Ira Harris (31 March 1802 – 2 December 1875) was a US Senator from New York (R) from 4 March 1861 to 4 March 1867, succeeding William H. Seward and preceding Roscoe Conkling.
Biography[]
Ira Harris was born in Charleston, New York in 1802, and he became a lawyer in 1828. He served as a Whig state legislator, and he served on the New York Supreme Court from 1847 to 1859 and as a Court of Appeals judge from 1850 to 1858. In 1861, he was elected to the US Senate, and he became a good friend of President Abraham Lincoln. He left after one term, and his grandson Henry Riggs Rathbone would go on to serve as an Illinois congressman.