Benjamin Harvey was born in Perquimans County, North Carolina in April 1727. A local justice of the peace, he presided over the freeholders' court in 1759, where he heard cases involving enslaved people. Later Harvey represented Perquimans in the North Carolina Colonial Assembly in 1760, 1766, 1769, and 1776. He also served at the North Carolina Provincial Congress from 1775 to 1776. He died in 1776.