Benjamin Champneys

Benjamin Champneys
Portrait by Jacob Eichholtz, c. 1830
Pennsylvania State Senator
In office 1843 – 46, 1863 – 66
Pennsylvania State Representative
In office 1825 – 26, 1828 – 29, 1863
Attorney General of Pennsylvania
In office December 18, 1846 – July 31, 1848
Preceded by	John M. Read
Succeeded by	James Cooper
Personal details
Born	(1800-01-00)January , 1800 Bridgeton, New Jersey
Died	August 9, 1871(1871-08-09) (aged 71) Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Bachman
Alma mater	Princeton College
Occupation	Judge, lawyer, legislator

Benjamin Champneys (January, 1800 – August 9, 1871) was a Pennsylvania lawyer and judge, who served terms in both houses of the state legislature and as state Attorney General.

Life and career

Champneys was born in 1800, the son of Dr. Benjamin Champneys, a surgeon who served in the Navy, and Sarah Potter. The family lived in Bridgeton, New Jersey, and Champneys attended Princeton College for two years, but withdrew upon the death of his father in 1814. He studied law in Trenton and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he was admitted to the bar in 1818.

Champneys married Elizabeth Bachman in 1821.^[1] A daughter, Elizabeth, would marry a same-named great-grandson of William Augustus Atlee.

As a Democrat, he was twice elected to the state House in 1825 and 1828. He served as Deputy Attorney General for Lancaster County, 1830–33, and President Judge of the Second Judicial District from 1839–42. He resigned to run for state Senate, which he won, serving until 1845. He was appointed state Attorney General in 1846, serving until 1848.

With the onset of the Civil War, he switched parties. In 1863, he served again in the state House, then from 1864–66 he served in the state Senate.

He died in 1871, and was buried at Woodward Hill Cemetery.

References

Further reading

Family details are in

• "(quoted link)". Reading Eagle. March 8, 1899. p. 3. 
• Beal, Rebecca J. (1969). Jacob Eichholtz 1776–1842: Portrait Painter of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 
• Johnston, Elizabeth Bryant (1892). Lineage Book: National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 2. Washington, DC. 

External links

• "Legal Miscellany: Benjamin Champneys". Lancaster Law Review. XXX (49): 390–1. Oct 6, 1913. 
• "Pennsylvania State Senate: Benjamin Champneys". Pennsylvania General Assembly. Retrieved 2015-05-14. 
• "Index to Members of the House of Representatives - 1790-2004". The Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Retrieved 2015-05-14. 
• "Index to Members of the Senate - 1790-1869". The Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Retrieved 2015-05-14. 

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