Benjamin Gue was born December 25, 1828 on a farm in Green County, New York. His parents, John and Catherine Gurney Gue, were Quakers and Abolitionists. Their home was used as a stop in the underground railroad. When Gue was ten years old, his father died leaving his mother to raise the children and manage the farm.



When Gue was 24, he migrated to Iowa with his younger brother and farmed land in Scott County. In 1856, he became a delegate to the State Convention, which formally organized the Republican Party in Iowa. In 1857, he was elected as the Scott County delegate (1858-1862) to the Iowa State House of Representatives, to the Iowa State Senate (1862-1866) and Lieutenant Governor (1866-1868).



He was one of the authors of a bill to establish a state agricultural college and model farm (Iowa State University), which Governor Ralph P. Lowe signed into law on March 22, 1858. An influential figure in the development of the College, Gue served as President (1886) of the Board of Trustees for the Iowa Agricultural College. He also wrote a history of the College, Origin and Early History of Iowa State College, circa 1891 (call number: LD2543 G934o).



In addition to being a farmer and a politician, Gue was also a newspaper editor and publisher for The Iowa North West (Fort Dodge, Iowa) and The Iowa Homestead (Des Moines, Iowa). In addition, he wrote a four-volume history of Iowa, History of Iowa from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century, published in 1903 (call number: F621 G934h).



Benjamin Gue married Elizabeth Parker November 12, 1855. They had four children named Hoarace, Alice, Gurney, and Katherine. Gue died June 1, 1904 and is interred in the Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa.



For more information about Benjamin F. Gue’s life, please see the Diary of Benjamin F. Gue in Rural New York and Pioneer Iowa, 1847-1856. Edited by Earle D. Ross (call number: F621 G934d) and A History of the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts by Earl D. Ross (call number: LD2543 R733h).