Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/265

Rh associate justice of the supreme court of the state, and retained that office for twenty years. He was the author of several legal text-books, the last of which was "The Vermont Justice."

BENNETT, Thomas W., soldier, b. in Union co., Ind., 16 Feb., 1831 ; d. 2 Feb., 1893. He was graduated at the law-school of Indiana Asbury university, and began practice. He was elected to the state senate in 1858, and resigned in 1861 to enter the national service. He was captain in the 15th Indiana volunteers in April, 1861, major of the 36th regiment in September, colonel of the 69th in August, 1862, and commissioned brigadier-general on 5 March, 1865. Pie was again chosen to the state senate in October, 1864, and served till March, 1867. He was mayor of Richmond, Ind., from May, 1869, till 1871, and in September of the latter year appointed governor of Idaho territory. He resigned this office 4 Dec, 1875, supposing that he had been elected delegate to congress as a republican: but the house gave the seat to his democratic opponent.

BENNETT, William Zebina, chemist, b. in Montpelier, Vt., 25 Feb., 1856. He was graduated at Harvard in 1878, and became assistant in chemistry at that university in September of the same year. He continued as such until January, 1880, when he became master of sciences and mathematics at De Veany College. During 1879 and 1880 he was assistant teacher in the summer school of chemistry. In 1880 he became assistant professor of chemistry, and in 1883 succeeded to the chair of natural sciences in the University of Wooster. Besides numerous contributions to scientific periodicals, he has published "A Plant Analysis" (Wooster, 1885).

BENSEL, James Berry, author, b. in New York city, 2 Aug., 1856; d. there, 3 Feb., 1886. When about eight years old he removed with his parents to Lynn, Mass., and most of his life was passed in that city. His literary tastes developed early, and his first poems appeared in print when he was but seventeen. A novel by him. called "King Cophetua's Wife," was published as a serial in the " Overland Monthly " in 1883, and a small volume of his poems was issued in January, 1886, with the title "In the King's Garden." A second and enlarged edition of this appeared in the summer of 1886. His life was full of hardships and sorrows more than most men are called to endure, and this circumstance imparted a tinge of melancholy to many of his poems. His verse is always musical, often highly finished, and is not lacking in either strength of thought or delicacy of expression. Long and seemingly hopeless struggles against adversity and ill health affected his spirits and prevented him from realizing the full extent of his powers. His death, in his thirtieth year, removed from the world one of the most promising of the younger American poets.

BENSON, Egbert, jurist, b. in New York city, 21 June, 1746 ; d. in Jamaica, Long Island, 24 Aug., 1833. He was graduated at King's college in 1765, and became distinguished for eloquence as a pleader, and for legal learning. He was a member of the revolutionary committee of safety, was appointed in 1777 the first attorney-general of the state, and was elected the same year to the first state legislature. In 1783 he was one of the three commissioners appointed to direct the embarkation of loyalists for Nova Scotia in June of that year. In 1788 he took the lead in the legislature in advocating the acceptance of the federal constitution. He ceased to be attorney-general of New York in 1789. He was a member of the continental congress from 1784 till 1788, and was returned to the first and to the second congress, taking an active part in the deliberations. He was judge of the supreme court of New York from 1794 till 1802, and also sat for a time on the federal bench as a circuit judge. He was a member of congress again in 1813-'5. From 1789 to 1802 he was a regent of the New York university. In 1808 he received the degree of LL. D. from Harvard, and in 1811 from Dartmouth. He was the first president of the New York historical society, and author of a "Vindication of the Captors of Major Andre" (New York, 1817), and of a monograph entitled "Memoir on Dutch Names of Places" (1835).

BENSON, Eugene, painter, b. in Hyde Park, N. Y., in 1837. He entered the national academy, New York, about 1856. and studied also with J. H. Wright, portrait-painter, and afterward in Paris, Venice, and Rome, devoting himself particularly to the Venetian masters. His professional life has been for the most part spent on the continent and in travels in the east, Egypt, Syria, etc. He established his studio in Florence in 1871, and removed to Rome in 1883. He was elected an associate of the national academy in 1862. Among the better known of his pictures are "Cloud Towers"; "Strayed Maskers" (1873); "Interior of St. Mark's"; "Reverential Anatomist " (1876); "Bazaar at Cairo"; "Hay- Boats"; "Peasants of Cadore at Religious Worship"; "Market-Place, Egypt " (1877) ; "Study of Girl in Blue"; "Hashish-Smokers"; "Slave's Tower" (1878); "Thoughts in Exile"; "Reverie"; "Making the Best of It"; "Dead Calm on the Hill"; "Fire-Worshippers" (1879); "Mountain Torrent " (1881); "Distinguished Company in Titian's Garden"; "State Secret in Venice" (1882); " Spring"; "Art and Love"; "Afternoon on the Lagoon"; "Ariadne" (1883). Mr. Benson has been a frequent contributor to periodicals, and has published two books entitled "Gaspara Stampa; the Story of Her Life," and "Art and Nature in Italy" (Boston, 1881).

BENSON, Henry Clark, clergyman, b. in Ohio in 1815. He became a Methodist minister in 1842, joining the Indiana conference, and in 1850 was elected professor of Greek in Indiana Asbury university. In 1852 he removed to California. He was editor of the "Pacific Christian Advocate" at Portland, Oregon, from 1864 to 1868, in which year he became editor of the "California Advocate." For several years he labored among the Choctaw Indians as a missionary, and he has related his experiences in a book called "Life among the Choctaws." He has also published an essay on "The Lord's Day, or the Christian Sabbath the First Day of the Week, not the Seventh."

'''BENSON. James Rea,''' Canadian capitalist, b. in 1807: d. in St. Catherine's, Out., 18 March, 1885. He engaged in commercial pursuits for many years, was a director of the Imperial bank of Canada, and of the London and Canadian loan agency company, vice-president of the international suspension bridge company, and held various other offices of trust in the commercial world. In 1867 he was elected to the Canadian parliament by acclamation for the Niagara division, which constituency he represented until the year following, when he was sent to the senate.

BENTON, Jacob, congressman, b. in Waterford, Vt.. 19 Aug., 1814; d. in Lancaster, N. H., 30 Sept., 1892. After teaching school for several years he studied law with Chief-Justice Bellows, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He began practice at Lancaster, N. II., made a high reputation as a successful advocate, and early became an earnest