Nathan F. Dixon II

He was born in Westerly, Rhode Island on May 1, 1812, the son of Nathan F. Dixon and Elizabeth (Palmer) Dixon).[1] He attended Plainfield Academy in Plainfield, Connecticut, and graduated from Brown University in 1833.[2] He later pursued the study of law at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School.[2] Dixon was admitted to the bar in 1837 and commenced practice in Westerly.[2] He was a member of the board of directors of Westerly's Washington Bank, and succeeded his father as president when the senior Dixon died in 1842.[1] He served as president of the bank until his death.[1]

He was a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1841 to 1849 and 1851 to 1854.[2] He was appointed a member of the Rhode Island Governor's council in 1842, one of a committee of legislators who advised Whig Governor Samuel Ward King as the state coped with an anti-government uprising by Democrats known as the Dorr Rebellion.[3] In 1844, Dixon was a presidential elector from Rhode Island; the Whigs lost the national election but carried the state, and he cast his ballot for the Whig ticket of Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen.[2]

He was elected as a Whig to the 31st Congress (March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851).[2] He was not a candidate for renomination in 1850.[4] From 1858 to 1862 he served again in the Rhode Island House.[4] Dixon was elected as a Republican to the 38th Congress. He was reelected three times, and served from March 4, 1863 to March 3, 1871.[2] In his final term, Dixon was chairman on the Committee on Commerce.[4] He was elected delegate to the 1866 National Union Convention in Philadelphia.[2] He declined to be a candidate for reelection to Congress in 1870.[5]

He served in the Rhode Island House again from 1871 to 1877.[4] In January 1875 he was a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator, but withdrew when the party's caucus in the state legislature deadlocked, which enabled the election of Ambrose E. Burnside.[6] In March, he was a contender for the Republican nomination for governor, but withdrew in favor of Henry Lippitt.[7][8] When none of the candidates received a majority in the general election, as required by the state constitution,[9] Lippitt was elected governor by a vote of the state legislature.[10]

Dixon died in Westerly on April 11, 1881.[2] He was buried at River Bend Cemetery in Westerly.[11]

In 1843, Dixon married Harriet Palmer Swan (1816-1896) of Stonington, Connecticut.[12] They were the parents of six children: Nathan (b. 1845, died young); Nathan Fellows (1847-1897); Edward Hazard (1849-1991); Phebe Ann (1852-1941), the wife of James Gore King McClure; Walter P. (1855-1913); and Harriet Swan (1859-1899).[1]

• United States Congress. "Nathan F. Dixon (id: D000375)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Nathan F. Dixon at Find a Grave