Name Frederick Plaisted Role Former Governor of Maine | Resigned January 1, 1913 | |
 | ||
Died March 4, 1943, Los Angeles, California, United States Previous office Governor of Maine (1911–1913) | ||
Frederick William Plaisted (July 26, 1865 – March 4, 1943) was an American politician and the 48th Governor of Maine.
Contents
Early life
Plaisted was born in Bangor, Maine on July 26, 1865. He studied at local schools and at the St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont. He established a career in publishing. He owned and edited The New Age in Augusta from 1889-1914.
Plaisted was the son of Harris Plaisted, Civil War general and Governor of Maine. The Plaisteds were Democrats in a majority Republican state. His father won the gubernatorial election by only 200 votes.
Politics
Plaisted served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1896. He held that position again in 1900. He became the mayor of Augusta in 1906, and held that position until 1910. He was also the Kennebec County sheriff from 1907 to 1908.
He was nominated by the Democratic party for the governorship of Maine in 1910 and he went on to win the general election. He held the governor's office from January 4, 1911 to January 1, 1913. In 1912 he oversaw the eviction of a 45 member mixed race community from Malaga Island in the town of Phippsburg. He was unsuccessful in his re-election bid.
The last Democratic governor of Maine, 28 years before, had been his father. They were two of only five Democrats who served as governor of Maine from 1853 to 1955. (By comparison there were 35 Republican and one Whig governor in the same time period.)
Personal life
Plaisted married Frances Gullifer. He was a Congregationalist.