Ephraim Ralph Eckley (December 9, 1811 – March 27, 1908) was an American Civil War veteran and three-term U.S. Representative from Ohio, serving from 1863 to 1869.
Early life
Eckley was born near Mount Pleasant, Jefferson County, Ohio, but moved with his parents to Hayesville, Ohio, in 1816.
He attended the common schools and was graduated from Vermillion Institute, Hayesville, Ohio. He moved to Carrollton, Ohio, in 1833 and taught school.
He studied law under William Johnston[2] and was admitted to the bar in 1836; he commenced practice in Carrollton.
He served as member of the State senate 1843-1846, 1849, and 1850 but was an unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Ohio in 1851. He also served in the State house of representatives 1853-1855 but was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1853 to the United States Senate.
He served as delegate to the first Republican National Convention at Philadelphia in 1856.
Civil War
During the Civil War, Eckley served in the Union Army as the colonel of the 26th Ohio Infantry, and later of the 80th Ohio Infantry.[3]
Postbellum
Eckley was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses (March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869) but was not a candidate for renomination in 1868.
He resumed the practice of law in Carrollton, Ohio. He died March 27, 1908, in Carrollton, Ohio, and was interred in Grand View Cemetery.
He married Martha L. Brown and had five children, including Harvey J. His son Harvey was an Ohio state senator and judge.[4][5]
See also
References
- ^ Reid, p. 182, 458.
- ^ Harrison and Carroll, p. 785.
- ^ The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress states that Eckley was "brevetted brigadier general." No source supports this. The definitive source, United States War Department, The Military Secretary's Office, Memorandum Relative to the General Officers in the Armies of the United States During the Civil War, 1861–1865 (Compiled from Official Records.) 1906 does not list Eckley as a brevet or actual rank general. None of the reliable modern historians who have books compiling lists of and brief bios of Union generals, Hunt and Brown, Hunt, Roger D. and Jack R. Brown, Brevet Brigadier Generals in Blue. Gaithersburg, MD: Olde Soldier Books, Inc., 1990. ISBN 978-1-56013-002-4, Warner, Eicher and Eicher and Sifakis list him as a brevet general.
- ^ Eckley, H.J.; Perry, W.T. (1921). History of Carroll and Harrison Counties. Vol. 1. The Lewis Publishing Co. p. 62.
- ^ H. J. Eckley; William T. Perry, eds. (1921). History of Carroll and Harrison Counties, Ohio. Vol. 2. pp. 1032–1033. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
- United States Congress. "Ephraim R. Eckley (id: E000036)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-10-12
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Reid, Whitelaw (1868). "80th Ohio Infantry". Ohio in the War Her Statesmen Generals and Soldiers. Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Company. p. 972.
- Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Harrison and Carroll, Ohio. Chicago: J. H. Beers and Co. 1891. p. 783.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 17th congressional district | ||
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