Maecenas Eason Benton

Maecenas Eason Benton (January 29, 1848 – April 27, 1924) was a U.S. Representative from Missouri. He was the father of Thomas Hart Benton, who gained fame as a painter of the American Scene.

Born near Dyersburg, Tennessee, Benton attended two west Tennessee academies and St. Louis University. He was graduated from the Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1870. He served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Neosho, Missouri. He served as prosecuting attorney of Newton County, MO from 1878-1884. He was the United States attorney from March 1885 to July 1889. He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1896.

Benton was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, and Fifty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1897-March 3, 1905). He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1904 to the Fifty-ninth Congress. He resumed his law practice in Neosho, Missouri. He served as member of the State constitutional conventions in 1922 and 1924. He died in Springfield, Missouri, April 27, 1924 of throat cancer. He was interred in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, Neosho, Missouri.

References

• Maecenas Eason Benton at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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Name	Benton, Maecenas Eason
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Date of birth	January 29, 1848
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Date of death	April 27, 1924
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