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The recipient is William King (1768-1852), who was a member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1807-11, and the first Governor of Maine in 1820-21.

The sender is Judge Thomas Ruggles (1770-1820), who was born in Rochester, MA, and came early to the Maine frontier, becoming a lumber and milling tycoon, militia officer, postmaster and justice of the Washington County court in Machias. He employed a Massachusetts craftsman to build an elegant Federal style house in Columbia Falls, between 1818 and 1820, then died in late December 1820. The house is now a museum and historic site.