Francis B. Fay

Francis Ball Fay (June 12, 1793 – October 6, 1876) was a United States merchant and politician. He served as U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.

He was born in Southboro, Massachusetts. His parents were poor, and he had little education. At the age of 18, he “bought his time” of his father for $80 a year. He attended the public scales in Dock Square, Boston, in 1811-12, then served as market man and butcher, and in 1817 became a merchant in Southborough.

He was postmaster of Southboro from September 15, 1817, to March 29, 1832. He was deputy sheriff of Worcester County 1824–1830. He served as member of the Massachusetts General Court in 1830 and 1831. He moved to Chelsea, which he represented in the Massachusetts General Court from 1834 to 1836 and in 1840. He served in the State Senate 1843–1845 and again in 1848.

Fay was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Robert Rantoul, Jr., and served from December 13, 1852, to March 3, 1853. He was not a candidate for the Thirty-third Congress. Fay served as the first Mayor of Chelsea in 1857. He endowed the public library in Southboro, Massachusetts, in 1851. He settled in Lancaster in 1858 to be closer to the state industrial school for girls he had helped found, and with which he was connected as commissioner, trustee, and treasurer, 1854-64. He was again a member of the State Senate in 1868. He died in South Lancaster, Massachusetts, October 6, 1876. He was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett, Massachusetts.