Benjamin PRINGLE, Congress, NY (1807-1887)

PRINGLE, Benjamin, a Representative from New York; born in Richfield Springs, Otsego County, N.Y., November 9, 1807; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1830 and practiced for a number of years; president of a bank in Batavia, Genesee County, N.Y.; judge of the Genesee County Court 1841-1846; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-third Congress and reelected as an Opposition Party candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1857); chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs (Thirty-fourth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1856 to the Thirty-fifth Congress; member of the state assembly in 1863; appointed by President Lincoln in 1863 judge of the court of arbitration in Cape Town, Africa, under the treaty with Great Britain of April 7, 1862, for the suppression of the African slave trade; appointed a member of the board of trustees of the State Institution for the Blind in 1873; died in Hastings, Dakota County, Minn., June 7, 1887; interment in the Old Cemetery, Batavia, N.Y.

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