J BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OHN S. BARRY, who was governor of Michigan for three terms, was born at Amherst, New Hampshire, Jan. 29, 1802. His parents, John and Ellen (Stewart) Barry, removed early to Rockingham, Vermont, where he remained until he became of age, working on his father's farm and acquiring through native diligence a thorough common school education. He married Mary Kidder, of Grafton, Vermont, and later (1824) emigrated to Georgia, settling in the city of Atlanta, where he had charge of an academy for two years, meanwhile studying law, and afterwards practicing law in that state. While in Georgia he was for some time a member of the Governor's staff. In 1831 he removed to Michigan and settled at White Pigeon, St. Joseph County, engaging in mercantile pursuits, in which he became eminently successful. In 1834 he removed to Constantine. Mr. Barry's first public office of consequence in Michigan was that of member of the Constitutional Convention which assembled in 1835 and framed the first state constitution of Michigan. The prominent part which he took in the proceedings of this body showed him to his fellow citizens to be a man of far more than ordinary ability. In 1835 he was elected State Senator, which office he held until 1838, and was again elected in 1841. So favorably were his associates impressed with his abilities that he received the nomination for governor of the State in 1841, and was elected. He was re-elected and served as governor until 1845, the constitution forbidding more than two consecutive terms, but he was elected again in 1849. He was governor of the State during a period of great financial stress and it was due largely to his wisdom and sound judgment that Michigan's finances were placed upon a firm basis. Mr. Barry was always a Democrat of the old Jeffersonian school, and his opinions were usually extreme. His last public service was as a member of the Democratic Presidential Convention held in Chicago in 1864. With the ascendency of the Republican party he retired to private life and continued his mercantile business at Constantine. He died Jan. 14, 1870. His wife had died in the preceding year. They left no children. Mr. Barry is acknowledged to have been one of the most efficient and popular governors the State of Michigan has had. It is said of him: "He was a man of incorruptible integrity. His opinions, which he reached by the most thorough investigation, he held tenaciously. His |