Samuel D. Ingham was born in 1779 near New Hope, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After a brief education and the death of his father, Ingham worked as paper maker's apprentice for five years before returning to help run his family's farm.
In 1798, to help supplement the family's income, Ingham went to New Jersey, where he worked at a paper mill. Returning home, he opened his own mill and pursued politics, becoming a member of the state House of Representatives in 1806. After serving one two-year term, Ingham returned to the family farm, where he sat as justice of the peace for Bucks County from 1808 to 1812 and from 1813 to 1818 served as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives.

In 1818, Ingham moved back to Pennsylvania where he became the chief clerk for the courts of Bucks County. A year later, he left that post to become the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He served in this capacity for one year before returning to Congress as a representative from 1822 to 1829.

In 1829, President Andrew Jackson tapped Ingham to become U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, a position Ingham held from 1829 to 1831, when he resigned amidst controversy surrounding the "Eaton Affair." He then returned to Pennsylvania, where he pursued various business interests, including his paper mill and the development of anthracite coal fields. Samuel D. Ingham died in 1860 and is buried in the Solebury Presbyterian Churchyard in Solebury, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

This partially printed Treasury Department document is dated December 30, 1830. It concerns goods imported from Hamburg to New York and is addressed to the Collector of the Customs of that port. The document is signed by Ingham as Secretary of the Treasury. $250.00