Biography

03/12/1863 - 03/27/1937

 Benjamin Kurtz Focht (R27) Northumberland, Snyder and Union Counties 1901-1904

Early Life:

Benjamin Kurtz Focht born March 12, 1863, New Bloomfield, Perry County Pennsylvania; son of the Reverend David Henlein and Susan Brown Focht; Lewisburg public school education; Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania State College (now, Penn State University) State College; Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania; learned the printing trade; established, editor, publisher, Lewisburg Saturday News, 1881-1937; officer, National Guard of Pennsylvania, 1884; married, Florence Edith Wolf, 1887, children, Ellen Focht Richards, Edith Virginia Focht, Brown Focht; delegate, Republican State Convention, 1889; three times delegate, Republican State League Convention, five times a Congressional conferee; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1893-1898; engaged in various railway enterprises, and represents in Pennsylvania the bond department of the Transit Finance Company of Philadelphia and New York; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1901-1904; Water Supply Commissioner of Pennsylvania, 1912-1914; elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, Sixtieth, Sixty-first, Sixty-second Congresses, 1907-1913; unsuccessful candidate for reelection, 1912, Sixty-third Congress; elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, Sixty-fourth, sixty-fifth, sixty-sixth, sixty-seventh Congresses, 1915-1923; chairman, Committee on War Claims (Sixty-sixth Congress), Committee on District of Columbia (Sixty-seventh Congress); unsuccessful candidate for renomination, 1922, Sixty-eighth Congress, nomination in 1924, 1926, 1928, and 1930, also in 1932 for the unexpired term of Edward M. Beers, Seventy-second Congress; resumed business activities in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; deputy secretary of the Commonwealth, 1928-1929; elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, Seventy-third, Seventy-fourth, and Seventy-fifth Congresses, 1933, until his death; died, March 27, 1937, (aged 74), in office of United States House of Representatives, Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, interment, Lewisburg Cemetery, Lewisburg, Union County, Pennsylvania. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Delegate, Republican State Convention, 1889; three times delegate, Republican State League Convention, five times a Congressional conferee.

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, Union County, 1893-1898.

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 27thd district, Northumberland, Snyder and Union Counties, 1901-1904; committee assignments, Appropriations, Education, Elections, Law and Order, Legislative Apportionment.

Water Supply Commissioner of Pennsylvania, 1912-1914.

Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1928-1929.

Continued Government Service/National Politics:

Elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, Sixtieth, Sixty-first, Sixty-second Congresses, 1907-1913; unsuccessful candidate for reelection, 1912, Sixty-third Congress; elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, Sixty-fourth, sixty-fifth, sixty-sixth, sixty-seventh Congresses, 1915-1923; chairman, Committee on War Claims (Sixty-sixth Congress), Committee on District of Columbia (Sixty-seventh Congress); unsuccessful candidate for renomination, 1922, Sixty-eighth Congress, nomination in 1924, 1926, 1928, and 1930, also in 1932 for the unexpired term of Edward M. Beers, Seventy-second Congress; elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, Seventy-third, Seventy-fourth, and Seventy-fifth Congresses, 1933, until his death in Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, March 27, 1937. 

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

Official Website - PA House Archives Official Website (state.pa.us)

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members F". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project Wilkes University.

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1904). Cochran, T.B., (Editor) Miller, H.P. (Assistant Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 1019, 1025-1028, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 992.

Baumgartner, Donald J. “Benjamin K. Focht: Union County Politician.” D.Ed. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1975.

Benjamin Kurtz Focht (1863-1937) - Find a Grave Memorial