Bethuel Middleton KITCHEN, Congress, WV (1812-1895)

KITCHEN, Bethuel Middleton, a Representative from West Virginia; born in Ganotown, Berkeley County, Va. (now West Virginia), March 21, 1812; attended the common schools; engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising; member of the Virginia house of delegates in 1861 and 1862; served in the West Virginia State senate in 1864 and 1865; presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Thirty-eighth Congress but was not permitted to qualify because the votes cast included those from Berkeley County, which was not mentioned in the act of Congress admitting West Virginia, and hence the assent of Congress had not yet been given, and the county was still a part of Virginia; Lewis McKenzie contested the election, but inasmuch as the voting was confined to less than half the district neither claimant was admitted; elected as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1869); was not a candidate for renomination in 1868; resumed his former pursuits; president of the Agricultural and Mechanical Association of Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties 1869-1875; master of West Virginia State Grange 1873-1879; again a member of the West Virginia State senate in 1878 and 1879; president of the county court of Berkeley County, W.Va., 1880-1895; died in Shanghai, Berkeley County, W.Va., December 15, 1895; interment in the Presbyterian Churchyard.

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