Frederic T. Greenhalge

Frederic Thomas Greenhalge
38th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 4, 1894 – March 5, 1896
Lieutenant	Roger Wolcott
Preceded by	William E. Russell
Succeeded by	Roger Wolcott
Member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 8th district
In office March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1891
Preceded by	Charles H. Allen
Succeeded by	Moses T. Stevens
Mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts
In office 1880–1881
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office 1885
Personal details
Born	(1842-07-19)July 19, 1842 Clitheroe, England
Died	Lowell, Massachusetts
Political party	Republican
Signature

Frederic Thomas Greenhalge (born Greenhalgh) (July 19, 1842 – March 5, 1896) was a British-born lawyer and politician in the United States state of Massachusetts. He served in the United States House of Representatives and was the state's 38th governor. He was elected three consecutive times, but died early in his third term. He was the state's first foreign-born governor.

Early years

Frederic Thomas Greenhalge was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England on July 19, 1842, to William Greenhalgh and Jane (Slater) Greenhalgh. He was the only son (of seven children). His father, the supervisor of a printing operation, was descended from the Greenhalghs, a family of longstanding note in Lancashire. The family moved first to Eshton and then Edenfield, where the young Greenhalge (who would change the spelling of his name as an adult) attended private school. In 1855 the family immigrated to Lowell, Massachusetts, where the father had been offered a job heading the printing department of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company.

Greenhalge attended the public schools of Lowell, where he excelled academically and participated in debating societies. In 1859 he enrolled in Harvard College, where he was a member of the Institute of 1770. He left Harvard after three years because his father died. He taught school in Chelmsford, Massachusetts and studied law. During the American Civil War he served with the Union Army in New Bern, North Carolina for five months. He was admitted to the bar in Lowell in 1865, and began the practice of law.

On October 1, 1872, Greenhalge married Isabella (or Isabel) Nesmith, and they had three children: Nesmith Greenhalge (1873–1874), Frederic B. Greenhalge (1875–?), and Harriet Nesmith Greenhalge (1878–?).

Political career

Greenhalge served on Lowell's common council in 1868 and 1869. He then became a member of the school committee in 1871, holding that post until 1873. In addition to his legal practice, he also served as a judge in the Lowell Police Court from 1874 to 1884.

Greenhalge was elected mayor of Lowell in 1880 and 1881 and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Massachusetts Senate in 1881. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1884 and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1885 but was unsuccessful in his bid for reelection. He became city solicitor in 1888, practicing law in Middlesex and other counties. He was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first Congress, serving from March 4, 1889 to March 3, 1891, but failed in 1890 to be re-elected to Congress, a casualty of that year's Democratic landslide.

In 1893, Greenhalge ran for Governor of Massachusetts. He was opposed in the Republican nomination by Albert E. Pillsbury, a member of the reform-oriented Mugwump wing of the party. Pillsbury's nomination was opposed by the power Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, and Greenhalge was chosen as a relatively safe candidate against the Democrat John E. Russell. Russell was not as popular as the outgoing Democratic governor William E. Russell (no relation), and the Democrats were further hurt by the start of the Panic of 1893. Greenhalge won an easy victory. He was the state's first foreign-born governor.

Greenhalge served in the office from January 1894, winning reelection until his death in 1896. While governor, the Commonwealth paid off its last public debt and he proclaimed the first Patriots' Day, ending the 200-year-old Fast Day celebration in Massachusetts. Perhaps his greatest test in office came in February 1894 when an angry mob of 5,000 gathered in front of the State House to demand unemployment subsidies; he came out of his office to address them and promise them relief, whereupon their anger subsided.

Greenhalge died in office on March 5, 1896; businesses and schools closed in his honor. At his funeral Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and Harvard President Charles William Eliot served as pallbearers; he is buried in Lowell Cemetery.

Sources

• (five volume history of Massachusetts until the early 20th century)

External links

• Frederic T. Greenhalge at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Charles H. Allen	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 8th congressional district 1889–1891	Succeeded by Moses T. Stevens
Political offices
Preceded by William Russell	Governor of Massachusetts 1894–1896	Succeeded by Roger Wolcott

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