Cumberland County, Maine - Hon. Joseph A. Locke
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Biography
Hon. Joseph A. Locke
Biographical Review
Cumberland County, Maine
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1896
Page 566-568


Hon. Joseph A. Locke, of Portland, was born in Hollis, York County, Me.,
December 25, 1543. He is a descendant in the sixth generation from John Locke,
of Hampton (now Rye), N.H., who came from Yorkshire, England, in 1644, it is
believed, and first settled in Dover, N.H., there becoming a landowner. Through
both his father, Stephen Locke, son of Caleb Locke, of Hollis, and his mother,
Lucinda Clark, daughter of Charles Clark, of Hollis, Mr. Locke is a
representative of the fourth generation in descent from Sarah Pepperrell, the
accomplished and beloved niece of Sir William Pepperrell (and daughter of Andrew
Pepperrell), and also from the historic Major Charles Frost, of Kittery.

In his early childhood Mr. Locke removed with his parents to Biddeford, where he
fitted for college, graduating from Bowdoin College in 1865 with honor, being
the salutatorian of his class. He taught in the Portland High School the first
two years after graduation, having charge of classes in Greek, Latin, chemistry,
and mathematics; and while teaching he was pursuing his law studies. He then
entered the law office of Davis & Drummond (Judge Woodbury Davis and the Hon.
Josiah U. Drummond), and was admitted to practice in the State courts in 1868
and in the United States courts in 1869. He settled in Portland, remaining a
short time with Messrs. Davis and Drummond, and in October, 1868, opening an
office in the Boyd Block, which had just been finished. Here by close
application to business, and the care and fidelity with which he attended to all
matters intrusted to his charge, both in office work and the trial cases in the
courts, he acquired a large and successful law practice, commanding the
confidence of all with whom he came in contact. In 1880 he formed a co-
partnership with his brother, Ira S. Locke, under the firm name of Locke &
Locke, which still continues. They have an extensive general practice, are
trustees of several large estates, and have the charge of many trust funds.

Mr. Locke has been frequently honored by his fellow-citizens with positions of
trust. He was twice elected Representative from Portland to the State
legislature; namely, for the sessions of 1877 and 1879, serving as a member of
the Judiciary Committee both sessions, and also as a member of the Library
Committee in 1877. The State election in the fall of 1878 for the session of
1879 was a very close one throughout the State, and especially in Cumberland
County; and out of the five Representatives to the House from Portland Mr. Locke
was the only Republican elected. On the organization of the House of
Representatives in 1879 he was the Republican nominee for Speaker, but was
defeated by the combined vote of the Democratic and Greenback Representatives.
At the State election that fall he was elected a Senator from Cumberland County,
being the only Republican nominee for the Senate from Cumberland County who
received his certificate of election from the Governor and Council. This was the
famous session of the legislature of 1880.

>From the first meeting of the Senate until its final organization, when he was
elected its President, he was the leader in the Senate on behalf of the
Republican party in opposition to the organization of the same by the members of
the Democratic and Greenback parties; and by his timely written protests, duly
presented in session while they were attempting to organize the Senate, paved
the way to bring the question involved, as to who were the legally elected
members of the Senate, before the Supreme Court of the State for its decision.
This is the only instance since the organization of the State that a member has
been elected President of the Senate the first term of service therein. Mr.
Locke was the youngest man who ever occupied the chair. He was returned to the
Senate in 1881, and re-elected its President. This was the first session of the
legislature following the amendment to the Constitution providing for biennial
elections. Consequently Mr. Locke remained as President of the Senate, making
him the second civil officer in the State, for three years and until the
organization of the legislature in January in 1883, when he was elected a member
of the Governor's Council. This position he held by subsequent election for four
years, serving all the time as Chairman of the Committee on Accounts and Public
Institutions. Since that time he has entirely devoted his time and attention to
his law practice. Mr. Locke has ever taken great interest in educational
matters. For several years after teaching in the high school he was a member of
the School Committee of Portland. He has been for many years a member of the
Board of Trustees of Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Female College at Kent's Hill,
Me., and the last fourteen years President of the Board. Mr. Locke has been
interested more or less in the different historical, educational, and social
organizations. He is a member of the Maine Historical Society, Genealogical
Society, Portland Natural History Society, and the Masonic fraternity. He first
became a Mason in 1866, receiving the Blue Lodge degrees in Dunlap Lodge in
Biddeford, and became a member thereof. Having decided to make his home in
Portland, he transferred his membership to Portland Lodge, No. 1, Portland, Me.,
the oldest Lodge in the State, acting under charter issued in 1769, and at the
next election was elected Senior Warden, and afterward Worshipful Master,
occupying the chair for the years 1871 and 1872. In June, 1877, honorary
membership was conferred upon him; and in 1878 he was elected a member of the
Board' of Masonic Trustees.

Mr. Locke has at different times been highly honored by this large and strong
fraternity. He was Most Eminent High Priest of Greenleaf Chapter, No. 13, in
1870; Eminent Commander of St. Alban Commandery, No. 8, for the years 1877 and
1878; Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Maine for the years 1881 and
1882. In the Grand Commandery of Maine in May, 1887; he was elected from the
floor to the position of Deputy Grand Commander, and elected Right Eminent Grand
Commander for the years 1888 and 1889. While occupying the latter position at
the Triennial Conclave of the Grand Encampment of the United States held in
Washington, D.C., in 1889, he was elected Chairman of the Ritual Committee, to
revise and correct the ritual of the Order throughout the country; and so well
was the work done that at the next Triennial Conclave, held in Denver, Col., in
1892, the report of the committee was accepted, and the ritual presented by it
unanimously adopted without a single change being made, although it was the
general opinion of the members of the Order throughout the country before the
Conclave that no ritual could be presented which would be adopted. In May, 1895,
he was elected Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maine, which position
he now holds. Mr. Locke has also been honored in the Scottish Rite or so-called
higher degrees of Free Masonry. He was for eleven years Thrice Potent Grand
Master of Yates Lodge of Perfection in Portland, and afterward Commander in-
chief of Maine Consistory, thirty-two degrees, for eight years; and in
September, 1884, he received at Detroit the honorary grade of Sovereign Grand
Inspector General of the thirty-third and last degree. He is at the present time
an officer of the Grand Encampment, Knights Templars, of the United States.

Mr. Locke married Miss Florence E. Perley, daughter of Joseph H. Perley, a well-
to-do merchant of Portland, August 27, 1873, and by her has four children now
living, namely: Grace Perley Locke, now a student at Bryn Mawr College,
Pennsylvania; John R. Locke, aged fifteen; Allan S. Locke, aged eleven; and
Joseph A. Locke, Jr., aged seven years.