Members of the Wyoming Constitutional Convention on the steps of the Capitol Building, 1889 (WSA Sub Neg 1671)

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention

	Name	Party	County	Occupation	Age	Notes
	Noyes Baldwin	Democrat	Fremont	Merchant	63	Did not attend regularly and did not sign the final document
	Merris C. Barrow	Republican	Converse	Newspaperman	32
	Cornelius Boulware		Sheridan			Elected but did not attend
	Melville C. Brown	Republican	Albany	Lawyer/politician	51
	George W. Baxter	Democrat	Laramie	Cattleman	34
	Charles W. Burdick	Republican	Carbon	Rancher	29
	Charles H. Burritt	Democrat	Johnson	Lawyer	35
	Robert C. Butler	Republican	Carbon	Cattleman	32
	Anthony C. Campbell	Democrat	Laramie	US Attorney for Wyoming Territory	36
	James A. Casebeer	Republican	Carbon	Newspaper editor
	William E. Chaplin	Republican	Albany	Newspaperman	29
	Clarence D. Clark	Republican	Uinta	Attorney	38
	Henry A. Coffeen	Democrat	Sheridan	Merchant	48
	Asbury B. Conaway	Republican	Sweetwater	Attorney	52
	John C. Davis		Carbon			Elected but did not attend
	Stephen W. Downey	Republican	Albany	Attorney	50	Did not attend regularly and did not sign the final document
	Henry S. Elliott	Democrat	Johnson	Attorney	31
	George Ferris	Republican	Carbon	Mining		Did not attend regularly and did not sign the final document
	Frank M. Foote	Republican	Uinta	State Land Office Registrar	43
	George W. Fox	Republican	Albany		51
	Meyer Frank	Democrat	Crook	Merchant	35
	Mortimer N. Grant	Republican	Albany	Wyoming Territorial Auditor	38
	Harry G. Hay	Republican	Laramie	Stockman	42
	Frederick H. Harvey	Democrat	Converse	Attorney	31	Selected by the Converse County Democratic Convention to fill the place of Nat Baker, who could not attend, who had been chosen to fill the place of J.K. Calkins who could not attend.
	Charles W. Holden	Republican	Uinta	Rancher	51
	Mark Hopkins	Republican	Sweetwater	Coal Mine Superintendent	29
	John W. Hoyt	Republican	Albany	President of University of Wyoming	58
	John K. Jeffrey	Republican	Laramie		46
	Jonathan Jones	Republican	Uinta	Rancher	37
	John McGill	Republican	Albany	Rancher	44	Did not attend regularly and did not sign the final document
	Thomas H. Moore		Crook			Elected but did not attend
	Herman G. Nickerson	Republican	Fremont	County Treasurer & Probate Judge	48
	Caleb P. Organ	Democrat	Laramie
	Louis J. Palmer	Democrat	Sweetwater	Lawyer
	Charles N. Potter	Republican	Laramie	Board of Education	37
	Douglas A. Preston	Democrat	Fremont	Lawyer	31
	Thomas R. Reid	Democrat	Laramie	UPRR employee	50
	DeForest Richards	Republican		Cattleman/Merchant	43	Selected by the Converse County Republican Convention to fill the place of M.B. Camplin who could not attend
	John A. Riner	Republican	Laramie	Lawyer	39
	William N. Robinson		Sheridan			Elected but did not attend
	John L. Russell	Democrat	Uinta
	Richard H. Scott	Republican	Crook	Lawyer	31
	George C. Smith	Republican	Carbon	Lawyer	47
	Joseph L. Stotts		Crook			Elected but did not attend
	W.N. Strowbridge		Carbon			Elected but did not attend
	Alexander L. Sutherland	Republican	Albany		28
	Hubert E. Teschemacher	Republican	Laramie	Stockman	33
	Charles L. Vagner	Republican	Carbon	Cattleman/Banker	40

Opposition to Statehood

Not everyone in Wyoming Territory supported statehood. Some residents of northern counties did not believe they were fairly represented in Territorial government or that Wyoming was ready for statehood. Several of the delegates elected from Sheridan, Converse and Crook counties did not attend the convention. The Sheridan and Johnson County conventions instructed their delegates to oppose drafting of the constitution at the convention. Henry A. Coffeen, the only delegate from Sheridan County, made this duty known to the convention, but the delegates from Johnson County tactfully ignored his half-hearted motion and the convention continued.

Big Horn Sentinel July 13, 1889 p2

Additional Resources

• "We, The People of Wyoming: Wyoming's Constitution at 125", online exhibit by Wyoming State Archives, 2015 (accessed March 2018)
• "Wyoming Becomes a State: The Constitutional Convention and Statehood Debates of 1889 and 1890 — and Their Aftermath" by Phil Roberts, on WyoHistory.org (accessed March 2018)
• Journals and Debates of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Wyoming, 1889 (accessed March 2018 on the Internet Archive)
• "The Making of the Wyoming Constitution" by W.E. Chaplin, William A. Richards Family Papers, Collection 00118, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. Digital images available (accessed March 2018)
• "Reminiscences of a Member of the Wyoming Constitutional Convention" by W.E. Chaplin, Annals of Wyoming July 1940, Vol. 12 No. 3, p.190-198 (accessed March 2018)
• "A Memorial to the Members of the Constitutional Convention of Wyoming" Annals of Wyoming July 1940, Vol. 12 No. 3, p.165-188. (accessed March 2018) - this article contains brief biographies of the delegates