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.

Moses Macdonald
Member of U.S. House of Representatives
from Maine's 1st district
In office
March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1855
Preceded byElbridge Gerry
Succeeded byJohn M. Wood
Maine State Treasurer
In office
1847–1850
Member of the Maine State Senate
In office
1847–1848
Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives
In office
1845–1846
Member of the Maine House of Representatives
In office
1841–1843
Personal details
Born(1815-04-08)April 8, 1815
Limerick, Massachusetts (now Maine)
DiedOctober 18, 1869(1869-10-18) (aged 54)
Saco, Maine
Resting placeLaurel Hill Cemetery, Saco, Maine
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic

Early life and career

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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

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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]

References

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  1. ^ Carpenter, Charles Carroll (1903). Biographical Catalogue of the Trustees, Teachers and Students of Phillips Academy: Andover, 1778-1830. Andover Press. p. 148.
  2. ^ "Notable Alumni". Andover Phillips Academy. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  3. ^ "MacDonald, Moses". Maine An Encyclopedia. January 14, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  4. ^ Herringshaw, Thomas William (1914). 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. American Publishers' Association. p. 5.
  5. ^ Carpenter, Charles Carroll (1903). Biographical Catalogue of the Trustees, Teachers and Students of Phillips Academy: Andover, 1778-1830. Andover Press. p. 148.
  6. ^ "Limerick". Maine An Encyclopedia. January 8, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  7. ^ Poore, Benjamin Perley (1878). 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. Houghton, Osgood. p. 512.
  8. ^ Seave, Jesse Montgomery (1929). MacDonald McDonald Family Records. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 44.
  9. ^ Spence, Thomas E. (1998). 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. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 193. ISBN 9780806348230.
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  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Political offices
Preceded by 17th Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives
1845-1846
Succeeded by
Preceded by Treasurer of Maine
1847–1849
Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maine's 1st congressional district

March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1855
Succeeded by