Charles Hall Dillon Explained

Charles Hall Dillon
State1:South Dakota
Term Start1:March 4, 1913
Term End1:March 3, 1919
Predecessor1:none
Successor1:Charles A. Christopherson
Office2:Member of the South Dakota Senate
Term2:1903
Birth Date:18 December 1853
Birth Place:near Jasper, Indiana, U.S.
Death Place:Vermillion, South Dakota, U.S.
Party:Republican
Alma Mater:Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Occupation:Lawyer
Restingplace:Yankton Cemetery

Charles Hall Dillon (December 18, 1853 – September 15, 1929) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from South Dakota (1913–19). He later served on the South Dakota Supreme Court. He was born near Jasper, Indiana in 1853.

Early life and education

He attended the public schools, and received his undergraduate degree from Indiana University Bloomington in 1854, with a graduate law degree two years later from Indiana University Maurer School of Law. He started his career as an attorney in Jasper, later moving to Marion, Iowa in 1881, to Mitchell, Dakota Territory, in 1882, and to Yankton, South Dakota in 1884.

Political career

He was first elected to the South Dakota Senate in 1903, serving through 1911. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1900 and 1908. In 1913, he won election to the United States House of Representatives, remaining in that capacity through 1918, when he lost the Republican primary for renomination to a fourth term. On April 5, 1917, he was one of 50 representatives who voted against declaring war on Germany. He returned to Yankton, moving in 1922 to Vermillion, South Dakota, after being made an associate justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court, where he remained until 1926.

Later career and death

He went on to seek election to the United States Senate, and retired from active political life in 1926.

Death and burial

He died in Vermillion, South Dakota in 1929, aged 75. He is buried in the Yankton Cemetery.

Personal life

He married the daughter of Bartlett Tripp.