Henry Lamdin Benson (July 6, 1854 – October 16, 1921) was an American politician and jurist in the state of Oregon. He was the 44th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving from 1915 to 1921 on the state's highest court. He was chosen as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives for the 1897 regular session of the

19th Oregon Legislative Assembly The 19th Oregon Legislative Assembly was scheduled to convene January 11, 1897. The Senate organized, but the House failed to do so. In the House, two factions formed, neither of which had enough members to constitute a quorum. The Senate elected ...

, but a dispute between two rival factions in the House prevented the body from organizing for that session. (E. J. Davis was chosen as Speaker by the other faction.) Henry's younger brother was Oregon Governor Frank W. Benson.

Early life

Henry Benson was born in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

on July 6, 1854.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. Benson was born to Matilda Williamson Benson and Henry Clark Benson. By 1858 the family was living in San Jose, California, where his brother Frank was born. The family later moved to Portland, Oregon where the younger Henry was educated in Portland schools and at

Portland Academy Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. However, for college he returned to California where he earned a degree in 1873 from the

College of the Pacific College of the Pacific is the liberal arts core of the University of the Pacific and offers degrees in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the fine and performing arts. The College houses 18 academic departments in addition to ...

in San Jose. Three years later he was admitted to practice law in California. That same year he married Susie E. Dougherty, with whom he would have six children. Then in 1880 he returned to Oregon where he became the principal of the Drain Normal School before later serving as the superintendent of schools for

Grants Pass, Oregon Grants Pass is the county seat of Josephine County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on Interstate 5, northwest of Medford, along the Rogue River. The population was 39,189 at the 2020 census. History Early Hudson's Bay Company hunt ...

. In 1886, he passed the Oregon

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

and practiced in

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada Ontario * Bruce County ** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie ** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce * Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...

until 1891 when he went back to Grants Pass.

Political career

In 1892, he was selected as the

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

for a large portion of southwestern Oregon. Then in 1896 he was elected to the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...

as a Republican representing

Josephine County Josephine County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 88,090. The county seat is Grants Pass. The county is probably named after a stream in the area called Josephine Creek, which in ...

.Oregon Legislative Assembly (19th) 1897 Regular Session.
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. During the 1897 legislature he was selected as Speaker of the House, but he was only selected by one faction of the house during a House session where the House never officially organized nor conducted any official business. Then from 1898 to 1907 Benson served as a circuit court judge in southwestern Oregon counties. In 1914, Henry Benson ran for a position on the Oregon Supreme Court held by Charles L. McNary. Benson won by a single vote. He then started his six-year term in 1915 and won re-election in 1920.Oregon Blue Book: Earliest Authorities in Oregon - Supreme Court Justices of Oregon.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. Henry L. Benson then died in office on October 16, 1921.

Other

The

Judge Henry L. Benson House The Judge Henry L. Benson House, built in 1892, is an historic octagon house located at 137 High Street in Klamath Falls, Oregon. In 1981 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is a two-story frame house, built to a T- ...

in Klamath Falls is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Benson moved to Klamath Falls in 1898 to comply with requirement that one of two judges of the four-county circuit court district live east of the Cascades. He was re-elected to the circuit court in 1904 and served until 1915 when he became a state supreme court justice. With .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Henry L. Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Oregon state court judges Politicians from Stockton, California University of the Pacific (United States) alumni Speakers of the Oregon House of Representatives 1854 births 1921 deaths Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives District attorneys in Oregon