Page:Men of Mark in America vol 1.djvu/457



RYE, WILLIAM PIERCE, United States senator from Maine from March 18, 1881, president pro tempore of the senate 1899-1901 and acting vice-president of the United States by reason of the death of Vice-President Hobart, and again on the accession of Vice-President Roosevelt to the presidency on the death of President McKinley, 1901; was born in Lewiston, Maine, September 2, 1831, son of Colonel John March and AHce M. (Davis) Frye; grandson of Joseph and Mary (Robinson) Frye, and great-grandson of Major-General Joseph and Mehitable (Poor) Frye. His father was an early settler of Lewiston, a manufacturer of woolens, a leading citizen who served as a municipal officer and as a state senator, and was noted for his enterprise and integrity. His first direct American ancestor was John Frye, of Saxon blood, one of the early settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts Bay colony, who came from the county of Hampshire, England, with Ann, his wife. They subsequently removed to Andover. Major-General Joseph Frye was a colonel in the Colonial army and while serving in New York under Sir William Johnson was taken prisoner by the French and Indian forces under Montcalm, and made his escape by killing his Indian guard after the capture of Fort William Henry, Lake George, New York, in 1757, and thus escaped the general massacre of the Colonial prisoners. He also served in the American army during the Revolution, and as major-general in the state militia. For his services in the Colonial army he was awarded a grant of land which became part of the township of Fryeburg, Maine. William Pierce Frye prepared for college at Lewiston; was graduated from Bowdoin college A.B. 1850; studied law under William Pitt Fessenden in Portland, Maine; was admitted to the bar in 1853 and practised at Rockland and afterward at Lewiston, Maine. He was a representative in the state legislature 1861, 1862 and 1867 and there first met James G. Blaine who was speaker of the house, became his ardent follower and was his most trusted coadjutor in his whole political career. He was a presidential elector on the Lincoln and