Glenni William Scofield (1817-1891)

Portrait courtesy of the Library of Congress.

    An intriguingly named U.S. Representative from Warren County, Pennsylvania, Glenni William Scofield rose from humble origins in Chautauqua County, New York to become one of the Keystone State's most prominent 19th-century public officials. Since beginning this project over a decade ago, Mr. Scofield has been one of my favorite figures to point out, not only for his unique first name but for his ties to my home county of Chautauqua. During a political career that extended over four decades, Scofield served in both houses of Pennsylvania legislature, was a six-term U.S. Representative, a Register of the U.S. Treasury, and later a judge on the U.S. Court of Claims--truly a man of many achievements. Scofield is honored today on the 121st anniversary of his death as the newest profile added to the site and his extensive article here will conclude with a few photographs I took of his gravesite at Warren's Oakland Cemetery during two trips, one in October 2010 and one in May of this year.  
   Glenni William Scofield's story begins with his birth in the small village of Dewittville in Chautauqua County, New York on March 11, 1817, the fifth of eight children born to Darius (1788-1862) and Sallie (Glenni) Scofield (1788-1860). Glenni received his education in the common schools of his native county and didn't attend school beyond age 14, having left to learn the printing trade. He engaged in printing until age 17 and soon after returned to his studies, eventually enrolling at the Hamilton College at Clinton, New York in 1836. Scofield graduated from Hamilton in 1840 for the next few years was a teacher in Fauquier County, Virginia and later in the McKean County, Pennsylvania area.
   In the early 1840s, he left his teaching career behind and began pursuing a law degree, studying under future U.S. Representative Carlton Brandaga Curtis (1811-1883). Scofield was admitted to the Pennsylvania state bar in 1842 and shortly thereafter relocated to Warren, Pennsylvania, where he would reside and practice law for the rest of his life.
  After opening a law practice in Warren, Scofield married in November 1845 to Laura Margretta Tanner (1823-1909), with whom he had three children, Ellie G. (born 1850) and Archibald Tanner (born 1854) and Mary M. (1859-1887). Laura Tanner Scofield came from pioneer genes in the Warren, Pennsylvania area, being the daughter of Archibald Tanner (1786-1861), a deputy Warren postmaster, county treasurer, and newspaper publisher. Tanner is also recorded as helping to bring "the first steamboat on the Allegheny River to Warren".
   Glenni W. Scofield began treading the political waters in 1846, when he was named by then Pennsylvania Governor Francis Rawn Shunk as Warren County District Attorney, a post he'd continue to fill until 1848. In the following year, Scofield was elected to his first term in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and was re-elected to that body the following year. During his house service Scofield was mentioned in the 1887 History of Warren County as "one of its most effective debaters" and as a firm abolitionist, Scofield "never relinquished his early convictions in hostility to slavery."
  In the last part of the 1850s, Scofield continued his rise through the Pennsylvania political ranks, winning election to the state senate in November 1856. Taking office in January 1857, Scofield served in the Senate for three terms, the last of which concluded in 1860. Two years later he won the first of six elections to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating  Democratic candidate Milton Courtwright by a vote of 9,954 to 9,462. 

                      Scofield as he looked early in his term in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

   Scofield's twelve years in Congress saw him serve on the Committees on Revisal and Unfinished Business, Indian Affairs, Elections and later chaired the Committee on Naval Affairs. For a good majority of his tenure, Scofield was aligned with the "radical" faction of the Republican Party, and he is noted as being a prime mover behind reconstruction legislation while in Congress and was also a strident advocate for racial equality and black voting rights. In numerous speeches on the House floor, Scofield made impassioned pleas on the subject, arguing that Congress should "awaken the hope and ambition of the whole race throughout the country" and that "the ignorant white people have been led to believe that the elevation of the Negro is the equivalent to their debasement. The reverse is true. The more we improve this unfortunate race, the more we improve our own."
  While Mr. Scofield was obviously a man of honor and good character, his sterling reputation took a hit in 1872 when it was discovered that he had involvement with Congressman Oakes Ames of Massachusetts, President of the Crédit Mobilier Company. Four years previously in 1868, Scofield had purchased Cedar Rapids stock bonds from Congressman Ames, who then suggested to Scofield that he purchase some stock in Crédit Mobilier. No contract was ever consummated between the two men, as Scofield later "disinclined to take the stock" and after a settlement was reached, he was recorded as taking "a thousand dollars Union Pacific bond and ten shares of Union Pacific stock." Obviously, this action was a miscalculation in judgment on Scofield's part, one which left a blemish on an otherwise sterling career in the public forum.

                          This article on Scofield's involvement in Credit Mobilier appeared in 1884.

  The Credit Mobilier scandal tarnished several political careers (including that of Vice President Schuyler Colfax) but Scofield (who declined to run for another term in the house in 1874) is mentioned as having "no interest in the Crédit Mobilier stock" after the settlement with Ames, and "derived no benefit therefrom."
  Despite the sting of Crédit Mobilier, Scofield's public career continued on the upswing after leaving Congress. After returning to Warren in 1875 he maintained a private law practice until 1878 when he was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes as Register of the U.S. Treasury, serving in this post until May 1881. Soon after leaving the post of registrar, Scofield was named by newly elected President James Garfield to a seat on the United States  Court of Claims. Scofield was confirmed and served on this court until July 29, 1891, when health concerns compelled him to resign.

                                  Scofield as he appeared in the 1887 History of Warren County.

   For the last month of his life Scofield is listed by his New York Times obituary as suffering from debilitating health problems, and in the week preceding his death suffered a paralytic stroke that confined him to his bed. He died from "heart trouble" on August 30, 1891, at age 74 at his home in Warren, and his funeral was held the following Tuesday at his home. He was memorialized in the Titusville Herald as a man "full of anecdote and reminisce", and that "his strong sense, his accessibility, his varied experience, his familiar acquaintance with statesmen and business of the departments of Washington made his counsel much sought for, and his influence was often exerted on behalf of his friends and constituents."

                          Scofield's obit as it appeared in the New York Times on August 31, 1891.

                             Another death notice for Scofield that appeared in the Watertown Daily Times.

   On October 10, 2o10 I visited Oakland Cemetery to photograph Scofield's gravesite, and after some tedious searching found his impressive monument overlooking a tree-lined hill towards the middle of the cemetery. On April 8th of this year, I returned to Oakland to photograph the gravesites of two other oddly named politicians buried here (Rasselas Brown and Lansing Ditmars Wetmore) and took the following pictures below!

   Buried in this plot are Judge Scofield, his wife, their children, and Warren pioneer Archibald Tanner (1786-1861), who was the father of Glenni's wife Laura. In the above picture, Glenni Scofield's headstone is third from left.

   
  Buried a few yards downhill from the Scofield impressive monument (which as you can see stands well over twenty feet tall) is the resting place of Judge Lansing Ditmars Wetmore (1818-1905) who served as Presiding Judge for Warren County's 37th district from 1874-1881. Congressman Carlton Brandaga Curtis (whom Scofield studied law under) is also buried here, although I wasn't able to find his gravesite!

    
  On either side of the Scofield monument are the names of the family members buried within the plot. Directly to the right of Glenni's inscription is his wife Laura's. Laura Tanner Scofield survived Glenni by nearly twenty years, dying at age 86 in 1909.

  
120 + years of wear and harsh weather have eaten away at the inscription, as you can see from the photo above. Algae is also quite prevalent on both the monument and Glenni's headstone, which is shown below.

                                                                                         "Glenni W. Scofield"

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.

Orindatus Simon Bolivar Wall (1825-1891)

    Today's profile centers on a very new political name discovery--the intriguingly named Orindatus Simon Bolivar Wall. Wall has the distinction of being the first African-American profiled here on the site, and this unjustly forgotten man forged a distinguished political and military career for himself in a time when it was difficult for any black person to receive even the most basic rights, let alone hold public office. The rare engraving of him shown above was originally featured in Joseph Thomas Wilson's The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States, published in 1890 (a year before Wall's death) and this book can be found in its entirety on the website www.archive.org.
  Orindatus (or "OSB", as most sources list him) was born in Richmond County, North Carolina on August 17, 1825, the son of a white plantation owner named Stephen Wall. OSB's mother was one of Stephen's slaves, whose given name was Priscilla. Orindatus's unusual first and middle names are historically based, "Datus" being a Latin deviation from the word "given" and "Simon Bolivar" having come from the famed Venezuelan military and political leader Simon Bolivar (1783-1830).
   OSB Wall was granted his freedom by his father at a young age, and in 1838 was sent by him to Harveysburg, Ohio. An excellent up on Wall's life and family, Daniel Sharfstein's The Invisible Line, notes that he was raised and educated in Harveysburg by a family of Quakers. During the 1840s Wall began learning the shoemaking trade and plied his craft in Harveysburg for several years before moving to nearby Oberlin, Ohio in the early 1850s. 
  The town of Oberlin was then regarded as a haven for the abolitionist movement, and within months of his arrival, Wall had reestablished his profession as a cobbler. Also during this time, Wall became prominent in the anti-slavery movement in Oberlin and married here in October 1854 to Amanda Thomas, a free woman. Born in Virginia, Amanda was later a classmate of OSB's sister Caroline at Oberlin College. Just seventeen at the time of her marriage to Wall, their union produced eight children. Amanda Wall would forge an important career for herself following the Civil War, teaching newly freed slaves reading and writing skills, and was an advocate for women's suffrage.
   As a prominent cobbler in Oberlin, Wall was afforded an opportunity few blacks had at the time: to make a name for themselves in the realm of business and public affairs. While Wall's stature in Oberlin is of some note, his role as an early civil rights activist is an integral part of his overall life story. In 1858 he became a pivotal player in the Wellington-Fugitive slave rescue. In this case, a group of Oberlin citizens (including Wall) forcibly rescued John Price, a runaway slave from Kentucky who had been captured by slave catchers. After retrieving Price, Wall and the other rescuers (37 people in total) returned with him to Oberlin and within a few days Price was spirited away to Canada, thus earning his freedom.
  Despite their heroic actions in John Price's rescue, Wall and the other rescuers were indicted for aiding him under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Nearly all of the rescuers (Wall included) were soon released from custody, and a daguerreotype of these heroic men was taken in front of the Cuyahoga County jail. The aforementioned portrait (originally published in the 1943 work A History of Oberlin College) has been posted below. In this rare photo, OSB Wall stands second from left and can be identified by his top hat.

   In the years following his actions in Oberlin, Wall became an attorney and during the Civil War served as a recruiter for the famed Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry. In March 1865 Wall gained lasting distinction when he was commissioned as a Captain in the Union Army, one of the first African Americans to be so honored. In that same year, he was named as a Quartermaster for the newly organized Bureau of Freedman, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands, located in Charleston, South Carolina.

  In the 1860s the Wall family relocated to Washington, D.C., where OSB found employment as a police magistrate. He also became active in politics around this time, and in 1872 was elected to the Washington, D.C. Territorial House of Delegates. Wall was re-elected to the legislature the following year, and it is noted in the earlier mentioned The Invisible Line that during his two terms, Wall represented a district that had a white majority! A roster from the legislative sessions in which he served has been posted below.

   In addition to his terms in the legislature, Wall served in Washington as a notary public, justice of the peace, and president of the Howard Hill Aid Society. He also continued with the practice of law, and was praised in an 1890 edition of the Washington Post as "one of the best-known colored lawyers in the city". This same newspaper also mentions that in April of 1890, Wall suffered a paralytic stroke while engaged in work at the police court in Washington. He never fully regained his health and died at age 65 on April 26, 1891, at his home. He was subsequently buried in the Graceland Cemetery in Washington but was exhumed four years after his death and was reburied at the Arlington National Cemetery. His wife Amanda was interred alongside him following her death in 1902.

A Visit With O.S.B. Wall

  On May 8, 2o17 I was lucky enough to track down and photograph Orindatus Wall's gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery. One of over a dozen gravesites photographed during my near month-long stay in the nation's capital, other figures photographed on this day were former U.S. Representative and Commissioner of Pensions Green Berry Raum, Assistant U.S. Treasury Secretary Alvred Bayard Nettleton, and former Minnesota Governor and U.S. Senator Cushman Kellogg Davis. And now a photo of the trip!

Alvarus Eleazer Gilbert (1825-1891)

From the History of Waukesha County, 1880.

   The life of obscure Wisconsin political figure Alvarus Eleazer Gilbert is profiled today, and the following article will be one of the more somber ones you'll read here. Mr. Gilbert served two terms in the State Assembly during the late 1870s and was considered a figure of distinction in the county of Waukesha both before and after his election. Gilbert's life ended under tragic circumstances in August 1891 when he committed suicide by hanging, in what was described by the Waukesha Freeman newspaper as a "fit of insanity". 

   Alvarus Eleazer Gilbert was born in the small town of Alexander, New York on August 17, 1825, one of the ten children born to Daniel and Catherine Showerman Gilbert. The Gilbert family resided in Alexander until August of 1839 when they relocated to Milwaukee. Their stay here was short-lived, and after a few weeks resettled in the town of New Berlin. The History of Waukesha County ( published in 1885), notes that the Gilbert family resided in a single-room log house with the ten-member Hiram Hollister family for a short period, and this author is amazed that one log cabin could support twenty-two people! It should also be noted that Daniel Gilbert later erected a cabin of his own, and also had numerous acres to go along with it.

   Alvarus Gilbert attended schools local to the New Berlin area and was engaged in farming for most of his adolescence. In October 1849 he married Harriet Hollister (daughter of the aforementioned Hiram Hollister) and eventually became the father to six children: Minnie, Willis, Florence, Herbert, Ernest, and Willie. Alvarus and his family removed to Illinois in the early 1850s and following his settlement engaged in railroad work, being the head of a construction crew. During their Illinois residency, two of Gilbert's young sons (Willie and Ernest) died and in 1861 the family returned to the New Berlin-Prospect, Wisconsin area. Shortly afterward Alvarus purchased a 190-acre farm where he would reside for the remainder of his life. 

  Gilbert first became active in public office during the 1860s when he was elected as New Berlin town clerk. He would go on to serve in other local offices, including stints as town treasurer, town supervisor, and as a member of the Waukesha County Board of supervisors. In 1877 he was elected to the Wisconsin State House of Representatives, representing Waukesha County in the session of 1878. In the following year, Gilbert eked out a narrow reelection victory (1476 votes to 1326) over his Democratic opponent, William E. Hennessey. A passage with those election results was featured in the 1879 Wisconsin Blue Book and has been posted in its entirety below. The Blue Book also notes that during his second legislative term, Gilbert held a seat on the committee on Incorporations.

  Gilbert returned to his farm at Prospect Hill, Wisconsin following his term and is mentioned as being involved with the "town insurance society". Little else could be found on his later years with the exception being his death. An archived version of the August 27, 1891 edition of the Waukesha Freeman, details the circumstances of his death. The accompanying information and snippets were located in the aforementioned newspaper.

  

   As the Freeman related in its coverage of the incident, Gilbert had been in impaired health for at least a few months before his suicide and notes that he had never been confined to his home because of it. Curiously, the Waukesha Freeman gives no mention as to what his illness may have been but does note that he was "known to be in a serious condition. His family and friends were especially concerned over the deep melancholy  in which he was constantly brooding." This seems to imply that Gilbert suffered from a deep depression for at least several weeks before his death.

   In the above passage, we can read that Gilbert's "mind had become obviously affected, and so melancholy and dejected did he become that his family feared suicide, especially as he was wont to discuss the question of self destruction in a manner that left no doubt as to his wishes." Gilbert's disturbed state of mind worried his family to such an extent that they began keeping a "strict watch" on his behavior, but all to no avail.

   The Waukesha Freeman notes that in the early hours of August 20, 1891, Alvarus E. Gilbert dressed, took his hat and cane, and made his way to a barn located on his property. It was here that he hanged himself from a barn timber, using "a rope halter used in tying stock". His body was discovered by a family member a few hours later and a certain Dr. Ingersoll concluded that Gilbert's death was caused "by his own hand while in a state of insanity was rendered."

   One can only wonder what underlying mental illness Gilbert may have had, and one could also venture a guess that monetary or business problems could have been a contributing factor in his taking his own life. The newspaper mentions "illness" numerous times but gives no clue as to whether or not he was ill with cancer or some other malady.