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History and GovernmentCongressional BiographiesIllinois

Benjamin Franklin MARSH


MARSH, Benjamin Franklin, a Representative from Illinois; born in Wythe Township, Hancock County, Ill., in 1839; attended private schools and Jubilee College; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1860 and practiced in Warsaw, Hancock County, Ill.; during the Civil War enlisted as a private in the Sixteenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry; later commissioned Colonel and served until January 1866; returned to Warsaw, Ill., and engaged in the practice of law until 1877; Republican candidate for member of the State constitutional convention in 1869; elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1877-March 3, 1883); chairman, Committee on Pensions (Forty-seventh Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress; engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising in Hancock County; appointed in 1889 State railroad and warehouse commissioner, and served four years; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1888; elected to the Fifty-third and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1901); chairman, Committee on the Militia (Fifty-fourth through Fifty-sixth Congresses); unsuccessful candidate in 1900 for reelection to the Fifty-seventh Congress; elected to the Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth Congresses and served from March 4, 1903, until his death in Warsaw, Ill., June 2, 1905; interment in Oakland Cemetery.
