[3] He studied at Ohio Wesleyan University where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi.

[8] He attended the Republican National Convention in 1860 in Chicago, where Abraham Lincoln was nominated for president.

[7] Elbert was appointed Secretary of the Colorado Territory that year by Abraham Lincoln.

[4] Elbert was appointed as the sixth Governor of the Colorado Territory by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1873.

Elbert and Grant visited Central City, and met with a group of Ute leaders to create a treaty (Brunot Treaty of 1873) that would allow some of the Ute's land to be accessible to railroad and mining companies.

[6] Elbert spent a year in Europe, during which he became aware of the political and social conditions there.

[7] After a two-year courtship, Elbert married 18 year old Josephine Evans in June 1865.

She was the daughter of Territorial Governor John Evans[9] and Hannah Pedrick Canby.

Josephine gave birth to their only child, John Evans Elbert about late March 1868.

[11] After having been in failing health for some time,[12] Elbert died on November 27, 1899, in Galveston, Texas[7] and is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Denver,[3] as are Josephine and their son John.

[13] Grateful miners named Mount Elbert after the governor because he facilitated a treaty with the Ute tribe, which opened up more than 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km2) of Indian reservation to mining and railroad activity.