Representative Samuel Freeman Hersey

Samuel Freeman Hersey (April 12, 1812 – February 3, 1875) was a Maine businessman, militia officer, and Republican politician who became one of the state’s leading lumber entrepreneurs and represented Maine in the United States House of Representatives. He was born in Sumner, then in Massachusetts (now in Maine), where he attended the common schools of Sumner and nearby Buckfield. As a young man he taught school from 1828 to 1831 and pursued his own education, graduating from Hebron Academy in 1831. These early experiences in rural Maine, combining teaching, study, and farm-country life, formed the foundation for his later career in commerce, land speculation, and public service.

After leaving Hebron Academy, Hersey entered the mercantile business, first in Lincoln and then in Milford, Maine, communities along the Penobscot River that were closely tied to the region’s expanding timber trade. From general merchandising he moved decisively into the lumber business, which became the principal source of his wealth and influence. He extended his operations westward into the Upper Midwest, engaging in the lumber business in Stillwater, Minnesota, while maintaining his base in Maine. Ultimately he settled in Bangor, Maine, which was then a major lumber port and commercial center, and there he prospered as a “lumber baron.” In addition to owning extensive timber lands, he served as president of the Market Bank, further consolidating his position in Bangor’s financial and commercial life.

Hersey’s western ventures were conducted in partnership with other prominent lumbermen, most notably Isaac Staples. Together they logged the St. Croix River pineries along the Minnesota–Wisconsin border, an area that became one of the key sources of white pine for the burgeoning markets of the Midwest. While Hersey remained in Bangor to manage his broader business and political interests, his eldest son, Roscoe, represented the family’s concerns in Minnesota and supervised operations on the ground. The family’s prominence in Stillwater is reflected in the 1880 Roscoe Hersey House, an imposing residence that later was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Parallel to his business career, Hersey developed a significant record of military and civic service through the Maine State Militia. During the Northeastern Boundary Dispute between the United States and Great Britain, commonly known as the Aroostook War (1839–1842), he was commissioned as Commanding Colonel of the newly formed 6th Regiment of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division of the Maine State Militia. This command encompassed the rapidly growing communities east of the Penobscot River, north of Milford to the Saint John River. His regiment was among the first to respond to the kidnapping of Maine State Land Agent Rufus McIntire, a key incident in the boundary crisis. When Aroostook was organized as a county in 1840 and the 9th Division of the Maine State Militia was created, Hersey joined Colonel John Carpenter of Lincoln as one of its first commanding officers. He ultimately retired from the militia with the rank of major general, commanding the 9th Division, and later removed to Bangor, the headquarters of Maine’s Third Militia Division. Because of this service, he was often styled “General Hersey” in contemporary documents.

Hersey’s public career in elective office began in state politics. A committed Republican as the party rose to prominence in the 1850s, he was elected to the Maine House of Representatives, where he participated in the legislative affairs of a state undergoing rapid economic and political change. He was chosen as a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, reflecting his growing stature within the party. Closely associated with Bangor politician Hannibal Hamlin, who became Lincoln’s first Vice President, Hersey was regarded as a friend and patron of Hamlin. This relationship likely contributed to his selection as a member of the Republican National Committee, on which he served from 1864 to 1868, helping to guide party strategy during and immediately after the Civil War.

Building on his legislative and party experience, Hersey advanced to higher state office. He was elected to the Maine State Senate, serving in 1868 and 1869, a period when Reconstruction issues, veterans’ affairs, and economic development dominated political debate. In 1870 he sought the governorship of Maine as the Republican nominee but was narrowly defeated, losing the election by only 20 votes, one of the closest gubernatorial contests in the state’s history. Despite this setback, his prominence within the party and his reputation as a successful businessman and militia officer kept him in public life and positioned him for national office.

Hersey was elected as a Republican to the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses, representing the district that included his hometown of Bangor. He took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 4, 1873. In Congress he served during a period marked by post–Civil War economic expansion, debates over Reconstruction policy, and the financial turmoil surrounding the Panic of 1873. His background in banking and lumber, as well as his long involvement in state politics and the militia, informed his legislative interests, though his service was cut short. He died in Bangor on February 3, 1875, before the close of the Forty-third Congress, and thus did not complete the full term to which he had been reelected. He was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, a resting place for many of the city’s leading nineteenth-century figures.

In his will, Hersey left a substantial portion of his fortune to the city of Bangor. The bequest was used to found the Bangor Public Library and to construct a new Bangor City Hall, underscoring his lasting commitment to the civic and cultural life of the community that had been the center of his business and political career. Although the City Hall building financed by his estate was demolished in the late 1960s during urban renewal, the Bangor Public Library remains a prominent institution, and a large portrait of Samuel Freeman Hersey still hangs there, commemorating his role in the city’s development and in the public life of Maine.