Azor Ruggles Mills (1827-1901)

From the Jefferson Bee, October 26, 1954.

  A prominent 19th-century resident of Greene County, Iowa, Azor Ruggles Mills was a transplant to that state from Wadsworth, Ohio, and in the early 1850s became the first person to teach in the recently organized school in Greene County. A Civil War veteran, Mills lost the use of his left arm due to wounds sustained at the Battle of Allatoona. In 1865 he was elected as Greene County's representative in the Iowa state legislature and later served as a county school superintendent. The son of Col. Henry Augustus "Harry A." (1795-1873) and Harriett (Ruggles) Mills (died 1844), Azor Ruggles Mills was born in Wadsworth on February 11, 1827. Bestowed the unusual name Azor Ruggles, Mills received this name in honor of his maternal grandfather (1768-1843), a native of Brookfield, Connecticut who later removed to Canfield, Ohio.

  During his youth Mills studied in schools local to his village and later attended the Twinsburg Academy for Boys. After attaining maturity Mills looked westward and moved to Wisconsin in the early 1850s. Following resettlement, he enrolled in the first class ever to register at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and taught school for a time. Around 1854-55 he moved to Iowa and settled in Jefferson in Greene County. Soon after his arrival, the local citizenry organized a subscription school, the first of its kind in the county. Mills was selected as the school's first teacher and also organized a debating society. The school comprised thirty-two students, and at the dawn of the Civil War, he began military drilling with his class, with all 33 (including Mills) enlisting for service in the Union Army.

  In 1862 Mills took rank among Co. E., 39th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and on October 5, 1864, was grievously injured at the Battle of Allatoona Pass in Georgia. "With four bullets in his coat", Mills was spared a death blow by the ramrod of his rifle, which he was then pulling from his gun. Instead of being struck in the heart, the bullet passed through his left arm, subsequently wounding his fellow infantryman, James Smith. This injury caused Mills to lose the use of his left arm, but he continued to serve in the Army until his honorable discharge in July 1865. After his return to Iowa, Mills was a founding member of the George H. Thomas Post in Jefferson, with which he was affiliated until his death.

  On July 25, 1865, Azor Mills married Miranda Dyle Anderson (1844-1917), whom he had known before the war. The couple were wed until his death in 1901, and had nine daughters: Emma (died in infancy in 1866), Ada (1868-1953), Ella (born 1869), Grace Ruggles (1871-1952), Lilian Bird (1873-1933), Flora (1875-1876), Ethel Ray (1877-1903), Marcy Octavia (born 1879), and Vera Elizabeth (1884-1954).

   In the same year as his marriage, Azor Mills received the Republican nomination for state representative from the counties of Greene, Carroll, Audubon, and Calhoun. Following his election in late 1865, Mills took his seat in January 1866 and during that session was named to the committees on Banks and Engrossed Bills. This term saw Mills back legislation that approved $95,000 for the construction of a main building at the newly organized Iowa State College at Ames, where six of his daughters would attend school.

From the Jefferson Bee, March 14, 1901.

  After leaving state government Mills continued prominence in Greene County, being elected to two consecutive terms as county superintendent of schools where his "labors were practical and whose efforts were effective." Additionally, Mills was a charter member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Jefferson, where he taught a bible class for forty-five years. He also farmed near the northern Jefferson city limits, and with Joseph Manning established a boot and shoe manufacturing business in town. 

  Due to physical disability, Mills later retired from his business pursuits but continued to reside in Jefferson until his death at home on March 12, 1901, at age 74. He was survived by his wife and daughters and was interred at the Jefferson Cemetery. Mills was subsequently memorialized by his fellow townsman and friend John Gray as having had:

"A rare mixture of aloofness and friendliness, aloofness inherited from eastern origins, friendliness bred in the new west. He willingly shared the burdens of humanity even to the risking of his own life, whether on the battlefield, or in the halls of legislation, his strength and voice were ever on the side of right."

Hananiah Darlington Pugh (1829-1913)

Portrait from the Lansing State Journal, January 6, 1913.

  Several oddly named postmasters of major U.S. cities have been found this year, and the name of Hananiah Darlington Pugh is by far the strangest. A Civil War veteran and former county superintendent of the poor, Pugh served as U.S. Postmaster of Lansing, the capital city of Michigan, being appointed by President Cleveland. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 6, 1829, Hananiah Darlington Pugh was the son of Meredith Darlington (1807-1866) and Jane (Stuart) Pugh (1811-1885). 

  Little information could be located on Pugh's formative years or education, and in 1854 married Mary Elizabeth Berry (1837-1890), with who he had 13 children. A veteran of the Civil War, Pugh served as captain of Co. I, 47th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry which was organized in Toledo in August 1861. Pugh's service extended three years, and was honorably discharged in October 1864. 

  Following his discharge Pugh removed to Lansing, Michigan, where in 1865 he purchased a tannery from the Lederer brothers, which he operated for four years. Pugh first entered Lansing politics in the late 1860s. He served on the board of aldermen in 1868 and 1870, and in 1875 was named as clerk of the state supreme court. Pugh served four years and at the end of his term unearthed a treasurer trove of historical documents while moving his office records, including papers signed by territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair, future U.S. President William Henry Harrison, and the oaths of office of Governors William Hull and Lewis Cass. 

  Pugh stepped down as clerk in January 1879, having been elected as Ingham County superintendent of the poor. He continued in that office until at least 1881, and in August 1886 was appointed by President Cleveland as U.S. Postmaster at Lansing. His term extended nearly three years, and was succeeded by Seymour Foster in June 1889. 

  Widowed in 1890, Pugh removed from Lansing a few years following his wife's death and settled in Corunna in Shiawassee County. Following his resettlement he remarried and died in Corunna on January 4, 1913, aged 82. He was survived by his wife and several children and was returned to Lansing for burial at the Mt. Hope Cemetery.

From the Owosso Times, January 10, 1913.

Ahiman Valentine Bohn (1836-1914), Ahiman Louis Miner (1804-1886)

From the Portrait and Biographical Record of the state of Colorado, 1899.

   A pioneer settler of Leadville, Colorado, Ahiman Valentine Bohn rose from humble beginnings in Ohio to make his name in railroading and mining in the Centennial State. Prior to his removal to Colorado, Bohn had served in the Civil War was involved in the coal business in Alabama and St. Louis, Missouri. Bohn entered politics late in life when he was elected to one term in the Colorado State Senate, representing the 6th district of Lake County, and during this term filled the additional role of U.S. Postmaster at Leadville. Born on November 12, 1835, in Massilon, Stark County, Ohio, Ahiman Valentine Bohn was the son of Valentine and Susan (Strickler) Bohn. Bestowed a unique first name, Ahiman is one of two figures mentioned in the Bible. The first Ahiman is mentioned as a giant who was seen by Caleb at Mount Hebron, and the second noted as a Levite temple gate-keeper under Nehemiah.

  A local political office holder in Stark County, Valentine Bohn (1793-1854) was a former county court and district court judge, and following his family's removal to Carroll County, Illinois, continued his political career, winning election as county clerk and county judge. Young Ahiman would attend the Mount Carroll High School and at age 20 left the family home to strike out on his own. He would first take work as an agent for the Illinois Central Railroad at Amboy and later worked in railway construction for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.

  Following the start of the Civil War Bohn enlisted in the 15th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, and was mustered in with that regiment in May 1861. He would serve through the war's duration, and with his regiment took part in the capture of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, the Siege of Corinth, the Battle of Hatchie River, the Siege of Vicksburg, and the Battle of Bentonville. Enlisting as a private, Bohn attained the rank of major by the time of his discharge in late 1865. Ahiman V. Bohn married during his service in 1864 to Emma Kneisley (1839-1916). The couple were wed for fifty years and had three sons, Arthur Kneisley (1865-1906), John Valentine (1868-1909), and Charles Ahiman (1870-1963).

  After his return to civilian life, Bohn removed back to Ohio, and after settling in Dayton began to study at a commercial college in that city. His two-year residency in that city also saw him teach at that school, and in 1868 relocated to Missouri. He would enter the coal business in Kansas City, and made his first foray into the mining industry when he purchased an interest in coal mines on the Vandalia Railway. He continued in dealing coal after relocating to St. Louis, and while a resident of that city became a major promoter in the construction of a railroad reaching "from Cape Girardeau to the interior of Missouri." The project saw eighty miles of track laid, and following the financial panic of 1873, Bohn's finances in the project took a hit. 

  Bohn remained in St. Louis until 1874, and following removal to Alabama, he returned to his earlier interest in coal, "developing the coal fields along the South and North Railway". In 1878 he made the permanent move to Colorado, being recorded by the Leadville Herald Democrat as having "drove into Leadville from Denver with a wagonload of butter and eggs." Shortly after arrival, Bohn made the acquaintance of Horace Austin Warner Tabor (1830-1899), the "Bonanza King of Leadville" who later served as Lieutenant Governor and U.S. Senator from Colorado. Having earned a fortune from his silver mining interests, Taber brought Bohn into Colorado's mining industry, with Bohn later becoming the local manager for the Tabor-owned Matchless mine. Bohn would go into mining for himself sometime later, and through the succeeding years was the manager of the following mining properties: Small Hopes, Lucy B. Hussey, Shields, and the Star of Hope. Bohn would also be a founder of the Home Mining Company, which he later "left with little wealth accumulated from the genius of his organization." It was left to the Leadville Herald Democrat to describe Bohn's win-loss record in regards to his finances from mining, remarking:

"From all these mining ventures, Major Bohn held the reputation of having brought more revenue into the Leadville district than any other single individual. The only loser from these projects was himself."

From the Leadville Herald Democrat, September 7, 1905.

   In addition to his mining activities, Ahiman Bohn was long prominent in the affairs of the G.A.R. veterans organization, being a charter member of the James Garfield Lodge No. 9 in Leadville. From 1885-86 he was the G.A.R. department commander for the states of Colorado and Wyoming, and also attained high rank in the Leadville Elks Lodge, where he was a past exalted ruler from 1894-95.

  A longtime Republican, Bohn first voted for that party in 1856, the year of the first Republican presidential ticket. In 1906 Bohn entered into the race for the Colorado state senate from the 6th senatorial district and in November was opposed by Democrat Austin Blakey. On election day it was Bohn who won out, polling 2,297 votes to Blakey's 1,815. He would take his seat in January 1907 and at the start of the 1907-11 session was named to the following committees: County Affairs; Finance, Military Affairs; Mines and Mining; Privileges and Elections; Railroads and Corporations; and Supplies and Expenditures (chairman.) Bohn's time in the senate saw him opposed to a bill proposed to state senator David Campbell that aimed to repeal "all Colorado statutes which require that all old soldiers and sailors entering the Solider's and Sailor's Home shall turn over their pensions to the commandant." This bill was the exact opposite of existing national laws that required pensioners to keep their own money, and as a veteran himself, Bohn aired his outrage in the February 26, 1909 edition of the Yuma Pioneer, remarking:

"The custom arose because it was feared that the old soldiers would go into town pension day and get drunk...Well, if they want to get drunk, let them. They have a right to do so. They fought for the country and have a right to any pleasure they may get out of their pensions. It is nobody's business."

From the Leadville Herald Democrat, June 20, 1908.

  Midway through his senate term Bohn was appointed by President William Howard Taft as U.S. Postmaster at Leadville, and in July 1909 resigned his senate seat.  He served as postmaster through the Taft administration and stepped down several months into the Woodrow Wilson presidency in September 1913. Bohn continued residency in Leadville until January 1914, when he took an extended visit to Los Angeles, California, staying at the home of his niece. A week prior to his death his health began to fail, and he died at his niece's home on March 4, 1914, of the effects of asthma and heart trouble. He was survived by his wife and son Charles and was interred at the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles.

From the New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial, Vol. III, 1914.

  Vermonter Ahiman Louis Miner is one of the true "old guard" names on The Strangest Names In American Political History, as he was first located via the Congressional Bioguide webpage in early 2000. In the twenty years since first locating his name, Miner has, like many other 19th century congressmen, been consigned to history's dustbin. Despite his many accomplishments being all but forgotten today, Miner was long a political power player in his state, as he was a multi-term member of both houses of the Vermont legislature, Rutland County attorney, justice of the peace, register and judge of probate, and for two years was clerk of the Vermont house of representatives. He reached his highest degree of political prominence with his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1850, where he served for one term.

  The son of Gideon and Rachel (Davison) Miner, Ahiman Louis Miner was born in Middletown, Rutland County, Vermont on September 23, 1804. His formative years were spent in that town, and during his youth attended the Caselton Seminary in Castleton, Vermont. After deciding not to pursue further study at the Middlebury College, Miner focused on law studies, entering the offices of Rollin and Mallory in Poultney. He was admitted to the state bar in 1832, and for three years practiced in Wallingford. Ahiman Miner married in Vermont in 1832 to Fanny Adams Beman (1811-1852). The couple were wed until Fanny's death and had five children, Fannie, Henry, Alice, Nathan Beeman, and Wilhelmina. Miner would remarry shortly after her death to Susan Sarah Roberts (1821-1913), with who he had three more children, Ahiman Louis (1854-1908), John Gideon, and George Roberts. 

  Around 1836 Miner left Wallingford and after locating in Manchester in Bennington County, established his law practice. Within a short period of his resettlement he had entered into his first political office, that of clerk for the Vermont House of Representatives, He held that post in the sessions of 1836-1837, and in the last-named year won a seat for himself in that body as a representative from Bennington County. During the 1838 term, he sat on the Judiciary Committee and would be returned to the legislature on three more occasions, serving in 1839-40, 1846-47, and 1854-55.

  Miner continued his climb up the state political ladder with his service in the state senate from 1840-41, and from 1843-45 served as State's Attorney for Bennington County. A seven-year stint as county register of probate followed, and beginning in 1846 he served a four-year term as county judge of probate. Miner would also be elected as a justice of the peace in 1846 and served in that capacity until his death.

Miner as he looked during his congressional service.

  In 1850 Miner's name was put forward as Whig candidate for the U.S House of Representatives, and in the early months of that contest was opposed by another Whig candidate, attorney Alanson P. Lyman. These dual Whig candidacies occurred due to dissension amongst the Whig ranks in Vermont's 1st congressional district. During the first round of balloting in September 1850, Lyman won out in the vote count, polling 3,693 to Miner's 3,591. The election was declared null as no candidate achieved a majority vote, with another election scheduled for November.

  Although Miner and Lyman remained above-board during the fracas, campaigners on their behalf slung mud at one another in newspapers of the time. Eventually, civil correspondence between the two men was published in the Rutland Herald in October 1850, in which Miner wrote to Lyman:

"Dear Sir: The situation in which the whig party of this place, in consequence of the use of both our names as candidates, seems to require some sacrifice on our part for the sake of harmony. Political and personal friends are in some instance becoming embittered, and a state of feeling exists which ought not to continue, if we can prevent it. I am not aware that the trouble has arisen through any action or agency of my own. I am nevertheless willing to use any honorable means to allay the excitement and restore quiet. I would therefore propose that we withdraw from the canvass, and recommend that some third person be put in nomination on whom all can unite."

 Despite Miner's proposal that both men withdraw for the sake of party harmony, the election in November again saw Miner and Lyman as candidates, and on November 5th it was Ahiman Miner who became Congressman-elect, besting Lyman by a vote of 4,320 to 4,099. Miner took his seat in January 1851 and during the 1851-53 session was a member of the Committee on Engravings. He was not a candidate for reelection in November 1852.
  Following his term in Congress Miner returned to practicing law and in December 1857 was appointed as receiver of the Danby Bank in Rutland County. In 1870 he flirted with another run for Congress and would enter that race as an Independent Republican candidate. He would lose that contest in November, placing third in a field of five candidates, with victory going to one term incumbent Charles Wesley Willard (1827-1880). Miner continued residence in Manchester until his death at age 81 on July 19, 1886, at his home. He was survived by his wife Sarah and was interred at the Dellwood Cemetery in Manchester.

Ahiman Miner in old age, courtesy of "Manchester" by the Manchester Historical Society, 2011. 

From the Middlebury Register, July 23, 1886.

Jhilson Payne Cummins (1838-1918)

Portrait from "Freemasonry in Three Parts", 1903.

   A resident of several states during a life that extended nearly eighty years, Jhilson Payne Cummins was an Indiana native and Civil War veteran who served in local political offices in Iowa and Kansas before relocating to the Oklahoma Territory, where he was a probate judge and member of the territorial house of representatives in the early 1900s. Cummins was later a resident of California, where he died and is buried. The son of Daniel and Nancy Ellender (Collier) Cummins, Jhilson Payne Cummins was born in Jackson County, Indiana on November 26, 1838.

  While little information could be found in regards to Cummins' upbringing in his birth state, he is recorded as having attended school in Clear Lake, Indiana and at age 17 began a brief career as a school teacher in Elkinsville. In 1858 he married his first wife Nancy Emmons, who died just eight months later. In 1862 Cummins remarried to Sarah Lutes (1846-1883), with whom he had several children, including Nancy Emeline, Esther Eveline, Howard (1868-1896), Charlotte (1870-1914), Thomas (died in infancy in 1872), George Marion Arthur (1876-1921), James Payne (1878-1960) and Fred. 

   At the dawn of the Civil War Jhilson Cummins signed on for service, enlisting in Co. G of the 5th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His service with that unit extended three months, and in 1863 reenlisted, this time serving amongst the ranks of Co. H., 120th Indiana Infantry. He was elected as First Lieutenant and would see action at the "battles of Atlanta, Campagne, Columbus, Franklin, and Nashville", and in 1865 was promoted to Brevet Major. That same year Cummins assumed the post of Judge Advocate for the North Carolina military district and was honorably discharged in January 1866.

   Following his return to Indiana Cummins engaged in the study of law and enrolled at the University of Indiana at Bloomington. He earned his bachelor of laws degree in 1867 and after being admitted to the bar relocated to Adams County, Iowa. Settling in the small town of Quincy, Cummins opened his practice and in 1869 won his first political office, being elected as Adams County auditor. He would serve in that capacity from 1870-75 and in the latter year removed to Minneapolis, Ottawa County, Kansas. 

  Within a few years of his establishing roots in Ottawa County, Cummins had become a leading citizen in his community, being a founder (and later president) of the Bank of Minneapolis, and later held the presidency of the Bank of Clay Center. He would continue his banking interests in Lincoln County in the late 1870s, founding the Bank of Lincoln County (noted as being the first such financial institution in that area), and as a man of means, devoted thousands of dollars for investment in the county. Tragedy would strike Cummins in 1883 when his wife of twenty years, Sarah, died aged 37. He remarried in the year following her death to Lenora Davis, about whom little is known. Following her death, Cummins became a three-time widower, and in January 1893 married for a fourth time, taking Malinda Pemberton Davis Benedict (1846-1934) as his wife.

  After turning over his interests in the bank to his head cashier in 1884, Cummins was appointed as a U.S. Commissioner for the Oklahoma Territory in 1889. Shortly after his settlement in Kingfisher County, Cummins was elected as the first probate judge for the county in 1890 and in 1894 won a second four-year term.

From the Hennessey Clipper, November 2, 1894.

   In 1902 Cummins returned to political life when he entered into the race for representative from Kingfisher to the Oklahoma Territorial legislature. His candidacy was reported on favorably by the Hennessey Clipper, which, in addition to touting his civil war service and judgeship, acknowledged him as 

"A man of legal attainments standing well at home and throughout the Territory, having the confidence of the public with large acquaintence over the Territory and among public men a pioneer resident and taxpayer, Judge Cummins possesses all the qualifications necessary for a first class legislator."

   Jhilson Cummins emerged victorious at the polls that November and took his seat at the start of the 1903-05 session. His one term in that body saw him named to the committees on Elections and Legislative Apportionment, the Judiciary, Insurance, Manufactures and Home Industries, Printing, and the Penitentiary and Reformatory. Cummins' term also saw him author a three-volume work on the history of Freemasonry, entitled "Freemasonry in Three Parts: Being a Sketch of Its Origin, Spread, and Object", published in 1903.

   After leaving office in 1905 Cummins continued to reside in Kingfisher and in 1912 was again a candidate for county judge of probate, losing out in the August Democratic primary. In 1914 he and his wife removed to Santa Rosa, California, where he resided until his death. In early 1918 his health began to fail and for several weeks following was confined to his bed, his death occurring on March 2, 1918, at his home. Cummins was survived by his wife Malinda and was later interred under a small military marker at the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery. 

From the Hobart Weekly Democrat Chief, March 18, 1918.

Mortier Lafayette Morrison (1836-1919)

Portrait from the Granite State Monthly, 1895.

    Lifelong Peterborough, New Hampshire resident Mortier Lafayette Morrison's life bears a slight similarity to Grosvenor Austin Curtice, profiled here back on December 14th. Both of these oddly named men were lifelong residents of New Hampshire and both were veterans of the Civil War. Both went on to become prominent local officeholders in their respective towns and both served terms in the New Hampshire legislature. Interestingly, both Morrison and Curtis served together during the 1881-83 session, the latter in the state senate and the former in the house.

   Born in Peterborough on July 2, 1836, Mortier Lafayette Morrison was the son of Abraham Perkins (1807-1870) and Mary Robbe Morrison. A prominent Peterborough figure in his own right, Abraham P. Morrison was the owner of a paper mill as well as a three-term state representative, serving in the legislative sessions of 1848, 1862, and 1863. The eldest of two children, Mortier L. Morrison was "prevented in early life from attending school as he wished" due to "severe necrosis of the tibia", and later was affected by typhoid fever. With this long bout of ill health, young Mortier was largely self-educated, and after reaching age nineteen followed his father into the paper-making trade. 

    In August 1862 Morrison enlisted for service in the Civil War, and a little over a month after enlisting was named as Quarter Master's Sergeant of the 13th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. He succeeded future Governor and U.S. Senator Person Colby Cheney in that post and served until his discharge in mid-1865. On August 9, 1861, Morrison married Susan Gates, with whom he had one daughter, Alice (1862-1925). Their marriage proved to be short, as Susan died less than a year later on May 1, 1862. He would remarry in March 1866 to Caroline Brooks, their union seeing the births of two further children, Mary Brooks (born 1868) and Abraham Perkins (born 1870.)

   After returning home from the war Mortier Morrison took on the management of his father's paper mill, which he sold to the firm of Adams and Nay in June 1870. In April 1873 he was selected as treasurer of the Peterborough Savings Bank, an office that he would continue to hold until his death forty-six years later. In addition to his time as treasurer, Morrison would hold several other local offices in Peterborough, including a twenty-five-year stint as town moderator, and from 1868-1870 served as town selectman. 

   In 1878 Mortier L. Morrison was elected to the first of three terms as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Taking his seat at the start of the 1879 session, Morrison served as a member of the committee on Banks. He would be elected to another term in 1881 and in 1915 won his third term in the house. Further political honors came Morrison's way following his first two terms in the house, as he served as Peterborough's delegate to the 1902-03 New Hampshire State Constitutional Convention. In 1918 he was again tapped to represent Peterborough at the State Constitutional Convention of 1918-19 but died during the recess of the convention, his death occurring at Peterborough on May 1, 1919, the fifty-sixth anniversary of the death of his first wife Susan. 

  A longstanding member of the G.A.R., as well as a Mason and Odd Fellows Lodge member, Mortier L. Morrison was preceded in death by his second wife Caroline in 1906 and his son Abraham in 1913. In an unusual twist, there are two possible burial locations for Morrison, as his name is located on his first wife's stone in the Peterborough Village Cemetery as well as on another headstone at the Pine Hill Cemetery, also located in Peterborough. All in all very curious!

A Mortier L. Morrison G.A.R. encampment ribbon from 1919.

Blackburn Barrett Dovener (1842-1914)

From the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, June 7, 1900.

   Six-term U.S. Representative Blackburn Barrett Dovener can rightly be considered an "old guard" strange-name political figure, as I first happened across his name over a decade ago. One of the most prominent public figures in West Virginia at the turn of the 19th century, Dovener represented West Virginia's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for twelve years and had earlier served one term in the state legislature from Ohio County.

  Blackburn Barrett Dovener was born in Cabell County, Virginia (now part of West Virginia) on April 20, 1842, being the son of Dr. Robert George and Julia Ann Barrett Dovener. His early education was gained via the district schools of Cabell County and he would later attend the Parkersburg Academy.  He would put his education on hold to enlist for service at the start of the Civil War and remained a staunch Union man throughout the conflict. At the age of just nineteen, he raised a company of men, Co. A. of the Fifteenth Reg. West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and during his war service rose from first lieutenant to captain. 

   At war's conclusion, Dovener resettled in the city of Wheeling where he would marry Ms. Margaret Lynch in December 1865. In 1867 he took on the position of chief clerk in the office of West Virginia Secretary of State John M. Pipes and during his service began the study of law. He was admitted to the state bar in 1873 and soon after established his first law practice in Wheeling. Throughout the remainder of that decade Dovener built up a reputation as an "able and  successful" practitioner of law, and was recorded by the 1903 "Men of West Virginia":

"As a counselor he is safe and wise, and ready in the comprehension of the salient features of a case. As an advocate he is earnest, making his clients case his own. He is ready in debate and fluent in expression. As a man he is affable courteous and polite."

  During the mid to late 1870s, Dovener was a member of the firm of Davenport and Dovener, eventually taking over the firm after George O. Davenport's death in 1880. In 1882 he was elected to represent Ohio County in the West Virginia House of Delegates and served during the 1883-85 session. He was a candidate for reelection to the house in 1886 but was "defeated along with the balance of his ticket." Dovener experienced similar results in 1887 when he was the Republican candidate for Mayor of Wheeling, being defeated by Charles Seabright.

  Returning to his law practice following his mayoral loss, Dovener waited until 1892 to re-enter political life. In that year he announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 1st congressional district and in that year's election faced incumbent Democrat John Overton Pendleton (1851-1916). On election day it was Pendleton who eked out a narrow victory over Dovener, winning another term by just 206 votes. In 1894 Pendleton decided not to be a candidate for renomination, and in that year's contest, Dovener was once again the Republican nominee, this time squaring off against Democrat John A. Howard. On election day 1894 Dovener coasted to a 4,000-plus vote victory, garnering 21,822 votes to his opponent's 17, 375. 

  Taking his seat at the start of the 1895-97 session, Dovener served as a member of the committee on Rivers and Harbors during that term. A candidate for reelection in 1896, Doverner won his second term that November and would subsequently be reelected to four further terms in 1898, 1900, 1902, and 1904. In 1906 he failed to win the Republican nomination for a seventh term (the nod instead going to William P. Hubbard), and upon his retirement from Congress, Dovener was given a "lively reception and warm-hearted farewell" by his fellow West Virginians.

From the Washington Times, February 18, 1907.

  Unfortunately for Dovener, his time in retirement appears to have not been a happy one. Ill health plagued him for "several years" following his leaving Congress and by January 1914 an application was introduced in the West Virginia courts for a "lunacy commission" in regards to Dovener's state of mind, the application being brought about by his wife Margaret.

   In a Fairmont, West Virginian article published in January 1914, Margaret Lynch Dovener alleged that her husband could no longer "take proper care of himself or manage his financial affairs."  A court hearing began on January 17, 1914, with Dovener representing himself during the proceedings. In what must have been a surreal scene inside the courtroom, Dovener "personally cross-examined" each witness and "wound up each inquiry" by asking the witness "Do you think that I'm crazy?" The Fairmont West Virginian also noted that during the proceedings Dovener appeared lethargic and would "frequently drop off into naps while cross-examining witnesses."

  On January 22 the court decided in favor of Margaret Dovener's application, with the former congressman being placed in the charge of Ohio County Sheriff A.T. Sweeney. A few days following that decision, newspaper reports noted that Dovener would be removed to a recently constructed "soldier's home at Nashville, Tennessee." Sometime later he was removed to a sanitarium in Glen Echo, Maryland, where he died on May 9, 1914, at age 72. He was survived by his wife Margaret and a son, Robert. Following funeral arrangements, Dovener was interred under a modest headstone at Arlington Nation Cemetery. 

                                                          Blackburn Dovener during his congressional service.

Finney Reform Loomis (1841-1911)

Finney Reform Loomis, from Evert's Atlas of Medina County, Ohio, 1874.

  Ohio has yielded a few new strange name discoveries over the past few days, the most interesting of which belongs to the above-pictured gentleman.....Finney Reform Loomis! A resident of Medina County, Ohio for the majority of his life, Loomis was a veteran of the Civil War and later gained distinction as a prominent Buckeye state publisher, being the editor and owner of both the Medina Gazette and the Norwalk Chronicle. Loomis's placement on the site rests on his service as a representative from Medina County to the Ohio General Assembly, where he served for one term.

   Born at Lodi, Medina County Ohio on September 3, 1841, Finney Reform Loomis was one of eight children born to Milo (1802-1852) and Lucy Greenly Loomis (died 1852), both natives of New York. With the deaths of their parents of typhoid fever in October and November 1852 the Loomis siblings were left parentless, and despite this tragic loss young Finney pressed on, taking work as a clerk and school teacher during his youth.  He enlisted in the Union Army in June 1862 and served with the Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Loomis would receive several promotions during his service on the battlefield and was "severely wounded" at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. He was again wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg the following year and in July 1864 was mustered out, having achieved the rank of first lieutenant.

  Finney R. Loomis married his first wife Helen Gray Slater on December 4, 1862. Less than a year after their marriage Helen Slater Loomis died and two years following her passing Loomis remarried in January 1865 to Catherine C. Killmer (1844-1913). The couple were wed for over four decades and had one son, Clare Reform (1871-1892), who died of typhoid in February 1892 at just twenty years of age.

   After his war service, Loomis was honored with the appointment as postmaster of his hometown of Lodi, an office in which he served until 1873. In August of that year, he received the Republican nomination for representative to the Ohio General Assembly, to which he was elected in October 1873. Loomis served one term in the legislature (1874-1876) and during that term was a member of the following committees: Blind, Deaf, and Dumb and Imbecile Asylums; Claims; and Retrenchment.

Loomis during his Civil War service (picture courtesy of Find-A-Grave.)

    Loomis declined renomination in 1876 and in that same year made his first venture into the publishing field, purchasing "a half interest" in the Medina Gazette. He would serve that paper as an owner and its editor until 1879, whereafter he sold off his interest and purchased the Norwalk Chronicle, of which he was "sole proprietor and editor." 

   Remarked as being "one of the temperance advocates of Ohio", Finney R. Loomis was affiliated with a few church-related organizations in Medina and Huron County, including service as president of both the Huron County Bible Society and the Huron County Sunday School Association. Loomis was also active in veteran's organizations, being a past commander of the M.F. Wooster Post, No, 34 of the G.A.R. chapter of Norwalk, Ohio, and for one year held the presidency of the Ohio Command of the Union Veterans Union.

   After many years of prominence in both Medina and Huron County, Finney Reform Loomis died on November 26, 1911, at age 70.  He was survived by his wife Catherine and was interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Lodi, Ohio.