Elza Jeffords

Who was Elza Jeffords?

Elza Jeffords was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi's 3rd congressional district.

Born in Ironton in Lawrence County in southern Ohio, Jeffords attended the common schools in Portsmouth in Scioto County, Ohio, where in 1847 he was admitted to the bar and began his law practice.

During the American Civil War, he served in the Army of the Tennessee from June 1862 to December 1863 as a clerk in the Quartermaster's Department. From 1868 to 1869, Jeffords was a judge of the high court of errors and appeals in Mississippi. He was a delegate to the 1872 Republican National Convention, which renominated U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.

Jeffords was elected as a Republican to the Forty-eighth Congress and served a single term from March 4, 1883 to March 3, 1885. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1884. He died in Vicksburg, Mississippi, only sixteen days after leaving Congress. Jeffords is interred at Cedar Hill Cemetery near Vicksburg.

Eighty years passed before another Republican represented Mississippi in the U.S. House, Prentiss Walker of Mize in Smith County, represented the 4th district for a single term from 1965 to 1967. He forfeited the seat to make an unsuccessful race against U.S. Senator James O. Eastland.