Mandeville Treat Ludden (1830-1882), Mandeville Samuel Frost (1845-1922), Mandeville Tyler Mustin (1816-1908), Manderville Tilden Miller (1879-1943)

    A prominent figure in the county of Androscoggin, Maine, Mandeville Treat Ludden received a brief mention in yesterday's article on Liberty Haven Hutchinson, another influential Androscoggin resident and political figure. Hutchinson studied law under Ludden in 1871, and before getting too in-depth on Ludden's life this author should mention that there are some inconsistencies regarding the spelling of his unusual first name. The portrait of Ludden shown above (discovered in the 1982 work Historic Lewiston: Its Government) spells his name with an "r". There are other instances in Maine legislative manuals of this spelling, but the majority of the sources available on his life give the correct spelling as "Mandeville".    
  Mandeville T. Ludden was born in the town of Canton, Maine on February 17, 1830, the son of and attended the Maine Wesleyan Seminary as a youth. He began the study of law under his uncle Timothy Ludden and graduated in 1854 from the prestigious Harvard Law School. The earlier mentioned Historic Lewiston notes that Ludden had the distinction of being the first lawyer admitted to the Androscoggin County bar after that county's incorporation in 1854.
  On New Year's Day 1856 Ludden married Mary E. Jewett (1831-1912) and soon after settled into a law practice with his uncle Timothy in the town of Turner. Mandeville was elected as Androscoggin County attorney in 1863 and was reelected to further terms in that office, his service extending until 1867. Further honors were conferred upon him in 1867 when the citizens of Androscoggin elected him to the Maine State Senate, serving in the legislative sessions of 1868-1869. His term saw him as a member of the committee on the judiciary, and in 1868 acted as senate president pro tempore during the absence of President Joseph H. West.

    In the year following his senate service, Ludden moved to the neighboring city of Lewiston, and two years after his resettlement began service as Lewiston city solicitor. During his tenure as solicitor, he was also elected to the Common Council and Board of Aldermen, serving from 1871-1881. In his last year of service as an alderman, Mandeville Ludden was elected as the Mayor of Lewiston and would serve a one-year term in that post. 
   Shortly after the conclusion of his term Mandeville Ludden died at age 52 on September 21, 1882. A periodical of the time mentions that "in his decease the general public have sustained an inestimable loss" and that he "was a Christian man....respected and esteemed by all who knew him". The Eastern Medical Journal, Volumes I-II (where the above quotations were featured) notes that Ludden's death was "due to that almost always fatal malady, diabetes mellitus". He was later interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Lewiston and was survived by his wife Elizabeth, who died at age 81 in 1912.

From the Rhinebeck Gazette, January 8, 1910.

    Another "Mandeville" who made his name known in public service is Mandeville Samuel Frost of Rhinebeck, New York, who served as Township Supervisor (Mayor) of Rhinebeck for three terms. Born on July 30, 1845, in Clinton, New York, Mandeville S. Frost was the son of Samuel and Barbara Traver Frost. Recorded as attending the "district schools of Clinton" Frost would continue his education at the De Garmo Institute and in 1867 removed to Rhinebeck with his father, and would reside here for the remainder of his life. He married in Rhinebeck in November 1868 to Catherine Marquardt (1850-1928) and later became the father to eight children: Minnie L. (born 1869), Charles M. (1872-1895), Alvah G. (born 1875), Austin (born 1880), Benson (born 1883), Edith (born 1885), Ardelle (born 1888) and Florence (born 1890)

   During his long residency in Rhinebeck Frost served as a school teacher, and also worked at farming. He served at various times as town assessor and as a member of the Dutchess County Rebate Tax Commission, and in 1903 was elected as Supervisor of the town of Rhinebeck. Taking office in 1904, he would serve three terms in office, and upon his retirement from office in January 1910 was remarked by the Rhinebeck Gazette as being:

"A relentless foe of graft and dishonesty and has always been fearlessly outspoken in his oppression to such."

   A member of the St. Paul's Wurttemburg Church, Frost was also a stockholder in the St. Paul's Wurttemburg Cemetery Association. Mandeville Frost and his wife Catherine celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1918 and in 1922 he died at age 77. Frost was later interred at the Wurttemburg Cemetery in Rhinebeck and was survived by his wife Catherine, who died six years after her husband.

  Obscure Butler County, Ohio resident Mandeville Tyler "M.T." Mustin's placement here on the site rests on his one term in the Ohio State House of Representatives, his term extending from 1849-50. Little could be located on Mr. Mustin, and even though he lived to the great age of 92, no photograph or obituary for him could be found.

   Born in Virginia on September 22, 1816, "M.T." Mustin moved with his grandparents to Hardin County, Ohio at age four. They later relocated to the neighboring county of Butler, where during his youth "M.T." taught school. He decided to make teaching his lifelong vocation and is recorded as having taught for over forty years in the "townships of Morgan, Reily, Hanover, and Fairfield." He would marry in 1841 to Rebecca Hand, with whom he had five children.

  Remarked as "one of the Democratic leaders in Butler County", Mustin served Hanover township as its assessor in the mid-1840s and in 1849 began service as Butler County's representative to the Ohio General Assembly. His one term (1849-1851) is given praise in the 1906 Centennial History of Butler County, which notes that he:

"Introduced a number of important bills that became laws; had places on several of the leading committees; and in the general deliberations of the house was an active and influential participant."

Mandeville Tyler Mustin died four days after his 92nd birthday on September 26, 1908. He was later interred at the Oxford Cemetery in Oxford, Ohio.

   This interestingly named politician is Manderville Tilden Miller, a resident of Boone County, West Virginia who served two terms in the West Virginia state senate. Little information could be found on Mr. Miller, with the exception going to a small biography in the third volume of the History of West Virginia Old and New, published in 1923. The picture of Miller shown above (and very likely the only one available of him online) was discovered via the Find-a-Grave website, another one of my favorite internet haunts!
   Manderville T. Miller was born in Low Gap, Boone County,  West Virginia on December 31, 1879, the son of Silvanus and Susan Miller. As a youth, he attended schools local to the Low Gap area and in 1896 began a career as an educator. In addition to his aforementioned teaching career, Miller was also a prominent Baptist minister in the Boone County area and held a pastorate in the towns of Seth, Whitesville, and Chelyan, West Virginia for a number of years. The History of West Virginia gives note that Miller was "an eloquent preacher, and his earnest sincerity is very convincing whether his subject be a religious or secular one."
   In addition to these vocations, Manderville T. Miller married in 1899 to Ms. Flora Roberts, and nine children were born to the couple: Orin, Mallie, May, Norma, Opal, Ruby, Haddon, Frank, and Albert Sidney.
   In 1919 Miller was elected as the Superintendent of the Boone County school system and during his four-year term he is listed as having "thirty graded schools and 150 teachers under his supervision." His term as Superintendent concluded in 1923 and five years later Miller was elected to a seat in the West Virginia State Senate, where he represented Boone County. 
  Miller's term in the Senate concluded in 1932 and he died in the town of Madison, West Virginia on December 2, 1943, shortly before his 64th birthday. He was subsequently buried in the Boone Memorial Park and was survived by his wife Flora, who died in 1955.