Kentucky: Mother of Governors

Kentucky' M other of Governors K e n t ucky ' M o th e r o f G o ve rn o rs JOHN WILSON TOWNSEND an Au thor of Richard Hickman Mene fee Ke ntuckians in H istory a n d Literature The Life of James Francis Leonard Etc The Ken tucky State Historical Society r n kfort Ke k F a , n tuc y 1 9 1 0 ' Editor s Introduction H I F I T S , THE RS volume of the Kentucky — Historical Series a series j ust inaugur ated by the Kentucky State Historical — Society is a study of Kentucky initiative in the United States as exemplified in these more than one hundred sons of o u r Commonwealth who have served as Governors of other States a n d territories . Mr . Townsend has realized that the list is the important thing, and he has made an earnest effort to have it complete . For this reason he has been content W ith sketches in miniature of each executive , knowing that , had he attempted anything like an adequate notice of each man , his paper would have become an octavo . The E ditor of this series believes that Kentucky ' Mother of Governors is a creditable piece of work ; something new under the Kentucky history sun ; and well suited to be the first in a series of books that the Kentuck y State Historical Society will issue from time to time . R RT M S . JE NNIE C . M O ON Th e K en tu ck y S ta t e H is t or i ca l S ociety F r a n k or K en tuck f t , y ’ Author s ' refatory Note HIS ' A' E R IS the result of a summer ’ day s browsing in a public library . The writer was bent on being amused , but h e was amazed to find that so many Kentuckians had served as governors of other state s and territories . This amazement grew into genuine ff interest and , for more than two years , at di erent e d tim s , the writer developed the t heme until h e h a it in some sort Of shape f or a paper . Though only completed in its present form , ' Kentucky ' Mother of Governors has been read f f be ore the Filson Club , O Louisville , and the Ohio Valley Historical Association ; and it was published Th Re is ter some months ago in e g , and in the third annual report of the Ohio Valley H i storical Associa tion . This list may not even now be complete , but , if it is not , the writer here abandons the task as — unfinishable f or him . J OH N WILS ON TOW NSE ND Th e K en t u ck y S t a t e H is t or ica l S ociety F r a n k or K en tu ck f t , y 2 6 September , 1 9 1 0 To L . M . O . of Ken tucky Ken tucky ' Mother of Govern ors IRGINIA , THE MOTHER of Presidents ; Kentucky, the mother Of Governors ' An d it is in a larger , truer sense that Kentucky Of is the mother Governors , than it is that f Virginia i s the mother o Presidents . It has been many years since the Old Dominion f urnished a President—and she has furnished but five in all while the Bluegrass St ate has been making governors f or e her sist r States since the Republic was f ounded . Indeed , the time has come for Virginia to relinquish her famous title t o her sister , Ohio , the mother Of eight presidents . TO be exact , Kentucky has given on e hundred and five executives to twenty- six Commonwealths or territories . This count , however , regards a Ken t u ck ia n and a term of Office as synonymous ; b ut it does not include Justice John Boyle , who declined the g over n s h ip Of Illinois territory in 1 809 ; n or wh f William 0 . Butler , o re used to govern the territory of Nebraska in 1 855 ; n or James Birney , son Of the great James Gillespie Birney , who was Lie utenant- Governor of Michigan in 1 860 ; nor Governor M oses Wisner , of Michigan , who died in Kentucky ; n or does it include the brilliant Jesse D . - Of 1 841 , Bright , Lieutenant Governor Indiana in and a citizen Of Kentucky for many years . By a Kentuckian the present writer means a native son ; an adopted son who has lived at least 1 5 en t uc ' other o over n or K ky M f G s . ten years in Kentucky ; one who has lived but a few o years in this State , a s j ourner ; and on e who was or educated in whole in part in Kentucky, the college — claim . Under these four heads although , perhaps , admitting that the first two are the only legitimate claims a State can hold upon a man or woman , and — that th e last t wo are merely interesting the wh o theme will be considered . The Kentuckian s were to the manor born will be discussed first , n beginning with Missouri , because it is ge erally known that more sons of Kentucky have occupied the gubernatorial chair o f that State than of any other . Missouri Lilburn W . Boggs was born in Kentucky in 1 79 8 . He saw much real service in the War Of 1 8 1 2 ; and he s ettled in Missouri in 1 8 1 6 . Boggs prepared him self f or the governorship by serving several terms in the Missouri Legislature . He was elected Governor f r in 1 8 36 , and his administration is noted o the vigor with which he put down the Mormon outbrea ks . Several years bef ore his death , Governor Boggs f 1 861 . removed to Cali ornia , where he died in The next Kentuckian to win the governorship was Thomas Reynolds , wh o was born in Bracken 1 1 county , Kentucky, March 2 , 79 6 . He studied law - and , at the age Of twenty one years , he emigrated to Illinois . In 1 82 8 he removed to Missouri , where he 4 was soon sent to the Legislature . In 1 8 0 Reynolds f ew was elected Governor , and a months before the expiration Of his term he committed suicide . The eighth Governor Of Missouri was John C . - E dwards , a Kentuckian born . E dwards was edu ca t ed in Tennessee and he then emigrated to 1 845 t h f - Missouri . In , at e age o thirty nine years , he was elected Governor—on e of the youngest men who ever held the office in M issouri . At the conclu f sion o his term , Governor E dwards removed to 88 f 1 8 . Cali ornia , in which State he died in Claiborne F . Jackson was born in Fleming county, Kentucky , in 1 807 , and removed to Missouri at the age of twenty-five years and enlisted for ser in vice the Black Hawk War . He was elected Gov I7 en tu c ' oth er o r n or K ky M f G ove s . er n 1 or of the State in 860 . He was a Southern sympathizer and he allowed his enemies to drive him f n rom the State Capitol , a d the Legislature to depose f him from his o fice . Governor Jackson died at Little 1 Rock , Ark . , late in the year 1 86 . ’ Missouri s seventeenth Governor , Benj amin Gratz K 2 8 1 82 6 Brown , was born in Lexington , y . , May , . He was graduated f rom Transylvania a n d Yale Universities . In 1 85 1 Brown emigrated to Missouri , where he spent the subsequent twenty years in 1 863 j ournalism , law , and duelling . In he was elected to the United States Senate . Brown served four years in the Senate and , in 1 870 , he was elected Governor Of Misso uri . Governor Brown was Horace ’ Greeley s running mate for the Presidency in 1 872 , and af ter his defeat he resumed the practice of law 1 885 in St . Louis , in which city he died in . H e was the most interesting man who has ever governed Missouri , we should say . Silas Woodson , a native Of Knox county, Ken ’ tucky, was Brown s successor in the executive chair ’ of Missouri . Woodson was a farmer s boy , attending the county schools of his day, and finishing his education with a desultory study of the law . At - the age Of twenty one , he was admitted to the bar . The few years following he spent in the Kentucky 1 849 Legislature and as a circuit attorney . In he was a delegate to the t hird Kentucky Constitutional Convention . A few years later , Woodson removed 1 8 2 . to Missouri and , in 7 , he was elected Governor 1 89 6 . M O. O 9 He died in St Joseph , , ctober , 1 8 Ken tu cky ' Mother of Gover n or s . Francis is on e of the most representative citizens in the Mississippi Valley . ’ Governor Francis successor , William J . Stone , K 4 was also born in Richmond , y . , in 1 8 8 . At the f M O. age Of fi teen years , he removed to Columbia , , and completed his education at the State University there . In 1 89 2 Stone was elected Governor Of t Misso uri , and six years ago he was sen to the United States Senate to succeed that other distin u is h e .

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