Henry R. Pease
Henry Roberts Pease was an American lawyer, educator, and politician who served as a United States senator for Mississippi from 1874 to 1875. He also served as the state's first superintendent of education and was a member of the Dakota Senate">Dakota Territory">Dakota Senate for one term.
Early life and education
Henry R. Pease was born in Winsted, Connecticut on February 19, 1835, a son of Sylvanus Pease and Emeline Pease. Pease attended the local schools and Goshen [Historic District (Goshen, Connecticut)|Goshen Academy] in Goshen, Connecticut. He taught school beginning in 1848, then decided on a legal career. He studied law, was Admission to [the bar in the United States|admitted to the bar] in 1859 and commenced practice in Washington, D.C.Career
During the Civil War, he entered the Union Army as a private in 1862 and attained the rank of captain; he was superintendent of education of Louisiana while that state was under military rule and was appointed superintendent of education of freedmen in Mississippi in 1867. In 1869, he was elected state superintendent of education of Mississippi.Pease was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Adelbert Ames and served from February 3, 1874, to March 3, 1875. He chose not to run for reelection. In 1875, he was appointed postmaster of Vicksburg, Mississippi by President Ulysses S. Grant, and he established and edited the Mississippi Educational Journal.
Pease moved to Dakota in 1881 and settled in Watertown where he was receiver of the United [States General Land Office] from 1881 to 1885. From 1895 to 1897 he served one term as a member of the South Dakota Senate, representing the 34th district.