in the West as an orator. He was also a member of the Peace" Convention of 1861."

Bell, Peter H.-He was born in Virginia, and was a Representative in Congress, from Texas, from 1853 to 1857. He was also Governor of that State from 1849 to 1853, and subsequently Judge of the Supreme Court of that State.

Bell, Samuel. Born in 1769, and died at Chester, New Hampshire, December 23, 1850. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1753; a Judge of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire from 1816 to 1819; Governor of the State from 1819 to 1823; and a Senator in Congress from 1823 to 1835, serving as a member of the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Claims, and officiating as Chairman of the latter during the Twenty-third Congress.

Bellinger, Joseph.-He was a Presidential Elector in 1809; and a Representuive in Congress, from South Carolina, from 1817 to 1819.

Belser, James E.-He was born in South Carolina, and was a Representative in Congress, from Alabama, from 1843 to 1845. Died at Montgomery, Alabama, January 16, 1859.

Benjamin, John F.-Born in the town of Cicero, Onondaga County, New York, January 23, 1817; received a common-school education; spent three years in Texas, and in 1848 settled in Missouri, in the practice of the law. In 1851 and 1852 he was a member of the Missouri Legislature; in 1856 he was a Presidential Elector; in 1861 he entered as a private in the Missouri Cavalry; in January, 1862, he was commissioned a Captain; in May, of the same year, a Major; in September following a Lieutenant-Colonel, which position he resigned on being appointed Provost-Marshal for the Eighth District of his State. He was also a Delegate to the Baltimore Convention of 1864, and was elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-ninth Congress, serving on the Committees on Invalid Pensions and Expenditures in the Interior Department. Re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving on the Committee on Retrenchment.

Benjamin, Judah P.-Was a Presidential Elector in 1849; a lawyer by profession; and was elected a Senator in Congress, from Louisiana, to serve from 1852 to 1859, serving as Chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims, and as a member of the Committees on the Judiciary and on Commerce. In 1859 was reelected for a term of six years, but was expelled March 14, 1861. He is of Hebrew descent. He became identified with the Rebellion of 1861, and was Attorney-Gen

eral of the so-called "Southern Confederacy."

Bennet, Benjamin.-Born in 1762; was a Baptist minister, and a Representative in Congress, from New Jersey, from 1815 to 1819. He died at Middletown, New Jersey, October 8, 1840.

Bennett, Henry.-He was born in New Lisbon, Otsego County, New York, September 29, 1808; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1832; and having been elected to Congress as a Representative from that State in 1848, has continued to be re-elected, so that at the end of the Thirty-fifth Congress he had served in that capacity, continuously, the period of ten years. During the Thirty-fourth Congress he was Chairman of the Committee on Public Lands, and reported a number of important bills for the benefit of the Western States, and during the Thirtyfifth Congress he served as a member of the same committee.

Bennett, Hiram P.-Was born in Carthage, Maine, September 2, 1826; received a common-school education in Ohio; in 1852 he was elected to a Judgeship in Western Iowa; moved to Nebraska Territory in 1854, and was at once elected a member of the Territorial Council; in 1858 he was re-elected to the Nebraska Legislature, and made Speaker of the House; removed to Colorado Territory in 1859, and was chosen a Delegate therefrom to the Thirty-seventh Congress; and in 1862 was re-elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress. In March, 1867, he was appointed Secretary of the Territory of Colorado.

Bennett, H. S.-Born in Williamson County, Tennessee, March 7, 1807; received a limited education; studied law, and began to practise in 1830, when he removed to Mississippi, where he held the office of Circuit Judge for eight years, and of which State he was a Representative in Congress during the Thirty-fourth Congress.

He

Benson, Egbert.-He was eminent as a statesman and jurist, and died at Jamaica, New York, in August, 1833, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He was a Representative in Congress, from New York, from 1789 to 1793, taking an active part in its deliberations. He had previously served as a Delegate in the Continental Congress from 1784 to 1788. was a graduate of Columbia College in 1765, and received literary honors from Harvard University in 1808, and from Dartmouth in 1811. He was also the first President of the New York Historical Society; and was again a Representative in Congress in 1813, for one session, when he resigned and was succeeded by William

Irving. From 1780 to 1789 he was Attorney-General of New York, and from 1794 to 1801 a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Benson, Samuel P.-He was born in the town of Winthrop, Maine; graduated at Bowdoin College in 1825; adopted the profession of law; was a member of the State Legislature in 1834 and 1836; Secretary of State in 1838 and 1841; and was elected a Representative in Congress, from Maine, in 1853, and was re-elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress, when he served as Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs. He was at one time one of the Overseers of Bowdoin College.

Benton, Charles S.-He was born in Maine, and was a Representative in Congress, from New York, from 1843 to 1849.

Benton, Jacob.-Born in Waterford, Vermont, August 14, 1819; attended the Newbury Seminary, and graduated at Manchester, Vermont; studied law, and came to the bar in 1843, locating himself at Lancaster, New Hampshire; in 1854, 1855, and 1856 he was elected to the State Legislature; was a Delegate to the Chicago Convention of 1860; came within one vote of being nominated for Congress in 1862; and in 1867 he was elected a Representative from New Hampshire to the Fortieth Congress, serving on the Committees on Land Claims and Retrenchment.

Benton, Samuel.-He was a Representative in Congress, from South Carolina, from 1793 to 1798.

Benton, Thomas Hart.-He was born in Hillsborough, North Carolina, March 14, 1782, and educated at Chapel Hill College. He left that institution without receiving a degree, and forthwith commenced the study of law in William and Mary College, Virginia, under Mr. St. George Tucker. In 1810 he entered the United States Army, but soon resigned his commission of Lieutenant-Colonel, and in 1811 was at Nashville, Tennessee, where he commenced the practice of the law. He soon afterwards emigrated to St. Louis, Missouri, where he connected himself with the press as the editor of a newspaper, the "Missouri Argus." In 1820 he was elected a member of the United States Senate, serving as Chairman of many important committees, and remained in that body till the session of 1851, at which time he failed of re-election. As Missouri was not admitted into the Union till August 10, 1821, more than a year of his first term of service expired before he took his seat. He occupied himself during this interval before taking his seat in Congress in acquiring a knowledge of the language and literature of Spain. Immediately after he appeared in the Senate he took a prominent

part in the deliberations of that body, and rapidly rose to distinction. Few public measures were discussed between the years 1821 and 1851 that he did not participate in largely, and the influence he wielded was always felt and confessed by the country. He was one of the chief supporters of the administrations of Presidents Jackson and Van Buren. The people of Missouri long clung to him as their leader, and it required persevering effort to defeat him. But he had served them during the entire period of thirty years without interruption, and others, who aspired to honors he enjoyed, became impatient for an opportunity to supplant him. He was distinguished for his learning, iron will, practical mind, and strong memory. As a public speaker he was not interesting or calculated to produce an effect on the passions of an audience, but his speeches were read with avidity, always producing a decided influence. He was elected a Representative in the Thirty-third Congress for the District of St. Louis, and on his retirement from public life devoted himself to the preparation of a valuable register of the debates in Congress, upon which he labored until his death, which occurred in Washington, on the 10th of April, 1858, of cancer in the stomach. He was the author of a political book, giving an account of his observations during his Senatorial Service of Thirty Years.

Beresford, Richard. He was a Delegate, from South Carolina, to the Continental Congress, from 1783 to 1785.

Bergen, John T.-He was a Representative in Congress, from New York, from 1831 to 1833.

Bergen, Teunis G.-Born in Gowanus, City of Brooklyn, New York, October 6, 1806; was educated at the Academy of Erasmus Hall, Flatbush; was a surveyor and horticulturist; was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1846; was Supervisor of the town of New Utrecht for twenty-three years; served in all the grades, from Sergeant to Colonel, in the State Militia; was a member of the Charleston and Baltimore Conventions of 1860, and was elected in 1864 a Representative, from New York, to the Thirty-ninth Congress, serving on the Committee on Agriculture.

Bernhisel, John M.-Born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1799; graduated in the Medical Department of Pennsylvania University; engaged in the practice of medicine; and was elected a Delegate to the Thirty-fifth Congress from the Territory of Utah. Re-elected to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses.

Berrien, John McPherson.-Bors

in New Jersey, August 23, 1781, but when a child removed with his father to Georgia. He graduated at Princeton in his fifteenth year, and was admitted to the bar in 1799. In 1809 he was elected SolicitorGeneral, and the next year Judge of the Eastern Circuit. During the war of 1812 he had command of a regiment of volunteer cavalry. He served in the State Legislature for several years. In 1824 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he remained until 1829, when he took a seat in the cabinet of President Jackson as Attorney-General. For a while afterwards he held various positions of responsibility in Georgia, and in 1840 was re-elected to the United States Senate for six years, taking an active part in all leading measures, and officiating most of the time as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In 1845 he was elected one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia, and in 1847 was once more elected to the United States Senate, resigning his seat in May, 1852. On his return to Georgia, he still continued, in various ways, to promote the public good, and he died at Savannah, January 1, 1856, universally lamented. He was undoubtedly one of the best, most distinguished, and high-minded statesmen of the country.

Bethune, Laughlin.-A native of North Carolina, for several years a Senator in the State Legislature, and from 1831 to 1833 a Representative in Congress from Cumberland County, in that State, serving as a member of the Committee on Elections.

Betton, Silas.-He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1787; was a Representative in Congress from New Hampshire, from 1803 to 1807; held the office of Sheriff of Rockingham County for several years, and died at Salem, New Hampshire, in 1822, aged fifty-eight years.

Betts, Samuel R.-He was born in Richmond, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in 1787; spent his boyhood on his father's farm; gradusted at Williams College in 1806; studied law, and settled in Sullivan County, New York. He took part in the war of 1812, and was appointed Judge Advocate. He was a Representative in Congress, from New York, from 1815 to 1817, after which he settled in Newburgh, and was District Attorney of Orange County. In 1823 he was appointed a Circuit Judge for the State; and in 1826 he was appointed Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, which he continued to hold until May, 1867, when he resigned and retired to private life. His labors as & Judge have long been held in the highest estimation by the legal profession of New York.

Betts, Thaddeus.-He was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, graduated at Yale College in 1807, and acquired great distinction as a lawyer. He was at one time Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut, and an influential member of the United States Senate from 1839 to the date of his death, April 7, 1840. He was greatly respected for his talents and character.

Bibb, George M.-He was born in Virginia in 1772; graduated at Princeton College in 1792; studied law, and settled in Kentucky. He was a Justice, and twice Chief Justice, of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky; was in the State Senate two years; held the position of Chancellor of the Court of Chancery; was Secretary of Treasury under President Tyler; afterwards practised his profession in the City of Washington, and acted as an assistant in the office of the Attorney-General of the United States. His services in Congress were rendered as a Senator from 1811 to 1814, and again from 1829 to 1835. He died in Georgetown, D. C., April 14, 1859. One of his marked peculiarities was a fondness for fishing, which he practised with enthusiasm.

Bibb, William W.-Died at his residence, in Fort Jackson, Alabama, July 9, 1820, aged thirty-nine years. He was a Representative in Congress, from Georgia, from 1806 to 1814, and a Senator in Congress from 1813 to 1816, and was appointed in 1817 Governor of the Territory of Alabama. He was elected first Governor under the Constitution of that State in 1819. He was originally educated for the medical profession.

Bibighaus, Thomas M.-Born in Pennsylvania in 1816, and was a Representative in Congress, from that State, from 1851 to the time of his death, which occurred in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, June 18, 1853.

Bicknell, Bennet.-He was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, in 1803; and was a Representative in Congress, from New York, from 1837 to 1839; having been in the Assembly of the State in 1812, and a State Senator from 1815 to 1818. Died at Morrisville, Madison County, in 1863.

Biddle, Charles John.-Born in Philadelphia in 1819; graduated at Princeton College in 1837; studied law and came to the bar in 1840; served as a Captain of Voltigeurs, United States Army, in the war with Mexico, and was in the actions of Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the taking of the City of Mexico, having been brevetted a Major for gallant and meritorious services. After the Mexican war he resumed the practice of his profession in Philadelphia.

In 1861 he was appointed a Colonel in the Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps, and while in the field in Virginia he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-seventh Congress, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of E. Joy Morris. Before quitting the field he was tendered the commission of Brigadier-General, but declined it, preferring to serve his constituents in a civil capacity.

Biddle, Edward.-He was a Delegate from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776, and again from 1778 to 1789.

Biddle, John. - He was born in Philadelphia; was an officer in the war of 1812, acquitting himself with bravery; held the position of Paymaster in the army; also that of Indian Agent; and was a Delegate to Congress, from the Territory of Michigan, from 1829 to 1831, when he was appointed Register of the Land Office at Detroit, Michigan. For some years before his death he had been travelling in Europe, and died at the White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, August 25, 1859, aged about seventy years.

Biddle, Richard.-He was a brother of Nicholas Biddle, and a Representative in Congress, from Western Pensylvania, from 1837 to 1841, and died at Pittsburg, July 7, 1847. Was the author of a Life of Sebastian Cabot.

Bidlack, Benjamin A.-He was born in Pennsylvania, and was a Representative in Congress, from Pennsylvania, from 1841 to 1845; and died at Bogota, New Grenada, February 29, 1849, to which country he had been appointed Chargé d'Affaires, immediately after leaving Congress.

Bidwell, Barnabas.-He graduated at Yale College in 1785; received the degree of LL.D. from that institution, and was a Representative in Congress, from Massachusetts, from 1805 to 1807; from 1801 to 1805 he was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, and AttorneyGeneral for the State from 1807 to 1810. He died in 1833.

Bidwell, John.-Born in Chautauqua County, New York, August 5, 1819; both his grandfathers having fought in the Revolutionary war. In 1829 he went with his father's family to Erie, Pa., and in 1831 to Ashtabula County, Ohio; was educated at Kingsville Academy; taught school in Darke County in the winter of 1838-39, and subsequently followed the same employment for two years in Missouri. In 1841 he emigrated to California, having been one of the first to cross the wild overland route, which journey occupied six months. His first employment

on the Pacific coast was to take charge of Bodega and Fort Russ. He also had charge of Sutter's Feather River possessions. He served in the war with Mexico until its close, rising from Second Lieutenant to Major. He was the first man to find gold on Feather River, in 1848. In 1849 he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and during the same year was elected to the Senate of the new State. In 1850 he was one of the two appointed to convey a block of goldbearing quartz to Washington City; was a dissatisfied Delegate to the Charleston Convention in 1860. Since that time he has been a Brigadier-General of Militia, and in 1864 he was elected a Representative from California to the Thirty-ninth Congress; serving on the Committee on the Pacific Railroad, and as Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture. He was also a Delegate to the Philadelphia "Loyalists' Convention" of 1866.

Bierne, Andrew.-He was a native of Ireland, and, on becoming a citizen of Virginia, was elected a Representative in Congress from 1837 to 1841.

Bigelow, Abijah.-Born in Westminster, Worcester County, Massachusetts, December 5, 1775. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1795; studied law and was admitted to practice in 1798; was Town Clerk of Leominster for five years; served two years as a member of the General Court of Massachusetts; and was a Representative in Congress from 1810 to 1815. In 1838 he was appointed a Master in Chancery for Worcester County; from 1817 to 1833 he was Clerk of the County Court of Worcester; at one time Treasurer and Trustee of Leicester Academy; and held the minor office of Justice of the Peace for about fifty years. Died April 4, 1860.

Bigelow, Lewis.-Born in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in 1783; waş a Representative in Congress, from his native State, from 1821 to 1823; was the author of the "Digest of the First Twelve Volumes of Massachusetts Reports;" and, removing to Peoria, Illinois, became Clerk of the County Court there, and died in October, 1838.

Biggs, Asa.-Born in Williamstown, Martin County, North Carolina, February , 1811. He was educated at an academy, erved as a merchant's clerk, studied law, and was admitted to the bar, in 1831. In 1835 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of that State; in 1840, 1842, and 1844 he was elected to the State Legislature. He was chosen a member of the Twenty-ninth Congress. In 1850 he was one of three Commissioners appointed to revise the Statutes of the State. In 1854 he went a second time into

the State Senate, and he was elected a Senator in Congress, in 1854, for six years, but resigned May, 1858, for the appointment of Judge of the United States District Court of North Carolina, conferred upon him by President Buchanan. was a member of the Committees on Finance and on Private Land Claims.

He

Bigler, William. Born at Shermansburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, in December, 1814. He received a moderate school education, and, instead of a college, graduated in a printing-office; by his own personal efforts, he established, and for several years carried on, entirely unaided, the "Clearfield Democrat; " disposing of his paper, he devoted himself for a time to mercantile pursuits and politics; in 1841 he was elected to the State Convention, and was a member of the State Senate, part of the time Speaker, up to 1847; in 1851 he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania; subsequently became President of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company; and in 1855 was elected a Senator in Congress for six years, serving on the Committees on Commerce, Post Offices and Post Roads, and Engrossed Bills. Was a Delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1864, and to the Philadelphia "National Union Convention" of 1866.

Billinghurst, Charles. He was born in Brighton, Mouroe County, New York, July 27, 1818; adopted the profession of law, and, after practising a few years, removed to Wisconsin in 1847; and was a member of the first Legislature of that State in 1848; was a Presidential Elector in 1852; and was elected a Representative to the Thirty-fourth Congress from Wisconsin, and was re-elected to the Thirty-fifth Congress, serving as a member of the Judiciary Committee, and was also re-elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress. Died at Juneau, Wisconsin, August 18, 1865.

Bines, Thomas.-He was a Representative in Congress, from New Jersey, from 1814 to 1815, and again from 1819 to 1820.

Bingham, John A.-He was born in Pennsylvania in 1815; received an academical education; spent two years in a printing-office; entered Franklin College, in Ohio, but his health prevented him from graduating; he studied law in Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1840; from 1845 to 1849 he was Attorney for the State in Tuscarawas County, and in 1854 he was elected a Representative in the Thirtyfourth Congress, and re-elected to the Thirty-fifth Congress. During his first terin, he was a member of the Committee on Elections, and made a report on the Illinois contested cases, which was adopt

ed by the House, and he also served as a member of the Committee on Expenditures in the State Department. He was also re-elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress, serving on the Judiciary Committee; re-elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress; and, in 1864, was appointed a Judge-Advocate in the army. In August of the same year he was appointed Solicitor of the Court of Claims; and in May, 1865, he was Assistant Judge-Advocate in the trial of the Conspirators, who were tried for murdering President Lincoln. Re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, serving on the Committees on Military Affairs, the Freedmen, and Reconstruction; and he was one of the Representatives designed by the House to attend the funeral of General Scott in 1866. He was also a Delegate to the Philadelphia “ Loyalists' Convention," of 1866; and re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving on the Committee on Reconstruction, as Chairman of the Committee on Claims and as one of the Managers in the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson.

Bingham, Kinsley S.-He was born at Camillus, Onondaga County, New York, December 16, 1808; received a fair academic education; taught school for a time at Bennington, Vermont; spent three years in the office of a lawyer as clerk; emigrated to Michigan in 1833, and settled upon a farm; he was elected to the Michigan Legislature in 1835, and was five years a member of that body; three years elected Speaker; he was a Representative in Congress, from Michigan, from 1847 to 1851, and served on the Com mittee on Commerce; and was elected Governor of Michigan in 1854 and 1856 He has also held in other years the offices of Postmaster, Supervisor, Prosecuting Attorney, Judge of Probate, and Brigadier-General of Militia. In 1859 he was elected a Senator in Congress, from Michigan for six years. Died at Oak Grove, Livingston County, Michigan, October 5, 1861.

Bingham, William.-He graduated at the College of Philadelphia in 1768, and he was agent for this country at Martinique during the Revolution. In 1786 he was a Delegate to the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania, and was elected a Senator in Congress in 1795, serving until 1801, and as President pro tem. of the Senate during the Fourth Congress. He died at Bath, England, February 7, 1804, aged fifty-two years.

Binney, Horace.-He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1780; graduated at Harvard University in 1797; and was educated a lawyer. He was a Director of the old United States Bank, and one of the trustees to whom its affairs were entrusted when it was wound up.