Horatio Needham

Horatio Needham (April 21, 1796–July 8, 1863) was a Vermont politician and lawyer who served as Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives.

Biography

Horatio Needham was born in Whiting, Vermont on April 21, 1796. He was educated in the local schools and began to study law in 1817. Needham was admitted to the bar in 1821 and established a practice in Bristol.[1]

A Democrat who followed the tenets of the Free Soil movement, Needham was Bristol's Town Clerk for five years and a member of the board of selectmen for six.[2]

In 1849 Needham was the Free Soil nominee for governor, losing a close race to Whig Carlos Coolidge.[3][4]

He was a Delegate to the Vermont constitutional conventions of 1843, 1850 and 1857.[5][6][7]

Active in the state militia, in 1851 the Vermont General Assembly appointed Needham commander of the 3rd Brigade with the rank of Brigadier General.[8]

Needham served several terms in the Vermont House of Representatives and was Speaker from 1853 to 1854, the last non-Republican to hold the office until 1975.[9] He also served as a member of the state Council of Censors from 1862 to 1863.[10]

Horatio Needham died in Bristol on July 8, 1863. He was buried in Bristol's Greenwood Cemetery.[11]

References
  1. History of Addison County, Vermont Archived 2012-03-30 at the Wayback Machine, edited by H. P. Smith (Syracuse), 1886, pages 156 to 157
  2. Walton's Register and Farmer's Almanac, published by E. P. Walton (Montpelier), 1833, page 66
  3. Newspaper article, Democratic and Free Soil Nominations, New York Herald, June 3, 1849
  4. Results of 1849 election for Vermont Governor, Office of the Vermont Secretary of State, State Archives and Records administration, 2006, page 1
  5. Journal of the Constitutional Convention, published by J. T. Marston (Montpelier), 1843, page 5
  6. Journal of the Constitutional Convention, Sentinel Printers (Burlington), 1850, page 6
  7. Journal of the Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention, published by George J. Stacy (Burlington), 1857, page 6
  8. Journal of the Vermont General Assembly, published by Chauncey Goodrich (Burlington), 1852, page 303
  9. Speakers of the Vermont House of Representatives Archived 2012-07-20 at Archive.today, Vermont Secretary of State, Archives and Records Administration, 2012
  10. Journal of the Council of Censors of the State of Vermont, published by E. P. Walton (Montpelier), 1863, page 13
  11. Burial records, Greenwood Cemetery, Middlebury College Cemetery Indexes
Party political offices
Preceded by
Oscar L. Shafter		 Free Soil nominee for Governor of Vermont
1849		 Succeeded by
Lucius Benedict Peck
Political offices
Preceded by
Thomas E. Powers		 Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives
1853–1854		 Succeeded by
George W. Grandey
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