Samuel Dinsmoor (July 1, 1766 – March 15, 1835) was an American teacher, lawyer, banker and politician from

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. He served as the 14th

governor of New Hampshire The governor of New Hampshire is the head of government of New Hampshire. The governor is elected during the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Verm ...

and as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Early life

Born in 1766 in Windham in the

Province of New Hampshire The Province of New Hampshire was a colony of England and later a British province in North America. The name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America, and was nam ...

, Dinsmoor was the son of William and Elizabeth (Cochran) Dinsmoor. He graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in 1789, worked as a teacher, studied law and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

. He established a law practice in Keene, New Hampshire, where he was appointed as Postmaster in 1808. He helped organize the Keene

light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

and was the infantry commander.

Political career

Elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

, Dinsmoor represented

in the

during the Twelfth Congress, serving from March 4, 1811 to March 3, 1813. Dinsmoor was an 1820 presidential elector, and served on New Hampshire

Governor's Council The governments of the Thirteen Colonies of British America developed in the 17th and 18th centuries under the influence of the British constitution. After the Thirteen Colonies had become the United States, the experience under colonial rule would ...

in 1821. He was a commission member that negotiated and established the boundary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1825. He also served as state court judge in New Hampshire from 1823 to 1831. Securing the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Dinsmoor was elected

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

by a popular vote in 1831. He was reelected to a second term in 1832, and to a third term in 1833, serving from 1831–1834. During his tenure, new manufacturing businesses were incorporated, railroads and banks flourished, and the first free public library in the United States was established in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. During his governorship, he also made the first official recommendation to establish a state asylum for the insane to remove the insane from prisons, dungeons, and cages. In 1838, a bill for the establishment of an asylum was finally passed by the state. He retired from political life and entered the private sector, serving as the first president of the Ashuelot Bank in Keene. He served in that position until his death.

Death

Dinsmoor died in Keene, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, on March 15, 1835 (age 68 years, 257 days). He is interred at Washington Street Cemetery in Keene, New Hampshire.

Personal life

Dinsmoor was the grandson of Robert and Margaret (Orr) Dinsmoor who settled in Nutfield in 1723. In 1798, he married Mary Boyd Reid, daughter of General George Reid and Molly (Woodburn) Reid. His son was Samuel Dinsmoor Jr., the 22nd Governor of New Hampshire.

References

External links

*
National Governors Association profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dinsmoor, Samuel 1766 births 1835 deaths People from Windham, New Hampshire Dartmouth College alumni People from Keene, New Hampshire New Hampshire postmasters Democratic Party governors of New Hampshire Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Hampshire Schoolteachers from New Hampshire 19th-century American lawyers New Hampshire lawyers