Portrait and biographical album of Ingham and Livingston counties, Michigan, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties ... the governors of the state and of all the presidents of the United States.

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HE HON. EPAPHRODIP j I TUS RANSOM, the Seventh
A3 I:'J[ Governor of Michigan, was a
3: L~: native of Massachusetts. In
that State he received a collegiate education, studied law,
/' and was admitted to the bar.:i~4 Removing to Michigan about
the time of its admission to the
> ~ u t Union, he took up his residence
at Kalamazoo.
Mr. Ransom served with marked
aility for a number of years in the
State Legislature, and in 1837 he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1843 he
was promoted to 'Chief Justice, which office he retained until I845, when he resigned.
Shortly afterwards he became deeply interested in
the building of plank roads in the western portion of
the State, and in this business lost the greater portion
of the property which he had accumulated by years
of toil and industry.
Mr. Ransom became Governor of the State of
Michigan in the fall of I847, and served during one
term, performing the duties of the office in a truly
statesmanlike manner. He subsequently became
President of the Michigan Agricultural Society, in
lwhich poition he displayed the same abi1$j that

shone forth so prominently in his acts as Governor.
He held the office of Regent of the Michigan University several times, and ever advocated a liberal policy
in its management.
Subsequently he was appointed receiver of the
land office in one of the districts in Kansas, by President Buchanan, to which State he had removed, and
where he died before the expiration of his term of
office.
We sum up the events and affairs of the State under Gov. Ransom's administration as follows: The
Asylum for the Insane was establised, as also the
Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind. Both of
these institutes were liberally endowed with lands,
and each of them placed in charge of a board of five
trustees. The appropriation in 1849 for the deaf and
dumb and blind amounted to $8I,5oo. On the first
of March, 1848, the first telegraph line was completed from New York to Detroit, and the first dispatch transmitted on that day. The following figures
show the progress in agriculture: The land reported
as under cultivation in I848 was I,437,460 acres; of
wheat there were produced 4,749,300 bushels; other
grains, 8,197,767 bushels; wool, 1,645,756 pounds;
maple sugar, 1,774,369 pounds; horses, 52,305; cattle, 210,268; swine, I52,54I; sheep, 610,534; while
the flour mills numbered 228, and the lumber mills
amounted to 730. 1847, an act was passed removing
the Legislature from Detroit to Lansing, and temporary buildings for the use of the Legislature wereimmediately erected, at a cost of $12,450.