Benjamin Gilbert Ferris (1802 – February 21, 1891)[1] was a Secretary to the Territorial Government of Utah, a lawyer, a district attorney and leader in Ithaca (town), New York.

He began practicing law in 1829 in the Ithaca, New York offices of David Woodcock, whose daughter Elizabeth Cornelia (1809–1903) he married in 1830.

Ferris was appointed by President Millard Fillmore as Secretary of the Territory of Utah in 1852, replacing Broughton Harris.

A biographer wrote: "He could not suppress his abhorence [sic] of Mormonism nor tolerate its influences, nor accept its devotees as his neighbors, and resigned his high position, thus sacrificing great possibilities in his very promising public career.

[4] Ferris or his wife were suspected to be the author of Female Life Among the Mormons: A Narrative of Many Years' Personal Experience under the penname "Maria Ward".