Hiram Pitt BENNET, Congress, CO (1826-1914)

BENNET Hiram Pitt , a Delegate from the Territory of Colorado; born in Carthage, Franklin County, Maine, September 2, 1826; moved to Ohio with his parents, who settled in Richland County in 1831; attended public and private schools and the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware; taught school in northwestern Missouri in 1850; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1851 and practiced in western Iowa and later at Glenwood, Iowa; judge of the circuit court of Iowa in 1852; moved to Nebraska Territory in 1854, settled in Nebraska City, and continued the practice of law; unsuccessfully contested in 1855 as a Republican the election of Bird B. Chapman to the Thirty-fourth Congress; member of the Territorial council in 1856; member of the Territorial house of representatives in 1858 and served as speaker; moved to Denver, Colo., in 1859 and continued the practice of law; upon the admission of the Territory to representation was elected as a Conservative Republican, a Delegate to the Thirty-seventh Congress; reelected to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from August 19, 1861, to March 3, 1865; was not a candidate for renomination in 1864; secretary of state of Colorado in 1867; appointed postmaster of Denver, Colo., on March 26, 1869, and served until May 27, 1874, when a successor was appointed; member of the first State senate in 1876; appointed ``State agent'' in 1888, and served until 1895 in recovering lands belonging to the State of Colorado which had been wrongfully disposed of; retired in 1899 and resided in Denver, Colo., until his death, November 11, 1914; interment in Riverside Cemetery.

Bibliography

Bennet, Hiram Pitt. Hiram Pitt Bennet: Pioneer, Frontier Lawyer, Politician. Edited by Liston E. Leyendecker; co-editors, Conrad Woodall, Holley R. Lange, Susan L. Hoskinson. Denver, Colo.: Colorado Historical Society, 1988; Silverman, Jason H. ``Making Brick Out of Straw: Delegate Hiram P. Bennet.'' Colorado Magazine 53 (Fall 1976): 309-27.

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