William A. Jayne was a medical doctor and served as Abraham Lincoln's personal physician in Springfield, Illinois. He also served as mayor of Springfield from 1859 to 1861. He became a member of the Illinois State Senate in 1860, and resigned in 1861 to accept the appointment of governor of Dakota Territory from President Lincoln.

After resigning as territorial governor, Dr. Jayne returned to Illinois, serving as a congressional representative for a year. He returned to his medical practice in Springfield and served three more terms as mayor of that city.

Present-day Yankton, South Dakota, served as the first capitol of Dakota Territory. The first governor's residence was a small log cabin.

Governor Jayne was from Illinois. He served as President Lincoln's personal physician.

First Territorial capitol in present-day Yankton, South Dakota.

Governor Edmunds grew up in New York, and in 1832 his family moved to Michigan. Edmunds came to Yankton in 1861 where he became chief clerk in the surveyor general's office.

Edmunds was notified of his appointment as territorial governor by President Lincoln on October 17, 1863. He took the oath of office on November 2, 1863. His most important contribution was participating in the 1865 and 1866 negotiation of treaties with the Sioux and other tribal groups along the Missouri. The territorial governor also served as superintendent of Indian affairs for Dakota Territory. Upon his return from a peace mission on August 8, 1866, he was replaced as governor, as a result of political quarreling between President Andrew Johnson and radical Republicans.

Edmunds continued to live in Yankton where he was active in civic life. He helped to organize the first church, took an active part in building the first school, and also helped in the establishment of an academy. He was head of a banking firm which he organized in 1869. His interest in political matters continued and he was a member of the Territorial Council in 1879.

Governor Edmunds participated in the negotiation of Indian treaties.

Andrew Jackson Faulk trained as a newspaper man, studied law, and was a leader in Democratic politics. During his administration Governor Faulk promoted Euro-American settlement in Dakota Territory, and urged the opening of Indian-owned lands in the Black Hills to Euro-American settlers.

After serving as territorial governor, Faulk was appointed clerk of District Court of Dakota Territory. He was also appointed trustee of the Dakota Asylum for the Insane.

Faulk promoted reneging on Indian treaties so that Euro-Americans could settle on Indian-owned land.

John A. Burbank began in the merchandising business with his father in Indiana. He was a rather unpopular governor, partly because of his long absences from Dakota. His administration was a time of turmoil as more and more Euro-American settlers began pouring into the area and Native Americans were forced onto reservations. Railroads entered the state at Fargo and were built as far as the Missouri during Burbank's administration.

After serving as territorial governor, Burbank served as United States Post Office Inspector at Richmond, Indiana.

The Northern Pacific Railroad entered Dakota Territory at Fargo during Burbank's administration. The tracks reached Bismarck by 1873.

Governor Pennington received his education in common schools at New Berne, North Carolina. There is no evidence that he continued his formal education at a college or university. He spent most of his adult life in the newspaper publishing business. During the Civil War, Pennington remained in the South, but he supported the Union.

The discovery of gold in the Black Hills was one of the major events of Pennington's governorship. The Black Hills - sacred ground to the Sioux - were supposed to be off-limits to Euro- Americans. Once news of the gold discovery became known, settlers rushed to the area in disregard of the Fort Laramie Treaty that promised the Black Hills to the Sioux.

Severe infestations of grasshoppers ruined crops in Dakota Territory during the summers of 1874, 1875, and 1876. Governor Pennington refused to believe that the grasshopper menace was a bad as was reported. He stated that financial aid would "demoralize the people and make mendicancy honorable among some classes."

In 1878 President Rutherford B. Hayes denied Pennington's reappointment to the office of governor. Pennington became collector of internal revenue for Dakota Territory. He established the Weekly Telegram newspaper at Yankton in 1885.

Lt. Colonel George A. Custer's Black Hills Expedition of 1874 touched off a gold rush to the Black Hills, even though Euro-American settlement of this area was strictly prohibited by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868.

William Alanson Howard trained as a cabinetmaker at Albion, New York, while going to school. After graduation from Middlebury Academy in Vermont, he taught for one year. He relocated to Michigan, was admitted to the bar in 1842, and practiced law in Detroit for twelve years. He was elected to Congress, and became a ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Howard suffered poor health all his life. He accepted the appointment of governor in hopes of improving his health. In the winter of 1879 he became very ill, and died in April 1880, of neuralgia of the heart and complications from lung trouble. He was the first territorial governor to die in office.

During his administration, Governor Howard was particularly concerned with charitable and penal institutions.

Howard was an attorney, and served in Congress prior to his appointment as Territorial Governor. He died in office.

Governor Ordway's administration was highlighted by tremendous growth in population, towns, counties, and railroads. From 1879 to 1884 the population more than doubled as Euro-American settlers rushed into Dakota Territory.

Ordway's administration was plagued by favoritism and corrupt practices. The territorial capitol was moved from Yankton to Bismarck during Ordway's terms of office.

In 1884 a grand jury indicted Ordway for corrupt practices in office. He was removed from office and President Chester A. Arthur appointed Chicago writer Gilbert A. Pierce the next Dakota Territory governor. Ordway became a special agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad, in charge of its Washington lobby.

The new territorial capitol in Bismarck was under construction by 1883. This building was a scaled back version of a more stately plan. A south wing was added in 1893 and a north addition was completed in 1903.

Governor Gilbert Ashville Pierce served in the Civil War, practiced law for three years in Indiana, and entered the field of journalism. He served as editor of the Chicago Inter Ocean, and was editor of the Chicago News when he was appointed Dakota Territory governor by President Chester A. Arthur. In 1891 he returned to newspaper work, purchasing a half interest in the Minneapolis Tribune. He moved on to Chicago's Post Times and Herald in 1893.

Governor Pierce vetoed a bill to move the territorial capitol away from Bismarck. He also vetoed a measure that would have given women the power of the vote.

Governor Pierce was a professional journalist. He vetoed a women's suffrage bill for Dakota Territory.

Louis Kossuth Church was the first Democratic governor of Dakota Territory. His political career began in 1882, in the New York state legislature, where he and Republican Theodore Roosevelt became friends and allies. Together these two young legislators helped then New York Governor Grover Cleveland defeat the forces of Tammany Hall.

When Cleveland became president, he remembered Church's political assistance. He appointed Church judge of the Third District of Dakota Territory in 1885. Two years later, he appointed Church governor of Dakota Territory. Church remained in office until Cleveland was succeeded by Harrison as president.

As New York state legislators, Louis Church and Theodore Roosevelt helped (then) Governor Grover Cleveland defeat Tammany Hall.

Governor Mellette came to Dakota of his own accord, rather than as a presidential appointment. He served in the Civil War, then studied and practiced law in Indiana. Mellette came to Springfield, Dakota Territory, in an attempt to improve his wife's poor health. From 1878 to 1883 he served as register of the Land Office at Springfield and then Watertown.

Mellette served as governor seven months before statehood. When the territory split into North Dakota and South Dakota, he became the first governor of South Dakota, and John Miller became governor of North Dakota.

Arthur Calvin Mellette was the last Territorial governor. When statehood split the Territory, Mellette became the first governor of South Dakota.

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