Maecenas Eason BENTON, Congress, MO (1848-1924)

BENTON, Maecenas Eason, (great nephew of Thomas Hart Benton), a Representative from Missouri; born near Dyersburg, Obion County, Tenn., January 29, 1848; attended two west Tennessee academies and St. Louis University; was graduated from the law department of Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tenn., in 1870; served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Neosho, Newton County, Mo.; prosecuting attorney of Newton County 1878-1884; United States attorney from March 1885 to July 1889; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1896; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, and Fifty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1897-March 3, 1905); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1904 to the Fifty-ninth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Neosho, Mo.; member of the State constitutional conventions in 1922 and 1924; died in Springfield, Greene County, Mo., April 27, 1924; interment in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, Neosho, Mo.

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