Representative Colin Macrae Ingersoll

Colin Macrae Ingersoll (March 11, 1819 – September 13, 1903) was a Connecticut attorney, politician, and military leader who served two terms in the United States House of Representatives in the 1850s. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Connecticut in Congress during a significant and turbulent period in American history, participating in the national legislative process and advocating for the interests of his constituents.

Ingersoll was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on March 11, 1819, into a prominent political and legal family. He was the son of Ralph Isaacs Ingersoll, a diplomat and U.S. Representative from Connecticut who later served as United States Minister to Russia, and Margaret (née Van den Heuvel) Ingersoll. His brother, Charles Roberts Ingersoll, would become the 47th Governor of Connecticut. On his paternal side, his grandfather Jonathan Ingersoll served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut and as Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut until his death in 1823. Through his mother, he was the grandson of Jan Cornelis Van den Heuvel, 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 associated with the Dutch West India Company. This family background placed Colin Ingersoll in an environment of public service and international engagement from an early age.

Ingersoll pursued his early academic studies in New Haven and enrolled at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Trinity in 1839. While an undergraduate, he was a founding member of the Phi Kappa Society, a secret society that later evolved into the college’s chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. After completing his undergraduate education, he studied law at Yale Law School, where he received his legal training. He was admitted to the bar in 1841 and began the practice of law in New Haven, establishing himself in the legal profession before entering public service.

Ingersoll’s early career included both state-level and diplomatic responsibilities. In 1843, he served as clerk of the Connecticut State Senate, gaining experience in legislative procedure and state politics. When his father was appointed United States Minister to Russia, Colin Ingersoll joined the American legation in St. Petersburg. He was appointed secretary of the legation and served in that capacity in 1847 and 1848. During part of 1848 he acted as chargé d’affaires, assuming responsibility for the legation’s affairs in the absence of the minister. This diplomatic service broadened his experience in foreign relations and exposed him to international political affairs.

Ingersoll entered national politics as a Democrat and was elected to the Thirty-second Congress as a Representative from Connecticut in 1850. He took his seat in the United States House of Representatives on March 4, 1851. He was reelected to the Thirty-third Congress and served continuously until March 3, 1855. His two terms in Congress coincided with a period of intensifying sectional conflict in the United States over issues such as slavery, territorial expansion, and states’ rights. As a member of the Democratic Party representing Connecticut, Colin Macrae Ingersoll contributed to the legislative process during these two terms in office, participating in debates and votes that shaped national policy in the years leading up to the Civil War and representing the interests of his constituents in Connecticut.

After leaving Congress in 1855, Ingersoll resumed the practice of law in New Haven. He continued to be active in public affairs and later held a senior position in the state militia. He served as adjutant general of Connecticut from 1867 to 1868 and again from 1870 to 1871, overseeing aspects of the state’s military organization and administration in the post–Civil War era. His role as adjutant general reflected both his interest in military matters and his ongoing engagement in state service.

Ingersoll’s personal life was closely connected to other prominent American political families. In 1853, he married Julia Harriet Pratt, the daughter of Abigail P. (née Watson) Pratt and Zadock Pratt, a U.S. Representative from New York. Zadock Pratt was noted for building what was then the largest tannery in the world and for founding the town of Prattsville, New York. Colin and Julia Ingersoll had several children: Mary E. Ingersoll, born in 1854; Colin Macrae Ingersoll Jr., born in 1859; George Pratt Ingersoll, born in 1861; and Maude Margaret Ingersoll, born in 1863. Through these family ties, Ingersoll was linked to influential political and business networks in both New England and New York.

Colin Macrae Ingersoll died of pneumonia in New Haven, Connecticut, on September 13, 1903. He was interred in Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, a burial place for many of the city’s leading citizens. His life and career reflected the traditions of public service, law, diplomacy, and military administration that characterized his family’s contributions to state and national affairs in the nineteenth century.