Biography

Dwight Canfield Kilbourn was born at Litchfield, Conn., October 9, 1837, the son of William P. Kilbourn and Caroline (Canfield) Kilbourn. He received a public school education and pursued his professional studies with Hon. Origen S. Seymour and Henry B. Graves at Litchfield. He was admitted to the bar in his native town in the year 1866. In 1887 he was appointed clerk of the Superior Court for Litchfield. Before his admission to the bar he served in the Civil War, attaining the rank of lieutenant in the Second Conn. Heavy Artillery. After the war, Kilbourn was secretary of his regiment for 47 years. When the Connecticut Regimental Veterans' Association was organized January 28, 1891, he was elected president and was its president for life. He was a member of the Seth F. Plumb Post, G.A.R. of Litchfield. He was a member of the Sedgwick Monument Commission, appointed by Gov. Baldwin to erect an equestrian statue of Maj. John Sedgwick at Gettysburg. He was appointed secretary of the Veterans Association of Connecticut in 1907 and held the office since. He was a member of St. Paul's Lodge, F. and A.M. and of Darius Lodge, R.A.M. of Litchfield. He was secretary of the Litchfield County Bar Association. As an author his best known work was The Bench and Bar of Litchfield County, 1709-1909, the result of years of painstaking research. His home was filled with books and pamphets relating to Litchfield County. He was a member of the Connecticut Historical Society, member of the Kansas Historical Society, and vice president of the Litchfield Historical Society. He married, July 5, 1866, Sarah M. Hopkins, of Litchfield, daughter of Edward Hopkins and Melissa (Alfred) Hopkins. They had no children. Kilbourn died on October 28, 1914.

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