National Governors Association

Born: June 9, 1824
Died: August 5, 1896
Birth State: New York
Party: Republican
Family: Married Rosa A. Lyon; one child
Religion: Quaker

Periods in Office:	From:	January 8, 1877
	To:	January 13, 1879

State Web Site

Military Service: National Guard

War(s) Served: Civil War

GEORGE T. ANTHONY, the seventh governor of Kansas, was born in Mayfield, New York on June 9, 1824. His education was limited and attained in the New York public school system. He attended school only in the winter months, working on farms in the summer months. He also worked as an apprentice in the tin and coppersmith trade. During the Civil War, Anthony organized the 17th New York Independent Battery, was commissioned a captain, and was brevetted a major by the time he was discharged in June 1865. After his military service, he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, and became the editor of the Daily Bulletin and the Daily Commercial. Anthony entered public service in 1867, with an appointment as assistant assessor of the U.S. Internal Revenue. He also was collector of the internal revenue in 1868, served as president of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture from 1873 to 1876, and was president of the State Board of Centennial Managers from 1874 to 1876. Anthony won the 1876 Republican gubernatorial nomination, and was sworn into the governorship on January 8, 1877. During his tenure, a state fisheries commission was created, the normal school was restructured with regional schools, a younger criminal reformatory was endorsed, and Indian skirmishes were dealt with. Also, a railroad strike in 1877 turned into a disaster when the state militia accidentally killed a Congregationalist minister. Anthony left office after running unsuccessfully for reelection. He later served as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives in 1885, was a railroad regulative commissioner from 1889 to 1893, served as a delegate to the 1892 Tran-Mississippi Congress in New Orleans, and was the state superintendent of insurance in 1895. Governor George T. Anthony suffered from diabetes, and passed away on August 5, 1896. He was buried at the Topeka Cemetery.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 2, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

KSGenWeb Project

The Political Graveyard