Thomas Fessenden

Thomas Amory Deblois Fessenden (born January 23, 1826 in Portland , Maine , † September 28, 1868 in Auburn , Maine) was an American politician . Between 1862 and 1863 he represented the state of Maine in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Thomas 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) served from 1854 to 1864 as a US Senator and from 1864 to 1865 as US Treasury Secretary . Another brother, Samuel (1815–1882), represented Maine's third electoral district in the US House of Representatives between 1861 and 1863 . Thomas Fessenden was also the uncle of Francis (1839-1907) and James D. Fessenden (1833-1897). Both nephews were generals in the Union Army during the Civil War .

Fessenden attended North Yarmouth Academy and then Dartmouth College in Hanover ( New Hampshire ). He then studied until 1845 at Bowdoin College in Brunswick . After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1848, he began to practice in Mechanic Falls in his new profession. In 1850 he moved his residence and his office to Auburn. Politically, Fessenden became a member of the Republican Party founded in 1854 . In the years 1856 and 1868 he was a delegate to the respective Republican National Conventions , at which John Charles Frémont and Ulysses S. Grant were nominated as presidential candidates. In 1860 and 1868, Thomas Fessenden was elected to the Maine House of Representatives. He was also a district attorney in Androscoggin County from 1861 to 1862 .

After the resignation of Congressman Charles W. Walton , Fessenden was elected as his successor to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC when the by-election was due in the second district of Maine . There he ended the legislature of his predecessor between December 1, 1862 and March 3, 1863. This period was overshadowed by the events of the civil war. In the regular congressional elections of 1862, Thomas Fessenden decided not to run again. After his brief tenure in Congress ended , he returned to practice as a lawyer. He died on September 28, 1868 in his home town of Auburn.

Web links

• Thomas Fessenden in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Thomas Fessenden in the database of Find a Grave (English)