Representative Stephen Coburn

Stephen Coburn (November 11, 1817 – July 4, 1882) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Maine. He was the brother of Maine Governor Abner Coburn and the father of Louise Helen Coburn, the founder of the Sigma Kappa sorority and a prominent Maine writer. A photograph of Stephen and Louise Coburn is preserved in the collections of the Maine Historical Society, reflecting the family’s public prominence in the state.

Coburn was born on November 11, 1817, in Bloomfield, Massachusetts, a community that was later incorporated into what is now Skowhegan, Maine. He grew up in this region during a period of rapid political and economic development in New England, in a family that would become influential in Maine’s civic and political life. His early years in Bloomfield/Skowhegan laid the foundation for a lifelong association with the town that would remain his home and professional base.

Coburn pursued higher education at Waterville College, now Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, and graduated in 1839. Following his graduation, he spent approximately two years teaching at a plantation school, an experience that preceded his formal legal training and reflected the common nineteenth-century pattern of combining teaching with professional preparation. After this period of teaching, he enrolled at Harvard Law School, where he undertook the study of law. Upon completion of his legal education, he was admitted to the bar and returned to his native state of Maine, where he established himself as a prominent lawyer, practicing primarily in Skowhegan.

Coburn’s legal and civic standing led to his entry into national politics as a member of the Republican Party, which was then a relatively new political organization formed in the 1850s. He was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth Congress in a special election held on November 6, 1860, to fill a vacancy. He took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 2, 1861, and served until March 3, 1861. Because the regular election for the Thirty-seventh Congress had already been held in September 1860, prior to his special-election victory, he was not in a position to be re-elected to the subsequent Congress. His brief congressional tenure coincided with the secession crisis that immediately preceded the outbreak of the Civil War.

In addition to his short service in Congress, Coburn participated in efforts to avert the impending national conflict. In 1861 he served as a delegate from Maine to the Washington Peace Convention, held in Washington, D.C., in February of that year. The convention brought together representatives from various states in a last attempt to find a compromise that might preserve the Union and prevent civil war. Coburn’s role as a delegate underscored his engagement with the critical constitutional and political questions of his time, even though the convention ultimately failed to forestall the conflict.

After his service in Congress and his participation in the peace convention, Coburn returned to Skowhegan and resumed the practice of law. He continued to be a respected figure in local affairs and, in the course of his later career, was appointed postmaster of Skowhegan, a federal position that reflected both his standing in the community and his continued association with the Republican Party. His professional life thus combined legal practice, public service, and local administration over several decades.

Stephen Coburn died by drowning in the Kennebec River at Skowhegan on July 4, 1882. He was interred in South Cemetery in Skowhegan, Maine. His life and career, closely tied to his hometown and to the broader political developments of mid-nineteenth-century America, were further distinguished by his family’s continued influence in Maine’s political and cultural history through his brother, Governor Abner Coburn, and his daughter, author and educator Louise Helen Coburn.