Sylvester Pennoyer

Sylvester Pennoyer
8th Governor of Oregon
In office
January 12, 1887 – January 14, 1895
Preceded byZenas Ferry Moody
Succeeded byWilliam Paine Lord
30th Mayor of Portland, Oregon
In office
1896–1898
Preceded byGeorge P. Frank
Succeeded byWilliam S. Mason
Personal details
Born(1831-07-06)July 6, 1831
Groton, New York
DiedMay 30, 1902(1902-05-30) (aged 70)
Portland, Oregon
Political partyDemocrat-People's[1]
Spouse
Mary A. Allen
(m. 1856)
Childrenfive
OccupationPolitician, lawyer

Sylvester Pennoyer (July 6, 1831 – May 30, 1902) was an American educator, attorney, and politician in Oregon. He was born in Groton, New York, attended Harvard Law School, and moved to Oregon at age 25. A Democrat, he served two terms as the eighth Governor of Oregon from 1887 to 1895. He joined the Populist cause in the early 1890s and became the second Populist Party state governor in history. He was noted for his political radicalism, his opposition to the conservative Bourbon Democracy of President Grover Cleveland, his support for labor unions, and his opposition to the Chinese in Oregon. He was also noted for his prickly attitude toward both U.S. Presidents whose terms overlapped his own -- Benjamin Harrison and Cleveland, whom he once famously told via telegram to mind his own business.

He later served as mayor of Portland from 1896 to 1898.

  1. ^ "Earliest Authorities in Oregon Oregon" (PDF). Oregon Blue Book. Oregon State Archives. Retrieved 9 February 2010.