Samuel Hitt Elbert

Samuel Hitt Elbert (1833-1899) served as Governor of the Territory of Colorado (1873-1874) and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado (1879-1883).

Samuel Hitt Elbert was born in Logan County, Ohio, on 1833-04-03. At age seven, he moved with his family to the Territory of Iowa, where he attended public school and studied agriculture. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with high honors in 1854 and moved to the Territory of Nebraska to practice law. In Nebraska, Elbert became active in the newly formed Republican Party. Elbert was appointed Secretary of the Territory of Colorado and served from 1862 until 1867. Secretary Elbert organized the Republican Party in the Colorado Territory. Samuel Elbert married Josephine Evans, the daughter of his mentor, Territorial Governor John Evans.

U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Samuel Elbert as the sixth Governor of the Territory of Colorado on 1873-04-04. President Grant became the first U.S. President to visit the Rocky Mountain region that summer. The President stayed at Governor Elbert's home, visited Central City, and met with a group of Ute leaders. Governor Elbert served until 1874-06-19, when his predecessor, Edward Moody McCook, was reappointed Governor. Samuel Elbert was appointed to the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado in 1877 where he served until 1889. Elbert served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1879 to 1883. Samuel Elbert died on 1899-11-27.

Elbert County, Colorado; Elbert, Colorado; and Mount Elbert, the highest peak in the entire Rocky Mountains, are named in honor of Samuel Hitt Elbert. Grateful miners named Mount Elbert after the governor because he brokerd a treaty with the Ute tribe, which opened up more than convert|3000000|acre|km2 of Indian reservation to mining and railroad activity.

ee also

*Colorado Supreme Court
*History of Colorado
*Law and Government of Colorado
*List of Governors of Colorado
*State of Colorado
*Territory of Colorado

External links

* [http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/offic/gov.html The Governors of Colorado @ Colorado.gov]
** [http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/govs/elbert.html Biography of Samuel Hitt Elbert @ Colorado.gov]
* [http://www.state.co.us/courts/sctlib/justices.html The Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado @ CO.US]
** [http://www.state.co.us/courts/sctlib/18.htm Justice Samuel Hitt Elbert @ CO.US]