James Dellet

James Dellet (February 18, 1788 – December 21, 1848) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama.

James Dellet
1840s daguerreotype of James Dellet
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 1st district
In office March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845
Preceded by	Reuben Chapman
Succeeded by	Edmund S. Dargan
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 5th district
In office March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1841
Preceded by	Francis Strother Lyon
Succeeded by	District inactive
Member of the Alabama House of Representatives
In office 1819-1825
Personal details
Born	(1788-02-18)February 18, 1788 Camden, New Jersey
Died	December 21, 1848(1848-12-21) (aged 60) Claiborne, Alabama

Biography

Early life

He was born on February 18, 1788, in Camden, New Jersey. He moved to Columbia, South Carolina, with his parents in 1800. In 1810, he graduated from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1813, and practiced. He moved to the Alabama Territory in 1818, settling in Claiborne, and continued the practice of law. He worked with William B. Travis of Alamo fame.

Political career

In 1819, he was elected to the first Alabama House of Representatives under state government. He served as its secretary, and he was re-elected in both 1821 and 1825.

In the 1830s, he partnered with Lyman Gibbons, who married Dellet's daughter Emma, and who went on to serve on the Alabama Supreme Court.^[1]

He was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for Congress in 1833, but he was later elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth Congress. He served from March 4, 1839, to March 3, 1841, and from March 4, 1843, to March 3, 1845, after he was again elected to the Twenty-eighth Congress. He resumed the practice of law and engaged in agricultural pursuits.

Death

He died on December 21, 1848, in Claiborne, Alabama, in Monroe County. He was interred in a private cemetery on his Dellet Park plantation at Claiborne.