lawyer, politician, Congressman, b. Brighton, N.Y. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1847, and moved to Juneau the same year. He was elected to the state assembly in 1848. Four years later, as a Democratic presidential elector, he voted for Pierce and King. He edited and published the Juneau Burr Oak (1853-1854). Like many others, Billinghurst bolted the Democratic party and joined the new Republican party in 1854. He was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1854 largely because of his opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. After two terms in Congress (1855-1859), he resumed his law practice in Juneau. J. R. Berryman, ed., Bench and Bar of Wis. (2 vols., Chicago, 1898); Biog. Dir. Amer. Cong. (1928); R. R. Flatley, "Wis. Congressional Delegation . . . 1848-1861" [Unpub. B.S. thesis, Univ. of Wis., 1951].

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Charles Billinghurst Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]