Ozora Pierson Stearns (January 15, 1831June 2, 1896) was an American politician and attorney. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. senator from the state of Minnesota. Prior to his election to the Senate, he served as mayor of Rochester, Minnesota, and county attorney of Olmsted County. He was a Colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
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. He was admitted to the bar in 1860 and commenced practice in Rochester, Minnesota.
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 3, 1871.
In 1872, Stearns moved to Duluth and formed a law partnership with J. D. Ensign (future mayor of Duluth). 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 (1890–1895), 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.