JOHN JAMES INGALLS, a famous American statesman, was born Dec. 29, 1833, at Middleton, Massachusetts, where he was reared and received his early education.  He went to Kansas in 1858 and joined the free-soil army, and a year after his arrival he was a member of the historical Wyandotte convention, which drafted a free-state constitution.  In 1860 he was made secretary of the territorial council, and in 1861 was secretary of the state senate.  The next year he was duly elected to the legitimate state senate from Atchison, where he had made his home.  From that time he was the leader of the radical Republican element in the state.  He became the editor of the “Atchison Champion” in 1863, which was a “red-hot free-soil Republican organ.”  In 1862 he was the anti-Lane candidate for lieutenant-governor, but was defeated.  He was elected to the United States senate to succeed Senator Pomeroy, and took his seat in the forty-third congress and served until the fiftieth.  In the forty-ninth congress he succeeded Senator Sherman as president pro tern., which position he held through the fiftieth congress.
Source:  Biographical Memoirs of Wyandot Co., Ohio - Published 1902 - Page 114