Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin Explained

Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin
Office:Chief Justice of South Carolina
Termstart:November 1, 1865[1]
Termend:1868
Predecessor:John Belton O'Neall
Successor:Franklin J. Moses Sr.
Birth Date:December 2, 1792
Birth Place:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Death Place:Charleston, South Carolina, US
Spouse:Washington Sala Prentiss
Alma Mater:Harvard University

Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin was a lawyer and politician who became chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 2, 1792, he was the son of Edmund Dunkin (died 1811), an immigrant from Ireland, and his wife Susanna Bethune, from a Scottish family settled in Boston, Massachusetts.[2]

After graduating from Harvard University when he was eighteen, he moved to Charleston, South Carolina in 1811. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives and served as its Speaker in 1828 and 1829. Between 1865 and 1868, he was chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court.[3] He died on December 5, 1874, at his home in Charleston, South Carolina.[4]

On January 18, 1820, in Washington, District of Columbia, he married Washington Sara Prentiss (1800-1870) and they had three children who all married and raised families: Alfred Huger Dunkin (1822-1906); Mary Augusta Dunkin (1826-1865); and Anna Washington Dunkin (1829-1878).[2]

Notes and References

  1. News: Legislature South Carolina . The Daily Phoenix . November 3, 1865 . September 25, 2014 . Columbia, South Carolina . 2.
  2. Web site: Family Search. 21 July 2023.
  3. Book: South Carolina Bench and Bar . South Carolina Bench and Bar. . The State Co. . Brooks, Ulysses Robert . 1908 . 32.
  4. News: Judge Benjamin Faneuil Duncan . The New York Times . December 13, 1874 . September 25, 2014 . New York, New York . 2.