Cyrillo Southworth Lincoln (1830-1900)

                         Cyrillo S. Lincoln,  from Milliken's "A History of Ontario County", published in 1911.

    Following up on yesterday's article on Jefferson County resident Lotus Ingalls, our profile today centers on the life of Cyrillo Southworth Lincoln, a prominent figure in the town of Naples in Ontario County, New York. Mr. Lincoln represented his home county in the New York State Assembly for four terms during the 1870s and was at the time of his death viewed as one of Naples's most honored citizens. Two days ago (August 15, 2012), I was lucky enough to be on vacation near Naples and made a point to locate Lincoln's final resting place in the Rose Ridge Cemetery. Lincoln is honored today (on the 112th anniversary of his death) as the newest addition to the site, and some photographs from Rose Ridge Cemetery will conclude his extensive profile here.

   Cyrillo Southworth Lincoln was born on July 18, 1830, in the village of South Bristol, New York, one of seven children born to Lucius (1801-1875) and Amelia Fellows Lincoln (1806-1876). Cyrillo received his education at both the Genesee Wesleyan and the New York Conference Seminaries and in 1858 graduated with honors from the Union College in New York. Shortly after his graduation he began reading law under Frederick L. Durand of Rochester and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1859. Lincoln eventually became a law partner with future U.S. Representative (and Naples native) Emory Bemsley Pottle (1815-1891), and together they maintained a law practice in Naples until its dissolution in 1864.

   In 1859 Lincoln married Charlotteville, New York native Mary Abigail Brown, with whom he had one daughter, whose name has been lost to history. Both Mary and her infant daughter died within a year of her marriage to Lincoln, and in August 1862 he remarried to Laura A. Clarke, and this union produced two children, Mary Clark (born 1864) and Spencer Francis (1868-1944). Spencer Lincoln followed in his father's footsteps and also went on to a distinguished career in the public forum, serving as District Attorney for Yates County, New York from 1906-1912 and again from 1925-1933.

          This portrait of Spencer Francis Lincoln appeared in the Penn Yan Democrat in January 1944.

   Throughout the 1860s Cyrillo S. Lincoln maintained a successful law practice out of his home in Naples, and was also involved in that area's grape industry, maintaining "one of the finest vineyards in that section of the State." His expertise in the field of law won Lincoln many friends throughout Ontario County and his 1900 obituary (published in the Naples Record) gives note that "his good influence was also early felt in all matters of public interest and town improvement. He had fine oratorical gifts, speaking readily and convincingly, and was thus brought into frequent service as an entertainer and educator."

   While Lincoln's career in law continued to win him local acclaim, he didn't pursue political office until the mid-1860s, when he was elected as Naples Justice of the Peace, serving in this capacity until 1871. In November of that year, Lincoln was elected to his first term in the New York State Assembly as a Republican, beginning a legislative tenure that was "most creditable to his constituents and to himself." During his four terms in the assembly, Lincoln held a seat on the Committee on the Petitions of Aliens and the sub-Committee on the Whole and later chaired the Committee on Claims during the 1873 assembly session. Lincoln's oratorical skills receive further mention in the 1874 Life Sketches of Government Officials and Members of the Legislature, which notes:

"As a public speaker he has few superiors. With a voice full and sonorous, an easy and natural manner of delivery and clear enunciation, he has no difficulty in securing the attention of the house, whatever the topic of discussion. He talks well on all subjects, and is also a clear and secure reasoner, holding, in the main, sound views on the political, social and financial questions of the day."                    

     During his four terms in the Assembly, Lincoln was remarked to be "a man of acknowledged ability, sound principals, and flexible integrity" and it was this character assessment that eventually led then New York Governor Samuel Tilden to appoint Lincoln (along with future New York Governor David Bennett Hill) as special prosecuting attorneys during the 1872 impeachment trial of New York State Supreme Court justice George Gardner Barnard.  Lincoln's assembly tenure concluded with the end of the May 1875 session and his Naples Record obituary notes that "few men, if any, on the floor of the House exerted more influence or were more honored."

   After his service in state government, Lincoln returned to his Naples law practice and throughout his later years was an active figure in town affairs. For over thirty years he was a member of the local Presbyterian church and is listed by his obituary as being a Sunday school superintendent and church trustee. Lincoln returned to political service in 1880 when he was named as a delegate from New York to the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago that nominated James Garfield for President. In 1889 he was named as a trustee for the Naples Union School, serving in this post until 1895. Lincoln was also a charter member of the Nundawaho Lodge of the International Order of Odd-Fellows and was a past president of the Naples Lyceum.

   In 1898 Lincoln's health began to fail due to a "complication of diseases", and while he continued in the practice of law, health concerns continued to plague him for the last two years of his life. In the weeks preceding his death, he suffered a relapse which confined him to his bed, and he died away at his home at 1 p.m. on August 17, 1900, at age 70.

             This death notice for Cyrillo Lincoln appeared in a Gloversville, New York newspaper.

   The death of Cyrillo S. Lincoln was widely reported in a number of New York newspapers and was front-page news in the August 22, 1900 edition of the Naples Record. His obituary mentions that his death "removes from us not only a most genial and lovable man, but one of the most useful and honored citizens of the county, and is not only a personal loss to a great multitude but a public calamity." 

   As one can read from the impressive memorial given to Lincoln in the Record, his demise robbed Naples of one of its most highly regarded public servants. His funeral is recorded as taking place at his home on Monday, August 20, 1900, and his remains were then escorted by a funeral procession to the Rose Ridge Cemetery, where he was then interred. Lincoln was survived by his wife Laura, who died at age 87 in 1918 and was interred next to her husband.

   I fast forward now to August 15, 2012, the day my family and I visited Rose Ridge to seek out Lincoln's gravesite. As a funny backstory to the search that followed, it was nearing 8 o'clock and getting dark rapidly by the time I reached the cemetery, so one can certainly say time wasn't on my side! Compounding this was the fact that I was also searching for another oddly named politician buried here, Shotwell Powell (1808-1896), a past member of the New York State Assembly from Ontario County. 

   After locating two Lincoln plots in the cemetery (neither of which was the Lincoln I was looking for), I was beginning to get worried! It was practically dark by this time and I shouted to my father (who was helping me in the search) that I was going to the far side of the cemetery near a tree-lined area. After a few more minutes of poking around, I located the man I was looking for! Cyrillo Lincoln's gravesite is tucked away in a far corner of this out-of-the-way cemetery, and behind me in the photo below is a wooded area that descends sharply downhill into an even larger woods!

   In the picture above (which turned out remarkably well, considering that it was taken at 8:30 at night) I stand next to Cyrillo's marker, while he and his wife Laura's headstones are directly behind me. 

   Lincoln's headstone is quite hard to read, as 112 years of wear and exposure to the elements have covered it with spots of algae. Directly to the left of Cyrillo's stone is that of his wife Laura, whose stone is in a similar condition. Interred in the two other Lincoln plots I mentioned earlier are the remains of Cyrillo's father and mother and older brothers Linus and Theron. 

   In an intriguing coda to this article, the grave of Shotwell Powell was discovered by my father less than fifty feet away from Cyrillo Lincoln's stone! I find it truly fascinating that we managed to locate both of these oddly named politician's grave sites in so short a period, and I'm certain that a fair bit of serendipity was involved in their discovery! It's even more interesting to note that I discovered Lincoln's grave within 36 hours of the 112th anniversary of his death!! August 15, 2012, will forever be remembered by me as the day that I managed to locate several oddly named political grave sites in two separate counties, including the final resting place of Lotus Ingalls, who was profiled yesterday.

Mandeville Treat Ludden (1830-1882), Mandeville Samuel Frost (1845-1922), Mandeville Tyler Mustin (1816-1908), Manderville Tilden Miller (1879-1943)

    A prominent figure in the county of Androscoggin, Maine, Mandeville Treat Ludden received a brief mention in yesterday's article on Liberty Haven Hutchinson, another influential Androscoggin resident and political figure. Hutchinson studied law under Ludden in 1871, and before getting too in-depth on Ludden's life this author should mention that there are some inconsistencies regarding the spelling of his unusual first name. The portrait of Ludden shown above (discovered in the 1982 work Historic Lewiston: Its Government) spells his name with an "r". There are other instances in Maine legislative manuals of this spelling, but the majority of the sources available on his life give the correct spelling as "Mandeville".    
  Mandeville T. Ludden was born in the town of Canton, Maine on February 17, 1830, the son of and attended the Maine Wesleyan Seminary as a youth. He began the study of law under his uncle Timothy Ludden and graduated in 1854 from the prestigious Harvard Law School. The earlier mentioned Historic Lewiston notes that Ludden had the distinction of being the first lawyer admitted to the Androscoggin County bar after that county's incorporation in 1854.
  On New Year's Day 1856 Ludden married Mary E. Jewett (1831-1912) and soon after settled into a law practice with his uncle Timothy in the town of Turner. Mandeville was elected as Androscoggin County attorney in 1863 and was reelected to further terms in that office, his service extending until 1867. Further honors were conferred upon him in 1867 when the citizens of Androscoggin elected him to the Maine State Senate, serving in the legislative sessions of 1868-1869. His term saw him as a member of the committee on the judiciary, and in 1868 acted as senate president pro tempore during the absence of President Joseph H. West.

    In the year following his senate service, Ludden moved to the neighboring city of Lewiston, and two years after his resettlement began service as Lewiston city solicitor. During his tenure as solicitor, he was also elected to the Common Council and Board of Aldermen, serving from 1871-1881. In his last year of service as an alderman, Mandeville Ludden was elected as the Mayor of Lewiston and would serve a one-year term in that post. 
   Shortly after the conclusion of his term Mandeville Ludden died at age 52 on September 21, 1882. A periodical of the time mentions that "in his decease the general public have sustained an inestimable loss" and that he "was a Christian man....respected and esteemed by all who knew him". The Eastern Medical Journal, Volumes I-II (where the above quotations were featured) notes that Ludden's death was "due to that almost always fatal malady, diabetes mellitus". He was later interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Lewiston and was survived by his wife Elizabeth, who died at age 81 in 1912.

From the Rhinebeck Gazette, January 8, 1910.

    Another "Mandeville" who made his name known in public service is Mandeville Samuel Frost of Rhinebeck, New York, who served as Township Supervisor (Mayor) of Rhinebeck for three terms. Born on July 30, 1845, in Clinton, New York, Mandeville S. Frost was the son of Samuel and Barbara Traver Frost. Recorded as attending the "district schools of Clinton" Frost would continue his education at the De Garmo Institute and in 1867 removed to Rhinebeck with his father, and would reside here for the remainder of his life. He married in Rhinebeck in November 1868 to Catherine Marquardt (1850-1928) and later became the father to eight children: Minnie L. (born 1869), Charles M. (1872-1895), Alvah G. (born 1875), Austin (born 1880), Benson (born 1883), Edith (born 1885), Ardelle (born 1888) and Florence (born 1890)

   During his long residency in Rhinebeck Frost served as a school teacher, and also worked at farming. He served at various times as town assessor and as a member of the Dutchess County Rebate Tax Commission, and in 1903 was elected as Supervisor of the town of Rhinebeck. Taking office in 1904, he would serve three terms in office, and upon his retirement from office in January 1910 was remarked by the Rhinebeck Gazette as being:

"A relentless foe of graft and dishonesty and has always been fearlessly outspoken in his oppression to such."

   A member of the St. Paul's Wurttemburg Church, Frost was also a stockholder in the St. Paul's Wurttemburg Cemetery Association. Mandeville Frost and his wife Catherine celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1918 and in 1922 he died at age 77. Frost was later interred at the Wurttemburg Cemetery in Rhinebeck and was survived by his wife Catherine, who died six years after her husband.

  Obscure Butler County, Ohio resident Mandeville Tyler "M.T." Mustin's placement here on the site rests on his one term in the Ohio State House of Representatives, his term extending from 1849-50. Little could be located on Mr. Mustin, and even though he lived to the great age of 92, no photograph or obituary for him could be found.

   Born in Virginia on September 22, 1816, "M.T." Mustin moved with his grandparents to Hardin County, Ohio at age four. They later relocated to the neighboring county of Butler, where during his youth "M.T." taught school. He decided to make teaching his lifelong vocation and is recorded as having taught for over forty years in the "townships of Morgan, Reily, Hanover, and Fairfield." He would marry in 1841 to Rebecca Hand, with whom he had five children.

  Remarked as "one of the Democratic leaders in Butler County", Mustin served Hanover township as its assessor in the mid-1840s and in 1849 began service as Butler County's representative to the Ohio General Assembly. His one term (1849-1851) is given praise in the 1906 Centennial History of Butler County, which notes that he:

"Introduced a number of important bills that became laws; had places on several of the leading committees; and in the general deliberations of the house was an active and influential participant."

Mandeville Tyler Mustin died four days after his 92nd birthday on September 26, 1908. He was later interred at the Oxford Cemetery in Oxford, Ohio.

   This interestingly named politician is Manderville Tilden Miller, a resident of Boone County, West Virginia who served two terms in the West Virginia state senate. Little information could be found on Mr. Miller, with the exception going to a small biography in the third volume of the History of West Virginia Old and New, published in 1923. The picture of Miller shown above (and very likely the only one available of him online) was discovered via the Find-a-Grave website, another one of my favorite internet haunts!
   Manderville T. Miller was born in Low Gap, Boone County,  West Virginia on December 31, 1879, the son of Silvanus and Susan Miller. As a youth, he attended schools local to the Low Gap area and in 1896 began a career as an educator. In addition to his aforementioned teaching career, Miller was also a prominent Baptist minister in the Boone County area and held a pastorate in the towns of Seth, Whitesville, and Chelyan, West Virginia for a number of years. The History of West Virginia gives note that Miller was "an eloquent preacher, and his earnest sincerity is very convincing whether his subject be a religious or secular one."
   In addition to these vocations, Manderville T. Miller married in 1899 to Ms. Flora Roberts, and nine children were born to the couple: Orin, Mallie, May, Norma, Opal, Ruby, Haddon, Frank, and Albert Sidney.
   In 1919 Miller was elected as the Superintendent of the Boone County school system and during his four-year term he is listed as having "thirty graded schools and 150 teachers under his supervision." His term as Superintendent concluded in 1923 and five years later Miller was elected to a seat in the West Virginia State Senate, where he represented Boone County. 
  Miller's term in the Senate concluded in 1932 and he died in the town of Madison, West Virginia on December 2, 1943, shortly before his 64th birthday. He was subsequently buried in the Boone Memorial Park and was survived by his wife Flora, who died in 1955.