Anson Peaslee Morrill (June 10, 1803 – July 4, 1887) was an American politician who served as the 24th

governor of Maine The governor of Maine is the head of government of the U.S. state of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive. The current governor of Maine is J ...

from 1855 to 1856 and later as the U.S. representative from

Maine's 4th congressional district Maine's 4th congressional district was a congressional district in Maine. It was created in 1821 after Maine achieved statehood in 1820 due to the result of the ratification of the Missouri Compromise. It was eliminated in 1933 after the 1930 Un ...

from 1861 to 1863.

Biography

Morrill was born in 1803 in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

(in modern-day

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, then a part of Massachusetts). In his early years, Morrill served as the Postmaster of Dearborn and ran a general store. He was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 1833 from Belgrade. He served as Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County Sheriff in 1839, and was subsequently elected the State House from Madison, Maine, Madison in 1844. In 1850, Morrill was appointed State Land Agent, and served until 1854. Though Morrill was a Democrat, he emerged as the Maine law, Maine Law candidate for governor in 1853. In that year's gubernatorial election, Morrill placed third, winning 13% of the vote to Democrat Albert Pillsbury's 44% and incumbent Whig Governor William G. Crosby, William Crosby’s 32%. No candidate received a majority of the vote, which threw the election to the state legislature. Though the governing coalition of Whigs, Free Soilers, and anti-Maine Law Democrats originally agreed to elect Morrill as governor, the Whigs backed out—and instead re-elected Crosby as governor. Morrill again in 1854, this time as the Know Nothing nominee, and won 49% of the vote to Albion Parris's 31% and Isaac Reed's 15%. The election was once again thrown to the legislature, which elected Morrill. He ran for re-election in 1855 as the nominee of the newly formed Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, but though he won 47% of the vote to Democrat Samuel Wells's 44%, the legislature elected Wells over Morrill. In 1860, Morrill was elected to the United States House of Representatives from

. Though James G. Blaine had originally planned on running for the seat, he deferred to Morrill. In 1862, Morrill opted against seeking re-election to allow Blaine to run. After leaving Congress, he served as President of the Maine Central Railroad. He served one final term as a member of the Maine House from 1881 to 1882. In 1882, Morrill urged Blaine, his old friend, to 1882 United States House of Representatives elections, run for Congress, but Blaine declined. Governor Morrill died in 1887 in Augusta, Maine and is buried at the Forest Grove Cemetery in Augusta.

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1803 births 1887 deaths 19th-century American railroad executives Republican Party governors of Maine Maine sheriffs Republican Party members of the Maine House of Representatives People of Maine in the American Civil War People from Belgrade, Maine Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Maine Legislature {{US-rail-bio-stub