Ohio Whitney Jr. (1813-1879)

From the History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts, 1887.

  For many years a leading resident in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, Ohio Whitney Jr. shares his first name with the Buckeye State, but left his mark in the state of his birth, where he was a banker, civic leader, and member of both houses of the state legislature. A lifelong resident of the Bay State, Ohio Whitney Jr. was the son of Ohio Whitney Sr. and the former Mary Bolton and was born in Ashburnham on June 9, 1813.

  Little is known of Whitney's early years, and at a young age, he was apprenticed to local carpenter Josiah White and later removed to Worcester to continue carpentry for several years. Around 1840 Whitney returned to Ashburnham where for decades afterward he followed a career as a contractor and builder, and gained distinction in a variety of endeavors in that town. A former president of the Worcester North Agricultural Society, Whitney also was a member of the Fitchburg Board of Trade and was affiliated with the Cushing Academy. Prominent in local financial circles, Whitney served an indeterminate period as trustee of the Fitchburg Savings Bank, was a vice president of the Ashburnham Savings Bank, and was a director of the Ashburnham National Bank. 

  Ohio Whitney Jr. married in Massachusetts in 1839 to Mary Brooks (1818-1904). The couple were wed for nearly forty years and had six children, Ellen (1840-1865), Mary Josie (born 1843), Sarah Georgianna (born 1845), Lydia Ann (born 1846), Clinton Ohio (born 1850), and Walton Brooks (1859-1952).

  Whitney began his political career as moderator of the Ashburnham town meetings, serving in that capacity for 18 years. He was also a justice of the peace, township assessor, and selectman, and in 1855 was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Serving during the 1856 session, he was elected to one term in the state senate later that year.

  Following his terms in state government Whitney was a director in the Ashburnham Railroad Company in the 1870s, and died in Ashburnham on February 6, 1879, aged 65. Following funeral arrangements, Whitney was interred in the "family lot" at the New Cemetery in Ashburnham. He was later memorialized by the Fitchburg Sentinel as a leading citizen of Worcester County, noting:

"Ashburnham has lost by the death of Ohio Whitney a worthy citizen, a friend of progress and good order, and one who in many positions of trust has discharged his duties with fidelity and high purpose."

From the Boston Evening Transcript, February 7, 1879.

Nesbit Gamaliel Gleason (1872-1948), Nesbit Sargent Ross (1858-1926)

From Bridgeman's "Souvenir of Massachusetts Legislators", 1917 edition.

    An active civic leader and political figure in Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts, Nesbit Gamaliel Gleason was for many years one of Andover's leading citizens. A one-term member of the Massachusetts State House of Representatives as well as a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1917-18, Gleason also attained high rank in two different Masonic lodges in Massachusetts. Born in the city of Lawrence on November 11, 1872, Nesbit G. Gleason attended the public schools of that town and was employed by the American Express Co. and later, the American Woolen Company. He married on June 7, 1894, to Alice Christie, who was born in Scotland. They became the parents of one daughter, Elsie Grosvenor Gleason in March 1895.

   In 1901 he was elected as Andover town auditor and served in this capacity for over fifteen years. In addition to his serving as town clerk, Gleason was also the chairman of the Andover Republican town committee from 1909 to 1910.  In 1915 he was elected as one of Essex County's representatives in the Massachusetts General Court. Taking his seat in January 1916, Gleason was named to the house committees on Counties, Social Insurance, and chaired the committee on Municipal Insurance. During his legislative term, Gleason was also a member of the Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention of 1917-1918. 

  Prominent in the local Masonic fraternity, Gleason held memberships in two lodges in the Essex County area. He was a Past Master of the St. Matthews Masonic Lodge, a member of the Mt. Sinai Royal Arch Masons, the Ancient Order of the Accepted Scottish Rite, the Andover Odd Fellows Lodge, and a member of the Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine. The remainder of Nesbit G. Gleason's life following his term in the legislature is totally unknown. He is recorded in the 1940 U.S. Census as a 67-year-old residing at Mt. Vernon Street in Boston with his wife and daughter, whose death dates also remain unknown at this time.

  As this article "went to press", as it were, it was lacking a death date for Mr. Gleason, and despite my best attempts at perusing my usual archived newspaper resources and genealogical web pages, one could not be found. I'd like to offer a hail and hearty thank you to the Strangest Names In American Political History Facebook follower John Mark Woodbury for locating Mr. Gleason's date of demise, courtesy of the ever-useful Ancestry.com. Nesbit Gleason passed away on June 19, 1948, in his 76th year, three decades after his service in the Massachusetts legislature. 

From the York Daily News, November 11, 1911.

  Long a distinguished lawyer in York County, Pennsylvania, Nesbit Sargent Ross made his first move into politics in 1885, with his service as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Republican state convention. He emerged on the national political scene seven years later with his unsuccessful candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, and nearly two decades following his defeat Ross won election as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of York County, serving on the bench until his death in 1926. Recorded by most sources under the abbreviated name "N. Sargent Ross", Ross was born in Northumberland, Pennsylvania on May 3, 1858, the son of Rev. Joseph A. (1816-1888) and Mary Jamison Harvey Ross (1824-1892).

  As the son of a prominent Methodist minister, Ross' education was obtained in various Pennsylvania schools due to his father's frequent ministerial travels. He would attend seminaries in Juniata County and in Williamsport and later enrolled at Dickinson College in Carlisle in the 1870s. After a year spent teaching in 1874-75, Ross turned his attention to reading law and began study under Mifflintown attorney Jeremiah Lyons. He was admitted to the Juniata County bar in 1882.

  Establishing himself in practice in Mifflintown, Ross moved to York, Pennsylvania in 1883 and through the succeeding years gained distinction in law circles in that county, along with" a profitable clientele." N. Sargent Ross married Susan W. Sanks (1858-1925) in April 1890 and had one daughter Ruth Sanks, who died in infancy in 1892.

   A lifelong Republican, Ross was elected as a delegate from York County to the Republican State Convention of 1885, beginning his political career. In 1892 he entered into the race for U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania's 19th congressional district, and after winning the Republican primary opposed Democrat Frank Eckels Beltzhoover (1841-1923), who had served three previous terms in Congress. The general election of November 1892 brought defeat for the Republicans in the district, with Beltzhoover besting Ross by a vote of 21,963 to 16,198.

From the Harvey Book, 1899.

  In 1895 Ross partnered with attorney H.C. Brenneman in the law firm of Ross and Brenneman, which extended until Ross was elected judge. In the same year as that partnership began, Ross was named as a director for the City Bank of York and continued in that post until his elevation to the bench. Active in the fraternal clubs of York County, Ross was for many years a Mason in his region, holding the office of Past Master of York Lodge No. 266 of Free and Accepted Masons. In addition, he was a past high priest in the Howell Chapter No. 199 of the Royal Arch Masons, and a member of the Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine. 

  N. Sargent Ross returned to politics in 1911, announcing his candidacy for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of York County. In a campaign notice touting his nearly three decades of experience in the courts, The York Daily acknowledged that:

"The elevation of a man with the character of Mr. Ross to the bench of the common pleas court of York County will be a deserving honor to one qualified to fill the highest office in the gift of the people of the county."

  That November Ross won election as judge and took his seat in 1912. He won a second ten-year term on the bench in 1921, and following the retirement of Judge Nevin Wanner in January 1926 succeeded to the post of President Judge of the county court system. Early in 1926 Ross's health began to fail, the effects of "endocarditis and arterio-sclerosis". In February 1926 he left Pennsylvania to seek the war climate of Florida, traveling to St. Augustine. His health continued to ebb following his arrival, and he died in that city on March 3, 1926, aged 64. His wife Susan had preceded him in death the previous year, and both were interred at the mausoleum at the Prospect Hill Cemetery in York.

Naaman Loud White (1813-1890)

    Sporting a rather interesting coiffure and sideburns, Naaman Loud White was a descendant of a family prominent in Massachusetts affairs dating back to the 17th century. A lifelong resident of the city of Braintree, Massachusetts (which received a brief mention in Cranmore N. Wallace's article back on January 21st), Naaman L. White was bestowed his unusual first name in honor of Naaman, a figure in the Hebrew Bible who is remarked as suffering from leprosy, as well as being a commander of the army of the King of Aram (Syria). White's middle name Loud stems from it being his mother's maiden name.

   Born on June 24, 1813, in Braintree, Naaman Loud White was one of nine children born to Elihu (1753-1836) and Sarah Loud White (1771-1860). Naaman's father Elihu was a man of means in Braintree, being listed by the History of Norfolk, County, Massachusetts, Vol. I as a former captain in the Massachusetts State Militia as well as a past "deputy fish commissioner of the state". 

   Naaman White had the benefit of an excellent education, attending both the Amherst and Phillips Academies in his native state. White enrolled at Harvard University in 1831 and during his four years at this school proved to be a student of achievement, being remarked by the History of Norfolk County as having a particular aptitude for the "ancient classics and in the modern languages and literature." While well-rounded academically, White also took part in several Harvard student organizations, including the Harvard Union, the Institute of '76, and was a member (as well as President) of the famed Hasty Pudding Club. 

   White graduated from Harvard in the class of 1835 and shortly thereafter became engaged as a principal at the Weld boarding school in the Boston suburb of Roxbury. After a year in this position, White left to pursue a law degree, studying under Judge Sherman Leland (a former Speaker of the Massachusetts Senate) and Rufus Choate (later a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts). After being admitted to practice in 1839, White returned to Braintree to open a law practice, which he managed with success for over three decades.

   The History of Norfolk County notes that as an attorney, White was of sterling character and sound judgment, later mentioning that "many a client gratefully remembers that he was rescued from the perilous edge of a suit, which might have proved vexatious and costly, and probably unsatisfactory and unprofitable as a result." This same work also relates that White wasn't opposed to holding public office, but that he "held that the office should seek the man, not the man the office."

   Public office did indeed beckon to Naaman White, and in November 1844 was nominated by the citizens of Braintree to be their representative in the Massachusetts General Court. White won the election and took his seat in January 1845, and during his term sat on the house committee on Public Charitable Institutions. In November 1846 White was reelected to the Massachusetts State House for the 1847 legislative term and held a seat on the committee on Bills In the Third Reading. 

   In addition to his two terms in the legislature, White is also recorded as holding numerous local offices in Braintree, including those of town selectman, assessor, overseer of the poor, and supervisor of highways. White also took an interest in educational matters in his native town, serving as a member of the school committee for fifteen years whilst also holding the office of President of the Braintree School Fund Corporation.

   Naaman White continued in the practice of law until putting aside his practice in the early 1870s, whereafter he "devoted himself principally to the care and arrangement of his own ample estate and of the estates in trust of his friends who availed themselves of his services." White also led various institutions in Norfolk County, including services as President of the Weymouth and Braintree Mutual Fire Insurance Company and director and vice president of the Weymouth Savings Bank.  

  Naaman White remained active in public affairs in Norfolk County well into the 1880s, continuing as the vice president of the Weymouth Savings Bank until shortly before his death. He died in Braintree on January 14, 1890, at age 76 and is recorded as being a lifelong bachelor. A burial location for White is unknown at this time, although one has been found for his father Elihu at the Ashwood Cemetery in Weymouth Landing, Massachusetts.

  The portrait of Naaman Loud White that adorns the top of his article here was featured in Duane Hamilton Hurd's History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Volume I, originally published in 1883.

Cranmore Nesmith Wallace (1844-1918)

   A Massachusetts resident who earned distinction in multiple fields during his life, Cranmore Nesmith Wallace served a brief term as Braintree, Massachusetts's representative in the state legislature during the mid-1870s. A lifelong resident of the Bay State, Cranmore N. Wallace was a descendant of a long-established family in Massachusetts, being born in Braintree on November 6, 1844. One of four children born to William Vinson and Maria Keene Wallace, Cranmore is recorded as having attended the public schools of Braintree until the age of eighteen, leaving to join the Union Army.

   Wallace's service during the Civil War is notable, as he served as a volunteer in four separate army corps, including both the "Department of North Carolina and the Army of the Potomac." His Boston Evening Globe obituary chronicles Wallace as serving with "distinction in the 42nd and 43rd Massachusetts Regiments" and also notes that he was wounded in battle at Kinston, North Carolina. In addition to seeing action at Kinston, Wallace also fought at the battles of  Whitehall, Goldsboro, Rawles Mills, and Little Washington, all located in North Carolina. He later became a Lieutenant and aide-de-camp, serving until the close of the hostilities in 1865.

   After leaving the military Wallace became employed as an office clerk at the Boston Flax Mills in Braintree. Over the next few decades, he worked his way up through the hierarchy of this company, which underwent a name change to become the Ludlow Manufacturing Company. Wallace later became a selling agent and president of this textile mill, and is remarked as being "largely influential in their successful growth." Wallace continued to be actively engaged with this company until his death, and under his stewardship, it grew from one mill to over a dozen. Its growth eventually led to the establishment of a model town in Ludlow, Massachusetts where many of its mills were built.

  Cranmore Wallace married in April 1873 to Mary Ann Avery, who died shortly after their marriage. Wallace remarried in December 1882 to Eunice Sprague, and both of Wallace's marriages are marked as being childless.

Cranmore N. Wallace during his time in the General Court, circa 1875.

  While still involved in the manufacturing of textiles, Cranmore Wallace was elected to represent Braintree in the Massachusetts State House of Representatives. His one term in this body commenced in 1875 and during his service held a seat on the committee on Leave of Absence. After the conclusion of this session, Wallace became the water commissioner of Braintree and also served as a member of that town's school committee for several years. His later years were highlighted by involvement in numerous civic and fraternal organizations, including the following: trustee of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital and Massachusetts Soldier's Home, member of the Boston Athletic Association, the New Boston Riding Club, the Algonquin Club, the Eastern Yacht Club, member of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, and the Bostonian Society. Wallace is also noted as being an active parishioner at the Emmanuel Church at Boston, where he served as a vestryman.

                        This sketch of Wallace appeared in the Boston Evening Globe in May 1893.

   In addition to his civic activities, Wallace belonged to three veterans organizations, holding memberships in the Society of the Grand Army of the Potomac, the Massachusetts Grand Army of the Republic, and the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. In 1889 he was named as Quartermaster General of the Department of Massachusetts and in 1905 journeyed to Washington for President Roosevelt's inauguration on the staff of Major Gen. Adna Romanza Chaffee (1842-1914).

   In his later years, Wallace and his wife maintained a summer home in the city of Beverly, Massachusetts. He died here on August 26, 1918, at age 74 and was survived by his wife Eunice. A burial location for both Cranmore and his wife is unknown at this time. The large portrait of Wallace at the top of this profile was featured in the Men of Massachusetts, originally published in 1903.

Wallace's obituary from the August 26, 1918 edition of the Boston Evening Globe.

Freeborn Garrettson Jewett (1791-1858), Freeborn Woodbury Cressy (1839-1908), Freeborn Duane Brooke (1856-1935)

Portrait from the Medico-Legal Journal, 1903.

    Receiving his name in honor of prominent American Methodist clergyman Freeborn Garrettson (1752-1827), Freeborn Garrettson Jewett was born in Sharon, Connecticut on August 4, 1791, the fifth child of ten born to Alpheus and Abigail Sears Jewett. Freeborn would attend common schools in the Sharon area and began studying law at the age of twenty. Following his admittance, Jewett married in 1814 to Fannie Warner and the couple later had one son, William (born in 1816.) The Jewett family later relocated to Skaneateles, New York and it was here that he formed a partnership with a local attorney named James Porter.
   Jewett entered the political life of New York state in 1823 when he was elected as Onondaga County Judge. He would serve in that capacity from 1824-31 and during his term pulled political double duty when he won election to the State Assembly from Onondaga County in 1825. Serving in the session of 1826, Jewett would make his first move into national politics in 183o when he was elected as Jacksonian Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York, besting National Republican candidate William Jerome by a vote of 4,539 to 2,739. Shortly after leaving Congress in 1833, he was honored as the first President of the village of Skaneateles, which had recently been incorporated as a village.
   After his short stint on the national political scene, Jewett served one year (1838-1839) as the Inspector of Auburn State Prison. A brief term as Onondaga County District Attorney followed, and in 1845 continued his political ascent when he was named as an Associate Justice of the New York State Supreme Court. His time here proved to be short, due to his election to the New York State Court of Appeals in 1847. 
   Jewett was named as Chief Judge of the Appeals Court in the same year as his election and served as its head until 1850. His tenure on the court ended in 1853 when he resigned due to health concerns. He died on January 27, 1858, and was shortly thereafter interred in the Lake View Cemetery in his native town of Skaneateles. The rare photograph of Freeborn Jewett shown above was taken shortly before his death and appeared in the December 1903 edition of the Medico-Legal Journal, Volume 21.

Portrait from "Beverly: Garden City By the Sea", 1897.

    A two-term member of the Massachusetts General Court, Freeborn Woodbury Cressy was a well-to-do resident of Beverly, Massachusetts, and was a prominent leader in the civic and political life of his native city for decades. Years following his legislative service, Cressy was returned to politics in the twilight of his life, winning election as mayor of that city for one term.
   Freeborn Woodbury Cressy was born in Beverly on January 4, 1839, being the son of John and Johanna Ober Cressy. After attending local schools he began work in a shoe factory, continuing in that employ for several years. In 1873 he and a partner, Israel Lee, began developing their own furniture and upholstery company, which later underwent a name change to F.W. Cressy and William F. Lee. Cressy was also active in the local Fire King Engine Company and would serve as both a foreman and a member of its board of engineers.
   In May 1866 Freeborn Cressy married Sarah Godfrey, a native of New Hampshire. The couple would be married for over four decades and their union produced four children: Lewis W., Mary, John, and Willis. While still attentive to his business pursuits, Cressy ventured into local politics, winning election as a town selectman in 1869, an office he would continue to hold for nearly thirty years. During his time as a selectman, Cressy was an avowed leader in the development his native city's infrastructure, helping to design a new sewer system for the city, as well as bringing modern accommodations to the local fire department.
  Cressy continued his rise in Massachusetts political life with his election to the Massachusetts State House of Representatives in 1869 and two years later won a second term in that body. His service during the 1872-73 session saw him sit on the committee on the State Police, and had plenty of curiously named company amongst his fellow representatives, those men being Zoeth Snow, Southworth Harlow, Tisdale Sanford White, Liberty Dodge Packard, Eliphalet Loring Thayer, and Ludovicus French Wild!
    An "acknowledge authority in all that pertains to town and city forms of government",  Cressy was "handsomely elected" as Mayor of Beverly in 1896, serving a one year term beginning in 1897. He died in his office in Beverly on April 26, 1908, at age 69, and a burial location for him remains unknown at the time of this writing.

Cressy as he appeared during his second term in the legislature, 1872.

The Rev. Freeborn Duane Brooke.

  For many years a leading Methodist clergyman in Illinois, Freeborn Duane Brooke had fleeting involvement in politics in 1903 when he was nominated by the Prohibition Party for U.S. Representative from Illinois' 3rd congressional district. Born in Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois on December 27, 1856, Freeborn D. Brooke was the son of William and Paulina (Healy) Brooke.

 Little is known of Brooke's early life in Ogle County, excepting mention of his conversion at a Methodist camp meeting in the late 1870s. He began studying for the ministry shortly afterward and by 1882 was licensed to preach. Brooke married in 1882 to Elizabeth Bardell (1859-1921), to who he was wed for nearly forty years. The couple's union saw the births of five children, listed as follows in order of birth: Clark Harding (1882-1956), William Sullivan (1887-1937), Paulina Harriet (1889-1962), and Mae Evangel (1894-1964).

  During a ministry that extended over fifty years, Brooke traveled over two dozen circuits throughout Illinois, and in 1890 was elected as a district elder. This post saw him active in the Peoria and Joliet district for four years, and the Elgin district for six years. Beginning in the early 1900s he took office as secretary of the Old People's Rest Home at Woodstock, Illinois, and during this same period held the post of treasurer for the Chicago Industrial Home For Children, also located in Woodstock.

  In 1902 Brooke was called to politics by the Prohibition Party, and in that year received that party's nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives. One of four candidates vying for the seat, Brooke placed dead last on election day with 543 votes, polling over 13,000 votes behind winning Republican candidate William W. Wilson.

  Widowed in 1921, Freeborn D. Brooke remarried in 1925 to Bertha Wade, who survived him upon his death, which occurred in Belvidere, Illinois on January 6, 1935. He had been in ill health for some time prior to his death, and was later interred at the Memorial Park Cemetery and Crematorium in Skokie, Illinois.