Edwin Reed Ridgely (May 9, 1844 – April 23, 1927) was an American businessman, Civil War veteran and politician who served two terms as a

U.S. 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 c ...

from

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

from 1897 to 1901.

Biography

Born near

Lancaster, Illinois Lancaster is an unincorporated community in Wabash County, Illinois, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America ...

, Ridgely attended district school in the winter months.

Civil War

During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

enlisted as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in Company C, One Hundred and Fifteenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in 1862. He was promoted to sergeant and served until the end of the war.

Career

He moved to

Girard, Kansas Girard is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,496. History Girard was founded in the spring of 1868, in opposition to Crawfordsville, and named ...

, in 1869 and engaged in general merchandising and in agricultural pursuits. He left the Republican Party in 1876 because of its financial policy. He lived in Ogden, Utah, from 1889 to 1893 and then returned to Kansas.

Congress

Ridgely was elected as a Populist to the Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1901). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1900.

Later career and death

He resumed agricultural pursuits in

Mulberry, Kansas Mulberry is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 409. History Mulberry was founded about 1875 as a mining town. Mulberry was named from a grove of wild mulberry trees that sto ...

. He died in

on April 23, 1927. He was interred in Girard Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridgely, Edwin Reed 1844 births 1927 deaths People from Wabash County, Illinois Kansas Populists Kansas Republicans People's Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas Union Army soldiers People of Illinois in the American Civil War People from Girard, Illinois Members of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas