Ohio he was elected county attorney in 1840, serving two years. In 1844 he removed to Iowa, settling at Keosauqua, Van Buren County, where he opened a law office. In 1852 he was chosen by the Democrats one of the presidential electors and cast his vote for Franklin Pierce. In 1854 he was the Democratic candidate for Congress in the First District and was elected over R. L. B. Clark, Whig. He served but one term, being defeated at the election of 1856 by Samuel R. Curtis the Republican candidate. Mr. Hall removed to Nebraska where he was, in 1857, elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He died in that State in February, 1861.
BENTON J. HALL was the son of Judge J. C. Hall who was one of the early judges of the Iowa Supreme Court. Benton J. was born at Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, on the 13th of January, 1835, receiving his education at Knox College and the Miami University in Ohio. In 1839 his father came with his family to the newly organized Territory of Iowa, opening a law office in Burlington, where his son, Benton J., began the study of that profession and was admitted to the bar in 1857. In 1871 he was elected, on the Democratic ticket, to the House of Representatives of the Fourteenth General Assembly, his colleague being John H. Gear. In 1881 he was elected to the Senate, serving four years. In 1884 he was elected to Congress in the First District, serving one term, being the first Democrat chosen from that District for thirty years. In 1886 he was appointed by President Cleveland Commissioner of Patents, and conducted the affairs of that office with distinguished ability. As a lawyer Mr. Hall ranked high and as a citizen he commanded the respect of all classes. He died on the 5th of January, 1894.
JONATHAN C. HALL was born at Batavia, New York, February 27, 1808, and was reared on a farm. He attended district school winters and a few terms at Wyoming Academy. He taught school three winters and helped to survey several new counties. In 1828 he began to study law, removed to Ohio and was admitted to the bar of Columbus. In 1839 he came to Iowa Territory and a year later opened a law office at Mount Pleasant where in a few years he acquired a large practice, attending courts in eleven counties. In 1844 he was chosen a delegate to the First Constitutional Convention and was one of the prominent framers of the Constitution that was rejected. Soon after he removed to Burlington and in 1854 was appointed Supreme Judge to fill a vacancy. In 1855 he was elected president of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad Company and was one of the influential promoters of that line. In 1857 he was again a member of the Constitutional Convention which framed our present Constitution. He was one of the authors of the State Board of Education which was provided for in that instrument. In 1859 he was elected to the Eighth General Assembly and took a prominent part in the enactment of
