Joseph KENT, Congress, MD (1779-1837)

KENT, Joseph, a Representative and a Senator from Maryland; born in Calvert County, Md., January 14, 1779; received a liberal schooling; studied medicine; admitted to medical practice in Lower Marlborough, Calvert County, in 1799; settled near Bladensburg, Md., about 1807; practiced medicine and also engaged in agricultural pursuits; served in the State militia as a surgeon; elected as a Republican to the Twelfth and Thirteenth Congresses (March 4, 1811-March 3, 1815); chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia (Thirteenth Congress); elected to the Sixteenth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1819, to January 6, 1826, when he resigned, having been elected Governor of the State; chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia (Sixteenth through Nineteenth Congresses); Governor of Maryland 1826-1829; elected as an Anti-Jacksonian (later Whig) to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1833, until his death at his home, ”Rose Mount,” near Bladensburg, Md., November 24, 1837; chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia (Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses); interment at “Rose Mount,” in Bladensburg, Md.

Bibliography

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present