Samuel C. Fessenden


Samuel Clement Fessenden was a United States Congressman from Maine, son of 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.

Biography

Born in New Gloucester, Massachusetts, Samuel Fessenden graduated from Bowdoin College in 1834 and from Bangor Theological Seminary in 1837. 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.
He was elected as a Republican to the 37th Congress, serving March 4, 1861 to March 3, 1863; was not a candidate for renomination. He was 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.
He died in Stamford, Connecticut in 1882. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine.

Family

Samuel Clement's son Joshua Abbe Fessenden was appointed 2nd lieutenant in the 1st U. S. Cavalry, March 24, 1862; 2nd lieutenant 5th Artillery, September 6, 1862; 1st lieutenant, November 30, 1865; captain, June 26, 1882. He was wounded at Chickamauga. Samuel Clement's son Samuel was appointed 2nd lieutenant in the 5th Maine battery, January 18, 1865. He was a lawyer and politician in Stamford, Connecticut.