Portrait from the Genealogical and Biographical History of Keokuk County, Iowa.
An oddly named quartet is profiled on the site today, featuring the curious first name Adna. A biblical name, Adna is a figure mentioned in the Books of Nehemiah and Ezra and is also defined as meaning pleasure or delight. Adna Marcellus Utterback of Iowa is the first to be profiled, and in addition to his being a lumber dealer and farmer in that state entered politics early in the 20th century, winning election to one term in the Iowa House of Representatives from Keokuk County. The son of Josiah and Frances Emily (Dyer) Utterback, Adna Marcellus Utterback was born in Lancaster township, Iowa on April 9, 1860.
Raised on a farm in Keokuk, Utterback was a student in the common schools of that county and married in Hayesville, Iowa in December 1879 to Julia Esther Hayes (1860-1934). The couple were wed for over fifty years and had five children, Hubert Sylvester (1880-1942), Blanche (1882-1975), Alta (born 1886), Fred (born 1890), and Ruth Frances (born 1893).
Following his marriage, Utterback followed farming until 1882, when he entered into the lumber business in the town of Delta. He continued along that route after relocating to Martinsburg, Iowa in the 1880s, and during his residency held the post of railway and express agent. Around 1885 Utterback resettled in Hedrick, located in Keokuk County. He farmed there for nearly two decades and until his retirement was a partner with the Cecil Brothers in livestock purchasing. Utterback would further influence the business life of his community with his affiliation with the Hedrick Kite track, beginning in the 1890s.
A kite-shaped raceway that furnished "amusement for thousands of strangers each year", this mile-long race track was owned and managed by Utterback for several years. The track provided a financial boost to the community and for over a decade ran a horse racing program in August that not only brought in hundreds of horses but filled the stands in the amphitheater with thousands of spectators. Despite its popularity, Utterback later sold his interest in the business, and the track would be defunct by about 1903.
Beginning in 1902 Adna Utterback was an organizer of the Hedrick State Bank, of which he served as president. He made his first move into Keokuk County politics as a member of the county board of supervisors, and in 1901 announced that he'd be seeking the Democratic nomination for the Iowa House of Representatives. Hoping to represent the 24th legislative district, Utterback won out at the polls in the general election and took his seat in January 1902. During this term he was named to the following committees: Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, the Board of Public Charities, Building and Loan, Congressional Districts, Domestic Manufactures, and Military Affairs.
After leaving the legislature Utterback returned to his business and livestock interests and in 1932 saw his son Hubert begin a political career of his own, as he served a short term on the Iowa Supreme Court and in 1934 won election to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 1935-37 session. Widowed in 1934, Adna Utterback remarried in 1936 to Martinsburg resident Florence Graves Taylor (1875-1963), who would survive him. Utterback celebrated his 90th birthday in April 1950 and died on October 11, 1951, at a nursing facility in Sigourney, Iowa. He was later interred at the Pennington Cemetery in Sigourney.
From the Hedrick Journal, October 17, 1951.
Portrait from the Waverly News, October 8, 1908.
Another in a long line of oddly named U.S. Representatives that peopled the halls of Congress in the early 20th century, Ohioan Adna Romulus Johnson is also the only "Adna" to win election to that body. A once-prominent attorney in Ironton, Ohio, Johnson served one term in Congress and, like many of his fellow one term representatives, has been largely ignored by future generations. A schoolteacher and former prosecuting attorney for Lawrence County, Johnson went on to further distinction in the decades following his term, being elected as president of the Ohio State Bar Association in the 1930s.
A native of Missouri, Adna Romulus Johnson was born in Sweet Springs, Saline County on December 14, 1860, the son of Spencer and Persis (Stivers) Johnson. Left fatherless at an early age, Johnson removed with his mother to Lawrence County, Ohio in 1864. In a campaign notice that mistakenly records his birth as having occurred in Ohio, Johnson was noted as aiding his mother in the raising of his five siblings, and in addition to farm work obtained his education in the common and "select schools" of the county.
In his youth Johnson joined the workforce and in the 1870s engaged in railroad construction, being employed as a laborer on the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railway. This period later saw Johnson haul wood and work at an iron furnace in Alabama. After returning to Ohio Johnson focused his efforts on a teaching career, and after obtaining his teaching certificate followed that vocation for several years.
By the mid-1880s Johnson had refocused his career path and began reading law. In 1885 he enrolled at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduating with his degree in 1887. He had been admitted to the Ohio bar in 1886 and in 1888 established himself in practice in Ironton, Ohio. The 1889 election year saw Johnson nominated and elected to his first political office, that of Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney. His term was later lauded by the Waverly, Ohio News during his congressional run in 1908, noting:
"His conduct of the office was characterized by strict attention to duty and a high sense of official obligation. Like so many men who have risen to high rank as lawyers from the office of public prosecutor, his rise in his profession has been rapid and without precedent in Southern Ohio."
From the Marion Daily Mirror, May 18, 1910.
Adna Romulus Johnson married in Ohio in October 1890 to Dora Ricketts (1865-1914). The couple was wed until Dora's death and had three sons, Adna Romulus Jr. (1893-1952), Newton Halsey, and Donald. A veteran of the Marine Corps during WWI, Adna R. Johnson Jr. practiced law with his father and attained prominence of his own in the early 1920s, being named a special assistant in the U.S. Attorney General's office, "in charge of alien property cases."
Johnson's term as prosecuting attorney concluded in 1894 and until his congressional run continued practice in Ironton. Remarked as a teetotaller, Johnson was also acknowledged by the Waverly News as being the proud owner of one of the largest private libraries in the country, "numbering in the thousands of volumes."
In 1908 Johnson announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio and after winning the Republican primary faced off against Democrat Thomas H.B. Jones, a fellow resident of Lawrence County. Johnson proved successful at the polls on election day, besting Jones by a vote of 23,687 to 18,918. He took his seat in January 1909 and was named to the committees on Coinage, Weights, and Measures; Elections No. 3; and Immigration and Naturalization.
In the 1910 election year "Rom" Johnson was overwhelmingly renominated for a second term, but in July of that year issued a formal letter declining the honor. In a Marion, Ohio Daily Mirror writeup concerning his bowing out of the race, John remarked to an Ironton newspaper reporter his disgust with party politics, saying:
"My duties as a congressman to my constituents entailed almost the loss of one's manhood and principles for in order to get even the slighest legislative or appointive concession at Washington, it was necessary to bow and scrape to all the powers up to the president. I am thoroughly disgusted with the whole business and am of the opinion that any other man would be if he went through it."At the conclusion of his term, Johnson returned to his law practice in Ironton and through the remainder of his life was affiliated with various banking and manufacturing enterprises in Southern Ohio. He reemerged into the public eye in 1933 when he was elected as president of the Ohio State Bar Association, serving a one year term. Widowed in 1914, Adna Romulus Johnson died in Ironton on June 11, 1938, at age 77. He was survived by his three sons and his second wife, Elizabeth Schrader Johnson (1884-1967), and was interred at the Woodland Cemetery in Ironton.
From the Western Kansas World, March 27, 2014.
Another obscure "Adna" that entered politics was Adna Balch Jones, a WaKeeney, Kansas-based physician who served two consecutive terms in his state's house of representatives. A native of New Hampshire, Adna B. Jones was born in Grafton on March 21, 1857. He removed with his family to Iowa while a child and his early education was obtained in that state. He enrolled at the Grinnell College in the mid-1870s and there met Clara Gibson (1857-1950), who he would marry in September 1877. The couple were wed for nearly forty years and had two sons, Guy Gibson and Glen Morgan Jones (born 1890).
After completing his schooling at the Grinnell College Jones enrolled in the Iowa State College's medical department, and furthered his studies at Rush Medical College. He graduated in the class of 1882 and soon after removed with his wife to WaKeeney, Trego County, Kansas. Here he established a surgical and medical practice that continued until his death in 1917. For three decades Jones also was affiliated with the Union Pacific Railroad Company, being retained as its district surgeon. His long period of practice saw him gain distinction throughout Trego County and outlying areas, being remarked as "one of the very few qualified physicians in Western Kansas. His sterling character was further attested to in his Kansas Medical Society Journal obituary, which notes:
"His prepardness, combined with a strong genial personality, assured him the confidence and loyalty of his patronage. Other physicians called him in consultation more than any other physician."Even a century after his death, the bedside manner and professional candor of Adna B. Jones remains strong in Trego County, with Jones having received an extensive profile in the January 10, 2019 edition of the Western Kansas World. In this write-up Jones is recorded as having braved inclement weather to attend to patients, sometimes having to travel through the night to reach their bedside. Jones is also reported to have braved a flood to visit a sick patient, and:
"When tending to patients Jones always left them in better spirits then what he had found them in, with a kind word or funny anecdote."
From the 1905 Kansas legislative composite
Jones first entered the political life of WaKeeney with his election as that town's mayor, serving in 1886. In November 1904 he was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives from Trego County, and during his first term (1905-07) was a member of the committees on Horticulture and Forestry, Immigration, Irrigation, and Private Corporations. He won a second term in November 1906 and during the 1907-09 session was named to four new committees, those being Charitable Institutions, Hygiene and Public Health, Judicial Apportionment, and Railroads.
In addition to medicine and politics Jones was a financial contributor to the construction of the First United Presbyterian Church of WaKeeney in the late 1880s, and from 1890-91 was a Worthy Master of the Masonic Lodge No. 148 of WaKeeney. Jones was also a substantial landowner in Trego County, owning a 2,000-acre ranch where he farmed alfalfa and raised horses, cows, and "200 head of hogs."
Adna Balch Jones's health began to fail in 1917 and by October of that year had been transported to Missouri for treatment at the University Hospital at Kansas City. He died there on October 26, 1917, aged 60, "due to complications of an enlarged heart." He was survived by his wife and sons and was interred at the WaKeeney City Cemetery. Far from a forgotten figure in Trego County, Jones's memory was introduced to a new generation of WaKeeney residents in 2014 when he was voted the "Famous Trego County Citizen" and was honored by having his portrait displayed in the Hall of Fame at Wichita during the Kansas Diamond Jubilee celebration.
Portrait from "The Stone of Help", 1915.
Arguably the most obscure of the four men profiled, Adna Bradway Leonard was a prominent name in the affairs of the Methodist church during the 19th and early 20th centuries. A minister who held pastorates in Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, Leonard's long career saw him serve as a delegate to the Methodist General Conference on eight occasions and for over twenty years was corresponding secretary of the Missionary Society. Leonard earns placement here on the site due to his 1885 candidacy for Governor of Ohio on the Prohibition Party ticket.
The son of John and Nancy Leonard, Adna Bradway Leonard was born in Mahoning County, Ohio on August 2, 1837. He was a student in schools local to Alliance, Ohio and after graduating from that city's high school married Carolina Amelia Kaiser (died 1899) in 1861. The couple had seven children, including Adna Wright Leonard (1874-1943), who also attained distinction through ministerial work, being a Methodist Bishop for nearly 30 years. Leonard would lose his life in a plane crash in Iceland in 1943, while on a visit to Methodist chaplains and American servicemen.
A year prior to his marriage Leonard was ordained a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He held his first pastorate in Marlboro, Ohio until 1861, and from 1861-63 ministered in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. In 1863 he was transferred to Butler, and in the year following was made pastor in Alliance, Ohio. In 1866 Leonard transferred to the Kansas Conference, and for several years held a pastorate in Leavenworth, where he was a district elder. He resided there until 1870 when he was transferred to the Pittsburgh Conference in Pennsylvania, where he held a pastorate until 1873.
In 1873 Leonard began a lengthy pastorate in Ohio, first being centered in Cincinnati. His time with the Cincinnati Conference extended until 1877 and followed this with a transfer to Dayton, and in 1879 named a Presiding Elder in the Cincinnati Conference. In 1883 he was transferred to Springfield, Ohio, and in 1886 began a pastorate in Piqua.
Adna B. Leonard was called to political life in 1885 when he was accorded the Prohibition Party nomination for Governor of Ohio. Despite having no previous background in elective office, Leonard accepted the nomination and was one of four gubernatorial candidates that year. On election day in October Leonard polled 28,081 votes but was swamped by the overwhelming turnout for Republican and Democratic candidates George Hoadley (incumbent) and Joseph Foraker, the latter winning with a vote of 359,281.
Portrait courtesy of Ourcampaigns.com
Removing to Brooklyn, New York in 1888, Leonard was appointed as the corresponding secretary for the Missionary Society and Board of Foreign Missions for the Methodist Episcopal Church that same year. His time in that post extended until 1912 and afterward was designated corresponding secretary emeritus. Leonard's later years also saw him undertake missionary visits to Asia, the West Indies, Europe, and Mexico between 1893 and 1904.
In 1915 Adna Leonard published his autobiography, titled the Stone of Help. He died at his home in Brooklyn one year later on April 21, 1916. As a testament to his notoriety, Leonard's death notice was published in newspapers as far away as Minnesota, and following funeral arrangements was interred at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Springfield, Ohio.
From the Duluth, Minnesota Herald, April 22, 1916.
From the Newport Daily Express, June 28, 1948.
In an April 30, 2021 update to this article, it's Adna Bemis Cobleigh, a prominent public servant in Orleans County, Vermont for over forty years. Cobleigh served terms in both houses of the Vermont state legislature and held the additional post of district highway commissioner for nearly three decades. The son of Freedom and Laura Cobleigh, Adna Bemis Cobleigh was born in Vermont on July 1, 1877. Little is known of his early life or schooling, and by the late 1890s was employed at the Spaulding Brothers grocery in St. Johnsbury. He left that employ in June 1898, and in September of that year married Carrie Deland (1874-1959), to who he was wed for nearly fifty years. The couple had two daughters, Laura and Lota.
After leaving St. Johnsbury Cobleigh clerked in the store of W.E. Tripp in East Charlton, and in 1902 purchased the Cheney Grocery in West Derby. Following his departure from Tripp's store, Cobleigh and his family were feted with a party, attended by one hundred citizens, who gifted him a parting gift of "a purse of $42." In November 1902 he was named U.S. Postmaster at West Derby, and in 1906 entered into the race for state representative from Orleans County. Running on the Republican ticket, Cobleigh was elected that November and during the 1907-09 session was a member of the committee on claims.
During his term, Cobleigh held local office in Derby, being a town selectman, and after leaving office joined the freight office of the Boston and Maine railroad. In 1915 he began a long tenure in the state highway department when he became an assistant to Orleans County road commissioner Stoddard Bates. In 1917 Cobleigh was appointed as district road commissioner for Orleans and part of Essex County, and was continually reappointed to that post for the next 28 years. He retired in December 1945 and was remarked as being "the engineer with the longest service in the highway department" at the time of his retirement.
In November 1926 Cobleigh won a second term in the house of representatives, this time representing Newport. He chaired the committee on Highways and Bridges, and in 1932 again sought elective office, announcing his candidacy for state senator. He won out at the polls that November, defeating fellow Republican Charles Barrows, 1009 votes to 895. Sworn into office in January 1933, Cobleigh served one term and was named to the following committees: Agriculture, Finance, Highways and Bridges, State and Court Expenses, Sufferage and Elections (chairman).
Active in several fraternal groups prior to and after his time in state government, Cobleigh was a member of the International Order of Oddfellows, the Order of the Eastern Star, and the Masons. Additionally, he was a "devoted member" of the Main Street Baptist Church of Newport. Following retirement from the highway department, Cobleigh continued residence in Newport and died at a local hospital on June 27, 1948, a few days shy of his 71st birthday. He was survived by his wife and daughters and was interred at the Pine Grove Cemetery in Newport.
From the Newport Daily Express, June 29, 1948.
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