Abner Coburn was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He served as a Member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1860 to 1863. He was the 30th Governor of Maine from 1863 to 1864.
Background
Abner Coburn was born on March 22, 1803 in that part of the town of Canaan, Maine, United States now a part of Skowhegan. His father, Eleazar Coburn, was a skilful land-surveyor and an owner of large tracts of timberland. He also took considerable interest in politics, was a Federalist and a Whig, and served several terms in the legislature. He married Mary Weston, a grand-daughter of one of the earliest settlers of Somerset County, Maine. Of their fourteen children, Abner was the second. He spent most of his youth on his father’s farm.
Education
Abner attended the common schools and studied for a few terms at Bloomfield Academy.
Career
Coburn taught a winter school before he was twenty. For a few years he assisted his father in surveying and thus acquired a good knowledge of the art and also of the timberlands of central Maine. In 1825 he set up for himself but in 1830 joined his father and a younger brother, Philander, in forming the firm of E. Coburn & Sons, for buying lands and dealing in lumber on the Kennebec River. In 1845 Eleazar Coburn died and the firm was reorganized under the name of A. & P. Coburn. The firm became the largest landowner in the state. It also acquired large timber holdings in Wisconsin, and Abner Coburn obtained fifty thousand acres of timberland by virtue of connection with the Northern Pacific Railroad. The Coburn brothers were held in the highest regard by the vigorous, independent woodsmen in their employ, whom they always treated fairly and many of whom they helped to go into business for themselves and then by timely aid in periods of financial stringency, saved from ruin.
In 1854 the Coburns began to interest themselves actively in the railroad development of central Maine, by their personal influence and business prestige turning failure into success. Abner Coburn is said to have instantly granted a request for a loan of $200, 000 to save the Maine Central Railroad from bankruptcy. When a Boston interest obtained control of the Maine Central it made Coburn president of the new subsidiary, probably expecting him to be little more than a rubber stamp whose use would conciliate local feeling. Coburn, however, not only managed the Maine Central with great efficiency and economy but firmly resisted attempts to sacrifice the interests or the dignity of his road.
Like his father, he took considerable interest in politics. He served three terms in the state legislature as a Whig and was twice a member of the Executive Council. In 1860 he was a formidable candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, having the special support of the friends of James G. Blaine, but he was defeated by Congressman Israel Washburn. In 1863 Governor Washburn declined to run again and Coburn received the Republican nomination on the first ballot and was elected. It was, however, a year of Democratic reaction throughout, the country and Coburn’s majority was much smaller than that received by Washburn at either of his elections.
As governor Coburn gave Maine a clean, honest, business-like administration, making appointments and awarding contracts with regard to the interest of the state rather than that of the politicians. This helped to deprive him of the renomination usually given to governors; even some men who admired his independence believed that it would be unwise to present as a candidate a man who had aroused such opposition. More important was the fact that the Republican party gave way to a “Union” convention and that the chairman of their state committee, James G. Blaine, strongly favored the choice of a worthy War Democrat, Samuel Cony, who was nominated and elected.
Coburn held no other important political office but was chosen presidential elector in 1884 and while attending the meeting of the Maine electors was seized with an illness from which he did not recover.
Politics
Coburn was a member of the Republican Party.
Personality
Among Coburn’s chief characteristics were calmness, self-reliance, and generosity. He once received news of the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars, without giving the slightest sign of agitation. His closest friend, whom he made an executor of his will, knew no more of his affairs than did a mere acquaintance and was not even informed of his appointment as executor until after Coburn’s death. Coburn was generous to a fault in helping individuals in distress but he never spoke of the aid which he gave. By his will he left over a million dollars to religious, educational, and charitable institutions, much the greater share going to Baptist foundations.