Ben Franklin CALDWELL, Congress, IL (1848-1924)

CALDWELL Ben Franklin , a Representative from Illinois; born near Carrollton, Greene County, Ill., August 2, 1848; moved to Illinois in April 1853 with his parents, who settled near Chatham, Ill.; attended the public schools; engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the Board of Supervisors of Sangamon County in 1877 and 1878; member of the State house of representatives 1882-1886; served in the State senate 1890-1894; upon his election to Congress in 1898 he resigned the presidency of the Farmers' National Bank of Springfield, which office he had held since 1885; president of the Caldwell State Bank of Chatham; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, and Fifty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1899-March 3, 1905); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1904 to the Fifty-ninth Congress; elected to the Sixtieth Congress (March 4, 1907-March 3, 1909); was not a candidate for renomination in 1908; again engaged in banking in Chatham, Ill.; died in Springfield, Ill., on December 29, 1924; interment in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present