Governor Henry G. Blasdel

January 29, 1825 - July 26, 1900.

1st Governor of Nevada.

Governor Blasdel was born in 1825 in Indiana, married and had three children. Unique among Nevada governors, Henry Blasdel served as as our state governor during the American Civil War and the first years of the war's reconstruction era.

Blasdel had originally worked as a farmer, storekeeper, and river boat captain, occupations far removed from anything remotely linked to politics. Yet despite having very little education growing up, he was appointed Storey County Recorder upon arriving to Nevada in 1861 and later served on the National Union League Committee which notified President Abraham Lincoln of his re-nomination. His interest in mining grew, so much to the point that he'd dominated the Republican gubernatorial nomination on the Comstock. He was elected Governor in 1864, then re-elected again in 1866. Perhaps most important about Blasdel's tenure was the organization of the state's government system. Additional land was also ceded to the state and plans were made (from Abraham Curry's land plot) for the first state capitol building.

After his productive governorship, Blasdel retired from political life and moved his family to Oakland in 1891. His work in mining and milling continued up to his death in 1900. Today, he is interred at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.