Ebenezer J. Ormsbee (June 8, 1834 – April 3, 1924) was an American attorney and politician from Vermont. A Republican, he served as

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

from 1884 to 1886, and

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

from 1886 to 1888. A native of

Shoreham, Vermont Shoreham is a New England town, town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,260 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Geography Shoreham is located in western Addison County along the shore of Lake Champlain. T ...

, Ormsbee attended academies in Brandon and South Woodstock, then studied law at a Brandon legal firm. After attaining admission to the bar, he enlisted in the Union Army for the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Ormsbee served with the

1st Vermont Infantry The 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment was a three months' infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It served in the eastern theater, in and around Fortress Monroe, Virginia. History Responding to President Abraham Lincoln's ...

in 1861, then joined the

12th Vermont Infantry The 12th Vermont Infantry Regiment was a nine months' infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It served in the eastern theater, predominantly in the Defenses of Washington, from October 1862 to July 1863. It was a mem ...

as commander of its Company G. After leaving the army in 1863, he practiced law in Brandon. A Republican, Ormsbee served as Rutland County State's Attorney from 1871 to 1873. He represented Brandon in the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives a ...

from 1872 to 1874 and Rutland County in the

Vermont Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members elected from multi-member districts. Each senator repre ...

from 1878 to 1880. In 1884, he was elected

, and he served until 1886. He was the successful Republican nominee for

in 1886 and served until 1888. During his governorship, he oversaw the initial efforts of the newly organized state railroad commission and board of health. After leaving office, Ormsbee practiced law in Brandon and served on two federal commissions, one to negotiate a compromise with the Paiutes in Nevada to relinquish part of their

Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reservation () is an Indian Reservation in northwestern Nevada, approximately northeast of Reno, in Washoe, Storey, and Lyon counties. It is governed by the federally recognized Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, which r ...

, and one to negotiate competing land claims in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

with commissioners from Germany and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. He remained active in politics, including supporting the presidential campaigns of

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

and

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

. He practiced law until a stroke at age 80 caused him to retire, and he was the longtime president of the Brandon National Bank. Ormsbee died in Brandon on April 3, 1924. He was buried at Pine Hill Cemetery in Brandon.

Early life

Ebenezer Jolls Ormsbee was born in

on June 8, 1834, the son of John Mason and Polly (Willson) Ormsbee. He worked on the family farm and attended the local schools of Shoreham, then attended academies in Brandon and South Woodstock. Ormsbee taught school while studying law at the Brandon firm of Anson A. Nicholson and Ebenezer N. Briggs. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

of Rutland County in 1861.

Military career

In April 1861, Ormsbee enlisted for the

, joining a company called "Allen Grays" in April 1861. This unit was subsequently accepted for Union Army service as Company G,

. On April 25, 1861, Ormsbee was elected his company's second lieutenant, and he served with the unit in Virginia during its entire three-month term. In September 1862, he joined Company G,

as commander with the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. This regiment enlisted for nine months, and Ormsbee remained with it for its entire service, including the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...

. The 12th Vermont returned home and was mustered out in July 1863.

Start of career

After Ormsbee was mustered out, he practiced law in Brandon as Nicholson's partner, and later as Ebenezer Briggs's partner, then the partner of Briggs's son George. A Republican, he was a member of the party's state committee and served as a U.S. internal revenue assessor from 1868 to 1872. From 1871 to 1873, he served as

State's Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

for Rutland County. Ormsbee represented Brandon in the

from 1872 to 1874, and Rutland County in the

from 1878 to 1880. During his House term, Ormsbee served on the judiciary committee. During his senate term, Ormsbee was chairman of the committee on the state asylum and a member of the committee on state and federal relations. He served a trustee of the Vermont Reform School from 1880 to 1884. In 1884, Ormsbee was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. With the Republican Party dominant in the years following the Civil War, he easily won the general election. In 1886, he was elected governor. Ormsbee served the single two-year term permitted by the Republican Party's "Mountain Rule", and his administration included appointment of a commission to propose revisions to the state's education laws and overseeing the initial work of Vermont's new railroad commission and board of health. In 1887, President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

proposed to return to the former Confederate states battle flags that had been captured by Union troops during the Civil War. The

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...

led the opposition to Cleveland's plan, and the G.A.R's Vermont Department passed resolutions condemning Cleveland's proposal. Ormsbee forwarded the resolutions to Cleveland, declaring they had "my unqualified and warmest approval" and "you may rest assured that they contain the sentiments of Vermont on this subject." Cleveland rescinded his executive order, but in 1905 shifting sentiment led to unopposed passage of a federal law requiring the return of the flags.

Later career

At the end of 1891 Ormsbee was appointed by President

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States, serving from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia—a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, and a ...

to serve on a commission to treat with the

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...

Indians at the

, in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, to get the tribe to relinquish a claim to part of their reservation. Later that year, he was appointed as U.S. Land commissioner in

, where he negotiated with British and German commissioners to adjust claims to millions of acres of Samoan land. Ormsbee completed his work in May 1893, returned to the United States, and resumed his law practice in Brandon. In September 1896, Ormsbee joined a number of Vermont luminaries in a train trip to

's hometown of

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, eighth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 70,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Canton–Massillo ...

to demonstrate their support for his

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

. In September 1901, he was president of the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers and presided over the organization's annual banquet, at which Vice President

was the featured speaker. Roosevelt became president a week later, and in late August and early September 1902 returned to Vermont to spend several days campaigning for Republican candidates in that year's elections; Ormsbee presided over welcoming ceremonies during Roosevelt's September 1 stop in Brandon. Ormsbee also presided over the July 1913 dedication of a monument to

Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...

, a native of Brandon.

Retirement and death

He was a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

, and a longtime comrade of

Post No. 18, which was named for his brother Charles James Ormsbee; C. J. Ormsbee was killed in action while serving with the

5th Vermont Infantry The 5th Vermont Infantry Regiment was a three years' infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Organized at St. Albans and mustered in September 16, 1861, it served in the Army of the Potomac (AoP). It departed Vermont ...

during the May 1864

Battle of the Wilderness The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on May 5–7, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of Lieutenant general (United States), Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General (C ...

. Several universities presented Ormsbee with

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

s, including a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

in 1874, a Master of Arts from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1884, and an

LL.D. A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

from

Norwich University Norwich University is a private university in Northfield, Vermont, United States. The university was founded in 1819 as the "American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy". It is the oldest of six senior military college, senior militar ...

in 1893. Ormsbee was president of the Brandon Free Public Library, president of the Brandon Cemetery Association, and member of the prudential committee of the Brandon graded and high school for over 27 years. He was long affiliated with the Brandon National Bank, and served for many years as its president. Ormsbee practiced law until age 80, when a stroke caused him to retire though he continued to serve as the bank's president. He died in Brandon on April 3, 1924. Ormsbee was buried at Pine Hill Cemetery in Brandon.

Family

In 1862, Orsmbee married Jennie L. Briggs, the daughter of his law partner Ebenezer N. Briggs. She died in 1866, and in 1867 he married Frances Davenport of Wadhams Mills, New York.

References

External links

Ebenezer Jolls Ormsbee
at National Governors Association
Ebenezer Jolls Ormsbee Papers
at Vermont Historical Society * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ormsbee, Ebenezer J. 1834 births 1924 deaths Republican Party governors of Vermont Lieutenant governors of Vermont Republican Party Vermont state senators Republican Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives People of Vermont in the American Civil War 2nd Vermont Brigade People from Shoreham, Vermont Vermont lawyers State's attorneys in Vermont 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly