Francis Gillette

Francis Gillette ( born December 14, 1807 in Old Windsor, Bloomfield, Connecticut, † September 30, 1879 in Hartford, Connecticut ) was an American politician of the Free Soil Party, who represented the state of Connecticut in the U.S. Senate.

Gillette was still a child when his parents moved with him from Connecticut to Massachusetts, where the family settled in Ashfield. He graduated at Yale College in 1829 and initially then continued his law studies continued, before he returned for health reasons to Connecticut and operated in the agricultural industry.

His political career began with the election into the House of Representatives from Connecticut in 1832; further terms followed in the years 1836 and 1838. 1842 he won in the election for governor of Connecticut as a candidate of the short-lived Liberty Party in third place behind the victorious Democrats Chauncey F. Cleveland and the defeated incumbent William W. Ellsworth of the Whigs. A total of nine more futile attempts to reach this office, followed by 1843-1872. From 1849 to 1865 Gillette was chairman of the State Agency for Education.

After he joined the Free Soil Party, Francis Gillette was in 1854 elected to the U.S. Senate, where he took the place of the retiring during the term of Truman Smith. After the end of his term in March 1855, he was not considered for reelection into consideration. As a result, he became involved in building the Republican Party in Connecticut. The party newspaper Evening Press, he served for many years as a silent partner.

Away from the politics Francis Gillette gave lectures on agricultural topics and the temperance movement. He belonged to the governing body of the Central Connecticut State University, which he was president for a longer time. Professionally, he was active even in the real estate business.

Gillette's older son Edward was like his father into politics and in 1879 deputy in the U.S. House of Representatives. The 13- year younger son William made ​​his name as a playwright.