Scottish State Governors

MAINE. Robert Pinckney Dunlap (1794-1859), eighth governor, and Hugh Johnston Anderson (1801-81), fourteenth Governor (1844-47), were of Ulster Scot descent. Abner Coburn (1803-85), twenty-fourth Governor, was also most probably of Scottish or Ulster Scot descent.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. Jeremiah Smith, fourth Governor (1809-10), was of Ulster Scot parentage. His son, of the same name, was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the state. Samuel Bell (1770-1850), a descendant of one of the Ulster Scot settlers of 1718, was three times elected Governor (1819-23) with little or no opposition. John Bell (1765-1836), his brother, was thirteenth Governor (1828-29). Joseph Merrill Harper (1789-1865), who served as acting Governor in 1831, was of Ulster Scot descent. Samuel Dinsmoor (1766-1835), sixteenth Governor (1831-33), a distinguished factor in the history of his state, was of Ulster Scot descent on both sides. His eldest son (1799-1869), also named Samuel, served as twenty-fourth Governor (1849-52). Noah Martin (1801-63), of Ulster Scot descent on both sides, was the twenty-fifth Governor. Charles Henry Bell (1823-93), son of Governor John Bell, was forty-first Governor of the state. John Butler Smith, forty-seventh Governor (1893-95), was a descendant of one of the settlers of 1718. John McLane (1852-1911) fifty-seventh Governor (1905-06), was born in Lennoxtown, Scotland. He was host at the Russian-Japanese Conference at Portsmouth.

VERMONT. Charles James Bell, fiftieth Governor (1905), was descended from one of the Londonderry, N.H., settlers of 1718. John Wolcott Stewart, thirty-third Governor (1870-72), was descended from Robert Stewart who went from Edinburgh to Londonderry, Ireland, and whose son was one of those who emigrated from there to Londonderry, N.H., in 1718. His grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War.

MASSACHUSETTS. William Claflin (1818-1905), twenty-third Governor, was a descendant of one of the Scots prisoners taken at the battle of Dunbar in 1650.

RHODE ISLAND. General Ambrose E. Burnside (1824-81), Governor (1867-69). William Gregory (1849-1901), forty-second Governor (1900-01), was of direct Scottish descent.

CONNECTICUT. George Payne McLean, forty-first Governor (1901-03), was of Scottish descent.

DELAWARE. Charles Polk (1788-1857), thirteenth Governor (1827-30), and President of the Constitutional Convention of his state in 1831, was of Ulster Scot descent. John P. Cochran (1809-98), twenty-sixth Governor (1875-79), was of the same origin.

PENNSYLVANIA. Thomas McKean, Governor (1799-1808), is already noticed under Signers of the Declaration of Independence. William Findlay (1768-1846), fourth Governor (1817-20), of Ulster Scot descent, was also United States Senator and Treasurer of the Mint at Philadelphia. William Freame Johnston (1802-72), Governor from 1848 to 1852, was of Scottish parentage. He did much to develop the oil region of Pennsylvania, and was also President of the Allegheny Valley Railroad. James Pollock (1810-90), Governor (1855-58). It was through his efforts that "In God we trust" was placed on the coinage. John White Geary (1819-73), Governor from 1867 to 1873, was of Ulster Scot descent.

MARYLAND. John Francis Mercer (1759-1821), eleventh Governor (1801-03), was a descendant of the Mercers of Aldie, Perthshire. Robert Bowie (1749-1818), twelfth and fifteenth Governor (1803-06, 1811-12), and Robert Milligan McLane (1815-98), forty-second Governor (1884-85), were of direct Scottish descent. Frank Brown, forty-fifth Governor (1892-96), was descended from Abel Brown who emigrated from Dumfries, c. 1730.

VIRGINIA. James Barbour (1776-1842) was eleventh Governor (1812-14). Barbour County, Florida, was named in his honor. David Campbell (1779-1859), twenty-first Governor (1837-40), was of Scottish descent on both sides. Thomas Walker Gilmer (1802-44), twenty-second Governor (1840-41) was a descendant of the Scottish physician, Dr. George Gilmer. John Mercer Patton (1797-1858), Lieutenant-Governor and acting Governor (1841), was son of Robert Patton who emigrated from Scotland. His mother was a daughter of Gen. Hugh Mercer. John Rutherford (1792-1865), twenty-third Governor (1841-42), was most probably of Scottish descent. William Ewan Cameron, thirty-sixth Governor (1882-86) descended from the Rev. John Cameron, a graduate of Aberdeen University, who came to America, c. 1770. Henry Carter Stuart (b. 1855), Governor (1914-18), descended from Archibald Stuart who fled from Scotland for political reasons and settled in Virginia in 1726.

WEST VIRGINIA. William Erskine Stevenson (1820-1883), second Governor (1869-71) was born of Ulster Scot parentage. William Alexander Mac Corkle (b. 1857), eighth Governor (1893-97) is of Scottish descent. His grandfathers, Captain John MacCorkle and Captain John McNutt, fell at the battle of Cowpens, 1781.

NORTH CAROLINA. Nathaniel Alexander (1756-1808), thirteenth Governor (1805-07), was of Scottish descent. William Alexander Graham (1804-75), thirtieth Governor (1845-49), was son of Gen. Joseph Graham, a Revolutionary officer. He was also Secretary of the Navy in 1850, and projected the expedition to Japan under Commodore Perry. Tod R. Caldwell (1818-74), fortieth Governor (1871-74), and David Lindsay Russell, forty-eighth Governor (1897-1901), were both of direct Scottish descent.

SOUTH CAROLINA. General William Moultrie, son of Dr. Moultrie, was Governor in 1785-87 and 1794-96. Edward Rutledge, tenth Governor (1798-1800), is already noticed under the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. "No measure of importance was adopted by the legislature without his taking part in it, while many originated with himself." Andrew Pickens, (1779-1838), nineteenth Governor (1816-18), was a son of Andrew Pickens, the noted Revolutionary general. John Geddes (1777-1828), twentieth Governor (1818-20), was of Scottish descent. Stephen Decatur Miller (1787-1838), twenty-fifth Governor (1828-30), also served as United States Senator. George McDuffie (1790-1851), twenty-eighth Governor, the greatest orator and statesman of Georgia, was of Scottish parentage on both sides. McDuffie County in Georgia is so named in his honor. Patrick Noble (1787-1840), thirtieth Governor (1838-40), was grandson of an Ulster Scot immigrant. Robert Kingston Scott (1826-1900), forty-fifth Governor (1868-72), was the grandson or great-grandson of a refugee from Culloden.

GEORGIA. David Brodie Mitchell (1766-1837), ninth Governor (1809-11, 1815-17), was born in Scotland. He was described as "a conscientious, cultured, and conservative man, of great energy, public spirit, and animated by the purest patriotism." George McIntosh Troup (1780-1856), the "Hercules of State Rights," fourteenth Governor (1823-27), was of Scottish descent on both sides. He was one of Georgia's most illustrious Chief Magistrates. A county in the state is named after him. John Forsyth (1780-1841), fifteenth Governor (1827-29), was also United States Secretary of State. George Rockingham Gilmer (1790-1859), sixteenth Governor (1829-31, 1837-39), was the grandson of a Scottish physician, Dr. George Gilmer. He was also Member of Congress. He also wrote a work, "Georgians," 1855, containing much valuable matter relating to the early settlers of his state. Charles James McDonald (1793-1860), nineteenth Governor (1839-43), and George Washington Crawford (1798-1872), twentieth Governor (1843-47), were both of Scottish descent. James Johnson, twenty-fifth Governor (1861), was grandson of a Scottish immigrant. He rendered great service to his state in its reconstruction after the war. Alexander Hamilton Stephens (1812-83), grandson of an adherent of Prince Charles Edward, was Vice-President of the Confederacy (1861-65), chief Confederate Commissioner in the Hampton Roads Conference in February, 1865, Member of Congress from Georgia (1873-82), Governor of the state (1883), and author of "The War Between the States" (1868-70) and of a "History of the United States" (1883). John Brown Gordon (1832-1904), thirty-fifth Governor (1886-90), was the great-grandson of one of seven brothers who emigrated from Scotland, all of whom served in the Revolutionary Army. As Governor his administration was faultless, and the New York Sun declared his inauguration "worthy of Thomas Jefferson."

FLORIDA. Francis Philip Fleming (b. 1841), fourteenth Governor (1889-93), was of Scottish descent. Alexander Walker Gilchrist, nineteenth Governor (1909), a descendant of Nimrod Gilchrist, who came from Glasgow in 1750.

ALABAMA. Israel Pickens (1780-1827), third Governor (1821-25), Democratic Member of Congress from North Carolina (1811-17), United States Senator (1826), was of Scottish descent. Reuben Chapman (1802-82), eleventh Governor (1847-49), was also of Scottish ancestry. Robert Miller Patton (1809-85), seventeenth Governor (1865-68), was Ulster Scot on his father's side and Scottish on his mother's. Robert Burns Lindsay, born in Dumfriesshire in 1824, a linguist and a scholar, educated at the University of St. Andrews, was nineteenth Governor (1870-72). George Smith Houston (1811-79), twenty-first Governor, and Joseph Forney Johnston (b. 1843), twenty-seventh Governor (1896-1900), were both of Scottish descent.

TENNESSEE. Joseph McMinn (d. 1824), fifth Governor (1815-21), was most probably of Scottish descent. Samuel Houston, seventh Governor (1827-28), is noticed under Texas. Neil S. Brown, fourteenth Governor (1847-49), was grandson of Angus Brown, a Scot who fought in the Revolutionary War under Gen. Francis Marion. William Bowen Campbell (1807-67), sixteenth Governor (1851-53), was also of Scottish descent. Benton McMillin (b. 1845), Governor (1899-1903), Envoy-Extraordinary and Minister-Plenipotentiary to Peru in 1913, of Ulster Scot descent.

KENTUCKY. John Adair (1797-1840), eighth Governor (1820-24), was of Scottish parentage. "His term was marked by great legislative activity for the promotion of education in the state, and by the abolition of imprisonment for debt." The state library was founded under his auspices. Adair county was so named in his honor. John Breathitt (1786-1834), Lieutenant-Governor (1828-32), and eleventh Governor (1832-34), was the son of a Scottish emigrant. "A man of high character and his public career irreproachable." Breathitt county was named after him. James Fisher Robinson (1800-92), twenty-second Governor, was of English and Scottish descent.

OHIO. Duncan McArthur (1772-1840), an early Governor (1830-32), was of Scottish ancestry. He also held the rank of General in the war of 1812. Jeremiah Morrow (1770-1852), Governor (1822-26), and Allen Trimble (1783-1870), Governor (1826-30), were both Ulster Scot descent. James E. Campbell (b. 1843), Governor (1890-92), was previously Member of Congress. James M. Cox (b. 1870), forty-sixth Governor (1913-15) is of Scottish ancestry.

INDIANA. Noah Noble, fifth Governor (1831-37), was grandson of a Scottish immigrant. David Wallace (1799-1859), sixth Governor (1837-40), and Samuel Bigger (1802-46), were also of Scottish ancestry. Thomas Andrews Hendricks, Governor from 1873 to 1877, is already noticed under Vice-Presidents.

MICHIGAN. Robert McClelland (1807-80), Governor (1851-53), afterwards Secretary of the Interior; and Austin Blair (1814-94), war Governor, who sent over 83,000 soldiers from his state during the Civil War, were both of Scottish ancestry.

WISCONSIN. The mother of Henry Dodge, first and fourth Governor (1836-41, 1845-48), was Anne Nancy Hunter, of Ulster Scot parentage. William E. Smith (1824-83), thirteenth Governor (1878-82), was born in Scotland.

ILLINOIS. William Lee Davidson Ewing (1795-1846), Senator and acting Governor (1834), was of Ulster Scot descent. Joseph Duncan (1794-1844), fifth Governor (1834-38), who greatly encouraged education in his state, was of Scottish ancestry. John Lourie Beveridge (b. 1824) fifteenth Governor, was grandson of a Scot who came to the United States about 1770. His "administration was vigorous, just, and impartial."

MISSISSIPPI. John J. McRae (1815-68), nineteenth Governor (1854-58), was of Scottish descent. William McWillie (1795-1869), twentieth Governor (1858-60), and Anselm Joseph McLaurin (b. 1848), thirty-second Governor (1896-1900), were-both grandsons of Scots.

LOUISIANA. John McEnery (1833-91), nineteenth (unrecognized) Governor (1873), was of Scottish descent. Samuel Douglas McEnery (b. 1837), brother of the preceding, was twenty-second Governor (1881-88). John Newton Pharr (1829-1903), elected Governor in 1896 but not seated on account of the negro question, was descended from Walter Pharr who came from Scotland in 1765.

MISSOURI. Alexander McNair (1774-1826), first state Governor (1820-24), most probably was of Scottish birth or descent. Trusten Polk (1811-76), of same origin as President Polk, was eleventh Governor (1857). Benjamin Gratz Brown (1826-85), also of Scottish descent, was Governor from 1871 to 1873, and unsuccessful candidate for Vice-President in 1872.

IOWA. John Chambers (1780-1852), second Governor of the territory of Iowa was of Scottish descent on both sides. James Wilson Grimes (1816-72), third Governor (1854-58), was of Ulster Scot descent. Samuel Jordan Kirkwood (1813-94), three times Governor of his state (1860-64, 1876-77), was descended from a brother of Captain Robert Kirkwood, a Delaware soldier of the Revolution. He was also Secretary of the Interior under Garfield. John Henry Gear (1825-1900), eleventh Governor (1878-82), Assitsant Secretary of United States Treasury (1892-93), and Senator (1895-1900), was of Scottish ancestry. Albert Baird Cummins, eighteenth Governor, of Ulster Scot ancestry.

MINNESOTA. Alexander Ramsey, first territorial and second state Governor (1849-53, 1860-64), was grandson of an Ulster Scot who served in the Revolutionary War.

NEBRASKA. James E. Boyd (b. 1834), eighth Governor (1891-92), was born in county Tyrone of Ulster Scot ancestry.

KANSAS. John Alexander Martin (1839-89), ninth Governor (1885-89), was of Ulster Scot descent.

TEXAS. Samuel Houston (1793-1863) was a descendant of John Houston who settled in Philadelphia in 1689. He was Member of Congress from Tennessee (1823-27), Governor of Tennessee (1827-28), and as Commander-in-Chief of the Texans he defeated the Mexicans under Santa Anna in 1836 on the banks of the San Jacinto, and by this one blow achieved the independence of Texas. He was elected first President of the new republic in the same year, was re-elected in 1841, and in 1859 was elected Governor of the state. Houston, the capital of Harris County, Texas, was named in his honor. Peter Hansborough Bell (1812-98), third Governor (1849-53), was of Ulster Scot ancestry, as was also James Edward Ferguson (b. 1871). James Stephen Hogg, nineteenth Governor and Thomas Mitchell Campbell, twenty-third Governor, were of Scottish descent.

COLORADO. Edward Moody McCook, fifth and seventh Governor (1869-73, 1874-75), was of Scottish descent. He also served in the Civil War and attained the rank of Brigadier-General. James Benton Grant, tenth Governor (1883-85), was grandson of a Scottish immigrant. Jesse Fuller McDonald, twenty-third Governor (1905-07), a descendant of James McDonald who emigrated from Scotland early in the eighteenth century and settled in Maine.

WYOMING. Thomas Moonlight (1833-99), sixth territorial Governor (1887-90), was born in Forfarshire.

UTAH. Eli Houston Murray (b. 1841), Governor (1880-84), of Scottish ancestry.

IDAHO. John Henry Brady (b. 1862), eighth Governor (1910-11), is of Ulster Scot descent. David P. Thompson, ninth Governor of the state (1874-76), also of Ulster Scot descent, built the first railroad in Oregon, and was twice Mayor of Portland.

SOUTH DAKOTA. Corie Isaac Crawford, sixth Governor (1907-08) is of Ulster Scot descent.

CALIFORNIA. John McDougall (1818-66) was Lieutenant-Governor (1849) and afterwards Governor. Peter Hardeman Burnett (b. 1807) was first Governor of the state (1849-51). Both were of Scottish origin.

OREGON. James Shields, first territorial Governor (1848), was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone, of Ulster Scot parentage. George Abernethy (1807-77), territorial Governor (1845-49), was born in New York city of Scottish parentage. "As a governor he was patriotic, efficient, and unselfish."

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