James Dellet

Biography

Early life

Dellet was born in Camden, New Jersey, and moved with his family to Columbia, South Carolina, in 1800. He graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) in 1810, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1813, and practiced. He moved to the Alabama Territory in 1818, settling at Claiborne, where he continued to practice law and briefly served as a circuit judge.

State politics

Dellet represented Monroe County in the first state legislature following Alabama statehood and was elected the first Speaker of the House in 1819. He returned to the House in later terms and was again chosen Speaker at the November 1821 session in Cahawba. He also served additional legislative terms in the mid-1820s and early 1830s.

During his legal career at Claiborne, Dellet mentored apprentices, including William B. Travis, who studied in his office in 1828 before leaving for Texas, and Benjamin F. Porter, who later became a judge and reform advocate. In the 1830s, Dellet partnered in practice with future Alabama Supreme Court justice Lyman Gibbons, who married Dellet’s daughter Emma.

Congress

Dellet was the unsuccessful Whig candidate for Congress in 1833. He was later elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth Congress from Alabama’s 5th district (1839–1841) and to the Twenty-eighth Congress from the 1st district (1843–1845). He resumed the practice of law and engaged in agricultural pursuits between and after his terms.

Death

Dellet died on December 21, 1848, at Claiborne and was interred in a private cemetery at his Dellet Park plantation.

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References

Bibliography