Hannibal Hamlin

In 1833, Hamlin married Sarah Jane Emery and the couple had four children together; George, Charles, Cyrus and Sarah. Unfortunately, Sarah died in 1855.

In 1856, he wed Sarah’s half-sister, Ellen Vesta Emery. They were blessed with two children, Hannibal E. and Frank.

After retiring from political life, Hamlin returned to his home in Bangor, Maine, where he died on July 4, 1891, at the age of 81. He was buried in the Hamlin family plot at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, Maine, United States.

Hannibal Hamlin was born on August 27, 1809, in Paris Hill, Maine, to Cyrus Hamlin, a farmer and surveyor, and his wife, Anna Livermore.

Hamlin received early education from the district schools and then went to the Hebron Academy, a preparatory school in Hebron, Maine. Thereafter, he managed his family farm for some time and later also worked as a school teacher and managed a weekly newspaper.

Then, he studied law under the guidance of Samuel Fessenden, and was admitted to the bar in 1833.Subsequently, he began his own law practice and acquired a reputation as a competent lawyer.

In 1835, Hamlin entered politics as an anti-slavery Democrat and was elected to the Maine House of Representatives, where he served with the militia in the Aroostook War of 1839. He assisted in reducing tensions and made way for the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which eventually ended the war.

After an unsuccessful run for the United States House of Representatives in 1840, he left the State House in 1841. In 1843, he was appointed a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 6th district, a capacity in which he served until 1847. He served as chairman of the Committee on Elections.

In 1848, he was elected to the United States Senate vacancy, a position Hamlin retained until 1857.Since the start of his service in Congress, Hamlin was a strong opponent of the extension of slavery. In 1854, he profoundly argued against the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise.

Subsequently, the Democratic Party permitted that repeal at the 1856 Democratic National Convention. Disappointed with his party's outlook on slavery, Hamlin left the Democratic Party and joined the newly organized Republican Party.

In 1856, he was elected as the first Republican Governor of Maine and was inaugurated on the post in January 1857. However, he served as governor for a very brief period and left the position in latter part of February, preferring to return to his Senate seat. From 1857 to 1861, he again served as a member of the United States Senate.

A keen opponent of slavery since the beginning of his career, Hamlin went on to become a U.S. senator and raised his voice against this practice. As Vice President of the United States under Abraham Lincoln, Hamlin urged Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation to end southern slavery and later also supported Radical Reconstruction.