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Biographies Source:
Biographical Encyclopedia
of Maine
of
The Nineteenth Century
Boston:
Metropolitan Publ. & Engraving Co.
1885 <
RETURN TO
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
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.
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