Ingersoll Osea Remine (1891-1947)

From the Knoxville Sentinel, November 19, 1922.

  Another in a long list of strange name political figures who were without faces to place with their names, the above picture of Ingersoll Osea Remine was found recently via the online archive of the Knoxville Sentinel. This author having located Remine's name way back in 2009, it took eleven years for a picture of him to finally come to light! A railway agent in Loudon County for two decades, Remine was elected to two terms in the Tennessee state senate in the early 1920s, representing the 63rd and 65th district. The son of Calvin Keizel and Laura (Painter) Remine, Ingersoll Osea "I.O." Remine was born on August 6, 1891, in Chuckey, Tennessee.

  A student in schools local to Greene County, Remine later attended the county's Wesleyan Academy and in August 1912 married Pearl Fisher (1892-1954). The couple were wed until Remine's death in 1947 and had four children, including Marion, Dan, and Neil. In April 1906 Remine took employment with the Southern Railroad as a telegraph operator and railway agent, and around 1916 resettled in Loudon, Tennessee. He resided there for the remainder of his life, and during the First World War was active in the war effort. He served as county chairman of the Red Cross Roll Call, and was a speaker with the Four Minute Men, visiting locations throughout the county touting war drives. Remine also chaired the Loudon County United War Workers Campaign. 

   I.O. Remine first entered politics at age 20, serving as secretary of the Greene County Republican executive committee in 1911-12. Following removal to Loudon County, he chaired the county Republican executive committee and was active in fraternal groups, being a member of the Junior Order of United Mechanics, president of the Epworth League, master of the First Veil Royal Arch Masons, and master of the Tennessee Lodge No. 204 of Free and Accepted Masons. 

  In 1922 Remine announced his entrance into the race for state senator from Tennessee's 6th district. Lauded by the Knoxville Journal and Tribune for "his advocacy of political righteousness", Remine was opposed in the Republican primary by incumbent senator John C. Houk. Through June and July Remine took to the stump via automobile to tout his campaign and took aim at Houk's Senate service. Making note of Houk's "disloyalty" to then-Governor Alfred Taylor by his failure to support the administration's policies, Remine also noted Houk's lack of support for the "back tax" and "tax assessment" bill. In August 1922 Remine defeated Houk, with incomplete returns noting a vote margin of a few hundred votes. As Remine's victory was "equivalent" to winning the general election, he faced little to no opposition that November.

From the Knoxville Journal and Tribune, August 4, 1922.

  Following his election in November Remine was remarked as one of the youngest senators to have ever served in state government, and at age 31 was the youngest man in the senate during the 1923-25 term. In January 1923 he was named chairman of the committee on Horticulture, and was a member of the committees on Education; Finance; Game, Fish, and Forestry; Labor; Military Affairs; Railroads; Sanitation; and Ways and Means. Remine was defeated for reelection in November 1924 by Democrat Roy C. Wallace but rebounded politically in November 1926 when he defeated Wallace to win a second term.

  The 1927-29 session saw Remine propose legislation that would "incorporate Loudon and a bill to enable Monroe County to issue bonds to build a bridge over the Little Tennessee river." In April 1927 he delivered the keynote address at the 2nd Congressional district Republican convention, and in May of the following year was elected chairman of the 2nd district Republican convention held in Knoxville. 

  After leaving office Remine continued residence in Loudon, where he and his wife were active in the Methodist Episcopal church. On September 24, 1947, the 56-year-old ex-senator died unexpectedly in Knoxville, shortly after leaving his doctor's office. His obituary notes that he had been receiving treatment for a heart ailment prior to his death, and he was survived by his wife and three children. Following her death in 1954, Pearl Remine was interred alongside her husband at the Steekee Cemetery in Loudon.

From the Johnson City Press, September 25, 1947.