Representative Benjamin Franklin Meyers

Benjamin Franklin Meyers (July 6, 1833 – August 11, 1918) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and a prominent lawyer, newspaperman, and party leader in the Commonwealth’s politics during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He was born near New Centerville, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on July 6, 1833, into a rural community whose economy was largely agricultural. His early life in western Pennsylvania shaped his familiarity with the concerns of small-town and farming constituencies that would later figure in his legal and political work.

Meyers received his early education at Somerset Academy in Somerset, Pennsylvania, an institution that prepared many young men in the region for professional and collegiate study. He subsequently attended Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, an important Presbyterian-affiliated college that later merged with Washington College to form Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. At Jefferson College he pursued a classical curriculum typical of the period, which emphasized rhetoric, philosophy, and the foundations of law and government, and which provided the intellectual grounding for his later legal and political career.

After completing his studies, Meyers read law in the traditional manner of the time and was admitted to the bar in 1855. He commenced the practice of law in Pennsylvania, building a professional reputation in the years leading up to and during the Civil War. His legal practice coincided with a period of intense political realignment, and he became active in Democratic Party affairs. In 1864 he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he served a term during the Civil War, participating in state-level deliberations at a time when Pennsylvania was a key Union state in terms of manpower, industry, and transportation.

Alongside his legal and legislative work, Meyers developed a significant career in journalism and publishing, which amplified his influence within Democratic politics. He became editor of the Bedford Gazette, a Democratic newspaper in Bedford, Pennsylvania, through which he advocated party positions and engaged in public debate on state and national issues. In 1868 he moved into a larger media market when he became editor of the Harrisburg Daily Patriot, a leading Democratic paper in the state capital. His editorial positions and management of these newspapers helped shape public opinion and reinforced his standing as a party strategist and spokesman.

Meyers’s prominence in party circles was reflected in his repeated selection as a delegate to Democratic National Conventions. He served as a delegate to the conventions of 1864, 1880, 1884, 1888, 1892, 1896, and 1900, spanning more than three decades of national party politics. Through this role he participated in the nomination of multiple Democratic presidential candidates and in the formulation of national platforms during a period marked by Reconstruction, industrialization, monetary debates, and shifting regional alignments within the party.

In 1870, capitalizing on his legal experience and party connections, Meyers was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-second Congress, representing Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1873. His term in Congress occurred during the Reconstruction era, when issues such as federal-state relations, civil rights, and economic recovery were at the forefront of national debate. He sought reelection in 1872 but was unsuccessful, and his service in the House concluded at the end of his first term. After leaving Congress, he returned to his legal and journalistic pursuits and remained active in Democratic politics at the state and national levels.

Meyers later held a significant federal patronage position in the late nineteenth century. By appointment of President Grover Cleveland, he served as postmaster of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from 1886 to 1891. In this capacity he oversaw postal operations in the state capital during a period when the postal service was a central instrument of communication and commerce. He also expanded his involvement in the press as publisher of the Daily Star Independent in Harrisburg, further consolidating his role in the city’s civic and political life. In addition to his newspaper and political work, he was engaged in public utilities, reflecting the growing importance of infrastructure and municipal services in rapidly developing urban centers.

Benjamin Franklin Meyers spent his later years in Harrisburg, where he continued to be identified with the city’s political, journalistic, and business communities. He died in Harrisburg on August 11, 1918, at the age of eighty-five. He was interred in Harrisburg Cemetery, a resting place for many of the city’s political and civic leaders, marking the close of a long career that bridged law, journalism, public administration, and elective office in Pennsylvania and the nation.