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.

Chantrey Alfred Fritts (1904-1971)

Chantrey A. Fritts as he appeared in Denver Post, 1951.

  The Colorado legislature yields another new name in the person of Chantrey Alfred Fritts, who is notable for being the first state legislator profiled here who was a chiropodist (or, to be more precise, a foot and hand doctor.) While his name may be unusual and his profession unique, it is Fritts' terms in the Colorado legislature that earns him a place here, as well as his brief service in the state senate. A native of Belle, Missouri, Chantrey Alfred Fritts was born in 1904, one of two sons born to Charles Oscar (1869-1966) and Emma (Travis) Fritts (1870-1955).

  Little is known of Fritts' early life and education in Missouri, and after deciding on a career in the medical profession enrolled at the University of Colorado. Following graduation, he undertook further study at the University of Denver's Podiatry School. Sources also relate Fritts briefly being a school teacher in the Oak Creek school from 1926-27. In February 1926 he married in Denver to Edna Violet Smith (1906-1985), to who he was wed for over four decades. The couple would have two children, Chantrey Alfred Jr. (1931-2016, later a professor at Abilene Christian University) and an adopted daughter, Nancy Fritts Vourexes (1941-1995). 

  After the completion of his schooling, Chantrey Fritts operated a "private podiatry practice" and was connected to the Ft. Logan Hospital and the Denver General Hospital. From 1938-39 he held the presidency of the Colorado Association of Chiropodists and was a longstanding member of the Colorado Podiatry Association.

   Fritts entered the political life of his state in 1942 when he was elected as one of Denver County's representatives to the Colorado legislature, polling over 50,000 votes on election day. Fritts' first term (1943-45) saw him chair the committees on Medical Affairs and Public Health, as well as the committee on Penal and Reformatory Institutions. He would win a second term in 1944 and during the 1945-46 session sat on the committees on Appropriations and Expenditures, Denver City Affairs, Education, Elections and Appointments, and State Institutions.

  The 1946 election year saw Fritts be appointed to the Colorado State Senate, due to a vacancy brought about by the resignation of Eudochia Bell Smith, who had served since 1941. Fritts' brief time in the Senate (which extended from December 1946 to December 1948) saw him chair the committee on Reapportionment, as well as serving on the committees on Medical Affairs, Military Affairs, Printing, Privileges and Elections, and Supplies and Expenditures.

  After leaving the Senate in 1948 Fritts returned to his medical practice, and in 1956 was again elected to fill a vacancy, this time in the house of representatives. With representative Paul Hodges Jr. resigning his seat that year, Fritts was tapped to fill the vacancy and during his brief time in office was a member of the House Services, Judiciary, and State Affairs Committees.

  Little information exists on Fritts' life after leaving the legislature, excepting notice of his being a speaker at the 58th annual meeting of the American Podiatrist Association in 1970, where he spoke on "reactions to foot disorders that can contribute to mental depression." Chantrey Alfred Fritts died on June 21, 1971, in Colorado and was survived by his wife and children. Both he and his wife were interred at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

From the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, June 23, 1971.

Oyer Alton Saunders (1889-1983)

From the Colorado Transcript, October 20, 1938.

  Hailing from a state that has yielded only a handful of profiles here on the site, Colorado resident Oyer Alton "Sandy" Saunders served one term in the Colorado state senate and prior to his service had held the post of coroner for Jefferson County for over a decade. One of only four politicians profiled here who were morticians by trade, Oyer A. Saunders was a native of the Buckeye State, being born in Crown City, Gallia County, Ohio on June 21, 1889. The son of Joseph Walter and Sarah Jane (Dailey) Saunders, little information could be located on Saunder's life in Ohio, excepting notice of his being a teacher and school superintendent in Gallia County, holding the latter post from 1918-1919.

  Oyer Saunders married in Gallia County on December 16, 1911, to Minnie Belle Gothard (1887-1953), with whom he had one son, Rothbe Oyer Saunders (1914-1933). In 1920 Saunders and his family removed from Ohio to Colorado, and early in his residency in that state was head of the physics department at the Boulder High School. This was followed by a stint as a high school principal in Fort Lupton and, later, an eight-year tenure as superintendent of schools for the city of Steamboat Springs.

   In 1930 Saunders and his family settled in Golden, Jefferson County, Colorado, and in that same year, he first entered into the mortuary business, purchasing the Woods Mortuary, which had been established in 1913. Despite having had no previous experience as a mortician, Saunders and a partner, T.E. Cline, pooled resources to purchase the business, with Cline handling the "technical details of the business" and Saunders serving as manager. In the Colorado Transcript write-up concerning the purchase, details note that Saunders and his family lived  "above the mortuary" for a time and that both he and Cline planned to "remodel and refurbish the establishment." 

   Beginning in 1936, the Woods Mortuary began a "ten months program of modernization" that eventually culminated with the addition of "soft lighting effects, rich draperies, soft carpeting, appropriate interior decoration, new equipment and beautifully furnished rooms for those who have passed on." The mortuary would also boast a new chapel, and in 1937 Saunders would purchase the neighboring Taft building, thereby enlarging the mortuary storefront. By the mid-1940s the building also contained a casket display room, and, following renovations, the second floor of the building had been converted to apartment housing.

The Woods Mortuary as it appeared in the October 20, 1938 Colorado Transcript.

   By 1932 the name of O.A. Saunders had been established in the Jefferson County community, and in that year Saunders made his first run at elective office, announcing his candidacy for county coroner. In September 1932 he entered into the primary race and in the latter part of the year several newspapers in the county highlighted his candidacy, with the Colorado Transcript noting:

"O.A. Saunders is the successor of William Woods in the Woods mortuary at Golden and is also the Republican candidate for coroner. He is the logical man to serve the county as coroner and should be given the vote of the high citizenry at Tuesday's primary election. He is a lifelong Republican and was the high designee of his party at the recent county assembly."

  Following his primary win that September Saunders would go on to win the election for coroner in November. He would continue to win reelection to that office well into the 1940s and garnered a reputation as an official of "efficiency, economy, and fair-dealing." Saunders' first months as coroner were marred by the tragic death of his son Rothbe, who died aged 18 in January 1933, having undergone surgery for "sinus trouble" the previous December. This surgery was later compounded by flu and spinal meningitis, and following Rothbe's death on January 5th, O.A. Saunders presided over his son's funeral at the Woods Mortuary. The young man was later laid to rest at the Crown Hill Cemetery, his casket being escorted by a contingent of Colorado National Guardsmen, as well as a plane from the 120th observation squadron from the air service of the Colorado National Guard. 

From the Colorado Transcript, October 20, 1932.

From the Colorado Transcript, October 18, 1934.

   Through the 1930s and into the 1940s the name of Oyer Saunders continued prominence in Jefferson County, and in addition to his services as county coroner and mortuary director gained distinction in several other civic endeavors, including holding the presidency of the Golden Chamber of Commerce from 1941-42, the presidency of the local Kiwanis Club, serving as County Chairman of the Red Cross Drive during WWII, and was a member of the Golden City Lodge #1 of Free and Accepted Masons. In 1935 and 1936 Saunders served back to back terms as president of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association, and in November 1940 was appointed by Governor Ralph L. Carr as a member of the state board of embalming examiners for a four-year term.

   In 1945 Saunders and his wife Minne purchased T.E. Cline's entire interest in the Woods Mortuary and became that business's sole owners. Saunders would reach his highest degree of political prominence in August 1948 when he announced his candidacy for the Colorado state senate, and in that year his past business successes were touted in the August 20th edition of the Douglas County Record-Journal. In an article detailing his candidacy, Saunders acknowledged his wife Minnie as his "chief supporter and most helpful critic", and remarked:

"If I go to the Colorado Senate, I shall do my best to represent fairly the 8th Senatorial district as a whole. Its schools, educational and other institutions, business and professional interests, agriculture and civic improvements, shall have my cooperation--I think I have something to offer in the way of unbiased legislation."

  Saunders' opponent that year was Democratic nominee Ed Moder, a real estate dealer and later owner of the Jefferson Sentinel newspaper. In November 1948 it was Saunders who won out at the polls, besting Moder by a vote of 10,600 to 9,693. Taking his seat in January 1949, Saunders would serve one four year term and served on the following committees: Banking; Education and Educational Institutions; Fish, Forestry, and Game; Insurance and Interstate Cooperation; Medical Affairs; and Mining and Metal. He would also chair the committee on Veteran's and Military Affairs during the 1949-50 session and chaired the Industrial Affairs committee from 1951-52.

Saunders campaign notice, September 24, 1948.

   Following his term, Oyer A. Saunders wasn't a candidate for renomination in 1952 and in May 1957 suffered the death of his wife of over forty years, Minnie. Sometime after his wife's death, Saunders would remarry to Ruby Merle Mylar Topping (1900-1990), who would survive him upon his death in 1983. Saunders' later years saw him residing in Evergreen, Colorado, and in 1969 returned to his old home of Steamboat Springs to attend the 40th-anniversary reunion of the class of 1929. Oyer Alton Saunders died in Denver on January 13, 1983, at age 93. He was later interred alongside his wife Minnie and son Rothbe at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

From the Steamboat Pilot, September 4, 1969.