Yes...he was brought to my attention in a previous post by someone here on Agnostics.com.
I used to live in Peoria where there is a statue.
Big fan. Gets to the true essence of an issue in championship form. I have read this book a few times. It’s an easy read. I recommend it.
"The great Orator" you've never heard of. He gave a talk in Chicago where 50,000 people showed up at a facility the only held 10,000. This at a time when there was no electronic amplification. This was the golden age of Free Thought.
I read this that was interesting... "His father, John Ingersoll, was an abolitionist-sympathizing Congregationalist preacher, whose radical opinions caused him and his family to relocate frequently."
I was curious to know what caused to him to lead the beliefs he held. It is usually starts with nuturing. As expected the family suffered rejection and hatred from the society that was totally under the grip of religion.
However, I admire these early pioneers in free thinking, atheism who had to show so much more courage to express their views and lead just a normal life. We find it hard today in 2019 so we can imagine what resistance they had at the time.
We owe a lot to early pioneers of free thought like him.