Herbrand Langeberg Olson (1845-1926)

Portrait from the History of  Mitchell and Worth County, Iowa.

   Another in a long line of Norwegian natives profiled here, Herbrand Langeberg Olsen immigrated to the United States with his family at an early age, and first settled in Wisconsin. Following his relocation to Worth County, Iowa, he began a career in farming that extended through the remainder of his life. During his eighty years, Olson cultivated a reputation as a hardworking citizen and earned positions of public trust in his community, serving as township supervisor and school board treasurer. In 1903 he won election to the Iowa House of Representatives from Worth County, serving one term.

  The son of Ole and Gertie Olson (surname also spelled Oleson), Herbrand Langeberg Olson was born in Nes, Hallingdal, Norway on January 27, 1845. Left fatherless at an early age, Olson immigrated with his mother and family across the Atlantic and reached Quebec, Canada after a nine-week journey. The family then traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin before establishing roots in Rock County. Olson's formative years were spent there and in 1855 saw his mother remarry to Ole Peterson. The family removed to Worth County, Iowa the following year, where Olson worked at farming and was a student in the district school. 

  In 1862 Olson joined in the ongoing war effort, enlisting in Co. B., 32nd Iowa Infantry. His service extended several months and was honorably discharged in March 1863 in Tennessee due to health concerns. He returned to his family's farm upon the conclusion of his service, and in 1864 removed to the town of Brookfield, where he established his own farm. In April 1868 he married Ragnhild Olsdatter Mickelson (1843-1925), whose name is misspelled in the 1918 History of Mitchell and Worth Counties as "Maranda Mekkelson". The couple's marriage extended nearly sixty years and produced several children, Gertie, Augustina (1872-1897), Olena (1871-1909), Amelia, Ole, Amelia (1881-1961), and Carl (died in infancy).

  Following his marriage Olson continued farming in Brookfield, owning a "very productive tract of land" with "fields carefully and systematically cultivated". He would hold membership in the G.A.R. chapter and with his family attended the local Norwegian Lutheran Church. Before his service in state government, Olson held several local political offices, including county supervisor, town clerk, trustee, and for fourteen years was school treasurer for Brookfield. In the early 1900s, he served as president of the Farmer's Mutal Insurance Company of Worth County, his full dates of service being unknown at this time.

  In 1903 Olson made the jump into state politics, announcing his candidacy as an independent republican for the Iowa House of Representatives. In the weeks following his announcement Olson's character was highlighted in editions of the Forest City Summit and the Lake Mills Graphic, with the latter noting that he was "universally respected, and no lisp against his integrity was ever raised or ever will be, we believe."

From the Lake Mills Graphic, October 7, 1903.

  In November 1903 Olson defeated his opponent, Andrew Miller, by nearly 600 votes, and took his seat in January 1904. The 1904-06 session saw Olson appointed to the following committees: the Agricultural College and Farm, Agriculture, Claims, Congressional Districts, County and Township Organization, Labor, Military Affairs, Penitentiaries, and the Soldiers and Sailors Home.

  After leaving the statehouse Olson and his wife resided in Northwood, Iowa. In 1925 he traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to take part in the Norse-American Centennial, and was selected as an honorary bodyguard to President Calvin Coolidge. Widowed in March 1925, Olson survived his wife by one year, dying after weeks of ill health on December 30, 1926. Both he and his wife were interred at the Elk Creek Lutheran Cemetery in Kennett, Iowa.

From the Northwood Anchor Index, December 30, 1926.

Clarentine Ervin Ferson (1845-1898)

   We continue our week-long stay in Massachusetts, traveling from Hampshire County to Worcester County to profile the life of Clarentine Ervin Ferson, a little known resident of the city of Fitchburg who served two terms in the Massachusetts State House of Representatives beginning in 1894. Mr. Ferson served in the same legislative session as Alvertus Willard Morse, who was profiled yesterday, and one can wonder if these two oddly named legislators ever worked together on legislation passed during their respective terms!

  Clarentine E. Ferson was born in Francestown in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire on May 19, 1845, one of six children born to Levi Ferson (1805-1863) and Prudence Phelps Colby. The Ferson family is recorded as removing from New Hampshire to Lowell, Massachusetts when Clarentine was two, and he and his siblings were educated in the public schools of that city. In February 1862 the then sixteen-year-old Ferson joined in the ongoing war effort, enlisting in Co. L. of the 1st Regiment Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. He was promoted to sergeant in May 1864 due to his "bravery and meritorious conduct" during battle and was honorably discharged from this unit in February 1865 after three years of service. He is also noted by the 1895 History of Francestown, N.H. as "having participated in twenty-one engagements with the army of the Potomac."

  After returning home from the army Ferson married Clara A. French in July 1869 and had one daughter, Aimee Colby Ferson, born in December 1878. Ferson and his wife resided in Greenville, New Hampshire during the mid-1870s before moving to Fitchburg, Massachusetts in October 1879. Following his resettlement he found employment as a blacksmith at the Fitchburg Machine Works, holding the position of foreman. Ferson first became active in Fitchburg politics during the late 1880s, serving as a common councilman for the fifth ward from 1888 to 1889.

  In 1893 Clarentine Ferson began a campaign for a seat in the Massachusetts General Court and on election day emerged victorious, defeating his Democratic opponent John Heagney by a vote of 2,114 to 1,225. Ferson was named to the house committee on Labor during his service, and in November 1894 won re-election to the legislature with a vote of 2,075. He continued to serve on the labor committee during his second term and is remarked as taking an active part in ongoing legislation during that year's session.

  Following the conclusion of his second term, Ferson returned to Fitchburg and maintained memberships in the American Order of United Woodmen, Masons, and Odd Fellows lodges. Ferson died on his 53rd birthday, May 19, 1898, and was later interred at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Fitchburg, which is also the resting place of his father, mother, and two of his siblings.

Selig Manilla (1845-1909)

    A distinguished businessman and brewer based in both New York and Springfield, Massachusetts, German native Selig Manilla's inclusion on the site here rests on his serving as a Massachusetts delegate to the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Manilla was born to Jewish parents in Germany on May 10,  1845, and attended school in his native country. He became employed at the Johann Hoff Brewery in Berlin at a young age, remaining here until age sixteen. Manilla immigrated to the United States shortly after leaving this brewery and eventually settled in New York City. 

  Soon after his resettlement, Manilla reestablished his roots in the brewing community, becoming employed at the Lion Brewery (then the largest brewery of its kind in the United States.) He remained here until the late 1870s and later established a business connection with New York malter Matthew White for a short time. In 1885 Manilla became the director of the Abbott Brewery in Brooklyn, helping the business grow "to a remarkably successful degree." Mr. Manilla married at some point while living in New York to a woman named Sarah. The couple is recorded as having at least one daughter, Amelia (birthdate unknown), who is also listed as "Mrs. Borrow Barnett".

   Manilla left New York during the late 1880s and moved to Springfield, Massachusetts. Soon after his resettlement he purchased the Max Lutz Brewery for $60,000 and 1890 changed its name to the Springfield Brewing Company, with which he achieved much success. As the company's president and general manager, Manilla was described as "practically revolutionizing the brewing industry of New England" by the New England States, Volume IV, a biographical series published in 1897. This series remarks that under Manilla's stewardship, the brewery increased its output of 7,000 barrels in 1890 to over 72,000 four years later, "a record unapproached by any five-year-old brewery in the world." Amongst the most popular of the brewery's products was the "Tivoli" lager, described then as "almost a household word", and proved to be so popular with the masses that it was "shipped to every corner of the globe." 

  By 1898 the Springfield Brewing Co. was producing 10,000 barrels a day and in that year was amalgamated with several other local breweries to form the Springfield Breweries Co. Manilla was elected as company manager and vice-president, but remained in that post for just two years.

From the Western Brewer, 1910.

   While Manilla's business acumen and monetary success won him public acclaim, the American Brewer's Review also notes that he maintained a keen interest in political affairs. Manilla is mentioned as a "trusted and influential member of Tammany Hall" during his time in New York and "was several times sent to conventions by his Democratic Party friends." In the 1896 presidential election year, Manilla was named as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that nominated William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) for the Presidency. A passage from that year's DNC Official Proceedings manual (bearing Manilla's name) is shown below.

   After experiencing remarkable success in Springfield, Manilla sold his interest in the company and returned to New York, purchasing another brewery located at Dobbs Ferry. This brewery opened in August 1900 under the name of the Manilla Anchor Brewing Company and is mentioned by a 1900 edition of the Dobbs Ferry Register as celebrating its opening with a giant clambake that was attended by over 1500 people from New York and New England. A print of this massive brewing complex and its surrounding area appeared in the Dobbs Ferry Register (shown below).

   The Manilla Anchor Brewery followed the Springfield Brewery as a profitable venture, and in the mid-1900s Selig Manilla began work on another brewing complex, this time located in Bellows Falls, Vermont. The American Brewer's Review notes that this proved to be unsuccessful, and no further elaboration is given as to why it failed. In addition to his business pursuits, Manilla was also a First Deputy Grand Master of the Independent Order of the Sons of Benjamin and a trustee of the Washington Cemetery in New York City.

  Selig Manilla is recorded as retiring from public life in 1907 and died at the NYC home of his nephew Benjamin on December 26, 1909, at age 64. Manilla's funeral was held at his place of residence in New York City and an exact burial location for him is unknown at the time of this writing. The rare portrait of him shown atop his article was located in the fourth volume of the New England States, published in 1897.

                              From the American Brewer's Review, Vol. 24, published in 1910.

Ingoldsby Work Crawford (1786-1867), Ingoldsbee Work Trowbridge (1845-1919)

   A prominent 19th-century resident of Tolland County, Connecticut, Ingoldsby Work Crawford's political claim to fame rests on his serving multiple terms in both houses of the Connecticut legislature. There are at least three spelling variations of Crawford's unusual first name. Most sources give the spelling as "Ingoldsby", and other variations on his first name spell it as "Inglesby" and "Ingolsby". 
   Crawford was born in Union, Connecticut on August 7, 1786, the eighth child born to Deacon Samuel Crawford and his first wife, Sarah Work. Samuel would have a total of 13 children during his life (including three with his second wife Olivia Eddy) before he died in 1824 at age 75. His son Ingoldsby is recorded in the aforementioned History of Union, Connecticut as receiving "a fair education, mostly by his own study" and is also listed as being the owner of a farm given to him by his father.
  Crawford is recorded as marrying in May 1810 to Rhoda Taft, and this union eventually produced nine children over twenty-three years time. They are listed as follows: Calista (1811-1890), Daniel (1813-1867), Caroline (born 1816), Sarah Ann (1819-1838), Logan (1822-1910), Marcia (born 1824), Ossian (born 1827), Harriet (born 1831) and Alonzo (born 1834).
  Throughout his long life of over eighty years, Crawford earned a reputation as one of Union, Connecticut's most prominent citizens, and involved himself in various aspects of public life in his native town. He is listed as being a member of the local Universalist Church as well as a high-ranking Mason. Crawford was also affiliated with the Union school system and served as a member of the examining board that licensed teachers.
  In addition to the above activities, Ingoldsby Crawford was also elected to numerous political offices, both at the local and state levels. In the mid-1810s, he served as an Associate Justice on the Tolland County Court and in 1818 was a delegate to the Connecticut State Constitutional Convention.
  

           Crawford's name was featured in the above roster of Connecticut State Senators in 1826.

    In 1816 Ingoldsby W. Crawford was elected to the first of many terms in the Connecticut State House of Representatives. He represented Tolland County in the legislature from 1816 to 1820 and again in the years 1822, 1824, and 1825. In 1826 he was elected to his first term in the Connecticut State Senate (serving until 1827) and was subsequently reelected to that body in 1830 and 1848. During the 1830s Crawford was appointed to the position of Collector of the Port of New London under the administration of then-President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) and is recorded as holding this post for eight years.

  Nearly a decade after his last Senate term, Crawford was named to the post of Union Town Clerk and Treasurer, serving in this position from 1857 to 1865. This was the last public office Crawford held, as he died two years afterward on November 24, 1867, at age 81. He was preceded in death by his wife Rhoda, who had died three years previously at age 74. Both were subsequently buried in the Rindge Cemetery in Union, Connecticut.

  In a recent political name discovery, another Connecticut politician has been located who also has the unusual first name "Ingoldsby", albeit with a slight variation in spelling. Read on to find out more!

  Following on the heels of the preceding Mr. Crawford is Ingoldsbee Work Trowbridge. While both men bear the same first and middle names, it is not believed that they are related, and like Mr. Crawford, Trowbridge's first name has variations in spelling, including "Ingoldsby" and "Ingoldsbee". The Modern History of Windham County (where the above portrait was located) lists his name as being spelled with a "bee", and it is that spelling that is listed here.

   Ingoldsbee Trowbridge was born in the town of Eastford, Connecticut on March 9, 1845, one of five children born to Philander and Harriett Durfee Trowbridge. He received his education in the schools of Eastford and also worked on the family farm when he was a child. The Trowbridge family eventually left the confines of Eastford and moved to the village of Pomfret, where Ingoldsbee took over the management of the family homestead after his father retired. 

  The Modern History of Windham County lists Trowbridge as an "energetic and progressive farmer, constantly looking for chances to improve his land, to enhance its productiveness and make his farm more valuable." Trowbridge's farm gained distinction as being the first in Windham County to have a silo built on its property, and this addition is listed as being constructed by Trowbridge himself. In 1879 he married in Pomfret to Caroline May Perrin (1848-1917) and they became the parents of two children, Lucia Perrin (born 1880) and John Work (born 1886).

  In the years after his marriage, Trowbridge continued to make improvements to his farm (referred to as Owaneco Farm) and is also remarked as being a major breeder of high-grade Guernsey cattle, "having a fine herd of these cows upon his place." While still an active farmer, Trowbridge also began treading the political waters in the mid-1890s, mounting an unsuccessful candidacy for the Connecticut State House of Representatives in 1894. Trowbridge ran as a Republican in that year's contest and received a meager 14 votes! The result of that election is posted below.

  Trowbridge ran again for the Connecticut legislature in November 1896 and was this time successful. He was reelected in the following year and served in the sessions of 1897-1898. His legislative service was remarked as being of "excellent record" by the Modern History of Windham County and after returning home to Pomfret continued to farm until turning over its management to his son John. 

  Ingoldsbee Trowbridge died at age 73 on July 13, 1919, in Putnam, Connecticut, and was preceded in death by his wife Sarah, who had died two years previously on June 18, 1917.

Walpole Gillespie Colerick (1845-1911)

From the Men of Progress of Indiana, 1899.

  Our profile today centers on the life of Walpole Gillespie Colerick, a Ft. Wayne, Indiana native who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. A lifelong Hoosier, Colerick was born in Ft. Wayne on August 1, 1845, one of six sons born to David Hoge and Elizabeth Gillespie Walpole Colerick. David H. Colerick was himself a prominent Indiana public official, serving two terms in the state legislature and later was a Ft. Wayne judge. The subject of today's article was bestowed his unusual name due to them being his mother's middle and last names. 
   Walpole G. Colerick attended schools local to the Ft. Wayne area and began the study of law under the tutelage of his father. After a period of study Colerick was admitted to the Allen County bar and soon thereafter joined his father in his law practice. The practice of law was a prevalent theme throughout the Colerick family, with each of Walpole's brothers becoming lawyers themselves. 
   Through the succeeding years, Colerick gained praise as a leading attorney in the Ft. Wayne area, and with this rising profile came calls for him to run for public office. The 1882 work Public Men of Today gives note that Colerick was "never particularly an aspirant for political honors, preferring that if any such were in store for him, the office should seek the man, rather than the man the office." 
    In 1878 Colerick had a change of mind on political life and launched a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. Hoping to represent Indiana's 12th district in Congress, Colerick's opponent that year was Republican John Studebaker (1817-1912), a prominent banker and merchant. On election day in October 1878, it was Colerick who emerged victorious, besting Studebaker by a vote of 17,067 to 9,712. Taking his seat at the start of the 1879 session, Colerick would serve on the committees on Elections and the joint committee on the Census. In November 1880 he won a second term in Congress, narrowly defeating Republican candidate Robert Stewart Taylor, and during the 1881-82 session served on the committees on the Census and Public Health.

From the Public Men of Today, 1882.

    After his legislative service concluded in 1883, Colerick returned to Ft. Wayne and was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court Commission in November of that year. He held this post until 1885, and thereafter resumed his earlier law practice, being joined by his nephews Guy Colerick and Kenneth Larwill. On April 11, 1904, Walpole Colerick married Clemence Carrier (1861-1947), a friend of many years standing. It's interesting to note that Colerick married quite late in life (he was almost 60) and in comparison to some of the other men profiled here (many of whom married when they were barely out of their teens), their marriage is quite unique. 
  The couple was wed only seven years before Colerick's death on January 11, 1911, at age 65. The Ft. Wayne Sentinel notes that he had been in a state of impaired health for several weeks before his death, which occurred after undergoing surgery at the Lutheran Hospital in that city. Clemence Colerick survived her husband by over thirty years, dying in 1947 at age 86. Both were interred at the Lindenwood Cemetery in Ft. Wayne, the same resting places as that of Ochmig Bird (1813-1878) an oddly named Indiana State Representative who was profiled here back on December 11.

An aged Walpole G. Colerick, from the January 18, 1911 Ft. Wayne Sentinel.

From the Jan. 18, 1911 Ft. Wayne Sentinel.