Benjamin Joseph Franklin

Benjamin Joseph Franklin
12th Governor of Arizona Territory
In office
April 18, 1896 – July 22, 1897
Nominated by Grover Cleveland
Preceded by Louis Cameron Hughes
Succeeded by Myron H. McCord
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 8th district
In office
March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1879
Preceded by Abram Comingo
Succeeded by Samuel Locke Sawyer
Personal details
Born March 1839
Maysville, Kentucky
Died May 19, 1898(1898-05-19) (aged 59)
Phoenix, Arizona
Political party Democratic

Benjamin Joseph Franklin (March 1839 – May 18, 1898) was a U.S. Representative from Missouri, and territorial governor of Arizona.

Born in Maysville, Kentucky, in March 1839, Franklin attended private schools, and Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia (now West Virginia) from 1849 to 1851. He taught school. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1859 and commenced practice in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Franklin was elected to the State senate of Kansas in 1861, but due to the outbreak of the Civil War never served. He entered the Confederate States Army as a private. He was promoted to the rank of captain and served throughout the Civil War. He moved to Columbia, Missouri, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1868 and resumed the practice of law. He served as prosecuting attorney for Jackson County, Missouri from 1871 to 1875.

Franklin was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1879). He served as chairman of the Committee on Territories (Forty-fifth Congress). He was a candidate for renomination, but withdrew. He again engaged in the practice of law in Kansas City, Missouri. He was appointed United States consul at Hankow, China, in 1885. He returned to the United States in 1890 and settled in Phoenix, Arizona, and engaged in the practice of law. He was appointed Governor of the Territory of Arizona and served from April 18, 1896, to July 29, 1897. He died in Phoenix, Arizona, May 18, 1898. He was interred in Rosedale Cemetery.

References

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Abram Comingo
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 8th congressional district

1875–1879
Succeeded by
Samuel Locke Sawyer
Political offices
Preceded by
Louis Cameron Hughes
Governor of Arizona Territory
1896–1897
Succeeded by
Myron H. McCord