Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/299

 BEXSOX.

BENTON.

New York, and in 1794 was appointed judge of the supreme court, serving until 1801. In 1801 he was appointed chief judge of the United States circuit court, serving one year. In 1812 he was elected a representative to the 13th U. S. Congress, but resigned in 1814. He was a trustee of Columbia college from 1804 to 1815, and first president of the New York historical society. Union coUege made him LL.D. in 1779; Harvard college in 1808, and Dartmouth in 1811. He is the author of " Vindication of the Captors of Major Andr^ " (1817), and "Memoir on Dutch Names of Places" (1835). He died in Jamaica, L. I., N. Y., Aug. 24, 1833.

BENSON, Eugene, artist, was born at Hyde Park, on the Hudson, N. Y., in 1837. His studies were pursued chiefly at New York, Paris and Venice. His pictiu-es are conscientiously painted, and have much real merit. Mr. Benson at one time gave some attention to journalism, con- tributing to the Atlantic Monthhj and other prominent Boston and New York periodicals. Among his pictures are : ' • The Strayed Maskers ' ' (1873) ; " Eenimciation " (1876) ; " Bazaar at Cairo" (1877); "Hay Boats," "Peasants of Cadore at Eeligious Worship " (1876) ; " Thoughts in Exile," "A Reverie," " Market Place, Egypt, " "Study of a Girl in Blue," "The Reverential Anatomist," "Hashish Smokers, Jerusalem," per." He pvibUshed " Gaspara Stampa; the Story of her Life " and " Art and Nature in Italy " (1881).
 * ' Slave's Tower " (1878), and the " Last Worship-

BENTON, James Gilchrist, soldier, was born at Lebanon, N. H., Sept. 15, 1820; son of Calvin Benton, noted for having first introduced merino sheep into New England. He was graduated at West Point in 1842 as brevet 2d lieutenant of ordnance, and assigned to duty as assistant ordnance officer at Watervliet arsenal, Troy, N. Y. In 1847 he was promoted 2d lieutenant of ordnance, and in 1848 was assigned to the ordnance bureau in Washington, to aid in prepar- ing the " System of Artillery for the Land Ser- vice " and the " Ordnance Manual." In March, 1848, he was promoted 1st lieutenant, and in 1849 was at Harper's Ferry armory, Va. From 1849 to 1852 he was in charge of the San Antonio ordnance depot, Texas, and the following year was made assistant inspector of arsenals and armories. In 1853 he was commanding officer of the Charleston (S. C.) arsenal, and the next four j-ears devoted himself to experiments for a new rifled musket. He was a member of the ordnance board, and in July, 1856, was made captain of ordnance. From 1861 to 1863 he was principal as- sistant to the chief of ordnance at the Washington arsenal, of which he was given command in 1863. On March 13, 1865, he was promoted lieutenant-

colonel and colonel by brevet for faithful and meritorious services in the ordnance department. In 1866 he was transferred to the command of the Springfield (Mass.) armory, and superintended the con.struction of the Springfield rifle models. In 1873 he was sent to Europe to investigate the cannon in use there. He invented nvimerous im- provements in fire-arms, and wrote valuable re- ports on ordnance. He is the author of "A Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery for the Use of the Cadets of the United States Military Academy " (1880). He died in Spring- field, Mass., Aug. 23, 1881.

BENTON, Maecenas E., repre.sentative, was born in Obion county, Tenn., Jan. 29. 1849. a grand-nephew of Thomas Hart Benton, U.S. senator. He was graduated at the College of Christian Brothers at St. Louis, Mo., and at the law school of Cumberland university, Lebanon, Tenn., in 1870. He was admitted to the bar, re- moved to Neosho, Mo., in 1870, where he prac- tised law and served as prosecuting attorney of Newton county, Mo., 1878-82. He was U.S. dis- trict attorney for the western district of Missouri, 1885-89, and was removed for " pernicious activity in politics," He was later reinstated by President Cleveland and continued in office under President Harrison for some time. He presided o\er the Democratic state conventions in 1890 and 1896 ; was a delegate to the Democratic national con- vention in 1896, and was a representative from the 15th Missouri district in 1897-1905.

BENTON, Guy Porter, educator, was born at Kenton, Ohio, May 26, 1865, son of Daniel Web- ster and Harriet (Wharton) Benton. He was educated at Ohio Normal university and was graduated at Ohio Wesleyan university and at Baker university, Baldwin, Kan. He was mar- ried Sei^t. 4, 1889, to Dolly Konantz of Arcadia, Kan. He was superintendent of city schools at Fort Scott, Kan., 1890-'95 ; assistant state superin- tendent of public instruction in Kansas, 1895-"96 and professor of history and sociology in Baker universit}-, 1896-'9. He was president of Upper Iowa university at Fayette, Iowa, 1899-1902, and of Miami university, Oxford, Ohio, from 1903. He was a member of the Iowa board of educa- tion in 1899 and became a Methodist Episcopal clergyman.

BENTON, Nathaniel S., politician, was born in Cheshire county, N.H., Feb. 19, 1792. He joined the army in the war of 1812 and attained to the rank of adjutant and judge-advocate-gcneral. After the war he was admitted to the bar and practised in Little Falls, N.Y. For seven years he served as surrogate of Herkimer county, and in 1828 he was elected a state senator. In 1831 he was appointed district attorney for the northern district of New York, and continued in the office