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.
Francis Fessenden
He served in the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in 1866. He declined an appointment as the lieutenant colonel of the 45th U.S. Infantry in August 1866. Later that year, he was transferred to the 28th U.S. Infantry during the sweeping reorganization of the army. He retired from the Regular Army on November 1, 1866 with the rank of brigadier general. Fessenden then returned home to Portland and resumed his legal career. He was elected as the city's mayor in 1876. He was a Republican. He wrote a biography of his father, "The Life and Services of William Pitt Fessenden", which was published in 1907.