Florondo Schweitzer (1877-1953)

From the Sebewaing Blade, October 16, 1953.

  There were few men more prominent in Sebewaing, Michigan in the first half of the 20th century than Florondo Schweitzer, a leading business figure and politician in his region. Mayor of Sebewaing for nine years, Schweitzer was the founder of the Sebewaing Lumber Company, was a village councilman for three decades, and was active in church work and the local Masonic fraternity. A native of Canada, Florondo Schweitzer was born in Crediton, Ontario on September 14, 1877, the son of Charles and Christiana Schweitzer. 

  Removing to Michigan at age five, his early education was obtained in that state, and married on New Year's Day 1903 to Esther Davis (1882-1965), to who he was wed for fifty years. The couple would have one son, Paul. Several years after his marriage he was appointed as a deputy sheriff for Sebewaing, and in 1913 served as a circuit court juror. 

  By 1926 he had established himself in the lumber business, being an owner of the Sebewaing Lumber Co., as well as the manager of the Pigeon Lumber & Supply Co., the latter dealing in "Building Supplies of All Kinds and Paints and Hardware." In 1936 Schweitzer became sole owner of both the Pigeon Lumber and Sebewaing Lumber properties and for two years served as company president. He sold the Pigeon Lumber and Supply Company in 1938 but continued ownership of the Sebewaing Lumber Co. until a few years prior to his death, operating under the name Sebewaing Lumber and Supply Co. In addition to the above, Schweitzer was a member of the board of directors of the Sebewaing Gas and Oil Company, and in 1930 was elected its president.

From the Sebewaing Blade, July 24, 1936.

  Active in the churchwork and in the fraternal life of his community, Florondo Schweitzer was for thirteen years secretary in the local church and was a member of the Wallace Lodge, No. 434 of Free and Accepted Masons. Additionally, both he and his wife held memberships in the Order of the Eastern Star, a Masonic-affiliated body. 

  Schweitzer made his first move into local politics with his election as a councilman in 1911, where he held a seat for nearly thirty years. In 1931 he was elected as trustee for a two-year term, and in 1933 was nominated for village president, a post similar to that of mayor. He was elected that March and, all told, served nine years in office, his final term ending in 1942. During his tenure, Sebewaing passed an ordinance in 1936 to "regulate the operation of public dances and public dance halls, in the village of Sebewaing" and in 1939 proclaimed the week of April 24th "Fire Prevention Clean Up Week", which called upon:

"All departments of the city, the Chamber of Commerce, civic clubs, schools, all other clubs or associations, and our people in general to take active part in the constructive program planned to make our city Clean, Healthful, Thrifty, Safe, and Beautiful."

  Refusing to be a candidate for village president in 1942, Schweitzer returned to politics the following year when he was appointed to the village council to fill a vacancy and served for the remainder of 1943. Later he would win election as village supervisor and assessor, serving in the latter post until his death in 1953. Shortly before his passing Sebewaing celebrated its centennial, and in the summer of 1953 Schweitzer and his wife were named Centennial King and Queen, taking part in a Fourth of July float parade. Just months later Schweitzer died unexpectedly at age 76, and following his death on October 8, 1953, was mourned as one of the village's "best-known citizens." He was survived by his wife Esther, and both were interred at the Memorial Cemetery in Sebewaing.

Urlin Eldreth Salmon (1870-1953), Urling Campbell Coe (1881-1956)

From the 1943-44 Official Manual of Missouri.

  We continue our stay in Missouri for today's profile of another oddly named resident of the Show-Me-State, Mr. Urlin Eldreth Salmon of Daviess County. Despite having an unusual name, Salmon carved a notable career in the aforementioned county as a rancher and stock raiser and was honored by his fellow citizens by being elected to four terms in the Missouri House of Representatives.

   Urlin Eldreth Salmon was one of ten children born to Nelson (1843-1912) and Maria Ann Mackey Salmon (1842-1907), being born in the county of Harrison, Missouri on February 26, 1870. Salmon received his primary education in the local schools of Daviess County and married in October 1891 to Leota Hawk. Their union lasted fifty years and produced ten children, who are listed as follows in order of birth: Alma Agnes (1892-1970), Emil Ezra (1893-1968), Celia May (1895-1952), Hobart McKinley (1896-1969), Herman Detmer (died age one in 1899), Eunice Vane (1900-1981), Carsley Abraham (1904-1979), Marie Vanata (1906-2007, died aged 100), Russell Nelson (1908-1966) and Ivil Urlin (1911-1988). Urlin and Leota also had an unnamed infant born to them in 1902 who died ten days after its birth.

   Salmon became a prosperous rancher, farmer, and stockraiser in the town of Pattonsburg, and with this notoriety came calls to serve in public office. During the early 1900s, Salmon held several local public offices in Daviess County, including stints as township committeeman, and served as a member of the Daviess County School Board for twenty-seven years.

   In November 1928 Urlin Salmon was elected to his first term in the Missouri State House of Representatives as a Republican. He was reelected to the legislature in 1938, defeating Democratic opponent Loren Hamilton by a few hundred votes. 

Urlin Salmon during his first term in the legislature, from the 1929-30 Official Manual of Missouri.

   Salmon's first two terms in the legislature saw him hold a seat on the committees on Agriculture, Food Control and Soil Conservation, Pensions, Roads and Highways, and Township Organization. During his second term in the house, Leota Hawk Salmon, Urlin's wife of fifty years, died at age 69. He was reelected to two further terms in the house in 1940 and 1942, in the latter year defeating another oddly named Daviess County resident, Urcil Wilford Smoot (1899-1957). During the 1943-44 session, he chaired the committee on Bills Agreed to and Finally Passed, and also sat on the Appropriations, Education, Constitutional Amendments, Fish and Game, Forestry, and Penal Institutions committees.

   Urlin E. Salmon's fourth term in the legislature concluded in 1944 and he died nine years later in DeKalb County on January 17, 1953, shortly before his 83rd birthday. He was interred alongside his wife in the Salmon Cemetery in Pattonsburg, which is also the resting place of many extended members of his family. 

From the Bend Bulletin, October 2, 1912.

   A well-known physician and public figure in the city of Bend, Oregon, Dr. Urling Campbell Coe served as the second mayor of that city for two terms in the early part of the twentieth century. He was later a candidate for county judge and held a seat on the Oregon State Board of Medical Examiners. Coe was born in Kirksville, Missouri in 1881, the son of Dr. George Delos and Laura Gailbreath Coe. He decided to follow in his father's footsteps and embarked upon a career in medicine as a young man, studying at the University of Missouri and later at the Eclectic College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Coe earned his medical degree from the latter institution and after completing his studies moved to Oregon. 

  Coe would eventually settle in the city of Bend in 1904, and resided there "until after WWI, when he went to Portland." Through the succeeding years, Coe earned a reputation as one of Bend's highly revered figures, helping to educate the still-young area on the basics of hygiene, aiding in the elimination of a typhoid outbreak in 1907 by closing pits of sewage located in town, and on more than one occasion rode many miles on horseback to respond to medical emergencies. He was also a leading figure in the establishment of Bend's first hospital in 1909.

   In addition to his status as a physician, Coe is also notable for authoring the 1939 work "Frontier Doctor" a first-hand account of the trials and tribulations faced by a pioneer physician during the early 20th century. The rights to this book were later purchased by Warner Brothers Studios, and plans were made for the book to be adapted into a motion picture starring Paul Muni (1895-1967), of I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang fame. An article on the supposed film appeared in a March 5, 1940 edition of the Bend Bulletin and is shown below.

   While Dr. Coe had made his reputation through his medical career and acts of charity, he was also active in the public affairs of his adopted town of Bend, dabbling in real estate as well as banking. Coe was later elected as Mayor of Bend around 1910 and was reelected in December 1911 by a vote of 189 to 108. His second term lasted until February 1912, when he resigned. After serving as mayor Coe became a candidate for Judge of Deschutes County in 1912 and four years later was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Oregon State Board of Medical Examiners. In 1918 he relocated to Portland and thereafter continued in the practice of medicine for many years. Coe was later a resident of Oswego, Oregon, and died there in 1956 at age 75. 

Boniface Juvenal Leyendecker (1866-1953)

   We continue our stay in the Lonestar State for today's profile on Mr. Boniface Juvenal Leyendecker, a lifelong resident of the city of Laredo. During a career in public service that lasted over five decades, Leyendecker went from being a railroad worker to county assessor to state representative, being elected to the latter office when he was over 70! While little exists online detailing the life of this intriguingly named man, a few archived newspaper articles have been located that give a substantial overview of his career in the public forum. 
  Boniface J. Leyendecker was born on May 3, 1866 in Laredo, the son of John Zirvas (1827-1902) and Julia Benavides Leyendecker (1837-1926). John Leyendecker had earlier distinguished himself as an assistant quartermaster for the Confederacy during the Civil War and later represented Colorado County in the Texas Legislature from 1873-1874. Young Boniface would attend the public schools of Laredo and as a young man found employment as a teller in the National Bank of Laredo.
   Leyendecker eventually left that employ and became engaged in railroad work, serving as a passenger conductor for the Mexican National Railroad, running from Laredo to San Luis Potosi. A 1937 edition of the Laredo Times gives note that he served as a conductor for over a decade, and it is mentioned that he had previously been a brakeman and express messenger. In 1890 Leyendecker married Galveston native Cecila Dellmar, with whom he had several children, including the following: Louis Lawrence (birthdate unknown), Pauline (1894-1969), Boniface Jr. (1896-1966), Cecilia (birthdate unknown), John Zirvas (1901-1971), Henry George (1903-1972) and Ernest Abbott (birthdate unknown).
   In the late 1890s, Leyendecker made his first foray into local politics, being elected as an alderman to the Laredo city council. In 1902 he was named as district clerk for the Webb County district court, continuing in this position for a number of years. During this time Leyendecker also made his name known in local farming circles, becoming a partner in the firm of Leyendecker and Mullally, a business devoted to the manufacture of farming implements used in the conversion of Mexican sugar cane into syrup and molasses. The Twentieth Century History of Southwest Texas, Volume II makes note of the firm being "pioneers in this industry in the Laredo Country, and it is to be expected that the whole region will benefit greatly from their experiments." 
   In addition to his farming pursuits, Leyendecker continued to be actively involved in the political affairs of his native county of Webb, serving as tax assessor for that county for over twenty-six years (1908-1934). He also served as President of the Texas Tax Assessors Association from 1931-1932. Four years later Leyendecker won election to the Texas State House of Representatives from Webb County, taking office at the ripe old age of 71.

                                Bonnie Leyendecker as he looked late in his legislative tenure, circa 1945.

    Familiarly known as "Bonnie" by his contemporaries, Leyendecker served in the House of Representatives from 1937-1947, holding a seat on several legislative committees during his decade-long tenure. They are listed as follows: Live Stock and Stock Raising, Gaming and Liquor Laws, Public Health, Engrossed Bills, State Affairs, Aeronautics, and lastly, chairman of the committee on Banks and Banking. The Laredo Times newspaper gave a substantial write-up on his legislative service in 1943, mentioning "Bonnie" as a "short, quick man, rarely seen without his cigar" and that he maintained a fascination with a rather odd non-political subject, astrology. The Times quotes him as saying: "I absolutely believe that the study of astrology would make a Christian out of an atheist.....How can one study the stars and the planets and the mysterious ways in which they move without believing in a Supreme Being?"
   Boniface Leyendecker retired from political life at the end of the Texas Legislature's 49th session in 1947. He was 80 years old at the time of his retirement and is mentioned as being the oldest member of the House from the time of his first election until his leaving office. In the months before his death, Leyendecker is reported as suffering from a state of impaired health, and he died in Laredo on June 27, 1953, at age 87. He was shortly thereafter interred at the Laredo Catholic Cemetery. His obituary below appeared in the San Antonio Express on the day following his death.

The San Antonio Express, June 28, 1953.

This write up on Leyendecker appeared in the April 11, 1943 edition of the Laredo Times.