Whitemarsh Benjamin Seabrook (1793-1855)

    Today's article centers on Whitemarsh Benjamin Seabrook, one of the oddest named Governors in U.S. history, and also one of the most obscure I've had to research. For over ten years Seabrook remained one of the few oddly named politicians who was "faceless", and I was almost sure that this wonderfully named South Carolina Governor would remain without a face to place with his name. In an addendum to the preceding, fortune has smiled down upon me once again, for the discovery of the above painting marks the first time I've seen a portrait of Governor Seabrook. The painting in question was discovered via Google Books in a 1987 work by author Larry Trise, entitled Proslavery: A History of the Defence of Slavery in America.
   Whitemarsh B. Seabrook was born on June 30, 1793, at the Seabrook family plantation on Edisto Island, South Carolina, the son of Benjamin Whitemarsh and Elizabeth Margaret Meggett Seabrook. Seabrook's year of birth is variously given as either 1792, 1793, 1794, or 1795, but the majority of the sources I've found mention the correct year as being 1793. During his adolescence he attended the College of New Jersey, graduating in 1812. Soon after completing his education, Seabrook began the practice of law but eventually turned his attention to agricultural interests in his native state. He married in February 1815 to Margaret Wilkinson Hamilton (1795-1839) and the couple later became the parents to several children, including Benjamin Whitemarsh (1819-1820), Mary Hamilton (1822-1854), Julia Emma (1824-1904), Susan Septima (1826-1908), Paul Hamilton (1827-1862), Margaret Ann (1829-1831) and Edward Wilkinson (died in infancy in 1836.)
   As a plantation owner, Seabrook had a large cotton crop on Edisto Island, and most of the sources mentioned him note his involvement in the Southern cotton trade. He served as President of the South Carolina Agricultural Society from 1839 to 1845, and during his time in that office wrote A History of the Cotton Plant, a work that became a standard agricultural textbook at Clemson University and was even translated into several languages.
  While Seabrook maintained an involvement in agricultural pursuits, he was also active in politics. At age 21 he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives for the first of many terms. From there he won election to the state senate and in 1834 was named Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, serving under Governor (and later U.S. Senator) George McDuffie (1790-1851). In 1848 the South Carolina General Assembly elected Seabrook as Governor, and during his tenure stressed the vital importance of education. He was instrumental in the foundation of a Teacher's Association in South Carolina, although it became defunct not long after he left office. 
  Seabrook's one term as Governor concluded in 1850 and he returned to his Edisto Island plantation. One of his last public services was as a delegate to the Southern Rights Convention of 1852. He died in Beaufort, South Carolina on April 16, 1855, and was subsequently buried in the Gun Bluff Plantation Cemetery on the grounds of his home on Edisto Island. Following his death Seabrook was memorialized by the Charleston Mercury as having filled "an honorable place among public men of the state", and:

"He was plain and simple in his way of life, kindly in all his personal relations, and thoroughly identified with the agricultural interests of the State, to which he contributed valuable information and an undeviating support."

From the Triweekly Washington Sentinel, April 28, 1855.

Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus Elmer (1793-1883)

  Long before Lucius Q.C. Lamar became a prominent American political figure, there was Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus Elmer, a historian and politician from New Jersey. Born in Bridgeton, New Jersey on February 3, 1793, Elmer lived a long life, dying one month after his 90th birthday on March 11, 1883, in the town in which he was born. He was the son of General Ebenezer Elmer (1751-1843) a prominent New Jersey physician, military figure and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1801-07. 

   Elmer attended private schools in the Bridgeton area as well as in Borden, Woodbury, and Philadephia. He was later awarded an honorary degree from Princeton in 1824 and married Philadelphia native Catherine Hay (1795-1884) in 1818. The couple's sixty-five years of marriage would produce four daughters, who are listed as follows in order of birth: Hannah (1819-1882), Caroline (1821-1911), Catherine (1825-1914) and Mary (1827-1914).

    A veteran of the War of 1812, Elmer served as a lieutenant of artillery in the New Jersey state militia and would advance to Brigade Major and Inspector. Elmer earned his law degree in 1815 and in 1820 was elected to the New Jersey State Assembly, serving here until 1823. In his last year in the state assembly, Elmer was elected as its Speaker. In 1824 he was named U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey (serving in that capacity from 1824-29) and in the last-named year became a trustee for Princeton University, continuing in that role until his resignation thirty-five years later.

   In October 1842 Elmer won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 1st congressional district, defeating Whig candidate Edmond Wales by a vote of 5,668 to 5, 374. Elmer was defeated for reelection in 1844 by fellow Bridgeton resident James Giles Hampton (1814-1861). After leaving Congress, Elmer returned to practice law and would experience further political success when he was elected as Attorney General of New Jersey, serving in this post from 1850-1852. In his last year as Attorney General Elmer was appointed to a seat on the New Jersey State Supreme Court, serving as an Associate Justice from 1852-1859 and again from 1861-1869. 

           Elmer as he appeared in the History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland.

  In the early 1870s, Elmer retired from public office and after his retirement authored several works on local New Jersey history, including the History of the early settlement and progress of Cumberland County, New Jersey, and of the Currency of this and the adjoining colonies, published in 1869. Elmer also authored and revised works on New Jersey state law and statutes during his twilight years, including Elmer's Digest of the Laws of New Jersey and Elmer's Book of Law Forms, the latter being published in 1868. Elmer is also recorded as serving as the President of the Cumberland County Bible Society for many years.

   The History of the Counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland, New Jersey notes that Elmer suffered the effects of blindness in the last few months of his life, and was confined to his bed during his final days. After he died in 1883 at age 90, Elmer was buried in the Old Broad Street Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Bridgeton. He was survived by three of his daughters as well as his wife Catherine, who died a year after her husband at the age of 89. Ten years following his death, Lucius Q.C. Elmer received the distinction of having a New Jersey borough named in his honor, the borough of Elmer in Salem County, incorporated in January 1893.

This death notice for Elmer appeared in the March 12, 1883 edition of the Kingston, NY Daily Freeman.

An Addendum--August 26, 2020

  In yet another update involving plagiarism, a helpful blog reader recently made me aware of the fact the City of Bridgeton's "Notable People" page pilfered a portion of my 2011 writeup on Lucius Q.C. Elmer, beginning with the passage "Long before Lucius Q.C. Lamar became a prominent American political figure...". This site also took a portrait of Elmer featured here and made no attempt to note where their information was originally obtained from. You would figure that someone working for a city-run webpage would know better than to copy and paste someone else's writing, but apparently not! Not the first time I've had to contend with intellectually vacant asshats that pass off other people's writing as their own, and it probably won't be the last! You can compare this article to the passages on the following link, located on a page developed several years after the article you're now reading was published online.