An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL. 1893 PROF. E.S. INGRAHAM, one of the representative educators of Seattle, was born in Albion, Kennebec county, Maine, in April, 1852. His parents, Samuel and Almira (Davenport) Ingraham, were natives of the same State, their ancestors being numbered among the earliest settlers of New England. For many generations the family followed agriculture, but Samuel Ingraham digressed from that occupation and took to the sea, sailing as master mariner for about twenty-five years. His service was chiefly in packet ships which sailed from the Kennebec river and conducted a general passenger and freight business along the coast to the West Indies. Being a man of domestic habits and fond of his home ties and associations, he retired from the sea about 1840 and engaged in an agricultural life. Prof. Ingraham, when a boy, attended the public schools of Maine until his fifteenth year, and then entered the Free Press office at Rockland and learned the printer's trade. With an increasing fondness for a literary life and a higher education, he entered the Eastern Maine State Normal School, and graduated there in 1871. According to the laws of the State relating to normal graduates, Mr. Ingraham then began teaching in the public schools, and at the same time pursued a classical course in the Waterville Classical Institute, which he followed three years, when his eyes failed and he had to stop such incessant study. In August, 1875, he came to Seattle, where his half-brother, Andrew Ingraham, a pioneer of 1849 to the coast, then resided. Ten days after arriving Prof. Ingraham was offered the position of principal of the central school and to assume charge of the schools of the city, which then numbered three buildings, six teachers and about 200 pupils. He continued as principal of the dental school for thirteen years, and saw the number of teachers of the city schools increase to twenty-nine and the average attendance to 1,700 pupils, he was elected by the Republican party as Superintendent of King County Schools in 1876, and re-elected, in 1878 and 1880, serving six years continuously. In 1883 he was appointed Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, and held the office five years. After the admission of Washington to Statehood, Prof. Ingraham was a member of the first State Board of Education, by appointment of Governor Elisha P. Ferry. Prof. Ingraham materially advanced the educational interests of Washington, was actively connected with State institute work, and he was among the first to advocate county institutes by organizing one in King county. In 1888 he retired from educational work and shortly after entered into partnership with U.K. Coryell and established the printing house of Ingraham & Coryell. They publish the Northwest Journal of Education and the Seattle Guide, a monthly publication of general information connected with the city, besides conducting a general job-printing business. In February, 1886, during the Chinese riot, Prof. Ingraham, with other prominent citizens of Seattle, was sworn in as Deputy Sheriff to assist in maintaining order through the city. After the disturbance was quelled, these same gentlemen organized under the Territorial law as a company of militia, the membership including fifty of Seattle's best known citizens. This organization was the nucleus of Company E, National Guards of Washington, which is now the prize company of the First Regiment. In this company Captain Ingraham served two years as private, one year as Corporals one year as Sergeant, six months as Second Lieutenant, and was elected Captain February 18, 1891, for a period of three years. He is an enthusiastic and magnetic leader, and the company owes much of its present prosperity to his unvarying attention and care, he was a member of the Board of Aldermen for the city of Seattle one term, and in March, 1893, he was appointed by Governor John H. McGraw to the position of Regent of the State Agricultural College and School of Science for a term of four years. Captain Ingraham was married in Seattle, in April, 1888, to Miss Myra Carr, a native of Oregon, whose parents were pioneers of the early ë60s. Two children have blessed this union, Norman and Kenneth. The family reside on the corner of Second and Leonora streets, where Prof. Ingraham built in 1878. It was then in the country, hedged in by timber and ungraded streets. The Professor has been prominent in Masonry for a number of years. He was instrumental in having instituted Seattle Chapter, No. 3, R.A.M., and served as High Priest for a number of terms. He is Past Eminent Commander of Seattle Commandery, No. 2; is a member of the Scottish rite, and a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor. While the Professor is a devotee to business, he thuds occasional recreation in scaling the snow peaks and in prospecting the mountains for minerals. He was a member of the third party that undertook the dangerous ascent of Mount Rainier, and spent one night in the mouth of the crater. He has also ascended Mount Baker, and has secured profitable mining interests in the mountains. Being a lover of geology and an admirer of the grandeur of the mountain peaks, he finds every gratification to his taste in the surroundings of Seattle. Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in January 2004 by Jeffrey L. Elmer * * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individual featured in the biographies.