Benjamin Say

<h2 id="biography">Biography</h2>
<p>Benjamin Say was born in <a href="/facts/Philadelphia%2c_Pennsylvania/2bFFCCTU">Philadelphia, Pennsylvania</a>, to Thomas (1709–1796) and Rebekah Atkinson Budd Say (1716–1795),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> He married Ann Bartram Bonsall (1759–1793) on Oct. 1, 1776, a granddaughter of naturalist <a href="/facts/John_Bartram/jyBbgW1e">John Bartram</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> Their son <a href="/facts/Thomas_Say/0bvFIMQ6">Thomas Say</a> (1787–1835) became a pioneering entomologist.
</p><p>Say graduated from the medical department of the <a href="/facts/University_of_Pennsylvania/LBBBULox">University of Pennsylvania</a> in <a href="/facts/Philadelphia/2bFFCCTU">Philadelphia</a> in 1780 and practiced in that city. He also worked as an <a href="/facts/Apothecary/uAvlhvwS">apothecary</a>. He served in the <a href="/facts/American_Revolutionary_War/8MxJNtcU">American Revolutionary War</a>, and was a fellow of the <a href="/facts/College_of_Physicians_of_Philadelphia/TQAoTuwa">College of Physicians of Philadelphia</a>, of which he was one of the founders in 1787, and was treasurer from 1791 to 1809. He was a member of the <a href="/facts/Pennsylvania_Prison_Society/DNczPUKJ">Pennsylvania Prison Society</a> and president of the Pennsylvania Humane Society. He was a member of the <a href="/facts/Pennsylvania_State_Senate/uNv4lhax">Pennsylvania State Senate</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
</p><p>Say was elected as a <a href="/facts/Democratic-Republican/bn17a9No">Democratic-Republican</a> to the <a href="/facts/10th_United_States_Congress/fV97845U">Tenth</a> Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of <a href="/facts/Joseph_Clay/EgurIIXm">Joseph Clay</a>. He was reelected to the <a href="/facts/11th_United_States_Congress/fIqnYPkw">Eleventh</a> Congress and served until his resignation in June 1809.
</p><p>He had a grand house to the southwest of the then-borders of Philadelphia. Dubbed "The Cliffs", it overlooked the <a href="/facts/Schuylkill_River/oQ4Vdpz3">Schuylkill River</a> near <a href="/facts/Grays_Ferry_Bridge/vwr5nyNs">Gray's Ferry</a>, just upriver from <a href="/facts/Bartram%2527s_Garden/yLwSjHuN">the Bartram estate</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="death">Death</h2>
<p>He died in Philadelphia in 1813.
</p>
<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>

<h2 id="sources">Sources</h2>
<ul><li>United States Congress. <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000098">"Benjamin Say (id: S000098)"</a>. <i><a href="/facts/Biographical_Directory_of_the_United_States_Congress/1cJ5cXGr">Biographical Directory of the United States Congress</a></i>.</li>
<li><a href="http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sawyers-sayward.html">The Political Graveyard</a></li>
<li><a href="http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2244">Plan of Say Burial Ground</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174825/http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2244">Archived</a> 2016-03-03 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a>, at 3rd and Arch Streets in Philadelphia</li>
<li><a href="http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2246">Watercolor of grave marker</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Genealogical Records Copied from the Bible of Thomas Say". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. XXIX: 219–22. 1905. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5hHFp_Ku9XIC&q=%22benjamin+say%22+1755+biography&pg=PA219" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=5hHFp_Ku9XIC&q=%22benjamin+say%22+1755+biography&pg=PA219</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Fisher, George. "Thomas Say". Philadelphia Reflections. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2013. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201203035153/https://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/2032.htm" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20201203035153/https://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/2032.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Genealogical Records Copied from the Bible of Thomas Say". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. XXIX: 219–22. 1905. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5hHFp_Ku9XIC&q=%22benjamin+say%22+1755+biography&pg=PA219" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=5hHFp_Ku9XIC&q=%22benjamin+say%22+1755+biography&pg=PA219</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Cox, Harold. "Senate Members "S"". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University. <a href="http://staffweb.wilkes.edu/harold.cox/legis/SS.html" target="_blank">http://staffweb.wilkes.edu/harold.cox/legis/SS.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>"Item: "The Cliffs" Country Residence of Benjamin Say at Gray's Ferry". Digital Library. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on September 15, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2016. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110915012858/http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2916" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110915012858/http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2916</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Benjamin Say open-in-new

Benjamin Say