Woodbridge N. Ferris

Woodbridge Nathan Ferris (January 6, 1853March 23, 1928) was an American educator from New York, Illinois and Michigan who served as the 28th governor of Michigan and in the United States Senate as a Democrat. He was the founder and namesake of Ferris State University. Early life in New York, Michigan and Illinois Ferris was born to John Ferris Jr. and Estella (Reed) Ferris in a log cabin near Spencer, New York, and attended the academies of Spencer, Candor, and Owego, and the Oswego Normal Training School (now State University of New York at Oswego) from 1870 to 1873. He went to the medical department of the University of Michigan from 1873 to 1874. In April 1874, Ferris returned to his home state and on December 23 in Fulton, he married Helen Frances Gillespie (born September 7, 1853). The couple had three sons: Carleton Gillespie (1876–1961), Clifford Wendell (1881, died just after three months), and Phelps Fitch (1889–1935). Ferris taught at Spencer Academy from 1874 to 1875. He then moved to Freeport, Illinois, and became principal of the Freeport Business College and Academy from 1875 to 1876 and then principal of the Normal Department of the Rock River University, 1876-1877. Then he taught in Dixon, Illinois, where he was also co-founder of the Dixon Business College and Academy, 1877–1879. Ferris then became superintendent of schools in Pittsfield, Illinois, from 1879 to 1884.