biography
| name: |
Billings, Frederick
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1823–90)
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| biography:
| Lawyer and railroad executive, born in Royalton, Vermont, USA. He studied at the University of Vermont, then went to California in the gold rush of 1849. He chose to open a law office instead of prospecting, and became a prominent and powerful San Francisco attorney. An early shareholder in the Northern Pacific Railroad, he raised the capital necessary to complete the road during a term as president (1879–81). He used some of his substantial fortune to build churches in Woodstock, VT, and the eponymous Billings, MT. |
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