Who was Jonathan Cilley?

Jonathan Cilley (July 2, 1802 – February 24, 1838) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine. He served part of one term in the 25th Congress. He died in office after being killed in a duel by Congressman William J. Graves, a colleague from Kentucky. He was challenged to the duel because he claimed a Virginian was responsible for a newspaper article that charged another Congressman with immorality.

Jonathan Cilley was a member of one of the leading families of northern New England. A grandson of Major General Joseph Cilley and nephew of Bradbury Cilley, he was born in Nottingham, New Hampshire, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825. Deciding to stay in Maine, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1828, practicing in Thomaston, Maine. He edited of the Thomaston Register from 1829-1831 and represented Thomaston in the Maine Legislature in 1831-1836, serving as speaker of the state House in his final two years of service there. He was then elected to the United States Congress, but did not complete his first term.

Jonathan Cilley's brother Joseph Cilley served as a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire in 1846-1847. Jonathan Cilley's successor as speaker of the Maine House in 1837 was Hannibal Hamlin, later Vice President of the United States. Cilley's son, Jonathan Prince Cilley, became a Brevetted Brigadier General in the Union Army during the Civil War.