William Montague Ferry, Jr.

William Montague Ferry, Jr. (July 8, 1824 – January 2, 1905) was a Michigan and Utah politician and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Ferry was born in the Mission House on Mackinac Island, Michigan, as the first son of the Reverend William Montague Ferry and Amanda White Ferry. In the 1830s, the family founded Ferrysburg, Michigan and in 1834 founded and moved to Grand Haven, Michigan.

In August 1861, Ferry joined the Fourteenth Michigan Infantry, and served during the American Civil War, eventually being made a major and lieutenant-colonel in 1865.

In 1871, Ferry's brother Thomas W. Ferry—who was a Republican—was elected by the Michigan Legislature as a United States Senator for Michigan. As a result, Thomas Ferry vacated his seat in the House of Representatives for Michigan's 4th congressional district, and William ran as the Democratic Party nominee in a special election for the seat. William Ferry lost the election to Republican Wilder D. Foster by a 58%–42% margin.

In the 1872 election, Ferry was the nominee of the Democratic Party for governor of Michigan. He received only 1.2% of the vote, losing badly to Republican John J. Bagley (61.9%), and also trailing Liberal Republican and former governor Austin Blair (36.3%). The following year, Bagley appointed Ferry as a member of the committee charged with revising the constitution of Michigan.

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