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 byDavid B. Henderson
Succeeded byCharles E. Pickett
Personal details
Born(1858-10-26)October 26, 1858
Weyauwega, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedMay 16, 1916(1916-05-16) (aged 57)
Clarion, Iowa, U.S.
Resting placeEvergreen Cemetery
Political partyRepublican
Alma materUniversity 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

  1. ^ Sioux City Journal May 1916
  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
U.S. House of Representatives Preceded byDavid B. Henderson Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 3rd congressional district 1903–1909 Succeeded byCharles E. Pickett
Categories