Stephen Royce
Stephen Royce | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 23rd Governor of Vermont | |
| In office October 13, 1854 – October 10, 1856 | |
| Lieutenant | Ryland Fletcher |
| Preceded by | John S. Robinson |
| Succeeded by | Ryland Fletcher |
| Member of the Vermont House of Representatives | |
| In office 1815-1816 1822-1824 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 12, 1787 Tinmouth, Rutland County, Vermont |
| Died | November 11, 1868 (aged 81) Berkshire, Franklin County, Vermont |
| Resting place | East Berkshire Episcopal Cemetery Berkshire, Vermont |
| Political party | Whig Party Republican |
| Relations | Homer E. Royce |
| Alma mater | Middlebury College |
| Profession | Attorney Judge Politician |
Stephen Royce (August 12, 1787 – November 11, 1868) was an American lawyer, judge and politician. He served as the 23rd Governor of Vermont from 1854 to 1856.
Early life
Royce was born in Tinmouth, Vermont on August 12, 1787. He grew up in Tinmouth, worked diligently to receive his education, farming and trapping, and selling animal pelts to obtain his books. Despite interruptions in his school time, he graduated from Middlebury College in 1807 with his class. Fellow classmates at Middlebury included Daniel Azro Ashley Buck and William Slade.[1] Royce taught school in Sheldon, studied law in the office of his uncle, Ebenezer Marvin, Jr., and was admitted to the bar in 1809.
Political career
Royce was Franklin County State's Attorney from 1816 to 1818, and served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1815 to 1816 and 1822 to 1824.[2]
Royce was a Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1825 to 1827, and again from 1829 to 1846. In 1846 he became Vermont's Chief Justice and served until 1852.[3]
He was elected Governor of Vermont in 1854, as a Whig, the last Whig to hold the office. He was re-elected to a second one-year term as a Republican, serving from 1854 to 1856. He was the first Republican to attain the office after the party was founded in the mid-1850s,[4] ushering in more than a century of Republican domination in Vermont politics. Vermont elected only Republicans to the governorship until Democrat Philip Hoff won the office in 1962.[5]
Death
Royce died in Berkshire on November 11, 1868. He is interred at East Berkshire Episcopal Cemetery in East Berkshire.[6]
Family life
He never married, but resided with his mother, at her request, whenever he was in his hometown.[7]
Royce was the uncle of Vermont Chief Justice and Congressman Homer E. Royce.[8]
References
- ^ Partridge, Henry Villiers (1905). A History of Norwich, Vermont. Dartmouth Press. p. 175. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
- ^ The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, edited by Rossiter Johnson and John Howard Brown, 1904, Rowland to Royce page
- ^ Men of Vermont Illustrated, edited by Jacob G. Ullery, 1894, pages 91 to 92
- ^ "Stephen Royce". National Governors Association. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Vermont Biography, edited by Prentiss Cutler Dodge, 1912, page 39
- ^ Gravestone photos by contributors Bill McKern and Barb Destromp, Find A Grave.com page, Stephen Royce, accessed April 1, 2012
- ^ Catalogue of Officers and Students of Middlebury College, published by the college, 1917, page 10
- ^ History of Franklin and Grand Isle Counties, Vermont, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, 1891, page 228
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1787 births
- 1868 deaths
- Governors of Vermont
- Vermont Republicans
- Members of the Vermont House of Representatives
- People from Franklin County, Vermont
- People from Rutland County, Vermont
- Vermont lawyers
- Middlebury College alumni
- Vermont Supreme Court justices
- Chief Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court
- Vermont Whigs
- Whig Party state governors of the United States
- 19th-century American politicians
- Republican Party state governors of the United States