Other Vernon Woodrome (1896-1973)

Portrait courtesy of Ark-Ives.

   Marianna, Arkansas native Other Vernon Woodrome is another oddly named man who held political office in the "Natural State", serving one term in the state legislature from Lee County. The son of A.C. and Phenie (Waddell) Woodrome, Other Vernon "O.V. Woodrome was born in Greenbrier, Arkansas on January 28, 1896. Woodrome would attend schools local to Faulkner County, Arkansas and also was a student at the  University of Arkansas and Arkansas State Teachers College (receiving his A.B. degree at the latter.)

   O.V. Woodrome married in August 1917 to Willie Edna Lawrence (1898-1991), with whom he had one son, John Vernon (1919-2002). A veteran of WWI, Woodrome would serve in the U.S. Navy as a seaman from 1917-1919. A farmer and teacher in Marianna for the majority of his life, Woodrome was also a member of the local Mason and Elks lodges, as well as the Farm Bureau. In 1936 Woodrome won election to the Arkansas House of Representatives and during his one term (1937-1939) held seats on the following committees: Education, Levies and Drainage, Militia and the Penitentiary.

  Little else could be found on Woodrome's life following his time in state government, excepting notice of his death in Conway, Arkansas on November 21, 1973, at age 77. He was survived by his wife and son and was interred at the Crestlawn Cemetery in Conway. 

Arlander Denson Dulaney (1877-1952)

Portrait from the Annual Report of the Arkansas Insurance Department, 2009.

  Lifelong Arkansas resident Arlander Denson Dulaney rose to become a leading lawyer in Little River County, and in addition to practicing law was elected to four consecutive terms in his state's house of representatives. Following his terms, he was elected as prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' 9th Chancery Circuit and late in his life, was returned to government service, holding the post of state insurance commissioner for two years. The son of the Rev. Thomas Dulaney (a Baptist minister) and the former Amanda McCasey, Arlander D. Dulaney was born in Sevier County, Arkansas on August 26, 1877.

  A student in the Sevier County public schools, Dulaney later attended the University of Arkansas for two years before taking on a teaching position in Little River County, which he would follow for eight years. In the early 1900s, Dulaney enrolled in the law department of the University of Arkansas and, following his graduation in 1905, established his first law practice in the town of Ashdown. He married on October 6, 1909, to Elizabeth Nix Corbett (1890-1980), to whom he was wed until his death. The couple had at least one daughter, Elizabeth Nix Dulaney Galloway.

  Several years following his settlement in Ashdown Dulaney joined fellow attorneys James Steel and J.S. Lake in the firm of Steel, Lake, and Dulaney, a firm that enjoyed an "extensive and prosperous business." Dulaney's first entrance into the political life of his state came with his election to the Arkansas House of Representatives in September 1902. He would win a second term in September 1904 and his third term in 1906, and by the time of his fourth legislative victory in September 1908 was noted as having been the "only member of the house that had served his constituents four consecutive terms as representative." A member of a number of important committees during his eight years in the house, Dulaney would chair the committee on Appropriations during the 1907-10 sessions.

   Both prior to and after his legislative service Dulaney was engaged with several business concerns, both in Little River County and elsewhere. Amongst these were the Southern Realty and Trust Company (of which he would serve as vice-president), the Arkansas Trust and Banking Company (serving as its attorney), and was a member of the State Historical Commission for his home county of Little River.

From the 1907 Arkansas Legislature composite photograph.

   Dulaney was returned to political life in November 1916 when he entered into the post of prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' Ninth Chancery Circuit, an office he'd hold until 1921.  In 1931 he was appointed as State Commissioner of Insurance, succeeding W.E. Floyd, who had served two terms in office. Dulaney's term (1931-33) saw him pull political double-duty, as it were, serving as the state fire marshal in addition to his post of commissioner. During his time in office, Dulaney also announced he'd be seeking a seat in Congress from Arkansas' 4th legislative district. Hoping to succeed Effiegene Wingo (who had declined renomination) Dulaney's candidacy didn't extend past the primary season, and William Ben Cravens would eventually be elected to the seat.

  Arlander Dulaney continued to serve Arkansas well into his twilight years, being an executive assistant commissioner in the state insurance department in 1942. Dulaney died in Ashdown on June 4, 1952, at age 74. He was later interred at the Ashdown Cemetery and was survived by his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1980 at age 90.

Meverell Knox Allen (1846-1919)

From the 1892 "History of Kentucky".

  A longtime physician based in Louisville, Kentucky, Meverell Knox Allen had a brief stay on his state's political stage in the late 19th century, being a delegate to the Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1890-91. The son of James and Caroline (Muir) Allen, Meverell K. Allen was born on April 15, 1846, in Spencer County, Kentucky. His early education was obtained in schools local to Spencer County, and following a one-year stint as a school teacher decided upon a career in medicine. He would study medicine under Taylorsville physician Thomas Allen beginning in 1864 and later enrolled in the University of Louisville's department of medicine. Allen earned his medical degree in 1867 and shortly thereafter opened his practice in Taylorsville. 

  In the same year as his graduation, Allen married to Bloomfield, Kentucky native Sue Miles. The marriage proved to be brief, as Miles is recorded as dying shortly afterward. In 1869 Allen remarried, taking as his wife one Eliza Stone (1852-1886), with whom he would have one daughter, Maud Katie (1872-1905).

  Meverell K. Allen's residency in Taylorsville extended until 1870 when he moved to Louisville. Following his resettlement, he returned to practicing medicine and in 1874 was elected as that city's health officer, a position he would hold until 1877. In 1880 he was named as the physician for the Louisville city workhouse, and in addition to medicine was also heavily involved in Louisville educational affairs, being a school trustee and president of the city school board (holding the latter office from 1888-90.)

  Active in several business concerns in Louisville, Allen was a former president of the Daisy Realty Company and a director of the Snider Land and Stock Company. He also attained distinction in banking, serving as director of the Westview Savings Bank and Building Company, and was vice president of the Standard National Savings and Loan Association. 

  Allen's most prominent foray into state politics came in 1890 when he was elected as a delegate from Louisville's 2nd district to the Kentucky Constitutional Convention. During the convention proceedings, Allen sat on the committees on Elections, Education, Railroads & Commerce, and also offered a resolution wanting to amend the then-existing state constitution to:

"Establish three Magisterial Districts for the city of Louisville in lieu of the City Court of said city, which shall be abolished, together with all officers connected therewith; said Magisterial Districts so established to have criminal jurisdiction, and civil jurisdiction to the extent of three hundred dollars."

Portrait courtesy of the Kentucky State Historical Society.

  Following his constitutional convention service, Allen again served as health officer for the city of Louisville and for a number of years was retained as medical director for the Inter-Southern Life Insurance Company. On March 13, 1919, Allen died of heart disease at his Louisville home and was later interred alongside his wife and daughter at the famed Cave Hill Cemetery in that city.

Amyot Willard Cherrington (1888-1970)

Portrait from the Springville Herald, March 13, 1969.

   A lifelong resident of Springville, Utah, Amyot Willard Cherrington became one of that city's most honored sons during his life, being active in farming, business, and religious work. Elected as the Mayor of Springville in November 1953, Cherrington had previously served as head of the Utah Poultry Association in the early 1940s. 

  Born in Springville on March 9, 1888, Amyot Willard Cherrington was the son of Joseph and Prudence (Straw) Herrington. The origins behind his outstandingly different first name remain unknown but could have a connection to French scholar Jacques Amyot (1513-1593), a writer active during the Renaissance. Amyot would serve as Bishop in Auxerre, France beginning in the 1570s and is remembered today for having translated a number of classical works, including those by Greek writers Plutarch, Longus, and Diodorus.  

   A student in schools local to Springville, Cherrington would go on to attend Brigham Young University and in June 1909 married at the Salt Lake Temple to Hilda E. Wheeler (1889-1974). The couple was wed for over sixty years and their union saw the births of five children: Captola (1910-1999), Jack (1914-2008), Amyot Bert (1919-1995), Carol (1923-2014), and Jane (birth-date unknown).

  In the years prior to his marriage, Cherrington had entered into the contracting business, which he would follow for a decade. Following the sale of his contracting business Cherrington began a lengthy career as a fruit grower and farmer, being the owner of a farm in Mapleton as well as the Roe E. Deal property near Springville. Specializing in cherries, the Springville Herald notes that Cherrington employed hundreds of young workers to work his properties, and in addition to ownership of the aforementioned farms was a member of the state board of fruit and vegetables and a founding member of the Springville-Mapleton Fruit Growers Association. 

From the Springville Herald, February 24, 1944.

   As a prominent agriculturalist in Utah County, Cherrington also loomed large in the poultry industry, serving on the state board of poultry producers and in February 1944 was elected president of the Utah Poultry Cooperative Association. He also maintained an interest in several other business entities in the Utah County area, being a member of the Board of Directors of the Springville Irrigation Co. and the Springville Chamber of Commerce. A longstanding member of the Mormon church, Cherrington was a bishop for Springville's first ward from 1930-35 and was twice a High Councilman. A former ward president of the Springville Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, Cherrington was described in his Springville Herald obituary as an active participant in church functions and at the time of his death in 1970 was serving as a High Priest for Springville's sixth ward.

   Following their retirement from fruit growing in 1953 Cherrington and his wife sold their farm and resettled in Springville. He was soon after elected as that city's mayor and during his two terms in office (1954-1958) is remarked as having been "instrumental in procuring added culinary water and facilities to the city's system." Amyot Willard Cherrington died at his Springville home on December 31, 1970, at age 82. He was survived by his wife Hilda, who, following her passing in 1974, was interred alongside her husband at the Evergreen Cemetery in Springville. 

From the Springville Herald, January 27, 1955.

Cunard Jackson Broome (1923-1999)

From the 1957-58 Georgia Official and Statistical Register.

    A newspaper publisher and one-term representative in the Georgia state assembly, Cunard Jackson "C.J." Broome hailed from Alma, Georgia, a city that also produced two other oddly named political figures featured here, Braswell Drue Deen Sr. and his son, Judge Braswell D. Deen Jr. A lifelong Georgia resident, "C.J." Broome was born in Jeffersonville, Georgia on December 5, 1923, being the son of Carl Jackson (a newspaper owner and former mayor of Nahunta, Georgia) and Exie Lurline (Cunard) Broome. A student in schools local to Brantley County, Georgia, Broome graduated from the local high school in 1940 and in 1949 received his BCS degree from the University of Georgia. 

  While still in his teens Broome followed in his father's stead and entered into newspaper publishing, joining the staff of the Alma Times. By 1942 he had succeeded to the post of editor and at age 21 was serving as that paper's publisher. Cunard Broome married in Coweta County Georgia in December 1947 to Myrtle Inez Tanner (1912-2004). The couple was wed for over five decades and their union would see the births of two children, Lynda Sue (born 1949) and Lou Jena (born 1951).

    A well-known civic leader in Alma, C.J. Broome was a prominent figure in a number of civic groups prior to his election to the state assembly, serving as director of the Alma Board of Trade and president of the Georgia Press Association. Broome also held the presidency of the Alma Lions Club, the presidency of the Georgia Junior Chamber of Commerce's 8th district, and was a former director of the Housing Authority of the city of Alma. 

  Elected to the state assembly in November 1956, Cunard Broome succeeded Braswell Drue Deen Jr. as Bacon County's representative in the legislature. Shortly before the expiration of his term Broome entered the Democratic primary race for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, and in September 1958 placed third in a field of five candidates, garnering 49, 686 votes. Following his term, Broome retired from the newspaper business and operated the Great Earth Properties real estate agency, as well as serving as chairman of a "multi-county Transportation task force working to improve road rail and port infrastructure in southeast Georgia." 

   Cunard Jackson Broome died at age 76 on October 20, 1999. He was survived by his wife Myrtle, who, following her passing in 2004 was interred alongside him at the Oakland Cemetery in Waycross, Georgia.

Boswell DeGraffenreid Waddell (1865-1937), Boswell Sommerfield Elliott (1855-1933)

Portrait from the "History of Alabama and Her People", Vol. III.

   Alabama has fielded a number of oddly named folks featured here in the past, and Boswell DeGraffenreid Waddell (a multi-term state representative and senator), is certainly one of the most uniquely named men to serve in some political capacity in the "Heart of Dixie."  I first located Waddell's name via a 1912 Alabama statistical register way back in 2009 and since that time he continually stymied me out of a photograph; that was until the discovery of the above portrait, featured in Volume III of Albert Burton Moore's History of Alabama and Her People, published in 1927.

   A native of Columbus, Georgia, Boswell DeGraffenreid Waddell was born in that city on August 25, 1865, being the eldest son of James Fleming Waddell and the former Adelaide Victoria DeGraffenreid. A distinguished figure in his own right, James F. Waddell (1828-1892) was a veteran of both the Mexican-American and Civil War and was later named U.S. Consul in Matamoras, Mexico. Waddell would also serve as a judge of probate for Russell County, Alabama (having settled there in 1857) and held that post from 1865-68. 

   Boswell DeG. Waddell attended the public schools of Russell County and also studied at a private school in Columbus, Georgia. After leaving school Waddell briefly worked as a civil engineer before deciding upon a career in law, beginning study in the law office of his father. He was admitted to the Alabama bar in 1887 and shortly thereafter began a practice in Seale that would extend over forty years. In the same year as his admission, Waddell took on the post of deputy solicitor for Russell County, an office he'd continue to hold well into the late 1920s.

  In 1889 Waddell was elected to the first of two terms as mayor of Seale, and in 1901 served as Russell County's delegate to the Alabama Constitutional Convention, being a member of the committees on local legislation and the militia during the convention proceedings. Waddell continued to advance politically in November 1902, when he won election to the Alabama House of Representatives. Serving during the 1903-07 session, Waddell was named to the committees on the Judiciary, Privileges and Elections, Local Legislation and Commerce, and Common Carriers. On May 12, 1909, Waddell married to Carrie B. Jennings, a music teacher. The couple were wed until Boswell's death and would remain childless.

  Waddell would win his second term in the house in 1910 and his sophomore term in the legislature (1911-15) saw him named to two new committees, those being Claims and Fees, and Game, Fish and Forestry Preservation (of which he was chairman). November 1918 saw Waddell win his third term in the state house and was a member of the committee on Enrolled Bills during the 1919-23 term.

   In November 1922 Waddell attained his highest degree of political prominence when he was elected to the first of two terms in the Alabama state senate. During those sessions (1923-27 and 1927-31) he was a member of the committees on Fish, Game, and Forestry; the Judiciary; Public Health; and Rules. In addition to public service Waddell was active in the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Alabama Bar Association, and also owned a three hundred acre farm near Seale. He continued political prominence well into his twilight years, and in 1935 was serving as county solicitor for Russell County. 

  Boswell DeGraffenreid Waddell died at age 72 on November 22, 1937. His wife Carrie survived her husband by six years, and following her death in 1943 was interred alongside him in the Waddell family plot at the Seale United Methodist Church and Cemetery.

Portrait from the Mississippi Official and Statistical Register, 1920-24.

   Lifelong Mississippian Boswell Sommerfield Elliott represented his native county of Grenada in the Mississippi state legislature at the same time Boswell DeG. Waddell was serving his third term in the Alabama House of Representatives. The son of Alexander and Mary (Shumake) Elliott, Boswell S. Elliott was born in Carroll County, Mississippi on September 21, 1855. He attended the common schools of Mississippi and married in February 1877 to Rebecca Frances Woods (1854-1953), with whom he had five children, James, Nora (1891-1942), Willard Lee,  Johnnie (1894-1978), and Mary Lois. 

   For the good majority of his life, Boswell Elliott followed farming in Granada County. From 1900-03 he held the office of county treasurer, was a justice of the peace, and beginning in 1914 served as a statistician for the federal government, compiling cotton statistics for Granada County. Elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1919, Elliott served in the 1920-24 session and was a member of the committees on Agriculture; the Penitentiary; Pensions; and Roads, Ferries, and Bridges. 

   Little is known of Elliott's life after leaving the legislature. He had been a longstanding member of the local Methodist church and held memberships in the Masonic order and the Modern Woodmen of the World. Elliott died on March 23, 1933, aged 77, and was later buried at the Sparta Cemetery in Holcomb, Mississippi.

Indemon Benjamin Moore (1869-1956)

Portrait from the Tennessee General Assembly composite of 1913.

  After a few weeks of highlighting several oddly named members of the Tennessee state assembly, we conclude our stay in the Volunteer State with a peek at the life of Indemon Benjamin Moore of White County. The first "Indemon" I've happened across, Moore is equally as obscure as the men who've preceded him here, and other than mention of his election to the Tennessee legislature, little information could be located on him.

  Born on October 14, 1869, Indemon Benjamin "Dim" Moore was one of several children born to Hugh Losson Carrick (1831-1926) and Nancy (Cantrell) Moore (1844-1923). No information could be located on Moore's early life or education, except his becoming a school teacher in the White County area in the 1890s, a vocation that he would subsequently follow for over forty years. Moore married sometime in the early 1900s to Cynthia Elizabeth Moore, with whom he had one son, Elton Lee (1906-1948).

   Following his marriage, Indemon B. Moore served as both chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of White County and president of the White County Educational Association. In 1912 Moore was elected as White County's representative to the Tennessee General Assembly and during his term (1913-15)  sat on the committee on Commerce and chaired the committee on Education. 

  Widowed in 1947, Moore also suffered the loss of his son Elton in the year following his wife's death. Indemon Moore died on February 3, 1956, at age 86 and was later interred at the Moore Cove Cemetery in White County. One should also note that Moore's first name has two variations in spelling in addition to the one given here, also being spelled as Indimon and Indenmon.