John S. Barry

John S. Barry

John Stewart Barry (born January 29, 1802 in Amherst , Hillsborough County , New Hampshire , †  January 14, 1870 in Constantine , Michigan ) was an American politician and from 1842 to 1846 the 4th and from 1850 to 1852 the 8th  Governor of the State of Michigan.

Early Years and Rise in Michigan

Very early on, John Barry and his parents moved from New Hampshire to Rockingham , Vermont . There the young John worked on his father's farm and attended local schools. He later studied law. He earned the money he needed for this course as a teacher.

After some time as a lawyer, Barry moved to White Pigeon in what was then the Michigan Territory in 1831 . There he began a successful career as a businessman and was justice of the peace until 1835. Politically, Barry belonged to the Democratic Party . From 1835 he was politically active in his new home. In 1835 he was a member of the Michigan Constituent Assembly. Between 1835 and 1838 he was a member of the State Senate . He was re-elected to this Chamber of Parliament in 1840. That year he also took a trip to Europe to study sugar beet cultivation, which he had become interested in. In 1841, Barry was elected governor of his state.

Michigan governor

John Barry took up his new office on January 3, 1842. After re-election in 1843, he was able to exercise it until January 5, 1846. During this time, railroad construction in Michigan progressed rapidly. The University of Michigan moved from Detroit to its new location in Ann Arbor . Michigan's population rose to over 300,000 for the first time in 1845. John Barry also managed to overcome the consequences of the great economic crisis of 1837 and to avert the impending national bankruptcy. Due to a constitutional clause, he was not allowed to run for re-election immediately after his second term. Therefore, he left office in January 1846.

Because of his popularity, however, it was not difficult for him to win the elections in 1849. So he completed a total of three terms in office as the first and only governor of Michigan in the 19th century; the last began on January 7, 1850 and ended on January 5, 1852. During this time a new constitution was drawn up. Meanwhile in 1847 under Governor William Greenly Lansing had been declared the new capital. Today's Eastern Michigan University was also founded in Ypsilanti during Barry's last tenure . In 1853, Barry ran again for re-election. This time he missed the intended goal and therefore had to leave office in January 1852.

Another résumé

After the end of his governorship, Barry was again active as a dealer. In 1859 he ran again unsuccessfully for the office of governor. In 1856 he had also unsuccessfully sought a seat in the US House of Representatives . In 1856 and 1864 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions . In the run-up to the civil war , he was against the expansion of slavery . After the end of the war he withdrew from politics. He died on January 14, 1870, shortly before his 68th birthday. John Barry was married to Mary Kidder, who died in 1869. The couple had no children.

Web links

• John Barry in the National Governors Association (English)
• John S. Barry in the database of Find a Grave (English)