Benjamin Chew

Benjamin Chew 1722-1810, American public official and judge, b. Anne Arundel co., Md. He read law in Philadelphia under Andrew Hamilton and was admitted (1746) to the bar. After practicing law at New Castle and Dover, Del., Chew returned to Philadelphia, where he held several public offices and was attorney general (1755-69). He was chief justice of the Pennsylvania supreme court from 1774 until the outbreak of the American Revolution, when he was suspected of Loyalist sympathies. He was arrested but was discharged soon afterward. He later served (1791-1808) as president of the high court of errors and appeals of Pennsylvania.

Bibliography: See biography by B. A. Konkle (1932).

Tilghman, Benjamin Chew ˈtilmən (1821–1901) U.S. army officer, inventor, and manufacturer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Tilghman graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1839 and went into manufacturing with his brother. When the Civil War began, Tilghman joined the Twenty-sixth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers and commanded a company. He participated in all the key eastern battles of the Army of the Potomac, rising in rank to regimental commander before he was wounded at Chancellorsville in May 1863. While recuperating, Tilghman was offered command of the Third Regiment of Colored Troops, recruited in Philadelphia. He took his new unit to Fort Sumter and Jacksonville, Florida, eventually earning promotion by brevet to brigadier general of volunteers. After the war he invented a new sandblasting process upon which he based a thriving business.

Howard, Benjamin Chew (b. Baltimore County, Md., 5 Nov. 1791; d. Baltimore, Md., 6 Mar. 1872), Supreme Court reporter of decisions, 1843–1861. One of the nominative reporters, Howard served the Court during the years preceding the Civil War. He published volumes 1 through 24 of Howard's Reports (42–65 of U.S. Reports). Howard's father, John Eager Howard, had been a Revolutionary officer. His maternal grandfather, Benjamin Chew, was president of the Pennsylvania Court of Errors and Appeals before the Revolution. Howard earned his A.B. in 1809 and his A.M. in 1812, both from Princeton. His subsequent law studies were interrupted by the War of 1812, during which he organized troops and fought in battle against the British. He was admitted to the Maryland bar about 1816. A Democrat, Howard served at various times on the Baltimore City Council and in both chambers of the Maryland legislature. Elected to four terms in Congress, he chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee from 1835 to 1839.

Howard's long association with Chief Justice Roger Taney apparently gained him the reporter's position in 1843, although nothing suggests that he sought the job or intrigued before the summary discharge of his precedessor, Richard Peters. Howard's reports were praised as clear, thorough, and well written, although Justice Peter V. Daniel accurately complained on one occasion that his name had been omitted before a dissenting opinion.

After serving as a delegate to the Wartime Peace Conference in February 1861, Howard resigned between terms of the Court in 1861 to run, unsuccessfully, as Democratic candidate for governor of Maryland. In 1869, Princeton awarded him an LL.D.

See also Reporters, Supreme Court.

Francis Helminski