Samuel Plummer Morrill

Samuel Plummer Morrill (February 11, 1816 – August 4, 1892) was a nineteenth-century minister and Republican politician from Maine who served one term in the United States House of Representatives. He was born in Chesterville, then in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (an area that later became part of the State of Maine), where he spent his early years. He attended the local common schools and, demonstrating an early aptitude for study, went on to Farmington Academy in Farmington, Maine, a prominent regional preparatory institution of the period.

After completing his academy education, Morrill pursued theological studies and prepared for the ministry. He was ordained as a minister and began his pastoral career in Farmington, Maine. From 1848 to 1853 he held pastorates there, serving congregations in the community and establishing himself as a respected clergyman. His work in the pulpit and in local religious life helped to shape his reputation for integrity and public service, which later supported his entry into elective office.

Morrill’s first significant civil position was in county government. In 1857 he was elected register of deeds of Franklin County, Maine, an office responsible for maintaining public records related to property and land transactions. He was reelected to that position in 1862, reflecting the confidence of his fellow citizens in his administrative abilities and attention to public records during a period that spanned the early years of the Civil War. His experience in county office provided him with practical knowledge of local governance and the legal framework of property and civic affairs in rural Maine.

Building on his local prominence and Republican affiliation, Morrill was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1868. He served in the Forty-first Congress from March 4, 1869, to March 3, 1871, representing a Maine district during the Reconstruction era. While in Congress, he aligned with the Republican majority that oversaw post–Civil War legislation and national reconstruction policies, though specific committee assignments and legislative initiatives associated with his term are not extensively documented. In 1870 he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination, which brought his congressional service to a close after a single term.

Following his departure from Congress, Morrill returned to his original vocation in the ministry. He resumed active ministerial duties in East Dixfield, Maine, where he served from 1877 to 1879, again taking up pastoral responsibilities and religious leadership in a small rural community. In 1885 he moved to Vienna, Maine, where he continued to reside as he gradually withdrew from active clerical work. He retired from the ministry in 1886, concluding a long career that had alternated between religious service and public office.

In his later years, Morrill lived quietly in Maine, maintaining ties to the communities in which he had preached and served. He died in Chesterville, Maine, the town of his birth, on August 4, 1892. He was interred in Chesterville Hill Cemetery in Chesterville, bringing his life full circle to the rural setting in which it had begun more than seven decades earlier.