Mederique Raoul Maynard (1869-1943)

                                             From the New Hampshire Legislators Souvenir, Vol. I, 1897.

   Being bestowed an unusual name like Mederique Raoul Maynard should entitle someone to more than just a passing glance, and while Mr. Maynard's service as a New Hampshire state representative is obviously noteworthy, only one biographical snippet exists that gives any sort of background on Maynard's life, that being a few lines in the 1897 edition of the Souvenir of New Hampshire Legislators, Volume 1. Despite the lack of information on Maynard, genealogical websites such as ancestry.com and family search have helped fill in some of the blanks when it came to compiling the following piece.
  A native son of Massachusetts, Mederique Raoul Maynard was a son of Joseph B. and Melina Blais Maynard, being born in the city of Lowell on March 31, 1869. An alternate birth date for him is given as March 30, 1870, and his early education was obtained in the Lowell public schools. He later moved with his family to Manchester, New Hampshire in 1881 and continued his schooling there. The Souvenir of New Hampshire Legislators gives note that Maynard became employed in "the mills for a time, being employed first on the Amory, then on the Stark, in the carding department, passing from one grade to another until he occupied the position of third hand."
   Following his stint as a millhand, Maynard began to learn the trade of gas and pipe fitting, later forming a plumbing business under the name of Maynard and Hevey. In November 1896 the 27-year-old Maynard was elected to represent Manchester's Ninth ward in the State House of Representatives. Taking his seat at the beginning of the 1897 term, Maynard was named to the committee on the Agricultural College and married during his term on November 9, 1898, to Marie Ann (also given as Marion) Gadbois and had one son, Eugene J. Maynard (recorded as age 17 in the 1920 U.S. Census.)
   After his term concluded in 1899 Maynard returned to private life in Manchester and was also a member of the Lafayette Guards in the First Regiment of the New Hampshire National Guard. Sources of the time also record Maynard as being a fireman, and a 1901 Manchester Directory notes that he was a Captain with Engine and Ladder Co. No. 6. In the early 1900s he was elected to the Manchester Board of Aldermen, and in 1907 became one of the founding members of the National League of Manchester.
   Sometime after 1930, Mederique Maynard removed from New Hampshire to California, where he resided for the remainder of his life. A California death index listing reveals that he died in Los Angeles on October 6, 1943, aged either 73 or 74. A burial location for Maynard is also unknown at this time.