Colin Macrae Ingersoll (March 11, 1819 – September 13, 1903) was a

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

attorney, politician, and military leader. He served as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

for two terms in the 1850s.

Early life

Ingersoll was born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

on March 11, 1819, to diplomat and

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Ralph Isaacs Ingersoll Ralph Isaacs Ingersoll (February 8, 1789 – August 26, 1872) was a lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, where he was Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, Speaker of ...

and Margaret (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Van den Heuvel) Ingersoll. His brother was

Charles Roberts Ingersoll Charles Roberts Ingersoll (September 16, 1821 – January 25, 1903) was an American lawyer and the 47th Governor of Connecticut from 1873 to 1877.''Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Academical Year ending in J ...

, who served as the 47th Governor of Connecticut. His paternal grandfather was

Jonathan Ingersoll Jonathan Ingersoll (April 16, 1747 – January 12, 1823) was a Connecticut politician of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Early life Ingersoll was born on April 16, 1747, in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Ridgefield in what was then ...

, a judge of the Supreme Court and

Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut The lieutenant governor of Connecticut is the second highest executive officer of the government of the U.S. State of Connecticut. The lieutenant governor acts as President of the State Senate, presiding over the Senate and casting votes in the ...

up until his death in 1823. His maternal grandfather was

Jan Cornelis Van den Heuvel Baron Jan Cornelis van den Heuvel (December 23, 1742 – May 6, 1826) was a Dutch born plantation owner and politician who served as governor of the Dutch province of Demerara from 1765 to 1770 and later became a merchant in New York City with the ...

, a Dutch born plantation owner and politician who served as governor of the Dutch province of

Demerara Demerara (; , ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state from 1792 unti ...

from 1765 to 1770 and later became a merchant in New York City with the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...

. He pursued academic studies in New Haven, and graduated from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in 1839. Ingersoll was a founding member of the Phi Kappa Society while an undergraduate. This secret society would later become the school’s current chapter of the

Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (; commonly known as Alpha Delt, AD, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP) is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in ...

. He graduated from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

, was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1841, and practiced in New Haven.

Career

In 1843, Ingersoll served as clerk of the

Connecticut State Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Sena ...

. When his father was Minister to Russia, Colin Ingersoll was appointed Secretary of the legation at

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

serving in 1847 and 1848. He was acting

Chargé d'Affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

in 1848. In 1850, Ingersoll was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to the

32nd United States Congress The 32nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1851, ...

. He served in Congress from March 4, 1851, was reelected two years later and served in the Thirty-third Congress until March 3, 1855. After leaving Congress he resumed the practice of law. Ingersoll served as adjutant general of Connecticut from 1867 to 1868 and again from 1870 to 1871.

Personal life

In 1853, Ingersoll married Julia Harriet Pratt, the daughter of Abigail P. (née Watson) Pratt and

Zadock Pratt Zadock Pratt Jr. (October 30, 1790 – April 5, 1871) was a tanner, banker, soldier, and member of the United States House of Representatives for two non-consecutive terms in the mid-19th century. Pratt served in the New York militia from ...

, a U.S. Representative from New York who built the largest

tannery Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Historically, vegetable based tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound derived fr ...

in the world at its time and built the town of Prattsville. Their children included: * Mary E. Ingersoll (b. 1854) * Colin Macrae Ingersoll Jr. (b. 1859) * George Pratt Ingersoll (b. 1861) * Maude Margaret Ingersoll (b. 1863) Ingersoll died of pneumonia in

on September 13, 1903. He was interred in New Haven's

Grove Street Cemetery Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace th ...

References

External sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingersoll, Colin M. 1819 births 1903 deaths Politicians from New Haven, Connecticut Ingersoll family Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut Adjutants General of Connecticut Yale Law School alumni Burials at Grove Street Cemetery Lawyers from New Haven, Connecticut 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives