LeBaron Bradford Prince (1840 – 1922)

LeBaron Bradford Prince (July 3, 1840 – December 22, 1922) was the 14th Governor of New Mexico Territory from 1889 to 1893.

Prince was born on July 3, 1840, in Flushing, Queens, New York. His parents were horticulturist William Robert Prince and his wife, Charlotte Goodwin (Collins) Prince. Young Prince started his career working in nurseries run by his father and brother. The nurseries were sold at the end of the Civil War, and he studied law at Columbia University, where he received an LL.B. in 1866.

He was a delegate to Republican National Convention from New York in 1868. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Queens Co., 1st D.) in 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874 and 1875. He was a member of the New York State Senate (1st D.) in 1876 and 1877.

In the Republican National Convention of 1876, he was among those who supported Rutherford B. Hayes over Roscoe Conkling. This resulted him being given the opportunity to be governor of the Territory of Idaho.  He passed on this option, but later became a chief justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court in 1878. He held that position till 1882. In 1883, he became president of the New Mexico Historical Society.  He was Governor of New Mexico Territory from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of New Mexico Territorial Council in 1909 and a delegate to the New Mexico State Constitutional Convention of 1911.

He was a member of the New Mexico Horticultural Society, the Society for the Preservation of Spanish Antiquities, the New Mexico Archaeological Society, the Society of the Cincinnati, Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars and the Protestant Episcopal Church.

In 1879, he married Hattie E. Childs, who died in 1880. In 1881, he married Mary C. Beardsley. They had one child.  Prince died on December 22, 1922, in Queens, New York.

Source: Wikipedia