Preceded by Thomas H. Campbell Role Politician Succeeded by Orin H. Miner Political party Whig Party | Occupation Merchant Children Fred Dubois Name Jesse Dubois | |
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Born January 14, 1811
Illinois Territory ( 1811-01-14 ) Died November 22, 1876, Sangamon County, Illinois, United States | ||
Jesse Kilgore Dubois (sometimes styled DuBois) (January 14, 1811 – November 22, 1876) was an American politician from Illinois. The son of a prominent early Illinois citizen, Dubois was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives while he was attending Indiana College. Nicknamed Uncle Jesse, he served four two-year terms there. An early Republican, Dubois was named the party's first candidate for Auditor of Public Accounts. He was elected in 1856 and served two four-year terms. He was the father of Senator Fred Dubois.
Biography
Jesse Kilgore Dubois was born on January 14, 1811, in Lawrence County, Illinois. The son of Toussaint Dubois, Jesse attended some classes at Indiana College until he was twenty-four. In 1834, he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. He was re-elected to the lower house to two-year terms in 1836, 1838, and 1842. In 1841, he was appointed Register of the Land Office of Palestine, Illinois, by William Henry Harrison, but worked only briefly before resigning. He managed stores until 1849, when he was appointed Receiver of Public Moneys of Palestine.
Dubois was removed from his office when Franklin Pierce assumed the presidency in 1853. Dubois affiliated himself with the emerging Republican Party and was present at the Bloomington Convention in 1856. There, he was nominated as Auditor of Public Accounts, a state office. He was elected in the subsequent state election, then was re-elected four years later.
During these terms, Dubois moved to Springfield, down the street from Abraham Lincoln. Dubois was a candidate for the Republican nomination in 1868 as Governor of Illinois, but the nomination went to John M. Palmer. DuBois was named to the Republican National Executive Committee in 1868. Later that year, he was a delegate to the 1868 Republican National Convention. Dubois was disappointed that he was never able to secure a patronage position from Lincoln for himself or his son-in-law James P. Luse. He lamented that "[Lincoln] has for 30 years past just used me as a plaything to accomplish his own ends."
Dubois died at his home in Sangamon County, Illinois, on November 22, 1876, and was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. His son Fred Thomas became one of the first United States Senators from Idaho.