William Burleigh

Who was William Burleigh?

William Burleigh was a United States Representative from Maine. He was born in Northwood, New Hampshire, on October 24, 1785. He moved with his parents to Gilmanton, New Hampshire, in 1788 where he attended the common schools and taught for several years. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1815 and commenced practice in South Berwick, Maine.

He was elected as an Adams-Clay Democratic-Republican to the Eighteenth United States Congress and as an Adams candidate to the Nineteenth, and Twentieth Congresses, and served in the U.S. Congress from March 4, 1823, until his death in South Berwick on July 2, 1827. He served as chairman of Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury for the Nineteenth Congress. His interment was in Portland Street Cemetery. His son was the later Maine state legislator and U.S. Congressional Representative, John Holmes Burleigh.