Blucher Haynes Erskine (1849-1929)

Portrait from Personnel of the Texas State Government, 1889.

    After several weeks of profiling a number of unusually named New England political figures, we journey south to Frio County, Texas, and Blucher Haynes Erskine. A farmer and stockraiser, Erskine represented Frio County in the Texas House of Representatives for three terms beginning in 1889. A lifelong Texas resident, Blucher H. Erskine was born in Guadalupe County on August 10, 1849, the eldest son of Andrew Nelson (1826-1862) and Annie T. Erskine (1826-1914). 

   Erskine attended schools local to Guadalupe County and was left fatherless at just thirteen years of age, with Andrew Erskine losing his life at the Battle of Antietam. Blucher Erskine married in May 1872 to Ada Cotton (1850-1939) and would have four sons, Andrew Nelson (1873-1954), John P. (born 1875), Blucher Haynes Jr. (1880-1963) and Fredrick Paul (1885-1958). 

  After entering young adulthood Erskine began a career in milling and stock-raising, first in Guadalupe County and later in Frio County. Following his removal to the latter county, he became one of that area's leading cattlemen, and in 1884 journeyed to St. Louis to take part in the First National Convention of Cattle Growers of the United States. A representative from the Frio County Stock Association to that meeting, Erskine served on the committees on Credentials, Permanent Organization, and Resolutions during the convention proceedings.

  In November 1888 Erskine was elected to represent Frio County (and the rest of the 21st district) in the Texas House of Representatives. Taking his seat at the start of the 1889-91 session, Erskine was named to committees on Finance, Internal Improvements, Lands and Land Office, Public Debt, Stocks and Stock Raising, and Roads, Bridges and Ferries. He would also chair the committee on Irrigation. Erskine won his second term in the house in November 1890 and during that legislative session held a number of new committee assignments, including Finance, State Asylums, and chairing the committee on Claims and Accounts.

  Erskine's third win at the ballot box occurred in November 1892, and during his final stint in the legislature chaired the committee on Public Lands and the Land Offices, as well as serving on the Finance and Military affairs committees. Following his time in government Erskine returned to raising shorthorn cattle and was acknowledged as a "liberal contributor to stock journals of the country." Sadly, Erskine encountered financial hardship in his later years, and in July 1919 wrote the following letter to the Shorthorn World cattle journal:

"Years of drouth [sic] and financial misfortune forced me completely out of the cattle business and I reluctantly parted with my Shorthorns in 1918 after over forty years--1875-1918 as a Shorthorn breeder. I felt like a man suddenly jerked from near the top of the ladder. I had to rub my bruises awhile before trying to mount again. Although nearly 70 years old, I am going to try in a small way, as my little money left will allow me to enter the ''ranks" again and when the final call comes, die a Shorthorn breeder."

   Erskine's last years were spent in Cometa, Crystal City, Texas and during this time was an avid researcher of his family's history, work that would see him author a piece on his father's exploits (published in the June 1927 issue of the Frontier Times Magazine) as well as compiling a 116-page biography entitled "Life of Andrew Nelson Erskine, 1826-1862". Blucher Haynes Erskine died at age 80 on December 20, 1929, with burial occurring at his ranch in Crystal City, Texas.

From the Personnel of the Texas State Government, 1892.

Active Irving Snow (1849-1938)

Portrait from the Maine legislative composite of 1911.

   Certainly one of the more humorous names you'll find amongst the vast annals of the Maine legislature, Active Irving Snow was a Brunswick-based grocer and merchant who served three terms in the Maine House of Representatives. Born in Harpswell, Maine on November 16, 1849, Active I. Snow was the son of Active and Mary Ann Toothaker Snow. Sadly, I have no interesting tidbits as to how (or why) both Snow and his father were given the name "Active", and, if you were like me, the name Active Snow immediately conjured up images of a severe blizzard!

   Educated at schools in both Harpswell and Portland, "A.I." Snow (as most sources list him) moved to Brunswick, Maine in 1880. He would spend the rest of his life in that city, except for a three-year stay in California (his dates of residence being unknown at this time.) Snow married in Brunswick on June 28, 1892, to Emma Florence Brigham (1868-1921) and later had four children, May (died in infancy in 1893), Austin Irving (died in infancy in 1895), George Active (born 1896), and Raymond (1902-1974.)

    In the years following his removal to Brunswick A.I. Snow established himself as a grocer, and in the succeeding years, his store would become a hub of activity in that town. Snow's store received prominent mention in Marjorie Standish's 1996 work Keep Cooking--the Maine Way, which notes that his business employed several clerks. This same work also relates that Snow was an inveterate checker player, and could often be found deeply engrossed in a game, a habit that sometimes necessitated a wait for customers in the event Snow's clerks were busy!

   As a man "deeply loved and respected" within the Brunswick community, Snow was eventually induced by his fellow townspeople to venture into politics. In 1898 he made his first attempt at public office, being nominated by Brunswick Democrats for a seat in the Maine legislature. Attesting to his being an "honest, upright citizen", the Bath Journal noted that Snow was

" In every respect worth of the position. He is a temperance man and no doubt will poll a large vote for the political party he represents."

From the Bath Independent Journal, July 20, 1898.

   Although unsuccessful in his 1898 legislative run, Snow made another run for the Maine statehouse in 1910 and was this time successful. Taking his seat at the start of the 1911-12 session, Snow would serve on the committees on Mercantile Affairs, Insurance, and Inland Fisheries and Game. Curiously, Snow's fellow Cumberland County representative during this session was Alvah Snow (1851-1921), who, coincidentally, also hailed from Brunswick. The men aren't believed to have been related, as Alvah Snow had been born in Penobscot County.

   At the conclusion of his term Snow returned to his grocery business in Brunswick, and in 1924 won a second term in the legislature, serving in the session of 1925-26. Snow was elected to his third term in the house in 1926, and by the conclusion of that term in 1928 was nearing 80 years of age. Widowed in 1921, Snow continued to reside and work in Brunswick until his death at age 88 on July 20, 1938. He was later interred along with his wife Emma at the Cranberry Horn Cemetery in East Harpswell, Maine.

From the Kennebec Daily Journal, January 3, 1911.

Melbourne Haddock Ford (1849-1891)

  This well-dressed gentleman is Melbourne Haddock Ford, a U.S. Representative from Michigan in the late 1880s. Despite his untimely death at age 41 in 1891 this oddly named politician managed to carve quite a career for himself in the public forum, serving at various times as an attorney, Michigan State legislator, state Democratic Committee chairman and U.S. Representative.

   Melbourne H. Ford was born in Saline, Michigan on June 30, 1849, one of five children born to Theron Ford and his second wife Amelia Burke.  The Ford family removed to Lansing, Michigan when Melbourne was ten and here he attended local schools. Ford continued his education at the Michigan State College of Agriculture, and in 1864, the then fifteen-year-old Ford enlisted in the Navy and was later promoted to midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He left the Academy in 1868 (a memorial resolution on his life gives his reason for leaving as an "affection of the eyes") and shortly thereafter returned to Lansing. Here he became employed as a clerk in a drugstore and eventually found his niche as a stenographer. The Congressional Memorial address on his life notes that Ford "grew to be an expert and one of the most successful shorthand writers in the country" and was "long engaged as a stenographer in the higher courts of Michigan."

   While still employed as a stenographer, Ford studied law and was admitted to the Michigan State Bar in 1878. Also around this time, Ford married Newport, Rhode Island native Mary Carr, with their union producing three children, Kate Huntington, Thomas Burke (1878-1959), and Arthur Melbourne. After beginning his law practice, Ford authored a legal textbook, entitled "Ford's Legal Analysis", mentioned as being a "small but standard legal work". In 1885 he was elected to his first political office, that of Kent County's representative in the Michigan State Legislature. He continued to serve in the legislature in 1886 and is mentioned as being "most prominently identified in this session of the legislature with an effort for the restoration of capital punishment in Michigan".

   Due to Ford's popularity in the state legislature, his name began being mentioned as a candidate for Congress, and he eventually launched a campaign in 1886. On election day Ford eked out a narrow win (18,567 votes to 18,120) over his Republican opponent George Washington McBride and took his seat in January 1887. During his term, Ford held a seat on both the Committee on Territories and the Committee on Military Affairs and later chaired the Select Committee on Contract Labor.

  Ford was defeated for reelection in November 1888 by Charles Eugene Belknap (1846-1929) and returned to practicing law in Grand Rapids. In 1890 he was named as the Chairman of the Democratic State Convention being held in Grand Rapids and in that same year was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives over Republican nominee Charles W. Watkins. Ford's second term in Congress officially began in March 1891 and was terminated by his death in Grand Rapids on April 20, 1891, at age 41. The memorial address on his life makes note that on "April 19th, 1891 he sought repose, and in that strange and solemn interval of time, the twilight of the morning, in the violet dawn, he was stricken with a malady which in a matter of hours removed him from the earth."  The New York Times obituary on Congressman Ford (published one day after his decease)  lists his cause of death as apoplexy and has been posted in its entirety below.

   Melbourne H. Ford's untimely death certainly curtailed a promising political career that had barely been started. In the days and weeks following his death, numerous newspapers and periodicals (both in Michigan and in other areas) lamented the loss of the popular Congressman, and in the Congressional Memorial address honoring him, Ford was praised as "the most promising young man in Michigan and that a bright future of usefulness and honor was before him" and that "few climbed high in so short a time".

  Ford was subsequently interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Grand Rapids and was survived by his wife Mary, who died in 1935 at age 87. The portrait of Melbourne H. Ford shown at the top of this article was prominently featured in the House Memorial address on his life, originally published in 1893.

           This rare portrait of Ford was featured in his obituary in the Wichita Daily Eagle in May 1891.

Trevanion William Hugo (1848-1923), Trevanyon Levonia Mathews (1849-1944)

   A standout figure in the city of Duluth, Minnesota, Trevanion William Hugo was a two-term mayor of that city who was also a distinguished figure in American Masonry. I first discovered T.W. Hugo on a historical roster of past Duluth mayors and during research on his life, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that several articles and pictures of him existed in some form or another. I wish this could be the story behind some of the other profiles on the site here, and considering the overall obscurity of Mr. Hugo, the wealth of articles mentioning him is a lasting testament to his reputation and public stature.
  Hugo was originally born in Boddinoc, Cornwall, England on July 29, 1848, the son of Nicholas Trevanion Kemp Hugo (1823-1906) and his wife Mary Rendle Marks. While Trevanion was still a child the Hugo family resettled in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where he attended the common schools. After leaving school, Hugo worked as a machinist for several years and later served as a marine engineer aboard numerous steamships on the Great Lakes. In September 1872 he married in Kingston to Ms. Jean Lanigan (1851-1902), with whom he had two sons, Victor Rendle Marks (1873-1913) and Rene Trevanion (1881-1924).
  Hugo resettled in Duluth, Minnesota with his family in 1881 and during the mid-1880s was employed as the chief engineer of the Consolidated Elevator Company. Hugo also used his engineering expertise in connection with the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, where he was a consulting engineer. Hugo is noted as being one of the first members of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the second member ever from Canada.
  Sources of the time stress Trevanion Hugo's activity with the Masonic Fraternity, both in Canada and Minnesota. During his life, he was accorded numerous honors from this organization, including a stint as Grand Chancellor of the Supreme Council Scottish Rite of Free Masonry and later as the Sovereign Grand Inspector General of Minnesota. He was also active in publishing Masonic literature and authored an index on the Morals and Dogma of Masonry. 
  In addition to his prolific Masonic activities, Trevanion Hugo was also a widely known public official in Duluth, serving as a member of the Duluth Public Library Board and was the President of the Duluth School Board. While these activities garnered Hugo a high public profile, he didn't actively pursue political office until 1890, when he won a seat on the Duluth City Council. He later was named the President of this Council and in 1900 was elected as the Mayor of Duluth, serving a term of four years. A newspaper photo mentioning Hugo's tenure as mayor (as well as his service as a Republican National Convention delegate) is posted below.

              This picture of  Hugo appeared in the March 17, 1904 edition of the Minneapolis Journal.

    After his mayoral term, Hugo helped compile and edit the first volume of the History of Duluth and St. Louis County, which was published in 1910. The portrait of Hugo at the beginning of this profile was featured in that book. He returned to the political stage in 1920 when he was named as the acting Mayor of Duluth, upon the resignation of Clarence R. Magney (1883-1962). Hugo served out the rest of Magney's unexpired term into early 1921 when a successor, Samuel Snively, was elected.
  Trevanion William Hugo continued prominence in the Masonic fraternity late into his life and died at age 75 on February 27, 1923, as a result of "a relapse from a slight attack of influenza". The Duluth News Tribune memorialized Hugo as a "cultured gentleman in the best American meaning of the word" and that "few men better deserved the title of useful citizen."

                     This portrait of Trevanion Hugo appeared in the 1902 edition of "Men of Minnesota".

  In an interesting update to this article..... on March 4, 2012, a previously unknown politician was discovered who also has the given name "Trevanion", albeit with a slight variation in spelling. Read on to find out more!

From 1854-1904 Nebraskans.

  Shown above is Trevanyon Levonia Mathews, a resident of Cass County, Illinois who served one term in his state's House of Representatives in the early 1880s. Mathews (some sources spell his name with two "t's") later relocated to Nebraska, where he was an unsuccessful aspirant for state auditor and later was named U.S. Marshal, serving in the latter post for eight years.
  Trevanyon Mathews was originally born in the town of Florence, Pennsylvania on March 1, 1849. He migrated to Cass County, Illinois in the mid-1860s and eventually moved to the town of Virginia in 1876. It was here that he became apprenticed to a carriage manufacturing outfit and engaged in this vocation for several years. Also during this time, he began learning the printing trade and in the late 1870s became the editor of the Virginia Gazette newspaper.
  During his career as a publisher and printer, Mathews became active in local political circles and eventually mounted an unsuccessful campaign for county circuit clerk.  He would serve as deputy sheriff and collector of taxes for the county in 1878 and in 1882 was elected by the citizens of Cass County as a Republican to the Illinois State House of Representatives. During his two-year term, Mathews held a seat on the House Committees of Revenue, Canal and River Development, and Fish and Game. A roster from the 1883 legislative session (in which Matthews served) is posted below.

  Trevanyon L. Mathews resettled in Nebraska in the early 1890s and in 1892 organized the Nebraska State Building and Loan Association in Fremont, to which he was connected for many years. He also continued political involvement following his resettlement, and in 1894 and 1896 he was a speaker at the state Republican State Central Committee. In 1898 Mathews was the Republican candidate for state auditor but was defeated by a slim majority. Mathews would also be engaged as a campaign manager for Monroe Leland Hayward in his successful campaign for U.S. Senator from Nebraska in 1899. Despite his win, Hayward died before taking the oath of office in December of that year.

 In 1899 Mathews was tapped by President McKinley to serve as U.S. Marshal for Nebraska and was reappointed to another four-year term in 1903 by President Roosevelt. In 1908 he was named as cashier for the Fremont Trust and Savings Bank, and five years later founded the Fremont Savings Bank, of which he served as cashier and president. Active in several civic and church endeavors in his adopted home state, Mathews served three years as president of the state Sunday School Association, was a member of the Masonic Order, Knights Templar, and the Order of the Eastern Star, and held the directorship of the Fremont Hotel Company.

  After decades of public service in both Illinois and Nebraska, Trevanyon Levonia Mathews died in Fremont on June 2, 1944, at age 95, having been ill for a week before his death. He was survived by his son Reece and was interred at the Ridge Cemetery in Fremont.

From the Fremont Tribune, June 2, 1944.