Charles Delano

Who was Charles Delano?

Charles Delano was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.

Born in New Braintree, Massachusetts, Delano moved with his parents to Amherst in 1833. He attended the common schools and graduated from Amherst College in 1840, where he studied law. Delano was admitted to the bar in 1842 and commenced practice in Amherst. He moved to Northampton in 1848 and continued the practice of law. He served as Treasurer of Hampshire County from 1849 to 1858.

Delano was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1862, and resumed the practice of law.

In 1874, Delano was appointed to be an assistant coroner for the inquest into deaths that resulted from a dam break on the Mill River, which caused a flood in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. Later he served as a trustee of the Clarke School for the Education of the Deaf from 1877 to 1883.

Delano was appointed by Governor Alexander H. Rice in 1878 to act as special counsel for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in matters relating to the Hoosac Tunnel and the Troy and Greenfield Railroad, and served in this capacity until his death in Northampton on January 23, 1883.