John R. Eden Explained

John R. Eden
State1:Illinois
Term Start1:March 4, 1885
Term End1:March 3, 1887
Predecessor1:Samuel W. Moulton
Successor1:Edward Lane
State2:Illinois
Term Start2:March 4, 1873
Term End2:March 3, 1879
Predecessor2:District created
Successor2:Albert P. Forsythe
State3:Illinois
Term Start3:March 4, 1863
Term End3:March 3, 1865
Predecessor3:James Carroll Robinson
Successor3:Henry P. H. Bromwell
Resting Place:Greenhill Cemetery
Birth Date:1 February 1826
Birth Place:Bath County, Kentucky
Death Place:Sullivan, Illinois
Party:Democratic

John Rice Eden (February 1, 1826  - June 9, 1909) was an American lawyer and politician who a total of five terms served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois during three non-consecutive stints between 1863 and 1887.

Early life and career

Born in Bath County, Kentucky, Eden moved with his parents to Indiana.He attended public schools, and later studied law.He was admitted to the bar in 1853 at Shelbyville, Illinois and commenced practice in Sullivan, Illinois.

He served as prosecuting attorney for the seventeenth judicial district of Illinois 1856-1860.

Congress

Eden was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1865).He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1864 to the Thirty-ninth Congress.He was an unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Governor of Illinois in 1868.

Eden was elected to the Forty-third, Forty-fourth, and Forty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1879).He served as chairman of the Committee on War Claims (Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses).He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1878.He resumed the practice of law in Sullivan, Illinois.

Eden was elected to the Forty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887).He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1886.

Later career and death

He again engaged in the practice of law.

He died in Sullivan, Illinois, June 9, 1909.He was interred in Greenhill Cemetery.