Benjamin F. Bonham

Bonham was born October 8, 1828, near Knoxville, Tennessee.[1] His parents were John Bonham and the former Sarah Jones.[1] Benjamin was raised in Knoxville and Muncie, Indiana, where he received his education at the local schools.[1] After his own education he taught school in Indiana. In 1853 he moved to the Oregon Territory.[1]

After arriving in Oregon he took up teaching again, this time at French Prairie and in Salem.[1] During this time Bonham also studied law, and then joined the bar in 1856.[1] Beginning in 1858 he started his political career when he was elected to the Territorial Legislature.[2] Later that year he served in Oregon's last Territorial Legislature as the citizens awaited statehood.[3] Bonham was then elected to the state's first legislature, serving as a Democrat from Marion County.[4] Each time he served in the legislature, he served in the lower chamber House of Representatives. In 1859, he married in Salem to Mildred A. Baker; they would have seven children.[1]

In 1870, Bonham was elected to the Oregon Supreme Court to replace Reuben P. Boise, who would then replace Bonham six years later when Bonham's term ended.[5] While on the court, Bonham served as chief justice from 1874 to 1876.[5] Bonham narrowly lost to Boise by 18 votes after having a 44-vote lead at one point during the vote count.[6]

In 1885, President Grover Cleveland appointed Bonham to be Consul General to British-controlled India at Calcutta.[1] Later he returned to Salem where he served as postmaster from 1894 to 1898,[1] and was a professor at Willamette University College of Law.[7] He then returned to the practice of law until he died in Salem on June 2, 1906.[1]