Vitruvius Jackson Kennedy (1841-1890)

From the Tennessee legislative composite, 1882.

  This bearded gentleman is Vitruvius Jackson Kennedy of Tennessee, a physician who served in both houses of the Tennessee State Legislature. Details on Kennedy's life are noticeably absent from the internet and very few sources mention him at great length, with the exception being his service during the Civil War.

   Vitruvius J. Kennedy (most sources list him under the initials "V.J.") was born on July 9, 1840, in Clinton, Tennessee. His father, Jackson J. Kennedy, is mentioned as being a cabinet maker by trade, and when Kennedy enlisted for military service during the early months of the Civil War, he listed this as his primary occupation. Genealogical websites have been quite a blessing when it comes to finding any information on Kennedy. A statute book also contains Kennedy's name and lists him as a member of the First Regiment of the Tennessee Volunteer Light Artillery. 

  At some point in the years following the war, Kennedy earned a degree to practice medicine (several sources list him with the title of "Dr.") but no available source states what school he attended or what year he graduated. 

  Following his service in the Civil War, Kennedy entered politics, hence his inclusion here. He was elected to the Tennessee State House of Representatives in 1880 and served in the legislative session of 1881-1882. The portrait of him shown above was found on the House of Representatives composite picture taken during his service. During this term, he chaired the committee on Public Printing and was a member of the committees on Banks, Charitable Institutions, and Sanitation. Kennedy was later elected to the Tennessee State Senate, and served from 1887-1889, representing both Hamilton and Marion County.

Portrait from the Tennessee senate composite photo, 1887-88.

   A death date originally couldn't be found for Vitruvius Kennedy, until a useful book entitled the Congressional Serial Set (1912) gave a passage on his widow applying for a pension. The book lists him as dying on July 7, 1890, of "cancer of the larger intestine", two days before his 49th birthday. He was later interred at the Welsh-Rogers Cemetery in Sale Creek, Tennessee. A small obituary for Kennedy (published in the July 9, 1890 edition of the Nashville Tennessean) denotes his traveling to Nashville for surgery stemming from his stomach and bowel issues. This surgery was performed, but Kennedy died "of secondary shock" a few days later. This same obituary details his being a leading Mason in his area, and in January 1890 had represented his local lodge in the Grand Lodge of Tennessee.

  In an aside note, Kennedy's first name "Vitruvius" stems from a Roman architect, writer, and engineer named Vitruvius. This obscure Roman figure has been called by some sources as the "world's first known engineer", but it is unknown as to why V.J. Kennedy was endowed with this highly unusual first name. 

From the Nashville Tennessean, July 9, 1890.

Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer (1893-1964), Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer Jr. (1926-2020)

From the Annapolis Capitol, November 3, 1948.

    A seven-term member of Congress from Maryland, Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer had earlier represented Prince George's County in the state Senate for fifteen years. He was born on September 30, 1893, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, the son of Frederick (1856-1929) and Lucinda Ashton Claggett Sasscer (1857-1921).  Sasscer attended schools local to Prince George's County and later graduated from the Tome School in Port Deposit.
   After graduating high school, Sasscer continued his education at the Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He graduated from here in 1914 and passed his bar exam the same year. Within three years of opening a law practice, Sasscer signed on to serve his country overseas during World War I, being a first lieutenant in the 59th Artillery. In 1919 he married to Agnes Goffren (1891-1984), to whom he was wed for over forty years. The couple would have three children, Agnes Lansdale, Lucy Claggett, and Lansdale Ghiselin Jr. (born 1926). Of these children Lansdale G. Sasscer Jr. would follow his father into public life, being an attorney and four-term member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
   Following his return from military service Sasscer recommenced with his law practice and in November 1921 won election to the Maryland State Senate. He would serve in that body for sixteen years (1922-1938) and was the president of this body during the sessions of 1935 and 1937, as well as chairing the committees on Finance and Judicial Proceedings. In addition to his tenure in the state senate, Sasscer served as part of the Maryland delegation to the 1924 and 1936 Republican National Conventions.
  In 1938 Lansdale Sasscer announced that he'd be seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor of Maryland in that year's September primary. As one of four candidates vying for the nomination, Sasscer faced an uphill battle and placed fourth on election day, polling 23, 587 votes to Herbert O'Conor's winning total of 147,613.  O'Conor would go on to win the general election that November and served as Maryland Governor until being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1946.
   Fate intervened in Sasscer's political fortunes in December 1938 when seven-term Maryland Congressman Stephen Warfield Gambrill died in office in Washington, D.C. A few weeks following Gambrill's death, a special election was held in February 1939 to fill the vacant seat, with Lansdale G. Sasscer being the Democratic nominee. Running against Sasscer in this special election was Albert Kingsley Love, who had run three earlier losing candidacies for Congress. When the votes were tallied it was Sasscer who won out, besting Love by a vote of 23, 287 to 4, 742.

                           This painting of Sasscer is in the possession of the Maryland State Archives.

   Sasscer would win his first full term in the house in November 1940, beating Republican nominee John Torvestad by over 30,000 votes. He successively won his reelection bids in 1942, 1944, 1946, 1948, and 1950, serving nearly 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. In early 1952 Sasscer entered the Democratic primary for U.S. Senator from Maryland, and in May of that year lost out to state senator George Perry Mahoney, 122,679 votes to 136, 932.
   Following his senatorial defeat, Sasscer finished his final term in Congress, which concluded in January 1953. He wasn't a candidate for renomination and after leaving the government returned to his law practice in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. It was here that he died on May 5, 1964, at age 70, and he was subsequently interred in the Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery in that town. Agnes Goffren Sasscer survived her husband by two decades, dying in 1984 at age 93 and was also interred in the Trinity Cemetery.

Sasscer in the latter period of his Congressional service, 1952.

                                                                   Lansdale G. Sasscer Jr.

   Politics continued in the Sasscer family with Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer Jr. (born September 25, 1926) who represented Prince George's County in the Maryland legislature for two four-year terms. A veteran of World War II, Sasscer served in the Coast Guard and was a graduate of the University of Virginia in the class of 1950. Admitted to the Maryland bar in 1951, Sasscer won election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1954 and would serve in that body from 1955-1963. 
   In 1962 Sasscer was an unsuccessful candidate for the state senate, and after his service in the house of delegates returned to the practice of law until his retirement in the 1990s. A member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bar Associations, Sasscer was also a member of the board of directors for the Bank of Brandywine. He died at the Sasscer family home on April 13, 2020, aged 93.

Rolla Coral McMillen (1880-1961), Rolla Covel Griffin (1855-1939), Rolla Clayton Van Kirk (1894-1957), Rolla David Calkins (1859-?), Rolla Wood Coleman (1877-1954), Rolla Miner Chase (1854-1919), Rolla Renfro Rothwell (1874-1931), Rolla William Prothero (1881-1957), Rolla Preston Heren (1869-1942)

From the 1948 Illinois State Blue Book.

   U.S. Representative from Illinois Rolla Coral McMillen is another in a long line of obscure congressmen whom I've known about for years but unfortunately never had a face to place with his name. That fact changed earlier today when I finally located one courtesy of a 1948 Illinois Blue Book. With that tidbit out of the way, we'll begin with the birth of Congressman McMillen, which occurred in Piatt County, Illinois on October 5, 1880. 

  A son of George E. (1849-1929) and Christina Leatherman McMillen (1850-1922), Rolla attended schools local to the Monticello, Illinois area and was a student at the University of Illinois. He concluded his studies in 1906 when he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, and a short while later opened a law practice in Decatur, Illinois. McMillen married in the 1910s to Ruth Roberts (1889-1978), with whom he had three children: Thomas Roberts (1916-2002), Anne Herron McMillen Beall (1918-2012), and Martha Hathaway McMillen Dolan (1922-2003).

  A member of the Decatur law firm of McMillen, McMillen, and Roberts, McMillen first entered Decatur public life in 1916 with his service on the Decatur and Macon County Hospital Board. He served as board president from 1939-40 and was a former president of the Macon County Tuberculosis Association. McMillen also was retained as attorney for the Decatur Sanitary District and was its secretary, serving for an indeterminate period.

  1940 proved to be an important year for McMillen, and in that year was named to the Illinois State Housing Board. That same year he was elected as a delegate from Illinois to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and was a firm supporter of then-presidential candidate Robert A. Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio. Politics further beckoned to McMillen in January 1944 with the death of Congressman William Wheat, then the U.S. Representative from McMillen's district. Several days following his death McMillen announced his candidacy to fill the seat, stating: 

"I desire to devote my effort at this particular time to government service. Training as a lawyer should qualify me for Congress. Any good I can do would be sufficient reward."

From the Tuscola Journal, April 13, 1944.

  On June 13, 1944, Rolla McMillen won the special election to Congress, polling 4,722 votes. He was named to the committees on Coinage, Weights, and Measures; Elections No. 2; and Pensions, and in November 1944 was a successful candidate for reelection, besting Democratic George Brown by a vote of 70,942 to 56,247. He won a third term in 1946 "sweeping all eight counties of the district", and in 1947 came out firmly in favor of the Taft-Hartley Act, a notable piece of legislation that restricted the power of labor unions. Pro-labor forces in McMillen's district cried foul, and a combination of both Democratic and Republican attempted to thwart his renomination in the April 1948 primary but were unsuccessful. He went on to win reelection in November by a wide margin, and during the 1949-50 session was a member of the committee on Banking and Currency. Further particulars of McMillen's six years in Congress saw him support the development of the United Nations, "civilian control of atomic energy", and opposed the construction of a 50,000,000 stadium that was to be built in Washington, D.C. McMillen also undertook a fact-finding trip through Europe in the late 1940s, and subsequently "voted for foreign aid, for the Marshall Plan, and for its extension."

   After leaving Congress in 1951 McMillen and his wife left Illinois for Clearwater, Florida, where they resided for several years. They moved to Evanston, Illinois in 1958, where they resided until Rolla McMillen's death on May 6, 1961, at a local hospital. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur.

From the Decatur Daily Review, May 7, 1961.

From Vermont, A Souvenir of Its Government, 1904-05 (author's collection).

  Possessing one of the most impressive mustaches this author has ever seen, one-term Vermont state legislator Rolla Covel Griffin was born in the town of Sudbury on October 27, 1855, one of nine children born to Benoni (1819-1905) and Sarah Griffin. A former state representative himself, Benoni Griffin represented Sudbury in the legislature from 1880-82. 

  Rolla Griffin attended schools local to the Sudbury area and engaged in farming for the majority of his life. He married in Brandon, Vermont on October 11, 1896, to Agnes Gertrude Felton (1867-1910). A widow, Agnes Felton Griffin had one child from her prior marriage, a daughter, Luella. The couple was married for fourteen years until her death in August 1910 and had six children, Albert Hollis (1897-1919), Murray Young, LaRoy, Benoni Simeon (1902-1963), Arlena, and Covel Ernest (1910-1969). 

  Rolla C. Giffin is mentioned as holding the office of "lister" in his native Sudbury before his election to the Vermont State House of Representatives in 1903. Serving during the 1904-06 session, Griffin was named to the committee on Mileage and Debentures.

   Griffin's life following his service in the legislature largely remains a mystery. He died in Sudbury on October 5, 1939, at age 83, and was buried alongside his wife in the Willow Brook Cemetery in Sudbury. In an interesting political tidbit, unusual names and political service continued in the Griffin family with Rolla's son Benoni Simeon, who represented Sudbury in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1961 until his death on New Year's Day, 1963.

   And in the third update to this article (September 26, 2012), a third political "Rolla" has been located......Rolla Clayton Van Kirk of Brunswick, Nebraska! 

  Born in the town mentioned above on February 13, 1894, Rolla Van Kirk was the son of Clay (1859-1941) and Mabel Staples Van Kirk (1870-1961). He received his education in the Brunswick local schools and went on to study at the Yankton College and the University of Nebraska. Van Kirk also found distinction as a private in the U.S. Marines during the First World War and was later named as a lieutenant in the Nebraska National Guard.

   Van Kirk received a bachelor of laws degree from the University of Nebraska in the early 1920s and was admitted to the Nebraska bar in 1923. Shortly thereafter he began a law practice, eventually becoming a partner in the firm of Burkett, Wilson, Brown, Wilson, and Van Kirk. He married in 1924 to Ms. Lenora C. Burkett (1893-1966), with whom he would have one son, Clayton B. Van Kirk (born 1929.)

   Rolla C. Van Kirk's political career began when he was in his early thirties, winning election to the Nebraska State House of Representatives in 1927. Here he represented the county of  Lincoln for four years until 1931 when he won a seat in the Nebraska State Senate.

  After leaving the Senate in 1933, Van Kirk continued with his earlier law practice and was also active in several fraternal organizations, holding memberships in the Nebraska State Bar Association, the American Legion, the Reserve Officers Association, and the Masons. Van Kirk died at age 63 on May 25, 1957, and was survived by his wife Lenora, and son Clayton. Both Rolla and his wife (who died in 1966 at age 73) were subsequently interred in the Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska.

  In this fourth update (December 2, 2012) to the "Rolla" profile, the life of Missouri State Representative Rolla David Calkins is examined. Little could be found about Mr. Calkins, who was born on May 13, 1859, in Livingston County, Illinois. He attended school in Livingston County and as an adolescent was employed as a traveling salesman for a time while pursuing the study of law.

  Calkins married in January 1885 to Mary Weyand in Bloomington and later migrated to Missouri, being admitted to the bar in that state in 1889. He spent the next few years engaged in the practice of law while also being a lecturer with the Lyceum Bureau of Kansas City. He was elected to the Missouri State House of Representatives in 1908 from Crawford County, and during his one term of service chaired the committee on Agriculture. 

   Calkins was unsuccessful in his attempt for a second term in 1910. Nothing else is known of his life, and his date of death is also unknown at this time.

Rolla W. Coleman, from the Topeka State Journal, Jan. 29, 1918

   Next up is Rolla Wood Coleman of Merriam, Kansas. Even more obscure than the preceding man, Mr. Coleman served multiple terms in the Kansas State Senate from 1917 until the mid-1940s. Coleman was born in Nemaha County, Kansas on August 23, 1877, a son of Albert Loring and Marietta Coleman. He went on to marry Lina Burgner (1882-1970) in 1905 and later became a lawyer of some repute in Kansas, being licensed to practice law in Kansas, California, and Missouri as well as the U.S. Federal Courts.

   Elected to the Kansas Senate from Johnson County in 1917, Coleman served uninterrupted terms until 1923. He was returned to the Senate in the election of 1936 and served six more terms from 1937-1949. He died in Kansas City, Kansas on April 17, 1954, at age 76 and was later interred at the Olathe Memorial Cemetery in Olathe, Kansas. He was survived by his wife Lina, who died in 1970 at age 88.

  In yet another new "Rolla" discovery, it's Mr. Rolla Miner Chase of the county of Windham, Vermont. A lifelong resident of that county, Mr. Chase is the only politician profiled thus far who was a dentist by occupation, and in his chosen profession he experienced much success. While being a dentist with an odd name is interesting enough, Chase was chosen to represent his hometown of Bethel, Vermont in the State House of Representatives in 1900.

   Born in the town of South Royalton, Vermont on September 4, 1854, Rolla M. Chase was one of four children born to Moses and Rosina Hill Chase. The Chase family moved to Bethel in 1857 and Rolla and his fellow siblings received their education in the common schools of this town. Rolla began studying dentistry in Bethel at age 18 and in 1874 enrolled in the Dental College at Boston.

  Chase graduated from the Boston Dental College in 1876 and soon thereafter returned to Bethel to open a dental office. He married here in 1879 to Susan Elizabeth Newell, with whom he had two children, George Berry Chase (born 1881) and Susan Newell Chase (1882-1900).

  Throughout the 1870s and 80s, Chase practiced in Bethel, and in 1890 entered the Baltimore Medical College to study medicine. He graduated from this institution the following year as a Doctor of Medicine. The History of Windsor County, Vermont notes that in addition to his practice of dentistry, Chase was a "patentee of a number of useful inventions in dentistry, prominent among which are Chase's Wedge Forcep, Chase's Combination Plate, and a Rubber Heater, patents of recognized utility and generally by the profession throughout the country."

  While still engaged in his practice Chase also became a founder of the Vermont State Dental Society in 1876, later serving as its president for one year. In 1882 Chase was appointed by Governor John Barstow to the Vermont State Dental Examining Board, serving there for eighteen years. 

   As a popular figure in the town of Bethel, Rolla Chase was also sought out to serve in many non-medical areas of public life. He was a member of the local school board for several years and in 1894-1895 served as a vice president of the National Republican League Convention. In November of 1900, he was elected to a term in the Vermont House of Representatives from Bethel and is noted by the Genealogical and Family History of Vermont, Vol. II as an "active and earnest legislator and was made secretary of the general committee."

  After leaving the legislature in January 1902 Chase continued in the practice of dentistry while also maintaining involvement in a number of local civic and fraternal organizations, including the Knights Templar and the White River Lodge, No. 90 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. In 1907 he was named as a delegate to the Imperial Council of Masons in Los Angeles. Rolla Miner Chase died in Bethel on June 10, 1919, at age 65. The portrait of him shown above appeared in the History of Windsor County, Vermont, published in 1891.

From the Moberly Weekly Monitor, April 2, 1931.

   For many decades a prominent newspaperman in Moberly, Missouri, Rolla Renfro Rothwell also served as the Mayor of that city for six terms, the longest tenure of any Moberly mayor up to that time. The son of former U.S. Representative Gideon Rothwell and the former Bettie Ragland, Rolla R. Rothwell was born in Moberly on October 13, 1874. He attended both the Fleets Military Academy and the University of Missouri and married in February 1899 to Fannie Fern Sims (1878-1968), with whom he would have one son, Rolla R. Rothwell Jr. (1907-1949).

  Before his career in publishing and politics, Rolla Rothwell was employed in the clothing store of William Little, and entered into newspaper publishing in the 1890s, working in the printing plant for the Armstrong, Missouri Herald. The 1931 Moberly Monitor obituary for Rothwell notes that during his time on the Herald he "had his first experience in operating a linotype machine, then a new invention", and his experience here led him to join the staff of the Moberly Daily and Weekly Monitor in 1903, being a partner of J.W. Sydenstricker and later, Hardin Sims (Rothwell's father in law.) Rothwell would become managing editor of the Monitor, which would later undergo a consolidation into the Monitor-Index in 1919. Rothwell's obituary in the Monitor notes that even after he attained the office of Mayor he maintained an active interest in the paper's management, noting that:

"While he maintained no financial interest and had no voice in directing the editorial policies of the Monitor Index, he was the most valuable member of the staff."

Mayor Rolla R. Rothwell, from the Ogden Standard, December 6, 1913.

  Rolla Rothwell first emerged on the Moberly political scene in 1907, when in that year he was elected Mayor for the first of six terms, spread out over a period of twenty-four years. He was returned to the mayor's office in 1909 and during his second term received glowing press in Volume 37 of  the Typographical Journal, which noted that:

"Mayor Rothwell has made the city of Moberly one of the best Mayors the town has ever had. Sewers have been extended, streets paved,  and the city has become the owner of the water system since Mr. Rothwell became the head of our city government. He is a young man and he is at the head of what we call our "young man's rule."

  In 1910 Rothwell (while still the incumbent mayor) launched an unsuccessful candidacy for Randolph County clerk, losing to Republican Green Terrill. Rothwell was defeated for reelection as Mayor in 1911 by Democratic candidate W.P. Cave but was not out of the political spotlight for long. He was returned to the mayor's office in the 1913 election and in the year following his victory again became a candidate for county clerk, this time being successful. He served as clerk until January 1919, having been defeated in the November 1918 election.
  Five years after his defeat as county clerk Rothwell sought a fifth term as mayor, and made a successful run, serving a term that extended from 1923-25. He wasn't a candidate in 1924 and the new Moberly Mayor, S.P. Towles, suffered the misfortune of dying shortly after being sworn in as mayor. Rothwell lost out again in the special election in 1925 to fill this vacancy. Rothwell was elected to his fifth term as mayor in 1927, his sixth term in 1929, and in 1931 ran unopposed for a seventh term. Sadly, Rothwell did not live to serve out this term, as he died a week before the election on April 1, 1931, at age 56. The mayor had been attending a "paving conference" at the Recreation Cafe in Moberly when he suffered a "cerebral hemorrhage" while having dinner and was later "carried to a room above the cafe" where he died about thirty minutes later. 
  The loss of the popular mayor was felt throughout Moberly, and the April 2, 1931 edition of the Moberly Monitor featured a large portrait of Rothwell (shown above) along with glowing tributes to his stewardship of the city. Chester Bradley (a Monitor columnist) gave a stirring memorial to the late mayor, writing that:

"Mayor Rothwell lived and died for his friends and his home town. He was thinking and planning for both until the end....The Mayor was sincere as always when thinking and dealing with his home people. He took great pride in his great number of good friends. ''And they are from every strata'', he would always say,''I think as much of a friend if he is a true friend whether he is a a banker or common laborer."

  Following his death, Rolla Renfro Rothwell was interred at the Oakland Cemetery in Moberly and was survived by his wife and son. Rothwell later received the posthumous honor of having the 447-acre Rothwell Park in Moberly named after him. The park still exists today, being called "the jewel of Moberly Parks and Recreation."

A portion of Rothwell's obituary from the April 2, 1931 Moberly Monitor.

Rolla W. Prothero.

  In yet another update (April 11, 2018) to an already lengthy article, another political "Rolla" has been found...Rolla William Prothero of Baraboo, Wisconsin. A multi-term mayor of that city, Prothero was born in Sauk County on January 2, 1881, the son of Lewis John and Mabel (Wirtz) Prothero. Prior to his election as mayor, he was affiliated with the auto business. Prothero served as Baraboo's mayor from 1930-36 and again from 1950-54. Three years following his leaving office, Prothero dropped dead of a heart attack in the yard of his home while working on his car. He was later interred at the Walnut Hill Cemetery in Baraboo.

From the Dillon Examiner, March 4, 1921.

  Another obscure "Rolla" who was elected to public office was Rolla Preston Heren of Montana, who served multiple terms in the state senate. Born in Missouri in 1869, Rolla P. Heren was one of several children born to Solomon Preston and Mariah (Myers) Heren. After attending college Heren began a long career as a livestock inspector and cattle dealer, joining with his brother Claude as an inspector at the Chicago stockyards. Heren married in Missouri in 1896 to Florence Darrah, to whom he was wed until her death. After her passing Heren remarried in Denver, Colorado in 1914 to Julia Scossa, who would survive him.

  Following his return to Montana, Heren resided in Miles City where he continued with his earlier work and served several terms as president of the Montana Stockgrower's Association in the early 20th century. In 1917 he was elected to represent Custer County in the Montana Senate, where he continued to serve until 1925, and during the 1921-23 session held the post of president pro temp.

  Little else is known of Heren's life after 1925, except notice of his removal to Phoenix, Arizona, where he died in 1942. A burial location for Heren remains unknown at this time.

Mazeppa Thomas Turner (1840-1920)

   A pioneer citizen and politician in the Oklahoma Territory, Mazeppa Thomas Turner served in the first session of the Oklahoma State House of Representatives in 1908. He was originally a resident of Virginia, being born in Greenville County on May 8, 1840, and later moved with his family to Mississippi at age five. 
  Turner removed to Shelby County, Tennessee in the late 1850s and married here in 1860 to Laura Johnson, with whom he would have five children: Elizabeth B. (1865-1901), Edward Bynum (1872-1947), Jack (1874-1890), and Polly (1878-1953). Laura Johnson Turner died in 1890 at age 50, and a few months after her death Mazeppa remarried to Alice Atkins, and three further children (Angie Mae, Reginald, and Mildred) were born to this union.
  Turner joined the Confederate Army shortly after the Civil War began and served under the command of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest (later infamous for founding the Ku Klux Klan). Turner subsequently saw action at the battles of Chickamauga, Shiloh, and Selma, and after the hostilities ceased, resettled in the Choctaw Indian Territory.
  Throughout the succeeding years, Turner engaged in farming pursuits and cattle raising in his native Murray County, Oklahoma. The First Administration of Oklahoma (where the above picture of Turner was located) also notes that he served as a Davis, Oklahoma city alderman before going to the legislature. When Oklahoma gained statehood in 1907, Turner was urged by the residents of Murray County to run for a seat in the newly established State House of Representatives. He defeated his opponent J.W. McCall by over 1,000 votes and took his seat in 1908. 
  While serving in the legislature, Turner became a prime mover in the development and construction of the Oklahoma School for the Deaf and was one of the drafters of the Oklahoma State Constitution. He also held a seat on the committee on Charities and Corrections during his first term. Turner was later elected to a second term in the statehouse in 1910 before retiring to private life. The earlier mentioned First Administration of Oklahoma sums up Turner's stint in the legislature as being "one of the quiet, conscientious, hardworking members of the house."
  Mazeppa Turner died in Murray County at age 80 on August 29, 1920, and shortly thereafter was interred at the Dougherty Cemetery in Dougherty, Oklahoma. On an interesting side note, Turner Falls (a large waterfall/park located near Davis, Oklahoma) was named in honor of Mazeppa Turner in the years after his death.

                                                                Mazeppa Turner, 1840-1920.

Calistus Asahel Bruer (1885-1949)

  Livingston County, Illinois resident Calistus Asahel Bruer is the newest addition to the Strangest Names In American Political History, and despite having a dearth of sources mentioning him, it is worth noting that he represented his county for over two decades in the Illinois state legislature. A lifelong Illinoisan, Calistus Asahel Bruer was born in Owego township in Livingston County on September 8, 1885, the son of Asahel B. and Cynthia (Wagner) Bruer. 
  A student in schools local to Livingston County, Bruer would also attend the Pontiac High School and for four years was a student at Lake Forest University in Illinois. Bruer's time at that college saw him excel on the school's debate team and also won the Oratorical Declamation prize in his first semester. He graduated in the class of 1910 and on January 8, 1918, married in Pontiac to Anna Brinkman (1885-1977). The couple were wed until his death in 1949 and had one son, Harlan (1919-2012).
  Following his marriage, Bruer settled into a career as a farmer and stock raiser in the town of Pontiac. He would become a leading name in the fraternal and civic life of his town and county, holding memberships in the Woodmen of the World, the Masons, Odd Fellows, and the Order of the Eastern Star. Bruer would also serve as secretary and treasurer of the Livingston County Farm Bureau prior to and during his legislative service.
  Bruer began his political career at the local level, serving at various times as Owego town clerk and supervisor. Announcing his candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives in 1922, he would win the Republican primary that April (polling over 18,000 votes) and that November won the general election, garnering over 25,000 votes. Bruer's first term saw him named to the committees on Agriculture, the Civil Service, Education, Elections, Farm Drainage, Fish and Game, and he would subsequently win reelection to the legislature in 1924, 1926 and 1928.

From the 1923 Illinois State Blue Book.

   Calistus A. Bruer was defeated for reelection in the Republican primary of 1930, polling a few thousand votes behind winning candidates Fred Bestold and Charles M. Turner. Despite this loss, Bruer continued in state government during the 1931-33 session of the legislature as a member of the state Board of Agricultural Advisors as a representative from Pontiac in Livingston County. In November 1932 Bruer won his fifth term in the house, and during the 1933-35 session was named to three new committees, those being Banks, Banking and Building and Loan Associations; Senatorial Apportionment; and the committee to Visit Educational Institutions.
  November 1934 saw Bruer win his sixth term in the statehouse, and he would continue to be reelected to consecutive terms in the legislature for the next fourteen years. His final term in the legislature began in January 1949 and during that year's session sat on the committees on Agriculture; Appropriations; Banks and Building and Loans; and Elections and Reapportionment. Calistus Bruer died in office on October 1, 1949, one month after his 64th birthday. He was survived by his wife and son and was later interred at the Patty Cemetery in Pontiac, Illinois.

From the 1933-34 Illinois Blue Book.

McKaskia Stearns Bonnifield (1833-1913)

   A pioneer citizen in both the Kansas and Nevada Territories, McKaskia Stearns Bonnifield was originally born in West Virginia on September 14, 1833 (the year 1834 is also given by some sources as his year of birth.) The Bonnifield family moved to Iowa when McKaskia was three, and it is interesting to note that he was one of 15 children born into the Bonnifield family before his father died in 1838. The few sources that detail Bonnifield's life mention him by the initials "M.S.", and when he was originally discovered by me, I had to do quite a search to find out what his first and middle names actually stood for!
   McKaskia Bonnifield attended the Alleghany College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and married in this town in 1855 to Laura Ames, with whom he had three daughters, Emily (1882-1927), Delia and Dora (1872-1928). After graduating from Alleghany, Bonnifield moved to Kansas, where he passed the state bar exam in 1856. During his stay in Kansas, Bonnifield was active in the Free-Soil Party movement and was elected to a term in the Kansas State Senate in the late 1850s. Strangely, considering the notability of this office, no sources mention how long his service was. He eventually left Kansas and resettled in Humboldt County, Nevada in 1862.
   Within a few short years of his moving to Nevada, Bonnifield became known as one of the leading lawyers in the territory and also staked a claim in the state's vast mining industry. Public office also beckoned to Bonnifield, and in 1868 he was elected to the Nevada Territorial Senate, where he served until 1872. In 1887 Laura Ames Bonnifield died after thirty-two years of marriage and two years later McKaskia remarried to Nellie Lovelock, a widowed resident of Winnemucca. In 1892 Nellie gave birth to a son, McKaskia Jr., who died a little over a year later on February 12, 1894.
   Further political honors were accorded to him in 1892 when he was named as a Democratic presidential elector, and is remarked by the History of Nevada: Her Resources and People as carrying "the vote of the state to Washington, the three electors casting their ballots engraved on silver plates." Three years after he served as an elector, Bonnifield was elected as an Associate Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court and served on the bench for six years. 
  After he retired from the court in 1901, Bonnifield reestablished his earlier law practice in the city of Winnemucca, Nevada, and also maintained active involvement in the Masons, Independent Order of Odd-Fellows and was a member of the local Methodist Episcopal Church. He died in Winnemucca on July 14, 1913, at age 79, and was survived by his second wife Nellie. The portrait of McKaskia Bonnifield shown above was discovered in the 1904 work A History of the State of Nevada: Her Resources and People. This book also stands as one of the few available resources that give a proper biography of Bonnifield and his political/judicial career.

                                                              Bonnifield in his later years.

Lispenard Stewart (1855-1927)

   This unusually named member of the New York State Senate was born on June 19, 1855 in Westchester County, New York, the son of Lispenard and Mary Rhinelander Rogers Stewart. Being a child born into wealth (one of his relatives was famed dry goods merchant and millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart), Lispenard Stewart received his education at private schools in New York City and later attended Yale University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1876. After his tenure at Yale, Stewart began the study of law at the Columbia College Law School, receiving his law degree in 1878. Stewart is also recorded as being a lifelong bachelor, making him one of the few politicians profiled thus far to have never married.
   The name of Lispenard Stewart grew to be a prominent one in New York social circles during the late 19th century, and he was often named to various positions of public trust. In 1885 he was named to the Committee of 100 important New York citizens to accompany President Ulysses Grant's body from his home in Saratoga, New York to its resting place in New York City. Stewart was also named to the Citizen's Committee that put together the celebration for the 100th anniversary of President Washington's inauguration in 1889.
  While active in the social life of his native city, Lispenard Stewart was acknowledged as a skilled politician. A "staunch Republican", and for many years he was selected as a frequent delegate to New York Republican party conventions. In 1888 he was named as a Presidential Elector for New York and attended the Republican National Convention in Chicago that nominated Benjamin Harrison for the Presidency.
   In the year following his service as Presidential Elector Stewart was nominated for a seat in the New York State Senate. He would win that election, and in that year (1889) became the only Republican State Senator elected in New York. During his Senate service, Stewart gained lasting notoriety by introducing the bill that created the Rapid Transit Commission for New York City. An excellent write-up on Stewart's Senate tenure was given in the 1890 Annual Record of the Assemblymen and Senators from the City of New York, which notes that he: "is a man of large means, and spends most of his time attending to real estate matters, practicing law incidentally." Stewart's character is also attested to, with passing mention going to his opinions "being sought with respect", and that "already a useful member, Mr. Stewart could,  with greater independence, easily wield a weighty influence for good."
   Following his stint in the state senate Stewart continued to be politically involved, serving again as a Republican National Convention delegate in 1896. He was named to a seat on the New York State Commission of Prisons from New York's 1st judicial district and would serve as its President from 1895-1902. A biography on Stewart (featured in the 1898 work Representative Men of New York, Volume II) states that he also enjoyed traveling and hunting, visiting countries such as Tunis, Russia, Mexico, and Egypt. The book further attests that "many heads of moose, elk, caribou, bear, manitou sheep, and deer testify to his skill with the rifle."
   Stewart spent his final years engaged in business and charity endeavors, dying at age 72 on October 15, 1927. He was subsequently interred in a lavish mausoleum at the Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. The rare portrait of him shown above was discovered in the earlier mentioned Representative Men of New York, Volume II. In addition to that portrait, another rare picture appeared in an 1890 edition of the Frederick, Maryland News in an article about "eligible bachelors of New York" and is shown below.

         This Lispenard Stewart obituary appeared in the Oct. 22, 1927 edition of the Newport Mercury.

Treverious Glorian Price (1846-1922)

From Stone's History of Colorado, Volume III.

  This intriguingly named man is Treverious Glorian Price, an obscure resident of Iowa who made his name (politically speaking) in the Colorado Territory. Despite his prominence in Colorado political circles, little information could be found on Price, and the majority of the information herein was discovered in the third volume of Wilbur Fisk Stone's masterwork History of Colorado, published in 1918 and the History of Clayton County, Iowa, published in 1882. Price's unusual first name is also recorded as being spelled three different ways, including "Trevereous" and "Trevious". With all of these spelling variations floating around, one should note that Price's name is abbreviated by a good majority of period literature as "T.G. Price."
   Treverious G. Price was born on June 27, 1846, in the town of Jefferson in Clayton County, Iowa, the fourth-born son of Judge Eliphalet (1811-1880) and Mary Cottle Price. While Eliphalet Price himself had an odd name, he obviously believed his children were bound for great things and decided to bestow fascinating names upon each of them. Besides our subject Treverious Glorian there was Realto Exzeque (born 1840), Valmah Valentine (1842-1864), Avalo Jersey (1844-1871), Eliphalet Inthe (born 1851), and Alpine Wherin (born 1855)......a truly impressive brood of interestingly named offspring!
   T. G. Price attended school in Clayton County and spent the majority of his adolescence working on his father's farm. In 1862 he entered the Upper Iowa University and after one year of study left to enlist in Co. A of the 47th Iowa Infantry. He was later deployed to Mississippi, where he was "principally on garrison duty" in the town of Holly Springs. After being mustered out of service in 1865, Price returned to Clayton County and studied law for a time before finding employment with the Northern Pacific railroad, helping to construct telegraph lines in the Dakota territory. In 1873 he took on a job as a railway postal clerk/mail agent and served in this capacity until the end of the 1870s. In November 1873 Price married Ms. Mary Hawn (1843-1879), with whom he had one son, Avalo Price. Treverious and Mary were married for only six years before she died at age 36 in Elkader, Iowa in August 1879.
   In 1878 Price made an attempt at his first political office, running as a Republican for the position of the recorder for Clayton County. Although he was "defeated at the polls by a coalition of Democrats and Greenbackers", Price eventually won out, later being appointed as the Postmaster for Elkader in February 1881. He served in this post for an indeterminate length, and in 1887 Price left Clayton County and relocated to the Colorado Territory. He would eventually settle in the area that became Kit Carson County and resided here for the remainder of his life.
   Price built a frame house in the town of Burlington and thereafter began the raising of cattle on his property. It was also during this time that he was elected as judge of the newly established Kit Carson County. Price later was elected to the Colorado State House of Representatives in 1892, and served in the next two sessions of the legislature in 1893 and 1894, holding a seat on the house committees on the State Penitentiary, Revision and Constitution, Stock, the World's Fair, and chaired the committee on Fees and Salaries.
  "T.G." Price was returned to the state house in the 1896 election year and served another term in the legislature from 1897-98, being named to the committees on Elections and Appointments, Insurance and Banking, and Road and Bridges. Following this term, he won election as the Mayor of Burlington, Colorado, and would hold that post for two terms. Price also held the offices of President of the Kit Carson County Board of County Visitors, clerk of the district court, and was a notary public for that county from 1907-1911.  In addition to being a prominent public official in Kit Carson, Price was an active Mason, being a longstanding member of the Burlington Lodge #77. 
   The latter portion of Price's life is a total mystery, although it has been found that he died sometime in 1922 (via a Find-a-Grave listing) when he would have been around 75 years of age. He was later interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

From the Davenport Democrat Leader, April 30, 1922.