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SMITH, Francis Ormand Jonathan, a Representative from Maine; born in Brentwood, N.H., November 23, 1806;
attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H.; studied law; was admitted to the bar and
commenced practice in Portland, Maine, in 1826; division advocate of the fifth division of the circuit
court-martial in Maine 1829-1834; served in the state house of representatives in 1831; member of
the state senate in 1833 and served as its president; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-third and
Twenty-fourth Congresses and as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1833-March 3,
1839); chairman, Committee on Commerce (Twenty-fifth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for
reelection in 1838 to the Twenty-sixth Congress; assisted Professor Morse in perfecting and
introducing the electric telegraph; again a member of the state house of representatives in 1863 and
1864; died in Deering (later Woodfords), Maine, October 14, 1876; interment on his estate, Forest
Home; reinterment in Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, Maine.
BibliographyGaffney, Thomas L. Maines Mr. Smith: A Study of
the Career of Francis O. J. Smith, Politician and Entrepreneur. Ph.D. diss., University of Maine,
1979.
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