Page:Autobiographies and portraits of the President, cabinet, Supreme court, and Fifty-fifth Congress (IA autobiographiesp02neal).pdf/119

 WILLIAM P. FRYE

, of Lewiston, was born at Lewiston, Me., September 2, 1831; graduated at Bowdoin College, Maine, 1850; studied and practiced law; was a member of the State legislature in 1861, 1862, and 1867; was mayor of the city of Lewiston in 1866 and 1867; was attorney-general of the State of Maine in 1867, 1868, and 1869; was elected a member of the national Republican executive committee in 1872 and reëlected in 1876 and 1880; was elected a trustee of Bowdoin College in June, 1880; received the degree of LL. D. from Bates College in July, 1881, and the same degree from Bowdoin College in 1889; was a presidential elector in 1864; was a delegate to the national Republican conventions in 1872, 1876, and 1880; was elected chairman of the Republican State committee of Maine in place of Hon. James G. Blaine, resigned in November, 1881; was elected a Representative in the Forty-Second, Forty-Third, Forty-Fourth, Forty-Fifth, Forty-Sixth, and Forty-Seventh Congresses; was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of James G. Blaine, appointed Secretary of State; took his seat March 18, 1881; was reëlected in 1883, in 1888, and again in 1895, receiving every vote, with one exception, in both branches of the legislature, at the latter election; was elected president pro tempore of the Senate February 7, 1896; was a member of the commission which met in Paris, September, 1898, to adjust terms of peace between the United States and Spain. His term of service will expire March 3, 1901.