William Paine Lord (July 20, 1838February 17, 1911) was an American Republican politician who served as the 9th governor of Oregon from 1895 to 1899. The

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

native previously served as the 27th justice of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest State court (United States), state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.

, including three times as the chief justice of that court. After serving as governor he was appointed as an ambassador to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and later helped to codify

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

's laws.

Early life

He was born to Edward and Elizabeth (Paine) Lord on July 20, 1838 in

Dover, Delaware Dover ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and the List of municipalities in Delaware, second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, Delaware, Kent County and the princ ...

. He received his primary education at a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

school and through private tutoring. He subsequently studied law at Fairfield College, graduating in 1860. Before he could continue further into his studies, Lord volunteered for military service in 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 ...

, advancing to the rank of Major in the 1st Delaware Cavalry in the Union

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the primary field army of the Union army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the Battle of ...

. Once the war ended, Lord continued in law school at Albany College in New York, graduating there in 1866. He then returned to the military for a second time, re-enlisting at the rank of lieutenant. His duties would include postings at

Alcatraz Alcatraz Island () is a small island about 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco in San Francisco Bay, California, near the Golden Gate Strait. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fo ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and Fort Steilacoom near

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

. When the United States took formal possession of Alaska in 1867, Lt. Lord was sent to Sitka. In 1868, Lord resigned from the army in order to set up a law practice in

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, w ...

Entry into politics

William Paine Lord soon became involved in politics, as he became Salem's City Attorney in 1870. His first elected office was a state Senate seat in 1878. He resigned his Senate seat for a successful run as the Republican nominee for Justice of the

. Lord served on the court from 1880 until 1894. He was a popular justice and had a reputation of being the most competent

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

in state history, serving out his last term as Chief Justice. He accepted the Republican nomination for the 1894 Oregon governor's race, stepping down from the court after his gubernatorial election victory.

Governorship

William Lord was popular and he was easily elected to the Governor's Office. He immediately set out to support higher education, eliminate corruption from land speculators, and fueled support for the direct election of

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

s, when the Senate refused to seat Henry W. Corbett, Lord's appointee. In 1895, the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

conferred an honorary doctorate of laws degree on the governor. He promoted ending the corrupt

land speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable in a brief amount of time. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline ...

practices of the time by creating the State Land Board, headed by an official State Land Agent. The present land-use system protecting Oregon's wildlife and fisheries would evolve from this early agency. The 1897 House failed to organize, caught up on a dispute over the reelection of U.S. Senator John H. Mitchell. Lord also called for a constitutional amendment to the

Oregon Constitution The Oregon Constitution is the governing document of the U.S. state of Oregon, originally enacted in 1857. As amended the current state constitution contains eighteen sections, beginning with a bill of rights.

allowing the Governor a line item veto. While nothing came of this during his term of office, later governors would support Lord's proposal. The line item veto was finally approved in 1916. Lord lost his bid for a second term, in the closely fought 1898 primary election campaign against fellow Republican Theodore T. Geer.

Later life

Shortly after leaving the Governor's Office, Lord was appointed the U.S. Minister (

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

) to Argentina by the McKinley Administration. He served in that capacity until 1902, after which he returned to Oregon. In 1902, William Paine Lord was appointed as Code Commissioner by the Supreme Court of Oregon. In this position, which he held until 1910, he examined and annotated all existing Oregon Statute Laws, compiling them into three volumex, ''Lord's Oregon Laws''officially the Oregon Statute Code of 1909. In 1910 Lord retired to San Francisco, where he would die on February 17, 1911. His body was returned to Oregon where it is interred in Mount Crest Abbey Mausoleum in Salem.

References

External links

Oregon State Library

Oregon State Archive bio
* Klooster, Karl. ''Round the Roses II: More Past Portland Perspectives'', p. 111, 1992
Findagrave memorial

Oregon State Archives: Lord Administration
Photo, bio, records, and some public speeches of Governor Lord {{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, William Paine 1838 births 1911 deaths Republican Party governors of Oregon Republican Party Oregon state senators Albany Law School alumni People of Oregon in the American Civil War Politicians from Salem, Oregon Chief justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Ambassadors of the United States to Argentina Union army officers People from Dover, Delaware Burials at City View Cemetery Lawyers from Salem, Oregon Oregon city attorneys 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century American diplomats Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court