Governors of Indiana, 25 = 2*12

Meaning one of twentyfour people was two of the governors. I am only dealing with the first 25 governors, since after that, I cannot consider their early life conditions as being premodern. Here they are:

Jonathan Jennings

(March 27, 1784 – July 26, 1834)

was the first governor of Indiana and a nine-term congressman from Indiana. Born in either Hunterdon County, New Jersey, or Rockbridge County, Virginia, he studied law before immigrating to the Indiana Territory in 1806. Jennings initially intended to practice law, but took jobs as an assistant at the federal land office at Vincennes and assistant to the clerk of the territorial legislature to support himself, and pursued interests in land speculation and politics. Jennings became involved in a dispute with the territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, that soon led him to enter politics and set the tone for his early political career. In 1808 Jennings moved to the eastern part of the Indiana Territory and settled near Charlestown, in Clark County. He was elected as the Indiana Territory's delegate to the U.S. Congress by dividing the pro-Harrison supporters and running as an anti-Harrison candidate. By 1812 he was the leader of the anti-slavery and pro-statehood faction of the territorial government. Jennings and his political allies took control of the territorial assembly and dominated governmental affairs after the resignation of Governor Harrison in 1812. As a congressional delegate Jennings aided passage of the Enabling Act in 1816, which authorized the organization of Indiana's state government and state constitution. He was elected president of the Indiana constitutional convention, held in Corydon in June 1816, where he helped draft the state's first constitution. Jennings supported the effort to ban slavery in the state and favored a strong legislative branch of government.

In August 1816 Jennings was elected to serve as the first governor of Indiana at age 32, and re-elected for an additional term. He pressed for the construction of roads and schools, and negotiated the Treaty of St. Mary's to open up central Indiana to American settlement. His opponents attacked his participation in the treaty negotiations as unconstitutional and brought impeachment proceedings against him, a measure that was narrowly defeated by a vote of 15 to 13 after a month-long investigation and the resignation of the lieutenant governor. During his second term and following the panic of 1819, Jennings encountered financial problems, a situation exacerbated by his inability to keep up with his business interests and run the state government simultaneously. Ineligible for another term as Indiana governor under the state constitution, Jennings looked for other means of financial support. Shortly before completion of his second term as governor in 1822, Jennings was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, before retiring from public service in 1831. In Congress Jennings promoted federal spending on internal improvements.

Ratliff Boon

(January 18, 1781 – November 20, 1844)

was the second Governor of Indiana from September 12 to December 5, 1822, taking office following the resignation of Governor Jonathan Jennings' after his election to Congress. A prominent politician in the state, Boon was instrumental the formation of the state Democratic Party, and he supported President Andrew Jackson's policies during his six terms representing Indiana in the United States House of Representatives.

William Hendricks

(November 12, 1782 – May 16, 1850)

was a Democratic-Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1822, the third Governor of Indiana from 1822 to 1825, and an Anti-Jacksonian member of the U.S. Senate from 1825 to 1837. He led much of his family into politics and founded one of the largest political families in Indiana. He was the uncle of Thomas Andrews Hendricks, who was also Governor of Indiana and Vice President of the United States. Hendricks County was named in his honor. His term as governor was spent repairing the state's finances to later enable large scale internal improvements. The establishment of the basic framework of the state's public school system and the transfer of the capital from Corydon to Indianapolis also occurred during his term.

James Brown Ray

(February 19, 1794 – August 4, 1848)

was an Indiana politician and the only Indiana Senate president pro tempore to be elevated to governor of the State of Indiana. Ray served during a time when the state transitioned from personal politics to political parties, but never joined a party himself. Taking office one week before his 31st birthday, he became the state's youngest governor and served from 1825 to 1831, the longest period for an Indiana governor under the state constitution of 1816. During Ray's term as governor the state experienced a period of economic prosperity and a 45 percent population increase. He supported projects that encouraged the continued growth and development of the young state, most notably internal improvements, Native American removal, codification of Indiana's laws, improved county and local government, and expanded educational opportunities. Ray was known for his eccentricity and early promotion of a large-scale railroad system in the state. His support for new railroad construction and alleged involvement in several scandals caused him to lose popularity among voters. Ray's opponents who favored the creation of canals considered railroads to be an impractical, utopian idea. Following Ray's departure from political office, he continued to advocate for a statewide railroad system until his death in 1848.

Noah Noble

(January 15, 1794 – February 8, 1844)

was the fifth Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1831 to 1837. His two terms focused largely on internal improvements, culminating in the passage of the Mammoth Internal Improvement Act, which was viewed at the time as his crowning achievement. His taxing recommendations to pay for the improvements were not fully enacted, and the project ultimately led the state to negotiate a partial bankruptcy only a few years later. The debacle led to a gradual collapse of the state Whig party, which never regained control of the government, and led to a period of Democratic control that lasted until the middle of the American Civil War. After his term as governor he was appointed to the Board of Internal Improvement where he unsuccessfully advocated a reorganization of the projects in an attempt to gain some benefit from them.

David Wallace

(April 24, 1799 – September 4, 1859)

was the sixth governor of the US state of Indiana. The Panic of 1837 occurred just before his election and the previous administration, which he had been part of, had taken on a large public debt. During his term the state entered a severe financial crisis that crippled the state's internal improvement projects. He advocated several measures to delay the inevitable insolvency of the state. Because of his connection to the internal improvement platform, his party refused to nominate him to run for a second term. The situation continued to deteriorate rapidly and led to state bankruptcy in his successor's term. After his term as governor, he became a congressman, then chairman of the Indiana Whig party before becoming a state judge, a position he held until his death.

Samuel Bigger

(March 20, 1802 – September 9, 1846)

was the seventh Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from December 9, 1840 to December 6, 1843. Bigger was nominated to run for governor because he had no connection to the failed public works program. The state had entered a severe financial crisis in his predecessor's term and the government became insolvent during his first year in office. He oversaw the state's bankruptcy negotiations, but the bankruptcy he negotiated was only able to return the state to solvency briefly. By the time of his reelection campaign, the Whig Party had become the target of public blame for the debacle, and Bigger was defeated.

James Whitcomb

(December 1, 1795 – October 4, 1852)

was a Democratic United States Senator and the eighth Governor of Indiana. As governor during the Mexican–American War, he oversaw the formation and deployment of the state's levies. He led the movement to replace the state constitution and played an important role at the convention to institute a law that prevented the government from taking loans in response the current fiscal crisis in Indiana. By skillfully guiding the state through its bankruptcy, Whitcomb is usually credited as being one of the most successful of Indiana's governors. He was elected to the United States Senate after his term as governor but died of kidney disease only two years later.

Paris Chipman Dunning

(March 15, 1806 – May 9, 1884)

was a Democratic state representative, state senator, senate president pro tempore, the tenth Lieutenant Governor, and the ninth Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from December 26, 1848 to December 5, 1849. He is the only person to hold to every elected seat in the state government under the 1816 constitution. His brief term as governor was marked by the calling of a state constitutional convention and overshadowed by the national anti-slavery debate, where Dunning urged state leaders to issue and forward resolutions to Congress expressing opposition to the expansion of slavery. As a delegate to the subsequent convention, he successfully advocated legislative and educational reform. As the American Civil War broke out, he left the Democratic party and declared for the Union, personally raising many companies of soldiers for the war effort. He returned to the state senate during the war, and then resumed his law practice after his term ended. He remained popular in the state, and declined several nominations to run for office after retiring from politics.

Joseph Albert Wright

(April 17, 1810 – May 11, 1867)

was the tenth governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from December 5, 1849 to January 12, 1857, most noted for his opposition to banking. His positions created a rift between him and the Indiana General Assembly who overrode all of his anti-banking vetoes. He responded by launching legal challenges to the acts, but was ruled against by the Indiana Supreme Court. The state's second constitutional convention was held during 1850–1851 in which the current Constitution of Indiana was drafted. He was a supporter of the new constitution and gave speeches around the state urging its adoption. He was opposed throughout his term by Senator Jesse D. Bright, the leader of the state Democratic Party.

After his term as governor, he was appointed to serve as United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Prussia where he served until the outbreak of the American Civil War. Although he was a Democrat, he was openly pro-Union during the war, and was elected to serve as a United States Senator, filling the term of Copperhead Jesse D. Bright, who was expelled from the Senate for disloyalty. Following the war he was reappointed to his ambassadorial post where he remained until his death in Berlin, Prussia.

Ashbel Parsons Willard

(October 31, 1820 – October 4, 1860)

was state senator, the 12th Lieutenant Governor, and the 11th Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana. His terms in office were marked by increasingly severe partisanship leading to the breakup of the state Democratic Party in the years leading up to the American Civil War. His brother-in-law was involved in John Brown's Raid and was executed. Willard went to the south to advocate unsuccessfully for his release, and became despised by southerners who accused him of having a secret involvement in the raid. He died two months before the start of the war while giving a speech on national unity, and was the first governor of Indiana to die in office.

Abram Adams Hammond

(March 21, 1814 – August 27, 1874)

was the 12th Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana. He succeeded to the office upon the death of Governor Ashbel P. Willard and completed the remaining three months of Willard's term.

Henry Smith Lane

(February 24, 1811 – June 19, 1881)

was a United States Representative, Senator, and the 13th Governor of Indiana; he was by design the shortest-serving Governor of Indiana, having made plans to resign the office should his party take control of the Indiana General Assembly and elect him to the United States Senate. He held that office for only two days, and was known for his opposition to slavery. A Whig until the party collapsed, he supported compromise with the south. He became an early leader in the Republican Party starting in 1856 serving as the president of the first party convention, delivering its keynote address, and was influential in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. With the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, he became a full-fledged abolitionist, and in the Senate he was a pro-Union advocate and a strong supporter of the war effort to end the rebellion.

Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton

(August 4, 1823 – November 1, 1877),

commonly known as Oliver P. Morton, was a U.S. Republican Party politician from Indiana. He served as the 14th Governor (the first native-born) of Indiana during the American Civil War, and was a stalwart ally of President Abraham Lincoln. During the war, Morton thwarted and neutralized the Democratic-controlled Indiana General Assembly. He exceeded his constitutional authority by calling out the militia without approval, and during the period of legislative suppression he privately financed the state government through unapproved federal and private loans. He was criticized for arresting and detaining political enemies and suspected southern sympathizers. As one of President Lincoln's "war governors", Morton made significant contributions to the war effort, more than any other man in the state, and earned the lifelong gratitude of former Union soldiers for his support.

During his second term as governor, and after being partially paralyzed by a stroke, he was elected to serve in the U.S. Senate. He was a leader among the Radical Republicans of the Reconstruction era, and supported numerous bills designed to reform the former Southern Confederacy. In 1877, during his second term in the Senate, Morton suffered a second debilitating stroke that caused a rapid deterioration in his health; he died later that year. Morton was mourned nationally and his funeral procession was witnessed by thousands. He is buried in Indianapolis's Crown Hill Cemetery.

Conrad Baker

(February 12, 1817 – April 28, 1885)

was a state representative, 15th Lieutenant Governor, and the 15th Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1867 to 1873. Baker had served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, rising to the rank of colonel but resigned following his election as lieutenant governor, during which time he played an important role in overseeing the formation and training of states levies. He served as acting-governor for five months during the illness of Governor Oliver Morton, and was elevated to Governor following Morton's resignation from office. During Baker's full term as governor, he focused primitively on the creation and improvement of institutions to help veterans and their families that had been disaffected by the war. He also championed the post-war federal constitutional amendments, and was able to successfully advocate their acceptance.

Thomas Andrews Hendricks

(September 7, 1819 – November 25, 1885)

was an American politician and lawyer from Indiana who served as the 16th governor of Indiana from 1873 to 1877 and the 21st vice president of the United States from March to November 1885. Hendricks represented Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives (1851–55) and the U.S. Senate (1863–69). He also represented Shelby County, Indiana, in the Indiana General Assembly (1848–50) and as a delegate to the 1851 Indiana constitutional convention. In addition, Hendricks served as commissioner of the General Land Office (1855–59). Hendricks, a popular member of the Democratic Party, was a fiscal conservative. He defended the Democratic position in the U.S. Senate during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era and voted against the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. He also opposed Radical Reconstruction and President Andrew Johnson's removal from office following Johnson's impeachment in the U.S. House.

James Douglas Williams

(January 16, 1808 – November 20, 1880),

nicknamed Blue Jeans Bill, was an American farmer and Democratic politician who held public office in Indiana for four decades, and was the only farmer elected as the Governor of Indiana, serving from 1877 to 1880. He also spent twenty-eight years in the Indiana General Assembly, and was well known for his frugality and advocacy of agricultural development.

Isaac Pusey Gray

(October 18, 1828 – February 14, 1895)

was the 18th and 20th Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1880 to 1881 and from 1885 to 1889. Originally a Republican, he oversaw the forceful passage of the post-American Civil War constitutional amendments whilst he was a member of the Indiana Senate. He became a Democrat following the corruption of the Administration of Ulysses S. Grant but was regularly stymied by his Democratic adversaries who constantly referred to his tactics while a Republican, earning him the nickname "Sisyphus of the Wabash."

Albert Gallatin Porter

(April 20, 1824 – May 3, 1897)

was an American politician who served as the 19th Governor of Indiana from 1881 to 1885 and as a United States Congressman from 1859 to 1863. Originally a Democrat, he joined the Republican Party in 1856 after being expelled by the pro-slavery faction of the Democratic Party. Only the second person born in Indiana to become the state's governor, he reluctantly accepted his party's nomination to run. His term saw the start of Indiana's industrialization that continued for several decades. During the second half of his term a strong Democratic majority took control of the Indiana General Assembly and revoked all of the governor's appointment powers and other authorities, weakening the governors position to its lowest state in the history of the state.

Isaac Pusey Gray

bis

Alvin Peterson Hovey

(September 6, 1821 – November 23, 1891)

was a Union general during the American Civil War, an Indiana Supreme Court justice, congressman, and the 21st Governor of Indiana from 1889 to 1891. During the war he played an important role in the Western theatre, earning high approval from General Ulysses Grant, and uncovered a secret plot for an uprising in Indiana. As governor, he launched several legal challenges to the Indiana General Assembly's removal of his powers, but was mostly unsuccessful. He successfully advocated election reform before he died in office.

Ira Joy Chase

(December 7, 1834 – May 11, 1895)

was a veteran of the American Civil War, a leading member of the Grand Army of the Republic, a prominent Church of Christ evangelist, and the 22nd Governor of Indiana between November 23, 1891 and January 9, 1893.

Claude Matthews

(December 14, 1845 – August 28, 1898)

was the 23rd governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1893 to 1897. A farmer, he was nominated to prevent the loss of voters to the Populist Party. The Panic of 1893 occurred just before he took office, leading to severe economic problems during his term. Republicans took the Indiana General Assembly in the 1894 mid-term election and repudiated many of the Democrats' laws, leading to violence in the assembly. A popular party figure when he left office, he was a nominee to run for president at the 1896 Democratic National Convention, but lost his bid for the nomination to William Jennings Bryan.

James Atwell Mount

(March 24, 1843 – January 16, 1901)

was the 24th Governor of Indiana from 1897 to 1901. His term coincided with the economic recovery following the Panic of 1893, and focused primarily on industrial regulations and advancement of agriculture. As governor during the Spanish–American War, he oversaw the formation as dispatch of the state levies and played an important role in changing national policy to permit African-Americans serve as army officers.

Winfield Taylor Durbin

(May 4, 1847 – December 18, 1928)

was the 25th Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1901 to 1905. His term focused on progressive legislation and suppression of white cap vigilante organizations operating in the southern part of the state. He was the seventh and last veteran of the American Civil War to serve as governor.

On 1905, the year when my country's king Oscar II accorded Norway independence without war, I close the study of governors - and while writing this, I haven't even yet read all. I have skimmed much.

Now, here is a close study of lifespans. The second half actually has a median 11 years higher than the first half.

(March 27, 1784 – July 26, 1834)			(February 24, 1811 – June 19, 1881)
(January 18, 1781 – November 20, 1844)			(August 4, 1823 – November 1, 1877)
(November 12, 1782 – May 16, 1850)			(February 12, 1817 – April 28, 1885)
(February 19, 1794 – August 4, 1848)			(September 7, 1819 – November 25, 1885)
(January 15, 1794 – February 8, 1844)			(January 16, 1808 – November 20, 1880)
(April 24, 1799 – September 4, 1859)			(October 18, 1828 – February 14, 1895)
(March 20, 1802 – September 9, 1846)			(April 20, 1824 – May 3, 1897)
(December 1, 1795 – October 4, 1852)			(September 6, 1821 – November 23, 1891)
(March 15, 1806 – May 9, 1884)			(December 7, 1834 – May 11, 1895)
(April 17, 1810 – May 11, 1867)			(December 14, 1845 – August 28, 1898)
(October 31, 1820 – October 4, 1860)			(March 24, 1843 – January 16, 1901)
(March 21, 1814 – August 27, 1874)			(May 4, 1847 – December 18, 1928)
39 44 50 50 54 56 57 60 60 63 68 78 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
Median 56/57
	53 54 57 61 66 67 68 70 70 72 73 81 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
	Median 67/68

Now, which of these medians comes closer to the Medieval median lifespan, as I have previously seen it?

For French royalty, the earlier part. See a median 55 in comment for Moyen Âge, Royautés. But for Medieval non-royalty, the second part. See median 65 in second last paragraph in Et le Moyen Âge? Hormis royautés.

My theory for Middle Ages is that royalty had a tougher job (confer US presidents and state governors, these days) and tended to accumulate diseases due to stress earlier, while for instance governors of university of Paris and similar had a calmer job. So, for Indiana governors, one could imagine those born and growing up in 1811 - 1840's were healthier as to general life conditions than those born and growing up in 1780's to 1814. But one could also imagine, the governors after the Civil War up to 1905 had a calmer job than the pioneer governors and Civil War governors.

In any of these statistics, child mortality is not counted. Children don't become ancestors of kings or governors of universities or of Indiana before dying in childhood, if so. We are not talking life expectancy at birth, but the expected age of death for one already capable of meditating that.

One can also imagine, Blue Jeans Bill had an influence for a healthier lifestyle in Indiana Governor's Residence than some earlier ones, one of whom, like C. S. Lewis, died in kidney failure. Not meaning it's a sin to die in kidney failure, or all frugal people are virtuous, but there are different lifestyles leading to different lifespans.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Nanterre UL
Annunciation Feast
25.III.2019

PS, while I still have not read all of the story of the governors so far cited, I can say why I picked Indiana:

How Did the Tradition of Cutting the Nets in Basketball Start?
Today I Found Out | 24.III.2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fznrVD0oOxg

That's where the great promoter of basketball promoter Everett Case came from./HGL

PPS, if I go to another Mediaval statistic, I'll get a median of 45 for men dying over 14 and 43 for women dying over 12. Raising it to dying over 25th birthday, raises median to 48 for ladies and 49 for gentlemen. But those stats are stats over "children of x" and will include lots who were neither married nor in any tasking office, so not quite comparable.

Φιλολoγικά/Philologica : Age at death
http://filolohika.blogspot.com/2018/05/age-at-death.html