Samuel C. Fessenden

Samuel C. Fessenden

Samuel Clement Fessenden (born March 7, 1815 in New Gloucester , Massachusetts , †  April 18, 1882 in Stamford , Connecticut ) was an American politician . Between 1861 and 1863 he represented the state of Maine in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Samuel Fessenden belonged to a well-known family of politicians. His father Samuel (1784-1869) was a member of both houses of the Maine legislature and an early supporter of the anti-slavery movement. His older brother William (1806-1869) was US Senator from 1854 to 1864 and US Treasury Secretary from 1864 to 1865 . The younger brother Thomas (1826-1868) represented the second district of Maine in the US House of Representatives between 1862 and 1863. Samuel Fessenden was also the uncle of Francis (1839-1907) and James Fessenden (1833-1897). Both nephews were generals in the Union Army during the Civil War .

After a good primary education, Samuel Fessenden, born in what is now Maine, attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick until 1834 . He then studied until 1837 in Bangor at the Theological Seminary theology. He then became a clergyman in the Second Congregational Church in Thomaston . He held this office between 1837 and 1856. After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1858, he began to work in his new profession. He then became a judge in the Rockland Municipal Court .

Politically, Fessenden joined the Republican Party . In 1860 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC as their candidate in the third constituency of Maine . There he took over from Ezra B. French on March 4, 1861 . Since he refused to run again in 1862, he was only able to complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1863 . This was determined by the events of the civil war .

Between 1865 and 1879 Fessenden worked for the US Patent Office. From 1879 to 1881 he was an American consul in St. John in Canada New Brunswick . Samuel Fessenden died in Stamford on April 18, 1882.

Web links

• Samuel C. Fessenden in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Samuel C. Fessenden in the database of Find a Grave (English)