Legislator Details
Alpheus Felch portrait from Chapman (L) p.[116]
Vital Records Information:
Marital Information:
married Lucretia Williams Lawrence of Monroe, MI, 9/14/1837; children: Caroline F., E.H., Emma L., Theodore A., Francis and Hellen L. 5 of 8 survived to adulthood. Lucretia died 7/30/1882.
Number of Children: 8
Background
Education:
prepared for college in Phillips Academy, Exeter, NH;
graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 1827
Biographical Sketch:
Of Norman descent. Son of Daniel & Sarah (Piper)Felch. Lived with gr.father, Abijah Felch, after parents' deaths. Admitted to the bar in Maine in 1830. Practiced law in Houlton, ME, 1830-1833. Contracted cholera while traveling to Missippi in 1830 and recuperated in Cincinnate, OH; moved to Monroe, MI, 1833; to Ann Arbor, 1843; State bank commissioner 1838-1839; state auditor general 1842; appointed assoc. justice of the Mich. Supreme Ct., 1843 & served until his resignation, 1845; elected governor, 1845 president of the commission to settle Spanish & Mexican war claims 1853-1856; He retired from the practice of law in 1873. He taught at University of Michigan law school 1879-1883.
Notable Facts:
CongBio & Cyc give birth yr as 1804; Chapman, 1806.
Gov. of Michigan 1846-47; elected to the US Senate in 2/1847, served from 3/4/1847-3/3/1853. Instrumental in getting fed. funding for the Soo Locks when in the Senate.