Marcus A. Coolidge

Marcus Allen Coolidge
United States Senator
from Massachusetts
In office
March 4, 1931  January 3, 1937
Preceded by Frederick H. Gillett
Succeeded by Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Personal details
Born (1865-10-06)October 6, 1865
Westminster, Massachusetts
Died January 23, 1947(1947-01-23) (aged 81)
Miami Beach, Florida
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Ethel Louise Warren[1]
Children Louise Coolidge, Judith Coolidge, Helen Coolidge[1]
Alma mater Bryant & Stratton College
Religion Universalist

Marcus Allen Coolidge (October 6, 1865  January 23, 1947) was a Democratic United States Senator representing Massachusetts from March 4, 1931 to January 3, 1937.

Biography

Coolidge was born in Westminster, Massachusetts, son of Frederick Spaulding Coolidge. Through his father, he was descended from both John Coolidge (1604–1691) and Thomas Hastings who came from the East Anglia region of England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1630 and 1634 respectively.

After attending public schools and Bryant & Stratton Commercial College at its former Boston, Massachusetts campus, Coolidge worked with his father's company in manufacturing chairs and rattan. He later worked in the contracting business, building street railways, water works, and bridges.

In 1916, Coolidge was elected mayor of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Coolidge as special envoy to Poland to represent the Peace Commission. He became chairman of the Democratic state convention in 1920. That year he was defeated for lieutenant governor by Republican Congressman Alvan T. Fuller. Coolidge also served as trustee and president of the Cushing Academy at Ashburnham, Massachusetts.

After being elected to the United States Senate in 1930, Coolidge served as chairman of the Committee on Immigration for the Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Congresses, but was not a candidate for renomination in 1936.

After leaving the Senate, Coolidge returned to Fitchburg and his former business pursuits. He died at St. Francis Hospital in Miami Beach, Florida in 1947, aged 81, and is interred at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Westminster, Massachusetts.[2][3] He donated substantial land to the city of Fitchburg for a recreational park located in the north section. The park bearing his last name is the largest in the city and bears an engraved stone memorializing his notable activities and public contributions.

He was a "distant relative" of former Massachusetts Governor and President of the United States Calvin Coolidge.[4]

Coolidge was the father in law of Secretary of War Harry Hines Woodring and Mayor Robert E. Greenwood of Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

References

  1. 1 2 Fulham, Volney Sewall (1909), The Fulham Genealogy: With Index of Names and Blanks for Records, Burlington, VT: Free Press Printing Co., p. 133
  2. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=c000740
  3. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7505444
  4. "Marcus A., Candidate in Massachusetts, Distant Kin to Calvin". October 12, 1930.

Sources

United States Senate
Preceded by
Frederick H. Gillett
U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Massachusetts
1931-1937
Served alongside: David I. Walsh
Succeeded by
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
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