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ALBION KEITH PARRIS,
of Portland, Governor of Maine. Born at Hebron, Maine.
He was the only child of Samuel Parris and Sarah Pratt,
his wife, of Middleborough, Massachusetts. Thomas
Parris of Loudon, England, was his forefather, and had
four sons living in that city in 1660. Of these,
John
became the minister of the Reformed Church at Agborough,
near Plymouth. Thomas, son of the Rev. John
Parris, sailed for America on the 28th of June, 1683.
Tompsham, Devonshire, was the place from which he set out on
his voluntary expatriation. Landing in this country,
he first went to Long Island, married there, and then
removed to Boston. Losing his wife in that town, he
removed to Pembroke, Massachusetts, and married a Miss
Rogers, by whom he became the father of four sons and three
daughters. Thomas,
his son married Hannah Gannett of Scituate, and by
her had four sons. Benjamin, one of these sons,
married
Millicent Keith of Easton, Massachusetts, and had five
sons and three daughters. His principal employment was
that of an instructor of youth. His residence was in
Pembroke, Massachusetts, where he died November 18, 1815.
Samuel - who bore the same name as that of the notorious
minister of Salem, Massachusetts, in whose family the
witchcraft tragedy had its origin - was born August 31,
1755, did excellent service as a Revolutionary officer on
hand and sea, married
Sarah Pratt at the close of the struggle for
independence, and was to be singularly fortunate, and to
realize his hopes in every department of social activity.
Samuel Parris
was one of the first settlers of the town of Hebron; Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas for Oxford County for several
years; a frequent representative of his fellow-citizens in
the General Court; a Presidential elector of 1812, and a
voter for the elevation of De Witt Clinton to the Presidency
of the United States. He died in Washington, at the
house of his son, on the 10th of September, 1847, aged
ninety-two.
Albion K. Parris spent the first fourteen years
of his life on the paternal farm. Then he began
preparation for college. Entering an advanced class at
Dartmouth in 1803, he graduated in 1806, in the same class
with
General Fessenden of Maine and Judge Fletcher of
Massachusetts. Soon afterward he commenced the study
of law in the office of Chief Justice Whitman, who
then practised in New Goucester, but who removed in the
following winter to Portland. A diligent and through
student, the young aspirant to professional honors was
admitted to the Cumberland Bar in September, 1809.
Immediately thereafter he established himself in legal
practice at Paris, Oxford County, and commenced a career of
brilliant and uninterrupted success.
Official position early presented itself to the
acceptance of Mr. Parris. In 1811 he was
appointed attorney for the County of Oxford. In 1813
he was returned to the General Court of Massachusetts as the
representative of Parris. Next, in 1814, he entered
the State Senate as the choice of the citizens of Oxford and
Sumerset counties. In November of the same year he
received an election by his confiding constituents to the
Fourteenth Congress of the United States, and in 1816 was
elected to the Fifteenth Congress. While serving his
second term as representatives in the popular branch of the
National Legislature he was appointed Judge of the District
Court of the United States for Maine. This was 1818,
when only thirty years of age. Honors thick and fast
crowded upon him; and not the least of these was that of
being selected as successor to the venerable Judge
Sewall, who had held the office from the organization of
the Government.
Fixing his residence in Portland, Judge Parris
was chosen in the following year, 1819, to membership in the
convention called to form a constitution under which Maine
should seek admission as a State to the Union. The
ablest leaders in the inchoate commonwealth composed the
convention.
Judge Parris was an active member, and served in the
committee that drafted the constitution. He was also
appointed treasurer by the convention.
On the adoption of the constitution, and the admission
of Maine as the twenty-second member of the sisterhood the
States, Judge Parris was appointed Judge of Probate
for Cumberland County, as the successor of the venerable
Samuel Freeman. Ability, fidelity, and acceptance
in all these important and honorable trusts commended him to
the citizens for elevation to the chief magistracy of the
State in 1821, when Governor King resigned the
office to accept that of one of the Commissioners on Spanish
Claims. Considerable dissent was manifested by some of the
Democratic Party; but, notwithstanding this, Judge
Parris was elected, assumed the exercise of
gubernatorial functions, and made himself so acceptable to
the majority, that he was continued in office, by successive
elections, for five years. In 1826, in his annual message,
he positively declined further service in that capacity.
Governor Parris was an able and excellent
administrator. Nothing occurred to rouse the mind or heart
of the public. It was an era of profound repose. The most
important matters claiming attention were the property
shared in common with Massachusetts, and the Northeastern
Boundary dispute with England. The latter was assuming
threatening aspect, and was beginning to create serious
alarm. On his recommendation, the Legislature authorized the
Governor to procure "all such maps, documents, publications,
papers, and surveys, relating to the Northeastern Boundary
of the United States, as he may deem necessary and useful
for the State to be possessed of." The controversy was
eventually settled without resort to the dread arbitrament
of arms.
Governor Parris was an intelligent and
ardent advocate of education, temperance, and religious
culture. He frequently urged them upon the Legislature,
which received his recommendations with respectful
consideration. When, in 1825, General Lafayette
visited the State, the illustrious guest was warmly greeted
by many of his old companions in arms. The Executive
received him with appreciative and generous hospitality. His
visit extended to Augusta. Legislature and Governor, in warm
and complimentary language, welcomed him as the guest of the
State. His journey was a triumphal progress—his reception
one of warmest and most respectful gratitude.
The general appreciation of Governor Parris's
eminently serviceable qualities was next illustrated—during
the last year of his Administration—by election to the
Senate of the United States in the room of John
Holmes, whose official term expired on March 3, 1827.
Scarcely had he familiarized himself with the duties of his
new position when, in June, 1828. he was appointed Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court of Maine, in succession to
Judge Preble. Lengthened public service had
deprived him of the facilities for acquaintance with
decisions on litigated cases, and with the advance of legal
science. But this deficiency was soon industriously supplied
by application to the study of reports and of learned
elementary treatises. Thus thoroughly qualified for
juridical duties, he entered upon them with an ability,
quickness, and impartial faithfulness that commanded the
unqualified approbation of the bar and also of the general
public. Judicial qualities, however, had not time to reach
mellow maturity, nor fame to wreathe his brow with judicial
honors. Before these results could be fully attained,
he consented to the transfer of his energies to a position
of greater ease and pecuniary profit. Through the kindness
of
Mr. Van Buren, he was appointed to the post of Second
Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States, with a
yearly salary of three thousand dollars. This place he held
for thirteen years, until 1849. With characteristic
promptness and fidelity he performed all the duties
pertaining to it, throughout the Administrations of Van
Buren,
Harrison, Tyler, and Polk. Quitting this
responsible situation, he returned to Portland, was elected
Mayor in 1852, and declined renomination in the following
year. Thenceforward he preferred the repose of purely
private citizenship. Representative in Congress at the age
of twenty-eight, Judge of the United States Court at thirty,
and Governor at thirty-three, not only proved the early
development of his powers, but his popularity with his
constituents. It was due to him that he should be permitted
to rest. Neither brilliant nor erudite, he was yet competent
to every situation he was called upon to fill. He was a
thoroughly available man. His industry and devotion to
present duties, his faithful and prompt action, his
foresight, his suave self-adaptation to varying
circumstances, made him successful in any and every office
confided to his care.
Death came suddenly, but not unannounced, to
Governor Parris, on the morning of February 11,
1857. His departure was mourned as a public loss. Press,
bar, and people united to do honor to his memory as that of
a man who had deserved well of his country. His life was
always regular and exemplary. Punctual at church as at his
office, he gave all the influence of precept and example to
the observance of the Sabbath and of all Christian duties.
On his return to Portland from Washington he joined the High
Street Congregational Church, lived as one of its most
consistent members, taught in the Sunday-school, exemplified
Christian usefulness, and died at length in full assurance
of eternal life and blessing.
Albion Keith Parris was married
in 1810 to Sarah, eldest daughter of the Rev. Levi
Whitman of Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Three daughters and
two sons were the fruit of their marriage, and, with their
mother, survived him.
Source: Biographical Encyclopedia of
Maine of The Nineteenth Century -
Boston:
Metropolitan Publ. & Engraving Co. - 1885 - Page
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