Benjamin P. Birdsall

Benjamin Pixley Birdsall
Benjamin Pixley Birdsall
District judge of the 11th judicial district of Iowa
	In office; January 1893 – October 1900
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; from Iowa's 3rd district
	In office; March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1909
Preceded by	David B. Henderson
Succeeded by	Charles E. Pickett
Personal details
Born	October 26, 1858; Weyauwega, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	May 16, 1916 (aged 57); Clarion, Iowa, U.S.
Resting place	Evergreen Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	University of Iowa

Benjamin Pixley Birdsall (October 26, 1858 – May 16, 1916^[1]) was a three-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 3rd congressional district during the first decade of the 20th century.

Biography

Born in Weyauwega, Wisconsin, Birdsall attended the common schools of Iowa and the University of Iowa, Iowa City. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1878 and practiced in Clarion, Iowa. He served as district judge of the eleventh judicial district of Iowa from January 1893 to October 1900.

In 1902, Birdsall was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-eighth Congress, after the incumbent, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives David B. Henderson chose not to run for re-election. Birdsall defeated former Iowa Governor Horace Boies in that race. He was re-elected twice, serving in the Fifty-ninth, and Sixtieth Congresses.

According to the November 1903 Congressional Directory, Birdsall "has been twice married—his first wife, Bertha H. Shultz, deceased 1886; remarried in 1888 to Belle Johnston, of Clarion."^[2]

In 1908, he filed for re-election a third time, but fellow Republicans Burton E. Sweet and Charles E. Pickett also sought the Republican nomination.^[3] In February 1908 Birdsall pulled out of the race, explaining that he wished to return to the practice of law.^[4] In all he served in Congress from March 4, 1903 to March 3, 1909. He resumed the practice of law in Clarion, where he died on May 16, 1916.^[5] He was interred in Evergreen Cemetery.

References

^ Sioux City Journal May 1916
^ "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. November 9, 1903. p. 32. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
^ Editorial, The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, January 22, 1908 at p. 4.
^ "Birdsall Confirms the Rumor," The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, February 8, 1908 at p. 8.
^ Sioux City Journal May 1916

United States Congress. "Benjamin P. Birdsall (id: B000481)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by David B. Henderson	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 3rd congressional district 1903–1909	Succeeded by Charles E. Pickett

[1] Sioux City Journal May 1916

[cd-2] "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. November 9, 1903. p. 32. Retrieved July 2, 2023.

[3] Editorial, The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, January 22, 1908 at p. 4.

[4] "Birdsall Confirms the Rumor," The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, February 8, 1908 at p. 8.

[5] Sioux City Journal May 1916

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v t e Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum Finkenauer Hinson Miller-Meeks
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack Miller-Meeks Hinson
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young Axne Nunn
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle LeCompte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King Feenstra
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston LeCompte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge