Representative Benton Jay Hall

Benton Jay Hall served as a Representative from Iowa in the United States Congress from 1885 to 1887. A member of the Democratic Party, Benton Jay Hall contributed to the legislative process during 1 term in office.

Benton Jay Hall’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history. As a member of the House of Representatives, Benton Jay Hall participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of constituents.

Benton Jay “Ben” Hall (January 13, 1835 – January 5, 1894) was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa’s 1st congressional district in southeastern Iowa. Born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Hall moved in December 1840 with his parents (future Iowa Supreme Court justice J.C. Hall and his wife) to Burlington in Iowa Territory. He attended Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, and graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1855. He studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar in 1857 and practiced in Burlington. He was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives in 1872 and 1873. In 1873 he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Iowa Supreme Court. He was elected to a four-year term in the Iowa Senate in 1881. The following year (1882) Hall won the democratic nomination for election to represent Iowa’s 1st congressional district in the U.S. House, but was defeated by the incumbent Republican, Moses A. McCoid. However, in 1884, Hall ran again for the 1st district seat and prevailed, the first Democrat to take that seat since the outbreak of the Civil War. He served in the Forty-ninth Congress. However, in 1886 he was defeated in the general election by former Iowa Governor (and future U.S. Senator) John H. Gear. Hall served in Congress from March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1887. Soon after his defeat, he was appointed Commissioner of Patents by President Cleveland and served from April 12, 1887, to March 31, 1889, and afterwards resumed the practice of law. He died in Burlington on January 5, 1894. He was interred in Aspen Grove Cemetery.