Comfort Starr Burlingame (1853-1924), Comfort Starr Hyde (1784-1868), Comfort Starr Mygatt (1767-1823), Comfort Wood Dailey (1850-1908), Comfort Harvey Van Law (1869-1947), Comfort Sands (1748-1834)

From the Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham County, Connecticut, 1903.

  Male and female "virtue" names were at their most prevalent in 17th, 18th, and 19th century America, and while these word names are certainly laughable in some instances, it's worth noting that several examples of such names have been featured here in the past, Providence Ludlam, Welcome B. Sayles, Welcome Mowry, and Deliverance S. Priest being among them. The name Comfort is another curious virtue name, and with that comes several liked named American political figures! The first of these men, Comfort Starr Burlingame, was a lifelong resident of Connecticut who wore many hats during his life, being at various times a teacher, bank president, creamery agent, four-term state representative, and state dairy commissioner.

  Descended from a family with roots in Connecticut extending back to the early 17th century, Comfort Starr Burlingame was born in Canterbury on January 5, 1853, the son of Samuel and Judith (Hyde) Burlingame. A student is schools local to the Canterbury and Brooklyn areas,  Burlingame entered into a teaching career at age seventeen, teaching during the winter months at the Christian Corners district in Brooklyn, Connecticut. This was followed by stints at the North Society of Canterbury and the Allen Hill School, located in Brooklyn.

  With nearly a decade of teaching behind him, the 26-year-old Burlingame's name was put forward as a candidate for the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1878, and in that November won his first term. The session of 1879-80 saw Burlingame as the youngest Democratic member serving, and during this term was named to the committee on Manufactures. After winning two consecutive reelection bids in 1886 and 1888, Burlingame sat on the committee on New Counties and County Seats, and in the 1889 session introduced legislation that proved beneficial to the dairy operators in his state. Burlingame's 1889 bill (titled "An Act to Prevent Deception in the Manufacture and Sale of Butter and Cheese") also detailed that oleomargarine produced in the state be white in color, and after the bill was passed in the house and senate, it was promptly vetoed by Governor Morgan Bulkeley. Despite the veto, the bill was reintroduced in a later session of the legislature and was signed into law. 

  With three house terms behind him, Burlingame set his sights on a seat in the state senate in 1891 but would prove unsuccessful at the polls, failing to overcome the district's Republican majority. Following his defeat, he would be named to the Democratic State Central Committee, where he served from 1892-96.

From the Illustrated Popular Biography of Connecticut, 1891.

   In 1892 Burlingame won his fourth term in the legislature, and at the start of the 1893-94 session sat as a member of the committees on Cities and Boroughs. This committee service saw him have a hand in drafting a bill "governing the building of electric railways" in the state. Midway through his term, Burlingame's previous efforts on the behalf of Connecticut's dairymen were rewarded by Governor Luzon Burritt Morris, who appointed him as state dairy commissioner. Taking office in May 1894, Burlingame's two-year tenure saw his campaign "for the right to inspect milk at its source of production",  as well as the continued enforcement of the states "oleomargarine, molasses, and vinegar laws."

  Burlingame's life outside of politics is also of note, as he made substantial inroads into the business sector of his native Windham County. Beginning in the 1880s he was affiliated with the Brooklyn Creamery Association, of which he would serve as an agent, treasurer, and secretary. A charter member of the Canterbury Grange, Burlingame also held a membership in the Brooklyn Grange and was the clerk of the First Ecclesiastical Society of Brooklyn. In local banking circles, he was an incorporator of the Brooklyn Savings Bank and until 1893 served as a director for the Windham County National Bank. For an indeterminate period, Burlingame occupied a similar post in the Windham County Mutual Fire Insurance Company.

   A lifelong bachelor, Burlingame continued residence in Windham County until his death at age 71 on December 6, 1924. Described as a "quiet, unostentatious man, of courteous manner", he was interred at the Hyde Cemetery in his hometown of Canterbury.

  Two years prior to Comfort S. Burlingame's birth, his maternal grandfather, Comfort Starr Hyde (1784-1868), entered the political field, serving a term in the Connecticut house of representatives. No portrait of Hyde could be found to post here, and while little is known of his life, it is known that he was born in Canterbury on August 8, 1784. A veteran of the War of 1812, Hyde was a farmer for the majority of his life and in the early 1810s married to Abigail Hough. The couple would have four children, including Judith Hyde (mother of Comfort Starr Burlingame).

  In addition to farming Hyde held several local political offices in Canterbury and in 1850 was elected as Democrat to the Connecticut legislature. His one term (1851-52) also saw him in the additional role as a county court commissioner for Windham County. Widowed in 1852, Hyde resided in Canterbury until his death at age 84 on August 27, 1868. He was later interred at the same cemetery as that of his grandson.

Portrait courtesy of Findagrave (painting by John Brewster, 18th century.)

  Another Connecticut "Comfort" that attained distinction in both politics and business was Comfort Starr Mygatt of Danbury. Born on August 23, 1763, in Danbury, Comfort S. Mygatt was the son of Eli and Abigail (Starr) Mygatt. Young Comfort began learning the trade of silversmith under his father (a Connecticut state representative) in the early 1780s. After mastering this trade, Mygatt worked under his father in gold and silversmithing in Danbury and later added the title of watch-maker to his resume. 

  Comfort Mygatt married in 1783 to Lucy Knapp (1766-1804), and the couple's two-decade union produced eight children. Following her death, Mygatt remarried the next year to Elizabeth Stewart Stiles (1777-1860), who would survive him. Their marriage saw the births of five further children, Eli (1807-1885), Hannah (1812-1840), Comfort (1815-1892), Julia Anna (1816-1832), and Amelia (1818-1907). 

  Mygatt entered politics in 1800 when he represented Danbury in the Connecticut General Assembly for one term. Five years after his term, Mygatt, desiring a new life for his family, made preparations for resettlement in Canfield, Ohio. Having visited that area a year previously, Mygatt liked what he saw and after disposing of his Connecticut property sent out a team of horses and oxen with his family's belongings. In early June 1807, he and his family began the trek to Ohio, reaching their destination in July.

  Soon after his resettlement in Canfield Mygatt entered into a partnership with local merchants Herman Canfield and Zalmon Fitch, operating a grocery, dry goods, and general store under the firm name of Mygatt, Canfield & Fitch. Two years later the partnership dissolved, with Mygatt continuing in business alone. In 1809 Mygatt was even talked of as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate from Ohio, having a firm backer in Governor Samuel Trumbull, a personal acquaintance. Mygatt would turn down the honor, however, noting that his "political views were not in harmony with the majority of the people of the state of Ohio."

   Despite being too old to serve as a soldier, Mygatt aided his adopted home state during the War of 1812 by furnishing supplies to the army, and at the request of Major General Elisha Wadsworth journeyed to Pittsburgh to garner supplies that would then be used for Wadsworth and his men. Mygatt's later years were spent in his business in Canfield and following a trip through Columbus, Lancaster, and Zanesville took ill in the fall of 1823. He failed to recover and died in Canfield on October 17, 1823, aged 60. He was survived by his wife and several children, with burial taking place at the Canfield Village Cemetery.

Portrait from the Hampshire Review, April 22, 1908.

  From Connecticut, we journey south to West Virginia and Comfort Wood Dailey, long a leading attorney in that state. A two-term prosecuting attorney for Mineral County, Dailey went on to serve a single term in the West Virginia House of Delegates, was a Democratic National Convention delegate and presidential elector, and was president of the West Virginia State Bar Association. The son of Dr. Robert Wood and Rebecca (Taylor) Dailey, Comfort Wood Dailey was born on November 6, 1850, in Cumberland, Maryland. 

  Referred to by most sources as "C. Wood Dailey", our subject was a student at the Allegany County Academy in Maryland and after deciding on a career in law removed to what is now Romney, West Virginia. Here Dailey studied at the "classical academy" in town and read law with Judge James D. Armstrong. Admitted to the West Virginia bar in the early 1870s, Dailey established his practice in Romney and sometime later removed to Keyser in Mineral County, where he joined his brother Robert Wood Dailey in practice.

  Comfort Wood Dailey married to Jeannie Clark Garrison (1851-1931) in the mid-1870s and later had four children, including Katherine Gregory (1878-1901), Rebecca, Thomas Garrison, and Eleanor (1886-1972). Of these children, Thomas Garrison would follow his father into practicing law.

  Success came quickly to Dailey, "as he soon took rank among the ablest lawyers of that circuit", and following Judge Armstrong's death saw his brother Robert elected to succeed him. By the late 1870s, C. Wood Dailey had himself entered politics, winning election as prosecuting attorney for Mineral County. His full dates of service remain uncertain, but he was known to have been the incumbent in 1879 and served two terms. Dailey continued his political ascent in November 1882 with his election as Mineral County's representative to the West Virginia House of Delegates. Taking his seat at the start of the 1883-84 session, Dailey had some oddly named company on the house floor in Ohio County delegate Blackburn Barrett Dovener, a future Congressman from West Virginia who was profiled here in December 2015. In February 1883 both men were named to a special house committee to "inquire and report what legislation is necessary to compel the payment of foreign taxes by foreign corporations owning property in this State."

  After his return to Mineral County Dailey resumed practicing law and was induced to reenter politics in 1888, when he served as part of the West Virginia delegation to that year's Democratic National Convention in St. Louis where Grover Cleveland was renominated for the presidency. Dailey's time at the convention saw him named to the committee on permanent organization, and in 1892 aided his party as a presidential elector for West Virginia, again backing Grover Cleveland.

   Further honors would come Dailey's way with the construction of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railroad in the early 1880s. He would be retained as that railway's counsel and was the "chief legal representative to several large private interests" during this period. In 1893 he relocated to Elkins and following the railroad's purchase by the Western Maryland Railway, resigned to take a legal post with the Coal and Coke Railroad developed by ex-U.S. Senator Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916).

  Still more honors were accorded to Dailey in the final years of his life with his election as president of the West Virginia Bar Association. He served a one year term in 1903 and is noted as having been "frequently urged" to accept the nomination for Congress from West Virginia's 2nd district. The last years of Dailey's life were spent in Elkins practicing law with his son Garrison, and he died at home on April 15, 1908, aged 57. He was interred at the Maplewood Cemetery in Elkins and was subsequently memorialized as:

"A man of exceptionally brilliant mind, splendid legal attainments, and one of the ablest and most forceful speakers West Virginia has had within years."

From the Moorfield Examiner, April 23, 1908.

Portrait from the 1909-10 Iowa Red Book.

  Another "Comfort" that attained prominence in law and politics was Comfort Harvey Van Law of Marshalltown, Iowa. A former instructor in Economics and city attorney for Marshalltown, Van Law was elected to one term in the Iowa State Senate in 1908. A lifelong Iowan, Van Law was born in Keokuk County on July 9, 1869, the son of Robert Rand and Catherine (Raymond) Van Law. His formative years were spent on his family's farm and would attend schools local to his county.

   At age eighteen Van Law began a teaching career in Keokuk and Poweshiek County, and during this period read law in his spare time. In 1892 he entered the Oskaloosa based law office of John Fletcher Lacey (1841-1913), a former state legislator and U.S. Representative from Iowa, and undertook further study at the Oskaloosa College. In late 1893 he enrolled at the University of Iowa and in 1896 graduated with his degree. The college's administration, impressed with Van Law's capabilities, later granted him a fellowship in political science, which in turn led to his being named an instructor in economics at the college.

  Admitted to the Iowa bar in 1897, Van Law removed to Marshalltown in June of the following year to begin practice. Comfort H. Van Law married in Iowa City on August 2, 1898, to Alice Luscomb. The couple were wed until Alice's death in 1933 and had four children, James, Ruth, Ted, and Alice. 

  Success came quickly to Van Law at the bar, and by 1901 had been elected to his first term as Marshalltown city attorney. He would be reelected unopposed in 1903, and in 1908 announced his candidacy for the Iowa state senate from the 28th senatorial district. That November he was opposed by Democrat James Stanton, and on election day Van Law emerged victorious, polling 3,313 votes to Stanton's 1,858. He began his term in January 1909 and during the 1909-13 session served on the following committees: Cities and Towns, Compensation of Public Offices, Congressional and Judicial Districts (chairman), the Judiciary, Labor, Mines and Mining, Pharmacy, Public Libraries.

  Van Law set his sights on higher office in March 1912 when he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Iowa. In a lengthy writeup concerning his senatorial term and forthcoming campaign in the Marshalltown Evening Times, Van Law would remark:

"If nominated and elected to the position for which I announce my candidacy, I can but pledge a fidelity to the discharge of the duties of the office inspired by a purpose to serve to the utmost of my ability the people of my native state."

From the Marshalltown Times-Republican, March 1, 1912.

  Van Law's opponent for Lieutenant Governor in that year's Republican primary was William L. Harding, then an incumbent state representative from Woodbury County. That June Harding would win out over Van Law and in November won the general election. Harding later went on to win the governorship of Iowa in 1916 and served one term in office.

  Following his defeat, Van Law retired from politics and dedicated the remainder of his life to his law practice. This period saw him active in church work, being the board chairman of the Marshalltown Central Church of Christ for three decades and for twenty-five years taught bible classes. In 1915 he was named as a director for the Marshalltown Savings Bank, serving until his retirement in 1936. Widowed in 1933, Van Law never remarried following his wife's death and in 1940 was one of eleven men honored by the Greater Marshalltown Association for their long service to the city. In addition to the above, Van Law is noted as having kept a vast library of law books and had a particular fondness for trees.

  Comfort Harvey Van Law died at his home in Marshalltown on April 20, 1947, aged 77. He was survived by two of his children and was interred alongside his wife at the Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown.

From the Marshalltown Times-Republican, April 21, 1947.

Portrait courtesy of Findagrave.

  A leading political figure in Revolutionary War-era New York, Comfort Sands etched his name into Empire State history books in 1776 when he assumed the role of New York state Auditor General, a post later to be known as state comptroller. The inaugural holder of that post, Sands had previously served as a member of the New York Provincial Congress and later served multiple terms in the state assembly during the 1780s. Born on the "Inland Farm" at Cow Neck, Long Island on February 26, 1748, Comfort Sands was one of eight children born to John and Elizabeth (Cornwell) Sands.

   Comfort Sands was bestowed his curious first name in honor of Comfort Starr (1706-1763), a leading Danbury, Connecticut citizen who was visiting the Sands family at the time of our subject's birth. Sands entered into the workforce at just twelve years of age, taking a clerkship under Cow Neck businessman Stephen Thorne. This was followed by clerkships under Sands' older brother Cornwell and Manhattan resident Joseph Drake, which extended to 1769.

  Comfort Sands married in Westchester County, New York in June 1769 to Sarah Dodge (1749-1795). The couple was wed until Sarah's death, and this marriage saw Sands become the father of fifteen children, listed as follows in order of birth: Henry (born 1770), Joseph (1772-1825), Cornelia (1773-1852), Henry (1775-1817), Frances (born 1776), Charles (1778-1797), Louis (1780-1809), Elizabeth (born 1781), Francis (1782-1799), Richardson (born 1783), Sidney (born 1785), Augustus (1786-1805). Harriett (born 1787), Sarah Maria (1788-1803), and Frederick William (born 1790). Following his wife's death, the fecund Sands remarried in 1797 to Cornelia Lott (1761-1856) and had three further children: Robert (1799-1832), Gertrude born 1801), and Julia Maria (born 1805).

  In the year of his marriage Comfort Sands went into business for himself in the mercantile trade, and within a few years of beginning operation "had acquired a large fortune." In November 1775 Sands was elected a member of the New York Provincial Congress, where he continued to serve until June of the following year. In 1776 he purchased a farm in New Rochelle, and soon after beginning construction on a new farmhouse was faced with the landing of British forces in the vicinity.

  1776 proved to be an important year for Sands, and in addition to his provincial congress service aided the Colonial war effort by procuring three ships that were to return from the West Indies with ammunition, medicine, and supplies. These ships, along with one of Sands' own boats, were intercepted by British naval forces. In July of that year, he was appointed as Auditor General of New York and served in that capacity until his resignation in March 1782. 

  A year following his resignation Sands partnered with his brother Joshua in a "foreign trade and land speculation" business, and in 1784 was elected to his first term in the New York State Assembly. He would serve a second term from 1788-89, and in 1784 began a fourteen-year tenure as a director for the Bank of New York. Sands would continue prominence in city civic affairs with his service as vice president of the New York Chamber of Commerce from 1793-94, and from 1794-98 was its president.

  From 1811-15 Comfort Sands resided in Brooklyn, and by 1825 had permanently resettled in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he died, aged 86, on September 22, 1834. His life had spanned from before the French and Indian War to the administration of Andrew Jackson and was first interred in a plot gifted by the city of Hoboken. Some years following his death, Sands' remains were re-interred at the "Hoboken Cemetery at New Durham."

Kiah Bailey Glidden (1819-1891)

Portrait courtesy of Find-a-Grave.

  Sporting a pair of substantial push broom sidewhiskers, Kiah Bailey Glidden was, like our 2019 Strange Name of the Year Submarinus Girard Norcross, a New England based Congregationalist minister who had fleeting involvement in state politics. Interestingly, both of these men were born in Maine and graduated from Maine's Bangor Theological Seminary in the same class (1859). After being ordained, Glidden held pastorates in New Hampshire and Connecticut, and in 1883 was elected to one term in the Connecticut House of Representatives from Mansfield. The son of William and Lydia (Hatch) Glidden, Kiah Bailey Glidden was born in Newcastle, Maine on April 21, 1819.

  Receiving his name in honor of the Rev. Kiah Bailey (1770-1857), a Newcastle based clergyman, Glidden studied at the Lincoln Academy in his native town and briefly worked in a local pharmacy. He married in December 1841 to Damariscotta, Maine native Caroline Hitchcock (1826-1911), with who he had two daughters, Miriam (1846-1933) and Carolyn (1862-1925)

   Following graduation from the Bangor Theological Seminary, Glidden was licensed to preach and from 1859-60 was an assistant pastor at churches in North Belfast and Union, Maine. He was subsequently ordained in Westmoreland, New Hampshire and after a three-year residency in that town accepted a pastorate at the First Congregational Church of Enfield, Connecticut, where he ministered from 1863-66. This was followed by a three-year pastorate in Redding, Connecticut, and in 1869 removed to Mansfield in Tolland County.

  After being installed as pastor at the Congregation Church in Mansfield Glidden settled into a two-decade pastorate, one that later saw him acknowledged as one of the "veteran Congregational clergymen of the state." Glidden would author a history of his adopted hometown and in July 1876 delivered and published an address celebrating Mansfield's centennial. He would be active in the temperance movement in Mansfield and for a time held the post of acting school visitor for the town.

  Kiah B. Glidden made his lone foray into Nutmeg State politics in 1883 when he was elected as a Republican to the Connecticut House of Representatives from Tolland County. His one term (1884-85) saw him named to the committee on Humane Institutions, and during the opening session of the legislature introduced a resolution "that instruction may be given in the public schools on the effects of using alcoholic liquors."

  Glidden wasn't a candidate for renomination in 1885 and returned to his pastorate in Mansfield, where he remained until retiring in 1890. In that year he and his wife purchased a home in Enfield, and a week prior to his death was taken violently ill on a return train trip from the town of Bolton. He would die of "heart trouble" at his Enfield home on October 15, 1891, aged 72, and was survived by his wife and children. Memorialized as a "quiet, amiable gentleman...respected by all denominations", Glidden was later interred at the Enfield Street Cemetery in Hartford County, Connecticut.

From the Stafford Springs Press, October 22, 1891.

Nymphas Mastings Wright (1850-1934)

From Taylor's Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut, 1907-08.

  We're now four days into 2019 and with a new year comes the inaugural posting of 2019, which centers on the life of one term Connecticut state representative Nymphas Mastings Wright. Hailing from a state that has been well represented here on the site, Wright held several political offices in his native town of Hartland and was for many years a farmer in that area. The son of George W. and Charlotte Phelps Wright, Nymphas Mastings Wright was born in Hartland on July 26, 1850.

  Wright would attend school in the town of his birth and at age nineteen married Edna May Atwood in August 1875. The couple was wed until Edna's death in January 1901 and two years later remarried to her sister Florence, who he also survived. Described as a "prosperous farmer" in Hartford in his legislative biography, Wright served in several local offices prior to his legislative service, including being tax assessor,  Deputy Sheriff, and had a lengthy stint as town constable, serving for twenty-five years. He would also maintain a longtime connection to the Connecticut Humane Society, being its agent in Hartland for twenty-three years. 

  Elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives from Hartford County in 1907, Nymphas Wright served in the session of 1908-10 and was a member of the committee of Constitutional Amendments. Following his term, he returned to farming in Hartland and was honored on his 63rd birthday in 1913 with a surprise party, which featured a barn dance and fireworks. He again served as a deputy sheriff in 1919 and was widowed for a second time in December 1933 with the death of his wife Florence. Wright himself died less than a month later on January 14, 1934, aged 83, and was interred at the Granby Cemetery, the same resting place as that of his wives.

Fredus Moses Case (1856-1925)

Portrait from the Hartford Courant, December 26, 1926 (courtesy of Findagrave.)

   One in a long line of unusually named Connecticut state representatives profiled here over the past several years, Fredus Moses Case was a resident of the towns of Milford and Windsor and established a reputation as a leading citizen in both those towns, being a prominent booster for the YMCA, a Mason, first selectman, and one term state legislator. The son of Richard D. Case, Fredus Moses Case was born in Windsor on April 25, 1856. His early education occurred in Hartford County and after reaching maturity joined the trucking and transportation firm that had been established by his father. 

   In 1878 Fredus Case married his first wife Minnie D. Smith, to whom he was wed for only six years. The couple had one son, Herbert S., and following Minnie's death in 1884, Case remarried in 1895 to Nathala Parsons Merwin (1867-1959), who would survive him. The couple had one further child, Nathala Merwin (1906-1910). Case began his political career at the youthful age of 26, winning election to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1882. Remarked as the youngest legislator to serve in the session of 1883-84, Case was a member of the committee on New Towns and Probate Districts. Following his term he continued to serve Windsor politically, holding the office of selectman in 1889-90 and was for many years first selectman, an office that saw the town get:

"Many dollars of valuable and concientious service from him for every dollar it pays him. Whatever he does is done thoroughly and with all his might and the willing personal service and assistance he gives to the many Town enterprises that appeal to him constantly is appreciated by more people than he will ever realize."

From the Windsor Town Crier, April 1916.

  A former president of the New Haven County chapter of the YMCA, Fredus Case was also instrumental in establishing the Mohawk YMCA camp in Litchfield. A longstanding member of the Washington Lodge of Masons in Windsor, Case would move to Milford, Connecticut late in his life and died in that town on December 25, 1925, aged 69. He was survived by his wife Nathala and son Herman and later was interred at the Milford Cemetery.

From the Windsor Locks Journal, January 1, 1926.

Mayo Smith Purple (1860-1942), Mayo Cabell Brown (1874-1936)

From the East Hampton News, February 12, 1937.

  The name would be Mayo Purple. If that name conjured up images of a large jar of purple mayonnaise, you are not alone! Possessing a name that's guaranteed to give you a case of the giggles, Mayo Smith Purple served his first term in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1885 and is recorded as the youngest man to serve in that session of the legislature. Purple would be returned to government service nearly 50 years later for another stint in the legislature, this time serving four consecutive terms. The son of John Percival and Marian (Markham) Purple, Mayo Smith Purple was born on July 28, 1860, in Haddam Neck, Connecticut.

  Purple's early life saw him attain a limited education. He attended the East Greenwich Academy in Rhode Island until age thirteen and was later briefly tutored at the Wesleyan Univerity in Middletown. He would leave his studies behind to work on his family's farm, "dropping corn and hoeing corn" and later took employment at the Tibbals Company general store in Cobalt, Connecticut. After attaining maturity Purple and a fellow worker, Harvey Brainerd purchased the store and continued operations under the name Brainerd and Purple. After purchasing his partner's interest, Purple entered the lumber industry, selling lumber to brickyards in Haverstraw, Rockland County, New York. This business later foundered when an employee absconded with $6,000 worth of lumber, forcing Purple out of business.

   In the mid-1890s Purple joined the Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Co. of East Hampton, a bell foundry that still exists today. Purple's first years with the company saw him as a chore boy, tending a smelting furnace on company property. He would serve with that business for over three decades and following a stint as company secretary "assisted in the reorganization" of the Gong Bell Manufacturing Company, a bell and toy manufacturer also located in East Hampton. Purple would subsequently serve as that company's president for over two decades, and in addition to the above offices held the presidency of the Watrous Manufacturing Company, was the manager and treasurer of the East Hampton Bell Company, and in the mid-1920s served as the treasurer of the Bevins and Wilcox Line Company.

  Mayo S. Purple married in April 1883 to Gettine Louise Arnold (1861-1935), a resident of Haddam Neck. The couple's fifty-one-year marriage saw the births of four sons, Nelson Arnold (died in infancy), Norman William (1887-1946), Ansel Arnold (1892-1967), and Nathaniel Markham (1903-1987).

From the East Hampton News, October 2, 1942.

  One year after his marriage Mayo Purple made his first foray into Connecticut politics, winning election to the state house of representatives in November 1884. Taking his seat at the start of the 1885-86 session, Purple is acknowledged as the youngest man to serve in that session, being just 24 years old at the time of his election. This term saw him sit on the committee on the Sale of Lands and was also acting postmaster of Cobalt, Connecticut during his term. One should also note that Purple had some oddly named company during this session, his fellow representatives being Eleazur Bingham Kingsbury, Peleg Sherman Barber, and Victory Clark Beers (1832-1920), the last named being profiled on this site in July 2011.

  After leaving office in 1886 Purple returned to his earlier mentioned business dealings and through the succeeding years held several local political posts, serving as a registrar of voters for Chatham in 1899 and in 1919 served as East Haddam's commissioner for the superior court for Middlesex County. In November 1932 Purple won a second term in the Connecticut legislature, 48 years after his first. Garnering 684 votes on election day, Purple served on the committee on Manufactures during the 1933-35 session and was elected as a Democrat, having quit the Republican party after fifty years in July 1932. In a small write-up on his change of political faith featured in the East Hampton News, Purple remarked that

"He had been dissatisfied with the actions and policies of the Republican Town committee for some time and that it was only a ''square deal'' for himself to quit the party."

From the East Hampton News, July 15, 1932.

  In November 1934 Purple won a third term in the statehouse and was elected to his fourth term in 1936. The 1937-38 term saw him as the dean of the house, being the oldest man serving in that session, and this session also saw him come out as one of four Democrats opposed to President Franklin Roosevelt's court-packing plan. Purple won his fifth and last house term in 1938 and during the 1939-40 term sat on the committees on Humane Institutions and Public Health and Safety.

  After leaving office in 1940 Mayo Purple followed his favorite leisure activities (hunting and fishing) until health concerns forced him to become housebound. He celebrated his 81st birthday in July 1941 (being honored on the front page of the East Hampton News) and kept up to date with town affairs via newspapers, radio, and friends. Mayo Smith Purple died at his East Hampton home on September 29, 1942, aged 82. His wife Gettine had predeceased him in 1937 and he was later interred alongside her at the Lakeview Cemetery in East Hampton.  

From the East Hampton News, July 25, 1941.

From the 1919 Virginia House of Delegates composite.

   Another "Mayo" that made his name known in politics is Mayo Cabell Brown, a two-term member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Lynchburg. Born on February 17, 1874, in Nelson County, Virginia, Mayo Cabell Brown was the son of Robert Lawrence and Margaret Balwin (Cabell) Brown. Brown's early education took place in Osage City, Kansas, a private school in Charles Town, Virginia, and the Episcopal High School in Alexandria.

  After deciding upon a career in law, Brown studied at the University of Virginia, earning his law degree in the class of 1904. Soon afterward he opened a law practice and prior to his legislative service was the chairman of the Lynchburg draft board during World War I. Brown entered the political life of his state in 1919 when he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of sitting representative Preston H. Bailey. Brown's first term in the legislature saw him named to the committees on Claims; Finance; Military and Police; and Special, Private, and Local Legislation. He was returned to the statehouse for a second term, and from 1922-23 served on the committees on Militia and Police, and Moral and Social Welfare.

  Little is known of Brown's life following his legislative service, except that he remained a lifelong bachelor and by 1928 was serving a prison term for embezzlement! The particulars of the case as reported in the Roanoke World News note that:

"Brown, acting as an attorney for the Y.M.C.A., was entrusted with a check for $2,275.30 payable to him to settle a judgement against the association in a a suit for an automobile accident. It was charged that Brown used the funds for his personal uses."

 The events surrounding Brown's alleged malfeasance continued to snowball through 1928, with an order to revoke his law license being handed down by Judge Frank Christian of the Lynchburg Corporation Court. In June Brown (by then disbarred)  was indicted by a grand jury, and on June 12, 1928, pleaded guilty to embezzlement in the Lynchburg corporation court. He was handed a five-year prison sentence and was shortly thereafter taken to a Richmond prison to serve out his term.

From the Norfolk Ledger Star, June 12, 1928.

  No newspaper reports could be found detailing Brown's time in jail. He died sometime in 1936 and was later interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Roscius Harlow Back (1865-1941), Roscius Back (1837-1921)

Portrait from the Clark County Bar Association newsletter, 2011.

   It isn't often that one stumbles upon an oddly named father-son pair who were both active in public service, but that is precisely the case with Connecticut state representative Roscius Back and his son, Washington state superior court judge Roscius Harlow Back. Members of a New England family that extended back to the French and Indian War, the first to be profiled is Roscius Harlow Back, who was born in Union, Tolland County, Connecticut on May 28, 1865, a son of Roscius and Harriet Cutler (Robbins) Back.

  A student in schools local to Union, Back would go on to attend the Hitchcock Free Academy in Brimfield Massachusetts and after deciding to pursue a career in law enrolled at the Boston University Law School, during which time he worked as a university librarian. He received his bachelor of laws degree in 1889, and soon after being admitted to the bar Back removed to Massachusetts, where he practiced from 1889 to 1903.

  In November 1903 Roscius H. Back left Massachusetts to pursue opportunities in the Pacific Northwest, and in February of the following year established his law practice in Vancouver, Washington. He would return to the East Coast in October 1906 to marry Ann Phillips (1881-1972), with whom he had three children, Roscius Harlow Jr. (1894-1942), Helen Robbins (1896-1994) and Harriet (1907-1972).

   Just a few years following his settlement in Vancouver Back entered the political life of Clark County when he was elected as City Attorney for Vancouver, serving from 1907-1908. In November 1912 Back was elected as a Superior Court judge for Clark County, Washington, and took his seat on the bench in 1913. He would win a second term in 1916 and left office in 1921. Back's life following his judgeship saw him return to practicing law in Vancouver and was later a member of the Clark County Legal Advisory Board. He died in Vancouver on June 17, 1941, aged 76, and was survived by his wife Ann. Following her death in 1972 at age 91 she was interred alongside her husband at the Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver.

Portrait from the Connecticut Legislative Souvenir of 1907-08.

   The father of the preceding gentleman, Roscius Back was a prominent son of Union, Connecticut, being a farmer, grist mill owner, lumber merchant and two-term member of the Connecticut General Assembly. A native of Massachusetts, Back was born in Holland, Hampden County on February 4, 1837, the son of Lucius and Sophia Black. He would attend schools in the town of his birth and the Mashapaug district in Tolland County, Connecticut. At the conclusion of his schooling Back farmed and cut lumber with his father and for a time was employed at the Samuel Colt Armory in Hartford, Connecticut.

   Roscius Back married in Massachusetts in August 1863 to Harriet Cutler Robbins (1840-1933), with whom he had two sons, Roscius Harlow (1865-1941) and Harry Eugene  (1869-1956). A year prior to his marriage Back sought his business fortune in Mashapaug, Connecticut, partnering with factory owner Albert Weld to purchase an interest in the latter's mattress business and grist mill. For two years their operation manufactured and sold excelsior mattresses (along with a grain mill) until its destruction by fire in October 1864. Following the fire Back retired from business and ventured into farming, owning seventy-five acres devoted to "farming and dairying interests." Through the succeeding years, Back purchased several hundred acres of timberland in Connecticut and Massachusetts, with his name becoming prominent in the lumber industry in his area, work that occurred mainly during the winter months.

  The holder of several political offices in Union, Back would serve at various times as town assessor, tax collector, constable, and member of the board of relief. In 1890 he was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly as one of several Tolland County representatives and during the 1891-93 session sat on the committee on Agriculture. He was returned to the legislature for a second term in 1906 and during the 1907-08 session was a member of the committee on Roads, Bridges, and Rivers. 

  After leaving the legislature in 1908 Back and his wife removed from Union to the town of Southbridge, and during the twilight of his life saw both of his sons go on to political success of their own, with Roscius Harlow being a Washington superior court judge and Harry Eugene serving as a state representative,  prosecuting attorney and judge for the town of Killingly. Roscius Back died in Connecticut at age 84 on July 15, 1921. He was survived by his wife Harriet, who, following her death at 92 in 1933, was interred alongside him at the Danielson Cemetery in Westfield, Connecticut.

Portrait from the Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham County.