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HON. HENRY LORD, of Bangor, whose career furnishes a striking example of the success
open to the energetic Maine boy that seeks to improve the home opportunities surrounding him, is a native of the
city which has been his life-long home. He was born in Bangor, May 7, 1847, his parents being Charles E. and Caroline
L. (Weston) Lord, old residents of the Penobscot city. On his father's side he is a descendant of Nathan Lord,
who came from Massachusetts and settled at Kittery, Me., in 1652; and on his mother's side, a descendant of Joseph
Weston, one of the first settlers of Skowhegan, who came from Concord, Mass., in 1772, and was a soldier of the
Revolution.
Educated in the public schools, supplemented by a course at Bucksport Seminary, at the age of eighteen he commenced
his business career as a clerk in the office of Capt. Thomas J. Stewart, a prosperous ship-broker and general commission
merchant of Bangor, engaged largely in the foreign trade as well as in traffic with domestic ports. After three
years of thorough training in this establishment, the young man launched out for himself, setting up an independent
establishment in the same line of business at 21 Exchange Street. Here he built up a large and widely-extended
business, occupying the original quarters for many years, until, in 1892, he removed to more commodious offices
at 19 Exchange Street. Besides being a large owner and manager of vessel property, and in addition to his ship-brokerage
business, Mr. Lord is heavily interested in the ice industry, and is an extensive shipper of ice, lumber, hay,
last-blocks, slate, brick, and other products of this section. In 1890 he admitted into partnership his brother,
Edwin, who for half a dozen years had been associated with him as chief clerk, and the business is now conducted
under the firm name of Henry Lord & Co., ship-brokers and commission merchants.
Mr. Lord in early life, prior to his more active business career, read law with Messrs. Peters & Wilson the
former now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Maine, and the latter one of the leading attorneys of the State
- and with Col. Jasper Hutchings, also an eminent member 9f the legal fraternity, and though he never engaged in
professional practice, he has found the legal knowledge thus acquired most useful in his legislative service and
in his business, especially that portion of it relating to maritime affairs. He is an active member of the Vessel
Owners' and Captains' National Association, and for eight years served as Maine Commissioner of that commercial
body, an organization that at one time enrolled more than one thousand vessels with a valuation of $20,000,000.
He has been President of the Bangor Board of Trade from 1881 to the present time, and upon the organization of
the Maine State Board of Trade, in 1889, was elected to the Presidency of that institution, and has been re-elected
at every subsequent annual meeting.
The success which has attended Mr. Lord in his business undertakings is due to inherent qualities that, naturally,
have brought him into prominence in social and public life. His strong personality and engaging manners, combined
with keen intelligence, breadth of view, and ready expression in relation to all matters of general public interest,
have made his counsels and services sought after in various capacities by the community. In politics always an
ardent and steadfast Republican, he quickly, upon reaching manhood, became active and prominent in the organization
of that party in his native city. Commencing his public life by serving in various minor offices, he was elected
a member of the City Council in 1872, and was continued by successive re-elections for three years, during the
second and third of which he served as President of the Council. In 1876 his field of action as a political leader
and legislator was enlarged by his election as Representative to the State Legislature, and upon being returned
the following year he was chosen Speaker of the House, at the age of thirty years. Later he served two terms as
State Senator, and during his second term, in 1889, was President of the Maine Senate, the second officer of the
State.
Among other local honors bestowed upon him, Mr. Lord served for some years upon the Superintending School Committee,
and as a Director in the Mechanics' Library Association, and was one of the originators of the Bangor Literary
Association, an organization that led an active career for many years, and which comprised many of the younger
business and professional men of the city, holding weekly meetings during the winter months for debate and general
literary advancement. He has always been especially interested in educational matters, and is President of the
Board of Trustees of the Maine State College, also President of the Board of Trustees of Westbrook Seminary. In
religious faith Mr. Lord is a Universalist. Though not in membership in that church, he has been prominently identified
with the promotion of its work, and was for several years President of the Maine State Convention of Universalists.
Mr. Lord was married, in 1872, to Miss Emma, daughter of Mr. Joseph Saunders, of Orland, by whom he has four children,
two sons and two daughters.
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