KENT, Edward, governor of Maine, born in Concord, New Hampshire, 8 January, 1802; died in Bangor, Maine, 19 May, 1877. He was graduated at Harvard in 1821, studied law, and began to practise in Bangor in 1825. In 1827 he was appointed chief justice of the court of sessions for Penobscot county, and from 1829 till 1833 he was a member of the legislature. He was mayor of Bangor from 1836 till 1838, and governor of the state from 1838 till 1840. His election as governor was the first indication of the defeat of the Democratic party throughout the country in 1840, and gave rise to a famous political song-- " Have you heard the news from Maine ?"In 1843 Governor Kent was appointed by the legislature a commissioner to settle the Maine boundary-line raider the Ashburton treaty. He was a delegate to the National Whig convention of 1848, that nominated General Zachary Taylor to the presidency, and in 1849-'53 was United States consul at Rio Janeiro. In 1859 he was appointed associate justice of the state supreme court, and on his retirement in 1873 he was chosen president of the constitutional commission of Maine. Waterville college (now Colby university) gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1855.