Franklin S. Billings

Franklin Swift Billings (May 11, 1862 – January 16, 1935) was an American businessman and politician from Woodstock, Vermont. He served as the 54th lieutenant governor of Vermont from 1923 to 1925 and as the 60th governor of Vermont from 1925 to 1927. Early life Billings was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and his parents were Franklin Noble Billings and Nancy Swift Billings. He was educated at Adams Academy in Quincy, and graduated from Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts. Billings attended Harvard University and graduated in 1885. Career Billings worked on a Kansas sheep ranch and then engaged in the import-export business in New York City. In 1903 he moved to Vermont and was a director of the Woodstock Railway Company, Hotel Company, Aqueduct Company, and Electric Company. Billings was also President of the Woodstock Ice Supply Company, and Treasurer of the Empire Building Company and the Vermont Investment Company. From 1904 to 1906 he served on the staff of Governor Charles J. Bell as chief of staff of the Vermont National Guard with rank of colonel. He was the longtime chairman of the Woodstock Village Meeting and an active Republican. He was also member of the state Commissione for the Conservation of Natural Resources and the State Board of Education.