Benedict, Kirby

Benedict, Kirby

(1810–74) judge; born in Connecticut. He read law in Connecticut and was admitted to the bar before 1834. Migrating westward, he established a private practice in Illinois, and later worked as a government attorney there. President Pierce named him a federal judge for the New Mexico Territory in 1853, and he dispensed frontier justice from Taos and Santa Fe until 1866, when he left the bench to return to private practice.