Benjamin Fitzparick, governor of Alabama, was born in Greene county, Ga., June 30, 1802. He removed to the territory of Alabama in 1818 and was admitted to the bar at Montgomery in 1821. He was solicitor of the Montgomery circuit 1822-23; practised his profession 1823-29, and retired to his plantation in Autauga county in the latter year. He was nominated as a Democratic presidential elector in 1840 and canvassed the state for Mr. Van Buren. He was governor of Alabama 1841-45; U.S. senator 1848-49 by appointment of Governor Chapman to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Senator D. H. Lewis, and again, 1853-61, having been appointed by Governor Collier in 1853 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator William R. King, elected vice-president of the United States. Senator Fitzpatrick was re-elected by the legislature of Alabama in 1855 to a full term expiring March 3, 1861. He was president pro tempore of the U.S. senate during the 35th and 36th congresses, from Dec. 7, 1857, to June 12, 1860. He was nominated the Democratic candidate for vice-president of the United States by the national convention held in Baltimore in 1860, but declined the nomination. Upon the secession of Alabama in 1861, Senator Fitzpatrick left the senate and returned to his home. At the close of the war he was president of the state constitutional convention, and after the new constitution was formed he retired to his plantation in Wetumpka, Ala., where he died Nov. 25, 1869.

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans 1904

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