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Kiliaen Townsend

American politician (1918–2008)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ122766430 ↗
Source-derived summary

Kiliaen Van Rensselaer Townsend (October 6, 1918 – March 23, 2008) was an American politician who represented Fulton County in the Georgia House of Representatives. Townsend is notable for being one of the first Republicans elected to the state house since Reconstruction. He was the longest serving Republican legislator when he retired in 1992.

Early life

A direct descendant of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, Townsend was born on October 6, 1918, in Garden City, New York. He attended the Browning School in New York City and later the Pawling School. After graduating, he attended Williams College and the University of Virginia Law School. During World War II, he enlisted in the Counter Intelligence Corps. After the war, he moved to Georgia.

Career

After moving to Georgia in 1946, he practiced law. Townsend helped reorganize the state Republican Party.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Kiliaen Townsend” as american politician (1918–2008). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kiliaen, Townsend and American.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1918, 2008, 1992, 1946—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1918-10-06. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Kiliaen, Townsend and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Kiliaen Townsend”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (1918–2008)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q122766430. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1918, 2008, 1992 and 1946.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Kiliaen Townsend”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Kiliaen Townsend primary sources, Kiliaen Townsend archive and Kiliaen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kiliaen Townsend”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Kiliaen Townsend” 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.