Dorah Elijah Maples (1860-1944)

Portrait from the Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1934.

   One of a bevy of oddly named men elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in the course of its nearly 200-year history, Dorah Elijah Maples is also on a shortlist of odd name male political figures who were unfortunately saddled with a female first name. Briefly featured on this site's Facebook page in July of last year, Maples was a man of many hats, being a teacher, farmer, lumberman, coal dealer, and a four-term state representative from  Christian County. Interestingly, Maple's second and third terms were spaced twenty-five years apart!

  Born in Clever, Christian County, Missouri on December 14, 1860, Dorah Elijah Maples was the son of Noah and Sarah Anne (Greenaway) Maples. The son of a Civil War veteran, Maples visited his wounded father in a Cairo, Missouri hospital when just three years of age, and during that visit met President Abraham Lincoln, an encounter that Maples would remember for the remainder of his life. Maples later recounted the meeting in a 1935 interview with the Jefferson City Post Tribune, relating:

"I was only a small boy, can't remember many things that happened in those days, but I can vividly recall the time my mother took me to the Cairo hospital to see my father who was dangerously wounded, his army shot away. While we were standing at my father's side, a tall ungainly looking man, with stubby whiskers came walking down the rows of cots."'Mother', I said, 'that man's clothes don't fit him!'' "'Sh--', she said, trying to quiet me. 'That's the president of the United States.' "When he reached us, he put his hand on my head and said 'little boy, be good to your mother.'"

  Maples' early education began in the common schools and he would go on to attend the Drury College in Springfield. He married Lucy Eva Craig (1869-1947) in December 1890 and the couple's fifty-three-year union produced four children, Samuel Bernice (1892-1951), Horace Bertrand (1894-1980), Lura Nalan (1896-1980) and Gladys Jewel (1908-1982). 

  A farmer and teacher in Christian County, Maples entered the political life of that county in 1902 when he became the  Republican candidate for the state house of representatives from his district, and in November defeated Democratic nominee J.W. Henry by a vote of 1574 to 949. During the 1903-04 session, Maples sat on the committees on Roads and Highways and the State Library. He won a second term in 1904 and during this term "was an author of a measure relating to Civil War records."

Dorah E. Maples, from the 1905-06 Official Manual of Missouri.

   Maples' second term in the house concluded in 1907 and wasn't a candidate for renomination the previous fall. For the next two decades, he is remarked as having been a coal dealer and lumberman. In 1924-25 he was serving as a Republican committeeman for Christian County and in 1932 was elected to a third term in the legislature, defeating Democratic candidate H.E. McSpadden by a vote of 2, 708 to 2, 343. Returned to state government after an absence of twenty-five years, Maples took his seat at the start of the 1933-35 session and served on the committees on Education, Eleemosynary Institutions, Mines and Mining, Permanent Seat of Government, and the State Library.

  While period sources mentioning Maples remain difficult to come by, two newspaper write-ups from the mid-1930s reveal him as a legislator with both a backbone and a strong sense of humor. In the January 31, 1935 edition of the Macon Chronicle-Herald, Maples is mentioned as having shouted at fellow representative J.A. Gray, admonishing him for remarking that he "wouldn't dare face the folks who elected me if I voted to increase the costs of government."

From the April 5, 1935 Macon Chronicle-Herald.

  "Dorie" Maples would also reveal himself to have a warm sense of humor (see newspaper mention above), and in early 1935 entered into a legislative argument as to whether "3.2 beer was intoxicating or non-toxicating." As Maples later stated:

"If you don't get this settled soon, I'm agoin to find out for myself, I'll buy me a whole keg of the blamed stuff. And if-they throw me in jail for a drunk, I'll call on Bill Lafferty and John Taylor and some of the rest of you fellows to pay my fine."

  In November 1934 Maples won his fourth term in the house, once again besting Democratic nominee H.E. McSpadden. His final term saw him sit on the committees on the Criminal Costs, Education, Employees and the Clerical Force, and Purchasing Supplies. Maples left office in January 1937, at age 76, and retired to Clever, Missouri. He died on August 4, 1944, at age 83 and was survived by his wife of over fifty years, Lucy. Following her death in 1947, Lucy Craig Maples was interred alongside her husband at the Wise Cemetery in Clever.

Portrait from the 1935-36 Official Manual of Missouri.

Hamblett Clark Grigg (1872-1964)

Portrait from the Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1911-12.

  I can always count on the Missouri state legislature to field a strange new name discovery, and after a lapse of several months, we return to the Show Me State to highlight the life of one-term state representative Hamblett Clark "Ham" Grigg. Aside from his interesting name, Grigg's life outside of the legislature is worth noting, as he was the younger brother of Charles Leiper Grigg (1860-1940), the creator of the famed 7 Up soda, amongst other soft drinks.

  Hamblett Clark Grigg was born in Price's Branch, Missouri on February 9, 1872, being the son of Charles and Mary Elizabeth Leiper Grigg. He attended public schools as well as the Mexico High School in Mexico, Missouri. Sources also note that Grigg was employed as a clerk in a general store during his youth. Ham Grigg married in Price's Branch in June 1898 to Maude Mason (1876-1962), to whom he was wed for over sixty years. The couple would remain childless and later resided in Bellflower, Missouri. Grigg engaged in mercantile pursuits following his marriage, being the business manager of the Grigg Mercantile Co. in Bellflower.

   In 1910 Ham Grigg became the Democratic nominee for the Missouri State House of Representatives from Montgomery County. On election day he defeated Republican candidate W.C. Goshorn by only 45 votes, and during the 1911-12 session sat on the committees on Accounts, Banks and Banking, Municipal Corporations, and Roads and Highways.

   Following his term in the state house, Ham Grigg saw his elder brother Charles gain prominence in the St. Louis business community, being a salesman for an advertising company in that city. During this time Charles Grigg created and marketed his first carbonated beverage, "Whistle", and after moving on to another advertising company developed an orange-flavored soft drink called "Howdy". Grigg subsequently founded the Howdy Co. with a partner, and in the succeeding years, the company grew to such an extent bottling sites were added to the business. Little information could be found as to Ham Grigg's connection to his brother's business, except mention of his being a partner in the Howdy Company in 1921, and a 1930 census mention of his status as an office clerk in a soda water manufacturing concern. In 1929 Charles Grigg invented 7 Up, and following his death in 1940, the stewardship of his company passed to Hamblett Charles Grigg (1905-1977), the nephew of our subject and the son of Charles Leiper.

   Despite living to the age of 91, little else could be found on the life of Hamblett Clark Grigg. Widowed in 1962 after sixty-four years of marriage, Grigg survived his wife Maude by over a year, dying on February 9, 1964, a month short of his 92nd birthday. Both he and his wife were interred at the New Providence Methodist Church Cemetery in Bellflower, Missouri.

Krat Cecil Spence (1872-1923)

Portrait from the Official Manual of Missouri, 1905-06.

     As 2016 slowly winds to a close we return to Missouri to examine the life and political career of Krat Cecil Spence, a three-term member of that state's house of representatives during the early 1900s. Possessing a truly unique first name (he happens to be the only "Krat" I've located thus far), Spence had served as Prosecuting Attorney for Stoddard County, Missouri before he was elected a state representative.

    One of twelve children born to John Alexander and Cynthia (Leathers) Spence, Krat Cecil Spence was born in White County, Illinois on February 12, 1872. His education occurred at the Northern Indiana School and after a period of studying law was admitted to the Illinois bar. Little is known of Spence's early life in Illinois, and by July 1895 he had relocated to Bloomfield, Stoddard County, Missouri.

   Following his resettlement, Spence established a law practice in Bloomfield and around 1900 won election as Prosecuting Attorney for Stoddard County. He would serve four years in that post and in 1904 received the Democratic nomination for state representative. In November of that year, Spence would defeat Republican nominee Ralph Bailey by a vote of 2,271 to 2,095 and took his seat at the start of the 1905-06 session. 

   Described by the Official Manual of Missouri as being "one of the best orators on the floor" during the 1905-06 legislative term, Spence was also remarked as having an interest in good roads and was an "active committee worker", serving on the house committees on Criminal Jurisprudence, Roads and Highways, and Elections. Interestingly, this session of the Missouri legislature proved to be one of the most unusual in terms of oddly named representatives, with Pross Tid Cross, Abra Claudius Pettijohn, Emelius Pope Dorris, Goldburn Hiram Wilson, and Littleton T. Dryden joining Krat C. Spence at the Missouri capitol!

   Reelected to the legislature in 1906, Krat Spence would serve one further term in the Missouri legislature (being reelected in 1908) and during this final term served on the committees on the Clerical Force, Revision, Roads, and Highways. After leaving the state house Spence returned to practicing law and in 1917 was an organizer of the Stoddard County Bar Association, of which he would serve as vice president. 

  Krat Cecil Spence died at age 51 in Bloomfield, Missouri on September 5, 1923. He had married sometime before his death to Fannye E. Lockhart (1878-1959), who would later remarry to Dr. Tolman W. Cotton. Both Spence and his wife were interred at the Bloomfield Cemetery. 

Portrait from the 1909-10 Official Manual of Missouri.

Oda Alson Mallow (1887-1970), Oda Oliver Franklin (1896-1950), Oda Russell Sutton (1904-1985)

From the Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1941-42.

   Our stay in Missouri continues with another oddly named state representative, Oda Alson Mallow of Maries County. Mallow was a lifelong Missourian, being born in Gasconade County on August 16, 1887, the son of Enoch and Malinda Stump Mallow. He would attend schools local to Gasconade County and in 1915 married Lucy Caroline Davis (1889-1960), with whom he had five children: Vada (died 2006), Alson, Carla, Geraldine, and Verl.

   The majority of Oda Mallow's life was spent as a farmer in Maries County, and several sources mentioning him denote his work as a "minister of the Church of Christ" in the city of Belle. Elected to represent Maries County in the Missouri statehouse in 1940, Mallow is remarked as having been the "first Republican representative from Maries County" in its history. 

  Mallow served one term in the house (the 1941-43 session) and was a member of the committees on Eleemosynary Institutions, Penal Institutions, Municipal Corporations, Roads and Highways, Social Security and Old Age Assistance, and the State University. Widowed in 1960, Mallow himself died at age 83 on October 10, 1970, and was interred alongside his wife at the Liberty Cemetery in Belle, Missouri. 

Portrait from the Texas Bar Journal, Volume 13, Issue 7, 1950.

   An attorney based in Wilbarger County, Texas, Oda Oliver Franklin had fleeting political involvement in the late 1920s when he was elected as County Attorney for Wilbarger County, serving for one term. Born on October 8, 1896, in Childress, Texas, Oda O. Franklin was the son of James Mills and Amanda Franklin. Besides attending schools local to the state of his birth Franklin would also study at the Valparaiso University and the University of Colorado.

  In 1917 Franklin put his studies on hold to serve in the First World War, enlisting in the 77th Balloon Company. He continued to serve with that unit until his discharge in 1919, and afterward returned to the United States to resume his law studies. Franklin worked as a court reporter for a time and after being admitted to the Texas bar in 1926 established his law practice in the city of Vernon. Just a few months after being admitted to practice Franklin announced his candidacy for County Attorney of Wilbarger County and was elected that November.

  Franklin would serve one two-year term as County Attorney and for the remainder of his life alternated between private practice and work as a court reporter. Oda O. Franklin died on February 23, 1950, due to accidental drowning at Lake Narsworthy in San Angelo, Texas. Having gone to the lake on a fishing trip, Franklin disappeared and was later found to have drowned, his body being recovered eight days following the accident. He was survived by his wife Susan, whom he had wed in 1921.

From the 1941-42 Official Manual of Missouri.

   A multi-term state representative from Wayne County, Missouri, Oda Russell Sutton served in the same legislative session as Oda Alson Mallow. Born in Bismarck, Missouri on January 25, 1904, Oda R. Sutton attended the public schools of Piedmont, Missouri, and following his marriage in 1927 was employed as a druggist. He would serve as secretary of the Missouri Pharmaceutical Association in 1941 and entered state politics in 1931 with his service as postmaster of the Missouri state senate. He was elected as Wayne County's representative to the Missouri legislature in November 1934 and was subsequently reelected in 1936, 1938, and 1940. During his six years of service, he chaired the Committee on Penal Institutions and the Committee on Rooms. Sutton died in 1985 and was survived by his wife Velma, with whom he is interred at the Oakridge Cemetery in Pattonsburg, Missouri.

Marple Scott Wyckoff (1907-1995)

Portrait from the Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1961-62.

    As November draws to a close we return to the "Show Me State" to highlight the political exploits of a man named Marple--Marple Scott Wyckoff. A citizen of prominent standing in Putnam County, Missouri, Wyckoff is another in a long line of oddly named state representatives from Missouri, many of whom (twenty or so at last count) have had profiles here.

   A lifelong resident of Putnam County, Marple Scott Wyckoff was born on July 12, 1907, the son of Edward L. and Anna M. Wyckoff. He studied in schools local to Putnam County as well as the Unionville High School. A farmer for a good majority of his life, Wyckoff first entered politics in the mid-1930s when he began service as an assessor for Lincoln township, serving in that post for an indeterminate length of time. In 1942 he won election as Putnam County Clerk and would hold that office for twelve years.

   Marple S. Wyckoff married in Unionville, Missouri on April 19, 1947, to Ruth Harrington (1916-1996). The couple were wed for nearly five decades and later had three children, Charles Lee, Patricia Kay, and Dixie Ann. In 1954 Wyckoff announced his candidacy for the Missouri State House of Representatives and in November of that year was elected unopposed, garnering 1,970 votes. Taking his seat at the start of the 1955-56 session, Wyckoff sat on the following committees during his first term: Elections, Roads and Highways, Savings and Loans, Seeds and Grain, and Ways and Means.

Wyckoff as he appeared in the 1955-56 Missouri State Manual.

   In all Wyckoff would represent Putnam County in the Missouri legislature for five terms (1955-1965) and ran unopposed in his reelection bids in 1956, 1958, and 1960. During his final term in the house, Wyckoff held a seat on the committees on Agriculture, Roads and Highways, Unemployment, Utilities, and Ways and Means. He was an unsuccessful candidate for a sixth term in August 1964, losing out in that year's Republican primary to Leslie C. Shelton, who bested him by over 250 votes. 

  Little could be found on Marple Wyckoff's life following his leaving the legislature. He died in Putnam County on December 14, 1995, at age 88 and was survived by his wife Ruth, who died in February of the following year at age 79. A burial location for both Wyckoff and his wife remains unknown at this time. 

Goldburn Hiram Wilson (1864-1941)

From the 1905-06 Official Manual of the State of Missouri.

   A five-term member of the Missouri State House of Representatives, St. Louis resident Goldburn Hiram Wilson was also a physician and educator, being a professor of chemistry at the Marion-Sims Medical College in the early 1890s. A native of Illinois, Goldburn H. Wilson was born in the city of Rock Island on April 29, 1864, being the son of Thomas and Sarah E. Quick Wilson.  He removed with his family to Henry County, Missouri at age five and would attend the public schools local to that county.

   Wilson entered upon study at the State University of Missouri at Columbia in 1882, and after four years at that college continued in the study of medicine at the St. Louis College of Physicians. A graduate of that school in the class of 1889, Wilson shortly thereafter journeyed to Oklahoma but soon after returned to Missouri, establishing his medical practice in St. Louis. In the succeeding years "success came rapidly" to Wilson, with the 1909 edition of "St. Louis, the Fourth City" noting that:

"In handling the many complex problems he showed marked strength and ability, and the public soon came to recognize that he was most careful in the diagnosis of a case and correct in applying remedial agencies to the needs of his patients."

   In 1892 Goldburn Wilson took on the position of professor of chemistry at the now-defunct Marion Sims Medical College, remaining in that post until 1894 when he accepted the same professorship at the Women's Hospital Medical College. His professorship at the latter college concluded in 1895 and in 1896 married to Laura Phillips, with whom he had two sons, Goldburn Hiram Jr. (died 1935) and Thomas Phillips. In November of that year, Goldburn H. Wilson was elected as one of St. Louis' representatives in the Missouri State Assembly, serving in the sessions of 1897-1899, 1899-01, and 1901-03. During the last-named session, Wilson held seats on the house committees on Life and Accident Insurance and Fraternal Associations; Private Corporations; Public Health and Scientific Institutions; Public School Textbooks and Rules.
  After several years in the legislature Goldburn Wilson wasn't a candidate for renomination in November 1902, but two years later decided to once again enter political life, running for his old seat in the assembly. He would win the election in November 1904, garnering 11, 377 votes on election day.  During the 1905 session he would serve as Speaker of the House Pro Tempore and in November 1906 was elected to his fifth term in the house. Recognized as one of the ablest members of the assembly, Wilson's terms received prominent mention in the Vol. II of St. Louis, the Fourth City, which relates that:

"He was one of the champions of and was largely instrumental in securing the passage pf the pure food laws. He has stood for practical advancement and reform, placing the public welfare above partisanship and the interests of the commonwealth before personal aggrandizement."

  In the final year of his legislative service, Wilson served as part of the Missouri delegation to the 1908 Republican National Convention in Chicago. Little is known of the remainder of Wilson's life, except that he died in St. Louis on October 31, 1941, at age 77. He was later interred at the Valhalla Cemetery, also located in St. Louis.

Goldburn H. Wilson, portrait courtesy of ancestry.com.

Jerubial Gideon Dorman (1818-1910)

Portrait from the "Illustrated History of Missouri", 1876.

  The Missouri State Assembly once again takes center stage with another oddly named state representative, Jerubial Gideon Dorman of Henry County. A resident of both Kentucky and Illinois prior to his removal to Missouri, Dorman served as Henry County Judge during the early 1860s and in 1872 was elected to represent his adopted home county in the Missouri General Assembly for one term. A son of Kentucky farmer Matthew Dorman and his wife, the former Atlanta Barnes, Jerubial Gideon Dorman was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky on July 17, 1818. His family removed to the neighboring county of Gallatin soon after his birth, and Dorman is recorded as having attended a "primitive log school house" and also worked on his father's farm. 

  The daily drudgery of farm work during his youth eventually proved to be too much for Jerubial, who left the farm and took to the water, working on riverboats for several years. Like so many other young men of the time, Dorman caught the gold rush bug in 1849, and in that year began his journey to California via the water, embarking from Quincy, Illinois. He would eventually join a party of fellow "49ers" and went aboard the ship "Galveston", which experienced a spot of trouble when it was caught in a storm in the Caribbean Sea. The ship wrecked during the storm, and Dorman and his fellow travelers made it safely to a port in Honduras. The party would reach California some weeks after the wreck, but Dorman would reside in California but a short time, returning to his home in Quincy around 1851. 

   On April 12, 1852 Dorman married in Quincy to Udolpha F. Miller (1830-1906), with whom he would have seven children: Charles Douglas (1853-1938), William Henry (1855-1941), George Harris (1858-1938), Oscar McClellan (1862-1939), Emma Katherine (1864-1947), Lucy Bell (died in infancy in 1867) and Victoria Olivette (1867-1964).

   Three years after his marriage Dorman and his family relocated from Illinois to Missouri, settling in the town of Clinton in Henry County. Shortly after his arrival, he established a mercantile business in town and for several years after was the only such store "of any importance in the county." Dorman would also dabble in banking in addition to his mercantile firm, being a founder and first president of the First National Bank of Clinton. 

   Dorman first became active in local politics after Clinton was incorporated as a town in 1858 when he was named as a town trustee. He also served as a member of the town school board and in 1860 was elected as the judge of Henry County. In the same year as his election as judge Dorman served as a delegate to the Missouri State Convention being held in Jefferson City, and had earlier helped draft a resolution to "conserve the Union." In 1872 he was elected as one of Henry County's representatives in the Missouri General Assembly, by  "a majority of 575". The 1874 Biographical Sketches of the Missouri Legislature described Dorman as:

"A Democrat of the old school, an intelligent, high minded gentleman, deliberate and careful of speech and vote, and ever mindful of the interest of his people and of the state. He is a gentleman of modest worth and sterling integrity."

   Noted as being "industrious in the interests of his constituents", Dorman's term concluded in 1875 and he returned to his farm in Clinton. A member of the Odd Fellows Lodge for over fifty years, Dorman is noted as having the "distinction of being the oldest member in the state". He died at age 91 on February 4, 1910, and was interred at the Englewood Cemetery in Clinton. He had been predeceased by his wife Udolpha in 1906 and is a far-from-forgotten figure in Clinton, with his home (erected in the 1850s) being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in February 1983. The two-story brick home (mentioned as being the first of its kind in Clinton) can be toured by appointment.
   One should also note that there are two spelling variations of Dorman's first name, being given as both "Jerubal" and "Jerubial". While editions of the Official Missouri Manual list the former spelling, Dorman's own death certificate records it as "Jerubial", and it is that spelling that is given in the title of his article here. 

Hortensious Lowry Isherwood (1850-1924)

                                   Dr. Hortensious L. Isherwood, ca. 1914, in the possession of John Durbin.

  If you've followed the regular postings here on the site for any length of time you may have noticed that the state of Missouri has been very well represented here over the past three years, with nearly twenty oddly named Missouri political figures receiving write-ups on their respective lives and careers.  Today marks a return to the "Show Me State" to shine a spotlight on Hortensious Lowry Isherwood, a man who in all likelihood is the oddest named person ever to be elected to serve in the Missouri House of Representatives. The following article on this outstandingly named Missouri resident has been over a year in the making, and the succeeding passages on this Jasper County, Missouri resident aim to highlight the life of a man who in his day was one of the preeminent public figures in that county, being a physician, banker, and one-term state representative. 
  I first located the name of Hortensious L. Isherwood in early 2013 while perusing an online copy of the Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1893-94. Contained therein was a small four-line biography of Isherwood, detailing his service as his physician in both Iowa and Missouri. Immediately intrigued by the man's highly unusual name, I quickly set about tracking down more information on Isherwood, and after a few hours of searching was rewarded with several more pieces of biographical information, as well as a Joplin Globe notice for him that related the particulars of his death in a March 1924 car/train accident in Jasper County.
  Despite having located copious amounts of information on Isherwood, I was at a loss when it came to finding a picture of him. For over a year he remained a "faceless" political figure, and this lack of a portrait eventually led me to begin a furtive search for a historical society in the Jasper County area that could help me locate one. After reaching multiple dead ends (including finding that Jasper County has no "historical society" to speak of), I decided on an alternate route, and after stumbling across the City of Carl Junction website (which, coincidentally, mentions Mr. Isherwood) began work on a lengthy e-mail explaining my project and interest in Mr. Isherwood's life.
    A few days afterward I received a reply from Carl Junction city clerk Meribeth Matney, who related that she would forward my message to Carl Junction historian John Durbin. This was the beginning of a very fruitful correspondence between myself, Maribeth, and John, one which resulted in several Isherwood-related documents being copied and sent to me, including the two portraits of him that adorn the beginning and end of his profile here. I'd like to extend my thanks to both Maribeth and John for their extensive help in sending me a veritable treasure trove of documents centering on Isherwood's time in Carl Junction, and I can state that this profile would not have been possible without Maribeth Matney and John Durbin's help and input! Many, many thanks for all your help!!
   With that introduction, we begin with the birth of Hortensious Lowry Isherwood, which occurred in the town of Franklin, Linn County, Iowa on October 17, 1850, being the eldest of four children born to Thomas Green (1816-1890) and Herpalice Lowry Isherwood (1816-1904). A native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Thomas G. Isherwood spent the first three decades of his life in that state and married in 1849 to the aforementioned Herpalice Lowry, a native of Westmoreland County. The origins of our subject's intriguing name can be traced directly back to the maternal side of his family, as Herpalice Lowry's brother possessed the name......Hortensius! Hortensius Lowry (1818-1895) was for many years a prosperous farmer in Rostraver, Pennsylvania, owning a near 400-acre farm in that town. Described as a man "called to fill many of the town offices", both Hortensius Lowry and his oddly named nephew shared the same political affiliation, being lifelong Democrats.  While he may have been named in honor of his maternal uncle, Isherwood's first name is recorded by more than one source as "Hortensious" (you'll notice the spelling variation there) and it is this spelling that is engraved on his gravestone at the Carl Junction Cemetery.
    Isherwood began his education in the public schools of Linn County and would go on to take "literary and engineering courses" at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. He would later enroll at the Bryant and Stratton College in Illinois and around 1876 entered the Rush Medical College in Chicago, graduating with his medical degree in 1878. After receiving his degree Isherwood returned to Iowa and established a medical office in Clarksville, located in Butler County. He later reestablished his practice in the village of Shell and during his residency here was a charter member and treasurer of the Butler County Medical Association. In 1882 Isherwood relocated to Jasper County, Missouri, where he would reside for the remainder of his life.
   Shortly after his removal to Jasper County, Dr. Isherwood settled first in the town of Avilla, where he recommenced in the practice of medicine. His stay in Avilla was short-lived, as he would resettle in Carl Junction around 1883 and after establishing another medical practice married there on June 17, 1888, to Susie May Coons (1865-1936). The couple would later have three children: Niena Isherwood Henley (1890-1957), Hortensious Lowry Jr. (1895-1916), and Eber Dudley (1895-1950). Of these children Eber Isherwood followed in his father's footsteps, operating a drug store in Carl Junction, while Hortensius Jr. met an early death as the result of an accident sustained in a baseball game in 1916. Isherwood and his family resided on a 240-acre farm in Jasper County, where he is also mentioned as having interests in mining.
   Dr. Isherwood's medical practice in Carl Junction is recorded by the Biographical Record of Jasper County as having won "the confidence of a continually increasing list of grateful patients". In addition to his practice, Isherwood was the proprietor of a pharmacy and was engaged as a surgeon for the railway that passed through Carl Junction.  Through the years Isherwood's status as a "horse and buggy doctor" made his name known not only in Carl Junction but throughout neighboring towns in Jasper County. "Old Doc", as Isherwood was sometimes referred to, was fondly remembered in the years after his death in the February 26, 1950 edition of the Joplin Globe, which featured an article authored by V.D. Marshall, a former pharmacy assistant to Isherwood. Marshall fondly recalled Isherwood's character and status as one of Carl Junction's foremost citizens, noting that:

"He seemed unapproachable except on matters of extreme importance, and it was not until I became closely associated with him that behind his assumption of aloofness and austerity he concealed an acute sense of humor and a tolerant understanding of human frailties." 

   Marshall also relates that after many years of visiting patients via horse and buggy, Isherwood made the transition to an automobile to make his rounds. It took some time for "Old Doc" to adjust to his new mode of transportation, and after some trial and error in piloting his newly purchased "five-passenger model" Ford, "Old Doc" was said to have "furnished the loiterers along Main Street many a good-natured chuckle." This same article further denotes that Isherwood dabbled in real estate and "acquired a number of houses about town", which he then rented out to "miners, widows, and others not in the higher income brackets." The charitable doctor is recorded as having "never pressed" any of his tenants if they failed to pay rent, and exhibited similar charity when it came to his medical practice, refusing to send statements of account to patients who had failed to provide payment. As V.D. Marshall relates:

"Patients either paid what was due to him voluntarily or not at all."

   In addition to practicing medicine, Isherwood maintained an interest in Jasper County civic and political affairs, being a member of the county Democratic Committee for over a decade. He entered state politics in 1892 when he became a candidate for a seat in the Missouri State House of Representatives and was one of four candidates in that year's contest. On election day 1892, he eked out a very narrow win over his Republican opponent Albert E.L. Gardner, 3,287 votes to 3,269. With Isherwood's eighteen vote victory he became one of two Jasper county representatives in the state legislature, and during his term served on the house committees on Enrolled Bills, Mines and Mining, and Miscellaneous and Unfinished Business.

  Isherwood's term in the legislature concluded in January 1895 and after leaving state government returned to his medical duties in Carl Junction. He continued to be involved in local civic affairs, being a founder and president of the Citizen's Bank of Carl Junction in the early 1900s. A member of the Jasper County Medical Society, Isherwood was also affiliated with numerous fraternal organizations, being a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Knights of Pythias, and the local Masonic chapter. Isherwood would reenter politics in the 1900s when he was elected as the Mayor of Carl Junction, his dates of service being unknown at this time.

   Dr. Isherwood maintained an active schedule as he grew older, continuing to make medical calls throughout Carl Junction and neighboring areas. Isherwood's devotion to his practice eventually resulted in a tragic accident near Waco, Missouri on March 17, 1924. On that date, the 73-year-old Isherwood was returning from a "professional call" in his automobile when his car was struck at a railroad crossing by an oncoming Kansas City Southern passenger train. According to multiple newspaper reports following the accident, the view of the tracks was partially obscured by an embankment, and that Dr. Isherwood had been traveling alone.

   Following this accident, Isherwood's body (described as being mutilated almost beyond recognition) was transferred by the train crew to the nearby town of Asbury, then on to Joplin, and finally to Carl Junction, where funeral arrangements were completed. Isherwood was survived by his wife Susie and two children and was interred in the Isherwood family plot at the Carl Junction Cemetery. Susie, Eber, and Niena Isherwood were also interred here following their deaths.

                                                                         Hortensious L. Isherwood, 1850-1924.

A death notice for Isherwood from the Joplin Globe, March 19, 1924.

From the Carthage Evening Press, March 17, 1924.

Suggett Louis Edwards (1906-1944)

From the Official Manual of Missouri, 1939-1940.

   A distinguished citizen in Audrain County, Missouri, Suggett Louis Edwards accomplished much in his short life of 38 years, including involvement in newspaper publishing, being a Democratic club man, and serving two terms as a representative in the Missouri General Assembly. Edwards, like so many other young men of the time, volunteered for military service during WWII, and, like a great many of those soldiers, did not live to see the conclusion of the war, losing his life in a B-29 crash in the Northern Mariana Islands in December 1944. Although few details exist online in regards to Edwards' life, a small biographical snippet in the 1937-38 and 1939-40 Missouri State Manual aided in constructing the following summation of the life of this heroic Missouri political figure.

  Although a resident of Audrain County, Missouri for a good majority of his life, Suggett Louis Edwards was born in Callaway County in that state on July 23, 1906, one of six children born to Isham (name also spelled Isom) Lewis (1874-1947) and Janette Edwards. His education took place in public schools and he later attended the Missouri Valley College in the city of Marshall and the Washington University located in St. Louis. Edwards later removed to Mexico, Missouri to begin work in the publishing field, and is remarked as "being connected with the Globe-Democrat in St. Louis", as well as holding "various newspaper and publication positions." 

   Suggett L. Edwards first became politically active in 1934, when in that year he became a prime mover in the establishment of the Young Democrats Club of Audrain County. He served as the first chairman of this organization and in 1936 continued to rise amongst the ranks of the party when he was elected to the Missouri State House of Representatives, defeating Republican nominee John W. Ellis by a vote of 7, 309 to 2, 542. His first term in the assembly saw Edwards sit on the house committees on Appropriations, Federal Relations, Fish and Game, Penitentiary and Reform Schools, Purchasing Supplies, and the committee on the University of Missouri. In 1937 Edwards was selected by then Missouri Governor Lloyd Stark to sit on a special house committee that made "a study of Social Security legislation."

                                                  From the 1937-38 Official Manual of the State of Missouri.

    In November 1938 Suggett Edwards won his reelection bid for the assembly, soundly defeating Republican nominee John W. Ellis for a second time, winning by a vote of 3, 197 to 951. During his second term in the legislature, Edwards served as chairman of the House Committee on Probation and Parole, whilst also being a member of the committees on Appropriations, the Judiciary, Revisions, Municipal Corporations, Private Corporations, and the Committee on Justice of the Peace and County Courts. 

    Edwards' second term concluded in 1941 and in the following year signed on for military service, eventually becoming a Sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Forces. He is recorded as being a member of the "878th Bomber Squadron, 499th Bomber group", noted for being active in the Pacific Theater of Operations in late 1944. The 499th Bombardment Group was made up of the gigantic B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber, one of the largest planes ever to be manufactured for use during WWII. Suggett Edwards's service in this group is quite sketchy, as little information could be found detailing his war service. What is known is that he lost his life in the crash of a B-29 bomber near Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands on December 13, 1944. Originally listed as "missing in action", the Moberly Monitor reported in its January 10, 1945 edition that Edwards had been killed in action in the December 13th crash, and gave no other details as to the plane's mission or how many other crewmen lost their lives when the plane went down. Edwards himself was survived by his mother and five siblings and is recorded as never having married. 

   In May 1946 Suggett Edwards was honored in a special memorial service in the Missouri House of Representatives. The Moberly Monitor, which reported on the event, noted in its May 23rd edition that Edwards "was believed to be the only member of Missouri's house ever to have died while in active military service."

From the Moberly Monitor, January 10, 1945.

From the Moberly Monitor, May 23, 1946.

Urlin Eldreth Salmon (1870-1953), Urling Campbell Coe (1881-1956)

From the 1943-44 Official Manual of Missouri.

  We continue our stay in Missouri for today's profile of another oddly named resident of the Show-Me-State, Mr. Urlin Eldreth Salmon of Daviess County. Despite having an unusual name, Salmon carved a notable career in the aforementioned county as a rancher and stock raiser and was honored by his fellow citizens by being elected to four terms in the Missouri House of Representatives.

   Urlin Eldreth Salmon was one of ten children born to Nelson (1843-1912) and Maria Ann Mackey Salmon (1842-1907), being born in the county of Harrison, Missouri on February 26, 1870. Salmon received his primary education in the local schools of Daviess County and married in October 1891 to Leota Hawk. Their union lasted fifty years and produced ten children, who are listed as follows in order of birth: Alma Agnes (1892-1970), Emil Ezra (1893-1968), Celia May (1895-1952), Hobart McKinley (1896-1969), Herman Detmer (died age one in 1899), Eunice Vane (1900-1981), Carsley Abraham (1904-1979), Marie Vanata (1906-2007, died aged 100), Russell Nelson (1908-1966) and Ivil Urlin (1911-1988). Urlin and Leota also had an unnamed infant born to them in 1902 who died ten days after its birth.

   Salmon became a prosperous rancher, farmer, and stockraiser in the town of Pattonsburg, and with this notoriety came calls to serve in public office. During the early 1900s, Salmon held several local public offices in Daviess County, including stints as township committeeman, and served as a member of the Daviess County School Board for twenty-seven years.

   In November 1928 Urlin Salmon was elected to his first term in the Missouri State House of Representatives as a Republican. He was reelected to the legislature in 1938, defeating Democratic opponent Loren Hamilton by a few hundred votes. 

Urlin Salmon during his first term in the legislature, from the 1929-30 Official Manual of Missouri.

   Salmon's first two terms in the legislature saw him hold a seat on the committees on Agriculture, Food Control and Soil Conservation, Pensions, Roads and Highways, and Township Organization. During his second term in the house, Leota Hawk Salmon, Urlin's wife of fifty years, died at age 69. He was reelected to two further terms in the house in 1940 and 1942, in the latter year defeating another oddly named Daviess County resident, Urcil Wilford Smoot (1899-1957). During the 1943-44 session, he chaired the committee on Bills Agreed to and Finally Passed, and also sat on the Appropriations, Education, Constitutional Amendments, Fish and Game, Forestry, and Penal Institutions committees.

   Urlin E. Salmon's fourth term in the legislature concluded in 1944 and he died nine years later in DeKalb County on January 17, 1953, shortly before his 83rd birthday. He was interred alongside his wife in the Salmon Cemetery in Pattonsburg, which is also the resting place of many extended members of his family. 

From the Bend Bulletin, October 2, 1912.

   A well-known physician and public figure in the city of Bend, Oregon, Dr. Urling Campbell Coe served as the second mayor of that city for two terms in the early part of the twentieth century. He was later a candidate for county judge and held a seat on the Oregon State Board of Medical Examiners. Coe was born in Kirksville, Missouri in 1881, the son of Dr. George Delos and Laura Gailbreath Coe. He decided to follow in his father's footsteps and embarked upon a career in medicine as a young man, studying at the University of Missouri and later at the Eclectic College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Coe earned his medical degree from the latter institution and after completing his studies moved to Oregon. 

  Coe would eventually settle in the city of Bend in 1904, and resided there "until after WWI, when he went to Portland." Through the succeeding years, Coe earned a reputation as one of Bend's highly revered figures, helping to educate the still-young area on the basics of hygiene, aiding in the elimination of a typhoid outbreak in 1907 by closing pits of sewage located in town, and on more than one occasion rode many miles on horseback to respond to medical emergencies. He was also a leading figure in the establishment of Bend's first hospital in 1909.

   In addition to his status as a physician, Coe is also notable for authoring the 1939 work "Frontier Doctor" a first-hand account of the trials and tribulations faced by a pioneer physician during the early 20th century. The rights to this book were later purchased by Warner Brothers Studios, and plans were made for the book to be adapted into a motion picture starring Paul Muni (1895-1967), of I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang fame. An article on the supposed film appeared in a March 5, 1940 edition of the Bend Bulletin and is shown below.

   While Dr. Coe had made his reputation through his medical career and acts of charity, he was also active in the public affairs of his adopted town of Bend, dabbling in real estate as well as banking. Coe was later elected as Mayor of Bend around 1910 and was reelected in December 1911 by a vote of 189 to 108. His second term lasted until February 1912, when he resigned. After serving as mayor Coe became a candidate for Judge of Deschutes County in 1912 and four years later was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Oregon State Board of Medical Examiners. In 1918 he relocated to Portland and thereafter continued in the practice of medicine for many years. Coe was later a resident of Oswego, Oregon, and died there in 1956 at age 75.