Ransom, Epaphroditus, 1799-1859

Ransom was born in Mass. in Feb. 1797. Raised in Vt., he graduated from law school at Northampton (Mass.) in 1823. In 1834 he moved to Mich., practicing law in Bronson (Kalamazoo County, Mich.). He was appointed Judge of the 2nd Judicial Circuit and Assoc. Justice of the Mich. Supreme Court in 1836. He served as Governor of Mich., 1848-1850; Justice of the Mich. Supreme Court, 1836-1847, including Chief Justice, 1843-1847; as a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Mich., 1850-1852; and as Representative from Kalamazoo County, 1853-1854. He then suffered serious reverses in fortune. In 1857 he moved to Kan. to be the receiver of the Osage land office. He died in Kan. on Nov. 9, 1859. His body was buried in Kalamazoo. (The Library of Congress authority file for his dates is 1799-1859. For further information see Bench and Bar of Michigan, pp. 8-9, and Michigan Biographies v. 2, pp. 219-220.) No information is available on Watkins or Rigby.