Sydenham Elnathan Ancona

Sydenham Elnathan Ancona
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th district
In office March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1867
Preceded by	Jacob K. McKenty
Succeeded by	James L. Getz
Personal details
Born	November 20, 1824 Lititz, Pennsylvania
Died	June 20, 1913 (aged 88)
Political party	Democratic

Sydenham Elnathan Ancona (November 20, 1824 – June 20, 1913) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Sydenham E. Ancona was born near Lititz, Pennsylvania. He moved to Berks County, Pennsylvania, 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, where he entered the employ of the Reading Company. He served as a member of the board of education.

Ancona was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, and Thirty-ninth Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1866.

He became engaged in the trust, fire-insurance, and relief-association businesses in Reading. He was a delegate to the 1880 Democratic National Convention at Cincinnati, Ohio. During a visit to the Capitol at Washington, D.C., 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 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

• United States Congress. "Sydenham Elnathan Ancona (id: A000178)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• The Political Graveyard
• RootsWeb entry
• Sydenham Ancona at Find-A-Grave