Horatio Needham was born in Whiting, Vermont on April 21, 1796.
[1] A Democrat who followed the tenets of the Free Soil movement, Needham was Bristol's Town Clerk for five years and a member of the board of selectmen for six.
[2] In 1849 Needham was the Free Soil nominee for governor, losing a close race to Whig Carlos Coolidge.
[8] Needham was selected as the speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives in 1853, after thirty-one ballots.
[9] Needham served several terms in the Vermont House of Representatives and was Speaker from 1853 to 1854, the last non-Republican to hold the office until 1975.