Eayre Ramsey Haines (1874-1963)

From the Dayton Journal Herald, May 5, 1959.

   One of several Spanish American War veterans to be featured here on the site, Eayre Ramsey "Dad" Haines was a popular figure in the town of New Bremen, Ohio, and first entered the political life of that village with his election as village clerk. A longtime creamery company employee. Haines later served four terms as its mayor, retiring from office at age 78. Born in Sidney, Ohio on March 17, 1874, Eayre Ramsey Haines was the son of Daniel (1845-1924) and Mary (Ramsey) Haines (1854-1897). 

  Haines's early education was obtained in Sidney and in April 1898 enlisted for service in the Spanish-American War. Serving with Co. L., 3rd Ohio United States Infantry, Haines was honorably discharged in October 1898. Following his return to Ohio, he married Emma Zimmerman (1880-1964) on November 15, 1899, in Sidney. The couple's sixty-three-year marriage saw the births of three children, Charlotte Haines Morris (1901-2001; lived to age 100), Richard Eayre (1904-1987), and Louise Haines Dietrich (1914-2011). Shortly after their marriage, the couple removed to New Bremen, where they resided for the remainder of their lives. Both he and his wife were members of the Zion United Church of Christ, where Haines was a member of the church consistory.

  In the years following his resettlement, Eayre Haines was employed by the Beatrice Foods Co. and the White Mountain Creamery. He would retire from the latter in the late 1940s after 36 years of employment, and first entered village politics in 1911 with his election as village clerk. He served in that post from 1912-1916, and again from 1920-22. In the last two years, Haines held the additional role of clerk of the village light and water department, due to that office's consolidation with the office of village clerk.

  Haines was elected as New Bremen mayor in late 1925 and would serve consecutive terms until 1932. He retired from the White Mountain Creamery in the late 1940s and in 1944 was elected as chaplain of the Capt. Mueller Auxilliary, United Spanish War Veterans at Wapakoneta, Ohio. Haines was returned to the mayoral chair in 1947 and served two further terms from 1948-52.  In November 1959 he and his wife celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and were feted with a celebration at their home. 

  Eayre Ramsey Haines died at the Joint Township Memorial Hospital in St. Marys, Ohio on July 28, 1963, a few months following his 89th birthday. He had been ill for a month prior to his death and was survived by his wife and children. Following her death in 1964, Emma Zimmerman Haines was interred alongside her husband at the Graceland Cemetery in Sidney.

From the Lima News, November 13, 1959.

Ortho Olden Wolf (1874-1944), Ortho Voorhees Stevens (1881-1976)

Ortho O. Wolf, from the Kansas City Star

   We continue our stay in Kansas to profile four-term state senator Ortho Olden Wolf, who, in addition to his service in state government, was a leading agriculturalist, veterinarian, and farm organization leader, serving as the president of the Kansas Farm Bureau for a number of years. Although a resident of Kansas for over six decades, Ortho O. Wolf's birth took place in Allen County, Ohio on June 4, 1874. The son of Charles and Mary Abbott Wolf, Ortho moved to Kansas with his family in 1884 and his early education took place in Franklin County. As an adolescent, he attended both Baker University and the Kansas Agricultural College and in 1898 graduated from the Chicago Veterinary College.

   After a time spent traveling Great Britain and Scotland to study methods of stock-raising Wolf returned to Kansas and over the succeeding years established a reputation as a veterinary surgeon and cattle breeder of "sound judgment and practical experience", making a specialty on short-horn and Jersey cattle breeds. Wolf married on November 11, 1904, to Daisy Sterling (1965) and later had one daughter, Mrs. Charles E. Funk of Berkley, California. Wolf's status as one of Ottawa, Kansas's prominent farmers received extensive mention in the June 23, 1931 edition of the Daily Huronite, which notes that:

"In the vicinity of Ottawa he owns three tracts of land, 243 acres, 160 acres and 219 in extent, all of which are farmed under his personal supervision."

    As the owner of over six hundred acres of farmland, Ortho Wolf's name was one of the most recognizable in agricultural organizations of the period. A member of the Kansas Board of Agriculture for over two decades, Wolf also held the presidencies of the Kansas State Agricultural Council, the Kansas State Farm Bureau, and the Farmer's Cooperative Elevator Association of Ottawa, and was a member of the Kansas State Board of Veterinary Examiners, the Producer's Commission Association, the National Wool-Grower's Association, and the Mid-West Wool Marketing Association.
   Active in other aspects of Kansas public life, Wolf served as an executive committee member for the Franklin County Fire Insurance Association  and for many years was affiliated with the Kansas State Fair Association, serving in 1911 as the superintendent of its "cattle division." 
   O.O. Wolf first entered Kansas political life in 1912 when he was elected to the Kansas State Senate from Franklin County. Reelected in 1914, Wolf would serve on the committees on Cities of the Second Class, Commerce, Enrolled Bills, Labor, Live Stock, Municipal Corporations, Military Affairs, Ways and Means, and chaired the committee on Drainage. Wolf would be returned to two further terms in the Senate in the elections of 1920 and 1922, serving a total of eight years in all.

Ortho Wolf (third from left) at a Washington,  D.C. agricultural meeting, February 1937.

  During his third term in the senate in 1921 Wolf was selected as a member of the "Livestock Marketing Committee of Fifteen" a group of noted agriculturalists gathered under the auspice of the American Farm Bureau Federation to "give special study and consideration to livestock marketing problems" as well as to "submit recommendations". Wolf would become a founding board member of the National Live Stock Producers Association in 1921-22 and was chairman of the board in 1929. Three years later he became President of the Board of Managers of the Kansas State Fair and continued to serve in that capacity into the following year.

   On several occasions, Wolf was sought out to attend agricultural conferences in Washington, D.C., one of these being a meeting with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Henry A. Wallace in 1937 (portrait shown above.) In January 1939 Wolf again visited Washington as one of two dozen delegates from the American Farm Bureau, meeting with President Roosevelt to discuss its legislative program, as well as labor and wage rates. Wolf maintained a busy schedule in various agricultural organizations until his death, which occurred at a Wamego, Kansas hospital on April 7, 1944. His wife and daughter survived him, with his burial taking place at the Highland Cemetery in Ottawa, Kansas.

                                                   

Ortho O. Wolf in 1939 at an American Farm Bureau conference in Washington, D.C.

From the Caney News, November 1, 1913.

  Another Kansas "Ortho" who carved a career for himself in politics was Otho Voorhees Stevens, who served one term in the state house of representatives from Montgomery County. While little information could be found on his life, the rare portrait of him shown above comes as a welcome surprise. Born in Kansas on May 1, 1881, Stevens was the eldest son of Thomas Andrews and Luella Sams Stevens. He married Nellie W. Barr (1884-1932) in January 1905, and the couple had at least one daughter, Marjorie Barr (Stevens) Oakson (1906-1995).

  The manager of the Burgner-Bowman Lumber Co. in Caney, Kansas, Stevens' company also sold lime, cement, paints, and oils. He entered into the race for state representative from Montgomery County in September 1912, running on the Democratic ticket, and that fall opposed Republican Daniel Dabney. In October of that year, Stevens spoke on his campaign and that year's presidential contest at a Wilson For President meeting in Caney, and that November won his legislative seat. 

  Taking his seat in January 1913, Stevens' one term saw him named to the committees on Cities of the First Class, Judiciary, Municipal Corporations, the Political Rights of Women, Public Utilities, and Supervision of the Journal. Early in his term Stevens visited home in Caney and was interviewed by the Caney Chronicle on his status as a freshman legislator. Speaking on the speed of the legislative process, Stevens remarked:

"The legislature is getting down to real law-making. I have been fortunate enough to be appointed to some of the leading committees and the work has kept me busy night and day. The trouble with the law making to date is we Democrats, get that, we Democrats aren't putting any foolish laws upon the books. The work has been committee work so far and the bills are being threshed over. When the time comes to pass them, we will pass them in a jiffy, get through and come home"

 Towards the end of his term in 1914, Stevens announced that he wouldn't be seeking reelection that year, noting that "the job does not pay expenses." Despite living to the age of 94, little else could be found on Stevens's life after his term concluded. Widowed in 1932, Stevens was later a resident of Collinsville, Oklahoma, where he died on March 3, 1976, two months shy of his 95th birthday. He was survived by his daughter and was returned to Caney for burial at the Sunnyside Cemetery.

Core Serena Ireland (1874-1943)

Portrait from the Urbana Daily Times Citizen, February 17, 1908.

   The following profile takes a brief look at the life of a man named Core--one Core Serena Ireland to be precise, and despite a truly strange first and middle name, Ireland gained a reputation as one of Urbana, Ohio's favorite sons, being at various times a banker, city council member, Champaign County sheriff and Sergeant-at-Arms of the Ohio Senate. Ireland rightly earns a place here on the site due to his being a three-time delegate from Ohio to the Republican National Conventions of 1916, 1932, and 1936.

  Born and raised in Champaign County, Ohio,  Core Serena Ireland's birth occurred in the town of Terre Haute on September 24, 1874, the son of James and Margaret Davis Ireland. As one of thirteen children, Ireland attended schools local to the town of Mad River and upon reaching the age of seventeen took on a teaching position in his native county, subsequently teaching at various county schools over a period of nine years. He married in November 1895 to Dessie E. Weaver (1876-1959), with whom he would have one son, Ralph Howard (1908-1977).

   Core Ireland made his first move into county politics in 1901 when he was named as the deputy treasurer for Champaign County, holding office until 1905. In November of the preceding year, he was elected as Sheriff of Champaign County with 4, 235 votes. He was re-elected sheriff in 1906 and during the 1908 election year served as the chairman of the Champaign County Republican Executive Committee. Ireland continued his ascent in public office in 1909 when he was chosen as the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Ohio Senate for the 1909-1911 term. 

   In 1916 Core Ireland was selected as part of the Ohio delegation to that year's Republican National Convention being held in Chicago that nominated Charles Evans Hughes for the Presidency. Ireland would later serve as an Ohio delegate on two further occasions, attending the Republican National Conventions of 1932 (held in Chicago) and 1936 (held in Cleveland).

   Attentive to political and civic affairs in his native city of Urbana, Core Ireland served as a city councilman from Urbana's third ward during the mid-1910s and also was a member of the board of directors of the People's Savings and Loan Company. Ireland would later hold the post of cashier of the Champaign National Bank beginning in 1927, and in 1940 succeeded to the presidency of that bank. He served in this capacity until his death at age 68 on August 12, 1943, "after an illness of several years." Memorialized as one of Champaign County's leading Republicans over a four-decade career in public life, Ireland was further remarked as having been

"Intensly loyal to his supporters and those he sought to aid, his political opinions were sought by political leaders throughout the state and although he never held any high political post, he was known to all Ohio politicians and his word carried considerable of weight with the Republican State Central Committee."

  Core S. Ireland was survived by both his wife and son, and all three were later interred at the Oak Dale Cemetery in Urbana.

From the Urban Daily Citizen, August 19, 1943.

Archley Richard Molesworth (1874-1944)

Portrait from the Frederick News, October 30, 1926.

   Distinguished in the political affairs of Frederick County, Maryland, Archley Richard Molesworth served as mayor of the city of Mount Airy, Maryland for over fourteen years. Despite his status as a man of prominence in Frederick County, little information could be found about him online, with the exception being his obituary published in the December 30, 1944 edition of the Frederick News-Post.

  Born in the Woodville district of Frederick County on April 10, 1874, Archley Molesworth was one of two sons born to John Joseph (1847-1918) and Annie M. Molesworth (1851-1922). He is recorded as receiving his education at the Prospect Public School and was later enrolled at the Linganore Academy. Sources of the time denote that Molesworth's early life was centered around working on his father's farm in Woodville. In the early 1900s, Archley married Ardella Hood (1880-1953) and this union eventually produced six children: Helen L. (1907-1997), Olive (1911-1921), Katherine Molesworth Pickett (1913-2003), J. Raymond Molesworth (1918-1989) and Frances Molesworth Bartlett (birthdate unknown). 

  Molesworth and his family later removed from Woodville to nearby Mt. Airy, Maryland, where he became a cashier in the Mt. Airy Savings Bank. In 1914 Molesworth was elected as the Mayor of Mt. Airy, beginning the first of seven terms in this office. His lengthy service as mayor was highlighted in his Frederick Daily Post obituary as bringing a progressive element to Mt. Airy, stating that "the town progressed during his administration and the most notable improvement was the installation of the water system."

From the October 30, 1930 edition of the Frederick Daily Post.

 During his final term as mayor, Molesworth was named to the Board of Commissioners of Frederick County and served a four-year term that concluded in 1930. This same newspaper also notes that Molesworth lost his reelection bid for a seat on the board by "a margin of thirty votes"!

  Although defeated for reelection, Molesworth continued to serve the Frederick County Board of Commissioners in a slightly different capacity, that of chief clerk. Elected to this post in 1934, Molesworth served as clerk until 1938, when he retired to private life. His Frederick Daily Post obituary remarks that he was regarded as an "acknowledged authority on matters of the county" during his later years, and is mentioned as operating a printing press at his home as a "sideline hobby". This same newspaper notes that he maintained active involvement in a number of local fraternal organizations, including the Prosperity Lodge #58 of the International Order of Odd-Fellows and the Prudence Lodge #190 of Free and Accepted Masons. Molesworth was also a longtime parishioner at the Prospect Church in Mt. Airy.

  Archley Molesworth is recorded as suffering from a heart ailment during his later years, and this condition eventually led to his death on December 29, 1944, at age 70. His wife Ardella survived him by several years, dying in 1953 at age 73. Both were interred at the Prospect Cemetery in Mt. Airy, Maryland.

Molesworth's obituary as it appeared in the December 30, 1944 Frederick Daily Post.