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Born: May 22, 1837
in New York, United States
Died: September 16, 1906, Milwaukee, WI
Occupation: Governor (State)
Source Citation: Dictionary of American Biography and Genealogy
of the Bliss Family in America.
Aaron Thomas Bliss (May 22, 1837 - Sept. 16, 1906), a governor of Michigan, was born at Peterboro, Madison County, N. Y. He was
the seventh child of Lyman Bliss, who traced his ancestry back to Thomas
Bliss, a settler in Hartford, Conn., in 1636. His mother was Ann (Chaffee)
Bliss. From his dry-goods store at Bouckville, Aaron T. Bliss enlisted,
Oct. 1, 1861, in the 10th New York Volunteer Cavalry, and went to the
front as a first lieutenant, becoming captain a year later. Wounded while
stubbornly defending the retreat of Wilson's Raiders, he was captured and
suffered imprisonment in Salisbury, Andersonville, Macon, Charleston, and
Columbia prisons, escaping from the latter in November 1864. Broken health
caused his resignation three months later. In 1865 he went to Saginaw,
Mich., and in the pine forests began a career that took him from a driver
of logging teams to the head of one of the successful lumber firms of the
Saginaw Valley. A paying farm of a thousand acres afforded recreation. His
wife, Allaseba, daughter of Ambrose Phelps of Madison County, N. Y.,
shared both early privations and later success, and in philanthropy had a
life all her own. Taking a leading part in the Michigan department of the
Grand Army of the Republic, Bliss was elected first to the state Senate in
1882, and next as a member of the Fifty-first Congress, 1889-91. He was
defeated for reelection to Congress; but in 1900 he wrested from six
other candidates the Republican nomination for governor. He succeeded the
spectacular H. S. Pingree, and was reelected in 1902. His name is linked
with the establishment of the Indian School at Mt. Pleasant and the
Michigan Soldiers' Home at Grand Rapids. He was a good administrator, and
during his service as governor the educational and charitable interests of
the state advanced steadily. He stood for the equal taxation of railway
properties, and without being a reformer was a sound progressive. His
gifts to Saginaw and to the Methodist Episcopal Church were extensive.
Source Citation: Michigan Biographies
AARON T. BLISS
Senator from Saginaw County, 1883-4; member of Congress from the Eighth
District, 1889-91; Governor of Michigan, 1901-5. Was born May 22, 1837, in
Smithfield, Madison County, N. Y. He was the seventh child of Lyman and
Anna (Chaffee) Bliss. He spent his early life on the farm, obtaining his
education in the little schoolhouse near by. At seventeen he left home and
secured employment in a store, where he remained until the Civil War broke
out and President Lincoln made his second call for troops. He then
enlisted as a private in Co. D, 10th N. Y. Cavalry, taking the oath the
first day of October, 1861. Later he was commissioned Captain. He spent
three years and five months in the service. He was captured at Reem's
Station, Va., and was held for six months as a prisoner of war in the
prisons at Salisbury, North Carolina, Andersonville and Macon, Georgia
Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina. After several fruitless attempts,
he escaped from Columbia prison, Nov. 29, 1864, and finally reaching the
Union lines near Savanna, Dec. 16, nearly starved. In the fall of 1865, he
settled in Saginaw and began his successful career as a lumberman. Mar.
31, 1868, he married Allaseba M. Phelps, of Solsville, Madison County, N.
Y. The scope of his business enterprises gradually enlarged until it
embraced besides the manufacture of lumber and salt, banking, mercantile
and farm enterprises, giving employment to large numbers of men. In
politics a Republican. He served his city as Alderman, Supervisor and
member of the board of Education. In 1882, he represented the 25th
Senatorial District (Saginaw County) in the State Senate. When the board
to organize and locate the Michigan Soldiers’ Home was constituted, he
was made a member and served thereon until he entered the 51st Congress,
representing the Eighth District. While in Congress he
secured the appropriation which resulted in the splendid federal building
which adorns Saginaw, and the Government Indian school at Mt. Pleasant. In
1855 he was appointed aide on the staff of Governor Alger. His long
service in the Grand Army of the Republic was signalized in 1897 by his
election as department commander. He was nominated for Governor at the
Republican Convention held at Grand Rapids in June, 1900, and was elected;
was re-nominated on the first ballot at the convention held in Detroit,
June, 1902, and re-elected. He died at Milwaukee, Sept. 16, 1906. Lineage
| #00001 |
Thomas Bliss and Margaret Hulins of
England and Springfield, MA |
| #00014 |
Samuel Bliss and Mary Leonard of
Springfield, MA |
| #00052 |
Thomas Bliss and Hannah Cadwell of
Springfield, MA |
| #00149 |
Edward Bliss and Rachel Warriner of
Warren, MA |
| #00420 |
Edward Bliss and Hannah Blodgett of
Warren, MA and Smithfield, NY |
| #01161 |
Ephraim Bliss and Polly Keep of
Peterborough, NY |
| #02628 |
Lyman Bliss and Anna M. Chaffee of
Madison County, New York |
| #05378 |
Aaron T. Bliss and Allaseba Morey
Phelps |
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