Ozora Pierson Stearns (1831-1896)

Portrait from the Stearns Genealogy and Memoirs, Vol. II, 1901.

  Native New Yorker Ozora Pierson Stearns found success in business and politics in Minnesota, where he resettled in the early 1860s. Regarded by this author as an "old guard" strange name political figure ( his name being found via the Congressional Biographical Dictionary in 2000), Stearns served as Olmsted county attorney and as mayor of Rochester, Minnesota before fleeting involvement on the national political stage in 1871, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy. Three years later he was appointed as a Minnesota district court judge and served twenty years on the bench.

  Born in the small St. Lawrence County town of De Kalb, New York on January 15, 1831, Ozora Pierson Stearns was one of eleven children born to Asaph and Lovisa (Smith) Stearns. The origins behind his unusual first name remain unknown at this time, and at one year old survived an injury at home that saw his feet severely burned after walking on hot coals. Saved from further harm by his parents, Stearns' feet were remarked as having been "thoroughly cooked", and was "carried three weeks in the arms of his parents and others" following the incident. Stearns would still bear the scars of that burning late into his life.

  At age two Stearns removed with his family to Lake County, Ohio. His formative years were spent on his family's farm and his early education was obtained largely at home. Resolving to better himself, Stearns hired himself out for farm work in 1848 and after accumulating enough income enrolled at the Madison Seminary, where he earned a teaching certificate. He taught a term at a district school in the winter of 1848-49 and in the last-named year began a trek to Chicago via wagon, and later resided with a brother in Monroe, Wisconsin, where he worked in the lead mines and farming. 

  Following a stint teaching school in Wisconsin, Stearns relocated back to Ohio in 1850 and worked his father's farm, while also teaching in the district school. Embued with a case of wanderlust, Stearns caught the Gold Rush bug, and in December 1852 began the trek to California via the Isthmus of Panama. Taken ill during the journey, he arrived in Diamond Springs, Calfornia in January 1853 and would stake a claim near Placerville. His stay in California extended several months and, having accumulated one thousand dollars, returned to Ohio, where he enrolled at the Grand River Institute in Austinburg. His time at that institution extended from 1853-54, and during his studies caused a minor uproar by attending a prohibited Oddfellows lecture, which subsequently drew the ire of the school's president. 

  Ozora Stearns later attended Oberlin College from 1854-55 and in 1856 enrolled at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. It was during his time in Michigan that Stearns joined the nascent Republican Party, taking to the campaign trail to deliver speeches for the candidacy of John C. Fremont and William Lewis Dayton, the first-ever Republican candidates for president and vice-president. Graduating from the University of Michigan's literary department in 1858, Stearns returned to that school to begin law studies and earned his law degree in 1860.

  Following his graduation, Stearns relocated to Rochester, Minnesota where he opened his first law practice, and soon became active in Republican circles in that area. In late 1861 he entered politics for the first time when, without his solicitation, he was nominated for county attorney of Olmsted County. He would win that election and served until 1862, when he joined the ongoing war effort, being commissioned as a second lieutenant and raised a company of volunteers, Co. F. of the 9th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. In short order, Stearns was made first lieutenant, and by late 1862 was serving as adjutant general at Ft. Ridgely in southwestern Minnesota.

Ozora Stearns, courtesy of the Congressional Bioguide webpage.

   On February 18, 1863, Ozora Pierson Stearns married to Sarah Burger (1836-1904), one of the first women to apply for admission to Stearns' alma mater, the University of Michigan. The couple would have four children, Susan May (born 1867), Parker (died in infancy in 1868), Victor Alonzo (born 1870), and Stella Burger (born 1872). Following their wedding Sarah Stearns went on to prominence as a social reformer, being a founder of the Minnesota Women's Suffrage Association. She would serve as that group's first president (1881-83) and also was a candidate for public office, successfully winning election to the Duluth, Minnesota school board.

  Stearns' later service in the Civil War saw him promoted to Colonel of the 39th Regiment, U.S. Colored Infantry, that had been organized in Baltimore, Maryland in March 1864. Stearns and this regiment would see action on the last day of the Battle of the Wilderness and had further action during the siege of Petersburg and the following Battle of the Crater under General Ambrose Burnside. In January 1865 the 39th took part in the bombardment and subsequent capture of Fort Fisher in North Carolina, and Stearns himself would remain in service well after the surrender of General Lee, being "in command of the forts at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, headquarters at Smithville."  

  Mustered out at Baltimore in December of 1865, Ozora Stearns returned to Rochester, Minnesota, and was soon after returned to the office of Olmsted County Attorney for a second term. In 1866 he was elected as mayor of Rochester (serving until 1868) and in 1866 and 1868 was even promoted as a potential candidate for Congress. While still serving as mayor Stearns was named as a U.S. Register in Bankruptcy for Minnesota's 2nd district in 1867, and in 1870 achieved his highest degree of political prominence when a vacancy occurred in the U.S. Senate due to the death of Minnesota senator Daniel S. Norton.  In January 1871 the Minnesota legislature appointed Stearns to fill that vacancy and he held his senate seat until March 3. While his service may have been brief, Stearns had an impact in that body, being:

"Successful in getting through several bills for the relief of Minnesota soldiers. His bearing in the senate was such as to secure the good-will of his fellow senators, and he got bills through that old senators declared no other senator on the floor could have gotten through."

Portrait courtesy of the Rochester Public Library.

  A year after the conclusion of his senate term Ozora Stearns and his family removed to Duluth, Minnesota, where Stearns would establish a law practice with Josiah D. Ensign, who'd later win election as mayor of that city in 1881. Their practice continued until 1874, and in that year Stearns was tapped by then-Governor Cushman K. Davis to serve as a judge for the recently established 11th Judicial District of Minnesota. Entering into his duties in January 1874, he would win a second term as judge in 1881 and a third in 1888. He retired in January 1894, having served twenty years on the bench, and was later lauded as a: 

"True son of the people, he ever retained the pure and simple habits and stury patriotsm of his youth, and warmly espoused every measure which would advance the best interests of the people."

   In addition to political and judicial service, Stearns would serve as a regent for the University of Minnesota from 1890-95 and held directorships in the Duluth Electric Light and Power Company, the Duluth Building and Loan Association, and the Duluth Union National Bank. In the final years of his life Stearns and his wife wintered in California, and in 1895 permanently removed to that state. He purchased a lemon ranch in Pacific Beach and would reside there until his death on June 2, 1896, aged 65. He was later cremated and his ashes returned to Minnesota for inurnment at the Forest Hills Cemetery in Duluth. 

From the Worthington, Minnesota Advance, June 11, 1896.