Benjamin Say

Benjamin Say was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Thomas (1709–1796) and Rebekah Atkinson Budd Say (1716–1795),{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hHFp_Ku9XIC&q=%22benjamin+say%22+1755+biography&pg=PA219 | title=Genealogical Records Copied from the Bible of Thomas Say | journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography | year=1905 | volume=XXIX | pages=219–22}} He married Ann Bartram Bonsall (1759–1793) on Oct. 1, 1776, a granddaughter of naturalist John Bartram.{{cite web | url=http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/2032.htm | title=Thomas Say | work=Philadelphia Reflections | accessdate=March 21, 2013 | author=Fisher, George | archive-date=December 3, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203035153/https://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/2032.htm | url-status=dead }} Their son Thomas Say (1787–1835) became a pioneering entomologist.

Say graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1780 and practiced in that city. He also worked as an apothecary. He served in the American Revolutionary War, and was a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, of which he was one of the founders in 1787, and was treasurer from 1791 to 1809. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Prison Society and president of the Pennsylvania Humane Society. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate.{{cite web | last = Cox | first = Harold | title = Senate Members "S" | publisher = Wilkes University | work = Wilkes University Election Statistics Project| date = | url =http://staffweb.wilkes.edu/harold.cox/legis/SS.html}}

Say was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Tenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Joseph Clay. He was reelected to the Eleventh Congress and served until his resignation in June 1809.

He had a grand house to the southwest of the then-borders of Philadelphia. Dubbed "The Cliffs", it overlooked the Schuylkill River near Gray's Ferry, just upriver from the Bartram estate.{{cite web | url=http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2916 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110915012858/http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2916 | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 15, 2011 | title=Item: "The Cliffs" Country Residence of Benjamin Say at Gray's Ferry | publisher=Historical Society of Pennsylvania | work=Digital Library | accessdate=February 11, 2016 }}

He died in Philadelphia in 1813.

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{{CongBio|S000098}}

• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sawyers-sayward.html The Political Graveyard]
• [http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2244 Plan of Say Burial Ground] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174825/http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2244 |date=2016-03-03 }}, at 3rd and Arch Streets in Philadelphia
• [http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/2246 Watercolor of grave marker]

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{{US House succession box

| state=Pennsylvania

| district=1

| before=Joseph Clay
Jacob Richards
John Porter

| after=William Anderson
John Porter
Adam Seybert

| years=1808–1809
1808–1809 alongside: Jacob Richards
John Porter

1809 alongside: William Anderson

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{{United States representatives from Pennsylvania}}

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Category:Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni

Category:Politicians from Philadelphia

Category:Pennsylvania state senators

Category:1755 births

Category:1813 deaths

Category:People from colonial Pennsylvania

Category:Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives