Sydenham Elnathan Ancona (November 20, 1824 – June 20, 1913) was a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

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Sydenham E. Ancona was born near Lititz, Pennsylvania

Lititz, Pennsylvania

Lititz is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 6 miles north of the city of Lancaster.-History:Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1756, and was named after a castle in Bohemia near the village of Kunvald where the ancient Bohemian Brethren's Church had...

. He moved to Berks County, Pennsylvania

Berks County, Pennsylvania

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 373,638 people, 141,570 households, and 98,532 families residing in the county. The population density was 435 people per square mile . There were 150,222 housing units at an average density of 175 per square mile...

, in 1826 with his parents, who settled near Sculls Hill, Pennsylvania. He attended public and private schools, and taught school. He moved in 1856 to Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...

, where he entered the employ of the Reading Company

Reading Company

The Reading Company , usually called the Reading Railroad, officially the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and Reading Railway until 1924, operated in southeast Pennsylvania and neighboring states...

. He served as a member of the board of education.

Ancona was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-seventh

37th United States Congress

The Thirty-seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1861 to March 4, 1863, during the first two...

, Thirty-eighth

38th United States Congress

-House of Representatives:Before this Congress, the 1860 United States Census and resulting reapportionment changed the size of the House to 241 members...

, and Thirty-ninth

39th United States Congress

The Thirty-ninth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1865 to March 4, 1867, during the first month of...

 Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1866

United States House election, 1866

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1866 to elect Representatives to the 40th United States Congress.The elections occurred just one year after the American Civil War ended at Appomattox, in which the Union defeated the Confederacy....

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He became engaged in the trust, fire-insurance, and relief-association businesses in Reading. He was a delegate to the 1880 Democratic National Convention

1880 Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention of 1880 met June 22 to 24 of that year, at the Cincinnati Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio. George Hoadly served as temporary chairman and John W. Stevenson served as permanent president. Delegates nominated Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania for President of the...

 at Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

. During a visit to the Capitol at Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, in 1912 he was tendered a reception on the floor of the House of Representatives, because he was at the time the last surviving Member of the Thirty-seventh Congress which had been assembled at the extraordinary session called by Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

on July 4, 1861. He was engaged in banking and in the insurance business until his death in Reading in 1913. Interment in Charles Evans Cemetery.

Sources

• The Political Graveyard
• RootsWeb entry
• Sydenham Ancona at Find-A-Grave