“The U.S. House of Representatives - Portraits of Congressmen” (detail), Once A Week newspaper, 1891, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

BELKNAP, Charles Eugene, a Representative from Michigan; born in Massena, St. Lawrence County, N.Y., October 17, 1846; attended the common schools; Twenty-first Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, 1864-1865; manufactured wagons and sleighs; member of the board of education of Grand Rapids, Mich., 1871-1878; served on the board of aldermen, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1880-1882; mayor of Grand Rapids, Mich., 1884; hospital executive; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first Congress (March 4, 1889-March 3, 1891); was not a candidate for renomination to the Fifty-second Congress in 1890; elected to the Fifty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative Melbourne H. Ford (November 3, 1891-March 3, 1893); unsuccessfully contested the election to the Fifty-third Congress; staff duty at Fort Oglethorpe during the Spanish-American War; died on January 16, 1929, in Grand Rapids, Mich.; interment in the Greenwood Cemetery.