Barnabas Bidwell

Barnabas Bidwell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 12th district
Preceded by	Simon Larned
Succeeded by	Ezekiel Bacon
Attorney General of Massachusetts
In office June 15, 1807 – August 30, 1810
Preceded by	James Sullivan
Succeeded by	Perez Morton
Member of the Massachusetts State Senate
In office 1801–1804
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office 1805–1807
Treasurer of Berkshire County Massachusetts
In office September, 1791 – August, 1810
Personal details
Born	August 23, 1763 Township No. 1 now Monterey, Massachusetts
Died	July 27, 1833 Bath, Ontario
Resting place	Cataraqui Cemetery, Cataraqui, Ontario
Nationality	American, Canadian
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Children	Marshall Spring Bidwell
Alma mater	Yale College class of 1785, Brown University
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Presbyterian

Barnabas Bidwell (August 23, 1763 – July 27, 1833) was a dual Canadian and American politician of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.

Bidwell was born to Adonijah Bidwell and Jemima Devotion in Township No. 1 (now Monterey, Massachusetts), and graduated from Yale College in 1785. He later attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He was admitted to the Massachusetts state bar in 1805 and commenced practice in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Bidwell was a Massachusetts State Senator from 1801 to 1804, Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1805 to 1807. Bidwell was elected as a Democratic-Republican and served in the Ninth and Tenth Congresses (March 4, 1805 – July 13, 1807). He was Attorney General of Massachusetts (June 15, 1807 – August 30, 1810).

Accused of embezzling money, he and his family fled to Canada in about 1812 and settled in Kingston, Ontario.

Bidwell won a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Lennox and Addington, but failed to take his seat because his election was petitioned against on the grounds that he was a fugitive from justice, a person of immoral character and had taken an oath of allegiance to the United States. After an unusually long debate Bidwell was expelled from the House by a vote of seventeen to sixteen.

Bidwell died in Bath, Ontario, and his remains are interred in Cataraqui Cemetery, Cataraqui, Ontario.

Legacy

His son Marshall Spring Bidwell successfully sat in the same seat from 1824 to 1836. Marshall Spring Bidwell later left for the United States.

External links

• Barnabas Bidwell at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Simon Larned	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 12th congressional district March 4, 1805 – July 13, 1807	Succeeded by Ezekiel Bacon
Legal offices
Preceded by James Sullivan	Massachusetts Attorney General June 15, 1807 – August 30, 1810	Succeeded by Perez Morton