Edward Overton Jr. (February 4, 1836 – September 18, 1903) was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

U.S. House of Representatives 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

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Biography

Overton was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania. He attended Susquehanna Collegiate Institute in Towanda, and graduated from

Princeton College Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

in 1856. He was a member of

Kappa Alpha Society The Kappa Alpha Society (), founded in 1825, was the progenitor of the modern fraternity system in North America. It is considered to be the oldest national, secret, Greek-letter social fraternity and was the first of the fraternities which would ...

. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1858 and commenced practice in Towanda. He served as solicitor of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in 1861. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, Overton entered the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

in September 1861 as a Major in the 50th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1863 and from that time commanded the regiment until mustered out in October 1864. He served as register in bankruptcy from 1867 to 1876. Overton was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1880. He resumed the practice of law, and served as president of the Citizens' National Bank of Towanda from 1897 until his death in Towanda in 1903. Interment in Oak Hill Cemetery.

References

Retrieved on 2008-02-14
The Political Graveyard
Pennsylvania lawyers 1838 births 1903 deaths Union Army soldiers Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American legislators {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub