Edward A. Stevenson

Edward Augustus Stevenson ( born June 15, 1831 in Lowville, Lewis County, New York, † July 6, 1895 in Monterey County, California ) was an American politician and governor from 1885 to 1889 in the Idaho Territory.

Career

Stevenson was born in New York State and moved to California during the gold rush. He became a member of the Democratic Party and was 1854-1856 and 1860-1861 Member of the House of Representatives of that State. Later he moved to the Idaho Territory, where until 1878 he was a member of the Executive Council from 1866 to 1868 and from 1876. In 1885 he was appointed by the newly elected Democratic President Grover Cleveland to the territorial governor. He was the first and only territorial governor of Idaho, who belonged to the Democrats. Stevenson exercised the office 1885-1889, almost the same time as President Cleveland's first term in office. After his deselection Stevenson was replaced by the new President Benjamin Harrison by George Laird Shoup.

After Idaho had joined in 1890 as the State of the United States, Stevenson was a candidate in the gubernatorial elections of 1894 unsuccessfully against Republican incumbent William J. McConnell. After that, Stevenson moved back to California, where he died a year later. His older brother Charles was 1887-1890 Governor of Nevada.