Ether Shepley (1789-1877) a U.S. Senator from Maine was born in Groton, Massachusetts on November 2, 1789, attended Groton Academy, and graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire in 1811. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1814, and began his practice in Saco.

A member of the Massachusetts General Court in 1819, he was a delegate to the Maine constitutional convention in 1819 and United States attorney for the district of Maine 1821-1833.

Shepley moved to Portland and was elected as a Jacksonian to the United States Senate where he served from March 4, 1833, to March 3, 1836, when he resigned and was succeeded by Reuel Williams. He chaired the Committee on Engrossed Bills (Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses).

He was appointed justice of the Supreme Court of Maine serving as a member (1836-1848) and as Chief Justice (1848-1855).

He was not a candidate for renomination to the Court but was appointed sole commissioner to revise the public laws of Maine in 1856. He then resumed the practice of his profession, dying in Portland, January 15, 1877 with interment in Evergreen Cemetery.

His home in Portland is now the Portland Club on the National Register of Historic Places.

Additional resources

Ether Shepley Congressional Biography: https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=s000334  (accessed January 10, 2021)

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