Werter Renick Davis (1815-1893)

Portrait from the Baker Beacon, May 15, 1893.

    A distinguished figure in Kansas religious and educational circles during the mid 19th century, Werter Renick Davis was a transplant to Kansas from Ohio, having been a Methodist minister in the latter state for over two decades. The first president of Baker University (established in 1858), Davis organized the first faculty at that institution and achieved further distinction as a representative in the first Kansas state legislature and as a chaplain and Lieutenant Colonel during the Civil War. 

   Born in Circleville, Ohio on April 1, 1815, Werter Renick Davis was the son of Henry and Avis Slocum Davis. In addition to Werter, the Davis family could also count Edwin Hamilton (1811-1888) and Joseph Slocum Davis (1812-1885) amongst its ranks. A law partner of future Congressman and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano, Joseph S. Davis served two terms as Probate Judge of Knox County, Ohio, and was a former Mayor of Mt. Vernon. Edwin Hamilton, the eldest of the brothers, became a noted authority on prehistoric Indians and as an archaeologist accumulated the "largest collection of relics ever assembled in America."

   At the age of just fifteen, Werter Davis enrolled at the Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and at a young age converted to the Methodist church. Davis left Kenyon before graduating but would later earn a degree in medicine and dentistry from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Cincinnati. In 1835 Davis entered the ministry, joining the Ohio Conference, and in June of that year was licensed to preach in Hillsborough, Ohio. He would subsequently be ordained as a deacon in 1837 in Xenia, Ohio.

  For the next eighteen years, Davis' ministry would take him throughout Ohio, accepting pastorates in "Wilmington, Union, Eaton, Germantown, Zanesville, Putnam, Hebron" as well as Dayton, Lebanon, Hamilton, and Ripley, Virginia. Davis married in Putnam, Muskingum County, Ohio in May 1843 to Minerva Russell (1822-1897). The couple were wed for just over fifty years and would have several children, including Minerva (1846-1926), Werter Renick Jr., Allie (1853-1933), Katie, and Henry T. Period sources relate Davis' "oratorical gifts", as well as his being jailed while in Virginia due to "preaching antislavery sentiments." Davis' is further remarked in the Methodist Review as having been a sight to behold in the pulpit, noting:

"In those days the people called Baptists were inclined to be argumentative, and young Davis came to be in demand to debate the question of baptism. Among his bound pamphlets are some of these discussions, printed by the communties where the debates were held. Indeed, for many years he found delight in giving a word of exhortation and sound doctrine to his friends of the immersionist persuasion; and on such occasions they were treated to something besides water."

   In 1853 Davis was transferred to the Missouri Conference and would hold a pastorate at the Ebenezer Chapel in St. Louis. He remained here for only a year, and in 1854 accepted a  position at the McKendree College in Illinois, where he would teach natural science. He would serve as acting president in his last year at that school (1858), and late in that year left Illinois for Kansas, to accept the presidency of the newly organized Baker University in Baldwin City. "Empowered to organize his own faculty", Davis took stock of the Baker Campus and briefly returned to McKendree College to entice professors to come and join the newly established college. Following his return to Kansas in spring 1859, Davis set about organizing the curriculum and professors and would serve as college president from 1858-62. After leaving the presidency Davis remained connected to the college and by the time of his death in 1893 Baker University had grown to be "equipped with the necessary appliances for successful work, with substantial buildings, a faculty of twenty-one teachers, and an annual enrollment of over five hundred."
   Werter R. Davis' brief involvement in politics began when he was elected as a Republican to the First Kansas State legislature as a representative from Douglas County. Taking his seat in 1861, he chaired the committee on education and during his term " his voice was heard in its halls for freedom and civic righteousness." Davis is also referenced as having served as Superintendent of Public Instruction for Douglas County during his term.
  During his college stewardship Davis still remained connected to the ministry, being named as a presiding elder of the Wyandot Conference for the Baldwin City district. He would put his church work on hold in 1862 to join in the ongoing war effort, becoming a chaplain for the Twelfth Kansas Infantry. Despite having no previous military experience, Davis' was remarked as having a soldier-like bearing, and following his appointment as chaplain was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel, to assist in organizing the 16th Reg., Kansas Volunteer Infantry. Davis was subsequently given command of that regiment and served with it until the close of the war. In the waning days of the Civil War Davis would serve as the commandant at Ft. Leavenworth for a brief period, and is remarked as having taken part in an "expedition against the Indians in the Black Hills."

From the May 19, 1909 edition of the Western Christian Advocate.

  Davis continued in the ministry after the Civil War and again served as president of Baker College from 1868-69 and briefly in 1870. He was a presiding elder in both the Leavenworth and Topeka districts and in 1880 removed to Salina, Kansas to accept a pastorate. In 1881 he was a delegate to the Ecumenical Methodist Conference held in London and three years later was named a delegate to the Centennial Conference of American Methodism in Baltimore. Davis would later return to a pastorate in Baldwin City, where he died on June 22, 1893, at age 78. Memorialized for his eloquence and as a man whose "saintliness shone like a star", Davis was survived by his wife Minerva, who, following her death in 1897, was interred alongside her husband at the Oakwood Cemetery in Baldwin City.

Portrait courtesy of www.bakeru.edu

From the Barton County Democrat, June 29, 1893.

San Francisco (1881-1939)

Portrait from the 1909 Kansas Legislative composite; Author's collection.

"Perhaps Mr. Shakespeare's guess is right. Just because this representative's name is San Francisco, it does not necessarily follow that an earthquake will strike him before the session closes. It is evident that his parents had a wide streak of humor about the time they named him, but it is not a bad name. "San" means Saint. This young man from the classic Cimarron may not be a saint, but he is highly respectable...Every San Francisco should have a Golden Gate, so Mr. Francisco follows the occupation of bank cashier."

   Such was the description given in the January 19th, 1909 edition of the Garden City Telegram in its write-up of San Francisco of Gray County. Before anyone accuses me of making up a name to post here, I can assure you that Mr. Francisco was an actual person, and while he shares his name with the famed California city, isn't believed to have had any connection with that area (despite the latter portion of his life being spent in the neighboring city of San Diego.) A one-term member of the Kansas State House of Representatives from 1909-11, little could be found on Mr. Francisco, hence why his article here will be on the short side!

   Born in Adair County, Missouri on April 15, 1881, San Francisco was the son of James Detroit and Mary Ellen Hilton Francisco. Research has shown that by 1900 San Francisco was a resident of Ingalls in Gray County, Kansas, and married there in December 1902 to Enid Studebaker, with whom he would have one daughter, Enid Elaine (1915-1996). 

  Sometime following his marriage San Francisco moved to the neighboring town of Cimarron and was still a resident of that town when he became the Democratic nominee for the Kansas State House of Representatives. Remarked as being one of the youngest candidates ever to run for representative, the 1908 Topeka Journal (article below) notes that Francisco's name would be of aid during the upcoming campaign!

  San Francisco would win election to the Kansas legislature in late 1908 and served during the 1909-11 session. During this term, Francisco held seats on the committees on Irrigation, Horticulture and Forestry, and Banks and Baking. Around this same time, he became affiliated with the Capricorn Mining Company in California, of which he would serve as President. 

From the Topeka State Journal, April 22, 1908.

   Following his time in state government, San Francisco served as a Vice President and director of the Gray County State Bank at Cimarron. San Francisco later removed to San Diego, California, where he died in 1939. He was later interred at the Greenwood Memorial Park in that city and was survived by his wife Enid, who died in 1945.

You Can Help!

 I am currently searching for further information on San Francisco (the man, not the city) and need your assistance!! If there are any readers or possible relatives who have further information on Mr. Francisco to share, please don't hesitate to contact me here or via the Strangest Names In American Political History Facebook page!

Uberto Saunders Griffin (1857-1918)

Portrait from the 1905 Kansas Legislative Directory.

  2016 is upon us and following our 2015 "Strange Name of the Year " profile of two-term Kansas state senator Peru Italian Blackerby Ping we continue our stay in the Sunflower State for the first write-up of the new year. A man prominent in the political and business life of Nortonville, Kansas for over three decades, Uberto Saunders Griffin represented Jefferson County in both houses of the Kansas legislature during the early 1900s. A native of Illinois, Uberto Griffin was the third-born son of Samuel Parker and Eliza Saunders Griffin, being born in the village of Farmington on February 21, 1857. 

  The Griffin family left Illinois when Uberto was just two years of age, settling near Nortonville, Kansas. Uberto would attend school in the nearby city of Atchison and as a young man saw his father Samuel enter political life in Atchison County, as he was elected as a state representative in 1870. Samuel Griffin would later represent Kansas' 2nd district in the state senate, serving in that body from 1875-77. 

   As a young man, Uberto Griffin would attend Milton College in Milton, Wisconsin. After returning to Kansas he joined with his father in the mercantile firm of Griffin and Son, with which he would be affiliated for many years to come. Griffin would marry Luella Jane Hart on October 13, 1880, and later had three children: Geneva (1881-1977), Helen (1890-1973), and William (1893-1972). 

   A longstanding member of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church, Uberto Griffin was "converted at a revival meeting at Pardee" when just thirteen years of age. Griffin's connection to that church extended through the remainder of his life, and he would serve at various times as Sabbath school superintendent and "superintendent of the Nortonville school." Sources of the time also note that Griffin was a "druggist" in addition to operating a mercantile store.

   Following in the footsteps of his father, Uberto Griffin would be elected to the Kansas state legislature in 1900. Taking his seat at the start of the 1901-03 session, Griffin sat on the committees on Insurance, Mileage, and Temperance, and chaired the House Committee on the Whole. In the 1902 election year Griffin was re-elected as a representative and two years later won a seat in the state senate from Kansas' 5th senatorial district. Shortly after taking his seat, Griffin was profiled in a small write-up in the Topeka State Journal, which noted that he "would look out for the state university appropriation bills in the senate." During his senate term, Griffin chaired the senate committee on Penal Institutions and also was a member of the committee on Charitable Institutions.

                                      Uberto S. Griffin as he appeared in the Topeka State Journal, Jan. 25, 1905.

   Griffin continued to represent the 5th senatorial district during the special senate session of January 1908 and wasn't a candidate for renomination later that year. After leaving the senate Griffin continued in public service when he was appointed as "revenue collector", a post he would hold for several years. Uberto S. Griffin died at his home in Nortonville on November 22, 1918, after having been "in failing health for a number of years." The sixty-one-year-old former state senator was survived by his wife Luella (who died at age 82 in April 1941) and his three children. Both Griffin and his wife were interred at the Nortonville Cemetery.

DeLanson Alson Newton Chase (1875-1953)

From the 1919 Kansas Legislative composite.

  Oddly named Vermont native DeLanson Alson Newton Chase would go on to find success in both business and politics in Kansas during the early part of the 20th century. A member of both houses of the Kansas legislature, Chase achieved his highest degree of public prominence in January 1925 when he entered the office of Lieutenant Governor of Kansas, serving in this capacity for four years.

    A native of Jay, Vermont, DeLanson A. N. Chase was born in that Orleans County town on April 26, 1875, the son of Arthur and Melissa Burdick Chase.  Mentioned as being a descendant of Ohio Governor and Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, Delanson and his family relocated from Vermont to Atlantic, Iowa when he was still a child. They would reside here for about nine years, later moving to the small town of Leoti in Wichita County, Kansas in 1887. Here DeLanson would attend the public school system until the age of fourteen, whereafter he was apprenticed to be a harness maker in Leoti. 

   Chase made his first venture into business life in 1891, when (upon receiving a loan of $400 from his father) he established a "flour and feed store" in Leoti. He continued to run this business for about a year, later selling it off and using that capital to put himself through college. Enrolling at the Central Business College at Leavenworth, Chase graduated from that school in the class of 1893 and in that same year married Harriett Annette Ayer, a high-school student in Leavenworth. Sources relate that Chase (aged 18) and Ayer (aged 16) married "one hour before her graduation from the Leavenworth High School" and that Ayer had the distinction of being the "first and only married woman ever graduated from that institution." The youthful couple would later become the parents of two children, Donna Augusta (born 1900) and DeWayne Alson Newton (1902-1985).

  The late 1890s saw Chase return to the flour and feed business for a time and later relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, where he worked as a government tagger and livestock inspector. During this time he studied law at a night school in Omaha and in 1901 was admitted to the bar. He would practice law in Omaha for one year and in 1903 reestablished his business roots, organizing Chase & Co., a "wholesale manufacturing extract,  spice, tea and coffee house." Chase served as the president and general manager of this company until its sale in 1907, and in the following year took work with the National Spice Company as its "western representative."

   In 1909 DeLanson Chase returned to Kansas, settling in the city of Pleasanton in Linn County. He would soon become affiliated with several business concerns, including the Monument and Ice Company of Pleasanton and the Burke Printing Company in Fredonia. Chase himself would establish both the D.A.N. Chase Ford Motor Co. and the D.A.N. Chase Dry-Goods Company and also held the presidency of Pleasanton's First National Bank.

From the Kansas City Star, 1928.

    D.A.N. Chase first entered political life in Kansas in the mid-1900s when he began service as treasurer of the Pleasanton, Kansas school district. In November 1916 he was elected as Linn County's representative to the Kansas General Assembly and held seats on the committees on State Affairs, and Printing and Rules during the 1917-1919 legislative session. He would win re-election to the house in November 1918 and during the 1919-21 session served as Speaker pro tem of the house. 

   In November 1920 Chase won election to the Kansas State Senate and after two terms here received the nomination for Kansas Lieutenant Governor in 1924. In November of that year he and Republican gubernatorial candidate Benjamin S. Paulson were elected, officially taking office in January 1925. During his final year as Lieutenant Governor Chase launched his own campaign for the Kansas Governorship, and throughout 1928 stumped throughout the state. Recorded as visiting "nearly 500 Kansas towns" during the course of his campaign, Chase was one of three Republican gubernatorial candidates in that year's primary, the others being Clyde Martin Reed (1871-1949) and former House Speaker John Daniel Miller Hamilton (ca. 1892-1973). As the Alma Enterprise reported in its January 2, 1928 edition, both Chase and Reed's lengthy names left the newspaper editors scratching their heads, noting that:

"We can never get much excited about a candidate who requires three front handles to identify him. Perhaps they are not to blame because their parents so labeled them, but why didn't they drop one or two of those initials before they got into politics."

                                                                      From the Alma Enterprise, June 29, 1928.

   On the election day primary 1928, it was the short-named candidate (Clyde M. Reed) who claimed victory as the Republican nominee for Governor. He would go on to win the governorship that November and after leaving that office was elected as U.S. Senator from Kansas in 1939, serving until his death a decade later. Despite losing the primary Chase would serve out the remainder of his term as Lieutenant Governor, which concluded in January 1929. 

  Little else is known of Chase's life after he left office. For many years prior had been a distinguished Mason in Linn County, being both a past grand master of the Pleasanton and member of the Fort Scott Consistory of Scottish Rite Masons. He remarried at some point prior to his death to Emma Dutt, who survived him upon his death in Ottawa, Kansas on October 19, 1953. A burial location for both Chase and his wife is unknown at this time.

  

From the 1925 Kansas State Senate composite portrait.

From the Iola Register, October 20, 1953.

Iman Clair Wiatt (1901-1967)

From the 1958 Kansas Government Journal.

   The "Sunflower State" of Kansas yields another odd named public official in one Iman Clair Wiatt of Kearny County, and, like fellow Kansan Wentzle A. Stewart, obscurity again wins out. Despite being a prominent resident of Lakin, Kansas (not to mention being a four-term state representative), there are but three tiny biographical blurbs mentioning Mr. Wiatt anywhere online! The closest thing that comes to a biography is a death notice for him that was originally published in the Hutchinson News on the day following his death in 1967. The following lines on Mr. Wiatt have been piece-mealed together from any and all sources available.

   Iman Clair Wiatt was born in Bethany, Harrison County, Missouri on July 21, 1901, a son of Edward and Laura Myrtle Edson Wiatt. Bestowed the unusual name "Iman Clair" upon his birth, Wiatt removed with his family to Kearny County, Kansas in 1907 and married on his 22nd birthday in 1923 to Arla Agnus Stinchcomb (1901-1983). The couple would later have two children, Joan Wiatt Shaw (1924-2014) and Edward Ellsworth (born ca. 1933). Prior to serving in the legislature Wiatt was a farmer and "broom corn grower" in Lakin, Kansas, and was also an organizer of the Kearny County Farm Bureau. A member of the Lakin Methodist Church, Wiatt was also affiliated with several civic and business organizations in Lakin, including Treasurer of the Southwest Kansas Royalty Association and President of the Lakin Rotary Club.

   A genealogical webpage describing Wiatt and his family notes that during the Second World War, he was in charge of "scrap iron, machinery rationing, savings bonds, and emergency production loan committees". Wiatt would later serve as director of the Kearny County Bank and continued to serve in this capacity during his time in the legislature. Wiatt also held the post of Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Kearny, County, Kansas during the mid-1950s.

   Iman C. Wiatt won his first term in the Kansas House of Representatives in November 1956 and would be reelected as Kearny County's representative in 1958, 1960, and 1962. He would be unopposed for reelection in 1960 and during the previous year's session served as chairman of the house committee on irrigation. His final term in the state house concluded in January 1965 and he died two years later on June 22, 1967, one month short of his 66th birthday. Wiatt's death notice in the June 23, 1967, Hutchinson News notes that he had passed away at his home in Lakin after having been ill for six months. He was survived by his wife and two children and was interred at the Lakin Cemetery.

From the Hutchinson News, June 23, 1967.

Wentzle Aena Stewart (1897-1983)

From the 1951 Kansas State Legislative composite portrait.

   A two-term member of the Kansas State House of Representatives from the county of Kiowa, Wentzle Aena Stewart has scant information available online, and although few details could be found regarding him, the picture shown above (located via a 1951 Kansas legislative composite portrait) comes as a welcome surprise. Although a Kansan for nearly all his life, Wentzle A. Stewart wasn't born in the state; his birth occurring in Iowa on December 31, 1897. The son of Henry E. (1868-1951) and Ida Stephens Stewart (1870-1958), Stewart moved with his family to Kansas shortly after his birth, and in 1901 the family settled in Kiowa County.

    A veteran of the United States Navy, Stewart married in April 1924 to Ms. Elsie Jane Miller (1904-1994), with whom he would have three sons: Wesley Earl (birth-date unknown), Harold Alvin (died 1992), and Keith Allen (birth-date unknown). A farmer in Kiowa County for a good majority of his life, both Wentzle and his wife are noted as having been "very involved in organizing Kiowa County farming programs for men and women" and he himself was a past president of the Kiowa County Farm Bureau. 

   Before his service in state government, Stewart had extensive involvement in civic affairs in Greensburg, serving as school treasurer for 22 years and as a clerk for two. Stewart also held the posts of town clerk and trustee for eight and four years, respectively. In November 1948 he was elected as Kiowa County's representative to the Kansas General Assembly, garnering 1, 519 votes on election day. Stewart was returned to the legislature in November 1950 and served until the close of the session in 1953. Little else is known of Stewart's life following the conclusion of his term. He died at age 85 on January 3, 1983, and was later interred at Greensburg's Fairview Cemetery.

                                           Wentzle A. Stewart, from the 1950 Kansas Government Journal.

Minor Burge Hupp (1836-1892), Minor Roach Stansell (1886-1960), Minor Kuhn Johnston (1866-1947)

Portrait courtesy of the Kansas Memory website.

    A one-term member of the Kansas State House of Representatives, Minor Burge Hupp was a native of the Buckeye State, being born in Monroe County, Ohio on January 26, 1836, the firstborn son of Phillip and Miranda Burge Hupp. His childhood was spent in Ohio and in 1843 moved with his parents to Iowa, eventually settling in Iowa City. The family relocated to Kansas in the early 1850s and Minor married here in January 1856 to Margaret Eagon (died 1880), later having a family that consisted of several children, including Henry (died in infancy in 1857), Phillip T. (died aged 3 years in 1861), John Minor (1861-1953), William W. (born 1865), Howard E. (born 1867), James Minor (1869-1939) and an infant child who died in 1863.

   During the Civil War Minor Hupp joined the Union Army, enlisting as a private in Co. A of the Kansas Calvary's Ninth Regiment. He was later promoted to lieutenant, serving under the command of Col. Marshall M. Murdock (1837-1908), and participated in the Price Raid with Co. B of the Kansas Calvary. 

   Following his return from military service, Hupp settled in Osage County and in the 1868 election year won a seat as one of Osage County's representatives in the Kansas Legislature, serving during the 1869-70 term. Hupp left the statehouse after one term and later removed back to Iowa, and would later resettle again, this time in Omaha. In the 1880s he returned to Kansas, only to leave a few years later, settling in Joplin, Missouri in the year before his death. 

   Minor B. Hupp resided in Joplin until his unexpected death on April 27, 1892. As the Wichita Daily Eagle reported in his obituary (published the day following his death), Hupp had gone into downtown Joplin to undergo an examination for a pension claim for his war service, visiting the office of a Dr. Minnick. Following the examination Hupp left the office and entered an elevator, "seeming quite weak" and after taking a seat was joined by a woman with a dog. At some point, after the elevator began moving the dog jumped from the woman's arms, causing Hupp to make a grabbing motion to catch the dog. As he did so, he suffered an attack of some sort and fell to the floor of the elevator. Seeing the stricken man, the elevator operator reversed movement and returned to the floor on which Dr. Minnick's office was located, and Hupp was later carried from the elevator to the doctor's office, where he was diagnosed with a heart ailment. Hupp was later taken to the first floor of the building but expired before more help could arrive.

    A few days after his death Minor Burge Hupp was returned to Kansas for burial at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Wichita. He was later memorialized in his Daily Eagle obituary as:

"A well educated man of strong chartcter (sic) and strict integrity and his voice was often heard in defense of  the principles he held dear."

Hupp's obituary from the Wichita Daily Eagle, April 28, 1892.

Portrait from the 1933-34 Iowa State Red Book.

  Another "Minor" that made his name known politically was Minor Roach Stansell, a one-term Iowa state representative in the early 1930s who had previously served twice as Clarke County Attorney. Aside from having a first and middle name that can conjure up images of a small roach scurrying around, Stansell was an attorney of distinction in Clarke County and continued his practice following his relocation to Los Angeles, California in 1937. Born in Clarke County on July 9, 1886, Minor Roach Stansell was the son of Frank and Adaline Stansell.

  During his youth, Stansell attended the public schools of New Virginia, Iowa, and later removed to the city of Osceola. In the early 1900s, he took employment with the Bell Telephone Co., eventually rising to the position of district area manager. Before he resigned from that company in 1918 Stansell married in 1911 to Lenora Sylvia Wade (1890-1972), to whom he was wed for nearly fifty years. The couple would have two children, Norris (1913-1990) and Marna (1917-2010).

  Bitten by the law bug during his time with the Bell Telephone Company, Stansell began reading law under county newspaper publisher Henry Stivers (1849-1917) in 1914 and in 1917 was admitted to the Iowa bar. Soon after he opened his practice in Osceola and within a few years had entered the political life of the county, becoming a Democratic candidate for the Iowa House of Representatives in 1918. While he would lose that election to Republican Marcellus Luther Temple (who had served five previous terms in the house), Stansell wasn't finished with pursuing public office, as he subsequently won election as Clarke County attorney in 1923. He would earn a second term in 1925 and also served as a member of the Osceola Board of Education for a time.

   In February 1932 Stansell was urged by the Democratic party leadership of Clarke County to enter into the race for state representative. In a write-up urging his candidacy in the February 2nd Osceola Tribune, Stansell's law practice and time as county attorney was boosted, while also acknowledging that:

"His wide experience would be valuable and his knowledge of conditions in these very strenuous times is a quality that the legislature needs. Too many men seek the legislative office without knowing what it is all about. Mr. Stansell is not in this class."

From the Osceola Tribune April 5, 1932.

  Following his victory in the June Democratic primary, Stansell faced off against Republican nominee LeRoy Shields. At the close of the polls in November Stansell won out, garnering 2,017 votes to his opponent's 1,812. During the 1933-35 session, Stansell chaired the committee on Railroads and also sat on the committees on Fish and Game, Horticulture and Forestry, the Judiciary, Police Regulations, Tax Reductions, Telegraphs and Express, and Ways and Means.
  Two years after leaving office Stansell and his family left Iowa for Los Angeles, California, where he continued in the practice of law. He retired from practice in 1959 and died on September 8th of the following year, his burial later occurring at the famed Forest Lawn Memorial Park in that city.

From the Osceola Sentinel, September 15, 1960.

From the Legislative Manual of Ohio, 1919-20.

  Longtime Richland County, Ohio resident Minor Kuhn Johnston served three terms in the Ohio General Assembly and had earlier practiced law in Buffalo, New York. The son of Edward and Hannah (Kuhn) Johnston, he was born in Richland County on July  24, 1866. His early education was obtained in schools local to Shelby, Ohio, and later graduated from the National Normal University, earning his A.B. degree in 1891. He would turn to law studies in the early 1890s, and, following graduation from the Buffalo Law School entered into practice in that city in 1896.

  Johnston's stay in Buffalo extended until 1905 when he returned to Richland County.  He would locate back at his old home in Shelby where he would farm for many years afterward. In 1918 he was elected to his first term in the Ohio House of Representatives, having never before held elective office. His service in the 1919-21 session saw him named to the committees on Dairy and Food Products, and Public Printing. 

  Johnston lost his 1920 reelection bid due to the "overwhelming Republican majority throughout Ohio", but rebounded politically in 1922 when he won a second term. In 1924 he won a third term, and in the 1925-27 session sat on the Finance, Highways, and Taxation. Following his terms, Johnston returned to practicing law and for many years had been a member of the Knights of Pythias, Masons, and the Presbyterian church. A lifelong bachelor, Johnston died of a stroke while in Pavillion, Wyoming on January 22, 1947, at age 80. He was later returned to Ohio for burial at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Plymouth, Richland County.

Spurzheim Derby (1856-1930)

   This obscure individual is Spurzheim Derby, a farmer who served one term in the Kansas State House of Representatives. Nicknamed "Spud", Derby was born in Decatur County, Indiana on December 24, 1856, a son of phrenologist  Daniel Griswold and Mary Ann Whitford Derby. As the son of a phrenologist, Derby received his unusual first name in honor of prominent physician Johann Spurzheim (1776-1832), one of the main movers behind a peculiar pseudoscience called phrenology, the study of cranial bumps and brain mental faculties.
   Little could be found on "Spud" Derby's early life, except for his living in Moniteau County, Missouri during the 186os and 70s. It was here he married Mary Catherine "Mollie" Erickson (1861-1930) and they later migrated to Haskell County, Kansas, where he engaged in farming for the majority of his life. Spurzheim and Mary were the parents of several children, including George Combe (1881-1958), Nellie Ellen (1883-1919), Lillie (1887-1963), Daniel Charles (1889-1975), Mary Ann (1885-1959), Phoebe Olive (1888-1954), Fannie Sophronia (1891-1980), Jean H. (1893-1992) and Doris Mae (1906-1987). 
  In the years following his removal to Kansas Derby occupied several different public posts in his new home state, including that of a schoolteacher, town marshal, and postmaster of the town of Jean, occupying the latter office in the early 1900s.
  Derby's inclusion on the Strangest Names In American Political History is due to his short tenure in the Kansas State House of Representatives in 1915. He served one term in the legislature and in 1930 lost his life in a tragic accident. As the Dodge City Journal related in its August 14, 1930 edition, Derby and his wife were passengers in a vehicle being driven by their grandson when the wheels of the car locked in the soft gravel of route U.S. 54. This caused their vehicle to overturn three times. Derby never regained consciousness following the accident and died a short while later at a hospital in Dodge City. While she survived the initial crash, Mary Derby succumbed to her injuries several days later at St. Anthony's Hospital in Dodge City.

                      This portrait of Derby appeared on the 1915 composite of Kansas State Representatives.

From the Dodge City Journal, August 14, 1930.