Zeno Scudder

Who was Zeno Scudder?

Zeno Scudder was the son of Deacon Josiah and Hannah Scudder. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts. He was born in Osterville, Massachusetts on August 18, 1807. He wanted to follow the sea, but a paralysis of his right leg made that impossible. He studied medicine at Bowdoin College but his lameness hindered his practice so he decided to take up law at the Cambridge Law School. He was admitted to the Bar in 1856 and conducted a lucrative practice in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Scudder was a member of the Massachusetts Senate 1846-1848 and served as Senate President.

Scudder was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses. His special interest while in Congress was American Fisheries. He served from March 4, 1851, until his resignation on March 4, 1854, because of a broken leg suffered in a fall, the effects of which he never recovered.

Scudder died in Barnstable, Massachusetts on June 26, 1857 and was interred in Hillside Cemetery, Osterville.