Benton McMILLIN, Congress, TN (1845-1933)

McMILLIN Benton , a Representative from Tennessee; born in Monroe County, Ky., September 11, 1845; attended Philomath Academy, Tennessee, and the University of Kentucky at Lexington; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Celina, Clay County, Tenn., in 1871; member of the State house of representatives in 1874; commissioned by the Governor to treat with the State of Kentucky for the purchase of territory in 1875; attended every Democratic National Convention between 1876 and 1932 except in 1920; member, State house of representatives, 1875-1877; commissioned by the Governor as a special judge of the circuit court in 1877; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth and to the nine succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1879, until his resignation on January 6, 1899, to become Governor; chairman, Committee on Claims (Forty-eighth Congress), Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy (Fifty-third Congress); elected Governor of Tennessee in 1898, reelected in 1900, and served until 1903; engaged in the insurance business in Nashville, Tenn.; appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Peru July 2, 1913, and served until September 22, 1919; represented the United States at Guatemala in the same capacity from September 23, 1919, to January 5, 1922; resumed the insurance business in Nashville, Tenn., where he died on January 8, 1933; interment in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

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