Biography

01/1800 - 08/09/1871

CHAMPNEYS, Benjamin, a Representative from Lancaster County; born, January, 1800 in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, NJ; attended, Princeton College (now Princeton University); studied law, Gen. George B. Porter; LL.D., Franklin and Marshall College; attorney (1818-1864); elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to serve the 1825 and 1828 terms; not a candidate for reelection to the House for the 1826 and 1829 terms; gubernatorial appointee, Deputy Attorney General, Lancaster County (1830-1833); appointed, judge, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County (1840); elected, Pennsylvania State Senate (1843-1845, 1864-1866); reelected as a Republican to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to serve the 1863 term; died, August 9, 1871 in Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; interred, Woodward Hill Cemetery, Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.