Representative Elisha Embree

Elisha Embree (September 28, 1801 – February 28, 1863) was a U.S. Representative from Indiana and a prominent Whig jurist and lawyer in the mid-nineteenth century. He was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, on September 28, 1801. In 1811, when he was still a child, he moved with his father to the Indiana Territory, where his family settled in Knox County, in the area that later became Gibson County, near the site on which the town of Princeton was subsequently located. Growing up on the frontier, he received only limited formal schooling, a common circumstance in that region and period.

In his youth and early adulthood, Embree engaged in agricultural pursuits, working the land in the developing community around Princeton. Despite his limited early education, he pursued self-improvement and professional advancement. He studied law while supporting himself through farming, reflecting the dual agrarian and professional character of many early Indiana leaders.

Embree’s legal career began in earnest in the 1830s. He was admitted to the bar in 1836 and commenced the practice of law in Princeton, Indiana. Even before his formal admission to the bar, he had already entered public service in the judiciary: he served as circuit judge for the fourth circuit of Indiana from 1835 to 1845. In that capacity, he presided over a broad range of civil and criminal matters in a rapidly growing state, helping to shape the administration of justice in Indiana during a formative decade.

After leaving the bench, Embree continued his involvement in public affairs as a member of the Whig Party, which was then one of the two major national political parties. In 1849 he was nominated as the Whig candidate for Governor of Indiana, a significant mark of his standing within the party. He declined the gubernatorial nomination, however, choosing instead to seek election to the United States House of Representatives.

Embree was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth Congress and served a single term from March 4, 1847, to March 3, 1849, representing Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives. His service in Congress coincided with the period of the Mexican–American War and the increasingly contentious national debates over the expansion of slavery into new territories. Although he secured his initial election, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1848 to the Thirty-first Congress, ending his brief tenure in national office.

Following his congressional service, Embree returned to Princeton and resumed the practice of law. He also remained interested in and involved with farming, continuing the agricultural pursuits that had characterized his early life. Dividing his attention between his legal practice and his lands, he spent his later years as a respected figure in his local community.

Elisha Embree died in Princeton, Indiana, on February 28, 1863. He was interred in Warnock Cemetery, where his burial marked the close of a career that had spanned frontier settlement, judicial service, and national legislative office during a transformative era in Indiana and United States history.