William T. Minor

Minor was born in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, on October 3, 1815, to Simeon Hinman Minor and Catherine Lockwood Minor.{{cite web|url=http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gen1775&id=I7849|title = Stamford, CT Families (1641-1935)

| publisher= Ancestry.com |access-date= December 3, 2012}} He studied at Yale University and graduated in 1834.{{cite book|last=Yale University|title=docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:X-Xw1mS8HG8J:mssa.library.yale.edu/obituary_record/1859_1924/1889-90.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgCgFrloICfNftVoV4msaID9lbtht9SWcErfisbGFpWJVIL_eHA9moi1yZ327oYy4MgihTkBKIz6lGEHM347HaX7CtNQDdt8UlOjtou4GHC3NZysI2LYw1lxAuXmjn3eyqDltO3&sig=AHIEtbTNSjUFzO5_GeMd6ha9UlBlJ2t-Hg|year=1890|publisher=Yale University|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:X-Xw1mS8HG8J:mssa.library.yale.edu/obituary_record/1859_1924/1889-90.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgCgFrloICfNftVoV4msaID9lbtht9SWcErfisbGFpWJVIL_eHA9moi1yZ327oYy4MgihTkBKIz6lGEHM347HaX7CtNQDdt8UlOjtou4GHC3NZysI2LYw1lxAuXmjn3eyqDltO3&sig=AHIEtbTNSjUFzO5_GeMd6ha9UlBlJ2t-Hg}} Minor taught school for five years while he studied law under his father, a former Connecticut legislator.

In 1840, Minor was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in Stamford.{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/minor.html|title = Minor, William Thomas (1815-1889)| publisher= The Political Graveyard |access-date= December 3, 2012}} Minor became a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1841, and served in that position until 1848. He was a judge for the Fairfield County, Connecticut Court. He married Mary Catherine Leeds on April 16, 1849, and they had five children.{{cite web|title=William T. Minor|url=http://www.ctstatelibrary.org/node/9835|publisher=Connecticut State Library|access-date=2 December 2012}} He became a member of the Connecticut State Senate representing the 12th District in 1854.

As candidate of the American Party, Minor was elected Governor of Connecticut in 1855{{cite web|url=http://guides.library.yale.edu/content.php?pid=382178&sid=3137513|title = Yale Officers| publisher= Yale University Library |access-date= December 3, 2012}} over Samuel Ingham by the Connecticut General Assembly by a 177 to 70 vote. He was re-elected to a second term in 1856 by the Connecticut General Assembly, again over Ingham, by a vote of 135 to 116.{{cite web|title=William T. Minor|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/minor.html#545.58.42|publisher=The Political Graveyard|access-date=3 December 2012}} While Governor, Minor was a supporter of lengthening the period of residency before naturalization. He also supported the dismissal of six military companies that consisted mostly of Irishmen. This step further enraged immigrants. Legislation was passed that deprived suffrage to men unable to read the state constitution. He supported better schools in Connecticut and held the belief that the schools should be free for all the children in the state. He also supported the antislavery measures of the Republicans.{{cite web|url=http://www.ctstatelibrary.org/node/9835|title = WILLIAM T. MINOR, GOVERNOR OF CONNECTICUT, 1855-1857

| publisher= Connecticut State Library |access-date= December 3, 2012}} He was not a candidate for the governorship in the election of April 1857, and left office on May 6, 1857.

In 1864, Minor was a delegate from Connecticut to the Republican National Convention, which assembled at Baltimore in June of that year. He voted with his delegation for Abraham Lincoln for president and Andrew Johnson for vice-president of the United States.

In July 1864, Minor was appointed by Lincoln as Consul-General to Havana, Cuba. Three years later he returned to Connecticut and spent one year as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. In 1868, he was appointed judge on the Connecticut Superior Court, and served in that position until 1873 when he resigned his judgeship and returned to his private law practice.{{cite web|url=http://www.stamfordhistory.org/cw_tbios.htm|title = Stamford's Civil War: At Home and in the Field, a 2003 Exhibit and more

| publisher= The Stamford Historical Society |access-date= December 3, 2012}}{{cite web|title=William T. Minor|url=http://www.cslib.org/memorials/minorw.htm|publisher=Connecticut State Library|access-date=3 December 2012}} He also served on the 1879 commission that reconciled an extended boundary argument with New York.{{cite web|title=William T. Minor|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_minor_william.html|publisher=National Governors Association|access-date=3 December 2012}}

Minor died on October 13, 1889, in Stamford. He is interred at Woodland Cemetery in Stamford.

{{reflist}}

• Sobel, Robert and John Raimo. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978. Greenwood Press, 1988. {{ISBN|0-313-28093-2}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.ctstatelibrary.org/node/9835 Connecticut State Library]
• [http://www.cslib.org/memorials/minorw.htm Connecticut State Library]
• [http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_minor_william.html National Governors Association]
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/minor.html#545.58.42 The Political Graveyard]

{{Governors of Connecticut}}

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|title=Governor of Connecticut

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|after=Alexander H. Holley

|years=May 2, 1855–May 6, 1857

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|title=Member of the Connecticut Senate
from Connecticut's 12th Senate district

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|title=Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from Stamford

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Category:1815 births

Category:1889 deaths

Category:Connecticut Know Nothings

Category:Republican Party Connecticut state senators

Category:Republican Party governors of Connecticut

Category:Know-Nothing state governors of the United States

Category:Republican Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives

Category:Politicians from Stamford, Connecticut

Category:Yale University alumni

Category:19th-century Connecticut state court judges

Category:Judges of the Connecticut Superior Court

Category:19th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly