Calvary Morris (1798-1871)

Portrait from the "Athens Home Coming Reunion", published 1904.

   The state of Ohio has lucked into the good fortune of being represented in Congress by a great many oddly named figures, including such men as Eleutheros Cooke, Philadelph Van Trump, Adoniram Judson Warner, and Lycurgus Luther Marshall. Calvary Morris, a long time resident of Athens County, represented Ohio's sixth district in the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms, having earlier been a member of both houses of the Ohio legislature. With a truly one-of-a-kind name, Mr. Morris was for over thirteen years one of a great many "faceless" politicians that I've found, and despite many attempts at trying to locate a portrait of him, Morris continually stymied me out of a picture. As luck would have it, however, late yesterday a portrait of Mr. Morris was located (quite accidentally in fact) via Absolom Mattox's "Athens Home Coming Reunion", a 1904 work centering on the history of Morris' adopted home city of Athens, Ohio. The rare picture of Calvary Morris above marks the first time that I've seen a portrait of him, having first located his name via the "Political Graveyard" website way back in 2001.

   While he may have been a resident of the Buckeye State for a good majority of his life, Calvary Morris was not born in Ohio, his birth instead occurring in Charleston, West Virginia in January 15, 1798, being one of nine children born to John (1751-1818) and Margaret Droddy Morris (1758-1818). The meaning behind Morris' unusual first name is unknown at this time, but its origin may lie in an area called  "Calvary" (a Latinized name for the biblical land called Golgotha) which is noted as being a site outside the city walls of Jerusalem where Christ's crucifixion occurred. Whatever the origins of his name, it was certainly a peculiar name to give a child! 

   Morris's early life was spent in the state of his birth, where he is recorded as "laboring on a farm" as well as having limited educational advantages. He married in March 1818 to Athens, Ohio native Mary Polly Jewett (1797-1871) and fathered four children, Charles (1823-1919), Martha (born 1833), Jewett H. (born 1833), Emarine (1821-1827). A year following his marriage he relocated from Virginia to his wife's home county of Athens, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. Shortly after his arrival Morris established a homestead, as well as purchasing five acres of land on which to grow crops.  In mid-1819 he was offered a teaching opportunity in town, and despite his lack of formal education, took the post after being allotted three weeks time to study up on the subjects he was required to teach.

    After four years of teaching, Morris won election as Athens County sheriff in 1823 and was returned to that office two years later by a near "unanimous vote." In 1827 he was elected as one of Athens County's representatives in the Ohio General Assembly and was reelected the following year. The year 1829 saw Calvary Morris be elected to the Ohio State Senate, serving here until 1835. In his final year in the senate Morris won a third term in the house of representatives, and during this term became a leading voice in the assembly for the construction of the Hocking Valley Canal. His backing of a bill for the canal's construction was passed in February 1836 and in that same year was rewarded for his work by receiving the Whig nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives. In November of that year, Morris defeated his Democratic opponent Nahum Ward by a narrow vote of 3, 780 to 3, 703.

   Taking his seat at the start of the 1837 Congressional session, Morris would be reelected as a representative in 1838 and 1840, in the latter year besting Democrat nominee George House by a vote of 8,724 to 6, 882. During the 1841-42 term Morris served on the committee on Invalid Pensions, and was not a candidate for renomination in November, being succeeded in office by Henry St. John (1783-1869). 

   After leaving Congress Calvary Morris settled into private life in Athens, where he would engage in wool-growing, and was noted by the 1869 History of Athens County as having introduced "fine-wooled sheep into the county." He removed from Athens in 1847 and resettled in Cincinnati, where he resided for several years. Morris moved back to Athens in 1854 and was soon after elected as county probate judge, holding that office until shortly before his death, which occurred in Athens on October 13, 1871. He had been predeceased by his wife Molly in July of 1871 and both were interred at the West Union Street Cemetery in Athens.

Nation Oliver Mather (1875-1938)

From the Biographical Annals of Ohio, 1906-1907-1908.

   A successful lawyer and two-term Ohio state senator, Nation O. Mather was for a short time one of the leading lights in Ohio politics, later being elected as President Pro Tempore of the Ohio Senate in 1909. Judging from his unusual given name and later success in politics, "Nation" certainly proved to be a very apt first name! Despite being a figure of prominence in the Ohio government during the early years of the 20th century Mather is little remembered today, and a quick Google search on him only reinforces this point. While facts on Mather's life and career remain rather difficult to come by, the following lines will hopefully fill in the existing void when it comes to the life of this oddly named Buckeye State politician!

   Born on December 1, 1875, in Union County, Ohio, Nation Oliver Mather was one of five children born to John (1846-1909) and Ruth Tallman Mather (1845-1918). Mather is also mentioned by the 1938 Ohio Bar publication as being "a direct descendant of Increase Mather", the famed Puritan clergyman and president of Harvard University. He received his early education in the public schools of his home county and later studied at the Northern Indiana Normal School. 

   Following his graduation Mather returned to Union County and taught school for a few years before enrolling at the Chicago Law School, graduating from here in the class of 1898. Mather opened a law office in Akron, Ohio sometime after his graduation and in February 1902 formed a partnership with Henry Marcellus Hagelbarger in the firm of Hagelbarger and Mather. This partnership dissolved after three years and Mather later joined the firm of Grant, Sieber, and Mather, also located in Akron.

   In the mid-1900s, Mather entered the political field, becoming secretary of the Republican County Executive Committee of Summit County. In November 1905 he won election to the Ohio Senate as a Republican, defeating his opponent Charles Lawyer by a vote of 22,575 to 21, 478. Representing the 25th and 26th Senatorial district, Mather's brief biographical snippet in the Biographical Annals of Ohio 1906-1907-1908 denotes his public career with the following lines:

"Attorney. Lucrative law practice. Successful advocate. Close student of public affairs. Careful and investigating legislator. The welfare of his people his chief concern. Unmarried."

   Taking his senate seat in 1906 Mather held a seat on the committees on the Judiciary, Manufactures and Commerce, Medical Colleges, Municipal Affairs, Roads and Highways, and also chaired the committee on the Soldiers and Sailors Home. During his first senate term, Mather married in Akron on December 31, 1908, to Adeline Hoover (born 1889) and had two daughters, Betty Jane (birth date unknown) and Mary Ann (1911-1985). Described in the Ohio Manual of Legislative Practice as a "ready debater and parliamentarian of unusual ability", Mather won re-election to the Senate and during his second term was elected by his fellow senators as President Pro Tempore of the Senate for the 1909-10 term. 
   Nation O. Mather left the Ohio Senate in 1911 and in the years following his service formed another law partnership, this time with Roy H. Nesbitt. The firm of Nesbitt and Mather is listed by the American Bar Journal of 1918 as being counsel for several important companies, the Northern Ohio and Traction and Light Co, the Western Union Telegraph Co., the Erie Railroad Co. and the Wells Fargo Express Co. being among them. In 1921 Mather and Nesbit later added a third name to their firm, an up-and-coming corporate lawyer named Wendell Lewis Willkie (1892-1944), who went on to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States in 1940! 
   Nation O. Mather continued to practice law through the remainder of his life, and in November 1937 filed a substantial libel action suit against the Time, Inc. publishing company, well known as publishers of both the Time and Fortune magazines.  Fortune magazine had earlier run a story mentioning Mather which he claimed was "defamation of his reputation", and although little else could be located on the particulars of the lawsuit, the Sandusky Star Journal article below notes that the "suit was transferred from the Summit-co courts to federal court here."

                                                       From the Sandusky Star Journal, November 16, 1937.

  Within a year of filing the aforementioned lawsuit, Nation O. Mather was dead, passing away shortly before his 63rd birthday on November 9, 1938. He was survived by his wife Adeline and his two daughters and was later interred at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Akron. Following his death he was memorialized by the Akron Beacon Journal as a standout lawyer, remarking:

"He brought to his professional work a spirit of engaging friendliness, a keen understanding of law and policy, and native shrewdness. For relaxation he was devoted to outdoor sports. He had a profund interest in keeping in contact with the ever changing current of public opinion, and never lost the youthful and hopeful point of view. He was held in high regard by colleagues in his own field and a great circle of close friends."

Decius Spear Wade (1835-1905), Decius Hunt Wilcox (1828-1919)

From the Magazine of Western History, Volume 14, published in 1891.

   Tucked away in a small corner of the Oakdale Cemetery in Jefferson, Ohio lay the remains of a towering figure in the history of Montana legal circles, Mr. Decius Spear Wade. As the longest-serving Chief Justice of the Montana Territorial Supreme Court, Wade has justly been referred to as the "father of Montana jurisprudence", not only due to his service on the court but as the man who headed the committee to codify Montana's laws over three years from 1889-1892. How did this man who devoted a good majority of his public career to the development of the legal system in Montana come to rest in an out-of-the-way cemetery in Ohio? Read on to find out more!

   Born into a family influential in Buckeye State politics, Decius Spear Wade's story begins on January 23, 1835, in Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio. The second-born son of Charles and Juliet Spear Wade, Decius Wade was also the nephew of Benjamin Franklin Wade (1800-1878), U.S. Senator from Ohio (1851-1869) and President Pro Tempore of the Senate who was one of a number of Radical Republican senators who led the charge in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Decius Wade began his education in schools native to his home county of Ashtabula and was later enrolled at the Kingsville Academy, "one of the best educational institutions of Ashtabula County." The Magazine of Western History Volume 14 also notes that Wade began "teaching a district school at age sixteen" during the winter time. He began pursuing the study of law in the office of his famous uncle and after being admitted to the Ohio bar in 1857 began a law practice. Just three years later the twenty-five-year-old Wade was appointed as a probate judge for Ashtabula County, serving on the bench until 1867. 

   At the dawn of the Civil War Wade did his patriotic duty and signed on for service. He was eventually elected as a first lieutenant of his company and later participated in the defense of Cincinnati against Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith and his troops. Wade married in Ohio on June 3, 1863, to British native Bernice Galpin (1843-1912) with whom he had three children, Alice (died aged one month in 1864), Clare Lyon (1868-1966), and Charles (died aged three months in 1872). Clare Lyon Wade was the only one of the Wade children to live to adulthood and went on to graduate from Wellesley College in 1890. She would later marry in 1904 to William Edward Safford (1859-1926), a noted botanist and ethnologist in the employ of the U.S. Government. Safford would go on to further distinction as the first Lieutenant Governor of Guam, serving in this position from 1899-1900.

   Following his marriage, Wade continued in his role as probate judge until 1868, when he was elected to the Ohio State Senate from Ashtabula County. Taking his seat the following year, he served in the Senate until 1871. While still a sitting senator, Wade was appointed by President Grant to succeed Henry L. Warren as the Chief Justice of the Montana Territorial Supreme Court. In Grant's choice of selecting fellow Ohioan Wade for the post, the Magazine of Western History Volume 14 acknowledged that "the appointment was recognized as one of the best that had been made anywhere in the West. The new official was not only trained in the law, but a man of the highest character, and a member of a family that had already furnished many sons who had been an honor to the state."

   Decius Wade's appointment as Chief Justice was confirmed by the Senate in March 1871 and his service as Montana's chief jurist lasted for a record four terms (sixteen years), the longest tenure for any Chief Justice in the history of the territory. During his tenure on the bench, Wade is remarked as authoring  a number of court opinions, so many in fact that it was said that "his opinions fill more than one-half of the first six volumes of Montana Supreme Court Reports." Wade also served as a trial judge during his Supreme Court service, and in this capacity sentenced twelve men to hang. As past executions were usually reserved for Friday (hence the term "Hangman's Day"), Wade decided to break with this rather macabre tradition and sentenced a condemned man to be executed on a Thursday. As Wade later related, "I could not see but the fellow enjoyed it just as well as though Friday had been the day appointed, and I thought that poor abused Friday looked a little brighter the next morning."  This interesting side note on Wade's judgeship later received mention in a Friday the 13th article in the Blacksburg, Virginia Free-Lance Star and is shown below.

The Free Lance Star, Friday, April 13, 1990.

   While Wade's reputation as one of the territory's foremost jurists earned him wide repute, he also found time to author a law-themed novel entitled Clare Lincoln in 1875. Set during the Civil War period, Clare Lincoln was completed by Wade during his "leisure hours while seeking rest from the arduous labors on the bench" and proved to be quite popular, receiving a substantial review in the November 16, 1876 edition of The Nation.

   Decius Wade's tenure as Chief Justice concluded in May 1887 and shortly thereafter he returned to his residence in Helena where he became a partner in a local law firm. He was called back to public service in 1889 when he was appointed by then Montana Governor Preston H. Leslie as the chairman of a commission to "codify the criminal and civil law and procedure and to, revise, compile and arrange the statute laws of Montana." Also tasked with this seemingly impossible job were former Montana territorial Governor Benjamin Platt Carpenter  (1837-1921) and prominent state attorney and judge Frederick W. Cole (1837-1895), who died shortly before the Montana legislature adopted the commission's report in July 1895. Wade had earlier spoken before the Helena Bar Association on the commission's work in 1894, and his speech before that body was later reworked into a pamphlet entitled  Necessity for Codification.

From "Montana, Its Story and Biography, Vol. I, published 1921.

   In 1895 Wade returned to his home county of Ashtabula, Ohio, and retired to his family's ancestral home "Little Medford" in the town of Andover. During his twilight years, Wade is noted as being a "frequent contributor" to law magazines of the time and died on August 4, 1905, at age 70 at his home. He was memorialized in a resolution of the Montana Supreme Court, which notes that "we also cherish the memory of Chief Justice Wade for his manly personal character, his uniform courtesy to all with whom he sustained official relations, his dignity and bearing while on the bench, his kind and noble disposition  incapable of entertaining malice, and his attractive social qualities."
  Following his death, Decius Wade was interred at the Oakdale Cemetery in Jefferson, Ohio. His uncle Benjamin F. Wade is also interred here, as is Bernice Galpin Wade, who died in November 1912 at age 79. On July 17, 2013, I was able to visit and photograph Wade's gravesite at Oakdale, and some photos from the trip are posted below.

  Located behind a large grove of poppies is Decius Wade's headstone, indicating his birth in Andover, Ohio. Curiously, no mention is given as to his service in the Ohio Senate or his numerous contributions to the Montana legal system.

  Decius Wade's headstone is located on the right side of the family plot. Also interred here are his children Alice and Charles Wade, both of whom died in infancy. Their headstones are similar in shape and size to those of their father and mother. Clare Lyon Wade, Decius' second-born child, died in Washington D.C. in 1966 at age 97. A burial location for her is unknown at this time.

  Buried a few feet in the back of Decius Wade's family plot is the gravestone of his famous uncle, Senator Benjamin Franklin Wade. Imposing in its size, it is an impressive monument to a very prominent 19th-century public official--a man who came within a hair's breadth of becoming the 18th President of the United States (had Andrew Johnson been convicted during his impeachment trial in 1868!) Also interred near both of these plots is the gravesite of Congressman Joshua Reed Giddings (1795-1864), who represented Ashtabula County in the U.S. House of Representatives for over two decades. A former law partner of Benjamin Wade, Giddings later served as U.S. Consul General to Canada, where he died in 1864. 

Decius Hunt Wilcox, courtesy of www.legis.state.pa.us

  Another "Decius" who was elected to public office was Decius Hunt Wilcox, a one-term member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly from Schuylkill County. Born in Harpersfield, New York in September 1828, Decius Wilcox was the son of Aaron and Electa (Barnum) Wilcox. He removed to Dauphin County, Pennsylvania at an early age and in 1841 settled with his family in Schuylkill County. A farmer for the majority of his life, Wilcox was also a teacher in the Donaldson and Tremont, Pennsylvania areas.

   In 1863 Wilcox relocated to Llewellyn, Pennsylvania, where he took over ownership of the American Hotel. He remained there until 1865 and afterward continued in hotel management at the United States Hotel in Tamaqua (residing here from 1865-67), at Uniontown (1867-69), and at the American House at Mechanicsburg (from 1869-70.) He returned to Llewellyn sometime later and was still residing here when he was elected to the Pennsylvanian State House of Representatives in 1876. Serving in the session of 1877-78, Wilcox held seats on the committees on the Bureau of Statistics, Mines and Mining, Iron and Coal, and the Military. 

   Decius Wilcox retired from the hotel business in 1889 and continued to reside in Llewellyn, Pennsylvania until his death at age 90 on April 19, 1919. He was survived by his wife Angeline (1835-1931), who, following her death at age 96, was interred alongside him at the Llewellyn Cemetery. 

General George Oleander Pence (1879-1955), General Washington Lookadoo (1904-1972), General Harrison Marcum (1872-1930), General Lee Aderhold (1892-1975), General Lorenzo Chapman (1868-1911)

From the Ohio State Manual.

  I'm sure if you've read the full name of the gentleman profiled today, most of you are probably scratching your heads in wonder, probably saying something along the lines of "this guy is a General named George...what's so strange about that?" While the name George isn't strange in the slightest, the man in the suit and tie shown above has the unique distinction of having a military title as a given first name, and with that little factoid, I'll now explain how that came to be!

  General George Oleander Pence was an Ohio State Representative during the early part of the 20th century, hailing from the county of Highland. His unusual first name is given mention in the 1912 Ohio State Manual and is explained thusly: "The prefix Hon. for Honorable and the name General would seem to indicate a misnomer, but in this case it is not so, as the subject is entitled to the prefix and although General is rather an unusual given name, it was provided for Mr. Pence by his parents." Why Pence's parents decided to bestow the name "General" upon their son has been lost to history, and seeing that Pence himself never served in the military, one can wonder if he was ever mistakenly identified as a high ranking military figure due to his interesting first name.

   Pence's story begins in the town of Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio, where he was born on May 6, 1879. One of several children born to Wesley and Susannah Duckwell Pence, General G.O. Pence attended schools local to the Hillsboro area and married fellow Highland County native Edith Marie Fawley (1880-1960) in 1903. Two sons were eventually born to this couple, Gerald Leroy (1906-1996) and Wesley Ralph (1909-1998). 

  Like most of the politicians profiled here on the site, G.G.O. Pence is recorded as being a farmer for the majority of his life, and is listed in his Ohio legislative biography as "recognized as being in the front rank of scientific farmers in Ohio." In addition to being a farmer, Pence later was elected as a township trustee for Hillsboro, serving for an indeterminate length of time.

                This portrait of G.G.O Pence appeared in a 1912 Ohio State Legislative manual.

    General G.O. Pence won election to the Ohio State House of Representatives in November 1912 from Highland County. Taking office in January of the following year, Pence was named to seats on the legislative committees on Agriculture, Fish and Game, Public Schools, and Public Waterways. He was reelected to the legislature in 1914 and after serving four years in the House of Representatives was elected to the Ohio Senate in the election of 1916. His term in the senate extended from 1917 to 1921, and his terms of service here saw him chair the standing committee on Enrollment as well as holding a seat on the committees on County Affairs, Common Schools, Agriculture, Public Works, Roads and Highways, and Finance. The Ohio State Manual also denotes that Pence's "principal desire was to benefit the greatest number of people" while serving in the legislature.

   Little could be found on Pence's life after leaving public office, although he maintained involvement in a number of local fraternal organizations in Hillsboro, including the Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen, the Sons of Veterans and Knights Templars. Pence died in Hillsboro on August 31, 1955 at age 76 and was survived by both of his sons and his wife Edith, who died in 1960. Both were later interred at the local Hillsboro Cemetery.

From the Hillsboro, Ohio News-Herald, October 22, 1914.

   A few short months after the G.G.O Pence profile was put online, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a comment on his article, courtesy of Mr. Wesley Pence, who happens to be G.G.O.'s great-grandson! Wesley related in his comments that General G.O. Pence was a descendant of a family based in the United States dating back to the late 17th century. Wesley went on to relate that G.G.O was viewed as a bit of a "dandy" by some in Highland County, dressing in fashionable suits, spats and also owning a diamond-studded cane! According to Pence family lore, G.G.O was also believed to have had a stake in "gambling operations throughout Ohio, along with other questionable enterprises of the day" and may have fraternized with some shadowy characters in Ohio's capital during his time in state government!

   General G.O Pence's "double life" is certainly one of the more interesting tidbits I've been forwarded during the time I've profiling people here, and Pence's odd name was mentioned by Wesley as being "overblown and pretentious" with no other instances of the name "General" or "Oleander" occurring anywhere in the Pence family lineage. The spelling of Oleander (Pence's second middle name) is also spelled "Olander", and the former spelling is believed to be a corruption of the latter. It has also been related to me that G.G.O was characterized as being "very stern, particularly with children" and wasn't above using his diamond-studded cane as a persuasive tool to quiet down rambunctious youngsters,

  Through further correspondence, Wesley also related that Pence was most often referred to as "Senator" by his contemporaries, and one can certainly wonder if he was ever introduced as the "Honorable Senator General" when campaigning for office! G.G.O's son Wesley Ralph followed in his father's footsteps and began a career in public office, and while still in his early twenties was elected as prosecuting attorney for Hillsboro, Ohio. 

  I'd like to extend a hearty thank you to Wesley Pence for his kind comments, as well as his insight into the interesting life of his wonderfully named great-grandfather. While I've received many comments on articles over the past two years, I've always believed that ones from family members and descendants yield the most interesting pieces of information, and that is certainly the case here! Many thanks again for your help!

Portrait courtesy of ark-ives.com.

  Another political figure that was bestowed General as a first name was General Washington Lookadoo, a member of both houses of the Arkansas legislature as well as a prosecuting attorney for the 8th judicial circuit. A lifelong Arkansan, Lookadoo was born on April 5, 1904, in Amity, Arkansas,  the son of Joseph Kelly and Fannie (Emory) Lookadoo. A student at the Amity High School, Lookadoo would further his studies at the Henderson Brown College and the Arkansas Teacher's College during the 1920s. Deciding upon a career in law, he would attend the Arkansas Law School and following his graduation established his practice in Arkadelphia. General W. Lookadoo married in March 1928 in Smackover, Arkansas to Ora Mae Potts (1911-1990), to whom he was wed for over four decades. The couple would have at least one son, General Washington Lookadoo Jr. (1936-2007). 

   Lookadoo began his political career in 1938 when he was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives from Hot Spring County. Serving in the session of 1939-41, Lookadoo sought a seat in the state Senate during his last year in office and won that election, taking his seat in the Senate in 1941. He would be elected to three further terms in that body (1943, 1945, and 1947) and during the 1945-46 session was named to the committees on Books, the Budget, Efficiency, Judiciary "B", Mines and Mining, Oil and Gas, Public Buildings and the Capitol, Refunding, Rules, Temperance, and chaired the committee on Workman's Compensation.

   Following his legislative service Lookadoo returned to practicing law and from 1951-54 held the post of prosecuting attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit. In 1956 he held a municipal judgeship in Arkadelphia and was also active in several non-political areas in that city, being the first president of the Arkadelphia Lions Club, a Mason, and a past director of the Elkhorn Bank and Trust Co. Lookadoo died on March 21, 1972 at age 67 and was later interred at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Arkadelphia.

From the July 1972 Arkansas Lawyer.

General Harrison Marcum, from the 1929 West Virginia Blue Book.

  Hailing from the town of Crum in Wayne County, West Virginia, General Harrison Marcum is yet another state legislator who lucked into receiving this military title as a first name. A one-term member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, Marcum was born in Crum on November 22, 1872, the son of Van Buren and Millie (Queen) Marcum. He was a student in the common schools of Wayne County and after completing his schooling is remarked as a "prosperous merchant at Crum". Marcum married at an unknown date to Verona Jeffrey (1878-1944) and the couple would have at least five children, Grady, Clyde L., Auxier (1904-1934), Myrtle, and Pearl (1910-1949). 

  General H. Marcum had never held public office prior to his election to the house of delegates and won a seat in that body in the election of 1928. He served on the committees on Medicine and Sanitation, Humane Institutions and Public Buildings, and State Boundaries during his term and died in office on September 16, 1930, at age 57. Several of Marcum's fellow delegates would attend his funeral and he was later buried at the Crum Cemetery. 

Portrait courtesy of the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

   Named in honor of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, General Lee Aderhold was a retired railway conductor who served several terms in the Tennessee General Assembly from McMinn County. A native of Gwinnett County, Georgia, Aderhold was born on April 24, 1892, the son of John Thomas and Emma Savannah (Brownlee) Aderhold. Listed by many sources under the initials "G.L.", Aderhold married at an unknown date to Lillie Mae Ross (1894-1987), with whom he had several children, including  Roy Frank (1910-1929), General Lee Jr. (born 1919), Robert Hugh (1922-1976), Max (1926-1972), William Joseph (1932-1971), Thomas Martin (1934-2018)

  Little is known of Aderhold's life prior to his service in the legislature, except notice of his being a conductor for the Atlanta Division of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. A member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Order of Railroad Conductors, Aderhold won election to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1948 and following service in the 1949-50 session was elected to a second term in 1954.

  Aderhold's service in the 1955-56 term saw him as a member of the Republican caucus and would subsequently be elected to seven more terms in the assembly, the last of which concluded in 1970. Aderhold died in Etowah, Tennessee on October 31, 1975. He was survived by his wife Lillie and both were later interred at the Green Hill Cemetery in Etowah.

Chapman's portrait from the 1909 Kansas legislative composite (author's collection). 

   A two-term member of the Kansas State Senate from Barton County, General Lorenzo Chapman is yet another political figure with this misnomer first name--He never served in the military! A prominent figure in the aforementioned county, Chapman lived to the age of just 42 and despite his length of years lived a full and eventful life. Interestingly, I located Chapman's portrait (shown above) on a 1909 Kansas legislative composite I purchased off of eBay a year or two ago and was pleasantly surprised to find not only his portrait but one of San Francisco (the Kansas representative, not the city!!)

  A native of Carthage, Missouri, General Lorenzo Chapman was born in that city on April 10, 1868, being the son of Edward and Anna Elizabeth (Jones) Chapman. By 1875 the Chapman family had removed to Barton County, Kansas and General (or G.L., as most sources list him) would marry in this county on October 9, 1895 to Viola "Ola" Brinkman (1873-1961). The couple would have three children, Elizabeth (died in infancy in 1896), Lawrence Brinkman (born 1898), and Vera (born 1901).

 Following Chapman's settlement in Great Bend, Kansas, he began a lengthy connection with the First National Bank of that city, and in 1891 was elected as its cashier. His tenure in that post extended until 1894, and in the year following succeeded to the presidency, continuing in that role until his death sixteen years later. Chapman's stewardship of the First National received passing mention in the 1915 Biographical History of Barton County, which notes:

"The real history of the bank began with the election of G.L. Chapman as cashier in 1891 and he was from that date to the date of his death, the active manager and guiding genius of the bank, carrying it through the panic of 1893 and the years of depression that followed."

Portrait from the Biographical History of Barton County, Kansas, 1915.

  General L. Chapman began his political career at the local level, being elected as treasurer for the Great Bend school board in 1891. He would also hold the chairmanship of the Barton County Republican Central Committee and in November 1904 was elected to his first term in the Kansas Senate from the 35th senatorial district. During the 1905-07 session, Chapman served on the committees on Banks and Banking, Public Buildings, Railroads, State Affairs, and Ways and Means, and in November 1908 won his second term in the Senate. 

  Chapman continued to hold his seat until several months before his death, when, as the result of a nervous breakdown, was "compelled to give up all business and was unable to attend the legislature." He was later taken to a Denver, Colorado sanitarium in an attempt to improve his health but shortly before his death was transferred to a hospital in Kansas City (see obituary below.) Chapman died in Kansas City on March 20, 1911, aged just 42, and was survived by his wife Ola. Following her death at age 88 in 1961, Ola Chapman was interred alongside her husband at the Great Bend Cemetery. 

Chapman's obituary from the Topeka State Journal, March 20, 1911.

From the April 8, 1911 WaKeeney West Kansas World.

Arius Nye (1792-1865)

From the Genealogy of the Nye Family, 1907.

   After yesterday's biography of Mississippi native Servetus L. Crockett, we journey North to Ohio to profile Arius Nye, a prominent citizen of both Muskingum and Washington County. Nye served as a member of both houses of the Ohio legislature and also served stints as Prosecuting Attorney and Presiding Judge of Washington County.
  Arius Nye was born in Campus Martius (a fortification located in what is now Marietta, Ohio) on December 27, 1792. Arius was the fourth of twelve children born to Ichabod Nye (1763-1840) and his wife Minerva. Arius's oddly named younger brother (Anselm Tupper Nye, 1797-1881) also became a noted businessman and politician, serving as Mayor of Marietta on several occasions.
   Arius received his education at the Campus Martius fortification and later studied in common schools near the Marietta area. As a youngster, he was sent by his father to the town of Springfield (near modern-day Zanesville) in Muskingum County to work in a mercantile store. Barely into his twenties, Nye was named as a director of the Muskingum Bank in the settlement of Putnam and shortly thereafter went into business with his father in a firm called "I. and A. Nye".
   During his residence in Muskingum County, Arius Nye was admitted to the Ohio bar in the late 1810s and also married here in 1815. He and his wife (Rowena Millicent Spencer) would go on to have eight children, who are listed as follows: Arius Spencer (born 1816), Benjamin Tupper (1818-1878), Dudley Selden (born 1820), William Spencer (born 1823), Frances Rowena (1826-1890), George (born 1828), Harriett (born 1834) and Virginia Sophia (1837-1865). Arius's wife Rowena died in 1842 and five years later he remarried to Ms. Carolina Marie Sisson (1814-1901) and had three more children: Haile Collins Tupper (born 1850), Minerva Tupper (born 1853) and lastly, Theodore Sedgwick  (born 1854). 
   Nye was removed from Muskingum County to the town of Gallipolis in 1822 and shortly thereafter moved back to Marietta, where he established a law practice. During his early Marietta residency, Nye was a cashier and President of the Bank of Marietta and was later a trustee of the Marietta College. In 1827 he was elected to his first term in the Ohio State House of Representatives (representing Washington County) and was reelected to this body in 1828 and 1840. A roster from the legislative sessions in which Nye served has been provided below.

   In the year following his second term in the legislature, Arius Nye was elected as Prosecuting Attorney of Washington County. He served in this post until 1840, and in addition to his decade of service in this office, Nye was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1831 and 1832. 

  The first few years of the 1840s proved to be quiet ones for Nye, and it wasn't until 1847 that he returned to public life. In that year he was named as Presiding Judge for a district that comprised six Ohio counties (Athens, Gallia, Lawrence, Meigs, Morgan, and Washington.) It is noted in the Nye Family of America that "to reach the county seats he was compelled to ride horseback" and because of the arduous nature of the judgeship, Nye only served three years in this post.

  Arius Nye died at age 72 in Marietta on July 27, 1865. It is remarked in the earlier mentioned work that at the time of his decease, Nye "maintained a wider celebrity than any other man living in Marietta." Arius, his first wife Rowena, and his younger brother Anselm are buried in the Mound Cemetery, located in Marietta. Caroline Sisson Nye, Arius's second wife, died aged 87 in 1901 and was buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery, also located in Marietta. 

Matere Eakins Beman (1859-1929)

Portrait from Ohio Legislative History 1909-1912, Vol. I

   The political figure profiled today is Matere Eakins Beman, a little-known native of Gallia County, Ohio who served one term in the Ohio state senate from 1913-1919. A small biography of Mr. Beman is located in the Ohio Legislative History Manual of 1913, where the majority of this article's information was culled from.

   Matere Eakins Beman was born on June 27, 1859, in Thurman, Ohio. He attended schools local to the Gallia County, Ohio area, and married in 1894 to Maggie Thurman. Most of the available sources on Beman mention him as a farmer and stock raiser, with emphasis on his raising of "purebred cattle". He was also involved in banking in his native county for a number of years preceding his legislative service, serving as the president of the First National Bank of Thurman. The Ohio Legislative Manual also gives a note on Beman's public stature in his native town, citing his service as mayor, town councilman, and later as a member of the school board.

   In 1912 Beman was nominated by the citizens of Gallia County for a seat in the Ohio State Senate. He ran as a Republican and was elected to the legislature "by a majority of 1600". After taking his seat in 1913, Beman is noted as giving "most of his attention to bills affecting the farming interests" of his district and state. He served on three committees during his Senate service, including the Committee on Banks and Savings Societies, Fees and Salaries, and Prisons and Prison Reform.

  Beman's Senate tenure lasted but one term, and after leaving the legislature returned to his earlier banking and farming interests. He died in Thurman on November 1, 1929, at age 70 and was buried in the Gallia County Cemetery. A small obituary on Beman memorializes him as "one of the county's wealthiest citizens, and was said to be the largest individual taxpayers in the county." 

From the Lima Morning State and Republican Gazette, November 2, 1929.