Ira Greenlief Hersey was born in Hodgdon, Maine on March 31, 1858 and attended local schools before taking a classical course at Ricker Institute in Houlton.
Following graduation he entered the office of Lyman S. Strickland to prepare himself as a lawyer. Admitted to be Maine Bar in 1880, he opened a law office in Houlton and established a fairly lucrative practice.
In his early years Ira was a prohibitionist and fancied himself an orator, two qualities which when found together in a Maine person inevitably lead to politics.
Ira’s first venture into the field of politics was not an auspicious one. Running for Governor on the Prohibitionist Party ticket he garnered a total of 2721 votes.
Seeing no future in that Ira was converted to Republicanism, an event described by Democrat Pattangall as follows: "Mr. Hersey is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias and a Methodist. He is likewise a member of the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Epworth League and the Maine Legislature. He was once a prohibitionist but has fallen sufficiently from grace to become a Republican, and if he keeps on he may sometime be an Elk."
Elected to the Maine House in 1909 and again in 1911 he was a member of the Senate from 1913 to 1916, serving as President of that body in his second term.
Elected to Congress in 1917 he served Maine for six terms until March 3, 1929.
Defeated for re-nomination in 1928 he was Judge of Probate for Aroostook County from 1934 until 1942 when he retired and moved to Washington, D.C. where he died on May 6, 1943.