Cavendish Wells Cannon (1895-1962)

Cavendish Cannon at the Danube River Conference, 1948.

   Endowed with a name that sounds more at home with English nobility than with U.S. diplomacy, Cavendish Wells Cannon was a Utah native who, after several postings in U.S. Consulates, achieved ambassadorial rank in 1947, when he was named as U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia. Following two years of service in that post, Cannon went on to hold other ambassadorships, including to Syria, Portugal, and Greece, and concluded his foreign service career as Ambassador to Morocco. The son of prominent newspaper editor John Quayle Cannon (1857-1931) and the former Elizabeth Ann Wells, Cavendish Wells Cannon was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 1, 1895. 

  A student in the public schools of Salt Lake City, Cannon went on to attend the University of Utah, graduating in 1916. Born into the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Cannon was at various times a member of the Pioneer Stake Sunday school board, a church organist, and for a time taught school in Hyrum, Utah. Following American entrance into World War I, Cannon enlisted in the Marine Corps and during the war was stationed in France. At the conclusion of his service, Cannon remained in Paris, where he undertook further study at the University of Paris. 

  Following the study of music in Vienna, Cannon elected to start a career in the diplomatic service, and, after completing the appropriate examination, was named by the state department to his first diplomatic post in Vienna in February 1920. He was named to the American legation in that city in 1921 and continued service in that country until 1927. Cannon would meet his wife Marie Lucia Otilie Horzetsky during his tenure and was married in January 1921. The couple were married for over forty years and would remain childless.

  In 1927 Cavendish Cannon was appointed as U.S. Consul in Zurich, Switzerland. His time in that city extended until 1933 when he joined the American legation at Sofia, Bulgaria, and in March of that year was designated 3rd secretary and Vice Consul. He advanced to Consul at Sofia in 1935 and following four years of service in that country was transferred to the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece.

From the Foreign Service Journal's 1936 photo supplement.

  Cannon's first stint as a diplomat in Greece saw him in the additional role of Consul for the Italian Islands of the Aegean beginning in 1939, and in March of that year was named 2nd secretary of the American legation in that country. During the Nazi invasion of Greece in 1941 Cannon was forced to relocate to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he and his wife experienced further bombing by German aircraft, and by May 1941 had returned to New York. The following month Cannon began work in the state department's Division of European Affairs, and in 1944 he had advanced to the post of assistant chief of the Division of Southern European Affairs for the state department. 

   In May 1945 Cannon was dispatched to Lisbon, Portugal to serve as First Secretary and Consul. His time in Lisbon extended until early 1947 when President Harry Truman appointed him as U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia, a country then designated as "a stronghold of communist influence." Cannon's rise to ambassadorial rank proved to be noteworthy, as he was the "first Foreign Service officer to be upped from third class to ambassador". The American Foreign Service Journal further lauded Cannon's appointment, remarking:

"Cannon is rated as an outstanding expert in the Balkans. During the war he worked his way up to be chief of the State Departent's Division for Souther European Affairs. He accompanied Secretary Hull to the Moscow Conference of 1943 and was a political advisor at the Berlin Conference of 1945 and at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in London."

From the Buffalo Courier Exchange, August 5, 1947.

    Cavendish Cannon's two-year tenure at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade saw him intercede as a troubleshooter in diplomatic strains between Yugoslavia and the United States, including the banning of two American news correspondents in 1947,  and the arrest and detainment of U.S. soldiers at Trieste in 1947 and 1948. In June 1948 Cannon was recalled to the United States for consultation in regards to growing tension between Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980) and Russia. Following his return to his post, Cannon is remarked as "strengthening" Tito's stand against Soviet interference, and in July of that year served as America's chief delegate to the Danube River Conference, an eleven nation gathering that argued control of Danube River shipping.

   Appointed as U.S. Ambassador to Syria in 1950, Cannon's time in Damascus saw the March 1951 bombing of the American legation in that city via dynamite. Despite not being home at the time of the bombing, Cannon's residence was damaged and a houseboy injured, with newspaper reports blaming Syrian nationalists as being behind the attack. 

  In February 1952 Cannon added another diplomatic feather to his cap when he was designated Ambassador to Portugal, a post he would fill for only a year before being named Ambassador to Greece. Cannon's tenure at Athens saw northern Greece greatly impacted by snowstorms in January-February 1956, storms that also impacted other parts of Europe and the Mediterranean. Following a plea from Cannon to the state department, a contingent of American transport planes flew to Greece from Wiesbaden Air Force Base in Germany and air-dropped 52 tons of food, clothing, and supplies, with further plans being made to assist Italy by boat.

From the Saratoga Saratogian, 1956.

  Cavendish W. Cannon began his final diplomatic assignment in 1956, being named as Ambassador to Morocco, a country that had only achieved independence from France in April of that year. He retired from the foreign service in 1958 and in the final years of his life resided with his wife in homes in Tangier, Morocco, and Lisbon, Portugal. Stricken with a gallbladder ailment in late 1962, Cannon would undergo an operation in October at an American military hospital in Seville, Spain. Just days after the operation Cannon suffered a heart attack and died at that hospital on October 7, 1962, aged 67. He was survived by his wife and was interred at a cemetery in Seville.

From the Provo Daily Herald, October 8, 1962.

Somerville Pinkney Tuck (1891-1967)

From the Gloversville Leader-Herald,  August 13, 1956.

  U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Somerville Pinkney Tuck was, like Charlemagne Tower Jr. before him, well educated and born into wealth and prominence. As the son of Somerville Pinkney Tuck (1848-1923), an American born jurist who served on the International Court of Egypt, Tuck the younger attended schools in Europe and was well prepared for a life in diplomatic service. Born in Staten Island, New York on May 21, 1891, Somerville Pinkney Tuck was the son of Judge Somerville Pinkney and Emily Rosalie (Snowden) Tuck. While father and son share the same name, most sources record both under the abbreviated name "S. Pinkney."

  No biography of S. Pinkey Tuck's diplomatic accomplishments would be complete without mention of his father, who attained international distinction as a jurist. A graduate of the University of Virginia in 1869, S. Pinkney Tuck the elder practiced law in New York City for over twenty years before being nominated by President Cleveland as a judge on the International Court of First Instance in Egypt, a court comprised of judges "who regulated the privileges and status of foreigners domiciled within the dominions of the Turkish sultan." This appointment was later upheld by the Khedive of Egypt, and Tuck sat on this international bench until 1908, when he advanced to the International Court of Appeals at Cairo, Egypt. Tuck continued his service in Egypt until his retirement in 1920, and three years later died and was buried in France.

   As the son of an internationally known jurist, S. Pinkney Tuck was afforded the luxury of attending preparatory schools in Switzerland and Germany, as well as in Ridgefield, Connecticut. He later enrolled at Dartmouth University, and, following his graduation in 1913, decided to follow his father's path and serve abroad. After passing the foreign service exam in 1913 Tuck was appointed as deputy consul at Alexandria, Egypt that September and in May 1914 became vice-consul. By 1919 he had advanced to Consul of class seven and remained in Egypt until January 1920, when he was transferred to the U.S. Consulate in Samsoun, Anatolia, Turkey. 

  Between 1920 and 1938 S. Pinkney Tuck rabbited around the globe, being detailed as a diplomat to over a dozen different areas. The following is a list of positions Tuck occupied abroad between the aforementioned dates:

• 1921--Member of the staff of the U.S. High Commissioner in Constantinople, Turkey.
• 1922--Detailed consul to the diplomatic agency in Cairo, Egypt. Named as U.S. Consul in Vladivostok, Siberia that same year, serving until 1923.
• 1923--Served at the State Department until 1924.
• 1924--Appointed as U.S. Consul at Geneva, Switzerland, serving until 1928. This period of service saw Tuck attend sessions of the League of Nations advisory commission on opium in 1925, 1926, and 1927; American delegate to the Conference for the Limitation for Naval Disarmament, 1927.
• 1928--First Secretary of the American Embassy in Cairo, Egypt (serving until 1929.)
• 1929--First Secretary of the American legation at Budapest, Hungary (serving until 1931.)
• 1932--Appointed as U.S. Charge d'Affaires at Prague.
• 1933--Appointed as First Secretary of the American legation at Paris, France.
• 1937--Designated counselor of Embassy at Brussels, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
• 1938--Counselor of Embassy at Buenos Aires, Argentina (serving until 1941.)

From the Foreign Service Journal's 1936 photo supplement.

   In 1941 Tuck entered into one of his most important diplomatic assignments, that of U.S. Charge d'Affaires to Vichy, France. Several months prior to his arrival in France, the French parliament had voted to end the Third Republic and begin a French State, headed by Marshal Henri Petain (1856-1951). With the de facto capital of France now located at Vichy, Petain and his cabinet signed an armistice agreement with Nazi Germany in June 1940, becoming collaborators with the Nazi government. This period saw S. Pinkney Tuck have a front-line view of rising anti-Semitism against French Jews, their internment in camps in Vichy, and the forced separation of Jewish children from their parents. These collections and deportations reached their apex in July 1942 when nearly 13,000 Jews (including 4,500 children) were arrested in Paris and relocated to a stadium to be deported.  

   Justifiably concerned, S. Pinkney Tuck cabled Secretary of State Cordell Hull in September 1942, informing him of "the fate of Jewish children in the unoccupied zone who have been and are still being separated from their parents." At Hull's suggestion, an idea was hatched to allow "as many children as the United States would be willing to accept" to emigrate from France. After substantial capital was raised to put the plan into action, as well as contributions from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Quakers, Tuck received a cable from Hull, with directions to ask then Vichy head of state Pierre Laval for exit visas for the children. Following pressure from Tuck, Laval agreed, and with further consultation with the German envoy in Vichy, allowed for five hundred visas to be given out. With these five hundred visas, further plans were laid to relocate thousands of more children out of France, with Canada, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic offering to accept vast numbers.

  This first group of 500 children would leave France for Lisbon, Portugal in November 1942, and, despite a bright start to an ambitious plan, further good fortune was curtailed with the landing of American troops in North Africa that November. Because of this action, Vichy, France took retribution by severing diplomatic channels with the United States and canceled all further exit visas, dashing the hopes of rescuing further children.

Mr. and Mrs. S. Pinkney Tuck, from the May 1944 Foreign Service Journal.

  With relations between Vichy and the United States further deteriorating, S Pinkney Tuck, his wife and other members of the American legation (including staff of other French consulates) were detained by the Germans for two months at hotels in Lourdes, France before being relocated for internment at the Brenners Park Hotel in Baden-Baden, Germany. Tuck and his wife remained in Baden-Baden until being released in March 1944 and would return to the United States aboard the MS Gripsholm.

  Just a short period after his return to the United States, S. Pinkney Tuck would be called once again to diplomatic service, being appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Egypt in April 1944. Following confirmation by the senate, Tuck returned to Egypt and in September 1946 achieved the rank of Ambassador. He retired from diplomatic service in May 1948 and a few months following his retirement gained further distinction when he was named to the board of directors of the Suez Canal Company, becoming the first American to be so honored. He would serve on that board until the Egyptian government "nationalized the waterway" in 1956, and in the twilight of his life resided with his wife in Geneva, Switzerland, and Paris, France. He died at a Paris hospital on April 22, 1967, and was survived by his wife Katherine Whitney (Demme) Tuck (1897-1981), who he had married in 1936. He was later interred at the St. Barnabas Church Cemetery in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Tuck during his time as Ambassador to Egypt.

Beppo Rolff Johansen (1909-1946)

From the St. Petersburg Times, January 19, 1939.

  Oddly named Clearwater, Florida resident Beppo Rolff Johansen is another curiously named American diplomat discovered recently, and despite his length of years (he died aged 37 in 1946) was a prominent member of the foreign service, serving as U.S. Vice Consul in Yokohama, Japan; Harbin, Manchuria; and Shanghai and Tientsin, China. The son of Valdemar Simon and Margrethe (Glent) Johansen, Beppo Rolff Johansen was born in Manhattan, New York on March 9, 1909. Born of Danish descent, Johansen was given the unusual name Beppo upon his birth and in the late 1920s began attending the University of Florida. 

   Following his graduation from that school Johansen decided upon a career in the diplomatic service, and in the mid-1930s enrolled at the Italian Diplomatic School in Florence, Italy. He passed the foreign service examination in the fall of 1934 and following the conclusion of his studies in Florence in late 1935 entered into his first diplomatic role, that of a language officer at the American Embassy in Tokyo. 

  By October 1937 Johansen had advanced to the post of Vice Consul and was stationed in Yokohama, Japan. His time in that post extended until February 1939, when, after a visit home to Clearwater, Florida, was appointed as Vice Consul in Harbin, Manchuria. While serving in Manchuria Johansen married Lucy "Penny" Norton (1910-2005) in 1939, who had been born in Korea to American missionary parents. The couple would later have two children, Rolff and Karin. 

   Johansen's consulship at Harbin ended in early 1941 and in January of that year entered into the post of Third Secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Peking, China. In December 1941 he saw the U.S. flag lowered at the embassy at the dawn of the war with Japan, and the Tampa  Times gives note as to his later being captured by the Japanese and held as a prisoner for six months. Johansen was later freed, and after traveling to East Africa was returned stateside on the passenger ship Gripsholm in June 1942. 

Beppo Johansen returns to China, from the Foreign Service Journal, Jan. 1946.

  In September 1945 Johansen returned to diplomatic service when he and Richard Porter Butrick (1894-1997), along with other diplomatic personnel, traveled to China to begin reopening America's Asian consulates that had been freed from Japanese occupancy. With headquarters in Shanghai, the group set about reestablishing consulates in Tientsin, Hankow, Canton, Hong Kong, and Tsingtao, and in February 1946 Johansen saw the American flag hoisted once again over the American consulate in Peking (Peiping), China. 

From the Harrisburg Telegraph.

From the 1936 Foreign Service Journal photo supplement.

   In February 1946 Beppo Johansen entered into the post of Vice Consul in Tientsin, China. He continued in his duties as consul until his death in Tokyo on July 22, 1946, his cause of death being attributed to "thrombosis". Just 37 years old at the time of his passing, Johansen was memorialized by his friend and fellow diplomat Richard P. Butrick as having been "effective without being aggressive" and "unassuming without being scheming", and further related: 

"Always ready and willing to be of assistance, Beppo would frequently anticipate the wishes of the department and of his chief. Gifted with common sense far beyond the average and genuine modesty, he was respected and beloved alike by all his associates, of whatever grade. The ranks of the service may close up, but for another generation there will always be a gap where Beppo stood.

 Following his death, Johansen was interred at the U.S. Army Cemetery in Yokohama, Japan. He was survived by his wife Lucy, who, in the wake of her husband's death, entered into the diplomatic service herself, being employed as a receptionist in the office of the U.S. Political Advisor in Tokyo. She would also see service in Switzerland, Canada, and Italy, and was later a resident of both Maine and Belgium, dying in the latter country in July 2005, aged 95.

From the St. Petersburg Times, July 24, 1946.

Renwick Sloane McNiece (1886-1983)

Portrait from the Salt Lake Times, May 24, 1916.

  The first odd named American diplomat profiled on the site in well over a year, Renwick Sloane McNiece lived nearly a century and prior to his diplomatic career was a teacher in Salt Lake City, as well as a veteran of World War I. Entering into the foreign service in 1920, McNiece would subsequently be appointed as U.S. Consul to several different countries over twenty years time, with his travels taking him to Malaysia, Barbados, Great Britain, Pakistan, Spain, Chile, Venezuela, and Italy. 

   The son of the Rev. Robert and Sarah (Irwin) McNiece, Renwick Sloane McNiece was born in Salt Lake City on June 28, 1886. Young Renwick would attend private schools in the Salt Lake area and went on to enroll at Princeton University, graduating in the class of 1907. Following graduation, he spent the next decade employed as a teacher at the Salt Lake City high school and in the summer of 1917 briefly worked as the manager for a copper company's office. At the dawn of American involvement in World War I McNiece began field artillery training at the Presidio camp in San Francisco in August 1917. In December of that year, he married Ruth Anderson Storer (1886-1948), to whom he was wed until her death. The couple would remain childless.

   Following his graduation from the Presidio McNiece was dispatched overseas and in February of 1918 was on board the troopship S.S. Tuscania when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland. 210 troops and crewmen would lose their lives in the sinking. He (along with four other Salt Lake servicemen) were among the lucky survivors, and following his rescue at sea was transported to France, where he would serve in "the artillery and supply corps." 

   By the conclusion of his military service McNiece had attained the rank of captain and following his return stateside garnered a teaching fellowship at the University of California, where he taught from 1919-20. McNiece would eventually decide on a career in the foreign service, and after passing his examination was appointed as U.S. Consul (class seven) in Penang, Malaysia in June 1920. After two years of service in Malaysia McNiece advanced to U.S. Consul class six, and in August 1922 was dispatched to St. Michaels, Barbados. He would serve in that capacity from March 1923 to July 1924, and in September of that latter year again changed consulates, this time being stationed as U.S. Consul in Stoke-on-Trent, Great Britain.

From the Salt Lake Tribune, February 10, 1918.

    McNiece's time in the United Kingdom extended until 1929 when he was appointed as U.S. Consul in Karachi, (located in modern-day Pakistan). His three-year consulate in Karachi concluded in 1932, whereafter he took charge of the U.S. Consulate in Vigo, Spain, a role he would fill until 1935. From 1935-40 McNiece continued in diplomatic service in Valparaiso, Chile, and after leaving the consulate there was named consul at Maracaibo, Venezuela in 1940. By 1944 he had again been transferred (this time to Horta, Azores Islands) and after a two-year consulate in that location began his final diplomatic post, that of Consul General in Palermo, Italy.

  In 1948 Renwick McNiece retired from diplomatic service and in that same year was beset by tragedy with the death of his wife Ruth in Zurich, Switzerland. He later retired to Los Angeles and two years following his wife's death remarried to Hazel Morse Hartley, who predeceased him in 1973.  In September 1975 the then 88-year-old retired diplomat wed for a third time, marrying Caroline Mathews Kelly (1906-1989). The couple continued to reside in Los Angeles until his death on February 3, 1983, at age 96. Following his death, Renwick McNiece was interred at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City, the same resting place as that of his wives Ruth and Hazel.

Veazie Winthrop O' Hara (1891-1979)

Portrait from the Wichita Beacon, February 4, 1923.

   After a bit of a break, we're back to highlight the life of oddly named diplomat Veazie Winthrop O'Hara, who gained wide experience in world affairs all before reaching the age of thirty, serving as U.S. Vice Consul in France, Italy, and Spain. One of a handful of oddly named diplomatic officers profiled here over the past five years, O'Hara's first name "Veazie" is also one of the most unique, this being the first instance of it I've seen. 

   The third in a trio of oddly named Kansans profiled recently, Veazie Winthrop O'Hara was born on August 23, 1891, in Partridge, Reno County, Kansas. The youngest of ten children born to Henry Clay and Durilla Loretta O'Hara, Veazie W. O'Hara attended Fairmount College and in 1916 graduated from Clark University in Massachusetts. Prior to graduating, O'Hara worked in civil engineering and also dabbled in the life insurance business for a time.

   In 1915 Veazie O'Hara entered the U.S. consular service, passing an examination in August of that year. He would become a consular assistant in May 1916 and in November of the following year became Vice Consul at Bordeaux, France. He remained in Bordeaux until 1918 and in the next year was transferred to Trieste, Italy. His time in Trieste extended until 1920, and during his service as Vice-Consul reported that "there was a great demand for cotton in that city, and that the Banco Italiana di Sconto will take 1,500 bales of cotton on trial consignment."

   O'Hara continued his rise through the diplomatic corps in late 1920 when he was selected as Vice-Consul in Barcelona, Spain. His period of service extended over two years, with the Washington Herald later noting that he returned to Washington in December 1922 on a sixty-day leave of absence. In a February 1923 writeup in the Wichita Beacon, O'Hara reported on his time at the consulate, remarking:

"At Barcelona, Mr. O'Hara said the bulk of his work in the commercial end of his position has to do with the textile trade, which is the largest industry at that place. American cotton is the largest single item taken into Barcelona. Textile and nuts are exported. Voluntary and called for trade reports make the duties of the consul extremely heavy in a seaport city. Another item at such a place is the clearance of vessels and the handling of discharged and deserted seamen. Other duties include protection of American citizens and interests, citizenship, passport services, handling estates of deceased Americans, witnessing marriages, recording of vital statistics and much miscellaneous correspondence.

From the Wichita Beacon, January 24, 1923.

   Following his return to the United States, Veazie O'Hara received the appointment as consul in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where he served until his resignation in July 1923. He married in October 1925 to Belle McLean Callum (1889-1977.) The couple later had two daughters, Constance Belwyn and Dorothy Isabel O'Hara. Despite living to nearly ninety years of age little else could be found on Veazie O'Hara following his time in diplomatic service, except a death notice which denotes his being a "retired salesman." Widowed in 1977, O'Hara died in Winter Park, Florida on March 1, 1979, at age 87. He was later interred alongside his wife at the Partridge Cemetery in Partridge, Kansas.

Wakefield Gale Frye (1826-1893)

Portrait from the History of the City of Belfast in the State of Maine, Vol. II, 1913.

    A return to Maine today to examine the life and career of Wakefield Gale Frye, an attorney in both Rockland and Belfast who was appointed to the post of U.S. Consul General in Halifax, Nova Scotia on two non-consecutive occasions. Born in Montville, Maine on December 20, 1826, Wakefield G. Frye was one of eight children born to Robie (1785-1867) and Lucy Holbrook Frye (1783-1852). Wakefield would attend the China Academy in Colby, Maine from 1847-1850 and went on to study at the University of Rochester in New York, earning his A.B. degree in 1851. 

   Around 1853 Frye relocated to Rockville, Maine, where he would practice law for two years. In 1855 he entered into the post of police court justice for Rockland, serving a one-year term. In October of that year, Frye married Annie Elizabeth Arey, with whom he would have four children, Robie Gale, Jessie Frye Osborne (1871-1951), Gertrude H., and Henry Wakefield, who died in Folsom, New Mexico in 1895.

   From 1857-1858 Wakefield Frye briefly practiced law in Lafayette, Indiana, and by 1858 had returned to Maine, opening a law practice in the city Belfast. After three years of practice in Belfast Frye took on the position of deputy collector of customs, where he served until 1872. After leaving that post Frye was named as clerk of the Waldo County Superior Court, where he remained until his resignation in 1879. For the following three years, he resumed his law practice in Belfast and in February 1882 achieved his highest degree of public prominence when he was nominated by President Chester Arthur as the new U.S. Consul General in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

   Shortly after being confirmed as consul Frye headed for Halifax, where he remained until 1885, having tendered his resignation in May of that year. In a curious newspaper write-up in the St. Paul Globe on Frye's resignation, many merchants in Halifax were dismayed as to the thought of Frye leaving the post of consul, many of whom believed that his "action was not entirely voluntary".  As the Globe related in its May 23, 1885 edition:

"A great bundle of petitions had been forward to the President, asking that Mr. Frye be continued in office, and representing the desirability of his service in protecting and fostering the commercial relations between Nova Scotia and the United States."

  After leaving the post of consul Frye engaged in business in Boston, as well as returning to the practice of law, taking as a partner one Bordman Hall, a member of the Boston Board of Aldermen, and later a candidate for state auditor. In 1889 the citizens of Halifax got their wish, as Wakefield Frye was once again appointed as U.S. Consul in Halifax. His second term as consul extended until he died in office on August 14, 1893, at age 66. Frye's remains were returned to the United States for burial at the Grove Cemetery in Belfast, Maine. Frye's widow Annie was also interred here following her death in 1905.

Arminius Titus Haeberle (1874-1943), Arminius Calvin Paulsell (1832-1893)

  Continuing on a theme set by Tuesday's article on Epperson R. Fulkerson, another oddly named American diplomat is profiled here on the site, Arminius Titus Haeberle of Missouri. Unlike Mr. Fulkerson, who briefly served as U.S. Vice Consul in Nagasaki, Mr. Haeberle was a career diplomat, serving as a Vice Consul or Consul in several different countries over twenty years time.

   Born in St. Louis, Missouri on January 23, 1874, Arminius Titus Haberle was the son of the Rev. Louis F.  (1838-1928) and Flora Lemen Bock Haeberle (1841-1909). Arminius attended school in St. Louis and later went on to study at both the Elmhurst College in Illinois and Washington University in St. Louis. After completing his studies Haeberle embarked upon a career as a teacher, eventually becoming an instructor at St. Charles College in St. Charles Missouri.

  After several years of teaching and serving as a principal at various locations in Missouri, Haeberle was named to the position of vice director of the Institute Ingles in Santiago, Chili, serving here from 1898-1903. Returning to the United States after his service in Chili Haeberle became the head of the modern language department at St. Louis's McKinley High School, holding this post until 1907. In the year following his leaving McKinley High School Haeberle was appointed to his first diplomatic post, that of U.S. Consul at Manzanillo, Cuba. After presenting his credentials and passing an examination, Haeberle arrived in Manzanillo on June 10, 1908. His service as consul concluded in 1910, and in that same year was transferred to the consulate at Tegucigalpa, Honduras. 

  After arriving in Honduras in January 1911, Haeberle threw himself into his new appointment, being described as "energetic" and "instructive" by the 1912 Congressional Serial Set. This same work also notes that Haeberle made numerous trips by mule through the six districts that comprised Tegucigalpa, and he gave detailed accounts of the region's agriculture, early history, industry, and the area's "considerable mineral wealth".

                              This picture of Haeberle appeared in a July 1914 edition of the New York Sun.

   Haeberle continued to advance as a diplomat in November 1913, when he was transferred to the U.S. Consulate in St. Michaels, Azores. His tenure here was quite brief, as he was moved yet again in February 1915, this time to the consulate in Pernambuco, Brazil. Haeberle spent eight years as U.S. Consul in Pernambuco, with his tenure concluding in 1923. He remained in Brazil as Consul in San Paolo from 1923-1925 and was then dispatched to Dresden, Germany, where he took the post of U.S. Consul General in 1925. His eleven-year tenure in that office saw the rise of Hitler in the early 1930s, during which time Haeberle sent home "confidential reports about him" to government officials.

  Arminius T. Haeberle retired from diplomatic service in 1936, having served as a vice consul or consul in six different areas of the world for twenty-eight years. Following his retirement, Haeberle returned to the United States and settled in Missouri. On October 26, 1943, he was stricken while shaving at his St. Louis home and died shortly afterward.  He was survived by his wife Ida Weineke Haeberle, who died in 1949 at age 76. Both were interred at St. John's Cemetery in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri, the same resting place as Haeberle's parents.

Portrait from the San Francisco Call, March 28, 1893.

    In an update to this article (June 28, 2016), another politician with the first name "Arminius" has been located...Arminius Calvin Paulsell!! A standout figure in the business and political life of San Joaquin County, California, Paulsell was a one-term member of the California State Assembly from that county and was later tapped to serve on the State Board of Harbor Commissioners. 

    A native of Tennessee, Arminius Calvin Paulsell was born in Green County in that state on January 26, 1832, the son of John and Mary Ann Polly (Bailey) Paulsell. The Paulsell family moved from Tennessee to Illinois, where John Paulsell died in 1838. Arminius would reside with his mother in Missouri and at age 14 entered into work at a general store in Springfield. 

   Like many other young men of the time, Arminius Paulsell saw a bright future for himself in California and in 1853 permanently resettled there. Establishing himself in Stanislaus County, Paulsell married the following year to Almira Holford Gardenhire (1839-1910), a daughter of a pioneer Tuolumne County family. The couple are recorded as being the first to be married in that county later had a total of nine children: Mary Catherine (1855-1868), Martha Augusta (1857-1922), Lee Young (1862-1871), John Jefferson (1864-1930), Ann Jeanette (1866-1956), Arminius Calvin Jr. (died in infancy in 1874), Oliver Franklin (1875-1941), Edna (1879-1961) and Jessie (1880-1956).

  Shortly after his marriage, Paulsell resettled in San Joaquin County, where he purchased a farm and began farming and stockraising. Sources relate that he owned 3,500 acres of farmland and in 1872 sold off several hundred acres of it and moved to Stockton (also located in San Joaquin County), where in 1873 he helped establish the Farmer's Union, a cooperative formed "for the purpose of warehousing, buying and selling grain, bags, etc."

   In November 1873 Paulsell was one of two representatives from San Joaquin County elected to the California State Assembly and during this session (1874-76) served on the committees on Corporations and State Hospitals. Following his term, he briefly served on the city Board of Aldermen from Stockton's 2nd ward in 1878.

  After a number of years as President of the Farmer's Union, Arminius Paulsell left that post in 1883 to accept an appointment to the California Board of Harbor Commissioners, being named to that board by then-Governor George Stoneman. Paulsell would serve a total of seven years as a harbor commissioner and in 1890 was even floated as a potential Democratic candidate for Governor of California; his name being placed in nomination by then San Joaquin Superior Court Judge Franklin T. Baldwin.

  Touting Paulsell's experience as a businessman, Baldwin's nominating speech highlighted Paulsell's character and also acknowledged that:

"His sublime record had met with the approval of his fellow citizens in all parts of the state....and that no better man could be selected to act as the standard barer of the Democratic Party."

Arminius C. Paulsell.

   Despite the enthusiastic support of Judge Baldwin, Paulsell's gubernatorial hopes were dashed at the nominating convention in San Jose in August 1890. On the first ballot, he garnered 44 votes, and in the second round of balloting, 25 votes (compared to successful nominee Edward Pond's 217.) 
   After his gubernatorial ambitions had come to naught, Paulsell resided in San Francisco, where he continued in the "buying and selling of grain on a large scale." In 1893 he returned to Stockton, where on March 26, 1893, he died of the effects of Bright's disease at the home of his son John Jefferson. Before his death, Paulsell had been put forth as a possible Superintendent of the U.S. Mint in San Francisco, but his death prevented this from occurring. Paulsell was survived by his wife Almira, who, following her death in 1910 was interred alongside her husband at the Stockton Rural Cemetery.

Paulsell's death notice from the Sacramento Record-Union March 28, 1893.