From the East Hampton News, February 12, 1937.
The name would be Mayo Purple. If that name conjured up images of a large jar of purple mayonnaise, you are not alone! Possessing a name that's guaranteed to give you a case of the giggles, Mayo Smith Purple served his first term in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1885 and is recorded as the youngest man to serve in that session of the legislature. Purple would be returned to government service nearly 50 years later for another stint in the legislature, this time serving four consecutive terms. The son of John Percival and Marian (Markham) Purple, Mayo Smith Purple was born on July 28, 1860, in Haddam Neck, Connecticut.
Purple's early life saw him attain a limited education. He attended the East Greenwich Academy in Rhode Island until age thirteen and was later briefly tutored at the Wesleyan Univerity in Middletown. He would leave his studies behind to work on his family's farm, "dropping corn and hoeing corn" and later took employment at the Tibbals Company general store in Cobalt, Connecticut. After attaining maturity Purple and a fellow worker, Harvey Brainerd purchased the store and continued operations under the name Brainerd and Purple. After purchasing his partner's interest, Purple entered the lumber industry, selling lumber to brickyards in Haverstraw, Rockland County, New York. This business later foundered when an employee absconded with $6,000 worth of lumber, forcing Purple out of business.
In the mid-1890s Purple joined the Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Co. of East Hampton, a bell foundry that still exists today. Purple's first years with the company saw him as a chore boy, tending a smelting furnace on company property. He would serve with that business for over three decades and following a stint as company secretary "assisted in the reorganization" of the Gong Bell Manufacturing Company, a bell and toy manufacturer also located in East Hampton. Purple would subsequently serve as that company's president for over two decades, and in addition to the above offices held the presidency of the Watrous Manufacturing Company, was the manager and treasurer of the East Hampton Bell Company, and in the mid-1920s served as the treasurer of the Bevins and Wilcox Line Company.
Mayo S. Purple married in April 1883 to Gettine Louise Arnold (1861-1935), a resident of Haddam Neck. The couple's fifty-one-year marriage saw the births of four sons, Nelson Arnold (died in infancy), Norman William (1887-1946), Ansel Arnold (1892-1967), and Nathaniel Markham (1903-1987).
From the East Hampton News, October 2, 1942.
One year after his marriage Mayo Purple made his first foray into Connecticut politics, winning election to the state house of representatives in November 1884. Taking his seat at the start of the 1885-86 session, Purple is acknowledged as the youngest man to serve in that session, being just 24 years old at the time of his election. This term saw him sit on the committee on the Sale of Lands and was also acting postmaster of Cobalt, Connecticut during his term. One should also note that Purple had some oddly named company during this session, his fellow representatives being Eleazur Bingham Kingsbury, Peleg Sherman Barber, and Victory Clark Beers (1832-1920), the last named being profiled on this site in July 2011.
After leaving office in 1886 Purple returned to his earlier mentioned business dealings and through the succeeding years held several local political posts, serving as a registrar of voters for Chatham in 1899 and in 1919 served as East Haddam's commissioner for the superior court for Middlesex County. In November 1932 Purple won a second term in the Connecticut legislature, 48 years after his first. Garnering 684 votes on election day, Purple served on the committee on Manufactures during the 1933-35 session and was elected as a Democrat, having quit the Republican party after fifty years in July 1932. In a small write-up on his change of political faith featured in the East Hampton News, Purple remarked that
"He had been dissatisfied with the actions and policies of the Republican Town committee for some time and that it was only a ''square deal'' for himself to quit the party."
From the East Hampton News, July 15, 1932.
In November 1934 Purple won a third term in the statehouse and was elected to his fourth term in 1936. The 1937-38 term saw him as the dean of the house, being the oldest man serving in that session, and this session also saw him come out as one of four Democrats opposed to President Franklin Roosevelt's court-packing plan. Purple won his fifth and last house term in 1938 and during the 1939-40 term sat on the committees on Humane Institutions and Public Health and Safety.
After leaving office in 1940 Mayo Purple followed his favorite leisure activities (hunting and fishing) until health concerns forced him to become housebound. He celebrated his 81st birthday in July 1941 (being honored on the front page of the East Hampton News) and kept up to date with town affairs via newspapers, radio, and friends. Mayo Smith Purple died at his East Hampton home on September 29, 1942, aged 82. His wife Gettine had predeceased him in 1937 and he was later interred alongside her at the Lakeview Cemetery in East Hampton.
From the East Hampton News, July 25, 1941.
From the 1919 Virginia House of Delegates composite.
Another "Mayo" that made his name known in politics is Mayo Cabell Brown, a two-term member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Lynchburg. Born on February 17, 1874, in Nelson County, Virginia, Mayo Cabell Brown was the son of Robert Lawrence and Margaret Balwin (Cabell) Brown. Brown's early education took place in Osage City, Kansas, a private school in Charles Town, Virginia, and the Episcopal High School in Alexandria.
After deciding upon a career in law, Brown studied at the University of Virginia, earning his law degree in the class of 1904. Soon afterward he opened a law practice and prior to his legislative service was the chairman of the Lynchburg draft board during World War I. Brown entered the political life of his state in 1919 when he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of sitting representative Preston H. Bailey. Brown's first term in the legislature saw him named to the committees on Claims; Finance; Military and Police; and Special, Private, and Local Legislation. He was returned to the statehouse for a second term, and from 1922-23 served on the committees on Militia and Police, and Moral and Social Welfare.
Little is known of Brown's life following his legislative service, except that he remained a lifelong bachelor and by 1928 was serving a prison term for embezzlement! The particulars of the case as reported in the Roanoke World News note that:
"Brown, acting as an attorney for the Y.M.C.A., was entrusted with a check for $2,275.30 payable to him to settle a judgement against the association in a a suit for an automobile accident. It was charged that Brown used the funds for his personal uses."
The events surrounding Brown's alleged malfeasance continued to snowball through 1928, with an order to revoke his law license being handed down by Judge Frank Christian of the Lynchburg Corporation Court. In June Brown (by then disbarred) was indicted by a grand jury, and on June 12, 1928, pleaded guilty to embezzlement in the Lynchburg corporation court. He was handed a five-year prison sentence and was shortly thereafter taken to a Richmond prison to serve out his term.
From the Norfolk Ledger Star, June 12, 1928.
No newspaper reports could be found detailing Brown's time in jail. He died sometime in 1936 and was later interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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