Benson Wood

Benson Wood ( * March 31, 1839 in Bridgewater, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, † August 27, 1915 in Effingham, Illinois ) was an American politician. Between 1895 and 1897 he represented the state of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Benson Wood attended the public schools of his home and the Montrose Academy and Wyoming Seminary. In 1859 he moved to Illinois, where he taught for two years in Lee County as a teacher. During the Civil War Wood served 1861-1863 in the army of the Union. He rose to become captain. After a subsequent law studies at the University of Chicago and his 1864 was admitted to the bar he began in Effingham to work in this profession. At the same time he proposed as a member of the Republican Party launched a political career. In 1872 he sat as an MP in the House of Representatives from Illinois. In 1876 and 1888 he was a delegate to the respective Republican National Conventions, to which Rutherford B. Hayes and Benjamin Harrison were later nominated as a presidential candidate. Between 1881 and 1883 he was mayor of Effingham.

In the congressional elections of 1894 Wood was in the 19th electoral district of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he succeeded the Democrat James R. Williams on March 4, 1895. Since he has not been confirmed in 1896, he was able to complete only one term in Congress until March 3, 1897.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Benson Wood practiced as a lawyer again. Between 1903 and 1912 he served as president of the Effingham State Bank. After that, he was until his death a board member of the bank. He died on August 27, 1915 in Effingham.