Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn (March 3, 1783July 29, 1851) was an American soldier, lawyer, author, and statesman. Dearborn was the first President of the

Massachusetts Horticultural Society The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, sometimes abbreviated to MassHort, is an American horticultural society based in Massachusetts. It describes itself as the oldest formally organized horticultural institution in the United States. In its m ...

, a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and the author of many books.

Biography

Early life

Dearborn was the son of

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

and Major General

Henry Dearborn Henry Dearborn (February 23, 1751 – June 6, 1829) was an American military officer and politician. In the Revolutionary War, he served under Benedict Arnold in his expedition to Quebec, of which his journal provides an important record ...

by his second wife and named for his father's friend,

Alexander Scammell Alexander Scammell (March 22, 1747 – October 6, 1781) was a Harvard educated attorney and an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was wounded on September 30, 1781, near Yorktown and subsequently died on Octo ...

. Dearborn was married to Hannah Swett Lee, daughter of Colonel William Raymond Lee (1745–1824) of Massachusetts. Dearborn attended the common schools; attended

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

for two years; and graduated from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

in 1803.

Early career

Dearborn studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

and Portland (then part of Massachusetts's

District of Maine The District of Maine was the governmental designation for what is now the U.S. state of Maine from October 25, 1780 to March 15, 1820, when it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state. The district was a part of the Commonwealth of Massachu ...

). In 1808 he oversaw the construction of

Fort Preble Fort Preble was a military fort in South Portland, Maine, United States, built in 1808 and progressively added to through 1906. The fort was active during all major wars from the War of 1812 through World War II. The fort was deactivated in 1950 ...

and

Fort Scammel House Island is a private island in Portland Harbor in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the City of Portland. The island is accessible only by boat. Public access is prohibited, except for an on-request tour sanctioned by the isl ...

in the harbor defenses of Portland. During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

he commanded volunteers manning the defenses of Boston harbor. He replaced his father as the Collector of the Port of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and served from 1813 to 1829. He was promoted to brigadier general in the Massachusetts Militia in 1814. After the war, he was elected captain of the

Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts is the oldest chartered military organization in North America and the third oldest chartered military organization in the world. Its charter was granted in March 1638 by the Great and Gen ...

in 1816. Dearborn was also elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

in 1815, and a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1823.

Political career

Dearborn was a delegate to the Massachusetts state constitutional convention in 1820. He was a member of the Massachusetts state house of representatives in 1829 and a member of the

Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

in 1830. He was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

from Massachusetts 10th District to the Twenty-second Congress (1831–1833). He was defeated running for reelection in 1832. He served as

adjutant general An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

of the Massachusetts Militia with the rank of major general from 1834 to 1843. He was elected Mayor of

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for neighborhood services coordination. The city states that Roxbury se ...

in 1846 and served from 1847 to 1851. In 1848, while he was Mayor of Roxbury, Dearborn designed and founded the

Forest Hills Cemetery Forest Hills Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery, greenspace, arboretum and sculpture garden located in the Forest Hills section of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery was established in 1848 as a public ...

. He also designed Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the first

rural cemetery A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-nineteenth century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries. They were typically built one to five ...

in the nation.

Society of the Cincinnati

In 1832, following the decease of his father, he was admitted to the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. In 1848, following the death of President General William Popham in September 1847, he was elected as President General of the Society. He was the first President General to be a hereditary member rather than a veteran of the Revolution. As President General he proposed changes in the Society's membership rules to allow for descendants of other than original members to join. This provision is known as the Rule of 1854. He died in office in 1851, having served a single three-year term.

Attempted Vice Presidential Nomination

The Native American Party, a precursor to the Know Nothings, which had split from the Whig Party in 1845, met in September 1847 in Philadelphia, where they nominated

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...

for president while Dearborn was selected as his running mate. However, when the Whig Party nominated Taylor for the presidency with

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...

as his running mate the following year, this rendered his previous nomination moot and the Native American Party failed to make an alternate nomination.

Death and interment

Dearborn died on July 29, 1851 at the age of 68 in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

and is interred in Forest Hills Cemetery in

Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commu ...

Legacy

The ''dearborn'', a light four-wheeled carriage with curtained sides, was named after him (he maintained such a carriage).MetaGlossary.com: Dearborn
Dearborn's nephew was William R. Lee (1807–1891), who was colonel of the

20th Massachusetts Infantry The 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, also known as the "Harvard Regiment," was a regiment of infantry in the American Civil War. The regiment was so nicknamed because the officers of the 20th were young Harvard graduates. In addition, some, ...

Regiment during the Civil War and was breveted to brigadier general after the war. Three successive grade schools in Roxbury have been named after General Dearborn: The first was built in 1852; the second, still standing at 25 Ambrose Street, was built in 1905; and after that closed, the old Roxbury High School was renamed the Dearborn Middle School in 1981. A fourth school, the Dearborn STEM School, is now in the planning stages.

References

History of the Forest Hills Cemetery

Notes

External links

Henry A. S. Dearborn collection
William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. *
Forest Hills Cemetery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dearborn, Henry Alexander Scammell 1783 births 1851 deaths College of William & Mary alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Massachusetts lawyers Massachusetts state senators Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Politicians from Salem, Massachusetts People from Exeter, New Hampshire Writers from Portland, Maine Mayors of Roxbury, Massachusetts National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Collectors of the Port of Boston Members of the American Antiquarian Society 19th-century American politicians Adjutants General of Massachusetts Williams College alumni