Woodland Page Finley (1851-1923), Woodlan Prince Saunders (1890-1956)

From the Portrait and Biographical Record of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

   A two-term member of the Maryland State Senate, Woodland Page Finley is the first Maryland political figure to be profiled here since Truly Hatchett's write up in February of last year. Born in Queen Anne's County, Maryland on March 15, 1851, Woodland P. Finley was one of sixteen children born to Washington Finley and the former Sarah A. Harrison. A prominent figure in his own right, Washington Finley was a physician and three-term member of the Maryland House of Delegates, as well as a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1867.
   Bestowed the odd name "Woodland" upon his birth, Woodland P. Finley's early years were spent on the family farm in Queen Anne's County and he would attend school at the West Nottingham Academy. He took charge of the family homestead in 1875 and married in that same year to Catherine O. Coppedge, with whom he had four children. A farmer by occupation, Finley owned a "landed estate" that comprised 450 acres devoted to farming and stock raising. In addition to the above Finley dabbled in banking for a time, serving as a director for Queen Anne's National Bank of Centerville. 
   In 1893 Woodland Finley was thrust into the political life of his native state when he was elected to a vacancy in the Maryland State Senate. This vacancy came about due to the resignation of John Brewer Brown (1836-1898), who had been elected to fill a vacancy in the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 1st Congressional district. Finley's ascension to the state senate was highlighted in the Baltimore Herald, which acknowledged him as "a modest, but able man."

From the Baltimore Sunday Herald.

    In 1894 Woodland Finley was elected to a term of his own in the state senate, beginning a four-year term that extended from 1895-99. During this term, he served as chairman of the committees on Agriculture and Labor and also held seats on the committees on Pensions, Public Institutions, Public Buildings at Annapolis, and Roads and Bridges. 

   Little is known of Finley's life following the conclusion of his senate term. He died at his home at "Locust Hill" on February 4, 1923, aged 71. He was survived by his wife Catherine and was interred at the Church Hill Cemetery in Church Hill, Maryland.

                                                         Portrait courtesy of the State Archives of Maryland.

Portrait from the New Mexico State Blue Book, 1941-42.

  In an update (September 24, 2019) to an already three-year-old article, Woodlan Prince Saunders shares a similar first name to Woodland Finley (minus the "d") and is equally notable in terms of political distinction, as he logged nearly two decades of service as New Mexico State Bank Examiner. Born in Dallas, Texas on March 31, 1890, Woodland Prince Saunders was the son of Harwood Perry and Effie (Woodlan) Saunders. Left motherless at age 8, Saunders moved with his father to Roswell, New Mexico in 1906, and attended the public schools of that area, as well as the Roswell Military Institute. 

   A veteran of WWI, Saunders attained the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Quartermaster's Section, Officer's Reserve Corps. In 1925 he was appointed by New Mexico Governor John F. Hinkle as state bank examiner, a post he would briefly fill until 1926. In 1934 Saunders was reappointed to that office by Governor Andrew Hockenhull and served until 1939. Saunders married in 1935 to Virginia Brite (1906-1979), who survived him upon his death in 1956. The couple would have two children, Woodlan Prince Jr, and Mary Lee. 

  After resigning in 1939 Woodland Saunders was affiliated with a bank in Hobbs, New Mexico until 1941 when he was reappointed as state bank examiner in the wake of the resignation of Nolan P. Walter, who had assumed office in 1939. Saunders' third term in office extended until 1951 when he was dismissed by Governor Edwin Mechem, and in 1954 was reappointed by Governor John Simms. 

  Saunder's last term proved to be brief, as he resigned due to health concerns in 1955. He died the following year on December 7, 1956, at a hospital in Espanola, New Mexico. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the South Park Cemetery in Roswell.

From the Roswell Daily Record, December 9, 1956.

Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer (1893-1964), Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer Jr. (1926-2020)

From the Annapolis Capitol, November 3, 1948.

    A seven-term member of Congress from Maryland, Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer had earlier represented Prince George's County in the state Senate for fifteen years. He was born on September 30, 1893, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, the son of Frederick (1856-1929) and Lucinda Ashton Claggett Sasscer (1857-1921).  Sasscer attended schools local to Prince George's County and later graduated from the Tome School in Port Deposit.
   After graduating high school, Sasscer continued his education at the Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He graduated from here in 1914 and passed his bar exam the same year. Within three years of opening a law practice, Sasscer signed on to serve his country overseas during World War I, being a first lieutenant in the 59th Artillery. In 1919 he married to Agnes Goffren (1891-1984), to whom he was wed for over forty years. The couple would have three children, Agnes Lansdale, Lucy Claggett, and Lansdale Ghiselin Jr. (born 1926). Of these children Lansdale G. Sasscer Jr. would follow his father into public life, being an attorney and four-term member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
   Following his return from military service Sasscer recommenced with his law practice and in November 1921 won election to the Maryland State Senate. He would serve in that body for sixteen years (1922-1938) and was the president of this body during the sessions of 1935 and 1937, as well as chairing the committees on Finance and Judicial Proceedings. In addition to his tenure in the state senate, Sasscer served as part of the Maryland delegation to the 1924 and 1936 Republican National Conventions.
  In 1938 Lansdale Sasscer announced that he'd be seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor of Maryland in that year's September primary. As one of four candidates vying for the nomination, Sasscer faced an uphill battle and placed fourth on election day, polling 23, 587 votes to Herbert O'Conor's winning total of 147,613.  O'Conor would go on to win the general election that November and served as Maryland Governor until being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1946.
   Fate intervened in Sasscer's political fortunes in December 1938 when seven-term Maryland Congressman Stephen Warfield Gambrill died in office in Washington, D.C. A few weeks following Gambrill's death, a special election was held in February 1939 to fill the vacant seat, with Lansdale G. Sasscer being the Democratic nominee. Running against Sasscer in this special election was Albert Kingsley Love, who had run three earlier losing candidacies for Congress. When the votes were tallied it was Sasscer who won out, besting Love by a vote of 23, 287 to 4, 742.

                           This painting of Sasscer is in the possession of the Maryland State Archives.

   Sasscer would win his first full term in the house in November 1940, beating Republican nominee John Torvestad by over 30,000 votes. He successively won his reelection bids in 1942, 1944, 1946, 1948, and 1950, serving nearly 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. In early 1952 Sasscer entered the Democratic primary for U.S. Senator from Maryland, and in May of that year lost out to state senator George Perry Mahoney, 122,679 votes to 136, 932.
   Following his senatorial defeat, Sasscer finished his final term in Congress, which concluded in January 1953. He wasn't a candidate for renomination and after leaving the government returned to his law practice in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. It was here that he died on May 5, 1964, at age 70, and he was subsequently interred in the Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery in that town. Agnes Goffren Sasscer survived her husband by two decades, dying in 1984 at age 93 and was also interred in the Trinity Cemetery.

Sasscer in the latter period of his Congressional service, 1952.

                                                                   Lansdale G. Sasscer Jr.

   Politics continued in the Sasscer family with Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer Jr. (born September 25, 1926) who represented Prince George's County in the Maryland legislature for two four-year terms. A veteran of World War II, Sasscer served in the Coast Guard and was a graduate of the University of Virginia in the class of 1950. Admitted to the Maryland bar in 1951, Sasscer won election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1954 and would serve in that body from 1955-1963. 
   In 1962 Sasscer was an unsuccessful candidate for the state senate, and after his service in the house of delegates returned to the practice of law until his retirement in the 1990s. A member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bar Associations, Sasscer was also a member of the board of directors for the Bank of Brandywine. He died at the Sasscer family home on April 13, 2020, aged 93.