Ezekiel Bacon (September 1, 1776 – October 18, 1870) was an American lawyer and politician from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Early life

Ezekiel Bacon was born on September 1, 1776, in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

to Elizabeth (née Goldthwaite) and John Bacon. He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1794. Then he attended

Litchfield Law School The Litchfield Law School was a law school in Litchfield, Connecticut, that operated from 1774 to 1833. Litchfield was the first independent law school established in America for reading law. Founded and led by lawyer Tapping Reeve, the proprietar ...

and studied law with

Nathan Dane Nathan Dane (December 29, 1752 – February 15, 1835) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress from 1785 through 1788. Dane helped formulate the Northwest Ordinance while in Congress, and ...

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Sho ...

. He was admitted to the bar in 1800.

Career

Bacon commenced practice in

Stockbridge, Massachusetts Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridg ...

. He was a member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

from 1805 to 1806. Bacon was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed l ...

to the

10th United States Congress The 10th United States Congress was a meeting of the United States Congress, legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate, Senate and the United States House of Representatives, House of Repr ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Barnabas Bidwell and took his seat on November 2, 1807. He was re-elected to the 11th and

12th United States Congress The 12th 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, 1811 ...

es, holding office until March 3, 1813. He was the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means (12th Congress). He was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the Western District of Massachusetts from 1811 to 1814, and Comptroller of the U.S. Treasury from 1814 to 1815. In 1816, he moved to

Utica, New York Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...

, and was appointed an associate judge of the Oneida County Court in 1818. He was a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

in 1819, and a delegate to the

New York State Constitutional Convention The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...

of 1821. In

1826 Events January–March * January 15 – The French newspaper ''Le Figaro'' begins publication in Paris, initially as a satirical weekly. * January 17 – The Ballantyne printing business in Edinburgh (Scotland) crashes, ruining noveli ...

, he ran again for Congress but was defeated by the incumbent Henry R. Storrs. At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving Member of Congress and the last representative of the administration of President

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

Personal life

Bacon died on October 18, 1870, in Utica. He was buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica. Judge and congressman William J. Bacon was his son.

References

External links

*Barlow, William, and David O. Powell. “Congressman Ezekiel Bacon of Massachusetts and the Coming of the War of 1812.” Historical Journal of Western Massachusetts 6 (Spring 1978): 28-41. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Ezekiel 1776 births 1870 deaths Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Members of the New York State Assembly Yale College alumni Litchfield Law School alumni Lawyers from Boston New York (state) Democratic-Republicans Politicians from Utica, New York New York state court judges Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts 19th-century American lawyers Burials at Forest Hill Cemetery (Utica, New York) 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives