Delazon Delimer Holdridge (1834-1919)

From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, December 21, 1898.

  On a shortlist of political figures who've left their mark in two different states, Delazon Delimer Holdridge was a native of New York who found his business and political fortunes in Iowa and South Dakota. After settling in Iowa in the early 1860s Holdridge established a law practice in the city of Independence and was later elected as its mayor for two terms. Holdridge would be elected to one term in the Iowa House of Representatives from Buchanan County, and in 1881 removed to South Dakota. In the years following his settlement, he attained political prominence through his service as state's attorney for both Miner and Lake County, and in 1898 was elected to a term in the South Dakota House of Representatives.

  Born in Madison County, New York on September 4, 1834, Delazon Delimer Holdridge was the son of Merrill (1802-1841) and Perlina Baldwin (Harp) Holdridge (1808-1894).  Holdridge's first name has a variation in spelling, being given as Delazon and Dilazon. However, his headstone in South Dakota records the spelling as "Dilazon", a spelling that can be found in the 1870 U.S Census, the 1915 South Dakota state census, and the U.S. Veteran's Bureau pension card file. Holdridge's birth year is variously given as 1833 and 1834, with his headstone denoting the latter year. His full name is recorded as "Delazon Delimer Holdridge" in volume three of South Dakota, Sui Generis; published in 1931, and it is that spelling given here.

  Holdridge's early education was obtained in his county's public schools, and at a local academy. He went on to enroll at the Oneida Conference Seminary (later known as the Cazenovia College) and graduated in 1857. He decided to pursue a career in law, and after a period of study under future Madison County district attorney Delos W. Cameron, entered the Albany Law School. He graduated in 1860 and was shortly thereafter admitted to the New York bar. In March 1859 Holdridge married Louisa A. Loomis (1835-1929), to who he was wed for nearly sixty years. The couple had four children, including Mary Baldwin (1861-1941) and Herbert Harry (1871-1952).

  After being admitted to practice Holdridge elected to follow a teaching career, and for a brief period (1861) was head of the Union Schools of Cazenovia. In 1862 he and his family removed to Independence, Iowa, where he established a law practice. Within a year of his settlement Holdridge had gained a foothold in Buchanan County social circles, and in 1863 was put forward as a candidate for the Iowa House of Representatives. At the Union County Republican Convention in August of that year, Holdridge won the nomination, and that November was elected.

  Taking his seat in January 1864, he was named to the committees on Engrossed Bills and the Judiciary, and at the close of that year's session in April joined in the ongoing war effort, being named as Quartermaster of the 46th Reg., Iowa Volunteer Infantry. His service extended 100 days and was mustered out with the rank of first lieutenant. After returning to Iowa he continued with his law practice, and in August 1866 served as a delegate to the Republican Convention for Iowa's Ninth Judicial District. A later report on his life, published in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, details his service as city attorney for Independence for four years but fails to relate when he may have served.

  In 1874 Holdridge returned to politics when he sought the Republican nomination for U.S. Representative from Iowa's 3rd district. Though he failed to make it past that year's primary, he "at once aided his most fortunate competitor", Lucien L. Ainsworth, in the latter's successful campaign for Congress. Though his congressional aspirations came to naught, Holdridge received a measure of consolation in March 1875 when he was elected as Mayor of Independence. He would be reelected in 1876, and in March 1877 was narrowly defeated for a third term by Democrat Oliver Hazard Perry Roszell.

   The Holdridge family left Iowa for South Dakota in 1881, first settling in Howard, Miner County. His residence there extended a decade and quickly immersed himself in the county's political scene, being elected as president of the Howard school board. In March 1882 he was elected secretary of the Dakota Eighth Judicial District Republican Convention, and two years later won election as temporary chairman of the Territorial Republican Convention held in Pierre. His service at the convention brought him into contact with another curiously named figure, Visscher Vere Barnes (profiled earlier this month), who served as a convention secretary. 

  In the 1880s Holdridge entered into a four-year stint as district attorney for Miner County, and in 1891 removed with his family to Madison in Lake County. He operated a law practice with his son Herbert and again advanced to the front rank in local politics, being elected as police justice for Madison around 1892. In November 1898 he was elected as one of two Lake County representatives to the South Dakota state legislature and took his seat in January 1899. Prior to taking his seat Holdridge was mentioned as a potential candidate for speaker of the house but was ultimately passed over for that position. He was named to the committees on penal institutions and municipal corporations and chaired the committee on the judiciary. 

From the Madison Daily Leader, January 9, 1899.

  Holdridge's term concluded in 1901 and in 1906 was elected to a four-year term as state's attorney for Lake County, which was to begin in January 1907. In a curious twist, he succeeded his son Herbert, who had served a four-year term in that post beginning in 1903. Following his term, Holdridge continued with his practice in Madison and just hours before his death appeared in court in the city with a client. On the evening of February 27, 1919, Holdridge died at the home of son Herbert, while resting in a "large comfort chair". Death was attributed to a "sudden stroke of paralysis or violent heart trouble." He was survived by his wife and three children and was later interred at the Graceland Cemetery in Madison, South Dakota.

From the Madison Daily Leader, March 3, 1919.

McNary Beecher Frump (1853-1919)

From the Legislative and State Manual of Indiana, 1907.

   An obscure resident of Clay County, Indiana, McNary Beecher Frump served one term in the Indiana State House of Representatives during the early 20th century and was a farmer and schoolteacher. Born in Clay County on May 6, 1853, McNary B. Frump was the son of John (1822-1919) and Betsey Jane Matthews Frump (1826-1901). The Frump family consisted of eleven children, of which our subject was the third born. His early years were spent on the family farm in Washington Township and he received his education in schools local to his home county of Clay.

   Mentioned by the Legislative and State Manual of Indiana as being "a diligent student" during his school years, McNary Frump embarked upon a career as a school teacher while still a young man, and continued in this profession for a number of years. One can almost wonder if schoolchildren back in the late 1870s ever gave the humorously named "Mr. Frump" a difficult time while he was trying to teach!

   McNary Frump married in Clay County on December 28, 1880, to Ms. Artie M. Orman (1856-1926), and the couple later became the parents of seven children over eighteen years. The Frump children are listed as follows in order of their birth: Gladys (died aged two months in 1881), Clifford (died at birth in 1882), Kenneth Xychus (1883-1962), Iris C. (1885-1979), Deloris Alma Frump Hoffa (1887-1973), Oldys (1889-1984) and Aurel B. Frump Schopmeyer (1898-1966).

  In the late 19th century McNary Frump gave up school teaching and began a prosperous career as a farmer in Washington Township. Described as a "progressive and successful agriculturalist" by the State Manual of Indiana, Frump is also acknowledged as having "extensive land holdings" and was a two-term president of the Clay County Farmers Institute in the late 1890s. Before his election to the Indiana legislature, the only elective office Frump had occupied was that of Washington Township assessor, the dates he served being unknown at this time.

   Frump won election as a Democrat to the Indiana State House of Representatives in November 1906 from his home county of Clay, defeating Republican candidate William H. Guirl by a vote of 3,629 to 3,054. An electoral result from that contest is shown below.

   Taking his seat in January 1907, McNary B. Frump served one term in the legislature and during his brief service held a seat on the committees on Trust Funds, Fees and Salaries, Legislative Apportionment, and Mines and Mining. Frump is also recorded by the 1907 Indiana General Assembly Journal as introducing House Bill No. 257, which was an "act to require drivers of motor vehicles to hold a state license and providing penalties in connection therewith". This same journal notes that the bill was given to the committee on roads and was later "indefinitely postponed."

   After leaving the legislature in 1909 Frump continued to improve his farm and shortly before his death was named as a trustee for Washington Township in 1918. He died in Washington Township on July 18, 1919, at age 66 and was laid to rest at the Swalley Cemetery in Bowling Green, Indiana. He was survived by his wife Artie and five of his children. The portrait of M. Beecher Frump (as some sources list him) was located via the Legislative and State Manual of Indiana, published in 1907.

Jetlee Bryngelson Nordhem (1841-1919)

Portrait from the History of the Norwegians of Illinois, 1905.

  The first Norwegian native to be profiled here on the site, Jetlee Bryngelson Nordhem found his business fortunes in his adopted state of Illinois, where he settled at age 18. Born in Voss, Norway on June 6, 1841, Nordhem was the son of Bryngel and Ingeborge Saue Nordhem. The History of the Norwegians of Illinois notes that he attended the common schools in his native country, worked on his father's farm, and was "confirmed in the Vossvagens church."

  In 1859 Jetlee Nordhem immigrated to the United States, first settling in the town of Long Prairie, Illinois. After a year in this location, he moved to Decorah, Iowa, and in 1862 signed on for service in the Civil War, joining Company H, First Battalion of the Sixteenth U.S. Infantry. During his three years of service, Nordhem participated in several important battles, seeing action at the battle of Marietta, Kenesaw Mountain, Mission Ridge, and Stone River, where he was wounded. 

  After his military service, Jetlee B. Nordhem returned to Long Prairie and married in 1871 to Ms. Julia Jonsdatter Amondson, with whom he would have three children, Joseph Bernard (died in infancy), Harriet Nordhem Hamann (1873-1968) and Edith Josephine (born 1877). 

    Following his marriage, Nordhem and his family relocated to Chicago, where he found employment in the customs service. His years in this occupation saw him serve as an inspector, warehouse ledger clerk, and bond clerk. Nordhem eventually left the employ of the customs service and found work in the publishing industry. He became the Secretary and director of the John Anderson Publishing Co. in the early 1890s and later became its vice president.

  Jetlee Nordhem made his first foray into political life in 1879, when he won election as supervisor of West Town, Chicago, Illinois, serving a one-year term. In 1908 he was named as an alternate delegate to that year's Republican National Convention in Chicago, where William Howard Taft was nominated for the Presidency.

   Nordhem continued to be a prominent figure in Chicago's Norwegian community well into his twilight years, serving as the president of the Norwegian Republican Club of the 28th Ward and also held a life membership in the Norwegian Lutheran Tabitha Hospital Society. Jetlee and his family were parishioners at the English Evangelical Church of the Holy Trinity, and it is recorded that he was a trustee of this church for nearly two decades.

   Details on the remainder of Jetlee B.Nordhem's life are quite sketchy, although it is recorded that he passed away at his home in Chicago in May 1919 at age 78. His wife Julia survived him by thirteen years, dying in November 1932 at age 82. A burial location for both Jetlee and his wife is unknown at the time of this writing.

                                         From the Printer's Ink, Volume 107, published in 1919.

Ellenwood Bunker Coleman (1862-1919)

   The first profile for August takes us to Nantucket County, Massachusetts and one of that area's more oddly named residents, Ellenwood Bunker Coleman. Mr. Coleman was a prominent physician in Nantucket for many decades and was later elected to one term in the Massachusetts General Court during the late 1900s. 

  Ellenwood Bunker Coleman was born on May 31, 1862, in Nantucket, the son of Henry and Elizabeth Coffin Coleman. Ellenwood received his education in Nantucket at the Coffin School and at age 16 went to sea on board the whaling ship Niger. Coleman remained at sea for several years before fracturing his ankle while serving on the St. David, a ship traveling from New York to San Francisco. This injury proved to be a catalyst for Coleman, who after entering the Marine Hospital in San Francisco as a patient, decided to pursue a career in medicine. In 1886 he enrolled at the Chicago Homeopathic College and graduated from this institution in 1888. 

  Coleman returned to Nantucket following his graduation and established a successful medical practice. He married on June 15, 1887, to May Anna Brayton (1865-1929), and this union produced four daughters, Eda (1888-1952), Alice (1891-1918), Frances (1895-1921) and Rozelle Brayton (1901-1974).

   In addition to his medical practice Coleman was also a member of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society, and in 1889 was elected as a member of the Nantucket Public School board. His tenure on the school board lasted over fifteen years and from 1901-04 served as its treasurer. Coleman also held a seat on the Nantucket Board of Selectmen, County Commissioners, and Board of Health from 1899-1904. In addition to his local political activities, Coleman had extensive involvement in a number of civic and fraternal organizations in Nantucket, including being a past master of the Union Society of Masons, a member of the Nantucket Odd Fellows Lodge, and treasurer of the John B. Chase Engine Company No. 4.

  It wasn't until 1906 that Coleman became active in state politics, and it was in this year that he launched a campaign for the Massachusetts State House of Representatives. On election day he eked out a narrow win over W.C. Dunham, with 281 votes to 260. During his one term in the legislature (1907-1909) Coleman served on several committees, including the following: Fisheries and Game, Election Laws, and Education. 

            This portrait of Coleman appeared in the Souvenir of Massachusetts Legislators, 1908 edition.

   Following his legislative service, Coleman continued with his earlier medical practice and in 1915 was elected to another three-year term as a member of the Nantucket School committee. Coleman is also listed as being a member of the Nantucket Historical Society for many years and served on the Building and Finance committees for this organization. He died at age 56 on February 27, 1919, and was preceded in death by his daughter Alice, who died aged 27 in 1918. Coleman's wife May survived him by a decade, dying in January 1929 at age 63. Ellenwood Coleman and his family were all subsequently interred in the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

                              A death notice for Coleman appeared in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.

  In an interesting addendum to this article, I've located the name of Ellenwood B. Coleman in a family genealogical work detailing the history of the Coffin family of Nantucket, Massachusetts! This book was brought to my attention by my grandmother Barbara Coffin Lundin (1929-2011), and because of this particular book, I've found that our earliest descendent, Tristram Coffin (1609-1681) had a great number of sons and great-grandchildren, including a certain John Coffin (the second). 

  Down through John Coffin's lineage, there was a descendant of his named Elizabeth Ellenwood Coffin (1820-1881), who married Henry B. Coleman (1815-1894), and eventually, this union produced a son, Ellenwood Bunker Coleman! Exhausting what little resources there are detailing the history of the maternal side of my family, it's quite interesting to relate that this oddly named Massachusetts legislator is a sort of "shirt-tail" relation to my family!  Below is a scanned passage from The Coffin Family, published in 1962, detailing the lineage of John Coffin and his later descendants. Ellenwood Coleman's name is located below the lineage of his father, Henry B. Coleman.

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.