Eleazar Wheelock RIPLEY, Congress, LA (1782-1839)

RIPLEY, Eleazar Wheelock, (brother of James Wheelock Ripley), a Representative from Louisiana; born in Hanover, N.H., April 15, 1782; was graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in 1800; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Waterville, Maine (a district of Massachusetts until 1820); was a member of the Massachusetts house of representatives in 1807 and 1811 and served as speaker the last term; moved to Portland, Maine, in 1812; member of the Massachusetts senate; served in the War of 1812, being commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-first Infantry March 12, 1812; colonel March 12, 1813; brigadier general April 15, 1814; brevetted major general on July 25, 1814; by a resolution of Congress dated November 3, 1814, was presented a gold medal in honor of his military service; resigned from the Army February 1, 1820, and settled in Jackson, La., where resumed the private practice of law; member of the State senate; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress; reelected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth Congress and to the succeeding Congress (March 4, 1835-March 2, 1839); died on March 2, 1839, in West Feliciana Parish, La.; interment in a private cemetery at St. Francisville, La.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present