Paul Fearing (February 28, 1762 – August 21, 1822) was Delegate from the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio. He was born in Wareham, Massachusetts.

He was prepared for college by tutors and graduated from Harvard University in 1785. He studied law in Windham, Connecticut and was admitted to the bar in 1787. He moved to the Northwest Territory in May 1788 and engaged in the practice of law at Fort Harmar, now a part of Marietta, Ohio. He was the first lawyer to practice in the Northwest Territory.

Fearing was appointed the United States counsel for Washington County in 1788 and a probate judge in 1797. He was a member of the Territorial legislature 1799-1801. He was elected as a Federalist a Delegate to the Seventh Congress (March 4 1801 - March 3 1803). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1802. He resumed the practice of law and engaged in fruit and stock raising. He was appointed associate judge of the court of common pleas in 1810 and served seven years. He was appointed master in chancery in 1814. He died at his home near Marietta, Ohio in 1822. He was buried in Harmer Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio.

References

1. Hildreth, S. P.: Pioneer History: Being an Account of the First Examinations of the Ohio Valley, and the Early Settlement of the Northwest Territory, H. W. Derby and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (1848) p. 232.

Further reading

• Bloom, Jo Tice. "The Congressional Delegates from the Northwest Territory, 1799-1803." The Old Northwest 3 (March 1977): 3-21.