Moses Macdonald Explained

Moses Macdonald
Order:Member of U.S. House of Representatives
from Maine's 1st district
Term Start:March 4, 1851
Term End:March 3, 1855
Predecessor:Elbridge Gerry
Successor:John M. Wood
Order2:Maine State Treasurer
Term Start2:1847
Term End2:1850
Order3:Member of the Maine State Senate
Term Start3:1847
Term End3:1848
Term Start4:1845
Term End4:1846
Order5:Member of the Maine House of Representatives
Term Start5:1841
Term End5:1843
Birth Date:8 April 1815
Birth Place:Limerick, Massachusetts (now Maine)
Death Place:Saco, Maine
Restingplace:Laurel Hill Cemetery, Saco, Maine
Nationality:American
Party:Democratic

Moses Macdonald (April 8, 1815 – October 18, 1869) was an American attorney and Democratic politician in the U.S. state of Maine. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, the Maine State Senate and as Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives during the 1800s.

Early life and career

Macdonald was born in Limerick, Massachusetts (now in Maine) and was the son of major General John Macdonald and Lydia Wiley Macdonald.[1] He received an academic education and attended Phillips Academy.[2] He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1837 and began the practice of law in Biddeford, Maine in 1837.[3]

Political career

He served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1841, 1842, and 1845.[4] He was the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives in 1845 and served in the Maine Senate in 1847.[5] He was the Maine State Treasurer from 1847 to 1850.[6]

Macdonald was elected as a Democratic candidate to the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses, serving from March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1855.[7] He was chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims during the Thirty-second Congress.

After leaving Congress, he was appointed collector of customs at Portland, Maine by President James Buchanan in 1857 and served until 1861.[8] He died in Saco, Maine in 1869 at the age of 54 and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery there.[9]

External links


Notes and References

  1. Book: Carpenter, Charles Carroll. Biographical Catalogue of the Trustees, Teachers and Students of Phillips Academy: Andover, 1778-1830. 1903. Andover Press. 148.
  2. Web site: Notable Alumni. Andover Phillips Academy. December 14, 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20131105222945/http://www.andover.edu/About/NotableAlumni/LongList/Pages/1800s.aspx. November 5, 2013.
  3. Web site: MacDonald, Moses. January 14, 2012. Maine An Encyclopedia. December 14, 2013.
  4. Book: Herringshaw, Thomas William. Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography: Contains Thirty-five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States; Illustrated with Three Thousand Vignette Portraits. 1914. American Publishers' Association. 5.
  5. Book: Carpenter, Charles Carroll. Biographical Catalogue of the Trustees, Teachers and Students of Phillips Academy: Andover, 1778-1830. 1903. Andover Press. 148.
  6. Web site: Limerick. January 8, 2012. Maine An Encyclopedia. December 14, 2013.
  7. Book: Poore, Benjamin Perley. The Political Register and Congressional Directory: A Statistical Record of the Federal Officials, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, of the United States of America, 1776-1878. 1878. Houghton, Osgood. 512.
  8. Book: Seave, Jesse Montgomery. MacDonald McDonald Family Records. 1929. Genealogical Publishing Com. 44.
  9. Book: Spence, Thomas E.. Where They're Buried: A Directory Containing More Than Twenty Thousand Names of Notable Persons Buried in American Cemeteries, with Listings of Many Prominent People who Were Cremated. 1998. Genealogical Publishing Com. 193. 9780806348230.