Frothingham Fish (1820-1895)

From the Medico-Legal Journal, Volume 25, 1907.

   Oddly named New Yorker Frothingham Fish was a two-term member of the state assembly, a Montgomery County district attorney, and a State Supreme Court justice. A member of the prominent Fish family of New York State, Mr. Fish was blessed with a very eye-catching first name, one that is truly unique in the annals of the New York State Assembly (a legislative body that has been very well represented here!)

    Frothingham Fish was the third of five children born to Howland (a former Montgomery County district attorney) and Eliza Frothingham Fish, his birth occurring in the town of Glen, New York on August 26, 1820. Given the first name "Frothingham" due to it being his mother's maiden name, Fish followed in his father's footsteps and embarked upon the study of law in Montgomery County, eventually establishing an office in the town of Fultonville.

   On April 29, 1845, Fish married Susan E. Bronk (1820-1906), with whom he would have four children: Robert Bronk (1849-1919), Howland (1848-1888), Edmund (1858-1918) and Leonard Frothingham (1867-1932). Of these children, Leonard followed in his grandfather's stead and was elected as the District Attorney for Montgomery County in 1893, serving six years in office.

   Three years following his marriage Frothingham Fish was elected to the first of two terms in the New York State Assembly, representing Montgomery County. Taking his seat at the beginning of the 1849 term, Fish served on the assembly committees on Privileges and Elections. He was later returned to the assembly for the 1861 term and sat on the House Committee on Claims. A capable member of the legislature, Fish was described in the 1861 Biographical Sketches of the State Officers and Members of the Legislature of the State of New York as:

"Formerly a Whig. He adhered firmly to that ancient organization until it ceased to exist, and then became a Republican, to the principles and policy of which party he is still firmly attached. He is not one of the rabid Abolition John Brown school of politicians, and in the present threatening aspect of our national affairs, has generally, by his votes in the house, shown a disposition to do whatever appears best calculated to restore peace and quiet to the country."

Frothingham Fish, from an 1861 New York Assembly photo album.

    After leaving the legislature Fish returned to practicing law in Fultonville and continued along this route until reentering political life in 1883, when he was elected as an Associate Justice of the New York State Supreme Court for the state's 4th judicial district, which comprised the counties of Montgomery, Saratoga, Warren, Fulton, and Hamilton. His tenure on the court extended until 1891 when he retired, and during his time on the bench "occasionally presided at the Warren County circuit at Lake George." 
  Frothingham Fish spent the remainder of his life in retirement in Fultonville and died at his home there on April 27, 1895, at age 74, and was mentioned in his Johnstown Daily Republican obituary as "having been an invalid for a long time." He was survived by his wife Susan, who, following her death in 1906 was interred in the same plot as her husband at the Fultonville Cemetery and Natural Burying Ground.

                                                         From the Johnstown, NY Daily Republican, April 1895.

Fortescue Constable Metcalfe (1877-1929)

From the 1904 New York State Red Book.

   Sporting a regal sounding name like "Fortescue Constable Metcalfe" may seem to indicate a member of British nobility, but this would prove to be an incorrect assumption. This intriguing name actually belonged to a Kings County, New York attorney and two-term member of the state assembly in the early 20th century, and during his time in state government, Mr. Metcalfe could certainly lay claim to being one of the oddest named men serving as a state legislator! Born in Brooklyn on September 8, 1877, Fortescue C. Metcalfe was one of four children born to Alfred Tristram (1852-1914) and Annie E. Metcalfe. Alfred T. Metcalfe is notable as having played major league baseball for the New York Mutuals during the mid 1870s, being a shortstop, third baseman and right fielder for the team from May-June 1875.

   Young Fortescue Metcalfe was afforded his education in the public schools of Brooklyn, attending both the Brooklyn Public School No. 16 and the Brooklyn Boys School. In the late 1890s, he was enrolled at the New York University, graduating from there in 1899 with a bachelor's degree in arts. Metcalfe later studied law at the NYU Law School, and after being admitted to practice in June 1901 established an office in Brooklyn.

  Shortly after beginning his practice Metcalfe became active in Democratic political circles in the borough of Brooklyn, and in 1902 became a candidate for the New York State Assembly from Brooklyn's 5th district. In November of that year, the 25-year-old Metcalfe won the election defeating Republican incumbent George Langhorst by a vote of 4, 617 to 4, 236. Taking his seat in January 1903, Metcalfe sat on the house committees on Codes and Claims during his first term and in February 1903 was even given a banquet in his honor, courtesy of the All Souls Universalist Church, of which he was a member. The Brooklyn Standard Union (which reported on the dinner) notes that the assembled party praised Metcalfe's character, "success in politics" and his longtime connection to the church, which extended back to childhood Sunday School classes. As All Souls church pastor L. Ward Brigham stated in the Union's write-up:

"A Church man is the best man to be a representative of the people. Mine is a personal word of introduction of one who grew among those present, known by all for his manliness. He is a strong man, a clear thinker. He is right principled and spirtually cultured. He is a success and All Souls is proud of Fortescue C. Metcalfe."

From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 28, 1903.

  Hoping to retain his assembly seat in the 1903 election year, Metcalfe took on a novel approach to get out the word on his political platform of "Honesty In Public Service", even going as far as to print up and send out numerous folders through his district detailing his record during his first term in the assembly. These folders touted Metcalfe's message of "home rule in government", "exemption of mortgages from taxation", "exemption of deposits in savings banks from taxation" and "reform of criminal procedure to avoid delay of justice". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle printed a substantial write-up on his reelection strategy in October 1903, and when interviewed by the paper Metcalfe remarked:

"I do not believe in a campaign of false pretenses. Every voter in my district has a right to know for what I stand, and in order that he may know I have briefly set forth my platform. I don't ask any man to vote for me without his knowing just where I stand. The statements in my platform are perfectly clear and if any man votes for me he will do so with the full knowledge that I shall adhere to that platform." 

  In the November 1903 election Metcalfe once again faced George Langhorst and emerged victorious, besting his Republican opponent by a vote of 4,512 to 4,236. During the 1904 legislative term Metcalfe again served on the committees on Codes and Claims and in July of that year gained additional press in New York papers by attempting to save the life of a drowning man off the Narraganset Pier, Rhode Island. As the Brooklyn Daily Eagle related in its July 13th edition, Metcalfe had attended a church-related convention at the pier on July 11th and afterward decided to take a raft out on the water. While he and another man enjoyed the afternoon rafting, they noticed another swimmer throw up his hands and sink underwater. Seeing that the swimmer (identified as 24 year old Albert L. Olms) was not receiving any assistance, Metcalfe jumped into the water and attempted to bring Olms back to the raft. Despite a valiant attempt, Metcalfe was "so much fatigued himself" that he was forced to let Olms go. 

From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 13th 1904.

  Despite this tragic turn of events, Metcalfe returned to his duties as an assemblyman and ran for a third term in November 1904. In that year's contest, he faced a young German immigrant named Otto Godfrey Foelker (1875-1943) who was a practicing attorney in Brooklyn. In the November election Foelker eked out a narrow win over Metcalfe, 4,878 to 4,787 and in January 1905 took his seat in the assembly.

  Although he lost by only 91 votes, Fortescue Metcalfe continued to be an active participant in political and civic affairs in Brooklyn, and after leaving the political field returned to practicing law, opening an office in Brooklyn with attorney John Z. Lott. In addition to this, Metcalfe married to Ms. Elsey May King on November 16, 1910, at the All Soul's Universalist Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s Metcalfe continued in the practice of law in Brooklyn and was also viewed as a prominent fixture in New York high society, holding memberships in a number of fraternal organizations, including the Hyatt Club of Free and Accepted Masons, The Universalists Club, the Knickerbocker Field Club and was a past president of the Men's Club of the All Souls Universalist Church in Flatbush.

From "Flatbush of Today", published in 1908.

   Aside from his involvement in political and civic doings in Brooklyn, Fortescue Metcalfe is recorded as having a "wide experience in amateur theatricals", performing as an actor in a number of local plays throughout his native borough. The Brooklyn Standard Union's November 27, 1921 edition gives a write-up of one of these plays, a comedy entitled "Nothing But the Truth" that was performed by members of the All Souls Universalist Church Sunday School, where Metcalfe served as Superintendent. Metcalfe himself is recorded as being the play's producer as well as performing as "Bishop Duran" in the production. Earlier in 1921 Metcalfe had helped to write and produce another play/music revue entitled "A Trip To Cuba", performed by the Knickerbocker Field Club on April 20th of that year. The play was "pronounced as the best ever given by the club" with "capacity attendance being assured" for the show's second performance.

   Metcalfe continued an active schedule until 1928, when (according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle) ill health "forced him to give up his practice". Shortly thereafter he removed to Upper Montclair, New Jersey and on August 22, 1929 died at the Homeopathic County Hospital in East Orange after undergoing an operation. He was a few days short of his 52nd birthday and following his death was interred at the Cypress Hill Cemetery in Brooklyn.

                                             Metcalfe's obituary from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 23, 1929.

Beveridge Colin Dunlop (1879-1961)

From the March 2, 1951 edition of the Orangetown Telegram.

   A one-term New York State Assemblyman and businessman in the county of Rockland, Beveridge Colin Dunlop was one of the aforementioned county's most highly regarded citizens. Bestowed a truly unusual first name upon his birth, Dunlop didn't let his odd name keep him from having a successful career in both business and politics. One of nine children born to Scottish immigrants John and Jeannie (Beveridge) Dunlop, Beveridge C. Dunlop was born in Paterson, New Jersey on April 28, 1879. 

  Bestowed the name "Beveridge" due to it being his mother's maiden name, Dunlop and his family resided in the Paterson area until 1887, when they moved to Rockland County, settling in the town of Spring Valley. He received his education in schools local to that town and around 1892 relocated back to New Jersey with his family. He graduated from the State Street High School in Hackensack in 1895 and thereafter returned to Spring Valley to join the family business.

  John Dunlop Sons Inc. was one of the largest silk manufacturing companies in New York and New Jersey and had a branch established in Spring Valley by John Dunlop in 1887. He retired from the business in 1890 and the company was taken over by the two eldest Dunlop sons, George and John. Beveridge joined this company when he was still a young man and continued to be connected with the company until it closed its doors in 1937. Beveridge served as a vice president and secretary of this company, and in addition to his involvement, he was instrumental in the manufacture of rayon (artificial silk) for many years. In 1927 he was named as a vice president and director of the North American Rayon Corporation and four years later became a vice president of another rayon manufacturer, the American Bemberg Corporation in New York City. 

   At the dawn of hostilities with Spain in 1898, Dunlop joined in the war effort, enlisting in the New Jersey Volunteer Infantry regiment at Hackensack. This company was later encamped in Florida for a time, but Dunlop's time in the outfit was short-lived. A fellow serviceman of his, Mr. George M. Edsall, recalled that Dunlop became seriously ill at the camp after eating spoiled beef, and that "his condition became so serious that his family chartered a special train equipped with two nurses to bring him home from the camp." Despite his illness, Dunlop later entered the military once again, serving with the Y.M.C.A's "Rainbow Division" during the First World War. Following his service in the Spanish-American War, Dunlop married in Albany on September 6, 1904, to Anna Norton Marvin (1880-1980), with whom he would have four children, John (born 1906), Janet (born 1909), Dudley Marvin (1913-1962) and Mary Dunlop Dedel (1916-2004). 

   With his name firmly established in the Rockland community, Dunlop entered state politics in 1913 when he announced his candidacy for the New York State Assembly. Although formerly a Republican, Dunlop jumped aboard the then-popular Progressive Party bandwagon, running on that party's platform. On election day 1913, he eked out a narrow victory over Democratic candidate Frederick Grimme with a vote of 4,347 to 4,287. Taking his seat in January of the new year, Beveridge Dunlop was named to the house committees on Ways and Means, Public Printing, and during his service is listed by a state assembly report as introducing legislation advocating the establishment of a "Minimum Wage Commission to protect minors under eighteen years of age and women from employment at wages insufficient to supply a necessary cost of living and maintain the health, morals and efficiency of the workers, defining the powers and the duties of the commission and appropriating $25,000."

   Dunlop ran for a second term in the assembly in 1914 and again was the Progressive Party nominee. He was defeated for reelection in November of that year, garnering 1,463 votes to winning Democratic candidate Frederick Grimme's total of 3,481.  

Dunlop's portrait from the 1914 New York Red Book.

  While he may have lost his assembly seat, Dunlop continued to be active in the public affairs of Rockland County, being named as a Republican Presidential elector in 1916. He continued an active schedule throughout the remainder of his life, holding an impressive number of positions in businesses located throughout New York and New Jersey, including the directorship of the U.S. Testing Company in Hoboken, director of the First National Bank of Spring Valley, director of the Allied Products Corporation of Suffern, New York and was a trustee of the Manhattan Savings Bank. Dunlop was also the chairman of the Spring Valley Board of Education for several years.

This portrait of Beveridge Dunlop appeared in a 1960 edition of the Orangetown Telegram.

  In addition to his business activities, Dunlop maintained a membership in the Athelstan Lodge #839 of the Free and Accepted Masons and was honored as a Past Master of that lodge. Active in the American scouting movement, Dunlop served as an Honorary President of the Rockland County Council of the Boy Scouts of America during the 1940s. The Pearl River Orangetown Telegram also notes that he was "an ardent sportsman and has hunted game in all parts of the country." Beveridge Dunlop died on July 2, 1961, at age 82. He was survived by his wife Anne, who, following her death at age 99 in 1980, was interred at the Brick Church Cemetery in New Hempstead, New York.

Hoxie Waldo Smith (1893-1962), Hoxie Brown (1819-1906)

  Over the past two centuries, thousands of men and women have been elected to serve in the New York State Assembly. The vast annals of the New York State Capitol have seen the likes of such oddly named men as Demosthenes C. LeRoy, Victory Birdseye, Sextus Heman Hungerford, and Beveridge Colin Dunlop, and this author can state with the utmost certainty that the hallowed halls of the New York State Assembly have yielded some of the oddest named individuals you'll ever hear about

   Among these numerous instances of strangely named New York legislators is Hoxie Waldo Smith, a representative in the Assembly from Kings County during the early years of the 20th century. While his service in the legislature may have been brief (he served from 1918-1919), Smith was nevertheless a resident of distinction in his native New York, serving during WWI and had been engaged in the brokerage business in Manhattan.

   Hoxie Waldo Smith was born on July 12, 1893, in Brooklyn, New York, one of four sons born to Clifford Hoxie (1851-1915) and Elizabeth Ward Smith (1854-1924). Clifford Hoxie Smith had been a veteran printer in New York City, being connected with the Brooklyn Typographical Union for over forty years. Hoxie W. received his education at Public School 15 and the Commercial Evening High School in New York and was later enrolled in the Dwight Private school. 

A young Hoxie Smith and his father Clifford, photo courtesy of Tim Smith.

   After leaving school Smith began pursuing a career in law but after a few months of study "abandoned it to enter the brokerage business." Smith proved successful in this new venture, finding employment with the Goodbody and Co. brokerage firm in Manhattan during the mid-1910s. Smith also became active in New York Democratic political circles during this time and was remarked as having made "campaign speeches for many Democratic nominees" during the previous four years.

   Hoxie Smith was eventually nominated for a seat in the New York State Assembly, and in November 1917 narrowly defeated Republican candidate Malcolm Matheson to represent Brooklyn's Tenth district in the legislature. A campaign profile for Smith appeared in an edition of the Brooklyn Standard Union newspaper towards the end of the contest and is shown below.

  

   At the age of twenty-four, Hoxie W. Smith was the youngest assemblyman to be elected in 1917, and with his youth came a rather unexpected hangup! As mentioned in the Brooklyn Standard article below, Smith's youthful appearance caused some confusion in Albany when the 1918 legislative term began. Shortly after being elected, Smith was mistaken for a page boy by two Tammany Hall Democrats, one of whom palmed Smith a two-dollar bill. Smith (being the honest public servant that he was) shortly thereafter informed the men of his assemblyman status and returned the money.

  

  A similar incident occurred in January 1919 after Hoxie Smith had won re-election to the assembly. After arriving at the capital to be sworn in, Smith ventured to the office of Deputy New York  Secretary of State Charles Taft to take his oath. Secretary Taft (unaware of who Smith was) mistook the assemblyman for a page boy and told him to leave, stating that New York Secretary of State Francis Hugo had "no time to see a page boy" and that Smith should come back the following day.

   Understandably indignant, Smith replied "I am not a page. I am an assemblyman and want to be sworn in." Secretary Taft (unmoved by Smith's plea) evidently laughed at the annoyed assemblyman, who then left the office and later returned with witnesses who could verify who he was! Once the matter had been ironed out, Secretary Taft is remarked as "apologizing profusely" to Smith, who eventually took his oath of office. A write-up on this humorous incident appeared in the Oswego Palladium on January 8, 1919, and has been posted below.

   While Smith's legislative tenure got off to a rather interesting start in 1918, he immediately set about doing the best job possible for his constituency. He was named to the House Committee on Social Welfare and the Committee on Banking, and later introduced a bill during his second term that would require people or corporations that gave trading stamps or premium coupons to pay a $1,000 license fee for "each place or store in the county owned by such person or corporation where such stamps are used." 

   Hoxie Smith won a second term in the assembly in November 1918 and midway through his second term is recorded as introducing legislation that would provide "license and license fees for elevators and elevator operators." Mention is also given to Smith resigning during this term to enter military service in WWI, but no elaboration is given as to his rank, length of service, or area of deployment.

  Smith was unsuccessful in his bid for a third assembly term in November 1919, losing to Republican candidate Leo V. Doherty by a vote of 10, 287 to 7,329. Not one to let a loss get the best of him, Smith continued to actively follow state politics, even being talked of as a potential state senate candidate in the late 1920s. In August 1921 Smith married in Cedarhurst, New York to Elenore Agnes Madden (1896-1985). The couple are believed to have been childless.

  In late 1926 Smith returned to Albany as the newly installed statistician and market reporter for the New York State Department of Public Markets. His tenure in this post (listed as paying over $5,500 a year) lasted only a few months, with Smith resigning in mid-1927. His resignation proved to be a hot subject that year (as evidenced by the Brooklyn Standard article below) and the news of his resignation completely mystified the Democratic bigwigs in his native Brooklyn!

   After leaving the Department of Public Markets, Smith continued to be involved in New York Democratic politics, becoming the vice chairman of the campaign for Manhattan borough president Samuel Levy, then running for the office of President of the City Council in 1942. 

   Hoxie Smith's life after 1942 is quite sketchy, with very little information being located on him after this date. He died at age 69 on July 17, 1962, in Hackensack, New Jersey, and was shortly thereafter interred at the George Washington Memorial Cemetery in Paramus. Elenore Madden Smith survived her husband by over twenty years, dying at age 89 in 1985, and was later buried in the same cemetery as her husband.

   Another "Hoxie" who made his name known politically is Mr. Hoxie Brown, a resident of Colchester in the county of New London, Connecticut. Born in the town of South Kingston, Rhode Island on November 1, 1819, Brown removed to the village of Lebanon, Connecticut with his family when he was still a child. He attended schools in both South Kingston and Connecticut and married in 1847 to Ms. Esther Hoxie (born 1822), with whom he would have two sons, Henry H. (1849-1915) and Edwin L. (1858-1930). In his early residency in Connecticut, Brown is mentioned as having involvement with the state militia, although no elaboration is given as to the length of his service.

   Hoxie Brown spent the majority of his life as a successful farmer, eventually removing from Lebanon to the village of Colchester in the mid-1860s. He was elected to the Connecticut State House of Representatives in 1879 from New London County and is also remarked as receiving "many recognitions from his townsmen" both before and after his stint in state government.

   After his brief service in the legislature, Brown continued to operate his farm in Colchester,  later serving as a member of the Colchester Board of Health in 1886. Esther H. Brown died in 1901 at age 79 and Hoxie himself died on July 31, 1906, at age 86. Both were later buried in the Linwood Cemetery in Colchester. The rare portrait of him above was featured in the Illustrated Popular Biography of Connecticut, published in 1891. This informative work has also yielded portraits (and information) on Luzon Burritt Morris and Supply Twyng Holbrook, both profiled on the site in past articles.

Shotwell Powell (1808-1896)

    This rare portrait of Shotwell Powell is located in the collection of the 

      Ontario County Historical Society in Canandaigua, New York.

   Following up on August 17th's article on Naples, New York resident and legislator Cyrillo Southworth Lincoln, today's profile highlights the life of Shotwell Powell, another prominent 19th century resident of Ontario County, New York who was elected to two terms in the State Assembly in 1859 and 1860. Powell received a brief mention in Lincoln's profile a few weeks ago after I visited both of their gravesites at the Rose Ridge Cemetery in Naples while on vacation. At the time of that visit I hadn't yet seen an actual portrait of Mr. Powell and now, because of the diligence of Blanche Warner of the Naples Library and Ontario Historical Society Curator Wilma Townsend, a picture of Shotwell Powell has been located in the collection of the Ontario County Historical Society. I must give a hearty thank you to both of these ladies for their kind help in regards to researching this obscure man, as his article here really wouldn't be the same without your help!
   We'll begin with the birth of Shotwell Powell, which occurred in the small village of Clinton in Dutchess County, New York on October 31, 1808. The Rootsweb genealogical website gives note that Shotwell was one of fifteen children born to James and Martha Townsend Powell, natives of New Jersey and Westchester County, New York. Young Shotwell received a common school education in his birth county, and later spent several years of his adolescence living with an uncle in New Jersey.
   After returning to New York, Powell engaged in farming until relocating to Michigan in 1832. Soon after his arrival he "purchased several lots in that new country, remaining there about two years." In 1834 he returned home to Clinton, where he "purchased part of his old home", this according to his Naples Record obituary.
   On September 17, 1835, Powell married fellow Clinton, NY native Sarah G. Clapp (1815-1889) and they eventually became the parents of three children: Thomas J. (1837-1906), Israel (1839-1918) and Lydia Ann (1841-1917). In a strange and truly interesting twist, research has been found that notes that Lydia Ann Powell married on February 27, 1870, to William Elton Lincoln (1837-1915), who happened to be the younger brother of Cyrillo Southworth Lincoln!!! A truly amazing historical fact/political coincidence that I wouldn't have known about had I not begun digging through Shotwell Powell's genealogy! 
  The Powell family continued to reside in Clinton until 1844 when they moved to South Bristol in Ontario County, New York. Powell purchased a farm here (later referred to as Powell Hill) and over the succeeding years engaged in farming, while also being involved in local political affairs. 

                                Shotwell Powell's name as it appeared in an 1860s New York Red Book.

   In November 1858 Powell was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Republican, officially taking office in January of the next year. He was re-elected to the Assembly for the 1860 session and during his two terms is mentioned as having "secured the passage of many important measures, among which was one to prevent slave hunting in the Empire State."  Powell's tenure in the legislature is listed by Milliken's History of Ontario County as one of distinction, with Powell being mentioned as "a man of strong convictions and great moral courage, a strong anti-slavery man, an opponent to capital punishment, and a zealous advocate of temperance." After leaving the assembly Powell refrained from political activity until 1876, and in that year mounted an unsuccessful campaign as the Prohibition Party candidate for State Canal Commissioner of New York. 

                   An 1876 article mentioning Powell's candidacy for State Canal Commissioner.

   In 1870 Powell and his wife removed to Virginia, where Shotwell is known to have bought up large tracts of land, later establishing a Quaker colony in the Keysville, Virginia area. As a member of the Society of Friends, Powell is listed in his obituary as investing $6,000 for a piece of land to develop this settlement, "which he retained an interest in until his death." Powell's obituary also notes that "all liquor selling was to be excluded from the colony."
  For the next two decades, Powell would spend his winters in Virginia and his summers at his home in South Bristol, where he resettled permanently in 1889. In his twilight years, Powell maintained a membership in the Western New York Horticultural Society and is listed as attending its annual meeting in 1893. While at this meeting, Powell is listed as stating that "I want to say that in this, my 85th year, this is the grandest meeting I have ever attended. Progress is the immutable order of our being, and I think we are progressing."
   As he approached his 88th year, Powell's health began to fail, and in March of 1896 was stricken with paralysis which greatly reduced his energy and abilities. He died at age 87 on June 19, 1896, at the home of his son Israel in South Bristol, New York.

      Powell's obit as it appeared in the Rochester Democratic-Chronicle a few days following his death.

Shotwell Powell's Naples Record obituary from June 1896.

   The funeral of Shotwell Powell was held at his South Bristol home on the Monday following his death, and it was reported: "that there was a very large attendance, with neighbors and friends from all country round coming to pay their last tribute to one whom they honored and loved for his beneficent life." Shortly afterward he was buried in the Powell family plot at Rose Ridge cemetery in Naples. Powell's wife Sarah had been buried here several years previously, and their children Thomas, Israel, and Lydia are also buried here.

  As I related in Cyrillo S. Lincoln's article a few days ago, the search for both Lincoln and Powell's gravesite was done under severe time constraints (it was nearly 8 o'clock at night) and I was also dealing with scoping out a rather large cemetery with no clue as to where both were buried! After I found Mr. Lincoln's stone I set my sights on finding Shotwell's stone.....which my father successfully discovered less than fifty feet away from Lincoln!  As I have recently found that both of these oddly named politicians are related by marriage, I now have a good idea as to why both of their plots were located so close to one another.

  Powell's modest gravestone bears the names of all of the members of the Powell family (except Lydia Ann, who is buried elsewhere in Rose Ridge.) This stone also denotes Powell's name with the prefix "Hon." for "Honorable", indicating to anyone even remotely interested in history that someone of importance is buried there. All in all the above photo turned out rather well, considering it was taken at nearly 8:30 at night!

Cyrillo Southworth Lincoln (1830-1900)

                         Cyrillo S. Lincoln,  from Milliken's "A History of Ontario County", published in 1911.

    Following up on yesterday's article on Jefferson County resident Lotus Ingalls, our profile today centers on the life of Cyrillo Southworth Lincoln, a prominent figure in the town of Naples in Ontario County, New York. Mr. Lincoln represented his home county in the New York State Assembly for four terms during the 1870s and was at the time of his death viewed as one of Naples's most honored citizens. Two days ago (August 15, 2012), I was lucky enough to be on vacation near Naples and made a point to locate Lincoln's final resting place in the Rose Ridge Cemetery. Lincoln is honored today (on the 112th anniversary of his death) as the newest addition to the site, and some photographs from Rose Ridge Cemetery will conclude his extensive profile here.

   Cyrillo Southworth Lincoln was born on July 18, 1830, in the village of South Bristol, New York, one of seven children born to Lucius (1801-1875) and Amelia Fellows Lincoln (1806-1876). Cyrillo received his education at both the Genesee Wesleyan and the New York Conference Seminaries and in 1858 graduated with honors from the Union College in New York. Shortly after his graduation he began reading law under Frederick L. Durand of Rochester and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1859. Lincoln eventually became a law partner with future U.S. Representative (and Naples native) Emory Bemsley Pottle (1815-1891), and together they maintained a law practice in Naples until its dissolution in 1864.

   In 1859 Lincoln married Charlotteville, New York native Mary Abigail Brown, with whom he had one daughter, whose name has been lost to history. Both Mary and her infant daughter died within a year of her marriage to Lincoln, and in August 1862 he remarried to Laura A. Clarke, and this union produced two children, Mary Clark (born 1864) and Spencer Francis (1868-1944). Spencer Lincoln followed in his father's footsteps and also went on to a distinguished career in the public forum, serving as District Attorney for Yates County, New York from 1906-1912 and again from 1925-1933.

          This portrait of Spencer Francis Lincoln appeared in the Penn Yan Democrat in January 1944.

   Throughout the 1860s Cyrillo S. Lincoln maintained a successful law practice out of his home in Naples, and was also involved in that area's grape industry, maintaining "one of the finest vineyards in that section of the State." His expertise in the field of law won Lincoln many friends throughout Ontario County and his 1900 obituary (published in the Naples Record) gives note that "his good influence was also early felt in all matters of public interest and town improvement. He had fine oratorical gifts, speaking readily and convincingly, and was thus brought into frequent service as an entertainer and educator."

   While Lincoln's career in law continued to win him local acclaim, he didn't pursue political office until the mid-1860s, when he was elected as Naples Justice of the Peace, serving in this capacity until 1871. In November of that year, Lincoln was elected to his first term in the New York State Assembly as a Republican, beginning a legislative tenure that was "most creditable to his constituents and to himself." During his four terms in the assembly, Lincoln held a seat on the Committee on the Petitions of Aliens and the sub-Committee on the Whole and later chaired the Committee on Claims during the 1873 assembly session. Lincoln's oratorical skills receive further mention in the 1874 Life Sketches of Government Officials and Members of the Legislature, which notes:

"As a public speaker he has few superiors. With a voice full and sonorous, an easy and natural manner of delivery and clear enunciation, he has no difficulty in securing the attention of the house, whatever the topic of discussion. He talks well on all subjects, and is also a clear and secure reasoner, holding, in the main, sound views on the political, social and financial questions of the day."                    

     During his four terms in the Assembly, Lincoln was remarked to be "a man of acknowledged ability, sound principals, and flexible integrity" and it was this character assessment that eventually led then New York Governor Samuel Tilden to appoint Lincoln (along with future New York Governor David Bennett Hill) as special prosecuting attorneys during the 1872 impeachment trial of New York State Supreme Court justice George Gardner Barnard.  Lincoln's assembly tenure concluded with the end of the May 1875 session and his Naples Record obituary notes that "few men, if any, on the floor of the House exerted more influence or were more honored."

   After his service in state government, Lincoln returned to his Naples law practice and throughout his later years was an active figure in town affairs. For over thirty years he was a member of the local Presbyterian church and is listed by his obituary as being a Sunday school superintendent and church trustee. Lincoln returned to political service in 1880 when he was named as a delegate from New York to the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago that nominated James Garfield for President. In 1889 he was named as a trustee for the Naples Union School, serving in this post until 1895. Lincoln was also a charter member of the Nundawaho Lodge of the International Order of Odd-Fellows and was a past president of the Naples Lyceum.

   In 1898 Lincoln's health began to fail due to a "complication of diseases", and while he continued in the practice of law, health concerns continued to plague him for the last two years of his life. In the weeks preceding his death, he suffered a relapse which confined him to his bed, and he died away at his home at 1 p.m. on August 17, 1900, at age 70.

             This death notice for Cyrillo Lincoln appeared in a Gloversville, New York newspaper.

   The death of Cyrillo S. Lincoln was widely reported in a number of New York newspapers and was front-page news in the August 22, 1900 edition of the Naples Record. His obituary mentions that his death "removes from us not only a most genial and lovable man, but one of the most useful and honored citizens of the county, and is not only a personal loss to a great multitude but a public calamity." 

   As one can read from the impressive memorial given to Lincoln in the Record, his demise robbed Naples of one of its most highly regarded public servants. His funeral is recorded as taking place at his home on Monday, August 20, 1900, and his remains were then escorted by a funeral procession to the Rose Ridge Cemetery, where he was then interred. Lincoln was survived by his wife Laura, who died at age 87 in 1918 and was interred next to her husband.

   I fast forward now to August 15, 2012, the day my family and I visited Rose Ridge to seek out Lincoln's gravesite. As a funny backstory to the search that followed, it was nearing 8 o'clock and getting dark rapidly by the time I reached the cemetery, so one can certainly say time wasn't on my side! Compounding this was the fact that I was also searching for another oddly named politician buried here, Shotwell Powell (1808-1896), a past member of the New York State Assembly from Ontario County. 

   After locating two Lincoln plots in the cemetery (neither of which was the Lincoln I was looking for), I was beginning to get worried! It was practically dark by this time and I shouted to my father (who was helping me in the search) that I was going to the far side of the cemetery near a tree-lined area. After a few more minutes of poking around, I located the man I was looking for! Cyrillo Lincoln's gravesite is tucked away in a far corner of this out-of-the-way cemetery, and behind me in the photo below is a wooded area that descends sharply downhill into an even larger woods!

   In the picture above (which turned out remarkably well, considering that it was taken at 8:30 at night) I stand next to Cyrillo's marker, while he and his wife Laura's headstones are directly behind me. 

   Lincoln's headstone is quite hard to read, as 112 years of wear and exposure to the elements have covered it with spots of algae. Directly to the left of Cyrillo's stone is that of his wife Laura, whose stone is in a similar condition. Interred in the two other Lincoln plots I mentioned earlier are the remains of Cyrillo's father and mother and older brothers Linus and Theron. 

   In an intriguing coda to this article, the grave of Shotwell Powell was discovered by my father less than fifty feet away from Cyrillo Lincoln's stone! I find it truly fascinating that we managed to locate both of these oddly named politician's grave sites in so short a period, and I'm certain that a fair bit of serendipity was involved in their discovery! It's even more interesting to note that I discovered Lincoln's grave within 36 hours of the 112th anniversary of his death!! August 15, 2012, will forever be remembered by me as the day that I managed to locate several oddly named political grave sites in two separate counties, including the final resting place of Lotus Ingalls, who was profiled yesterday.

Lotus Ingalls (1818-1897), Lotus Lee Langley (1875-1955)

   Today's profile will be a very memorable one, as the Strangest Names In American Political History recently visited the mammoth Brookside Cemetery in Watertown, New York! As I just returned from vacationing in the Jefferson & Ontario County, New York area, the next few profiles here on the site will center on several oddly named political figures who called these two counties home. The first of these men to be profiled is Lotus Ingalls, a 19th-century Watertown resident who distinguished himself in the fields of both journalism and politics. I visited Mr. Ingalls's gravesite at the Brookside Cemetery in Watertown early yesterday, and some photos from that excursion will conclude his profile here. 
   Lotus Ingalls was born on January 12, 1818, in Rodman, New York, one of ten children born to James (1791-1881) and Laura Cooley Ingalls (1795-1837). Lotus is recorded as engaging in farm work during his youth and in 1839 enrolled in the Black River Institute. While attending this institution, Ingalls began earning extra money by teaching school in the towns of Wilna and Perch Lake, and later taught at the Factory Street School in Watertown.
   In 1845 Ingalls began pursuing law studies, entering the law office of Lansing and Sherman. He passed the New York State Bar exam in the late 1840s and during this time was also elected to a two-year term as town school superintendent.  In 1847 he married Watertown native Marinda Emily Murray (1826-1904) and they became the parents of one child, Alice Elvira Ingalls (1848-1932).
   Ingalls's career in law was short-lived, and it is noted by The Growth of a Century that "the demands of that profession seemed hardly suited to his tastes." It was around this time that the Watertown Democratic Union (an anti-temperance or "liquor interest" newspaper) was established, and as a counterpoint to this paper, many temperance advocates in Jefferson County suggested the start of a paper devoted to their interests, and Mr. Ingalls was "suggested and urged to become its editor." 
  Using some small start-up capital, Ingalls founded the Watertown Daily Reformer, and with the help of an established Watertown printer (L.C. Stowell, who later became Ingalls's partner) the Reformer was viewed as an unqualified success, with the Growth of a Century remarking that it was "full of snap and ability" and that it appealed "to the better class of readers, who had become weary with editors that looked at all questions through the colored spectacles of party policy." Ingalls and his paper are also listed as being instrumental in espousing opinions on then-current New York assessment laws, and it was because of the work of Ingalls and the Reformer that the New York legislature eventually created the Board of State Assessors.

                                  This article on Lotus Ingalls appeared in the New York Times.
  
  The Daily Reformer's circulation continued to grow throughout the 1850s and 60s, and with it, Lotus Ingalls's reputation as one of Jefferson County's most prominent men of affairs. During the 1860s he became connected with the Carthage, Watertown, and Sacketts Harbor Railroad Company, eventually serving as its Secretary and Treasurer during the early 1870s. An annual railroad report bearing Ingalls's name was published in 1872 and has been posted below.

   In 1875 Ingalls launched a campaign for the New York State Assembly and won election to that body in November of that year (representing Jefferson County.) Taking his seat in 1876, Ingalls served on the committees on Public Printing,  State Prisons, and Enrolled Bills during his one term in the legislature. The Growth of a Century highlights his service as Chairman of the Printing Committee, stating that Ingalls "saved the state many thousands of dollars by applying the pruning knife to the extravagant requests of members and others." It is also mentioned that Ingalls "had very important economic reforms in his mind" after entering the assembly but was unable to implement them due to the political partisanship of the time.

                             Another portrait of Lotus Ingalls, probably from the 1870s or 80s.

   An interesting point is made by the Growth of the Century as to Ingalls's later years as a publisher. During the late 1860s/early 1870s, he ran into financial problems and declared bankruptcy, and was "even forced out of the newspaper which he had established and raised to an institution of great value." Ingalls eventually rebounded financially and in the mid-1870s purchased the Watertown Post, which he ran successfully until selling it eighteen years later. Soon afterward he retired from public life, having been engaged as an editor and publisher for over forty years! His retirement from publishing was marked as the end of an era, as "he had been for 42 years one of Jefferson's most strenuous and powerful men, and has wrought his individual life into the very fibre of that county's history as no other editor has done. His example is an illustrious one, and a good one to follow."

   After a long career in public service, Lotus Ingalls died at age 79 on April 24, 1897, in Watertown. Judging by the number of archived newspaper sources mentioning his death, his demise was front-page news in several New York newspapers, including the New York Herald, the Rome Citizen (shown below), and the Ithaca Daily News. Ingalls was survived by his wife of fifty years, Marinda (who died in 1904), and his daughter Alice, who died at age 84 in 1932. 

                                                      From the Rome Citizen, April 27, 1897.

     Another Lotus Ingalls obituary, originally published in an April 1897 edition of the Syracuse Herald.

   As mentioned in the opening of Mr. Ingalls's profile here, I was lucky enough to be on vacation near Watertown this past week and yesterday (August 15, 2012), I made it a point to visit the Brookside Cemetery in that city to seek out his gravesite, as well as those of Gilderoy Lord (a Watertown Mayor), Pardon Clarence Williams (a former New York State Supreme Court justice) and Gotham Ives (a New York State Assemblyman). All of these odd-named public figures are buried in Brookside, as are several other politicians, including Roswell Pettibone Flower (a former New York Governor) and Willard Ives (a U.S. Representative.) 

  Describing Brookside Cemetery as "big" doesn't even begin to cover the sheer size of its confines. This mammoth cemetery is the final resting place of over 14,000 people, and I was lucky enough to have one of Brookside's office personnel give me a marked map denoting the location of each of the aforementioned people. And now some photos from the trip!

  Lotus Ingalls is interred in the Ingalls-Murray plot in section M of the Brookside Cemetery. The large granite stone marking his gravesite has both the Ingalls and Murray surnames inscribed on its sides (as Lotus's wife Marinda's maiden name was Murray) and in front of this stone are smaller headstones denoting each family member's name and their dates of birth and death.

                                                             Lotus Ingalls's headstone.

                                                       Another view of Ingalls's headstone.

                               With the SNIAPH Book at the Ingalls gravesite, August 15, 2012.

  All in all, Lotus Ingalls's impressive stone certainly befits a man who devoted the majority of his life to public affairs in his native Watertown. Sadly no plaque or marker denotes Ingalls's status as a prominent 19th century Watertown citizen or his service in the state assembly. In addition to his already lengthy article here, I also recently created a Find-a-Grave profile for him, which can be viewed at the following link.

From the Oregon Voter's Pamphlet, 1918.

 Another "Lotus" that made his name known in public service is Lotus Lee Langley, a longtime resident of Multnomah County, Oregon. Born in Scranton, Iowa on September 15, 1875, Langley was the son of William and Amanda Scott Langley. Lotus moved to Oregon with his family in 1891 to attend the Pacific University in the town of Forest Grove. He studied law under the tutelage of his father and was admitted to practice by the Oregon bar in 1897.

  Langley relocated to Portland to practice law in 1901 and married in December 1908 to Eva Allen, later having two children. After a decade or so of practice in Portland, Langley entered into political life in 1918, becoming the Democratic candidate for circuit court judge for Oregon's 4th district. His candidacy was unsuccessful, being defeated that November by Calvin U. Gantenbein.  Langley continued to be active in Democratic political circles for the remainder of his life, serving as the chairman of the Multnomah County Democratic Party in 1928 and in that same year was an unsuccessful candidate for Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court.

   In 1931 Langley's political fortunes changed when he was elected as District Attorney of Multnomah County, serving a term of four years. During the 1940 election year, he served as part of Oregon's delegation to the Democratic National Convention being held in Chicago that renominated Franklin Roosevelt for a third term. Lotus Langley died on February 6, 1955, at age 79 and was later interred at the Forest View Cemetery in  Forest Grove, Washington County, Oregon.