Benjamin F. Leiter

Who was Benjamin F. Leiter?

Benjamin Franklin Leiter was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer, teacher and justice of the peace from Ohio.

Born in Leitersburg, Maryland, Leiter received a limited schooling as a child. He taught school in Maryland from 1830 to 1834 before moving to Ohio where he continued teaching from 1834 to 1842. He studied law at the office of David A. Starkweather. He was admitted to the bar in 1842, commencing practice in Canton, Ohio. Leiter was a justice of the peace and mayor of Canton for ten years. He was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives in 1848 and 1849, serving as Speaker of the House in the latter year. Leiter was elected an Oppositionist and later Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1854, serving from 1855 to 1859. He died in Canton, Ohio on June 17, 1866 and was interred in Canton in West Lawn Cemetery.

In 1836, Leiter married Catherine Burger of Canton. They had seven children. He was a Lutheran.