Legacy
In 1838, after Cilley's death, longtime friend Nathaniel Hawthorne published two biographical sketches of the fallen congressman. The lawmaker's colleagues paid tribute to him in 1839 by passing a federal law strengthening the prohibition against dueling in Washington, D.C. Dueling itself was already forbidden within the District; the 1839 law created the new criminal offenses of issuing a challenge to a duel, or accepting a challenge, within the boundaries of the District, even if the duel itself was meant to take place outside the District.
Jonathan Cilley's brother Joseph Cilley served as a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire in 1846-1847. Jonathan Cilley's successor as speaker of the Maine House in 1837 was Hannibal Hamlin, later Vice President of the United States. Cilley's son, Jonathan Prince Cilley, became a Brevetted Brigadier General in the Union Army during the Civil War.
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“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)