Ferry Family (William Montague Ferry family)

William Montague Ferry was born September 8, 1796 in Granby, Massachusetts. After training and study to become a member of the clergy, Ferry was licensed and ordained by the Presbytery of New York in 1822. He then offered his services to the United Foreign Missionary Society, and was subsequently appointed to explore and preach among the Indian tribes of the northwest. The result of this exploration was the establishment of, and Ferry's appointment to, the Mackinac mission on Michilimackinac . Ferry worked among the Indians for more than a decade, then because of failing health, he moved downstate to Ottawa County, arriving in 1834. For the remainder of this life, he was a clergyman in Grand Haven, also for a time postmaster of the city. In 1823, he had married Amanda White . Ferry died in 1868.

William Montague Ferry, Jr . was born to the Rev. William Montague and Amanda (White) Ferry on July 8, 1824, in Michilimackinac, Michigan. Ten years later his family moved to Grand Haven, Michigan, where Ferry resided for over forty years. His academic training began under his father and continued with one year at Sanderson Academy in Ashfield, Massachusetts, followed by a year at the University of Michigan's Kalamazoo branch. Ferry served as a regent of the University of Michigan from 1858 to 1863. In August of 1861 he enlisted in the 14th Michigan Infantry, being honorably mustered out in April 24, 1865. He ran unsuccessfully for governor of Michigan in 1870 on the Democratic ticket. He was later appointed by the governor to be a member of a commission to revise the state constitution. He was elected mayor of Grand Rapids in 1876, but then moved to Park City, Utah, in 1878 where he became actively involved in the territory's mining operations. He represented Utah on the National Democratic Committee from 1884 to 1892, and in 1893 was commissioner of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1904 he was nominated on the American ticket to be governor of Utah. He was also a member of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion . Ferry married Jeannette Hollister of Grand Rapids, Michigan, on October 29, 1851; they had six children. Ferry died January 2, 1905, at Park City, Utah, and was buried in Grand Haven.

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