Alpheus Felch

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Alpheus Felch
United States Senator
from Michigan
In office
March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1853
Preceded byWilliam Woodbridge
Succeeded byCharles E. Stuart
5th Governor of Michigan
In office
January 5, 1846 – March 3, 1847
LieutenantWilliam L. Greenly
Preceded byJohn S. Barry
Succeeded byWilliam L. Greenly
Michigan Auditor General
In office
1842
GovernorJohn S. Barry
Preceded byEurotus P. Hastings
Succeeded byHenry L. Whipple
Member of the Michigan House of Representatives
In office
1835–1837
Personal details
Born(1804-09-28)September 28, 1804
Limerick, Massachusetts
(now Limerick, Maine, US)
DiedJune 13, 1896(1896-06-13) (aged 91)
Ann Arbor, Michigan, US
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseLucretia W. Lawrence (4 children)
Alma materBowdoin College
Signature

Alpheus Felch (September 28, 1804 – June 13, 1896) was the fifth

U.S. Senator from Michigan
.

Early life

Felch was born in Limerick (in modern-day Maine, then a part of Massachusetts). He was left an orphan at the age of three and lived with his grandfather Abijah Felch, a veteran of the American Revolution. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, and graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, in 1827. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Bangor, Maine,[1] and practiced in Houlton, Maine, from 1830 to 1833.

Political career

Felch moved to

Michigan State House of Representatives, serving from 1835 to 1837. He was appointed state bank commissioner in 1838 and resigned in 1839. As bank commissioner, he did much to expose frauds which had been made possible by a general wildcat banking law which he had opposed, and which was afterward declared unconstitutional by the Michigan Supreme Court.[1] He was state auditor general for a few weeks in 1842 before being appointed associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court in 1842, where he served until his resignation in 1845, after being elected governor. He served as Governor of Michigan from 1846 to 1847 and during those fourteen months, state statutes were amended and the state capital was relocated to Lansing
.

Felch resigned as governor on March 3, 1847, after being elected by the Michigan legislature as a

Democrat to the United States Senate. He served in the 30th, 31st and 32nd Congresses, from March 4, 1847 to March 3, 1853. In the U.S. Senate, he was chairman of the committee on public lands for four years.[1]

In March 1853, he was appointed by U.S. President

land claims commission for California to settle Spanish and Mexican land claims arising from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican–American War and served as president of the commission until 1856. He returned to live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that year and made an unsuccessful attempt at a non-consecutive term as governor against the Republican incumbent Kinsley S. Bingham. He resumed his law career and served as the Tappan Professor of Law at the University of Michigan
from 1879 to 1883.

Death and legacy

Felch grave

He died at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the age of 91, and is interred at Forest Hill Cemetery along with his wife, Lucretia.[2]

Alpheus Felch is the namesake of Felch Township, Michigan.[3] Felch Park, on the University of Michigan campus, is also named for him.

References

  1. ^ a b c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Felch, Alpheus" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  2. ^ "The Bar Association's Action | Ann Arbor District Library". aadl.org. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  3. ISBN 978-1-878592-94-1
    .
Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for Governor of Michigan
1845 		Succeeded by
Democratic nominee for Governor of Michigan
1856 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Michigan Auditor General
1842 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor of Michigan
1846–1847 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 2) from Michigan
1847–1853
Served alongside: Lewis Cass, Thomas Fitzgerald, Lewis Cass 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Most senior living U.S. senator
(Sitting or former)
June 26, 1889 – June 13, 1896
With: James W. Bradbury 		Succeeded by
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