Prentiss Mellen Sprague's Journal of Maine History VII NOV. DEC. 1919, JAN. 1920 No. 3 pages 132 October, 1919, was the 155 anniversary of the birth of Prentiss Mellen, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine. Born in Sterling, Mass., Oct. 11, 1764, he was gradu- ated at Harvard in 1784, admitted to the bar in 1786, came to Bid- eford in 1792, and 14 years later took up his residence in Portland. He served on the Executive Council of Massachusetts in 1808, 1809 and again in 1817. In 1818 he was elected to the United States Senate and served until May, 1820, when Maine having been ad- mitted as a separate state he resigned in consequence of this change. He was the first Chief Justice of Maine serving from 1820 to 1834 when he retired having reached the age limit of 70 years. He died December 31, 1840, in the house on State street that he built in 1807, and which was recently purchased by Bishop Walsh and arranged as a school for girls. Judge Mellen was for 20 years a trustee of Bowdoin College. Both as judge and lawyer he held high rank. His son, Grenville Mellen, was a gifted poet. (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. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.