Benjamin Randall (1789-1859) a U.S. Representative, was born in Topsham on November 14, 1789, he pursued an academic course, was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1809. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1812 and began his practice in Bath.
During the War of 1812 in September 1814, Randall served in the State militia in Colonel Reed’s regiment stationed at Coxes Head near Fort Popham in Phippsburg. According to the Lewiston Saturday Journal, July 3, 1898, “When Col. Reed’s regiment was out in 1814 and quartered at Coxes Head, it was employed in making improvised earthworks on its summit. It was a sod fort. To man it four cannons were transferred from the other forts, some “Quaker guns” were also mounted.”
A member of the Maine State Senate in 1833, 1835, and 1838, he was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1839-March 3, 1843).
Thereafter he resumed the practice of law. Randall was appointed collector of customs for the port of Bath in 1849 and served until his death in Bath October 11, 1859, with interment in Maple Grove Cemetery.
Additional resources
Benjamin Randall Congressional Biography: https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/R000035 (accessed January 7, 2021)
“Old Popham Fort.” Lewiston Saturday Journal, July 3, 1898, page 18. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=18980723&id=OxApAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DWsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5514,1093427 (accessed February 27, 2012)