his Fathers ancestry is unknown (Ferry Papers). Early in life his family moved to Waukegan in Lake County, Illinois on the coast of Lake Michigan, where his father served as a judge. This small town, north of Chicago is where he grew up.As a child and into his adulthood Ferry was well liked by both teachers and peers, and regarded as smart, driven, and tactful. Throughout Ferry’s adolescence he attended public school, eventually graduating from high school at an early age. He excelled in his academics and after graduation pursued a career as a lawyer.
Ferry attended Fort Wayne Law School in eastern Indiana. He graduated law school and passed the bar examination in 1945, at the ripe, young age of 20. The following year Ferry moved back to Waukegan, Illinois where his family still lived. There, he worked as a successful lawyer for 23 years until 1869. During Ferry’s time as a lawyer he was known for having a firm moral character and he was dedicated to helping the people in his community.
While living and working in Waukegan he started a family of his own. Elisha married Sarah Brown Kellog and together they had five children. Their eldest was their daughter Eliza who was born in 1851 and lived until 1935. Ferry’s first son, James, was born in 1853 and lived until 1914. Their third and fourth, Lincoln and Julia, lived from 1860–1911 and 1864-1894 respectively. Elisha and Sarah’s youngest son was born in 1868. His name was Pierre and he lived until 1932. All of Ferry’s children had the middle name ‘Perye’, which was his mother’s maiden name, and was passed down through Elisha to all his descendants.
Ferry’s parents were members of the Episcopal Church. Ferry grew up attending church services and the Ferry home had strict religious rules. Ferry adopted the same religious values as his parents and was known to put his religion above all else. Elisha and his wife Sarah did much volunteer work for the church and he frequently conducted the services.
Elisha P. Ferry also had a very active public life. He became the Presidential Elector of Illinois in 1852 and was later elected as the Village President of Waukegan, Illinois and served from 1856-1857. Ferry then ran for mayor of Waukegan in 1859 and won by an overwhelming majority to become the first the town’s first mayor. In 1862 Ferry used his political experience to act as a delegate at the Illinois State Constitutional Convention.
Territorial Governor
During the Civil War Ferry joined the Union Army. In the army he served as an assistant general for Governor Yates of Illinois, and gained the title of Colonel. In this position he helped organize and equip the Illinois regiment while they were first getting started. During the Civil War Ferry became friends with Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln. This friendship helped further Elisha P. Ferry’s political career by giving him vital connections.Prior to his placement of Ferry, Grant had appointed the only Jewish Governor of Washington Territory in Edward S. Salomon, a native Prussian whom immigrated to the United States at a young age. Salomon, also from the Midwest, was appointed by Grant in 1869 to be the territorial governor where he remained at his post until his resignation in 1872 when he was caught in one of Grant’s administration’s scandals. This cleared the way for Ferry to make his mark. In 1869 President Grant appointed Ferry to the position of the Surveyor General of the rapidly developing Washington Territory. Ferry then moved his family to their new home in Olympia.
The railroad played a large role in the development of the Washington Territory and, in the process, bribed many prominent businessmen and politicians. As Surveyor General, Ferry was among those who benefited from the Northern Pacific’s expansion. By the 1880s Ferry’s close relationship with the Northern Pacific linked Republicanism with the railroads in the public mind.
Ferry and the railroad also became intertwined during Olympia’s quest to build a line of its own. Beginning in 1873, the Olympia Railroad Union (ORU) began an effort at construction supported by Governor Ferry and several other federal appointees. Initial progress proved to be excellent until the project stalled in June 1877 when the Thurston County Railroad Construction Company, organized under Governor Ferry, took over from the ORU. By August 1, 1878 the entire fifteen mile line was in working order.
In 1872 President Grant appointed Ferry as the Territorial Governor, and then after the end of his four-year term reappointed him to the same position. While in office Ferry was the beneficiary of Congress’ decision to make the auditor, the treasurer and other officials whom were previously elected by the assembly, the new gubernatorial appointees. These three dozen jobs made Ferry the first governor of the Washington Territory, other than Isaac Stevens, to hold any real power. For Ferry, however, authority proved to be more of a detriment than a meaningful influence as was the case with pardoning. Widely criticized during the 1870s as a pardon broker, Ferry was nearly dismissed from office after freeing a convicted murderer, who was the son of an ally.
Despite Ferry’s shortcomings, he proved effective in pulling the territory out of debt. As governor Ferry was able to greatly improve the financial affairs of the Washington Territory. Many counties were negligent in paying their share of the taxes due to the territory and ineffective laws did little to speed this process along. Nonetheless, Ferry insisted on legislation that would enforce payment. It nearly took Ferry’s entire term to fix, but the next governor inherited a Washington Territory almost free of debt.
Ferry was linked again to the railroad during his time as governor and in 1873. During the first legislature under his administration, Washington Territory’s first railroad law was passed. The law provided that rates should be reasonable, and that one patron should not be charged more than another for the same service. An act to encourage the construction of railroads was also passed that made taxation of railroads very light until their completion. These acts were intended to help the people of Olympia, Seattle, and Walla Walla prosper in new enterprises.
The counties of the Washington Territory received a financial respite in 1877 when Governor Ferry entered into a contract to create a penitentiary. Counties had previously been required to prosecute and house criminals, all the while paying the cost. The new two-story building in Thurston County allowed the government to pay for and oversee all of Washington Territory’s major criminals. There was now only one large prison, in comparison to prisons in every county.
In 1880, after two successful terms of territory governorship, Ferry moved to Seattle to practice law. He continued to practice law for seven years until he became the Puget Sound National Bank’s Vice President in 1887. Ferry continued at this job for two years before Statehood was finally granted to Washington, and the Republican Party nominated Ferry to be the first state Governor.
Governor of State
Governor Elisha P. Ferry became Washington's first elected governor, beating out Democrat Eugene Semple with 58 percent of the vote.The first couple of months of Ferry's term were uneventful. In the summer of 1889, three of the state’s most important cities were consumed by fire. Flames destroyed an estimated $15 million worth of property in Seattle alone. A month later an ocean of flames would sweep through Ellensburg on the far side of Snoqualmie Pass. In the first week of August, fire would consume 30 square blocks in Spokane Falls. All of these cities would rebuild using modern construction materials such as brick and stones, instead of creating large cities made of timber. The reconstruction of the cities and their rapid recovery drew widespread attention, as property values doubled between 1889 and 1890, due in part to Ferry's prompt response to the crises.
Borrowing money was another problem that Ferry and Washington encountered as a new state. The main factor for this was the new railroads and the actual construction of them. In fact, the state of Washington completed more annual mileage of railroad in 1889, 1890, and 1891. This would normally be a good thing, but in December 1889, the Northern Pacific would take legal control of the Puget Sound Shore, which was the rail connecting Elliot Bay and Tacoma. Now in formal control of its own lines, Northern Pacific could charge the citizens of Seattle and Tacoma the same high rates to use the transportation, justifying the expense of improved service as their reason for the outrageous prices.
Ferry’s governorship was marked by Washington State’s interest in private ownership, bouts of labor unrest, and his own failing health. In the first decade of Washington’s admittance to the union, the Pacific Northwest was becoming an international trade spot. For this reason, large private interest drove Washington State politics as lobbyists sought to secure valuable land. However, because of his failing health, Ferry could not play the dominant role he had once taken on in the government. Despite being somewhat of a figurehead due to his bad health, Ferry tried to give critics to privatization representation.
The best example of Ferry’s efforts to put critics at ease came during the summer of 1890, when the federal government ceded the title to Puget Sound and Gray Harbor tidal lands to Washington State. Public controversy over how to appropriate these lands ensued between officials who favored full public ownership and representatives from the railroad and sawmill industries who desired to at least buy waterfront properties already occupied. These interests were mainly divided across the Cascades. While on the western part of the state public opinion favored local commercial interests, eastern public opinion objected that the tidal flats were public domain. Ferry therefore appointed a commission to decide a resolution for the issue. In doing so, Ferry took his time to make sure and appoint a commission that represented the competing interests with members from both the eastern and western parts of the state. However, the commission could reach no compromise by the time their term expired in January 1893, leaving corporations in a strategic place to buy up those lands. Robert Ficken, a scholar who specializes in Pacific Northwest history, concluded that “The tidal flat issue… demonstrated the behind-the-scenes power of special interest in capital-oriented affairs of Washington state.” That is to say that during Governor Ferry’s time in office, Washington was developing into a capital-oriented state.
Following that summer controversy, Ferry took a leading role in the reorganization of Washington’s counties. The next were scheduled for November 1890, and the state constitution required the legislature to redistrict itself before that time. Neglected for so long, this mandate became a critical project for Elisha Ferry in September as he called a meeting in Olympia to sort the problem out. Without the redistricting, Washington’s electoral process was in jeopardy. However under Ferry’s leadership, the legislature finished the project in eight days using preliminary census data.
Governor Ferry’s health was failing, and a much needed break to warm California came during a pivotal moment in corporate negotiations. The controversy this time came when high railroad costs inspired unrest from eastern Washington grain companies. On the other hand, western Washingtonians thought that the state was still too new to mount a fight against the railroads. By January 1891, two possible pieces of legislation existed. The first would create a railroad commission. However, some theorized that the commission could come under the influence of rail companies. The second, the Wasson bill, would cut grain rates by 15 percent. However Ferry left during the middle of the session, leaving Lieutenant Governor Charles Loughton in charge. In Ferry’s place, Loughton vetoed the Wasson bill. Contemporary newspapers speculated that Ferry had to be deathly ill to leave Loughton in charge, who had a reputation of being corrupted by corporate influences. By the time Ferry returned to Olympia in April, he was so ill that he refused to override the veto for the sake of avoiding unneeded controversy in his fragile state of health. In this way, Ferry’s health affected his decision making abilities as he became too ill to deal with supremely controversial issues.
Racially charged labor unrest called for Ferry’s attention in June 1891, just one month after returning from his recuperation break. This time it was the coal industry that took center stage when the Oregon Improvement Company (OIC) sparked labor and racial conflict. A persistent fire in the Franklin meant that the company had to close down that mine. To deal with this loss, the company underwent an extensive effort to modernize their Newcastle mine. Additionally, to cut costs, the OIC decided to replace expensive white workers with 600 less expensive black workers upon reopening the Franklin location in May. In preparing for angry white workers, the OIC made a sort of barbed wire fortress that protected workers from outside attacks. In response, white workers shut down the Gilman, Black Diamond, and Newcastle mines. However, the company had created a profitable model for the company, who decided to send black workers to the Newcastle location in June.
The mob violence that ensued as labor unrest hit Newcastle demanded attention from Governor Ferry. He sent in the publicly financed National Guard to restore order. However, the crudely trained militia-like National Guard could restore order only by turning their guns on the population. The incident became more controversial when Ferry demanded reparations from tax payers. Ficken asserts, “A growing public feeling that something was going awry in the late 19th century Washington was not assuaged when Governor Ferry demanded that King County tax payers reimburse the state for costs incurred in the intervention.” In dealing with an incident of labor unrest, Ferry did nothing to discourage the sentiment that the Washington State government was on the side of corporations.