Fessenden, William P.

Born: 1806-10-16 New Hampshire

Died: 1869-09-08 Portland, Maine

Flourished: Washington, DC

William P. Fessenden, lawyer, politician, and secretary of the treasury under Abraham Lincoln, was born in Boscawen, New Hampshire. He attended local common schools and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1823. He then studied law, passing the bar in 1827. The next year, Fessenden moved to Portland, Maine, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. Originally a member of the Whig Party, he served as a member of the Maine Legislature in 1832, 1840, 1845-46, and 1853-54. He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1841 to 1843 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1853. Moving into the Republican Party after the demise of the Whigs, Fessenden won re-election to the Senate in 1859, serving until July 1864, when he resigned to serve as Lincoln's secretary of the treasury. He served as secretary of the treasury from July 1864 to March 1865, when he again returned to the U.S. Senate, serving until his death.

Fessenden married Ellen Maria Deering in April 1832 in Westbrook, Maine. The couple had five children.

Michael Perman, "Fessenden, William Pitt," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 7:861-63; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1025; Nebraska Advertiser (Brownville), 16 September 1869, 1:7; Maine, U.S., Marriage Index, 1670-1921 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2016); U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Ward 7, Portland, Cumberland County, ME, 265; Maine, U.S., Birth Records, 1715-1922 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2010); Maine, U.S., Death Records, 1761-1922 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2010); Gravestone, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, ME.