Samuel C. Fessenden

Samuel C. Fessenden
Samuel C. Fessenden
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; from Maine's 3rd district
	In office; March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by	Ezra B. French
Succeeded by	James G. Blaine
Personal details
Born	March 7, 1815; New Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	April 18, 1882 (aged 67); Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Resting place	Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine, U.S.
Political party	Republican Party
Spouse	Mary Abigail Grosvenor Abbe
Children	Joshua Abbe Fessenden; Samuel Fessenden;
Parent	Samuel Fessenden (father);
Relatives	William Pitt Fessenden (brother); T.A.D. Fessenden (brother); Francis Fessenden (nephew); James D. Fessenden (nephew);
Alma mater	Bowdoin College (1834); Bangor Theological Seminary (1837);
Occupation	Pastor; Newspaper proprietor; Lawyer; Judge; Patent examiner; Diplomat;

Samuel Clement Fessenden (March 7, 1815 – April 18, 1882) was an American abolitionist and United States Congressman from Maine.^[1]

Early life and education

Born in New Gloucester, Massachusetts (now in Maine), Samuel Fessenden graduated from Bowdoin College in 1834 and from Bangor Theological Seminary in 1837.

Family

Samuel Clement Fessenden was the son of prominent abolitionist Samuel Fessenden and brother of Treasury Secretary William Pitt Fessenden and Congressman T. A. D. Fessenden. He was an uncle of Union Army generals Francis Fessenden and James D. Fessenden.

Samuel C. Fessenden married Mary Abigail Grosvenor Abbe. Their son, Joshua Abbe Fessenden, who was born in Rockland, Maine, served in the United States Cavalry beginning in 1862 and was wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga. His other son, Samuel, also born in Rockland, was appointed 2nd lieutenant in the 5th Maine battery on January 18, 1865, and was a lawyer and politician in Stamford, Connecticut.

Career

He was ordained and installed as pastor of the Second Congregational Church of Thomaston, Maine, from 1837 to 1856. He then established the Maine Evangelist and began to study law. He was admitted to the bar and began practicing in 1858, eventually becoming judge of the Rockland municipal court.^[2]

He was elected as a Republican to the 37th Congress, serving from March 4, 1861, to March 3, 1863. During his time as a congressman, he continued to be a staunch Unionist and opponent of slavery.^[3] After leaving office, he served as an examiner in the United States Patent Office from 1865 to 1879 and then the United States consul at Saint John, New Brunswick, from 1879 to 1881.^{[citation needed]}

Death

Fessenden died in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1882. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine.^[4]

References

^ Court, Connecticut Supreme; Errors, Connecticut Supreme Court of (1908). Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Errors of the State of Connecticut. State of Connecticut. p. 725.
^ "Bioguide Search". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 2022-07-17.
^ Fessenden, Samuel Clement (1862). Issues of the rebellion. Speech of Hon S.C. Fessenden, of Maine. Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 20, 1862. The Library of Congress. Washington, D.C., Scammell & Co., printers.
^ "FESSENDEN, Samuel Clement | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved 2022-07-17.

Sources

United States Congress. "Samuel C. Fessenden (id: F000097)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Fessenden, Samuel" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Ezra B. French	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 3rd congressional district March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863	Succeeded by James G. Blaine