Nathaniel S. Benton

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Nathaniel S. Benton

Nathaniel Soley Benton (born February 19, 1792 in Westmoreland , New Hampshire , † June 29, 1869 in Little Falls , New York ) was an American lawyer and politician .

Career

When he was four years old, Nathaniel Soley Benton's family moved from Westmoreland to Fryeburg in what is now Maine , where he attended the Fryeburg Academy and studied under Daniel Webster . During the winter of 1812 he taught as a teacher. In a fit of patriotism, he enlisted in the 34th  Regiment of the US Army during the British-American War . In the following years he quickly rose to Adjutant General and served as Judge Advocate at two court martial hearings in 1814 in Plattsburgh (New York).

After the end of the war he studied law in his uncle's office in Orford, New Hampshire. In early 1816 he moved to Little Falls, New York, where he continued his law studies with George H. Feeter. In 1817 he became a justice of the peace. He was admitted to the bar in 1819. With the desire to see something of the West, he made a trip through Pennsylvania , Virginia , Kentucky , Tennessee , Missouri , Illinois , Michigan , Indiana and Ohio around 1820 .

From 1821 to 1828 he was guardianship and probate judge in Herkimer County (New York). He then sat from 1828 to 1831 for the 5th District in the New York Senate . From 1831 to 1841 he was the successor of Samuel Beardsley United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York . His term of office was marked by the economic crisis of 1837 . Benton became Secretary of State of New York in 1845 - a post he held until 1847. The final years of his tenure were overshadowed by the Mexican-American War . He belonged to the Democratic Party until 1855 . At that time he joined the American Party . In 1858 he ran for the office of lieutenant governor of New York, while Lorenzo Burrows ran for the office of governor of New York. He then joined the Republican Party . In the following years he supported both elections of Abraham Lincoln . He was also an auditor in the Canal Office from 1855 to 1868. He died about four years after the end of the Civil War in Little Falls, New York, and was buried there in Church Street Cemetery .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Benton, Nathaniel S.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benton, Nathaniel Soley (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1792
PLACE OF BIRTH Westmoreland , New Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH June 29, 1869
Place of death Little Falls , New York