Ozora P. Stearns


Ozora Pierson Stearns was an American politician.

Early years

Stearns was born January 15, 1831, in De Kalb, New York. He was the tenth of eleven children. In 1833, the Stearns family moved to Madison, Ohio.

Education

Stearn attended Oberlin College, graduated from the University of Michigan in 1858, and from the law department of that university in 1860. He was admitted to the bar in 1860 and commenced practice in Rochester, Minnesota.

Career

Stearns was elected prosecuting attorney of Olmsted County, Minnesota in 1861, formed a law partnership with Charles M. Start in 1863, and served as mayor of Rochester from 1866 to 1868.
He served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a first lieutenant in the 9th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment and later as colonel of the 39th United States Colored Infantry. He led the latter regiment at the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864.
Stearns was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate from Minnesota on January 18, 1871, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Daniel S. Norton. He served in the 41st Congress from January 23, 1871 to March 4, 1871.
In 1872, Stearns moved to Duluth and formed a law partnership with J. D. Ensign. Governor Cushman Kellogg Davis appointed Stearns as a judge of the eleventh judicial district of Minnesota in 1874. He was re-elected three times, serving until 1895. According to Stearns, when he began as a judge, "there was not a court-house in the district. We held court where we could— in churches, in stores, school-houses, and sometimes in places not quite so respected."
Stearns also served as a regent of the University of Minnesota, president and treasurer of the Lakeside Land company, director in the West Duluth Land company, the Duluth Electric Light and Power company, the Masonic Temple association, the Duluth Building and Loan association and the Duluth Union National bank.

Personal life

Stearns married Sarah Burger Stearns, the first president of the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association. In 1891, he suffered a stroke, and they moved to California in 1894 because of his failing health. He died in Pacific Beach, California on June 2, 1896. His remains were cremated in Los Angeles, California and the ashes interred in Forest Hill Cemetery, Duluth, Minnesota.