Charles Anthony Ingersoll (October 19, 1798 – January 12, 1860) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Connecticut The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (in case citations, D. Conn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Appeals ...

and member of the prominent Ingersoll political family of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Education and career

Born on October 19, 1798, in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, Ingersoll

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

to be admitted to the bar, and received an

Artium Magister A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1827. He entered private practice in New Haven and was clerk of court for the United States District Court and the United States Circuit Court for the District of Connecticut from 1820 to 1853. He was a

probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...

judge in New Haven from 1829 to 1853. He was a

state's attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

for Connecticut from 1849 to 1853.

Federal judicial service

Ingersoll was nominated by President

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...

on April 6, 1853, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Andrew T. Judson Andrew Thompson Judson (November 29, 1784 – March 17, 1853) was a United States representative from Connecticut and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. He also served in the Connect ...

. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on April 8, 1853, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on January 12, 1860, due to his death.

Immediate family

Ingersoll was married to Henrietta Sidell (d. 1877), the daughter of the late John Sidell of New York. Together, they were the parents of: * Charles Dennis Ingersoll (1843–1905), a Yale lawyer and judge in New York City who married Katherine Corse Sanders, in 1885. * Thomas Chester Ingersoll (1845–1884), a Yale lawyer who died unmarried at the age of 39 of pneumonia.

Descendants

Through his son Charles, he was the grandfather of three, namely: Hamilton Ingersoll (1888–1940), the father of Charles Barnum Ingersoll (1923–2004); Anita Ingersoll (1891–1970), who married Roger Medina Minton (1886–1954) in 1910, later divorced and she married stockbroker Walter Lee Gwynn (1881–1955), uncle of actor

Fred Gwynne Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, artist and author widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms ''Car 54, Where Are You?'' as Francis Muldoon and as Herman Munster in ''The Munsters'' ...

, in 1926; and Justine Ingersoll (d. 1984), who married Dr. Harold Sears Arnold (d. 1951).

Ingersoll family

Ingersoll was the son of Judge

Jonathan Ingersoll Jonathan Ingersoll (April 16, 1747 – January 12, 1823) was a Connecticut politician of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Early life Ingersoll was born on April 16, 1747, in Ridgefield in what was then called the Province of ...

(1747–1823) and Grace (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Isaacs) Ingersoll (1772–1850). His father was a judge of the Supreme Court and Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut up until his death in 1823. Among his siblings was older brother

Ralph Isaacs Ingersoll Ralph Isaacs Ingersoll (February 8, 1789 – August 26, 1872) was a lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, where he was Speaker of the House, a United States representative from Conne ...

, who served as a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

for four consecutive terms from 1825 to 1833, and was the United States Minister to the Russian Empire under President

James K. Polk James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (183 ...

. Ingersoll's maternal grandfather, and his brother's namesake, was Ralph Isaacs Jr., a Yale educated merchant who was prominent in New Haven and Branford, and his paternal grandfather was Reverend Jonathan Ingersoll, chaplain for the Connecticut Troops during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

who was the brother of

Jared Ingersoll Sr. Jared Ingersoll (1722, in Milford, Connecticut – August 1781, in New Haven, Connecticut) gained notoriety in Connecticut as agent for the Stamp Act of 1765. Biography Jared Ingersoll Sr. was descended from John Ingersoll Sr. (1626–1684), who ...

, a British colonial official. His grand-uncle's son,

Jared Ingersoll Jared Ingersoll (October 24, 1749 – October 31, 1822) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, and statesman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the United States Constitution. He serv ...

, served as

Attorney General of Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1980. The current Attorney General is Democrat Josh Shapiro. On August 15, 2016, then-Attorney General Kath ...

and was the father of fellow United States Representative,

Charles Jared Ingersoll Charles Jared Ingersoll (October 3, 1782 – May 14, 1862) was an American lawyer, writer and politician who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district from 1813 to 1815, Pe ...

, and grandfather of his second cousin, author

Edward Ingersoll Edward Ingersoll (2 April 1817, Philadelphia - 19 February 1893 Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a United States author. Biography He was the son of Mary Wilcocks and politician and writer Charles Jared Ingersoll. He graduated from the U ...

. His cousin, Ralph Isaacs III, was the father of Mary Esther Malbone Isaacs, who married

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

and

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Nathan Sanford Nathan Sanford (November 5, 1777 – October 17, 1838) was an American politician. Early life Sanford was born on November 5, 1777, in Bridgehampton, New York. He was the son of Thomas Sanford and Phebe (née Baker) Sanford, a family of farme ...

in 1813.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingersoll, Charles Anthony 1798 births 1860 deaths 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American politicians Connecticut lawyers Connecticut state court judges Ingersoll family Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law United States federal judges appointed by Franklin Pierce Yale University alumni