Lodovica Ramage Clements (1851-1939)

Portrait from the 1937 Iowa State Register.

   Lodovica Ramage Clements was a native Ohioan who migrated to Iowa at a young age and would find distinction in the realms of business and politics. Long prominent in Marion County public affairs, Clements was elected to the Iowa State House of Representatives in 1936 at the age of 85, the oldest man ever to be elected to that body in its history. The rare portrait of Clements shown above was discovered via the Iowa Red Book 1937-38 edition and many of the facts contained herein were located in his 1939 obituary in the Pella Chronicle newspaper.

   Lodovica Ramage Clements was born in Morgan (some sources say Belmont) County, Ohio on November 6, 1851, one of five children born to John Ray (1824-1888) and Malinda Ramage Clements (1825-1914). Why John and Malinda decided to bestow the unusual name "Lodovica" upon their third-born son has been lost to history, and sources also list two alternate spellings of his first name, those being "Lodovico" and "Lovodica". The middle name Ramage originates from Mrs. Clement's maiden name.

    The Clements family relocated from Ohio to the county of Jasper, Iowa in November 1855 and later settled in the village of  Newton. Lodovica Clements attended schools local to Newton and Wittenburg, Iowa, and as an adolescent enrolled at the Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. He married in October 1875 to Angeline Jacobs (1852-1907) a native of Mt. Carroll, Illinois. Four children were eventually born to the couple and are listed as follows: Lena R. (1877-1901), Josephine (1881-1969), Pearl (born 1882), and Harold (born 1892). Lodovica and his family moved to the city of Des Moines in 1881 and soon after arriving became involved in the manufacture of furniture. He continued in this line of work for a number of years and later became a producer of excelsior (wood wool) at plants in Cainsville, Missouri, and Harvey, Iowa. Clements' Pella Chronicle obituary also records him as being involved in the timber industry. 

   In 1907 Angeline Jacobs Clements died at the age of 55 and Lodovica never remarried after her death. In 1917 he was named as the deputy clerk for the district court of Marion County and served in this post until 1921. He was reappointed to this position in 1930 when he was 79 and was the incumbent until 1935. In 1924 he entered into the race for state representative from Marion County and, following his win in the Democratic primary, went on to face J.H. Johnson in that year's general election. In November 1924 it was Johnson who won out at the polls, besting Clements by a vote of 4,856 to 4,309. Clements would again run for state representative in the 1936 election year and that November eked out a narrow victory over Republican candidate A.R. Reese, 5,720 to 5, 522. 

From the 1936 Pella Chronicle.

   Taking his seat in January 1937, "Lode" Clements was the oldest member of the Iowa legislature serving in that session (being 85 at the time) and also holds the distinction of "being the oldest man to have served as an elected member of that body", according to the Pella Chronicle. During his brief term of service, Clements held seats on the committees on Agriculture; Banks and Banking; Commerce and Trade; Labor; Public Utilities; Railroads and Roads and Highways. He also served as chairman of the committee on Mines and Mining. 

  In 1938 Clements announced his reelection campaign and in June of that year was profiled in the Pella Chronicle on his previous term, which noted:

"Mr. Clements said he was not making a great deal of noise this first term, but was mostly listening; but if he came back next term he expects to have a good deal to say. That Mr. Clements was listening and thinking and studying his first term was quite evident to most any observer. And he did occasionally have something to say during his first term last winter, and what he did say was very much to the point. He was asking himself the question: "Why should the great wealth producing state of Iowa be spending more than half its time during a legislative session on the problem of relief--relief from want and the fear of want?"

   Despite approaching ninety years of age Clements ran an active campaign and came out in favor of a "real old age pension, based on matter of right, and that no liens be placed against the property of the aged." Opposing Clements that year was Republican candidate Carroll Johnson (1913-2001), a man nearly 60 years his junior! At the close of the polls that November Clements lost out in the vote count (polling 3,925 votes to Johnson's 4,337) and one can wonder if his age may have been a factor in influencing the electorate to vote for the younger Republican candidate!

A Clements camapign notice from the June 2, 1938 Pella Chronicle.

    Despite losing his seat, the 87-year-old Clements still maintained an active schedule, being a parishioner at the Newton Presbyterian church, a member of the local Odd Fellows Lodge (for over 56 years!) and was the last surviving charter member of the Center Star Lodge #588 of Des Moines. The Pella Chronicle notes that Clements was an "extensive reader and was unusually well informed about matters of public welfare and progress; and, notwithstanding his advanced age, he retained his mental faculties and memory as perfectly as in his earlier years, and did not lose interest in public affairs." 

   Lodovica Clements died on December 16, 1939, at a hospital in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He was 88 years old at the time of his death and was subsequently interred alongside his wife at the Newton Union Cemetery in Newton, Iowa. He was memorialized in the Pella Chronicle as having "keen insight into the affairs of today, and their solution often gave him ideas far in advance of his time."

Lodovica Clement's obituary from the December 1939 Pella Chronicle newspaper.