18 Facts About Jonathan Cilley

Jonathan Cilley was a member of the US House of Representatives from Maine.

Jonathan Cilley served part of one term in the 25th Congress, and died as the result of a wound sustained in a duel with another Congressman, William J Graves of Kentucky.

Jonathan Cilley settled in Thomaston, Maine, where he studied law and attained admission to the bar in addition to editing the Thomaston Register newspaper.

In 1836, Jonathan Cilley was elected to the United States House of Representatives.

Jonathan Cilley served part of one term, and died as the result of a gunshot wound caused when he engaged in a duel with Representative William J Graves.

Jonathan Cilley was temporarily interred at Congressional Cemetery, and later reinterred at Elm Grove Cemetery in Thomaston.

Jonathan Cilley was born in Nottingham, New Hampshire, and was the son of Jane Cilley and Greenleaf Cilley.

Jonathan Cilley was the brother of Joseph Cilley, grandson of Major General Joseph Cilley, and nephew of Bradbury Cilley.

Jonathan Cilley was a member of Bowdoin's famed class of 1825, which included Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

In 1829, Jonathan Cilley married Deborah Prince, the daughter of local businessman Hezekiah Prince.

Jonathan Prince Cilley became a brigadier general by brevet in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Jonathan Cilley married Malvina Vernet, the daughter of Luis Vernet, a former Argentinian governor of the Falkland Islands in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1861 and died in San Isidro, Buenos Aires in 1899.

Jonathan Cilley edited the Thomaston Register from 1829 to 1831 and represented Thomaston in the Maine House of Representatives from 1831 to 1836, serving as Speaker in his final two years.

Jonathan Cilley was then elected to the United States Congress, but did not complete his first term.

Democrats, including Jonathan Cilley, considered Webb's coverage of Congress to be biased and unfair; Cilley vented some of his party's bitterness in remarks made on the House floor, and suggested that Webb's change from opposing to supporting the re-chartering of the bank came about because Webb received loans from the bank totaling $52,000.

Jonathan Cilley bled to death on the dueling ground within a matter of minutes.

Jonathan Cilley was buried at Congressional Cemetery, and re-interred at Elm Grove Cemetery in Thomaston, Maine.

Jonathan Cilley's colleagues paid tribute to him by passing a federal law on February 20,1839, which strengthened the strict prohibition against dueling in Washington, DC by making it a crime to issue or accept a challenge within district limits, even if the actual duel was to take place outside the district.