Representative Jacob Hart Ela

Jacob Hart Ela (July 18, 1820 – August 21, 1884) was an American politician and a U.S. Representative from New Hampshire. Born in Rochester, Strafford County, New Hampshire, he was educated in the village schools of his native town. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed in a woolen manufactory, gaining early experience in industrial work, and he subsequently learned the printer’s trade, a vocation that was common among politically active men of his generation and that helped introduce him to public affairs and the world of publishing and political discourse.

Ela’s family name had deep roots in New England. The Ela surname first appears in what would become the United States in the late 1630s, with the American branch of the family originating in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in the early seventeenth century. The Ela family cemetery is located at Walnut Hill Cemetery in Haverhill, reflecting the long-established presence of the family in the region and the broader New England context from which Jacob Hart Ela emerged.

Before entering national politics, Ela was active in state government in New Hampshire. He served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1857 and 1858, participating in the legislative process at the state level during a period of growing sectional tension in the United States. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he entered federal service in a law-enforcement capacity. He was appointed United States marshal and served in that office from July 1861 to October 1866, a tenure that spanned the entirety of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction, and that placed him in a key federal role during a critical period in American history.

As a member of the Republican Party representing New Hampshire, Ela advanced to national elective office soon after his service as U.S. marshal. He was elected as a Republican to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses and served as a United States Representative for New Hampshire’s 1st congressional district from March 4, 1867, to March 3, 1871. During his two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, he contributed to the legislative process at a time marked by Reconstruction policies and the redefinition of federal-state relations following the Civil War. In the Forty-first Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior, overseeing and reviewing the financial administration of that department. Through these roles, he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his New Hampshire constituents during a significant period in American history.

After leaving Congress, Ela continued his career in federal service in Washington, D.C. He was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as Fifth Auditor of the Treasury on January 1, 1872, a post in the Treasury Department concerned with the examination and settlement of accounts. He held that office until June 2, 1881. The following day, on June 3, 1881, he was appointed Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department, where he was responsible for auditing and overseeing the financial accounts related to postal operations. He served in this capacity until his death, extending his influence in federal fiscal oversight across nearly two decades after his congressional service.

Ela’s personal life reflected the family-centered patterns of his era. He married the widow Abigail (Moore) Kelley, and together they had three sons: Frederic P., Wendell P., and Charles S. Abigail Ela died in September 1879. The following year, on October 2, 1880, he married Mary Handerson. His marriages and children anchored him in both New Hampshire and Washington social circles during his years of public service.

Jacob Hart Ela died in Washington, D.C., on August 21, 1884, at the age of 64 years and 34 days, while still serving as Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department. His body was returned to his native state, and he was interred at Rochester Cemetery in Rochester, New Hampshire, underscoring his lifelong connection to the community where he was born and first educated.