Born in
Westmoreland, New Hampshire, Babbitt attended the common schools and was graduated from Keene (New Hampshire) Academy. He moved to
Wisconsin in 1853 and settled near
Beloit in
Rock County. He engaged in agricultural pursuits. Babbitt was elected a member of the first
city council of Beloit. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1880 to the
Forty-seventh Congress. He was appointed
postmaster of Beloit by President Cleveland on August 2, 1886, and served until August 17, 1889, when a successor was appointed. He was appointed secretary of the state agricultural society of Wisconsin in 1885 and served until 1899. Babbitt was elected as a
Democrat to the
Fifty-second Congress (March 4, 1891 – March 4, 1893) and represented
Wisconsin's 1st congressional district. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1892 to the
Fifty-third Congress. He retired from public life and active business pursuits and resided in Beloit until his death on March 11, 1907. He was interred in Beloit's Oakwood Cemetery. ==References==