Edward Overton Jr. (February 4, 1836 – September 18, 1903) was a Republican member of the

U.S. House of Representatives 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 ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Biography

Overton was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania. He attended Susquehanna Collegiate Institute in Towanda, and graduated from

Princeton College Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

in 1856. He was a member of

Kappa Alpha Society The Kappa Alpha Society () is a North American social college fraternity. Founded in 1825, it was the progenitor of the modern fraternity system in North America. It is considered to be the oldest national, secret, Greek-letter social fraterni ...

. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1858 and commenced practice in Towanda. He served as solicitor of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in 1861. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Overton entered the Union Army in September 1861 as a Major in the 50th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1863 and from that time commanded the regiment until mustered out in October 1864. He served as register in bankruptcy from 1867 to 1876. Overton was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1880. He resumed the practice of law, and served as president of the Citizens' National Bank of Towanda from 1897 until his death in Towanda in 1903. Interment in Oak Hill Cemetery.

References

Retrieved on 2008-02-14
The Political Graveyard
Pennsylvania lawyers 1838 births 1903 deaths Union army soldiers Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub