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Samuel D. Felker

American politician (1859-1932)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ883577
Source-derived summary

Samuel Demeritt Felker (April 16, 1859 – November 14, 1932) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from Rochester, New Hampshire.

Family life

Felker was born to William H. and Deborah A. (Demeritt) Felker in Rochester, New Hampshire. Felker married Mary J. Dudley on June 26, 1900 in Buffalo, New York. Felker was a member of the Congregationalist Church.

Education

Felker graduated from Dartmouth College in 1882. In 1888 Felker earned a A.M. and a L.L.B from the Boston University School of Law.

Early political career

Felker was a member of the New Hampshire state constitutional convention of 1889, he served in the New Hampshire Senate from 1890 to 1892, as the mayor of Rochester, New Hampshire in 1896 and 1897, and from 1909 to 1911 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

Governor of New Hampshire

In 1912, Felker, a political progressive, ran as a Democrat for governor of New Hampshire. Because no candidate received a majority of the vote, Felker was selected as governor by the New Hampshire legislature. He did not seek reelection in 1914 and, after deliberating, decided against a bid for the state's U.S. Senate seat.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Samuel D. Felker” as american politician (1859-1932). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Samuel, Felker and American.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1859, 1932, 1900, 1882—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1859-04-16. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Samuel, Felker and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Samuel D. Felker”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (1859-1932)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

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 Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q883577. VIAF identifies the subject as 7907156619132628780003. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1859, 1932, 1900 and 1882.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Samuel D. Felker”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Samuel D. Felker primary sources, Samuel D. Felker archive and Samuel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Samuel D. Felker”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Samuel D. Felker” 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.