DeGoy Bowman Ellis (1876-1949)

DeGoy Bowman Ellis, from the 1915-16 Illinois Blue Book.

   A three-term member of the Illinois state House of Representatives, DeGoy Bowman Ellis was a prominent figure in the city of Elgin, being a successful attorney and past master in chancery of the city court of Elgin. Born on November 27, 1876, in Boone County, Illinois, Ellis was the only child born to William DeGoy (1845-1935) and Sophia Bowman Ellis (1846-1906). He inherited his unusual first name from his father and attended the Belvidere High School in Belvidere, Illinois, later graduating from Dixon College in 1897. Ellis continued his schooling at the Illinois Law School and after graduating in 1899 relocated to Elgin to open a law practice, "giving special attention to insurance and corporate law."
  In 1903 Ellis won election as city attorney for Elgin and served in this capacity until 1905. He married in 1904 to Ms. Ina Ames (1879-1964) and later became the father to two children, Eloise (1906-1961) and DeGoy Bowman Ellis Jr. (1908-1929). Shortly after leaving the office of Elgin city attorney, Ellis was named as master-in-chancery of the Elgin court system, holding this post from 1906-1914. In 1910 he established the law firm of Ellis and Western and four years later became a Republican candidate for a seat in the Illinois State House of Representatives.
  In November 1914 Ellis won election to the house with a vote of 11,939 and after taking his seat in January 1915 was named to a seat on the house committee on Fees and Salaries. He was subsequently reelected to the Illinois legislature in 1916 and 1918 and during these later terms served as Chairman of the Judicial Department and Practice Committees. Ellis wasn't a candidate for a fourth term in 1920 and after his term returned to his law practice in Elgin.

                                       Ellis' official legislative portrait from the 1919-20 Illinois Blue Book.

   After his service in the legislature, Ellis continued with his work as an attorney in Elgin and in 1920 took on an important position in the Illinois State Bar Association, being a member of the Law Reform committee for the 1920-21 year. In 1925-26 Ellis held a seat on the Association's Enforcement of Criminal Law Committee, and three years after concluding his work on the above committee experienced personal tragedy with the sudden death of his only son, DeGoy Bowman Ellis Jr.
  DeGoy Jr. was a standout track athlete at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin, and is recorded as holding the school's broad jump record at 22 feet 2 inches. Ellis was active in several other campus activities, winning "letters in basketball and swimming" in addition to success in academics. Ellis's bright future ended in tragedy on September 20, 1929, when he succumbed to injuries he had sustained in a car accident a few days prior. A substantial write up on the loss of the popular college student appeared in the September 20, 1929 edition of the Lawrentian and is shown below.

   Despite the loss of their only son, DeGoy and Ina Ellis pressed on, and in June of the following year honored their son's memory with the DeGoy B. Ellis Jr. Memorial Award, a bronze plaque to be given out annually to the high point winner on the Lawrence College track squad. 
  During the latter period of his life, DeGoy Ellis Sr. continued to be a prominent fixture in Illinois law circles, being a special master in chancery for the U.S. District Court of Illinois' Northern District from 1942-1949 and was a past director of the Fraternal Reserve Life Association. On January 16, 1949, DeGoy B. Ellis died at age 72 at the St. Joseph's Hospital in Elgin. He was buried in the same plot as his son in the Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin and was survived by his daughter Eloise and wife Marian, who were interred here in 1961 and 1964 following their respective deaths.

DeGoy Ellis, from the 1917-1918 Illinois Blue Book.

Cairo Alwin Trimble (1869-1952)

From the Republicans of Illinois, 1905.

   Prominent for many years in Illinois legal circles, Cairo Alwin Trimble served as a Presidential elector for Illinois and was later a delegate to the 1912 and 1936 Republican National Conventions. Besides having a first name that is also a city in Egypt, Trimble went on to further prominence later in life, serving as the President of the Illinois State Bar Association. He was born in Princeton, Illinois on March 15, 1869, a son of Harvey Marion and Margaret Sabin Dakin Trimble. His early education took place in schools local to Princeton and he later went on to graduate from Princeton High School. Trimble decided upon a career in law early in his life and in 1892 was admitted to the Illinois bar.

  Cairo Trimble married twice during his life, the first being to Ms. Alice McKey in 1894. Two children were born to the couple, Margaret Victoria Trimble Towne (1897-1974) and Cairo Dakin Trimble (1905-1931). Following Alice McKey Trimble's death in 1916, Trimble remarried in January 1919 to Nancy Creswell Kyle, who died in 1947.

   Trimble opened a law practice in Princeton and operated here for many years, and while a lawyer by trade, he gained additional repute through involvement in several other civic endeavors in Princeton. He was for many years a member (as well as President) of the Princeton High School Board of Education and was also a bank director. In addition to his work in Princeton, Trimble was later elected as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. He served on the board for eight years (1917-1925) and would continue to have involvement with the university for many years afterward.

  In addition to his law practice in Princeton, Trimble was named as a Republican Presidential Elector for Illinois in 1908, and four years later was a member of the Illinois delegation to the 1912 Republican National Convention being held in Chicago. Trimble would serve again as a delegate in 1936, journeying to Cleveland to take part in the Republican National Convention that nominated Alf Landon for the Presidency.

From the Alumni Quarterly and Fortnightly Notes of the University of Illinois, 1918.

  Trimble's lengthy career as one of Bureau County's most prominent practitioners of law culminated with his election as President of the Illinois State Bar Association in 1936. His tenure in this post (1936-1937) came at a time when President Franklin Roosevelt's "court packing" plan was largely derided by those in legal circles, and Cairo Trimble's viewpoint on the matter was no exception. He was mentioned by the February 1937 edition of the Telegraph Herald as stating that half of the Illinois State Bar Association's members had taken part in a statewide referendum, with 3,062 members voting against Roosevelt's plan while 377 voted for it.

  In his later years, Trimble maintained an active schedule, being a member of the local Masonic chapter, the Bureau Valley Country Club, the Hamilton Club of Chicago, and was a past member of the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association. Trimble is recorded as serving as the President of the Illinois State Board of Law Examiners, although his dates of service in this office are unknown at this time. Cairo Alwin Trimble died in his native city of Princeton on September 23, 1952, at age 83, having outlived two wives and one of his children. He was survived by his daughter Margaret and was later interred in the Trimble family plot at the Oakland Cemetery in Princeton.

  

Trimble as he looked during his later years, from a 1940 edition of the ABA Journal.

From the Dixon Evening Telegraph, September 24, 1952.

Colostin DeKalb Myers (1847-1920)

   This mustachioed man is Colostin DeKalb Myers, an Ohio native who gained prominence as a Circuit Court judge for Illinois's 11th judicial district. I first discovered Myers's unusual name in a 1915 Illinois Blue Book two years ago and since that time have been searching for a portrait of him. Fortune has smiled upon me once again, as a picture of Judge Myers has been found, courtesy of a McLean County Historical Society bulletin that was originally published in 1899. 
  Colostin D. Myers received a brief mention in yesterday's profile on Sain Welty (1853-1920), another Illinois lawmaker whom Myers appointed to the position of Master of Chancery for McLean County, Illinois. It's interesting to note that both of these oddly named judicial figures were born in the same state (Ohio) within a few years of one another and both ended up settling in the same city (Bloomington, Illinois) years later. In an even more amazing connection, both men went on to serve as judges in the same district and died within a few months of one another in the early part of 1920. 
   Colostin D. Myers was born in Racine, Meigs County, Ohio on May 7, 1847, the son of Benjamin and Serena Elliott Myers. At age four Myers suffered the death of his father and following his death, Serena Myers remarried William Swearingen. Colostin Myers moved with his family to Palatine, Virginia at a young age and during his youth worked the family farm and also at a local tannery. 

  At age 16 Myers left home and moved back to Ohio, and after a brief residence at his old home at Racine, continued travel to Pomeroy, then the county seat of Meigs County. In early 1864 he took work as a clerk in a local dry goods store, and two months later enlisted in the Union Army. Myers took rank as a private in Co. K., 140th Reg. of the Ohio National Guard, and served with that regiment for three months. He subsequently re-enlisted in Co. B.,  32nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and continued with that regiment until the conclusion of the Civil War. 

  After returning to his mother's home in Virginia, Myers worked on the family farm while also pursuing his education at the National Normal University in Lebanon, Ohio. His stay at the latter institution was intermittent, as he would leave Ohio to teach school in West Virginia for an unspecified amount of time. Myers returned to his home state of Ohio in 1869 and reentered the National Normal University, graduating from there in 1872. That same year he began pursuing a law degree at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He married in Michigan in 1872 to Dora Yager (1851-1941) and graduated with his law degree in 1874 after nearly two years of study.

From the Historical Sketch of the Illinois Wesleyan University, 1895.

   Colostin D. Myers and his wife moved to Bloomington, Illinois in 1874, where he was admitted to the bar in June of that year. He established a law partnership with local lawyer Albert Bushnell in 1874, which continued until the latter's removal to Kansas City. In 1879 Myers established another practice with Isaac Stroud, which lasted until ill health compelled Stroud's retirement in 1881. Beginning in 1880 Myers entered into a position at Illinois Wesleyan University, being a professor on contract law well into the 1890s.
   In 1886 Colostin Myers was elected to the first of three terms as McLean County judge, the last of which concluded in 1897. In the last-named year, he was elected to the Illinois Circuit Court (11th circuit) and served in this position until his retirement in June of 1915. In addition to his circuit court service, Myers was named to the Illinois Appellate Court's 4th district in 1903 and served a six-year term.
  Shortly after retiring from the bench, Myers was called to public service once more when he was named by Illinois Governor Edward Fitzsimmons Dunn to the McLean County Examining Board at the beginning of America's involvement in WWI. He served on this board until the war's conclusion and died on January 12, 1920, at age 72. Myers was survived by his wife Dora by over 20 years and both are buried in the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington. Myers was subsequently memorialized by the Illinois State Bar as having been "gentle and kind and lovable. He was patient almost beyond measure." Further character assessments were given by his fellow bar members, who noted:

"Retiring, not given to parade or ostentation, he lived a simple, quiet, life. He kept himself aloof from business or social enterprises which he though might in any way tend to affect his judicial duties."

Rolla Coral McMillen (1880-1961), Rolla Covel Griffin (1855-1939), Rolla Clayton Van Kirk (1894-1957), Rolla David Calkins (1859-?), Rolla Wood Coleman (1877-1954), Rolla Miner Chase (1854-1919), Rolla Renfro Rothwell (1874-1931), Rolla William Prothero (1881-1957), Rolla Preston Heren (1869-1942)

From the 1948 Illinois State Blue Book.

   U.S. Representative from Illinois Rolla Coral McMillen is another in a long line of obscure congressmen whom I've known about for years but unfortunately never had a face to place with his name. That fact changed earlier today when I finally located one courtesy of a 1948 Illinois Blue Book. With that tidbit out of the way, we'll begin with the birth of Congressman McMillen, which occurred in Piatt County, Illinois on October 5, 1880. 

  A son of George E. (1849-1929) and Christina Leatherman McMillen (1850-1922), Rolla attended schools local to the Monticello, Illinois area and was a student at the University of Illinois. He concluded his studies in 1906 when he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, and a short while later opened a law practice in Decatur, Illinois. McMillen married in the 1910s to Ruth Roberts (1889-1978), with whom he had three children: Thomas Roberts (1916-2002), Anne Herron McMillen Beall (1918-2012), and Martha Hathaway McMillen Dolan (1922-2003).

  A member of the Decatur law firm of McMillen, McMillen, and Roberts, McMillen first entered Decatur public life in 1916 with his service on the Decatur and Macon County Hospital Board. He served as board president from 1939-40 and was a former president of the Macon County Tuberculosis Association. McMillen also was retained as attorney for the Decatur Sanitary District and was its secretary, serving for an indeterminate period.

  1940 proved to be an important year for McMillen, and in that year was named to the Illinois State Housing Board. That same year he was elected as a delegate from Illinois to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and was a firm supporter of then-presidential candidate Robert A. Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio. Politics further beckoned to McMillen in January 1944 with the death of Congressman William Wheat, then the U.S. Representative from McMillen's district. Several days following his death McMillen announced his candidacy to fill the seat, stating: 

"I desire to devote my effort at this particular time to government service. Training as a lawyer should qualify me for Congress. Any good I can do would be sufficient reward."

From the Tuscola Journal, April 13, 1944.

  On June 13, 1944, Rolla McMillen won the special election to Congress, polling 4,722 votes. He was named to the committees on Coinage, Weights, and Measures; Elections No. 2; and Pensions, and in November 1944 was a successful candidate for reelection, besting Democratic George Brown by a vote of 70,942 to 56,247. He won a third term in 1946 "sweeping all eight counties of the district", and in 1947 came out firmly in favor of the Taft-Hartley Act, a notable piece of legislation that restricted the power of labor unions. Pro-labor forces in McMillen's district cried foul, and a combination of both Democratic and Republican attempted to thwart his renomination in the April 1948 primary but were unsuccessful. He went on to win reelection in November by a wide margin, and during the 1949-50 session was a member of the committee on Banking and Currency. Further particulars of McMillen's six years in Congress saw him support the development of the United Nations, "civilian control of atomic energy", and opposed the construction of a 50,000,000 stadium that was to be built in Washington, D.C. McMillen also undertook a fact-finding trip through Europe in the late 1940s, and subsequently "voted for foreign aid, for the Marshall Plan, and for its extension."

   After leaving Congress in 1951 McMillen and his wife left Illinois for Clearwater, Florida, where they resided for several years. They moved to Evanston, Illinois in 1958, where they resided until Rolla McMillen's death on May 6, 1961, at a local hospital. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur.

From the Decatur Daily Review, May 7, 1961.

From Vermont, A Souvenir of Its Government, 1904-05 (author's collection).

  Possessing one of the most impressive mustaches this author has ever seen, one-term Vermont state legislator Rolla Covel Griffin was born in the town of Sudbury on October 27, 1855, one of nine children born to Benoni (1819-1905) and Sarah Griffin. A former state representative himself, Benoni Griffin represented Sudbury in the legislature from 1880-82. 

  Rolla Griffin attended schools local to the Sudbury area and engaged in farming for the majority of his life. He married in Brandon, Vermont on October 11, 1896, to Agnes Gertrude Felton (1867-1910). A widow, Agnes Felton Griffin had one child from her prior marriage, a daughter, Luella. The couple was married for fourteen years until her death in August 1910 and had six children, Albert Hollis (1897-1919), Murray Young, LaRoy, Benoni Simeon (1902-1963), Arlena, and Covel Ernest (1910-1969). 

  Rolla C. Giffin is mentioned as holding the office of "lister" in his native Sudbury before his election to the Vermont State House of Representatives in 1903. Serving during the 1904-06 session, Griffin was named to the committee on Mileage and Debentures.

   Griffin's life following his service in the legislature largely remains a mystery. He died in Sudbury on October 5, 1939, at age 83, and was buried alongside his wife in the Willow Brook Cemetery in Sudbury. In an interesting political tidbit, unusual names and political service continued in the Griffin family with Rolla's son Benoni Simeon, who represented Sudbury in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1961 until his death on New Year's Day, 1963.

   And in the third update to this article (September 26, 2012), a third political "Rolla" has been located......Rolla Clayton Van Kirk of Brunswick, Nebraska! 

  Born in the town mentioned above on February 13, 1894, Rolla Van Kirk was the son of Clay (1859-1941) and Mabel Staples Van Kirk (1870-1961). He received his education in the Brunswick local schools and went on to study at the Yankton College and the University of Nebraska. Van Kirk also found distinction as a private in the U.S. Marines during the First World War and was later named as a lieutenant in the Nebraska National Guard.

   Van Kirk received a bachelor of laws degree from the University of Nebraska in the early 1920s and was admitted to the Nebraska bar in 1923. Shortly thereafter he began a law practice, eventually becoming a partner in the firm of Burkett, Wilson, Brown, Wilson, and Van Kirk. He married in 1924 to Ms. Lenora C. Burkett (1893-1966), with whom he would have one son, Clayton B. Van Kirk (born 1929.)

   Rolla C. Van Kirk's political career began when he was in his early thirties, winning election to the Nebraska State House of Representatives in 1927. Here he represented the county of  Lincoln for four years until 1931 when he won a seat in the Nebraska State Senate.

  After leaving the Senate in 1933, Van Kirk continued with his earlier law practice and was also active in several fraternal organizations, holding memberships in the Nebraska State Bar Association, the American Legion, the Reserve Officers Association, and the Masons. Van Kirk died at age 63 on May 25, 1957, and was survived by his wife Lenora, and son Clayton. Both Rolla and his wife (who died in 1966 at age 73) were subsequently interred in the Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska.

  In this fourth update (December 2, 2012) to the "Rolla" profile, the life of Missouri State Representative Rolla David Calkins is examined. Little could be found about Mr. Calkins, who was born on May 13, 1859, in Livingston County, Illinois. He attended school in Livingston County and as an adolescent was employed as a traveling salesman for a time while pursuing the study of law.

  Calkins married in January 1885 to Mary Weyand in Bloomington and later migrated to Missouri, being admitted to the bar in that state in 1889. He spent the next few years engaged in the practice of law while also being a lecturer with the Lyceum Bureau of Kansas City. He was elected to the Missouri State House of Representatives in 1908 from Crawford County, and during his one term of service chaired the committee on Agriculture. 

   Calkins was unsuccessful in his attempt for a second term in 1910. Nothing else is known of his life, and his date of death is also unknown at this time.

Rolla W. Coleman, from the Topeka State Journal, Jan. 29, 1918

   Next up is Rolla Wood Coleman of Merriam, Kansas. Even more obscure than the preceding man, Mr. Coleman served multiple terms in the Kansas State Senate from 1917 until the mid-1940s. Coleman was born in Nemaha County, Kansas on August 23, 1877, a son of Albert Loring and Marietta Coleman. He went on to marry Lina Burgner (1882-1970) in 1905 and later became a lawyer of some repute in Kansas, being licensed to practice law in Kansas, California, and Missouri as well as the U.S. Federal Courts.

   Elected to the Kansas Senate from Johnson County in 1917, Coleman served uninterrupted terms until 1923. He was returned to the Senate in the election of 1936 and served six more terms from 1937-1949. He died in Kansas City, Kansas on April 17, 1954, at age 76 and was later interred at the Olathe Memorial Cemetery in Olathe, Kansas. He was survived by his wife Lina, who died in 1970 at age 88.

  In yet another new "Rolla" discovery, it's Mr. Rolla Miner Chase of the county of Windham, Vermont. A lifelong resident of that county, Mr. Chase is the only politician profiled thus far who was a dentist by occupation, and in his chosen profession he experienced much success. While being a dentist with an odd name is interesting enough, Chase was chosen to represent his hometown of Bethel, Vermont in the State House of Representatives in 1900.

   Born in the town of South Royalton, Vermont on September 4, 1854, Rolla M. Chase was one of four children born to Moses and Rosina Hill Chase. The Chase family moved to Bethel in 1857 and Rolla and his fellow siblings received their education in the common schools of this town. Rolla began studying dentistry in Bethel at age 18 and in 1874 enrolled in the Dental College at Boston.

  Chase graduated from the Boston Dental College in 1876 and soon thereafter returned to Bethel to open a dental office. He married here in 1879 to Susan Elizabeth Newell, with whom he had two children, George Berry Chase (born 1881) and Susan Newell Chase (1882-1900).

  Throughout the 1870s and 80s, Chase practiced in Bethel, and in 1890 entered the Baltimore Medical College to study medicine. He graduated from this institution the following year as a Doctor of Medicine. The History of Windsor County, Vermont notes that in addition to his practice of dentistry, Chase was a "patentee of a number of useful inventions in dentistry, prominent among which are Chase's Wedge Forcep, Chase's Combination Plate, and a Rubber Heater, patents of recognized utility and generally by the profession throughout the country."

  While still engaged in his practice Chase also became a founder of the Vermont State Dental Society in 1876, later serving as its president for one year. In 1882 Chase was appointed by Governor John Barstow to the Vermont State Dental Examining Board, serving there for eighteen years. 

   As a popular figure in the town of Bethel, Rolla Chase was also sought out to serve in many non-medical areas of public life. He was a member of the local school board for several years and in 1894-1895 served as a vice president of the National Republican League Convention. In November of 1900, he was elected to a term in the Vermont House of Representatives from Bethel and is noted by the Genealogical and Family History of Vermont, Vol. II as an "active and earnest legislator and was made secretary of the general committee."

  After leaving the legislature in January 1902 Chase continued in the practice of dentistry while also maintaining involvement in a number of local civic and fraternal organizations, including the Knights Templar and the White River Lodge, No. 90 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. In 1907 he was named as a delegate to the Imperial Council of Masons in Los Angeles. Rolla Miner Chase died in Bethel on June 10, 1919, at age 65. The portrait of him shown above appeared in the History of Windsor County, Vermont, published in 1891.

From the Moberly Weekly Monitor, April 2, 1931.

   For many decades a prominent newspaperman in Moberly, Missouri, Rolla Renfro Rothwell also served as the Mayor of that city for six terms, the longest tenure of any Moberly mayor up to that time. The son of former U.S. Representative Gideon Rothwell and the former Bettie Ragland, Rolla R. Rothwell was born in Moberly on October 13, 1874. He attended both the Fleets Military Academy and the University of Missouri and married in February 1899 to Fannie Fern Sims (1878-1968), with whom he would have one son, Rolla R. Rothwell Jr. (1907-1949).

  Before his career in publishing and politics, Rolla Rothwell was employed in the clothing store of William Little, and entered into newspaper publishing in the 1890s, working in the printing plant for the Armstrong, Missouri Herald. The 1931 Moberly Monitor obituary for Rothwell notes that during his time on the Herald he "had his first experience in operating a linotype machine, then a new invention", and his experience here led him to join the staff of the Moberly Daily and Weekly Monitor in 1903, being a partner of J.W. Sydenstricker and later, Hardin Sims (Rothwell's father in law.) Rothwell would become managing editor of the Monitor, which would later undergo a consolidation into the Monitor-Index in 1919. Rothwell's obituary in the Monitor notes that even after he attained the office of Mayor he maintained an active interest in the paper's management, noting that:

"While he maintained no financial interest and had no voice in directing the editorial policies of the Monitor Index, he was the most valuable member of the staff."

Mayor Rolla R. Rothwell, from the Ogden Standard, December 6, 1913.

  Rolla Rothwell first emerged on the Moberly political scene in 1907, when in that year he was elected Mayor for the first of six terms, spread out over a period of twenty-four years. He was returned to the mayor's office in 1909 and during his second term received glowing press in Volume 37 of  the Typographical Journal, which noted that:

"Mayor Rothwell has made the city of Moberly one of the best Mayors the town has ever had. Sewers have been extended, streets paved,  and the city has become the owner of the water system since Mr. Rothwell became the head of our city government. He is a young man and he is at the head of what we call our "young man's rule."

  In 1910 Rothwell (while still the incumbent mayor) launched an unsuccessful candidacy for Randolph County clerk, losing to Republican Green Terrill. Rothwell was defeated for reelection as Mayor in 1911 by Democratic candidate W.P. Cave but was not out of the political spotlight for long. He was returned to the mayor's office in the 1913 election and in the year following his victory again became a candidate for county clerk, this time being successful. He served as clerk until January 1919, having been defeated in the November 1918 election.
  Five years after his defeat as county clerk Rothwell sought a fifth term as mayor, and made a successful run, serving a term that extended from 1923-25. He wasn't a candidate in 1924 and the new Moberly Mayor, S.P. Towles, suffered the misfortune of dying shortly after being sworn in as mayor. Rothwell lost out again in the special election in 1925 to fill this vacancy. Rothwell was elected to his fifth term as mayor in 1927, his sixth term in 1929, and in 1931 ran unopposed for a seventh term. Sadly, Rothwell did not live to serve out this term, as he died a week before the election on April 1, 1931, at age 56. The mayor had been attending a "paving conference" at the Recreation Cafe in Moberly when he suffered a "cerebral hemorrhage" while having dinner and was later "carried to a room above the cafe" where he died about thirty minutes later. 
  The loss of the popular mayor was felt throughout Moberly, and the April 2, 1931 edition of the Moberly Monitor featured a large portrait of Rothwell (shown above) along with glowing tributes to his stewardship of the city. Chester Bradley (a Monitor columnist) gave a stirring memorial to the late mayor, writing that:

"Mayor Rothwell lived and died for his friends and his home town. He was thinking and planning for both until the end....The Mayor was sincere as always when thinking and dealing with his home people. He took great pride in his great number of good friends. ''And they are from every strata'', he would always say,''I think as much of a friend if he is a true friend whether he is a a banker or common laborer."

  Following his death, Rolla Renfro Rothwell was interred at the Oakland Cemetery in Moberly and was survived by his wife and son. Rothwell later received the posthumous honor of having the 447-acre Rothwell Park in Moberly named after him. The park still exists today, being called "the jewel of Moberly Parks and Recreation."

A portion of Rothwell's obituary from the April 2, 1931 Moberly Monitor.

Rolla W. Prothero.

  In yet another update (April 11, 2018) to an already lengthy article, another political "Rolla" has been found...Rolla William Prothero of Baraboo, Wisconsin. A multi-term mayor of that city, Prothero was born in Sauk County on January 2, 1881, the son of Lewis John and Mabel (Wirtz) Prothero. Prior to his election as mayor, he was affiliated with the auto business. Prothero served as Baraboo's mayor from 1930-36 and again from 1950-54. Three years following his leaving office, Prothero dropped dead of a heart attack in the yard of his home while working on his car. He was later interred at the Walnut Hill Cemetery in Baraboo.

From the Dillon Examiner, March 4, 1921.

  Another obscure "Rolla" who was elected to public office was Rolla Preston Heren of Montana, who served multiple terms in the state senate. Born in Missouri in 1869, Rolla P. Heren was one of several children born to Solomon Preston and Mariah (Myers) Heren. After attending college Heren began a long career as a livestock inspector and cattle dealer, joining with his brother Claude as an inspector at the Chicago stockyards. Heren married in Missouri in 1896 to Florence Darrah, to whom he was wed until her death. After her passing Heren remarried in Denver, Colorado in 1914 to Julia Scossa, who would survive him.

  Following his return to Montana, Heren resided in Miles City where he continued with his earlier work and served several terms as president of the Montana Stockgrower's Association in the early 20th century. In 1917 he was elected to represent Custer County in the Montana Senate, where he continued to serve until 1925, and during the 1921-23 session held the post of president pro temp.

  Little else is known of Heren's life after 1925, except notice of his removal to Phoenix, Arizona, where he died in 1942. A burial location for Heren remains unknown at this time.