Henry Eben Burnham was a United States Senator from New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

. Born in Dunbarton, New Hampshire

Dunbarton, New Hampshire

Dunbarton, is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,758 at the 2010 census.- History :Originally granted as Gorham's-town in 1735, and re-granted as Starkstown in 1748, the town was incorporated in 1765 as Dunbarton...

, he attended the public schools and Kimball Union Academy

Kimball Union Academy

Kimball Union Academy is a private boarding school located in New Hampshire. Founded in 1813, it is the 22nd oldest boarding school in the United States...

. He graduated from Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

 in 1865, studied law, was admitted to the bar

Bar (law)

Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...

 in 1868 and commenced practice in Manchester

Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...

. He engaged in banking and insurance and was member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives

New Hampshire House of Representatives

The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 103 districts across the state, created from divisions of the state's counties. On average, each legislator represents about 3,300...

 in 1873-1874, was treasurer of Hillsborough County

Hillsborough County, New Hampshire

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 380,841 people, 144,455 households, and 98,807 families residing in the county. The population density was 435 people per square mile . There were 149,961 housing units at an average density of 171 per square mile...

 from 1875 to 1877, was judge of probate

Probate

Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A probate court decides the validity of a testator's will...

 for Hillsborough County from 1876 to 1879, and was a member of the State constitutional convention

New Hampshire Constitution

The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire is the fundamental law of the State of New Hampshire, with which all statute laws must comply. The constitution became effective June 2, 1784, when it replaced the state's constitution of 1776....

 of 1889. He was chairman of the Republican State convention in 1888, served as a ballot-law commissioner from 1892 to 1900, and was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 1901.

Burnham was reelected to the Senate in 1907 and served from March 4, 1901, to March 4, 1913; he was not a candidate for reelection. While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Cuban Relations (Fifty-eighth through Sixtieth Congresses) and a member of the Committee on Claims (Sixty-first Congress) and the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry (Sixty-second Congress). He resumed the practice of law and died in Manchester, 1917; interment was in Pine Grove Cemetery.