Bethuel Kitchen

Bethuel Kitchen

Bethuel Middleton Kitchen (born March 21, 1812 in Ganotown , Berkeley County , Virginia , † December 15, 1895 in Shanghai , West Virginia ) was an American politician . Between 1867 and 1869 he represented the second constituency of the state of West Virginia in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Bethuel Kitchen was born in Ganotown in 1812, which was then still part of Virginia and later became part of the state of West Virginia, which was formed in 1863. He attended the public schools in his home country and then worked in agriculture and there especially in cattle breeding. Politically, he only became active in the early 1860s, when he sat in the Virginia House of Representatives from 1861 to 1862 . After West Virginia was founded, he was a member of the State Senate from 1864 to 1865 . He was elected to the US House of Representatives as early as 1862. He was not admitted there in 1863 because his constituency was still regarded as part of the state of Virginia, which had left the union.

In the congressional elections of 1866, Kitchen was then elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington as a candidate for the Republican Party in the second district of West Virginia . There he took over from George R. Latham on March 4, 1867 . Since he turned down another candidacy in 1868, Kitchen could only serve one term in Congress until March 3, 1869 , which were characterized by questions of Reconstruction and the failed impeachment proceedings against US President Andrew Johnson . In addition, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1868 , extending citizenship to ex-slaves and African-Americans .

After his tenure in Congress, Kitchen resumed his previous farming activities. Between 1869 and 1875 he was president of the Agriculture and Crafts Association for three counties in West Virginia. Between 1873 and 1879 he ran the State Grange of West Virginia. Between 1878 and 1879 he was once again a member of the State Senate. From 1880 to 1895, Bethuel Kitchen served as the chief administrative officer of the Berkeley County District Court. He died on December 15, 1895 in the village of Shanghai and was buried there.

Web links

• Bethuel Kitchen in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Bethuel Kitchen in the database of Find a Grave (English)