Prentiss MELLEN, Congress, MA (1764-1840)

MELLEN, Prentiss, a Senator from Massachusetts; born in Sterling, Worcester County, Mass., on October 11, 1764; graduated from Harvard University in 1784; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1788 and commenced practice in Sterling and Bridgewater, Mass., and in Dover, N.H.; moved to Biddeford, Maine (until 1820 a district of Massachusetts), around 1791 and practiced law; settled in Portland, Maine, around 1806; member, Massachusetts executive council 1808-1809, 1817; presidential elector in 1817; trustee of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, 1817-1836; elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Eli P. Ashmun and served from June 5, 1818, to May 15, 1820, when he resigned; upon the admission of the State of Maine into the Union in 1820 became chief justice of the supreme court of that State and served until his resignation in 1834; member and chairman of the commission to revise and codify the public statutes of Maine in 1838; died in Portland, Maine, December 31, 1840; interment in Western Cemetery.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Greenleaf, Simon. “Memoir of the Life and Character of the Late Chief Justice Mellen.” Maine Reports 17 (1841): 467-76.

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