Edward Kent
Associate Justice of theMaine Supreme Judicial Court
In office 1859–1873
12th and 15thGovernor of Maine
In office January 13, 1841 – January 5, 1842
Preceded by	Richard H. Vose
Succeeded by	John Fairfield
In office January 19, 1838 – January 2, 1839
Preceded by	Robert P. Dunlap
Succeeded by	John Fairfield
2nd Mayor ofBangor, Maine
In office 1836–1837
Preceded by	Allen Gilman
Succeeded by	Rufus Dwinel
Member of theMaine Senate
In office 1831–1833
Personal details
Born	January 8, 1802 Concord,New Hampshire,U.S.
Died	May 19, 1877 (aged 75) Bangor,Maine,U.S.
Resting place	Mount Auburn Cemetery inCambridge, Massachusetts.
Political party	Whig

Edward Kent (January 8, 1802 – May 19, 1877) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 12th and 15thgovernor of Maine. He was among the last prominent members of theWhig Party in Maine before it collapsed in favor of theRepublicans. He is the only Maine governor to have been elected to two non-consecutive terms (1838–39 and 1841–42), though his second term was through direct appointment by the Whig-dominatedMaine Legislature.

Born in 1802 inConcord, New Hampshire, Kent was raised inBangor, Maine. He graduated fromHarvard University in 1821, in the same class asRalph Waldo Emerson. According to a biographical article reprinted in theNew York Times, "he had no rank in college and in truth was president of the "Lazy Club".^{[citation needed]}

He apprenticed as a lawyer inTopsham, Maine, but established his own practice in the growing lumber-port of Bangor in 1825. He was elected to theMaine Legislature in 1829 and held political offices on and off the rest of his life, becoming the second mayor of Bangor (1836–1837) andgovernor of Maine.

Kent went into practice with Jonas Cutting in 1831 and their partnership lasted 18 years. The two constructed theJonas Cutting–Edward Kent House in Bangor'sBroadway neighborhood, which is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places as an example of theGreek Revival style.^[1]

Kent ended his public life as an associate justice of theMaine Supreme Judicial Court (1859–73). His law partner and neighbor Jonas Cutting served almost concurrently in the same position (1854–75). Kent's unclePrentiss Mellen had been the first chief justice of the same court.

Kent played a part in both instigating and resolving theAroostook War.

While living inRio de Janeiro, his wife and two children died ofyellow fever. His surviving child died soon after they returned to Bangor. Kent married a second time, to Abigail Ann Rockwood who was the niece of first wife Sarah Johnston, and had one more child,Edward Kent Jr., who became the chief justice of theArizona Territory Supreme Court.^[1]

He died ofcongestive heart failure in 1877 inBangor, Maine, and is buried at theMount Auburn Cemetery inCambridge, Massachusetts.

Fort Kent, situated where theFish River meets theSaint John River in the Saint John River Valley, was named in his honor. Later, the town ofFort Kent, Maine^[2] was named for the military installation (of which only a single blockhouse survives) and for Governor Kent.

• List of mayors of Bangor, Maine

• David M. Gold.An Exemplary Whig: Edward Kent and the Whig Disposition in American Politics and Law (Lexington Books; 2012) 255 pages; scholarly biography

• 1802 births
• 1877 deaths
• Harvard University alumni
• Governors of Maine
• Mayors of Bangor, Maine
• Maine Whigs
• Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery
• Politicians from Concord, New Hampshire
• Whig Party state governors of the United States
• 19th-century members of the Maine Legislature
• Justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court
• 19th-century Maine state court judges

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• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2021