Isaiah Kidder Stetson

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Description

An image scanned from a black and white photograph of Isaiah Kidder Stetson found within the Stetson family papers. The image is not dated.

Isaiah Kidder Stetson, born in Bangor on April 3, 1858, was a member of a family engaged in various industries in the Bangor area including lumbering, shipping, slate mining, banking, and the ice trade. He attended Bangor public schools, graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., in 1876, and from the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale in 1879. For two years after his graduation he worked in his father’s office and then entered into a partnership with his brother Edward in the firm of E. & I.K. Stetson. He also served as treasurer of the Blanchard Slate Mining Company, director of the Union Insurance Company, and treasurer of the Aroostook Construction Company. With partners Edward Stetson, J. Fred Webster, and Eben C. Webster, he formed Webster Stetson Company, an ice business. He served as president of Martinon Lumber Company and as a director of the First National Bank, becoming president when his brother Edward died in 1913.

Active in civic and community affairs, he was treasurer of the University of Maine Board of Trustees and of the Hampden Academy. A Republican, he was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 1896, became House Speaker in 1899, and served terms in 1903 and 1905 as state senator from Penobscot County. He was a member of many civic and fraternal organizations in Bangor including the Tarratine Club, the Masons, and the Mystic Shrine. An early bicycle enthusiast, in 1897 he built the Niben Club bicycle path and clubhouse at Pushaw Lake outside the city. He was a member of the Unitarian Church of Bangor and was active in the New Unity Club and the Unitarian Memorial Association. He married Clara C. Sawyer in 1882; they had two children: Ruth W., born July 22, 1884, and Irving Gay, born November 23, 1885. Isaiah Stetson died on July 14, 1940.

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Rights assessment remains the responsibility of the researcher. No known restrictions on publication. For information about the process and fees for obtaining higher resolution scans or another file format, contact Special Collections.

Recommended Citation

Requested credit line: Image courtesy of Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, DigitalCommons@UMaine,
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/spec_photos/880

Format

jpeg

Part Of

MS 480, Stetson family papers