Saturday, July 24, 2010

1867 note from Nelson Dingley Jr., Editor of Lewiston Journal, Lewiston, Maine; later Maine Governor & US Rep






January 25, 1867 note on letterhead of the Lewiston Journal, Lewiston, Maine, signed by N. Dingley Jr., who was Edward Nelson Dingley, Jr., later to become Governor of the State of Maine and Representative to the US Congress.






Transcription:


Dear Sir:
On discontinuing the Daily Journal to your address there remained our due the sum of $12.25.  You will do us a favor by remitting the amount at once, as we are in need of all that is due us.
Yours,
N. Dingley Jr. [followed by a character or characters that might signify Editor or perhaps that a secretary wrote the note for him]


Edward Nelson Dingley, Jr., better known as Nelson Dingley, Jr., was born in Durham, Maine, in 1832 and died in 1899 in Washington, D. C. while serving in the US Congress.  He was the son of Nelson and Jane S. (Lambert) Dingley.   The senior Nelson Dingley was the son of Jeremiah and Lucy (Garcelon) Dingley.  Jane S. Lambert was the daughter of Isaac and Mary (Strout) Lambert.


In 1857, shortly after graduating from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and receiving his law degree at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, Nelson Dingley, Jr., married Salome Parker McKenney, the daughter of Henry and Ruth (Parker) McKenney.  They had eight children, but at least one did not survive to adulthood.


Rather than practice law after graduating from Bates College, Nelson Dingley, Jr. assumed the editorship of the Lewiston Journal and held that post for the next twenty years or so.  He was known for his skills in finance and his rather humorless demeanor, as the note above perhaps demonstrates.  From the early 1860s to the end of his life, he was involved in public service as a state representative, Governor and US representative.  He was a Republican and was twice a delegate to the Republican National Convention.


Hopefully you will find this memento meaningful.  As a side note, I worked for the Lewiston Journal 120 years or so after this note was written.


Thanks for stopping by!

4 comments:

  1. Edward Nelson Dingley Jr. was my great great grandfather! He was the father of my Grandmother's mother, Marnie.

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    Replies
    1. Neat! Did you notice any errors I should correct?

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    2. No! Even if there were, I wouldn't know. Thanks for this! Do you have anything else?

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    3. You can try searching my archive of things I've blogged about (search box in right margin near the top) - still have a lot to go through.

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