EDWIN CHICK BURLEIGH
EDWIN CHICK BURLEIGH, surveyor, public administrator, governor of Maine, editor, member of congress, is a native of Linnens, Aroostook county, Maine, where he was born November 27, 1843. His father, Parker P. Burleigh, and his grandfather, Moses Burleigh, were both conspicuous citizens of Maine. The latter was a lieutenant-colonel in the War of 1812, held a seat in the Massachusetts legislature, before the separation, and was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the new state of Maine. He took up his residence at Linnens in 1830, and here the old Burleigh homestead is located.
Edwin Burleigh was educated in the local schools and at Houlton academy, after which he taught school for a time and then began work as a land surveyor. Thus occupied for a number of years, he gained an intimate knowledge of the public lands of the state. This led to his being made a clerk in the land office at Augusta and finally to his appointment as land agent in 1876. From this date down to 1885, he held important clerical positions in the Maine house of representatives, and in the office of the state treasurer, and so well did he acquit himself that he succeeded to the latter office in 1885, and was reelected to it in 1887. At the end of the first year of his second term, he received the nomination for governor of the state, and resigned the treasurership. His election as governor took place in 1888, and in 1890 he was reelected by an increased plurality. After his retirement from the gubernatorial office in 1892, he acquired a controlling interest in the " Kennebec Journal," to whose management he largely devoted himself until his election to the lower house of congress in 1899. He has served continuously in congress since that date. He is a member of the committees on the Census, and on Public Buildings and Grounds.
Mr. Burleigh's public career has been one of unusual range, efficiency, and results. While treasurer of his state a reduction of more than $400,000 was made in the public debt of the commonwealth, and the rate of taxation reached its lowest limit. His four
