Fenimore Chatterton

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Fenimore Chatterton (1903)

Fenimore Chatterton (born July 21, 1860 in Oswego County , New York , †  May 9, 1958 in Cheyenne , Wyoming ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ) and governor of the state of Wyoming.

Life

After attending public schools in Washington, DC Chatterton first began studying at the Columbian University before he graduated from Millersville State Normal School in Lancaster ( Pennsylvania made). After settling in the Wyoming Territory in 1878 , he became an accountant in a trading and banking company. Over time, Chatterton himself became a successful businessman, which enabled him to begin a political career, which he began in 1888 as a treasurer and probate judge in Carbon County . After graduating from the University of Michigan with a law degree in 1892, he also practiced as a lawyer.

In 1890 and 1893 Chatterton was elected a member of the Senate of Wyoming , but failed in 1894 in the candidacy as a US Senator . In 1898 he was elected Secretary of State of Wyoming. As such, he was in office from January 1899 to January 1907 after his re-election in 1902. As Secretary of State , he was in particular the governor's representative, so that after the death of DeForest Richards , with whom he campaigned together in 1898, he was appointed governor on April 28, 1903 as his successor. He held this office until Bryant B. Brooks took office on January 2, 1905.

As governor, Chatterton campaigned for the construction of railways and irrigation systems, but on the other hand refused to expand forest reserves and Yellowstone National Park . During his tenure there was a trial and on November 20, 1903 the controversial execution of Tom Horn , who was accused of contract killings of cattle thieves. Perhaps, due to the legal understanding of cattle owners, this led to the failure of Chatterton to be nominated for re-election as governor in 1904 because the latter refused to overturn the death sentence.

After leaving the office of State Secretary on January 2, 1907, Chatterton settled down as a lawyer and was a member of the Public Service Commission until he retired in 1932 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Wyoming's Secretaries of State 1890-2008 ( Memento of September 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English).
  2. Wyoming State Officers 1890-2008 ( November 20, 2008 memento in the Internet Archive ).
  3. ^ TA Larson: History Of Wyoming , Nebraska 1990, p. 315 f. (English).
  4. Article about Tom Horn (English).