Hiram Belcher
American politician (1790-1857)

Hiram Belcher (February 23, 1790 – May 6, 1857) was a United States representative from Maine. He was born in Hallowell, Massachusetts (now in Maine) on February 23, 1790. He attended the rural schools and the local academy in town. Belcher studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Farmington in 1812.
Belcher was elected town clerk of the community and served from 1814 to 1819; member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1822, 1829, and 1832; served in the Maine State Senate. He was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth Congress (March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849). He was chairman of the Committee on Mileage. He was not a candidate for reelection. He re-engaged in the practice of his profession until his death in Farmington on May 6, 1857. His interment was in Center Meeting House Cemetery.
“Hiram Belcher” enters the record as american politician (1790-1857). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hiram, Belcher and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Hiram Belcher” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hiram, Belcher and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1620114. VIAF identifies the subject as 43715774. The Library of Congress control number is n2005174828. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1790, 1857, 1812 and 1814.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hiram Belcher” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.