Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Grover, Lafayette

GROVER, Lafayette, governor of Oregon, b. in Bethel, Oxford co., Me., in 1823. He was educated at Bowdoin college, and afterward studied law in Philadelphia, where he was admitted to the bar in 1850. He soon after settled in Salem, Oregon. He was elected prosecuting attorney of the territory in 1851, and in 1853 auditor of public accounts. He also served three terms in the territorial legislature, saw some service in the Indian wars of Oregon, and in 1854 was appointed a commissioner to adjust the claims of citizens against the United States. Two years later he became one of the commissioners to investigate claims arising out of the Indian war of 1855-'6. In 1857 he was an active member of the convention that framed the constitution of the state, and was elected, as a Democrat, its first representative in congress, taking his seat in February, 1859. He subsequently resumed the practice of law, but from 1867 till 1870 was engaged in the milling business. He was chairman of the state central Democratic committee, was elected governor of the state in 1876, and re-elected in 1874 for the term ending September, 1878. Gov. Grover resigned his office, 1 Feb., 1877, having been elected to the U. S. senate to succeed James K. Kelly, and took his seat, 8 March, 1877. He was succeeded in 1883 by Joseph N. Dolph. In 1876 Gov. Grover refused to issue a certificate of election as presidential elector to Dr. J. W. Watts, Republican, and gave it instead to E. A. Cronin, Democrat, who had received the next highest number of votes, on the ground that the former had held the office of postmaster when he was chosen. On 19 Dec. the governor published an elaborate argument in defence of his action, but it was annulled by the electoral commission, who decided that Watts's ineligibility merely created a vacancy in the electoral college, which the other members from Oregon were empowered to fill.