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Epaphroditus Ransom

Epaphroditus Ransom (24 March 1798-11 November 1859) was the Democratic Governor of Michigan from 3 January 1848 to 7 January 1850, succeeding William L. Greenly and preceding John S. Barry.

Biography[]

Epaphroditus Ransom was born in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts in 1798, and he became a lawyer in 1823 and practiced law in Townshend, Vermont. He went on to serve in the state house from 1828 to 1830 and as Postmaster of Montpelier from 1831 to 1834, only to follow his family to Michigan and settle in Kalamazoo in 1834. He resumed the practice of law there, and he served on the state supreme court from 1837 to 1848, as Governor from 1848 to 1850, and in the state house from 1853 to 1854 as a Democrat. He prevented the removal of the Catholic Potawatomi from their lands in southwestern Michigan and also oversaw the integration of Dutch immigrants into his state, while also holding strong anti-slavery views. President James Buchanan appointed Ransom as receiver of the public monies for the Osage Land Office in Fort Scott, Kansas in 1857, and he died there in 1859.

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