Benoni Whitten (died 1883) was an American attorney and judge in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. He was the 19th justice of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest State court (United States), state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Though serving on the court, he never heard a trial as a justice during his four months on the bench of

’s highest court, as the Supreme Court was in recess during this time.

Early life

Whitten was born in the state of

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

around 1828 to William Whitten. On March 28, 1844 Benoni married Mariah Jane Dunham in Ohio, and they would have at least one daughter named Emma. By 1866 Whitten abandoned his family in Illinois to move west in search of gold. They eventually discovered that he had moved to

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost countie ...

where he was admitted to the state

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

on September 6.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. Whitten then practiced law in Eastern Oregon.Ralph James Mooney; Raymond H. Warns, Jr. Governing a New State: Public Law Decisions by the Early Oregon Supreme Court. ''Law and History Review'', Vol. 6, No. 1. (Spring, 1988), pp. 25-93.

Legal career

In May 1870, he was appointed by Oregon Governor George L. Woods to the

to replace Joseph G. Wilson who had resigned to run for Oregon's lone spot in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

(lost in 1870, won in 1872).Oregon State Archives: Governor's Records Guides.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on February 3, 2008.Oregon Blue Book: Earliest Authorities in Oregon - Supreme Court Justices of Oregon.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on February 3, 2008.U.S. Congress, Official Biography: Wilson
/ref> Whitten's term then ended in September of that same year and he left the court. During that time on the court, the Supreme Court stood in recess and Whitten did not hear any Supreme Court cases but did serve as a trial level judge as the high court still practiced circuit riding at that time. While on circuit he served as the trial level judge for ''Darragh v. Bird'', 3 Or. 229 (1870) that would go to the Oregon Supreme Court as ''Wood v. Fitzgerald'', 3 Or. 568 (1870) in an important case concerning voting rights and Oregon's refusal to adopt the 15th Amendment to the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...

after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Politically, Whitten was a Republican. Benoni Whitten died in

Union, Oregon Union is a city in Union County, Oregon, Union County, Oregon, United States, originally platted in 1864, and located southeast of La Grande, Oregon, La Grande. It is the namesake of Union County, Oregon, Union County, which references the Union ...

on March 18, 1883.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitten, Benoni Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court People from Harrison County, Ohio Year of birth missing 1883 deaths