Elisha P. Ferry collection, circa 1880-1895

Elisha Peyre Ferry (1825-1895) was Washington's first state governor from 1889 to 1893. He also served two terms as territorial governor from 1872 to 1880.

Ferry was born in Monroe, Michigan on August 9, 1825 to immigrant parents Peter Peyre Ferry (1769-1845) from France and Ann Lloyd Jones Ferry (1794-1846) from England. Ferry studied law first in Monroe, then in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1845, at the age of 20, he was admitted to the bar. In 1846 he moved to Waukegan, Illinois, where he practiced law for more than 20 years and was involved in politics, including serving as presidential elector in 1852 and 1856, and as the first mayor of Waukegan in 1859. He was also a member of the Illinois constitutional convention in 1861 and Illinois bank commissioner from 1861 to 1863. Ferry married Sarah Brown Kellogg (1827-1912) in 1949. They had twelve children, five of whom survived to adulthood: Eliza Peyre Ferry Leary (1851-1935), James Peyre Ferry (1853-1914), Lincoln Peyre Ferry (1860-1911), Julia Peyre Ferry (1864-1894), and Pierre Peyre Ferry (1868-1932).

From 1861-1863, Ferry served in the Civil War on the staff of Illinois Governor Richard Yates, Sr. as assistant adjutant-general, organizing and dispatching Illinois regiments. During the war he became a friend of Ulysses S. Grant.

Ferry came to Olympia, Washington with his family in 1869 after being appointed as surveyor-general for Washington Territory by the newly elected President Grant. He was then appointed territorial governor by President Grant in 1872 and again in 1876, becoming the only territorial governor to serve two terms. Major issues during his tenue were the resolution of the San Juan Islands dispute, the building of the transcontinental railway terminus, territorial finances and taxation, the push for statehood, and the question of women's suffrage. After completing his second term in 1880, Ferry moved to Seattle and joined a private law firm. He retired from law practice in 1887 to become vice-president of Puget Sound National Bank.

Washington Territory existed for 36 years from 1853 to 1889. After several attempts to gain statehood, the Enabling Act for Statehood passed in the United States Congress on February 22, 1889. Elections were held on October 1, 1889 to ratify the state constitution, choose a site for the capitol, and to elect officers for the new state government. Ferry was the Republican candidate for state governor and won the vote 33,711 to 24,732, defeating Democrat Eugene Semple, also a former territorial governor. Washington became the 42nd state on November 11, 1889 when President Benjamin Harrison signed a proclamation officially admitting Washington to the Union. Ferry was inaugurated one week later on the afternoon of November 18, 1889, delivering his inaugural address to a crowd of 3000 in front of the Territorial Capitol building in Olympia.

During his administration, Ferry oversaw the rebuilding of Seattle, Ellensburg, and Spokane Falls, all three of which were largely destroyed by fire in 1889, and the establishment many state institutions. Due to ill health, Ferry did not seek reelection and died from complications of pneumonia and heart disease at the age of 70 on October 14, 1895 in Seattle.