Olinthus Ellis (1840-1905)

Portrait courtesy of Find-A-Grave.com

   Hailing from Lavaca County, Texas, Olinthus Ellis is yet another example of an oddly named member of the Texas State Legislature (and believe me, there are many!!) A one-term member of the Texas Senate, Ellis was also a veteran of the Confederate Army and an attorney based in the cities of Hallettsville and Uvalde.

   Although a resident of Texas for a good majority of his life, Olinthus Ellis wasn't born in the Lonestar State; his birth instead occurring in Henry County, Kentucky on May 5, 1840. One of nine children born to James Parrish Ellis and the former Jane Berryman, Ellis' early life and education remain uncertain, and he is recorded as having been a "bookkeeper in Louisville" until the dawn of the Civil War. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate Army and after relocating to Texas joined the ranks of Co. C. of the 13th Texas Volunteer Infantry. Ellis would later be promoted to sergeant major of the 8th Regiment Texas Infantry, serving under General John G. Walker.

   Olinthus Ellis served with the 8th Regiment Texas Infantry until the conclusion of the war, and after the hostilities sought out his brother Volney, a lawyer in Hallettsville, Texas. He followed in his brother's stead and after a period of study was admitted to the Texas bar in 1865. Ellis began the practice law in Hallettsville soon afterward and two years later married to Martha Ann "Mattie" Dibrell (1844-1879), with whom he would have three children: Elizabeth (1868-1929), Ben Dibrell (1873-1943), and Katy (1876-1880).

   Several years after establishing himself in Hallettsville Olinthus Ellis made his first move into politics, becoming a candidate for the Texas Senate from the 25th district in 1873. He would win election to that body and took his seat at the start of the 1874-76 session. His time in the senate saw him chair the committee on the Militia, as well as serving on the following committees: Blind Asylum, Comptroller and Treasurer's Accounts, Immigration, the Judiciary, Mexican Border Troubles, the Penitentiary, Retrenchment and Reform, Roads, Bridges and Ferries and State Affairs.

Portrait from the 1874 Texas legislative composite.

   Tragedy struck Olinthus Ellis in 1879 when his wife Mattie died at the age of 35. A few years following her passing Ellis removed to Uvalde, Texas and following his resettlement remarried to Sarah Grace Oglesby (1855-1919), their union producing a further five children: Jane Berryman (died in infancy in 1884), Olin Oglesby (1884-1968), Paul Roscoe (1892-1960), Juliet (died aged one in 1897) and a son who died in infancy in 1898.

   Ellis's later life in Uvalde saw him continue to practice law, and in the early 1890s took as a junior law partner a young lawyer named John Nance Garner (1868-1967), later to gain nationwide distinction as both Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and as Vice President of the United States under Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1941). Ellis died shortly after his 65th birthday on May 11, 1905, and was subsequently interred at the Uvalde Cemetery.

Merida Ambros Hobbs (1888-1967)

Portrait courtesy of the Texas Legislative Reference Library.

   We continue our theme of oddly named Texas legislators with Lavaca County resident Merida Ambros "M.A." Hobbs, and I can't help but point out that a first name like Merida is just a tad too close in spelling to the word Mierda, the Spanish word for...excrement. While his first name is certainly unusual, Hobbs appears to have preferred going by his initials, as most period sources mentioning him list him under the name "M.A. Hobbs".

  One of nine children born to Merida Hubbard and Ellen Adelia Hobbs, Merida Ambros Hobbs was born in Texas on November 21, 1888. He inherited his unusual first name from his father and married in May 1909 to Pearl Harbour (1890-1969). The couple were married for over fifty years and had two children, Leila Mae (1910-1998) and Winford Ambros (1926-1997). 

    A rancher for a good majority of his life, Hobbs is recorded as being the owner of 900 acres of land in Ezell, Salem County, Texas. He was a member of the Lavaca County school board for a period of ten years and in November 1940 was elected to the first of two terms in the Texas State House of Representatives. During the 1941-43 session, Hobbs held seats on the committees on Agriculture, Federal Relations, and Livestock and Stock Raising, and the State Eleemosynary and Reformatory Institutions. Reelected in November 1942, Hobbs served as vice-chairman of the House Committee on Livestock and Stock Raising during the 1943-45 session and also was named to the committee on Congressional and Legislative Districts. 

   Information has proven to be quite scant when it comes to Hobbs' life after leaving the Texas legislature. Notice has been found of his death at age 78 on May 9, 1967, at a hospital in Hallettsville, Texas. His obituary in the Shiner Gazette records him as being a "retired rancher" and notes that he had been in "ill health for many years." Hobbs was survived by his wife Pearl, who, following her death in 1969, was interred alongside her husband at the Salem Cemetery in Ezell, Texas.

   

      Portrait courtesy of Find-A-Grave.

Ibzan William Middlebrook (1837-1899)

                                          From the Personnel of the Texas State Government, 1889 edition.

   The Lonestar State yields another oddly named political figure in one Ibzan William Middlebrook, a resident of Colorado County who served as a state representative in the Texas Legislature during that body's 21st legislative session. While his first name "Ibzan" is truly unusual, it has its origins in the Bible, being the name of one of the Judges of Israel featured in the Book of Judges. Why Middlebrook was bestowed this odd name has been lost to history, and his name also has a variation in spelling, being listed on his gravestone as "Ibsam William Middlebrooks", presumably a spelling error on the part of the gravestone carver.
    Born in the county of Chickasaw in Mississippi on November 28, 1837, Ibzan W. Middlebrook was the first born child of nine born to  James Bird Middlebrook and his wife Mariah Bray (1815-1874). He received his schooling in the "private schools of that state" and later relocated to Texas with his family. The Personnel of the Texas State Government reports that Middlebrook worked at farming during the 1850s and is also recorded as being the manager of the estate of a "Mrs. Hardeman" in Bastrop County.
    Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War Ibzan Middlebrook enlisted for service amongst the ranks of the Confederacy, becoming an orderly sergeant. The Personnel of Texas notes that Middlebrook saw action at the Battles of Elkhorn, Corinth, Mississippi, and Iuka, and in the closing months of the war was taken prisoner, spending the remainder of the hostilities at Fort Delaware. After being released at the conclusion of the war, Middlebrook returned to Texas and later removed from Lavaca County to Colorado County, where he engaged in lumber manufacturing for many years, subsequently amassing a substantial fortune through "lumber yards in different localities."
   On January 3, 1869, Ibzan Middlebrook married in Columbus, Texas to Hattie Cunningham, who eventually gave birth to five children: Earl Sloan (1869-1914), Ibbie (1871-1945), John Moore (1873-1938), Ray (1875-1950) and Percy Cunningham Middlebrook (1879-1963). 
  In the mid-1870s Middlebrook made his first move into politics, winning election to the Texas State House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1876. Representing the counties of Colorado and Lavaca, Middlebrook was returned to the legislature in 1888 and during his second term chaired the house committee on Claims and Accounts, while also holding a seat on the committees on Internal Improvements, Mining and Minerals, Penitentiaries, Public Buildings and Grounds, Roads, Ferries and Bridges, and State Institutions of Learning. In his last full year of legislative service (1890), Middlebrook was named as a member of the Texas State Penitentiary Board, also serving as an inspector of convict camps for a five-year term.

                                                    From the Legislative Reference Library of Texas website.

    After leaving the legislature Middlebrook returned to his business dealings and in 1891 he and his brother Oscar joined in a partnership to purchase several thousands of acres of land which was eventually harvested for its timber, this acreage eventually saw the erection of a sawmill and a cattle ranch. Middlebrook also continued activity in politics, being elected as the Mayor of Columbus, Texas, serving in office until his death on July 5, 1899, at age 61. He was later interred at the Columbus, Texas Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery and was survived by his wife Hattie, who followed her husband to the grave in January 1917 at age 69.