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FRANKLIN SWIFT BILLINGS was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. A graduate of Harvard, he lived in Kansas briefly and then went into the import-export business in New York City, continuing there for seventeen years, after which he retired to Woodstock, Vermont. He served as Chief of Staff under Vermont Governor Charles Bell from 1904 to 1906 and went on to be elected to the state House of Representatives in 1910, 1912, 1921, and 1922, serving as Speaker in 1921 and 1922. He was also Commissioner of Conservation of Resources and a member of the State Board of Education. He then served as Lieutenant Governor for two years before receiving the Republican Party's nomination for governor. During his gubernatorial administration, the federal government established national forests in Vermont, the Motor Vehicle Department was created, and provision was made for the registration of motor vehicles. Billings died at his home in Woodstock.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 4. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. B. New York: James T. White & Company.

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