HONORABLE FRANK EDWARD GUERNSEY. Sprague's Journal of Maine History Vol. III JANUARY, 1916 No. 4 The First and the Present Congress- man from the Bangor, Maine Congressional District Frank Edward Guernsey, the present member of Congress from the Fourth Congressional District, was born in Dover, Piscataquis ,county, Maine, October 15, 1866, the son of Edward Hersey Guern- sey and Hannah (Thompson) Guernsey. He is a descendant in the ninth generation from John Guernsey, the immigrant ancestor of that branch of the Guernsey family to which he belongs. John Guernsey came to America from the Isle of Guernsey and settled in Milford, Connecticut, in 1639. Cutter's New England Families (1915) Vol. 1, p. 185, states that this family derived its name from the Isle of Guernsey, although in the early records it was spelled interchangeably as Guernsey, Garnsey, Gornsey or Gornsy. His mother, Hannah M. Thompson, was the daughter of James Thomp- son, who in 1826 married Hannah Hunt Coombs, who was born in Brunswick, Maine, 1806 and died 1891. I36 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY James Thompson was a descendant in the eighth generation from James Thompson, who was born in England in 1593. He came to America in Winthrop's great company of colonists in 1630 and was one of the original settlers of Woburn, Mass. His wife, Elizabeth, and three sons and one daughter accompanied him in his journey. Other brothers of his, Edward, John, Archi- bald and Benjamin, came over at different periods, all settling in the Massachusetts colony. Edward Thompson came in the "May- flower" in 1620. The Thompsons were substantial people in England, of good social standing, and after arriving in America took a leading part in the affairs of the colony. James Thompson's coat-of-arms has come down through many generations and is identical with that of Sir William Thompson, a London knight, and who was an owner of property in the vicinity of Boston and supposed to be of the same farnily.' Benjamin Thompson of Woburn, Massachusetts, known as Count Rumford, was also a descendant from James Thompson.' Mr. Guernsey attended the public schools of his native town and Foxcroft Academy. In the fall of 1885, he entered the Bucksport (East Maine Conference) Seminary. The following year he became a student in the Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's -Hill, Maine, and remained until June, I887. In 1884 he was graduated from the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York. He began active life May 12, I884, when he entered the hardware store of Sawyer and Gifford, at Dover, as a clerk and remained there until August I5, 1885. After leav- ing the Kent's Hill Seminary, in 1887, he began to study law in the office of Honorable Willis E. Parsons, of Foxcroft, and was admitted to the bar in September, 189o. Since then he has practiced law at Dover. In politics he is a Republican. In Septem- ber, 189o, he was elected treasurer of Piscataquis county, was re- elected twice, serving in this office until December 31, 1896. In 1891 he was elected town agent of Dover and was re-elected each year for eighteen years, serving until 1908. He represented the towns of Dover, Sangerville and Parkman two terms in the state Legisla- ture, (1897-99) and was state senator in I903. He is a member of Little's Genealogy of Maine, Vol. 2, P. 7I9. The Hubbard, Thompson Memorial, (Stewart, I9I4). FIRST AND PRESENT CONGRESSMAN I37 the Sons of the American Revolution, of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the Maine Historical Society and the Piscataquis Historical Society, of the Piscataquis Club of Dover and Foxcroft, of the Tarratine and Madocawando Clubs of Bangor, and Portland Club of Portland, Maine. He attends the Methodist Church. He is president of the Piscataquis Savings Bank, elected in I905 and was previously a trustee, also a trustee of the Kineo Trust Company of Dover. He married, June 16, 1887, at Vinal Haven, Maine, Josephine Frances Lyford. She attended the Vinal Haven schools, the Bucks- port Seminary and the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill, from which she was graduated in 1887. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The only child of Frank Edward and Josephine Frances (Lyford) Guernsey is Thompson L. Guernsey, born at Dover, February 17, 1904. During his service in the Maine House in 1897, he introduced the first bill in favor of the establishment of traveling libraries, which sought to make available books in the State library to people in the rural communities. This measure he reintroduced in 1899 when it finally became a law, and in its operation the traveling library has, become, so useful that the number of volumes made available through it at the present time reach up to many thousands annually. In 1903 he was elected a member of the Maine Senate and served. or the judiciary committee and as a member of that committee advocated and voted for a resolution favoring the election of United States Senators by the people. As a member of the Maine Legislature he voted for Woman Suf- frage. Was chosen delegate to the Republican national convention in Chicago in 1908. In September, 1908, he was elected to the sixtieth congress to fill a vacancy caused by the death of ex-Governor Llewellyn Powers. I-le was re-elected and served in the sixty-first, sixty-second, sixty- third, and sixty-fourth congresses. Since entering congress has served on the important committees on Territories and Banking and Currency. As a member of the committee on Territories he took part in drafting the Statehood bills admitting the states of Arizona and New Mexico to the Union, and helped to prepare and pass the legislation authorizing the expendi- ture of thirty-five millions of dollars to construct government rail- 138 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY roads in Alaska for the development of that great national domain long neglected, and as ranking member of the minority on the com- mittee was appointed by the Speaker of the National House of Representatives one of the conferees to adjust the differences be- tween the House and Senate on the legislation. Was appointed by the National House of Representatives one of a special committee to investigate the so called money trust. The committee held its sessions in Washington and New York for a period of more than nine months; its report and recommendations had an important bearing on subsequent banking laws. As a member of the committee on Banking and Currency took an active part in the preparation of the Federal Reserve Act, the most important banking legislation enacted by congress in fifty years. In 1914 served on a committee appointed by the Republican National Congressional Committee to prepare a plan to reduce southern representation in Republican National Conventions, the report of the committee was presented to the Republican National Committee and adopted in substance by that committee. He is recognized as one of the leading and most influential of the New England Congressmen. (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. 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