Horatio Needham (April 21, 1796–July 8, 1863) was a

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and lawyer who served as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...

Biography

Horatio Needham was born in Whiting, Vermont on April 21, 1796. He was educated in the local schools and began to study law in 1817. Needham was admitted to the bar in 1821 and established a practice in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

who followed the tenets of the

Free Soil The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into ...

movement, Needham was Bristol's Town Clerk for five years and a member of the board of selectmen for six. In 1849 Needham was the Free Soil nominee for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, losing a close race to Whig

Carlos Coolidge Carlos Coolidge (June 25, 1792 – August 15, 1866) was an American Whig politician, a lawyer, a Vermont State Representative, the Speaker of the Vermont House, a State Senator, and the 19th governor of Vermont. Biography Coolidge was born i ...

. He was a Delegate to the Vermont constitutional conventions of 1843, 1850 and 1857. Active in the state militia, in 1851 the Vermont General Assembly appointed Needham commander of the 3rd Brigade with the rank of Brigadier General. Needham was selected as the speaker of the

in 1853, after thirty-one ballots. Needham served several terms in the Vermont House of Representatives and was Speaker from 1853 to 1854, the last non-Republican to hold the office until 1975. He also served as a member of the state Council of Censors from 1862 to 1863. Horatio Needham died in Bristol on July 8, 1863. He was buried in Bristol's Greenwood Cemetery.Burial records, Greenwood Cemetery
Middlebury College Cemetery Indexes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Needham, Horatio 1796 births 1863 deaths People from Whiting, Vermont Vermont lawyers Speakers of the Vermont House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives Burials in Vermont 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American lawyers