Nehemiah Green
Politician, governor. Republican. Born: March 8, 1837, Hardin County, Ohio. Died: January 12, 1890, Manhattan, Kansas. Served as fourth governor of Kansas from November 4, 1868, to January 11, 1869.
He was elected lieutenant governor in November 1866 and became governor two years later upon the resignation of Samuel Crawford.
Nehemiah Green was born in Grassy Point Township, Hardin County, Ohio, on March 8, 1837, to Shepard and Mary A. Fisher Green. His had four brothers and four sisters. He was educated at a subscription school in Logan County, Ohio, and at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. He served as a private and later first lieutenant in the Union Army during the Civil War from 1861 until 1864. He was also a sergeant major in the Ohio National Guard.
Green first arrived in the Kansas Territory in 1855 with several of his brothers to claim property near Baldwin City for a small business venture. He returned to Ohio in 1857 to join the Methodist ministry and later was sent to serve as minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Manhattan, Kansas.
At the Kansas Republican Party convention in 1866 Green was nominated to be lieutenant governor under Governor Samuel J. Crawford; both were elected. When Crawford resigned the governorship to command the 19th Kansas Cavalry, Green became governor for the final 69 days of Crawford’s term, during which period the state legislature was not in session. After his short gubernatorial stint, Green became presiding elder (district superintendent) of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Manhattan District.
In 1873 became a regent and taught military drill tactics at Kansas State Agricultural College, now Kansas State University. He was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1880 and served as speaker pro-tem until 1882. Green in Clay County was named for him and he provided the bell for the community's first church. Green was married twice and had five children.
He died in Manhattan on January 12, 1890, after a long illness incurred while serving in the army. He is buried at Sunset Cemetery in Manhattan.
Entry: Green, Nehemiah
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: June 2011
Date Modified: February 2017
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
