USS Fessenden (DE-142)
She was named in honor of Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, born in Brome County, Quebec, Canada, 6 October 1866. He served as head chemist with Thomas Edison's East Orange, New Jersey, laboratories. In 1890 he began concentrating on electrical engineering, and through the next years made many important inventions and improvements in existing devices. His great contributions in the field of radio (particularly the invention of radio-telephony were of marked benefit not only to the Navy but to all seamen. He died 22 July 1932, at his home on Bermuda.
William P. Fessenden
Fessenden married Ellen M. Deering, on April 23, 1832. He had three sons, who served in the American Civil War: Samuel Fessenden, who was killed at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and the Brigadier-General James D. Fessenden, and the Major-General Francis Fessenden, the latter of whom wrote a two-volume biography of his father, which was published in 1907, and William Howard Fessenden.