Benton Jay Hall Explained

Benton Hall
State:Iowa
Term Start:March 4, 1885
Term End:March 3, 1887
Predecessor:Moses A. McCoid
Successor:John H. Gear
State Senate1:Iowa
District1:9th
Term Start1:January 9, 1882
Term End1:March 3, 1885
Predecessor1:John Patterson
Successor1:William Dodge
State House2:Iowa
District2:2nd
Term Start2:January 8, 1872
Term End2:January 11, 1874
Predecessor2:multi-member district
Successor2:multi-member district
Birth Date:13 January 1835
Birth Place:Mount Vernon, Ohio, U.S.
Death Place:Burlington, Iowa, U.S
Education:Miami University

Benton Jay "Ben" Hall (January 13, 1835 – January 5, 1894) was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district in southeastern Iowa.

Born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Hall moved in December 1840 with his parents (future Iowa Supreme Court justice J.C. Hall and his wife) to Burlington in Iowa Territory.[1] He attended Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, and graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1855. He studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar in 1857 and practiced in Burlington.[1] He was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives in 1872 and 1873. In 1873 he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Iowa Supreme Court.[2] He was elected to a four-year term in the Iowa Senate in 1881.[1] [3]

The following year (1882) Hall won the democratic nomination for election to represent Iowa's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House, but was defeated by the incumbent Republican, Moses A. McCoid.[4] However, in 1884, Hall ran again for the 1st district seat and prevailed, the first Democrat to take that seat since the outbreak of the Civil War. He served in the Forty-ninth Congress. However, in 1886 he was defeated in the general election by former Iowa Governor (and future U.S. Senator) John H. Gear. Hall served in Congress from March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1887.

Soon after his defeat, he was appointed Commissioner of Patents by President Cleveland and served from April 12, 1887, to March 31, 1889, and afterwards resumed the practice of law.

He died in Burlington on January 5, 1894. He was interred in Aspen Grove Cemetery.

Notes and References

  1. Benjamin F. Gue, "History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century, Vol. 4 (Benton J. Hall)" pp. 115 (1902).
  2. Dubuque Daily Herald, 1873-09-04 at p. 1.
  3. News: Senator Benton J. Hall . December 3, 2023 . Iowa General Assembly.
  4. "The Elections," The Weekly Hawk-Eye (Burlington), 1882-11-09 at p. 1.