Ebon C. Ingersoll

Who was Ebon C. Ingersoll?

Ebon Clark Ingersoll was a U.S. Representative from Illinois and the brother of the politician and orator Robert G. Ingersoll.

Born in Dresden, New York, Ingersoll moved to Wisconsin Territory in 1843 and subsequently to Illinois. He pursued classical studies in Peoria, Illinois, and in Paducah, Kentucky. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1854 and commenced practice in Peoria, Illinois. He served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1856.

Ingersoll was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Owen Lovejoy. He was reelected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses and served from May 20, 1864, to March 3, 1871. He served as chairman of the Committee on District of Columbia, Committee on Roads and Canals, Committee on Railways and Canals. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870 to the Forty-second Congress. He settled in Washington, D.C., and engaged in the practice of law until his death there on May 31, 1879. A eulogy given at his funeral by his brother Robert was later included in an anthology compiled by Clarence Darrow and Wallace Rice. He was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery.