Williams, Reuel

(1783-1862) a U.S. Senator, was born in Hallowell on June 2, 1783 and attended Hallowell Academy. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1804, and began his practice in Augusta. Wiliams was a member of the State legislature 1812-1829, 1832, and 1848, and served as commissioner of public buildings in 1831. A presidential…

Sprague, Peleg

Peleg Sprague

(1793-1880), grandfather of Charles Franklin Sprague (a U.S Representative from Massachusetts 1897-1901), was a himself a Representative and a U. S. Senator from Maine Charles Sprague was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts on April 27, 1793. He graduated from Harvard University in 1812, studied law at Litchfield, Connecticut, was admitted to the bar in 1815 and…

Snowe, Olympia

Olympia J. Snowe

Olympia Jean Snowe (1947- ), a U.S. Representative and a Senator from Maine, was born Olympia Jean Boucles in Augusta on February 21, 1947. She attended St. Basil’s Academy in Garrison, New York 1962; graduated from Edward Little High School in Auburn in 1965. She holds a B.A. from the University of Maine, Orono, 1969.…

Ruggles, John

John Ruggles, courtesy Maine State Museum

John Ruggles (1789-1874) a Senator from Maine, born in Westboro, Massachusetts on October 8, 1789, attended the common schools, graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in 1813. He studied law was admitted to the bar and began his practice in Skowhegan in 1815. Ruggles moved to Thomaston, in 1817. A member of the…

Moor, Wyman Bradbury Seavy

Wyman Moore, courtesy Maine State Museum

Wyman Seavy B. Moor (1811-1869) a U.S. Senator from Maine was born in Waterville, November 11, 1811. He attended the town school, prepared for college at China Academy, and graduated from Waterville College. Moor taught school for one year in St. Stephen’s, New Brunswick, and then returned to his native town to study law. Later…

Mitchell, George J.

Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, October 2010

George J. Mitchell (1933-  ) was born on August 20, 1933 in Waterville, where he spent his youth. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College in 1954, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps until 1956. In 1960 he earned a law degree from Georgetown University. After serving as…

Johnson, Charles Fletcher

(1859-1930) a Senator from Maine; born in Winslow on February 14, 1859. He attended the common schools and the Waterville Classical Institute, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1879. He was principal of the high school of Machias, 1881-1886, studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1886, and began his practice in Waterville. An…

Holmes, John

John Holmes, courtesy Maine State Museum

John Holmes (1773-1843) was a Representative from Massachusetts and a Senator from Maine; born in Kingston, Massachusetts, March 14, 1773. He attended the Kingston public schools; graduated from Rhode Island College (now Brown University), Providence, Rhode Island, in 1796. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1799, and commenced practice in Alfred, Maine…

Hale, Frederick

Frederick Hale, courtesy of Maine State Museum

(1874-1963), son of Eugene Hale, grandson of Zachariah Chandler, and cousin of Robert Hale, was a Senator from Maine, born in Detroit, Michigan. on October 7, 1874. He attended preparatory schools in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and Groton, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University in 1896. Hale attended Columbia Law School in 1896 and 1897, was…

Gould, Arthur Robinson

(1857-1946) a U.S. Senator from Maine, was born in East Corinth, March 16, 1857. He attended the common schools and East Corinth Academy. Gould moved to Presque Isle in 1887, engaged in the lumber business and built power plants and an electric railroad. He served as president of the Aroostook Valley Railroad Company from 1902…

Blaine, James G.

James G. Blaine, courtesy Maine State Museum

James Gillespie Blaine (1830-1893) was a major political force in Maine and the U.S. Congress. A Representative and a Senator from Maine; he was born in West Brownsville, Washington County, Pa., January 31, 1830. He was graduated from Washington College, Washington, Pa., in 1847, taught at the Western Military Institute, Blue Lick Springs, Kentucky. He…

Farwell, Nathan Allen

Nathan Farwell, courtesy Maine State Archives

(1812-1893), a U. S. Senator from Maine and cousin of Owen Lovejoy, was born in Unity on February 24, 1812. He attended the common schools; taught school (1832-1833), moved to East Thomaston in 1834, and was involved in the manufacture of lime and in shipbuilding. Later, Farwell became a master mariner and trader, studied law,…

Collins, Susan M.

(1952- ) Susan Margaret Collins, a U.S. Senator from Maine, was born in Caribou December 7, 1952, and graduated from St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York in 1975.  A native of Aroostook County , her family has run a lumber company since the mid-19th century. Even after the United States Department of Agriculture proposed eliminating…

Cohen, William

William S. Cohen (1997)

William Sebastian “Bill” Cohen was a Republican U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator from Maine, 1979-1997. Born in Bangor, Penobscot County August 28, 1940; he attended the public schools; graduated, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine in 1962 and graduated, Boston University Law School 1965. He was admitted to the Maine bar in 1965 and commenced practice…

Chandler, John

John Chandler, Senate President courtesy Maine State Archives

(1762-1841) was born in Epping, New Hampshire, brother of Thomas Chandler and uncle of Zachariah Chandler, both penniless and illiterate. A U.S. Representative from Massachusetts and a U. S. Senator from Maine, he served in Congress in the following years: 1820-1823; 1823-1825; 1825-1829 as a Democratic-Republican, Crawford Republican, and a Jacksonian, precursors to the Democratic…