Electious Williams Davis (1874-1947)

From the Mississippi Official and Statistical Register, 1924-28.

  Certainly one of the more unusual names to be found among past Mississippi state representatives, Electious Williams Davis represented Jefferson and Claiborne County for one term beginning in 1923. A lifelong Mississippian, Davis was the son of John Whitfield and Julia (Havis) Davis, his birth occurring in Caseyville on March 25, 1874. A student in the common schools, Electious Davis's education was "acquired through his own efforts" and he would attend the Chamberlain-Hunt Academy and the summer normal schools in Brookhaven and Clinton, Mississippi. 

  For five years Davis followed a teaching career before turning his efforts towards law studies. He read law at home via bought and borrowed books and later studied under future state chancellor Richard Wiltz Cutrer in Port Gibson. Davis married in Mississippi in January 1899 to Rhoda Belle Middleton (1879-1953), to who he was wed for nearly fifty years. The couple had three children, Annie Belle (1899-1938), Percy Williams (birthdate unknown), and Prentiss Elliott (1907-1975).

  Active in the First Baptist Church in Port Gibson, Davis was a longstanding member of the Modern Woodmen of the World, a farmer, and served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Claiborne County National Farm Loan Association. He also was named an abstractor by the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans as a land title examiner. 

From the Port Gibson Reveille, March 6, 1919.

  Electious Davis entered local politics with his service as a constable and justice of the peace, and in 1915 was an unsuccessful candidate for county superintendent of public instruction. In March 1919 he announced his candidacy for Claiborne County attorney, with the Port Gibson Reveille noting that:

"There has never been the slightest reproach against his character. He has always borne the reputation of doing well anything he has ever undertaken, and if elected to this office he will give his best effort."

  Running against Davis that year was another oddly named man, Milling Marion "M.M." Satterfield, then serving as county attorney. When the votes were tallied that August it was Satterfield who won out, polling 5,462 votes to Davis's 1,283. Undeterred by his loss, Davis later set his sights on a seat in the Mississippi house of representatives and in 1923 was elected to that body. Serving from 1924-28, he sat on the committees on the Constitution, Fees and Salaries, and Liquor Traffic.

  Little else is known of Electious Davis's life following his term in the legislature. In 1930 he is recorded as a census enumerator for Claiborne County, and his death occurred in Mississippi on January 28, 1947, aged 72. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson.

Greenland Thompson Federer (1888-1961)

From the 1926 West Virginia Blue Book.

  The Strangest Names in American Political History makes its first stop in West Virginia for 2023 with a profile on Greenland Thompson Federer, a one-term member of the state house of delegates. A native of Pennsylvania, Greenland "Green" Federer was born in Washington County on July 29, 1888, the son of the Rev. George Andrew and Dora (McKenna) Federer. 

  Removing to West Virginia with his family in 1897, the Federers settled on a farm in Preston County, and Greenland later graduated from the Fairmount State Normal School. As a resident of Gladesville, Federer established a meat market in that area, using a horse and wagon to deliver his product. A veteran of WWI, Greenland Federer served with the Army's 80th Infantry Division in France and was honorably discharged following the close of the hostilities.

  After returning to West Virginia Federer married Thora L. Robinson (1899-1993) in 1920, to who he was wed for forty years. The couple had two daughters, Eleanor (1921-2015) and Eloise. Residing in Morgantown, Federer announced his candidacy for the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1924 from Monongalia County. Running on the Republican ticket, Federer was elected that November, polling 6,818 votes. Taking his seat in January 1925, Federer served one term and was a member of the committees on Prohibition and Temperance, Redistricting, State Boundaries, and Taxation and Finance.

  "Green" Federer continued residence in Morgantown following his term and is recorded as operating several meat markets in that area. He continued in his vocation until WWII and afterwards worked as a real estate broker. Little is known of the remainder of his life, except notice of his death in Morgantown on October 8, 1961, aged 73. He was survived by his wife and daughters and was interred at the East Oak Grove Cemetery in Morgantown.

Septimus Bonham Sightler (1863-1952), Septimus Augustus Harvin Jr. (1907-1983), Septimus Douglass Cabaniss (1815-1889), Septimus Evans Niven (1842-1927), Septimius Hall (1847-1926))

 
From the Montgomery Advertiser, April 29, 1934.

  A quintet of politicians named Septimus is profiled today, and it is worth noting that four of the five share a first name with its origins in ancient times, and is also the Latin word for seventh. The first man to be highlighted is Alabama's Septimus Bonham Sightler, a furniture dealer and insurance man who served four consecutive terms in his state's house of representatives. The son of Joseph Myers and Martha (Hutto) Sightler, Septimus Bonham Sightler was born in Lexington, South Carolina on October 24, 1863.

  During his youth, Sightler attended the Oakey Springs Academy in Lexington, and in 1886 removed to Montgomery, Alabama, where he took employment with the Montgomery Furniture Company. He married in October of the following year to Mary Francis Boykin (1865-1947), and the couple's sixty-year union produced six children: Ann (birthdate unknown), Aileen (1888-1958), Ruth Cleveland (1893-1977), Martha Elizabeth (birthdate unknown), Mamie Bonham (birthdate unknown), Maude Gertrude (1897-1900), and Septimus Bonham Jr. (1905-1999).

  After a two-year residence in Montgomery Sightler joined his brother in Birmingham in 1888, where both worked in the furniture industry. He removed back to Montgomery in 1894 to take on a managerial position in the Ellis-Gay Furniture Company, and in 1900 partnered with George Wragg to form the Wragg-Sightler Furniture Company., which existed until 1904. In December of that year, Sightler joined old partner E.W. Gay to form a new furniture dealership, Gay and Sightler, located in Montgomery. Notices for their new venture appeared in Montgomery Times throughout 1904 and 1905 hawking their wares, noting:

"Gay and Sightler can make you exceedingly attractive prices on ladies' desks, children's rockers, iron beds, centre tables, rockers, hat racks, bed lounges, children's iron beds, bookcases, bed springs, lamps, blankets and other things too numerous to mention: special prices on everything and cash or credit."

  Active in the civic and fraternal life of Montgomery, Sightler held memberships in the International Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Shriners, and served on the Montgomery County Welfare Board and Safety Council. Additionally, Sightler was active in Baptist church work, and at the time of his death in 1952 was actively engaged as a teacher of the Beacon Light Sunday School class. 

  In 1927 the firm of Gay and Sightler dissolved, with Septimus Sightler soon going into business for himself. He began an interest in local politics in 1917 when his name was mentioned as a possible legislative candidate but didn't actively pursue public office until February 1934, when he announced his bid for the Alabama house of representatives. He would win the primary election in June and in November the general election.

From the Montgomery Advertiser, May 8, 1934.

  As he prepared to take his seat in January 1935, Sightler was interviewed a month prior by the Montgomery Advertiser, where he outlined a platform of what he hoped to accomplish in his first term. He opposed ratification of a possible amendment to a child labor law in the state's constitution, on the grounds that it would "virtually take jurisdiction away children from the parents and hand it over to the government." Additionally, Sightler favored the legalization of beer and wine sales, and advocated for driver's licenses "for all persons who operate motor vehicles in the state of Alabama." This four-year term (1935-39) saw Sightler named to the following committees: Commerce and Common Carriers, Criminal Administration, Insurance and Insurance Companies, Public Buildings and Institutions, the Soldier's Home, and Ways and Means.

  All told, Sightler served four consecutive four-year terms in the state house of representatives, and in 1950 announced his intention not to seek reelection, being 86 years old at the time. He retired from politics at the end of his term, and in the last months of his life was honored by the Woodmen of the World for his "long record of service" to the organization. Septimus Bonham Sightler died at his home in Montgomery on February 22, 1952, at age 88. He had been preceded in death by his wife in 1947 and was interred at the Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery.

From the Montgomery Advertiser, January 2, 1952.

Fromm the Sumter Item, December 21, 1983.

  A leading public servant in Sumter, South Carolina, Septimus Augustus Harvin Jr. served four years as Sumter's mayor and was active in several fraternal organizations in that city. A lifelong Sumter County resident, Harvin was born in that county on September 15, 1907, the son of Septimus Augustus and Harriette Ann Harvin. A student in schools local to Sumter, Harvin graduated from Sumter High School in 1925. A graduate of Clemson University in the class of 1929, he earned his bachelor of science degree from that school and married to Mary Ellen Suber (1908-2004) in the 1930s. The couple had two children, Virginia Anne (Harvin) McLaurin and Septimus Augustus Jr. (born 1937). 

  Through the succeeding years, Harvin's name grew to be a prominent one in Sumter. Remarked as "one of the county's largest and most outstanding farmers", Harvin entered the business life of his community in 1940 when he purchased an interest in the Kirkland Division  Co. meatpacking firm, and, following a fire in 1945, bought out the other partners and continued operations under the firm name Harvin Packing Co. 

  Harvin first entered city politics with his election to the city council in 1952. In 1956 he took office as mayor, and his four years in office saw him as a "dedicated public servant" who "was a strong leader in civic affairs and always had the interests of the people at heart." Active in the fraternal life of his county, Harvin was a member of the Elks Lodge, the Rotary Club, Shriners, the Sumter Progressive Club, and the local Masonic chapter. Septimus Augustus Harvin Jr. died on December 21, 1983, aged 76, and was survived by his wife and children. He was interred at the Sumter Cemetery. 

Courtesy of huntsvillehistorycollection.org

  A native of Alabama, Septimus Douglass Cabaniss was an attorney based in Huntsville who served one term in that state's house of representatives. Born in Alabama in December 1815, Cabaniss was the last of twelve children born to Charles and Lucy (Ingram) Cabaniss. A student at the Greene Academy in Huntsville, Cabaniss later attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville and after graduation in 1835 elected to follow a career in law. He began study under Huntsville lawyer Silas Parsons and three years later was admitted to the state bar. He married Virginia Shepard (1824-1907) in 1843, and later had twelve children (six living to adulthood.)

  Cabaniss began practice in Huntsville in the late 1830s, and by 1851 had established a partnership with future state supreme court chief justice Robert C. Brickell (1824-1900). He began his political career by serving Madison County as its first register in chancery from 1839-43 and was an assignee in bankruptcy for that county from 1841-43. In 1860 Cabaniss was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives, where he served from 1861-63. He cast his lot with the Confederacy during the Civil War and is recorded by at least one 1955 source as having been involved in Confederate Army intelligence work.

  In 1865 Cabaniss resumed practicing law and later partnered with Francis P. Ward. Active in civic affairs in his region, he served as president of the Northern Bank of Alabama and was a member of the board of trustees of the Huntsville Agricultural and Mechanical Institute. Cabaniss died in Huntsville on March 30, 1889, and was interred at the Maple Hill Cemetery in that city. 

Portrait courtesy of the Pennsylvania Senate database.

   Remarked as a "progressive practical farmer and dairyman" Chester County, Pennsylvania resident Septimus Evans Nivin also was active politically, serving two terms as Chester County auditor and in the early 1890s was elected to one term in the state senate. One of six children born to David and Sarah (Evans) Nivin, Septimus Evans Nivin was born in the borough of London Britain in Chester County on April 12, 1842. Inheriting his unusual name courtesy of his maternal grandfather Septimus Evans (1771-1849), young Nivin attended the West Chester Academy and followed farming for nearly all his life.

  Residing upon his family's ancestral farm, the Niven family's landholdings comprised 600 acres, and during his life specialized in breeding Jersey cattle, with an 1895 Pennsylvania history noting that:

"He converts their milk to butter in a creamery on his own land, which brings the highest price at the Philadelphia market. It would well pay any farmer to visit this farm and inpect the fine cattle and stable arrangement under the management of Mr. Nivin."

 Active in the Pennsylvania grange, Nivin served as its state treasurer, and attained further prominence in the political life of its region, serving in a number of county offices, and holding the county auditorship for two terms. Additionally, he served as school director and was school treasurer for three decades. Nivin entered the race for the Pennsylvania state senate in 1890 and that November was elected, being the first Democrat elected to the senate from his county in thirty years. Succeeding senator A.D. Harlan, who had resigned to accept a post as U.S. Marshal, Nivin was sworn in in November 1891, with two days left to serve in that year's extra session. Much to the ire of Republicans and Republican-leaning newspapers in the state, Nivin was accorded a full session pay of $500, despite serving only two days. This fact was later brought up when Nivin was announced for reelection in 1892.

  Nivin lost his reelection bid in September 1892, the nod going to another Chester County Democrat, and later returned to farming. He died at his home in London Britain township at age 84 on December 22, 1926, the cause of death being reported as pneumonia. A lifelong bachelor, he was survived by two nieces and was interred at the New London Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

From the West Virginia Blue Book, 1926.

   A long-tenured member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, Septimius Hall is also one of the more oddly named men to win election to that body. First elected to the state senate in the early 1870s, he won his first election to the state house of delegates a decade later, and, all told, served twelve nonconsecutive terms in that body. Additionally, Hall was a delegate to the West Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1872, served a term as mayor of New Martinsville, and was long active in the Odd Fellows lodge in his state. The son of Leonard Stout and Jeannette McGregor Hall, Septimius Hall was born in what is now Ritchie County, West Virginia on February 14, 1847.

  Young Septimius was a student in schools local to New Martinsville and later followed his father into the study of law. He elected not to practice and instead organized a business named the Pittsburg Stave Company, which he operated for over a decade. Hall married Fannie Anshutz (1848-1936) in 1875, to who he was wed for fifty years. The couple had four children, Charles Leonard (1876-1934), Lulu Hall Blair (1880-1953, Septimius Jr. (1884-1958), and Lamoine Mott (1889-1971).

  Septimius Hall began his long political career in 1871 when he was elected to the West Virginia Constitutional Convention. His time at the convention (1872-73) saw him as an active participant in its proceedings, helping to draw up the state's organic law and at the time of his death in 1926 was one of three surviving convention members. While serving at the convention Hall was elected to represent his district in the state senate, where from 1873-75 he chaired the committee on Banks and Corporations and helped pass the state's first general railroad law.

   After several years away from politics Septimius Hall was elected to represent Wetzel County in the state house of delegates, where he served two terms from 1881-85. Following those terms, he served an indeterminate period as mayor of New Martinsville, and in 1906 was reelected to the house of delegates. Here he would serve until his death in 1926, a total of 25 years of service in both houses. During that time Hall served on dozens of House committees, including  Counties, Districts and Municipal Corporations, Forestry and Conservation, Insurance, Labor and Finance, Military Affairs, the Penitentiary, Taxation and Finance, and Virginia Debt.

From the 1907 Manual of the State of West Virginia.

  Septimius Hall died in office on February 27, 1926, aged 79. He had been for several months, with that illness being compounded by a fall down his cellar steps three months prior to his death. He was memorialized in the 1926 West Virginia Blue Book as a "familiar figure" at the capital, noting:

"Septimius Hall is dead and will be sadly missed by a host of friends and neighbors and those who enjoyed a close association with him in legislative service. While steadfast in his political convictions, he was not classed as a biased partisan; the interest of the state in its wonderful development were always near to him, and even when health was failing, and he had earned reief from public duties, he insisted on holding his place in the line."