- Frederic T. Greenhalge
Infobox Governor
name = Frederic Thomas Greenhalge
order = 38th
office = Governor of Massachusetts
term_start =January 4 ,1894
term_end =March 5 ,1896
lieutenant = Roger Wolcott
predecessor = William E. Russell
successor = Roger Wolcott
birth_date = birth date|1842|7|19|mf=y
birth_place =Clitheroe ,England
death_date = death date and age|1900|12|21|1842|7|19|mf=y
death_place =Lowell, Massachusetts
party = Republican
spouse =
profession =
religion =
order2 = Member of theUnited States House of Representatives fromMassachusetts 's 8th district
term_start2 = 1889
term_end2 = 1891
predecessor2 =Charles H. Allen
successor2 =Moses T. Stevens
order3 = Mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts
term_start3 = 1880
term_end3 = 1881
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
order4 = Commissioner of Insolvency of Lowell, Massachusetts
term_start4 = 1880
term_end4 = 1881
predecessor4 =
successor4 =
order5 = Justice of the Police Court of Lowell, Massachusetts
term_start5 = 1874
term_end5 = 1884
predecessor5 =
successor5 =
order6 = Member of theSchool Committee ofLowell, Massachusetts
term_start6 = 1871
term_end6 = 1873
predecessor6 =
successor6 =
order7 = Member of theCommon Council ofLowell, Massachusetts
term_start7 = 1871
term_end7 = 1873
predecessor7 =
successor7 =Frederic Thomas Greenhalge (born Frederic Thomas Greenhalgh) (
July 19 ,1842 –March 5 ,1896 ) was born inClitheroe ,England and immigrated with his parents to the United States in early childhood. His father William was a cloth printer and worked for a textile company after he immigrated.He attended the public schools of
Lowell, Massachusetts and thenHarvard University from 1859 to 1862; he quit school and returned home after his father died. He taught school inChelmsford, Massachusetts and studied law. During the Civil War he served with the Union Army inNew Bern, North Carolina for five months. He was admitted to the bar in Lowell in 1865 and served in the common council of Lowell in 1868 and 1869. He then became a member of the school committee in 1871, holding that post until 1873. He had a private legal practice and was also a judge in the Lowell Police Court from 1874 to 1884.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–?).He was then mayor of Lowell in 1880 and 1881 and an unsuccessful candidate for election to the
Massachusetts Senate in 1881. He was a delegate to theRepublican National Convention in 1884 and a member of theMassachusetts 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. However, he was subsequently electedGovernor of Massachusetts after a ferocious 1893 campaign and served from January 1894 until his death in Lowell. While governor, the Commonwealth paid off its last public debt and he proclaimed the firstPatriots' Day , ending the 200-year-oldFast Day celebration in Massachusetts. Perhaps his greatest test in office came in February 1894 when anangry 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. When he died, businesses and schools closed in his honor. At his funeral SenatorHenry Cabot Lodge and Harvard PresidentCharles William Eliot served as pallbearers; he is buried in Lowell Cemetery.External links
* [http://www.mass.gov/statehouse/massgovs/fgreenhalge.htm Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography]
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