amUSIngArtifacts

*Post written by James Wethington, library assistant of the University Archives and Special Collections.

Born in Mt. Vernon in 1821, his parents died when he was young; however, he studied law and passed the bar in 1843.  He served in the United States Army during the Mexican-American War and American Civil War.  His career grew when Hovey was elected as a delegate for the Constitutional Convention in 1850 for Indiana’s new constitution.  He would go on to be an Indiana Supreme Court Justice (1854-1855), US Ambassador to Peru (1866-1870), US House Representative for Indiana (1887-1889), and Governor of Indiana (1889-1891). He died during his term as governor on November 23, 1891.