Benigno Cárdenas HERNÁNDEZ, Congress, NM (1862-1954)

(1862-1954)

HERNÁNDEZ, Benigno Cárdenas, a Representative from New Mexico; born in Taos, N.Mex., February 13, 1862; attended common and private schools; clerk in a general merchandise establishment in Taos County from 1880 to 1889; engaged in general merchandising and stock raising; moved to Lumberton in 1896 and engaged in mercantile pursuits; probate clerk and ex officio recorder of deeds for Rio Arriba County 1900-1904; moved to Tierra Amarilla in 1901; sheriff of Rio Arriba County 1904-1906; county treasurer and ex officio collector of taxes from 1908 until 1912; delegate to numerous State Republican conventions; receiver of the land office at Sante Fe, N.Mex., in 1912 and 1913, when he resigned; again engaged in mercantile pursuits and stock raising; delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1912 and 1916; member of the State exemption board during the First World War; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1915-March 3, 1917); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1916 to the Sixty-fifth Congress; elected to the Sixty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1919-March 3, 1921); was not a candidate for renomination in 1920; appointed collector of internal revenue for the district of New Mexico by President Harding on April 22, 1921, and served until 1933; member of the Selective Service Board 1940-1947; died in Los Angeles, Calif., on October 18, 1954; interment in Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, Calif.

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