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OLD
MEMBERS OF THE CALHOUN AND KALAMAZOO
COUNTY BARS BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
GOVERNOR EPAPHRODITUS RANSOM
Epaphroditus Ransom was born in 1799, * in Hampshire county, Mass., but removed when young, with his father's family, to Windham county, Vt. He was educated at Chester Academy, and read law with Peter B. Taft. He graduated from the law school at Northampton, Mass., in 1825, and went into practice in Windham county, Vt. He was twice elected to the Vermont
legislature. He came to Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1834, becoming a law partner with Charles E. Stuart. In 1836 he was appointed associate judge of the. * supreme court, and afterwards chief justice of the supreme court, which? office he held till 1848, when he became governor of Michigan. From 1836»" to 1848 he was ex-officio circuit judge of the western district of this state.. He was a member of the state legislature in 1853-5. He removed to Kansas* in 1856, having been* appointed receiver of the U. S. land office located" at Fort Scott, where he died Nov. 9, 1859, aged 63* years. Judge Ransom was a man of great probity. His perceptions of equity and justice between parties were clear, and upon them he generally relied. Upon the bench his practical common sense, aided by his desire to subserve the substantial ends of justice, were valuable supports. It was largely upon these qualities, and upon his clear knowledge of the law, that he ranked so high as an upright judge.
Hon. L. W. Lovell, of Climax, says of Judge Ransom. "I recall his majestic appearance, the dignity with which he presided on the bench, which never left him in any of the walks of life. The people of Kalamazoo county early came to love him for his amiable and blameless life; to esteem and honor him for his strong common sense as a man, his ability and uprightness as a judge. And they can point with pride to the example of their first circuit judge under the state constitution, as worthy of imitation by his successors in time to come. "
Michigan
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