Risden Tyler Bennett

Democrat Representative of North Carolina's 6th district

  • Representative

    North Carolina, district 6

    December 7, 1885 - March 3, 1887

2

Congresses Served

2

House Terms

January 1, 1840 (73 years old)

Birthday

January 1, 1913

Death

  • Served as a Democratic U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1883 and 1887
  • Worked as an attorney and judge
  • Was the twelfth and youngest child in his family
  • Attended common schools, Gouldsfork Academy, Anson Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Davidson College
  • Graduated from Cumberland University’s law school and was a member of the Fraternity of Delta Psi
  • Enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861, rose to the rank of colonel, and was wounded three times
  • Became an attorney in Anson County, North Carolina, in 1860 and later joined a law practice with Judge Thomas Samuel Ashe
  • Served as the county solicitor of Anson County from 1866 to 1867
  • Elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1872 to 1874 and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1875
  • Appointed to the North Carolina Superior Court in 1880 and served for two years
  • Chaired the committee on expenditures in the Department of State during his second term in Congress
  • Married Kate Shepperd in 1863 and had three daughters
  • Converted to the Episcopal Church later in life and donated a collection of books to start a library in Wadesboro
  • Suffered from sciatica in 1875, affecting his mobility
  • Died from pneumonia in 1913 at the age of 73 and is buried in Wadesboro, North Carolina