Francis Gillette

Francis Gillette (December 14, 1807 – September 30, 1879) was a politician from Connecticut, USA. He was the father of actor and playwright William Gillette and politician and editor Edward H. Gillette. Gillette was born in Old Windsor, Connecticut (today part of the town of Bloomfield), Gillette moved with his parents, Rev. Ashbel and Achsah Francis, to Ashfield, Massachusetts as a child. He graduated from Yale College in 1829 and commenced the study of law, but his health becoming impaired, he instead engaged in agricultural pursuits in Bloomfield. He was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1832, 1836 and 1838 and was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 1842, losing to Chauncey F. Cleveland, and nine times subsequently. Gillette served as chairman of the Connecticut Board of Education from 1849 to 1865 and moved to Hartford, Connecticut in 1852 and later developed the neighborhood, "Nook Farm" with his brother-in-law, John Hooker.