Hixie Sanders Anglea (1913-1996)

Portrait from the Tennessee General Assembly composite of 1951-52.

   Prominent Nashville, Tennessee resident Hixie Sanders Anglea was for many years a notable fixture in Tennessee's capital city, being a former Vice Mayor of that city, a two-term member of the State House of Representatives and a member of the Nashville City Council for over twenty years. One of five children born to Monroe Lee (1882-1952) and Nellie Hughes Anglea (1889-1962), Hixie Sanders Anglea was born in Lebanon, Tennessee on April 4, 1913.  He would graduate from the law department of Cumberland University in the class of 1935 and shortly thereafter launched a law practice in Nashville, partnering with Jordan Stokes III. Anglea married his first wife Sarah Katherine Todd McBroome on March 23, 1939. The couple would later have two daughters, Sandra Margaret (born 1941) and Sarah Todd (born 1943). Following his first wife's death in 1962 Anglea would remarry to Juanita Sue Broome Simmons (1924-1997), who survived him upon his death in 1996. 

   Prior to his entering Nashville political life, Anglea joined the International Order of Odd Fellows, of which he was a member for over fifty years. In 1941 he became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee and fourteen years later ascended to the post of Sovereign Grand Master of the World Independent Order of Odd Fellows, holding that post from 1955-56.

H. Sanders Anglea, from the 1933 Cumberland University "Phoenix".

   In November 1948 Anglea was elected to the Tennessee State House of Representatives, representing that state's 15th floterial district (comprising Davidson and Wilson county). Taking his seat at the start of the 1949-51 session, Anglea would serve on the following house committees: Corporations, Education and Common Schools, Immigration, Insurance and Loans, Judiciary, Pensions, Public Roads, Railroads, and Retrenchment. Anglea would also chair the Committee on Public Health and Sanitation during his first term. Reelected as a representative in 1950, Anglea's second term saw him sit on two new house committees, including Code Revision and Criminal Revision, and he continued service on the Judiciary Committee. 

   Before leaving the legislature Anglea had been elected as Vice Mayor of Nashville in 1951 and held that office until 1963. His time in public service wasn't just limited to Tennessee however, and in the early 1950s was selected by President Eisenhower to serve as Chairman of the Fraternal Organizations committee of the Presidential People-To-People program, developed in connection with the U.S. Information Agency. His service with this program continued until about 1958, and his time as chairman brought him into contact with another oddly named political figure, Genoa Sebastian Washington (a former Illinois state representative profiled here back in February), who served as the program's finance committee chairman. 

From Jet Magazine, August 28, 1958.

     After concluding his service with the People-to-People program Anglea would serve a brief stint as Public Defender for the city of Nashville in 1963 and in 1966 was elected as Metro councilman-at-large for the Nashville-Davidson County area, where he would remain until 1987. H. Sanders Anglea died in Nashville on November 26, 1996, aged 83. He was later interred at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, and his memory and public service to that city continued on in the scholarship fund bearing his name, established shortly after his death.

Portrait from the Richland West End Neighborhood newsletter, 2014.

Fenn Hesden Cooney (1889-1961)

  Portrait from the January 31, 1944 Caroll Times Herald.

   Iowa yields another oddly named judicial figure in the person of Fenn Hesden Cooney, a long-time Carroll County resident who would serve as Carroll County Attorney and District Court Judge for Iowa's Sixteenth judicial district. A lifelong resident of Iowa, Fenn Hesden Cooney was the son of Merrill Mathews and Adella Miller Cooney, his birth occurring in Coon Rapids, Iowa on January 31, 1889. 

  A graduate of the Coon Rapids High School in the class of 1906, Cooney later attended the University of Iowa at Ames, graduating from there in 1910 with a degree in civil engineering. He decided upon a career in law and in the early 1910s enrolled at the University of Ann Arbor in Michigan, earning his degree in 1915. He was admitted to the Iowa Bar shortly after his graduation and returned to Carroll County to begin practice. Notice is also given as to Cooney's service in the First World War, being a veteran of the Army. He married in Carroll County in June of 1920 to Clara Bell Culbertson (1887-1955). The couple would remain childless.

 Fenn H. Cooney, from the 1915 Michiganensian Yearbook.

   Following his return to Carroll County Cooney was brought aboard the law firm of Salinger, Reynolds, and Meyers, later having his own name added to the firm's title. He would be affiliated with that firm until 1925, whereafter he left to operate a solo law practice out of the "Room 203 Masonic Temple" in Carroll, Iowa. He would continue to operate this practice until 1926 when he won election as Prosecuting Attorney of Carroll County. Cooney held this post until 1932 and went on to serve two further years in that office in 1935-1936.

   After leaving office Cooney continued with his practice until January 1944, when then-Governor Bourke B. Hickenlooper appointed him as District Judge for Iowa's Sixteenth district, filling a vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Peter J. Klinker a few days previously. Cooney would serve on the bench until his death seventeen years later on  June 16, 1961, at St. Anthony's Hospital in Carroll. A longstanding member of the Iowa State Bar Association, Cooney was also a past commander of the American Legion Post at Carroll and was also remarked as a scholar on Abraham Lincoln, having put together "an exhaustive collection of books" on the 16th President. The seventy-two-year-old Judge had been preceded in death by his wife Clara, who had died at age 68 in 1955. Both were interred at the Carroll City Cemetery in Carroll, Iowa.

Portrait from the November 11, 1936 Carroll Daily Herald.

Latelle McKee LaFollette (1858-1950), Latelle McKee LaFollette Jr. (1902-1981)

L.M. Lafollette, from the Charleston Daily Mail, Aug. 1, 1950.

   Longtime West Virginia public servant Latelle McKee "L.M." Lafollette made great strides in a number of different vocations during a life that extended over ninety years. A practicing attorney for over half a century, LaFollette served eight years as prosecuting attorney for Taylor County, West Virginia and in 1896 entered upon duties as West Virginia State Auditor. Despite having little in the way of information available on his life, an obituary for LaFollette (featured in the Charleston Daily Mail a few days following his death in 1950) came as a welcome surprise and fielded a good majority of the following article. The rare portrait of him above was also featured in that obituary.
    A resident of the "Mountain State" for nearly all his life, Latelle M. Lafollette's birth occurred on August 13, 1858 in Cacapon Springs, Hampshire County, Virginia, being the son of Henry William and Amy Caroline McKee Lafollette. Several years following his birth, Latelle and his family removed to Flemington in Taylor County, West Virginia where he would attend public school, and he would continue his schooling at the West Virginia College, a now-defunct college once located near Flemington.
  During his youth, LaFollette taught school for a time in Barbour County and would later take work as a "civil engineer, and in this occupation he spent two years in the far west." Following his return to West Virginia LaFollette became employed as a deputy tax collector in the cities of Wheeling and Grafton. He began reading law during this time and after being admitted to the bar in  1885 joined the firm of the attorney he had studied under, Samuel P. McCormick. 
   Based in Grafton, the firm of McCormick and LaFollette continued until LaFollette was named as deputy prosecuting attorney of Taylor County. In 1888 he took office as Prosecuting Attorney, continuing in that post until 1896, and in November of that year won election as State Auditor of West Virginia. He would hold that post from 1897-1901 and after leaving office remained in the state capital of Charleston to continue with his law practice. During his term, LaFollette had married on December 20, 1899, to Clara Meldrum DeArmond (1875-1912), with whom he would have four children: Latelle McKee (1902-1981), Robert Brille (1905-1976), James Alexander (1907-1958) and an infant son who died in 1901.
   In the succeeding years, LaFollette would become a prominent fixture in West Virginia's capital city, being one of the charter members of the West Virginia Bar Association. A founding organizer of the Capital City Bank of Charleston, LaFollette continued his banking interests with both the Wood County Bank in Parkersburg and the Grafton Bank. During the early 20th century he would begin a lengthy connection with "coal, oil, timber and gas" businesses and is recorded in his Daily Mail obituary as having had "wide holdings in these fields."
  Latelle M. LaFollette celebrated his 90th birthday in 1948 and was two weeks short of his 92nd birthday when he died on July 31, 1950. He was survived by three sons and was later interred alongside his wife at the Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston, West Virginia. 

LaFollette's obituary from the Aug. 1, 1950 Charleston Daily Mail.

Latelle M. LaFollette, from the June 6, 1940 Sportsmen's Review.

     Public service continued in the LaFollete family in the person of Latelle McKee LaFollette Jr, the son of the preceding gentleman.  A member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for one term in the mid-1940s, LaFollette was later an unsuccessful aspirant for the West Virginia State Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

    Born on July 6, 1902, Latelle LaFollette followed in his father's stead and practiced law for many years. He married Thelma Hatfield (1902-1987) in 1928 and during the succeeding years gained press not only in politics but also as a trapshooter, winning the "singles state championship of West Virginia" in September 1947. Elected to represent Kanawha County in the House of Delegates in November 1942, LaFollette served during the 1943-45 session and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to that body in 1948. 

   In 1952 he became the Republican nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives for the Sixth Congressional district of West Virginia and in that year's contest faced off against future U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd (1917-2009), later to gain distinction as the longest serving Senator in American history. On election day it was Byrd who coasted to victory, besting LaFollette by nearly 10,000 votes, 23, 222 to 13, 465. 

   Following his defeat in 1952 LaFollette would run two further candidacies, one for the state senate in 1958 and another for Congress in 1960. In the 1960 congressional race in West Virginia's 5th district, LaFollette was defeated by incumbent representative Elizabeth Kee (1895-1975) by a wide margin, 77,524 votes to 34,052. In May 1981 Latelle LaFollette Jr. died at age 78. Both he and his wife were interred in the LaFollette family plot at the Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston.

Melchert Zearing Stannard (1856-1919)

Portrait from the "Men of Progress: Indiana", published 1899.

    After highlighting several oddly named Hoosier politicians back in October of last year, today's write-up marks a return to Indiana and a man who had fleeting involvement in Hoosier politics, one Melchert Zearing Stannard of Clark County. A practicing attorney for four decades, Stannard's inclusion here on the site rests on his unsuccessful candidacy for Associate Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court in 1898 from the state's 2nd judicial district. 

  A resident of the Hoosier state for his entire life, Melchert Zearing Stannard's birth occurred in the Lawrence County town of Springville on June 30, 1856. The son of Edward Mather and Mary Jane Helmer Stannard, young Melchert inherited his unusual first name courtesy of his maternal grandfather, Melchert Helmer (1802-1876), a delegate to the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850 as well as a two-term state representative. 

   Left fatherless at a young age, Melchart Stannard acquired his early education at the Mitchell Normal School and at age sixteen began teaching school as a means of income. At age twenty he relocated to Jeffersonville, Indiana, and shortly after his removal began the study of law in the offices of Howard and Read. Stannard was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1877. He continued the study of law at the University of Louisville (Kentucky) and after graduating in 1879 returned to Jeffersonville to join the firm of Howard and Read. Stannard married on January 27, 1885, to Flora Childs Read (1860-1918). The couple were wed for over thirty years and had two children, Lila Read (1888-1975) and Edward M. (born 1898) who died in infancy.

   After the dissolution of the firm of Howard, Read, and Stannard in 1888 Stannard operated a solo law practice and his reputation as a "sound and capable" attorney continued to gain him praise throughout Indiana law circles. The 1899 "Men of Progress, Indiana" edition gives high praise to his legal expertise, noting:

"His superb knowledge of the law, keen discernment and logical and forcible way of presenting a question to a court or jury, has won for him the reputation of a dangerous adversary which has extended far beyond the lines of his own locality."

    Stannard was retained as counsel for several important businesses, including the American Can and Foundry Company, the Ohio Falls Car Manufacturing Company, and the Jeffersonville Water Supply Company. In addition to the preceding, his services were also retained by two railroad companies, those being the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railway Co. and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railway Co.
    Described as an "ardent Democrat", Stannard was induced to enter political life just once, this occurring in 1898. In that year he received the nomination for Associate Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from the Second judicial district, squaring off against Republican nominee Alexander Dowling (1836-1917), a former attorney for the city of New Albany. On election day it was Dowling who emerged victorious in the vote count, besting Stannard by nearly 20,000 votes. Despite his loss, Stannard's candidacy for supreme judge was remembered favorably in the 1899 "Men of Progress",  which noted that he had "ran ahead of the state and local ticket in his own county and carried his judicial district by from three thousand to four thousand majority."

An electoral result of the Stannard-Dowling contest.

   In the years following his one attempt at public office Stannard continued in his practice, and in 1907 began a partnership with Jonas Howard, a son of his old law partner. In 1918 Stannard's wife of thirty-three years, Flora, died at age 58. He would survive her by slightly over a year, dying in November 1919 at age 63. Both were interred at the Walnut Ridge Cemetery in Jeffersonville following their deaths.

Chaucer Gory Lee (1869-1957)

Portrait courtesy of the Ames Public Library webpage.

     Lifelong Iowa resident Chaucer Gory Lee was for many years an active participant in the public affairs of Story County, being a leading citizen in the city of Ames. For several years Lee would serve Ames as its city attorney and in 1907 entered upon duties as District Court Judge for Iowa's 11th district. Lee would attain his highest degree of political prominence in 1914 when he was a candidate in the Republican primary for Governor of Iowa.

   Born and raised in Jasper County, Iowa, Chaucer Gory "C.G." Lee was born on August 8, 1869, the son of James and Sarah Whitcomb Lee. The origins of his unusual first name "Chaucer" are unknown at this time, but may have a connection to Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), the famed English poet and author of "The Canterbury Tales". Early in his life, he relocated to Ames, Iowa to enroll at the Iowa Agricultural College, graduating in the class of 1894. Following his graduation, he began studying law at the Drake Law School in Des Moines and was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1895.

   Soon after his admittance Lee entered the law office of Daniel McCarthy. In 1897 Lee married Daniel's daughter Emma, to whom he was wed for fifty-two years. The couple are believed to have been childless. A year before his marriage Lee made his first move into Ames political life when he won election as city attorney, holding that office for six years. Five years after the conclusion of his term as city attorney Lee was elected as District Court Judge for Iowa's 11th district and served on the bench until his resignation in 1914, and was succeeded by John M. Kamrar.

An election notice for Judge Lee, from the Iowa State Bystander, May 29, 1914.

   In the final year of his term as District Judge in April 1914, Lee announced that he would be seeking the Republican nomination for Governor of Iowa, the Republican primary election being held on June 1st. As one of three candidates vying for the nomination (the others being then Governor George W. Clarke and John W. Rowley), Lee's candidacy was boomed in several Iowa newspapers, including the Iowa State Bystander (notice shown above.) Other notices and endorsements made light of Lee's standing as a "clear-sighted"  and "just" judge during his time on the bench. One of these notices, a glowing endorsement in the Ottumwa Tri-Weekly Courier from state senator Daniel Cady Chase, made it known that:

"Those in this district who have seen Judge Lee on the bench have been impressed with the fact that in the first place he is clear sighted mentally and in the second place he has what is exceedingly rare in any public man,  the courage of his convictions......Judge Lee is the type of man who has the ability to brush away all sophistries and look at a question in its elemental aspects and more than that, he has has the courage to accept responsibility for a decision along those lines. He is of that type of man which is very rare; intellectually honest and brave enough to go wherever his honest judgement leads him."

    After voters went to the polls on June 1st it was incumbent Governor George W. Clarke who was renominated. While newspapers reported Clarke's winning total as being between "90,000-100,000" votes, Lee placed second, garnering 65,000 votes. Following his gubernatorial loss, Lee returned to practicing law in Ames and proved to be an influential booster in the further development of Ames's infrastructure, being "responsible for 15 additions and subdivisions" to the city.
   In 1949 Emma McCarthy Lee, C.G. Lee's wife of over fifty years died at age 85. Following her passing Lee honored his late wife by presenting the city with several acres of land which would become a park named in her honor. After many years of public service to Ames, Chaucer Gory Lee died on January 4, 1957, at age 87. He was interred alongside his wife at the Ames Municipal Cemetery.

Heverington Eugene Wassell (1884-1979)

Portrait courtesy of the Texas Legislative Reference Library.

    Today marks a return to the Lonestar State and another oddly named member of the Texas General Assembly, Heverington Eugene Wassell of Navarro County. A one-term legislator from 1927-29, little exists online in regards to this obscure man, and his date of birth is also under scrutiny, occurring on January 28th of 1882, 1884 or 1892. Of these dates, 1884 appears to be the correct one, as Wassell himself records this date on both his World War I and World War II Draft Registration cards.

   A native son of Illinois, Wassell's place of birth is given as New Hartford (as per his draft registration card), located in Pike County. His family is mentioned as having been "prominent in business and social circles" in that area and Wassell himself would begin his schooling in the public schools of that county. He would embark upon a career as a school teacher at age seventeen and would begin attending Brown's Business College (located in Jacksonville, Illinois) shortly thereafter. Stints as an accountant, clerk, and bookkeeper followed, and he continued his higher education at both the Eureka and Gem City Business Colleges.

   In the early 1900s, Wassell began teaching at the Drake Business College located in Newark, New Jersey, remaining there until late 1906, whereafter he took work on the Panama Canal. Little is known of his work in this area, but the Texas Bar Journal (which published an obituary for Wassell in 1979) records him as having been awarded a "Roosevelt Medal for his three years work" on the project. 

The Blue Book: Containing Photographs and Sketches of a Few Commercial Teachers, 1907.

    After returning to Illinois Wassell began employment as a Junior Clerk in the offices of the Interstate Commerce Commission. He later pursued law studies and earned his degree from Georgetown University. Around 1911 he married Lila Aurora McClellan (1887-1984), daughter of a prominent Navarro County, Texas attorney John Jacob McClellan (1856-1920). The couple would have three children, James McClellan (1911-1997), John W. (1914-2003), and Patricia Wassell Kirby (born ca. 1917).

   Following their marriage the Wassells' relocated to California and in the late 1910s moved to Texas, where in 1920 he was admitted to the state bar. Wassell and his father-in-law partnered in the law firm of McClellan and Wassell until the latter's death in July 1920, and in that year became a candidate for City Attorney of Corsicana, Texas. After an unsuccessful candidacy for the state legislature in 1924, Wassell was elected to represent Navarro County in the Texas State House of Representatives in November 1926. Taking his seat at the start of the 1927-29 term, Wassell was named to the House Committees on Common Carriers, Constitutional Amendments, Federal Relations and Privileges, and Suffrage and Elections. 

    H. Eugene Wassell's one term in the state house concluded in January 1929. Despite his long life after leaving office little else could be found on him, excepting his death notice in the Texas Bar Journal, which notes that he served as Judge of Winkler County, Texas for a time, as well as being a "project manager of Camp Swift at Bastrop". Before he retired from public life, Wassell was affiliated with the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. 

   After many years of public service Heverington Eugene Wassell died on September 2, 1979, being aged either 87, 95, or 97 at the time of his passing. He had remarried sometime prior to his death to Mary Naomi Jackson (1912-1996) who survived him. Both Wassell and his second wife were subsequently interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

H. Eugene Wassell, from the December 1979 Texas Bar Journal.