Jefferson Parish Kidder (June 4, 1815 – October 2, 1883) was an American lawyer and jurist. He served as the non-voting delegate from the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...

to 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 ...

. Kidder was the only Democratic

lieutenant governor of Vermont The lieutenant governor of Vermont is elected for a two-year term and chosen separately from the governor. The Vermont Lieutenant Governor's main responsibilities include acting as governor when the governor is out of state or incapacitated, presi ...

until John J. Daley in 1965.

Early life

Kidder was born in Braintree, Vermont on June 4, 1815. He attended the Orange County Grammar School in Randolph, and graduated from

Alden Partridge Alden Partridge, (February 12, 1785 - January 17, 1854) was an American author, legislator, officer, surveyor, an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and a controversial pioneer in U.S. military edu ...

's American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy (

Norwich University Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-campus ...

) in 1834. He studied law in Montpelier, was admitted to the bar in 1839 and practiced in Braintree and West Randolph. Among the prospective attorneys who studied law under Kidder's supervision were John W. Rowell, who went on to serve as chief justice of the

Vermont Supreme Court The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court. The Court ...

and Carl C. Pope, a legislator and judge in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Career

He was a member of the Vermont Constitutional Convention in 1843. He served as State's Attorney for

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

(1842-1847), a member of the

Vermont State Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members. Senate districting divides the 30 members into three single-member districts, six two-m ...

(1847-1849), the

Lieutenant Governor of Vermont The lieutenant governor of Vermont is elected for a two-year term and chosen separately from the governor. The Vermont Lieutenant Governor's main responsibilities include acting as governor when the governor is out of state or incapacitated, presi ...

(1852-1853), and a delegate to the 1856 Democratic National Convention. In 1848 he received the

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

. In 1857 Kidder moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he joined the Republican Party. In 1859, Kidder moved to

and became a delegate to Congress from the provisional government at Sioux Falls. In 1862 and 1863, he was elected to the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint ...

. In 1865 he moved to

Vermillion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It is v ...

, when

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

appointed him an associate justice of the territorial Supreme Court. In 1874, he was elected as the territory's delegate to Congress. He served from March 4, 1875 to March 3, 1879 and was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1878. 1879, Kidder was reappointed to the Supreme Court of Dakota Territory. He served until his death in 1883.

Death and burial

Kidder died in St. Paul on October 2, 1883. He was buried in St. Paul's Oakland Cemetery.

Family

His son Lyman Kidder was a

US Cavalry The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861.Price (1883) p. 103, 104 This act converted the U.S. Army's two regiments of dragoons, one r ...

2nd lieutenant serving in the 2nd Cavalry under

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

, and was killed in action in what would be dubbed the Kidder massacre. Jefferson Kidder was also the grandfather of noted lawman and Arizona Ranger Jeff Kidder.

Legacy

Kidder County, North Dakota Kidder County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,394. Its county seat is Steele. History The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on January 4, 1873, with areas partit ...

is named for him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kidder, Jefferson P. 1815 births 1883 deaths People from Braintree, Vermont Norwich University alumni Vermont lawyers Vermont Democrats State's attorneys in Vermont Vermont state senators Lieutenant Governors of Vermont Minnesota Republicans Minnesota lawyers Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives South Dakota Republicans South Dakota lawyers Justices of the Dakota Territorial Supreme Court 19th-century American judges Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from Dakota Territory Burials in Minnesota 19th-century American politicians People from Vermillion, South Dakota 19th-century American lawyers