Dorman Bridgman Eaton
American lawyer (1823-1899)
Dorman Bridgman Eaton (June 27, 1823 – December 23, 1899) was an American lawyer instrumental in American federal Civil Service reform.
Born at Hardwick, Vermont, he graduated at the University of Vermont in 1848 and at the Harvard Law School in 1850, and in the latter year was admitted to the bar in New York City. There he became associated in practice with William Kent, the son of the great chancellor James Kent, an edition of whose Commentaries he assisted in editing.
Eaton early became interested in municipal and civil service reform. In 1866, he wrote the New York City Metropolitan Health Law, which created the modern day New York City health department. He was conspicuous in the fight against Boss Tweed and his followers, by one of whom he was assaulted; he required a long period of rest, and went to Europe, where he studied the workings of the civil service in various countries. From 1873 to 1875 he was a member of the first United States Civil Service Commission.
In 1877, at the request of President Rutherford B. Hayes, he made a careful study of the British civil service, and three years later published Civil Service in Great Britain. He drafted the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883, and later became chairman of the new United States Civil Service Commission established by it. He resigned in 1885, but was almost immediately reappointed by President Grover Cleveland, and served until 1886, editing the 3rd and 4th Reports of the commission.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23022242. VIAF identifies the subject as 16241426. The Library of Congress control number is n86013645. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1823, 1899, 1848 and 1850.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dorman Bridgman Eaton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.