Elias M. Ammons

Elias Milton Ammons (July 28, 1860 – May 20, 1925) served as the 19th governor of Colorado from 1913 to 1915. Born in 1860 in Macon County, North Carolina, he is perhaps best remembered for ordering National Guard troops into Ludlow, Colorado during the Colorado Coalfield War, which resulted in the Ludlow Massacre. He was also instrumental in starting the National Western Stock Show, which is still active. His son, Teller Ammons, was also governor of Colorado.

Elias M. Ammons
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives
from the Douglas County district
In office
January 7, 1891 – January 2, 1895
Preceded byPleasant W. O'Brien
Succeeded byWashington I. Whittier
19th Governor of Colorado
In office
January 14, 1913 – January 12, 1915
LieutenantStephen R. Fitzgarrald
Preceded byJohn F. Shafroth
Succeeded byGeorge A. Carlson
Member of the Colorado Senate
In office
1898–1902
Personal details
Born
Elias Milton Ammons

(1860-07-28)July 28, 1860
Macon County, North Carolina
DiedMay 20, 1925(1925-05-20) (aged 64)
Denver, Colorado
Political partyRepublican, Democrat
SpouseElizabeth Fleming Ammons
RelativesTheodosia Grace Ammons (sister), Teller Ammons (son), Elizabeth Ammons Larsen (daughter), Jehu R. Ammons (father), Margaret Ammons (mother)
Other namesElias Ammons

Early life

On July 28, 1860, Ammons was born in Macon County, North Carolina. Ammons' parents were Jehu R. and Margaret Ammons.[1] His father was a Baptist minister, and his mother was descended from the Pennsylvania Dutch.[2]

In 1871, Ammons and his family moved to Denver, Colorado. In 1880, Ammons graduated from East Denver High School in Denver, Colorado.[3]

Ammon's sister was Theodosia Grace Ammons, who later became a faculty member at Colorado State University, and president of the Colorado Equal Suffrage Association.[4]

Career

In 1886, at age 26, Ammons started a successful cattle business in Colorado.[5]

Legislative

On November 4, 1890, Ammons won the election unopposed and became a Republican member of Colorado House of Representatives from Douglas County. Ammons began his term on January 7, 1891.[6] On November 8, 1892, as an incumbent, Ammons won the election unopposed and continued serving as a Republican member of Colorado House of Representatives, until January 2, 1895.[7][8] Ammons served as speaker from 1894 to 1896. After becoming a Democrat, Ammons served in the Colorado State Senate from 1898 to 1902.[8] Ammons publicly debated Gifford Pinchot, chief of the United States Department of Agriculture's Division of Forestry and head of the federal government's conservation movement, three times between 1901 and 1909.[9]

Governorship

On November 5, 1912, Ammons won the election and became a Democratic Governor of Colorado. Ammons defeated Edward P. Costigan, Clifford C. Parks, Charles A. Ashelstrom, John Henry Ketchum, and Jonathan U. Billings with 42.91% of the votes. On January 14, 1913, Ammons began serving as Governor of Colorado, until January 12, 1915.[10][3] Ammons was elected on an anti-conservation platform and was against federal control of Colorado lands.[11] He believed strongly in the sovereignty of the states and worried that the federal government was encroaching on the political independence of Colorado. Further, he was concerned that federal land reservation would stunt Colorado's economic growth.[9]

While governor, Ammons was accused of favoring the mine owners and companies, particularly John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s Colorado Fuel & Iron, during the 1913 to 1914 strike and civil unrest known as the Colorado Coalfield War.[12]

Ammons left office on January 12, 1915, and retired from public service.[3]

Personal life

On January 29, 1889, Ammons married Elizabeth Fleming in Denver, Colorado. They had five children, including Bruce, Elizabeth, Teller.[3][8][13]

Ammons had contracted a severe case of the measles that permanently impaired his eyesight.[3][13]

Ammons' son Bruce Ammons became a rancher in Grand County, Colorado. He also secretly married Margaret Gates.[13][14]

Ammons' daughter Elizabeth Ammons, became an accomplished equestrienne. She married Henry Louis Larsen and later became the First Lady of American Samoa and First Lady of Guam.[13] Ammons' son Teller Ammons became a Governor of Colorado.[3]

On May 20, 1925, Ammons died in Denver, Colorado. Ammons was interred at Fairmont Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.[3]

References
  1. Monnett, J. H.; McCarthy, M. (1996). Colorado Profiles: Men and Women Who Shaped the Centennial State. Niwot, Colorado: University of Colorado Press. p. 227. ISBN 0870814397.
  2. Sanford, Albert B. (March 1937). "Memories of Elias M. Ammons". Colorado Magazine. 14: 48.
  3. "Colorado Gov. Elias Milton Ammons". nga.org. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  4. Helen Marsh Wixson, "Equal Suffrage in Colorado" The Era (October 1902): 409.
  5. Bowman, John S. The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995) p. 15
  6. "CO State House - Douglas". ourcampaigns.com. November 4, 1890. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  7. "CO State House - Douglas". ourcampaigns.com. November 8, 1892. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  8. "Ammons, Elias Milton (1860-1925)". politicalgraveyard.com. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  9. McCarthy, G. Michael (January 1977). "Insurgency in Colorado: Elias Ammons and the Anticonservation Impulse". Colorado Magazine. 54: 28.
  10. "CO Governor". ourcampaigns.com. November 5, 1912. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  11. Mehls, Steven F. (1982). The Valley of Opportunity: A History of West-Central Colorado. Denver, Colorado: Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office. p. 191.
  12. Bowman. Dictionary of American Biography. p. 15
  13. "Denver County, History of Colorado, BIOS: AMMONS, Elias Milton (published 1918)". usgwarchives.net. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  14. "Colorado News". Colorado Farm & Ranch (Eads). September 4, 1914. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)()
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