Samuel C. Fessenden
{{Short description|American attorney and politician (1815–1882)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|image=Samuel Clement Fessenden (Maine Congressman).jpg
|birth_date={{Birth date|1815|03|07}}
|birth_place=New Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.
|death_date={{Death date and age|1882|04|18|1815|03|07}}
|alma_mater={{Unbulleted list|Bowdoin College (1834)|Bangor Theological Seminary (1837)}}
|occupation={{hlist|Pastor|Newspaper proprietor|Lawyer|Judge|Patent examiner|Diplomat}}
|party=Republican Party
|father=Samuel Fessenden
|spouse= Mary Abigail Grosvenor Abbe
|relatives={{Unbulleted list|William Pitt Fessenden (brother)|T.A.D. Fessenden (brother)|Francis Fessenden (nephew)|James D. Fessenden (nephew)}}
|state=Maine
|district=3rd
|term_start=March 4, 1861
|term_end=March 3, 1863
|predecessor=Ezra B. French
|successor=James G. Blaine
|children={{Unbulleted list|Joshua Abbe Fessenden|Samuel Fessenden}}
|death_place=Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
|resting_place=Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine, U.S.
}}
Samuel Clement Fessenden (March 7, 1815 – April 18, 1882) was an American abolitionist and United States Congressman from Maine.{{Cite book |last1=Court |first1=Connecticut Supreme |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J24sAQAAMAAJ |title=Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Errors of the State of Connecticut |last2=Errors |first2=Connecticut Supreme Court of |date=1908 |publisher=State of Connecticut |pages=725 |language=en}}
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
{{Unsourced | section|date=April 2024}}
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.{{Cite web |title=Bioguide Search |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/F000097 |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=bioguide.congress.gov}}
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.{{Cite book |last=Fessenden |first=Samuel Clement |url=http://archive.org/details/issuesofrebellio00fess |title=Issues of the rebellion. Speech of Hon S.C. Fessenden, of Maine. Delivered in the House of Representatives, January 20, 1862 |date=1862 |publisher=Washington, D.C., Scammell & Co., printers |others=The Library of Congress}} 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.{{cn|date=April 2024}}
Death
Fessenden died in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1882. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine.{{Cite web |title=FESSENDEN, Samuel Clement {{!}} US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives |url=https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/F/FESSENDEN,-Samuel-Clement-(F000097)/ |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=history.house.gov |language=en}}
References
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Sources
{{CongBio|F000097}}
- {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Fessenden, Samuel|year=1900}}
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{{US House succession box | state=Maine | district=3 | before=Ezra B. French | after=James G. Blaine | years=March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863}}
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{{Portal bar|United States|Maine|American Civil War|Politics}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fessenden, Samuel C.}}
Category:People of Maine in the American Civil War
Category:Bowdoin College alumni
Category:People from New Gloucester, Maine
Category:American Congregationalists
Category:Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Portland, Maine)
Category:People from Thomaston, Maine
Category:Bangor Theological Seminary alumni
Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine
Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives