Dillingham, Jr., Paul

Born: 1799-08-10 Massachusetts

Died: 1891-07-26 Waterbury, Vermont

Flourished: Waterbury, Vermont

Born in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, Paul Dillingham, Jr. was an attorney, public servant, and Democrat. In 1804, he moved to Waterbury, Vermont with his father. He attended the district school in Waterbury, then studied law. After gaining admittance to the bar in March 1823, he began practicing law in Waterbury. While practicing, he also served in several public roles and his political career progressed steadily. He served as justice of the peace from 1826 to 1844 and as town clerk from 1829 to 1844. He married Sarah Partridge Carpenter sometime before 1829, and they had at least two children together prior to her death in September 1831. In September 1832, he married her sister, Julia Carpenter, and they had at least seven children together. Dillingham won election to the Vermont House of Representatives, serving from 1833 to 1835 and again from 1837 to 1840. He also served as Washington County, Vermont's prosecuting attorney from 1835 to 1838, and was a delegate to the state constitutional conventions of 1836, 1857, and 1870. He won election to the Vermont Senate, serving in 1841, 1842, and 1861. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving in the Twenty-Eighth and Twenty-Ninth Congresses, March 1843 to March 1847. In 1850, he owned $10,000 in real estate, and by 1860 he owned $6,000 in real estate and another $4,000 in personal property. He served as lieutenant-governor of Vermont from 1862 to 1865, then as governor, from 1865 until after the Civil War. He died at his home in Waterbury.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 129, 134, 944; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Waterbury, Washington County, VT, 290; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Waterbury, Washington County, VT, 150; Gravestone, Hope Cemetery, Waterbury, VT; Orleans County Monitor (Barton, VT), 3 August 1891, 1:2.