Albion K. Parris

Albion K. Parris

Albion Keith Parris (born January 19, 1788 in Hebron , Massachusetts , † February 11, 1857 in Portland , Maine ) was an American lawyer and politician ( Democratic Republican Party ) and from 1822 to 1827 Governor of Maine. He also represented this state in the US Senate from 1827 to 1828 .

Early years and political advancement

Born in what is now Maine, Albion Parris attended Dartmouth College until 1806 . After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1809. He then became a prosecutor in Oxford County . Between 1813 and 1814 Parris was also a member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts ; then he sat in the State Senate until 1815 . He was then a member of the US House of Representatives in Washington from 1815 to 1818 .

After his tenure in Congress was over, Parris became a federal appeals judge for the Maine District, which was then part of Massachusetts. He held this office until 1820. As early as 1819 he was a member of an assembly that was supposed to draft the constitution of the new state of Maine. Maine broke away from Massachusetts in 1820 and joined the Union as a separate state. From 1820 to 1821 Parris was a probate judge in Cumberland County . In 1821 he was elected the new governor of Maine, with 52.8 percent of the vote well ahead of the federalist Ezekiel Whitman .

Governor of Maine

After multiple re-elections, Parris was able to serve as governor between January 5, 1822 and January 3, 1827. During this time the state and its economy experienced a tremendous upswing. Parris negotiated unsuccessfully with the British in the northeast over disputed border issues with Canada and also had to come to an agreement with the state of Massachusetts over old property rights. The border conflict with Canada was to drag on until 1842 and only ended with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty . After his appointment as a US Senator in 1827, Parris stepped down from the office of governor.

Another résumé

Parris was a senator in the US Congress from 1827 to 1828. After he was offered a position as a judge at the Maine Supreme Judicial Court , he resigned his mandate and served from 1828 to 1836 at that court. From 1836 to 1850 he was an employee of the US Treasury Department ( Second Comptroller of the Treasury ). He held his last political office in 1852 as mayor of the city of Portland. After the attempt for re-election to this office had failed, Parris withdrew from the public. He died on February 11, 1857. Albion Parris was married to Sara Whitman, with whom he had five children.

Web links

• Albion Parris in the National Governors Association (English)
• Albion K. Parris in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• The governors of Maine (English)
• Albion K. Parris in the database of Find a Grave (English)