Representative Benjamin Franklin Stoddard View All Years

Benjamin Franklin Stoddard

Buchanan County

Representative from Buchanan county, was born near Gales Ferry, New London county, Connecticut, in 1848, of New England parentage. Came to Iowa in 1856 with his parents who settled on a farm in Farmersburg township, Clayton county. Three years later the family moved to Grand Meadow township, in the same county, where his boyhood was spent attending the district school in winter and working upon the farm in summer. During this portion of his life the limited facilities for securing an education were largely augmented by the careful training and teaching of his mother, who was a woman of considerable educational attainments. In 1867 the family moved to Buchanan county and settled on a new farm near Jesup. Three years later, after this farm had been broken and fenced and he could be spared, he learned a trade, that of miller, which he followed a few years, since which time he has been engaged in various pursuits, including a short time in the mercantile business. For the past twenty years he has been engaged in horticulture and the insurance business at Jesup. Has filled all the local township offices and has been many times a member of the school board of his home town. Is married; his family consists of a wife and two daughters. Elected Representative in 1908. A Republican in politics.

House District 67