Orin Fowler

Orin Fowler was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, on July 29, 1791. According to the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, he studied at Williams College and graduated from Yale College in 1814, then trained for the ministry and did missionary work in the Mississippi Valley before settling into parish life.

He served as a minister in Plainfield, Connecticut, and later moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, where he became pastor of the Congregational Church in 1831. He also wrote History of Fall River in 1841, showing a strong interest in the life of the community as well as the church.

In 1848 he served in the Massachusetts State Senate, and then won election as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from March 4, 1849, until his death in Washington, D.C., on September 3, 1852. He is also remembered for A Disquisition on the Evils of Using Tobacco, an unusually early and forceful argument against tobacco use.