Orcemas Orvil Davis (1875-1940)

From the Salt Lake City Tribune, February 9, 1940.

  As 2020 slowly winds to a close we make our first stop in Wyoming this year to highlight the life of Orcemas Orvil Davis, a transplant to that state from Illinois. A journalist and newspaper editor in the town of Green River, Davis would be a candidate for the Wyoming state senate and Wyoming Secretary of State prior to his appointment as U.S. Postmaster at Green River, serving in that capacity until his death. Born in Biggsville, Henderson County, Illinois on May 24, 1875, Orcemas Orvil "O.O." Davis was the son of Alphonso Milton and Hulda Ann (Smith) Davis.

  The son of a decorator and painter, Davis's early education was obtained in schools "in the various places where the family resided." As a youth Davis met both President Benjamin Harrison and boxing champion John L. Sullivan and is remarked as having shined the shoes of both men. After attaining the seventh grade Davis elected to strike out on his own, taking employment as a printer's devil in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Working on the staff of the Daily Avalanche Echo, he remained there two years and having learned the printing trade relocated to Utah, where he became head of the Brighton Record.

  Davis's stay in Utah later saw him take charge of the Mercur Record in the town of Mercury, and at age 20 bought the Lehi Hustler, which he edited for one year. This post was followed by a four-year stint as foreman of the Rock Springs Miner in Wyoming, and in the mid-1890s had charge of the Rock Springs Independent. In 1899 he removed to Green River, where he became editor of the Green River Star, which he purchased the following year. He continued as its head until 1906, whereafter he sold his interest and removed to Nyassa, Oregon.

  In February 1899 O.O. Davis married Anna P. Dykes (1880-1959), to who he was wed until his death, The couple had four children, Gladys Fern (1902-1951), Hulda Viola (died 1911), Raymond Milton (1906-1973), John Ross (born 1910). O.O. Davis's residency in Oregon last only briefly, and during his time there established the Nyassa News. The climate interfering with his health, he and his family soon removed to Denver, Colorado, where he built up two advertising papers, the Five Point Star and the West Point Advertiser. In addition to those papers, Davis also operated a "job printing shop" in the city. 

  In 1908 the Davis family removed back to Green River, where Davis re-purchased the Green River Advertiser, with which he was connected for the next twenty-eight years. Under Davis's stewardship, the Advertiser's plant was outfitted with then up-to-date machinery and:

"He issues a fine eight page paper published in the interests of the democratic party and devoted to the upbuilding of his city, county, and state. He has made the Star the champion of all progressive movements for public benefit and his paper has become both the molder and the mirror of public opinion."

  Although a leading Democratic figure in Sweetwater County, O.O. Davis refrained from political candidacy until 1928, when he won the Democratic nomination for state senator. In November of that year, Davis was defeated by Republican candidate Thomas Gibson, who polled 3,274 votes to his own 1,758.

From the Wyoming Blue Book.

From the Casper Star-Tribune, June 22, 1930.

  Two years after his state senate run Davis was induced to reenter the political field, announcing his candidacy for Wyoming Secretary of State in June 1930. After filing his petition, Davis noted that he had served as a water superintendent for Wyoming's fourth division, calling it the only public office he had held. One of four candidates vying for the nomination in that year's primary election, Davis won out in June, polling 9,061 votes. In the general election, Davis opposed Republican candidate Alonzo M. Clark, and on November 4, 1930, was dealt a loss to Clark, polling 27,258 votes to 41,653.

  Davis returned to his newspaper after his defeat and in 1932 saw his son Raymond win the first of two terms as a Wyoming state representative, being remarked as the youngest legislator to serve in the 1933-35 session. In 1936 Davis was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as U.S. Postmaster at Green River and turned over operation of the Star to his wife and son Raymond. Davis served until his death on February 7, 1940, aged 64, having been ill for a few days prior. He was interred at the Riverview Cemetery in Green River.

From the Salt Lake Tribune, February 9, 1940.

Ditzler Billoat Brown (1875-1951)

   A prominent resident in the city of McMinnville, Tennessee, Ditzler Billoat Brown found distinction in the fields of both publishing and politics during his life, being a founder of the Warren County, Tennessee Times as well as a five-term member of the Tennessee State House of Representatives. Listed by most sources as "Billoat Brown", little information could be found online in regards to his long public career, although a small obituary for him (published in the Southern Standard shortly after his death) came to my rescue in this respect!

  Ditzler Billoat Brown was born in Shiloh, Tennessee on May 26, 1875, the son of Absolom Duskin (1848-1889) and Betty Jane Dykes Brown (1856-1935). While his parents may have blessed him with a rather unusual name, Brown seems to have liked going by the name "Billoat Brown" instead of using his first name "Ditzler". Nearly all of the period sources that mention him list Brown as "Billoat Brown", which can make one wonder if he had some reservations about using his odd first name!

  The Brown family relocated from Shiloh to McMinnville when their son was six years of age,  and no information could be located on his education or schooling. Duskin Brown is listed as dying when his son was fourteen years old, and shortly after his father's passing Brown began work on the staff of the McMinnville Southern Standard. He remained in this employ until 1898 when he was elected to his first public office, that of Circuit Court clerk for Warren County. 

  Brown's tenure as clerk lasted until 1900, and three years later he returned to the field of publishing, helping to found the Warren County Times weekly newspaper with his younger brothers Aaron Burr and William Oatley Brown. This paper enjoyed wide circulation and was a success, with Billoat Brown continuing active involvement in its publication until 1945 when he retired due to health concerns. 

  On July 17, 1906, Ditzler Billoat Brown married in McMinnville to Rena Hughes (1886-1926) with whom he would have two children, Elizabeth W. (1909-1995) and Franklin H. (1921-1985). Ditzler and Rena were married for nearly twenty years until her death at age 39 in May 1926, and Brown never remarried after her untimely passing.

Brown as he looked during his first term in the Tennessee Assembly, circa 1926.

    While still engaged in the publishing of the Times, Brown made his first foray into public office, holding seats on the McMinnville City Board of Education as well as the Warren County Board of Election Commissioners. In 1925 he was elected to the first of five terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives and represented Warren County throughout his tenure. He was reelected in 1929 (serving until 1931), 1933-1935, 1935-1937, and for his final term in 1939 (serving until 1941). Brown's Southern Standard obituary also notes that he was a successful campaign manager in addition to his lengthy legislative service, helping guide Democrat Austin Peay (1876-1927) to victory during the Tennessee gubernatorial election of 1923.

   Ditzler Billoat Brown's final term in the legislature concluded in January 1941 and afterward, he returned to private life in McMinnville. He is mentioned in his obituary as being the "oldest member of the congregation of the First Methodist Church" and was also a past superintendent of that church's Sunday school. Brown died at his McMinnville home on August 15, 1951, one month after his 76th birthday. His death was noted in his Southern Standard obituary as being the result of a heart condition, and he was shortly thereafter interred at the Riverside Cemetery in McMinnville alongside his wife Rena. The three portraits of Brown contained in his profile here all come from a series of Tennessee Legislative composite portraits taken during his years in the legislature. These pictures can be viewed in their entirety on the Tennessee General Assembly website's House Archives subsection. 

  

                This portrait of Billoat Brown appeared on the Tennessee Legislative Composite photo of 1939-40.

Saner Cook Bell (1875-1945)

Saner Cook Bell, a portrait featured in the 1936 Waterloo Daily Courier.

  This oddly named Iowan is Saner Cook Bell, a distinguished businessman and civic leader based in the county of Black Hawk. Bell's inclusion here on the site rests on his unsuccessful candidacy for the Iowa State House of Representatives in 1934, his candidacy for mayor of Waterloo in 1936, and his service as a delegate to the Iowa Convention that ratified the 21st Amendment in 1933. 

   Born in the town of Bowers, Pennsylvania on May 7, 1875, Saner Cook Bell was one of five children born to John Wilson and Elizabeth Cook Bell. Saner C. Bell received his education in the public schools of Pennsylvania and at age sixteen began attending the De Pauw Preparatory School in Greencastle, Indiana. He later continued his education in Pennsylvania, enrolling at Bucknell University in the borough of Lewisburg. 

  After completing his education, Bell moved to Plymouth, Connecticut, and in May 1903 married in this city to Ella Mae White (1876-1951). The couple is recorded as having one daughter, Dorothy A. Bell (1911-1985), who was born in Syracuse, New York. The Bell family resided in both Pennsylvania and New York between 1903 and 1914, and while living in the Empire State Bell became a member of the Madison County Trust and Deposit Company, beginning in 1913. In the following year, the family moved to Iowa, settling in Black Hawk County where they would reside for the rest of their lives. Soon after their resettlement, Bell became the secretary and manager of the Waterloo Canning Company, based in the town of Waterloo, Iowa.

   Bell spent fourteen years with the Waterloo Canning Company before organizing the Bell Canning Company, of which he was President and General Manager. The Bell Company is recorded by the Waterloo Daily Courier as turning out "500,000 cans of corn yearly, enjoying a distribution thru the Central, Western, and Southwestern States-bringing in over $250,000-of this amount $160,000 goes to some 300 farmer planters and $90,000 to the employees of the five factories." The Courier also notes that Bell operated a chain of ten farms throughout Iowa and "feeds a herd of 225 dairy cows."

                        This sketch of Saner Bell appeared in the Waterloo Daily Courier in May 1928.

  Saner C. Bell first became active in Iowa political circles during the early 1930s. In 1933 he served as a delegate to the Iowa State Convention to ratify the 21st Amendment, which overturned the 18th Amendment that had outlawed the sale and manufacture of alcohol. Although he was a delegate to a convention that repealed prohibition, Bell himself stated in the Waterloo Daily Courier that:

 "I am not in favor of liquor running wild. We thought that when the eighteenth amendment was passed that the young people would never know anything about liquor. But instead, they know more about it today than older persons who were adults before the amendment was first passed." 

   Returning to politics in 1934, Bell mounted a candidacy for the Iowa House of Representatives from Black Hawk County and ran in that year's June 4th primary. An article on his candidacy appeared in the Courier that year and is shown below. 

   Although his campaign was dealt a losing blow, Bell was undeterred, and in March 1936 announced his candidacy for Mayor of Waterloo. Throughout the primary campaign season advertisements for Bell's candidacy appeared in Waterloo newspapers and further detailed his campaign platform, which included the condition of city streets, gas and electricity prices, city parking conditions, public welfare, city council proceedings, and city cleanliness.

  Opposing Bell in that year's race was incumbent mayor M.J. Morgan and Ralph B. Slippy, and on election day in March, it was Slippy who emerged victorious, polling 5,482 votes. Saner Bell placed third with 1,398 votes. Following his defeat Bell continued prominence in non-political areas, serving as the head of Waterloo's chapter of the National Recovery Administration in 1934-35 and as Exalted Ruler of the Waterloo Elks Lodge #290 from 1929-1935. Bell was also involved with the Waterloo Industrial Council and a federal farm loan insurance agency. Besides his involvement in the local Elks lodge, Bell was a parishioner at the First Presbyterian Church of Waterloo and was a member of the Waterloo Rotary Club.

   In 1940 Saner Bell became the general manager of the Unique Cleaners Inc. of Waterloo, serving in this position until he died in 1945. He died on November 4th of that year at the local hospital of "virus pneumonia" that had extended two weeks. He was 70 years old and was survived by his wife and daughter. Bell was later interred at the Waterloo Memorial Park Cemetery, also the resting place of Ella Bell and daughter Dorothy.

                     Bell's obituary from the Waterloo Daily Courier, published on November 5, 1945.

Olymphious Sigurinius Thompson (1875-1968)

From the South Dakota Historical Collections Vol. 8, published in 1916.

   The political figure profiled today has a truly fascinating name, and like many of the previous people profiled on the site here, his life and accomplishments are shrouded in obscurity. That man is Olymphious Sigurinius Thompson, and he served as a South Dakota state representative for two terms during the early part of the twentieth century. Born of Norwegian stock in Sverdrup Township, South Dakota on February 18, 1875, Olymphious Thompson was the son of John and Kristi (Syverson) Thompson, who had immigrated from Norway some years previously. Their reasons for giving their son the name "Olymphious Sigurinius" have been lost to the pages of history, but it is interesting to contemplate the reasons that may have precipitated it! 

   Thompson attended local schools and for the majority of his life actively engaged in farming pursuits. In 1898 he married fellow Minnehaha County native Salina (Soline) Olsdaughter Gilseth (1875-1905), with whom he had one daughter, Cora Agnes. In 1904 he officially took over the ownership of his family's 503-acre farming complex in Sverdrup township. This large farm is listed as being home to  "purebred Shorthorn cattle and grade hogs." In addition to raising livestock, Thompson also grew "160 acres of corn, 80 acres of alfalfa, and 60 acres of sweet clover."
   Tragedy struck Olymphious Thompson in 1905 when his wife Soline died at the age of 30. Four years following her untimely death he remarried to Ms. Julia Vollen (1892-1970), also a resident of Sverdrup township. The couple is recorded as being childless through the entirety of their marriage and were wed for nearly sixty years until Olymphious's death in 1968.
   O.S. Thompson, as most sources record him, was also affiliated with several business concerns local to Minnehaha County, holding the following posts: the presidency of the Farmers Mutual Fire and Lightning Insurance Company, director of the Cooperative Lumber Company of Baltic, a founder of the Baltic Cooperative Telephone Company, vice president of the Dakota State Bank at Baltic and was director of the Dell Rapids Hospital Association. Thompson was also a prime mover in the establishment of the Sioux Falls Production Credit Association.

    Olymphious Thompson made his foray into the political arena in November 1912, when he was elected to the South Dakota State House of Representatives as a Republican. He won re-election to that body in 1914 and served another two-year term. Three years after leaving the legislature Thompson was named as an alternate delegate from South Dakota to the 1920 Republican National Convention in Chicago. He later received a Distinguished Service medal from the South Dakota State Farm Bureau Federation in 1931 and also served as the chairman of the Minnehaha County Agricultural Conservation Committee. 

O.S. Thompson (and his misspelled name), from the South Dakota State University website.

   In 1937 Thompson was named "Eminent Farmer" of the year in the Dell Rapids Tribune, which notes that Thompson had a portrait of himself unveiled in the "Hall of Agricultural Fame" at the State College. In addition to his agricultural activities, Thompson was a longtime parishioner at the Lutheran Nidaros Church and a congregation trustee for nearly two decades. Thompson died four days short of his 93rd birthday on February 14, 1968, at a nursing facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and was interred in the Nidaros Pioneer Cemetery in Baltic. His wife Julia survived him by two years, dying in 1970, and was laid to rest alongside her husband.
   Needless to say, I was overjoyed when I found that a portrait of Mr. Thompson was available online, but, as with most good research, digging had to be done to find the "gold", so to speak! After an hour or so of furtive scouring on Google Books, the picture above was located--in two separate books. The first of these finds was in Volume 8 of the South Dakota Historical Collections, published in 1916. In this work, O.S. Thompson wrote an article (accompanied by his portrait) on some reminisces of his father, under the title "John Thompson's Nerve". A short while after discovering that photograph, the same one was discovered in a 1913 edition of the South Dakota Legislative Manual, again listed under the initials "O.S."