Edmund Burke (1809 - 1882)
Born at Westminster (VT); died at Newport (NH). Lawyer, newspaper editor, U.S. Representative.
Portrait by E. Wyatt Kimball, n.d.
Presented to the State, date unknown.

Edmund Burke attended local schools until age sixteen, when he studied law at the offices of Hon. William C. Bradley, of Westminster. Burke was duly admitted to the Windham County (VT) Bar, and then to the Cheshire County (NH) Bar. At twenty years of age he began to practice law at Colebrook (NH), beginning in April, 1830.

Burke soon moved from Colebrook to Whitefield, where he built a successful law practice and worked 1830 - 1833. He then moved back to the Connecticut River, becoming the editor of a new Claremont (NH) newspaper, the New Hampshire Argus. In 1834 the Argus merged with the Spectator, which was published in Newport (NH). Burke moved to Newport and continued as editor of the new publication.

In 1837 Burke became commanding adjutant of the New Hampshire Militia, and he was promoted to Brigade Inspector of the Militia in 1838. Not yet thirty years old, Burke had high visibility in New Hampshire, and in March 1839 Burke was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He served three terms (1839 - 1845) in Washington, and was then appointed Commissioner of Patents by President Polk. Burke served in this post 1845 - 1849; he then became associate editor of the Washington Union newspaper.

In 1850 Burke returned to Newport; there he practiced law until he died in 1882. He was twice a New Hampshire delegate to the Democratic National Convention (1844, 1852).

References: Hobart Pillsbury, New Hampshire: A History (1927), volume 4; Who Was Who in America, 1607 - 1896 (1963).