Joshua Hall of Frankfort was elected President of the Maine Senate in January of 1830 after forty-nine ballots had been taken with no result. The reason for the stalemate was the fact that eight Senators were National Republicans, eight were Democratic-Republicans and there were four vacancies.
Since the Maine Supreme Court had ruled that Nathan Cutler of Farmington could not serve as acting Governor once his term as a Senator had expired, Hall’s election as Senate President meant that he would serve as Governor until the Governor-elect took office on February 9th.
Hall owed his election as President to the National Republicans who had doubtless elected him to get him out of the Senate, thereby securing a majority during the critical period of organization when the occupants of the four vacant seats would be determined.
Born in 1768 in Lewes, Delaware, Hall served Frankfort in the General Court in 1814, 1816, 1818 and 1819. He was a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1820-1821.
Hatch, in his history of Maine, describes Hall as a short, fleshy, good-hearted old gentleman; a Methodist minister who knew more about preaching than he did about politics. Beyond these facts, little more is known about his life which spanned ninety-four years.
He had begun his work as an itinerant preacher at the age of nineteen and ended it on December 25, 1862 at a venerable age for any century.