KAVANAGH, Edward

1795–1844

Concise Biography

KAVANAGH, Edward, A Representative from Maine; born in Newcastle, Lincoln County, Maine, April 27, 1795; attended Montreal Seminary, Montreal, Canada, and Georgetown College, Georgetown, D.C.; was graduated from St. Mary's College, Baltimore, Md., in 1813; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Damariscotta, Maine; member of the State house of representatives 1826-1828; secretary of the State senate in 1830; elected as a Jacksonian candidate to the Twenty-second and Twenty-third Congresses (March 4, 1831-March 3, 1835); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1834 to the Twenty-fourth Congress; appointed Chargé d'Affaires to Portugal on March 3, 1835, and served until his resignation in June 1841; one of the joint commission on the northeastern boundary in 1842; member of the State senate in 1842 and 1843 and served as president of that body; became Governor of Maine upon the resignation of Governor Fairfield on March 7, 1843, and served until the end of the term in 1844; died in Newcastle, Maine, January 22, 1844; interment in St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery, Damariscotta Mills, Maine.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

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External Research Collections

Georgetown University
Georgetown University Library, Special Collections

Washington, DC
Papers: 1832-1909, 0.25 linear foot. Collection consists primarily of copies of autograph letters signed by Edward Kavanagh to individuals to whom he offered legal counsel and to associates during his service as charge d'affaires in Lisbon.

Bowdoin College
George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives

Brunswick, ME
Papers: In the papers of Samuel E. Smith, 1786-1880, 0.6 linear foot. Collection includes correspondence with Edward Kavanagh regarding the northeast boundary dispute.

Maine Historical Society
Maine Historical Society Library

Portland, ME
Papers: In the miscellaneous letters collection, ca. 1775-ca. 1920, 1 box. Correspondents include Edward Kavanagh.

New-York Historical Society

New York, NY
Papers: July 28, 1834, 1 letter. Finding aid in repository.
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Bibliography / Further Reading

Lucey, William Leo. Edward Kavanagh, Catholic, Statesman, Diplomat, from Maine, 1795-1844. Francestown, N.H.: Marshall Jones, 1947.

------. "Edward Kavanagh, Jacksonian Democrat from Maine." Ph.D. diss., Georgetown University, 1941.

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