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Benjamin Alexander Putnam (1801 or 1803 - January 25, 1869) was a lawyer, state legislator, state surveyor, officer in the military during the Seminole Wars, judge, and president of the Florida Historical Society.[1][2]

He was born in 1800 or 1801 on the Putnam Plantation near Savannah, Georgia. He was the grandson of Israel Putnam. In 1830 he married Helen Kirby,[3] daughter of Ephraim Kirby.

Benjamin attended Harvard and then studied law privately in Saint Augustine where he established a law practice. He served in the Seminole Wars from 1835 until 1842, leading a company of militia named the Mosquito Roarers and eventually rising in rank from major to adjutant general.[4]

He served in both houses of the Florida legislature including as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives in 1848. He was appointed Surveyor-General of Florida by U.S. President Zachary Taylor and held that office from May 1848 until 1854. He also served as President of the Florida Historical Society from 1853 until 1856. He died on January 25, 1869, in Palatka, Florida.[3] Putnam County, Florida, is named for him.

The University of Florida Libraries have a view of his home from St. George Street. The home was torn down in 1886.[5]

His daughter married into the Calhoun family. Benjamin Putnam Calhoun was his grandson.[6] A collection of Putnam-Calhoun papers is listed on WorldCat.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "About Putnum | Palatka Daily News, Palatka, Florida". www.palatkadailynews.com.
  2. ↑ "Putnam County Collection · RICHES". richesmi.cah.ucf.edu.
  3. 1 2 Putnam, Eben (July 24, 1891). A History of the Putnam Family in England and America. Recording the Ancestry and Descendants of John Putnam of Danvers, Mass., Jan Poutman of Albany, N. Y., Thomas Putnam of Hartford, Conn. Salem Press Publishing and Printing Company. ISBN 9780598998705 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ Santoro, Nicholas J. (2009). Atlas of the Indian Tribes of North America and the Clash of Cultures. ISBN 9781440107955.
  5. ↑ "A historic view of the home of Benjamin A. Putnam (torn down in 1886) as seen from St. George Street, looking Northeast". ufdc.ufl.edu.
  6. ↑ http://putnam-fl-cemeteries.org/Cemeteries/Westview/wv%2520tOUR/Westview%2520Tour%25202003.pdf
  7. ↑ Calhoun-Putnam family papers. July 24, 1828. OCLC 31605549 – via Open WorldCat.
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