Alfred Ely (Congressional Biographical Dictionary)

ELY, Alfred, a Representative from New York; born in Lyme, New London County, Conn., February 15, 1815; attended the common schools and Bacon Academy at Colchester, Conn.; moved to Rochester, N.Y., in 1835; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced practice in Rochester; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1863); chairman, Committee on Invalid Pensions (Thirty-seventh Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1862; while witnessing the Battle of Bull Run was taken a prisoner by the Confederates, and imprisoned in Richmond for nearly six months; resumed the practice of law; died in Rochester, N.Y., May 18, 1892; interment in the Ely vault in Mount Hope Cemetery.