Ferry, Elisha Peyre

Ferry, Elisha Peyre

(1825–95) governor; born in Monroe, Mich. A successful lawyer in Waukegan, Mich., he was a member of the Illinois constitutional convention (1862). A colonel in the Civil War, he befriended General Grant who, as President, appointed him governor of the Washington Territory (1872–80). Staying in Seattle, he practiced corporate law and banking. After he helped to establish Washington as a state, he was elected its first governor (1889–93).