JOHN JAMES INGALLS, author, lawyer, and
United States senator
John James Ingalls, statesman,
born in Middleton, Massachusetts, 29 December, 1833. He was
graduated at Williams in 1855, studied law, and was admitted
to the bar in 1857. He removed to Atchison, Kansas, in 858,
and practiced his profession, was a member of the Wyandotte
convention of 1859, secretary of the territorial council in
1860, and of the state senate in 1861, and a member of the
latter body in 1862. In the same year he was an unsuccessful
candidate for lieutenant-governor. After his defeat he accepted
the editorship of the Atchison "Champion," which
he retained for three years. He was again defeated for the
lieutenant-governorship in 1864, but; was elected to the United
States senate for the term beginning in 1873, and was reelected
in 1879 and 1885. He is among the ablest debaters in the senate.
John James Ingalls, author, lawyer,
and United States senator, was born in Middleton, Mass.,
Dec. 29, 1833, a son of Elias T. and Eliza (Chase) Ingalls.
He was descended from Edmond Ingalls, who, with his brother,
Francis, founded the town of Lynn, Mass., in 1868. His father
was a first cousin of Mehitable Ingalls, the grandmother of
the late President Garfield. His mother was a descendant of
Aquilla Chase, who settled in New Hampshire in 1630. Chief Justice
Chase was of this family. After going through the public schools,
Ingalls attended Williams College, at Williamstown, Mass., graduating
in 1855. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in
1857. The next year he came to Kansas and, in 1859, was a member
of the Wyandotte constitutional convention. In 1860 he was secretary
of the territorial council and was also secretary of the first
state senate, in 1861. The next year he was elected state senator
from Atchison county. In that year, and again in 1864, he was
nominated for lieutenant-governor on the anti-Lane ticket. During
the Civil war he served as judge advocate on the staff of Gen.
George W. Deitzler with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1865
Mr. Ingalls married Miss Anna Louisa Cheeseborough, a descendant
of William Cheeseborough, who came to this country with Gov.
Winthrop in 1630. Her father, Ellsworth Cheeseborough, was a
New York importer who came to Atchison, Kan., in 1859, and at
the time of his death, in 1860, was an elector on the Lincoln
ticket. Of this union eleven children were born, six of whom
were living at the time of Mr. Ingalls' death, viz: Ellsworth,
Ethel, Ralph, Sheffield, Marion and Muriel.
In 1873, "Opportunity," of which Mr. Ingalls wrote
in his declining years, knocked at his door. He was made a candidate
for United States senator at a private caucus one night and
was elected by the legislature the next day. His career at Washington,
covering a period of eighteen years, was one of great brilliancy.
He quickly acquired distinction, and Speaker Reed remarked before
he had learned the name of the new senator: "Any man who
can state a proposition as that senator does is a great man."
As a parliamentarian he was unsurpassed. Senator Harris, a Democrat
from Tennessee, said: "Mr. Ingalls will go down upon the
records as the greatest presiding officer in the history of
the senate." His speeches made him famous. He was the master
of sarcasm and satire, as well as of eulogistic oratory. His
address on John Brown, a speech of blistering satire; the one
delivered in Atchison after his vindication in the senate; and
his eulogies of Senator Hill and Senator Wilson are classic
masterpieces, seldom if ever excelled in oratory. Senator Ingalls
was a strict partisan, an invincible champion of any cause,
and a bitter and persevering opponent. During his three terms
in the senate his greatest efforts were in the advocacy of the
constitutional rights of the freedom of the South and the rights
of the veterans of the Civil war. When a wave of Populism came
over Kansas it found him practically unprepared. He had given
little attention to the money question and the tariff, and it
was these things which were clamoring for solution. He was defeated
by the Populists for senator in 1891. Mr. Ingalls said many
times that he valued a seat in the senate above any other honor
in the gift of the American people. As an author Mr. Ingalls
won his reputation first by a number of articles appearing in
the old "Kansas Magazine," among which were "Cat-Fish
Aristocracy" and "Blue
Grass." His poem, "Opportunity,"
is worthy to be classed with the greatest in the English language,
and it may yet outlive his reputation as an orator and statesman
and be his lasting monument. After leaving the senate Mr. Ingalls
retired from active life, traveled for his health, and died
in New Mexico, Aug. 16, 1900. In January, 1905, a statue of
him was installed in Statuary Hall at Washington with fitting
ceremonies, being the first statue to be contributed by Kansas,
although Ingalls during his lifetime had urged upon the state
to place one of John Brown in this hall.
source:
Pages 737-738 from volume III, part 2 of Kansas: a cyclopedia
of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries,
counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with
a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history
and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 3 v. in
4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank
W. Blackmar. Transcribed December 2002 by Carolyn Ward. This
volume is identified at the Kansas State Historical Society
as microfilm LM195. It is a two-part volume 3.
