Kenelm Lawrence Shirk Sr. (1894-1956)

From the Lancaster New Era, June 13, 1942.

  At the same time as Menno Brubaker Rohrer's service as Burgess of Lititz in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, another curiously named man was serving as that county's District Attorney. That man was Kenelm Lawrence Shirk, a World War I veteran who had previously served as U.S. district court commissioner and as assistant district attorney. Shirk's time as district attorney was cut short due to his resignation to enlist in the U.S. Army, where he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. Following his return from service, Shirk served nearly a decade on the Lancaster city council, being appointed in 1946. The son of Martin and Anna (Landes) Shirk, Kenelm Lawrence Shirk Sr. was born in Lancaster County on August 11, 1894.

  Shirk spent a portion of his early life in Richmond, Virginia with his family, and his early education was obtained in schools local to Lancaster County. Following graduation from the Ephrata High School in 1912, he enrolled at Washington and Lee University in Virginia and graduated with his law degree in the class of 1915. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar the following year and put his career on hold to enlist for service in WWI. By December 1917 he was stationed at Camp Meade in Maryland and was commissioned a lieutenant. Assigned to the 314th Infantry of the 79th Division, Shirk served through the duration of the war and returned to Pennsylvania in May 1919. Following his return, Shirk was commended for his bravery by the Philadelphia Inquirer, titling him the "Damndest Daredevil Yet." In a writeup on his actions, the Inquirer further related that:

"There is another regimental hero who has no decorations at all. He doesn't even have a wound stripe to show for his bravery. His name is Lieutenant Kenelm Shirk, and he resides just outside of Philadelphia. Shirk, he did not. Anytime there was a hazardous job Shirk did it. Where the bullets and shells were thickest Shirk was. Every risk he took. Men were killed all around him, but his was a charmed life, and because nothing happend to him his specialty was walking around with a couple of hand grenades in his pocket, ready for any action."

Kenelm Shirk during WWI, from the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 20, 1919.

  After returning to Lancaster County Shirk was cited for "gallantry in action and meritorious service" in June 1919 for his actions on the evening of November 8, 1918, when he "made repeated trips to keep contact between companies under heavy artillery fire, which necessitated great personal danger." He recommenced with the practice of law in Lancaster, and in the early 1920s was a member of the law firm headed by John A. Coyle.  In February 1922 Shirk married Beatrice Marie Wertz and had two children, Kenelm Lawrence Jr. (1922-2006) and Joan Shirk Janeski (1925-2010). The couple later separated, and Shirk remarried in June 1937 to Alice Margaret Cawood (1895-1991), who survived him upon his death in 1956.

  In the 1920s Shirk was selected as a U.S. district court commissioner for Lancaster County, and in 1930 was elected as the exalted ruler of the Lancaster Lodge No. 134, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In October of that year, he was elected president of the Young Republicans Club of Lancaster and held that office until at least 1933. He continued his rise in public life in December 1931 when he was appointed assistant district attorney of Lancaster County.

From the Lancaster New Era, October 10, 1930.

  Shirk's time as assistant district attorney extended eight years, and in July 1939 announced his candidacy for district attorney of Lancaster County. That November he trounced his Democratic opponent, A.E. McCullough Jr., by a vote of 34,360 to 13,681, and took office in January 1940. Several months into his term Shirk made headlines by ordering the arrest of seven Communist Party candidates in Lancaster County for "conspiracy and perjury under the election laws", arising from falsified signatures and duplications. Two of those men, J. Granville Eddy and Reuben Carr, were candidates for state office that year and had circulated petitions which had garnered over 1,200 signatures. Following a two-month investigation, a number of those signatures proved to have been obtained under false pretenses, with dozens being recorded as either duplications or forgeries. Interviewed by the Lancaster New Era in August 1940, Shirk remarked that:

"I think its one of the rottenest things I've ever seen...The further into it you go, the more you find the Communist circulators had no regard whatsoever for the Commonwealth's election laws. One person whose name was on a petition told us that the circulator said 'We've got to get to 2,700 names somehow.' Apparently that's what they did. They didn't care how they got them."

 In addition to the police investigation and Shirk's comments on the arrests, "similar investigations" were announced in other Pennsylvania counties where the Communist Party obtained signatures in 1940. Shirk resigned as district attorney in May 1943 to join in the war effort and reentered the U.S. Army as a major. Early in his service he was stationed at the Army School of Military Government at Harvard University and was later transferred overseas. His full period of enlistment extended 29 months and saw him stationed in North Africa, Sardinia, and Italy, and was a provincial commissioner in the latter two areas. These positions saw him responsible for organizing "local Italian governments and directed operations in hospitals and orphanages." He also was named a trial judge advocate for the Fourth Army Corps near Trieste, Italy. Upon his return stateside in February 1946, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel at Indian Gap, Pennsylvania.

   Just months after his return to Lancaster Shirk reentered city politics when he was appointed to a vacancy on the city council, being assigned to the Department of Public Safety. He won a full term of his own in November 1947 and began his third term in November 1951. He retired from the council in early 1955 as director of accounts and finance, and for the remainder of his life practiced law in Lancaster with his son Kenelm Jr. In addition to his time on the city council, Shirk was a member of the State Tuberculosis Society Board, the Lancaster Post 34 of the American Legion, the Reserve Officer's Association, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Kiwanis Club, among other organizations.

  After decades of prominence in Lancaster, Kenelm Lawrence Shirk Sr. died at the Lancaster General Hospital on May 18, 1956, succumbing to the effects of a stroke he'd suffered a week previously. He was survived by his wife and two children and was interred at the Keller Cemetery in Springville, Pennsylvania. Public service continued in his family with his son Kenelm Jr., also a veteran of WWII. A past president of the Lancaster Bar Association, Shirk served as chairman of the Young Republicans of Pennsylvania on two separate occasions and from 1964-71 served as chairman of the Lancaster County Republican Committee.

From the Lancaster Daily News, May 18, 1956.

Thorstein Hartvig Haugen Thoreson (1885-1956)

From the Bismarck Tribune, September 23, 1933.

  An important name in North Dakota politics in the first half of the 20th century, the plentifully named Thorstein Hartvig Haugen Thoresen was a native of Norway who, following immigration to the United States, found distinction through public service in his adopted state of North Dakota. A former state's attorney, state tax commissioner, and candidate for attorney general and governor, Thoresen would serve one term as Lieutenant Governor and for four years was the mayor of Grand Forks. In the twilight of his career, Thoreson re-emerged on the political stage, announcing his candidacy for U.S. Senator from North Dakota in the 1950 Republican primary.

  While largely consigned to history's dustbin in the decades since his death, Thoresen's political career extended over four decades and was frequently featured in editions of the Bismarck Tribune, amongst other state newspapers. His life began in humble circumstances in Horten, Vestfold, Norway on December 9, 1885, one of nine children born to Thor Henrik (1843-1894) and Maren (Pedersdotter) Thoresen (1841-1904). He removed to the United States with his family while still a child and settled in Stoney Creek township in Grant County, Minnesota. His early education was obtained at St. Olaf's Academy in Northfield, Minnesota. He graduated in 1909, and in the following year relocated to Dunn County, North Dakota, where he farmed and taught school for a time. 

  Wanting to pursue a career in law, Thoresen enrolled at the University of North Dakota Law School in 1911. He continued there until the death of a brother necessitated his leaving school, and afterward took over management of his brother's farm in Ottertail County. He reentered the University of North Dakota in 1914 and graduated in the class of 1916. Thoresen had earlier married in Grant County, Minnesota on July 31, 1912, to Inga Mendine Vigen (1888-1951), to who he was wed for nearly forty years. The couple's union produced seven children, Cynthia Miranda (1913-1999), Theresa (born ca. 1915), Hans Vigen (1916-1979), Aurelia Mendine (1918-2003), Valborg A. (1922-2007), Thordis (1923-2012), and Shirley Lamoine (1924-1989). 

  Establishing his law practice in Dunn County, Thoresen quickly became active in the affairs of his community, being a member of the board of education and a trustee of the Normanna Lutheran Church. In 1916 he helped to found a 16 piece band in Dunn Center, of which he served as president. In the year following he was elected as treasurer of the Dunn County Bar Association, and in 1918 made his first move into politics when he announced his candidacy for state's attorney for Dunn County. He was elected that November and served two terms, 1919-1923.

From the Bismarck Tribune, February 26, 1925.

  By 1924 Thoreson had aspired to higher office, and at the Nonpartisan League convention held that February he received the nomination for state attorney general. Like other league candidates that year, Thoresen took to the campaign trail, giving addresses throughout the state touting the party's platform. On May 21, 1924, he delivered what was called the Nonpartisan League keynote address at McClusky, North Dakota, declaring "Let us clean our government of graft and corruption." In an address chronicled in the Bismarck Tribune, Thoresen further related that:

"Come join us in our fight for Democracy...Let businessmen, laborers, farmers and professional men join hands in this fight. It is a fight where all good citizens belong. Let us put this program over and demonstrate once and for all that we are going to rid ourselves of the shackles of industrial slavery which is sinking down thousands, yes millions, of good Americans every year."

  Throughout the year Thoresen continued to address large crowds, including a joint address with U.S. Senator Lynn Frazier at the Bismarck Auditorium that June. Opposing Thoreson that year was Republican nominee George Shafer (1888-1948), a former state's attorney for McKenzie County. On November 4 it was Shafer who emerged the winner, besting Thoreson by a vote of 95,638 to 70,022. Despite his defeat, Thoresen's name was later bolstered for state tax commissioner in the early part of 1925, and after being offered the post by Governor Arthur Sorlie, accepted.

From the Bismarck Tribune, July 1, 1929.

  Following conformation, Thoreson threw himself into his duties, and his four-year tenure in that post saw him acknowledged as "an indefatigable worker for the interests of the state." Thoresen and his staff were responsible for "the assessment of all state property, the collection of the state income tax and the state inheritance tax, in addition to the state, county, and local taxes." Upon his retirement from office in 1929, Thoreson reflected on his tenure, remarking:

"The first task I met, and the first thing that I saw needed, was to arouse the people generally and the officials of the state to get equality of assessment. There must be equality between taxpayers...The people are beginning to realize there is such as thing as far treatment between individuals. My idea was, and still is, that all taxpayers must pay, and that they will pay more willingly if they know all are paying alike. The work of the tax commission has doubled since I took office, probably because we have been too willing to work."

  While still the incumbent commissioner in February 1928, Thoreson attended the Nonpartisan League state convention, where his name was put forward for governor. He quickly led in the vote count, and after the third round of balloting, won the party's endorsement. Early in his candidacy Thoresen gained a firm backer in another oddly named political figure, state treasurer Chessmur Arlen Fisher, who was profiled here in September 2019. As both were serving in state government at the same time, the men grew to be friends and following Thoresen's nomination Fisher accompanied him to a campaign banquet in Lunds Valley, where both were guests of honor. Thoresen also made his first address there since winning nomination two months prior. 

  In June 1928, Thoresen (again accompanied by Fisher) joined with then-Governor Arthur Sorlie in a massive rally held in Rice Lake. Attended by over 6,000 people, Thoresen and Fisher spoke on "reviewing the state industries", and were both endorsed by Governor Sorlie, a fellow Nonpartisan League politician. Thoresen's gubernatorial opponent in that year's primary was George Shafer, the same man who had bested him four years previously for attorney general. Both candidates continued to stump the state through the next few weeks and on election day (June 27) it was Shafer who again won out, polling 9,000 more votes than Thoreson. Shafer went on to win the governorship in the general election and won a second term in 1930.

A Thoresen for Governor advertisement from the Bismarck Tribune, June 21, 1928.

   After Shafer was elected governor, Thoresen continued with his duties as state tax commissioner until his resignation in July 1929. He was succeeded by Shafer-appointee Iver Acker, and following his resignation continued residence in Bismarck, where he practiced law. In 1930 he and his family removed to Grand Forks, and in that year was briefly considered as a gubernatorial candidate, but withdrew his name from nomination during the February Nonpartisan League (NPL) convention. 

  Although not an elected official, Thoresen remained active in the affairs of the NPL, and in a June 1930 party address assailed the Shafer administration's handling of state finances. In 1932 Thoresen again announced a gubernatorial bid, beginning his candidacy that February in Grand Forks. Taking the Shafer administration and the legislature to task over wasteful spending, Thoresen remarked that "through legislation, the masses have been taxed for the benefit of the few and this brought on the depression." Unlike his 1928 candidacy, Thoresen's campaign didn't extend past March, when the NPL nominating convention chose William Langer as its gubernatorial nominee. Langer subsequently won the governorship that November.

  Not one to let a loss get the best of him, Thoresen launched a fourth gubernatorial bid in 1934. With William Langer in the hot seat due to alleged illegal campaign contributions, the camp of anti-Langer NPL delegates formally endorsed Thoreson for governor that March. He would hit the campaign trail once again in preparation for the June primary, and on election day lost out to Langer in a very lopsided contest, polling 47,380 votes to Langer's 113,027. Langer was subsequently removed from office a few weeks later by an act of the state supreme court, this extending from the financial impropriety that had dogged him throughout the campaign.

The Thoresen family, from the 1934 Bismarck Tribune.

    Thorstein H.H. Thoresen's political fortunes improved with his 1936 candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota. That March he received the NPL endorsement for the nomination and that June won the primary. In November, Thoresen emerged the victor, beating Democratic nominee P.H. Costello by over 11,000 votes. Thoresen served from 1937-39 under Governor William Langer, who had been returned to the governor's chair in 1936, having been acquitted of the charges against him.

  Thoresen's political career continued on the upswing after his term as lieutenant governor concluded. Having returned to his law practice in Grand Forks, he successfully ran for mayor of that city in April 1940, defeating Democrat Ralph Lynch by a margin of 432 votes. His mayoralty extended until 1944, and during term served as both vice president (1942) and president (1943) of the Grand Forks County Bar Association. 

  In 1950 Thoresen made a final attempt at elective office when he entered the Republican primary race for U.S. Senator from North Dakota. Hoping to oust one-term incumbent Milton R. Young (1897-1983), Thoresen was dealt a 58,653 vote loss margin in the June primary. Young would go to win in the general election and was returned to the senate on four more occasions, retiring in 1981 after three decades of service.

  Following his senatorial defeat, Thoreson removed back to Bismarck and in 1951 suffered the death of his wife of nearly 40 years, Inga. He would remarry the following year to Elizabeth B. Earl, a native of Minneapolis. Thoresen continued prominence in his region during the final years of his life, being a member of the legislative department in the Office of Price Stabilization (1951-52), and in 1952 was appointed as an assistant attorney general for North Dakota. He continued residence in Bismarck until his death at a city hospital on April 16, 1956, at age 70. He was survived by his second wife and all of his children and was interred at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Grand Forks.

From the Bismarck Tribune, April 17, 1956.

Uratus Lee Meade (1863-1956)

   This curiously named mustachioed man is Uratus Lee Meade, a successful lawyer and two-term state legislator based in the town of Russellville, Arkansas. Meade's story begins with his birth in Marion County, West Virginia on April 16, 1863, one of nine children born to James Middleton Meade (1821-1896) and his wife Frances Elizabeth Ramsey (1828-1893). The Meade family removed from West Virginia when Uratus was still a child and resettled in Fannin County, Texas for a time. He attended school in this county and later graduated from Stephenville, Texas High School in the early 1880s. 

   Soon after his graduation Meade decided upon a career in law, eventually studying his chosen profession under the tutelage of Preston Thurmond and Robert Lusk, two attorneys based in Bonham, Texas. Meade completed his studies under Judge Jeremiah G. Wallace of Arkansas and settled in this state in the late 1880s. Uratus Meade married in Russellville, Arkansas in March 1887 to Jennie May Tucker, with whom he would have four children, Lee (birth date unknown), Vera (1890-1913), John Morrison (died aged 10 months in 1897), and Andra (birth-date unknown.)

   After being admitted to the Arkansas bar in 1893 Meade formed a law partnership with Judge Wallace, which lasted until the latter's appointment as state Railroad Commissioner in 1897. Meade continued on in a solo law practice until forming another partnership with local lawyer A.H. Ferguson in the early 1900s. In 1904 Meade entered the political arena, winning election to the Arkansas State House of Representatives from his home county of Pope. He was re-elected to the legislature in 1907 and during his two terms sat on the following legislative committees: Constitutional Amendments, County and County Lines, and Mines and Mining. 

From the 1907 composite of the Arkansas House of Representatives, courtesy of the  Arkansas State Archives.

  Following his two terms in the legislature, Uratus Meade continued in the practice of law, while also having involvement with a number of local fraternal organizations, including the Royal Arch Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Meade died at the advanced age of 92 in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 23, 1956. His body was later returned to Pope County, Arkansas, and was interred at the Oakland Cemetery in Russellville. The portrait of Meade shown above was featured in volume seven of the Province and the States series of books published in the early 1900s.