Billings, Frederick

(1823–90) lawyer, railroad executive; born in Royalton, Vt. A University of Vermont graduate, he went to California in the gold rush of 1849, and, opening a law office instead of prospecting, 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, Mont.

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