Representative Ezra Bartlett French

Ezra Bartlett French (September 23, 1810 – April 24, 1880) was a United States Representative from Maine and a long-serving federal official whose career spanned state politics, national legislative service, and senior executive-branch administration. He was born in Landaff, Grafton County, New Hampshire, where he attended the common schools and pursued an academic course in preparation for a professional career. In his youth he moved within New Hampshire to study law, reflecting the common nineteenth-century practice of legal apprenticeship rather than formal law school training.

French undertook legal studies in Bath and Plymouth, New Hampshire, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. Shortly after his admission he relocated to Maine, where he commenced the practice of law in Portland and Waldoboro. Seeking to establish himself more permanently, he later moved to Nobleboro, Maine—an area that is present-day Damariscotta—and continued his legal practice there. His work as an attorney in these coastal communities brought him into contact with local commercial interests and civic affairs, laying the groundwork for his entry into public life.

French’s political career began at the state level in Maine. He was elected to the Maine House of Representatives, serving from 1838 to 1840, during a period when the state was grappling with issues of internal improvements and party realignment. He then advanced to the Maine Senate, where he served from 1842 to 1845. His legislative experience led to executive responsibility when he was appointed Secretary of State of Maine, a position he held from 1845 to 1850. In that capacity he oversaw state records, elections, and official documentation at a time when Maine’s political institutions were still relatively young. After leaving the secretaryship, he continued to be active in public affairs, serving as a bank commissioner and, in 1856, working as a newspaper editor, roles that connected him both to the regulation of financial institutions and to the emerging world of partisan journalism.

By the mid-1850s, French was involved in the major political realignments preceding the Civil War. In 1856 he assisted in organizing the Republican Party in Maine, aligning himself with the new party’s anti-slavery and Unionist positions. His prominence in state politics and his association with the Republican movement led to his election as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth Congress. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1859, to March 3, 1861, representing Maine during the tense years immediately preceding the outbreak of the American Civil War. French did not seek renomination in 1860, serving only a single term in Congress.

At the close of his congressional service, French continued to participate in efforts to avert sectional conflict. In 1861 he served as a member of the peace convention held in Washington, D.C., an assembly of delegates from various states convened in a last attempt to devise means to prevent the impending Civil War. Although the convention ultimately failed to forestall hostilities, French’s participation reflected his engagement with national questions of Union and compromise at a critical historical moment.

French’s most enduring public role came in the federal executive branch. On August 3, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him Second Auditor of the Treasury, a senior accounting and oversight position within the United States Department of the Treasury. In this capacity he was responsible for auditing and settling accounts related to specific branches of government expenditures, a task of heightened importance during and after the Civil War as the federal government’s financial operations expanded dramatically. He remained in this office through successive administrations, continuing under Presidents Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes. His long tenure as Second Auditor, extending nearly two decades, underscored both his administrative competence and the continuity of the federal civil service during a period of reconstruction and national growth.

Ezra Bartlett French died in Washington, D.C., on April 24, 1880, while still serving as Second Auditor of the Treasury. His body was returned to Maine, and he was buried in Hillside Cemetery in Damariscotta, close to the community where he had earlier practiced law and built his political career. His life traced a path from rural New Hampshire to the center of federal power in Washington, reflecting the trajectory of a nineteenth-century lawyer-politician who combined state legislative service, national representation, and long-term administrative responsibility in the federal government.