Twing Reuben Hitt (1847-1922)

Portrait from the Binghamton Press, November 3, 1913.

   One of the best things about researching some of these oddly named folks is the continual discovery of persons you had no idea existed. While doing further research on Beveridge C. Dunlop (a one-term New York state assemblyman profiled here in June 2013), I happened across the abbreviated name of "T.R. Hitt", mentioned in the 1914 New York Red Book as having been the Prohibition Party nominee for the state assembly from Broome County. As luck would have it, Hitt's full name was revealed to be Twing Reuben Hitt, making him the first (and likely only) man with that first name to run for political office in New York State!

   A prominent lumberman and sawmill proprietor in Killawog, New York, Twing Reuben Hitt was born on April 21, 1847, being the son of John W. and Roxy (Smith) Hitt. Little could be found on Hitt's early life, except notice of his service in the Civil War. A 1963 edition of the Cortland Democrat records him as being sick in an army hospital in November 1864 and later notes that he was granted a twenty-day furlough the following month. 

   Twing R. Hitt married on October 21, 1872, in Killawog to Ella Phetteplace (1849-1900) and had three daughters, Jennie (1871-1913) Clara (born 1881), and Alta (born 1883). Following Ella Hitt's death in 1900, Twing would remarry to Addie Hinman (1867-1947), who survived him upon his death in 1922.

   Around 1869 Twing Hitt entered the lumber business in Killawog and would follow that line of work for over three decades. Hitt's sawmill in that town was later remarked as having "cut a million feet of timber annually", but later reduced its output to about three thousand feet a year. Hitt's mill was later joined by a grist and feed mill, which provided "custom grinding" and the production of buckwheat flour. In the early 1890s tragedy struck when Hitt's mill was destroyed by fire, along with a "large amount of seasoned lumber". Not one to let a loss get the best of him, Hitt took stock of his losses and quickly erected a new mill, one:

"Fully equipped with machinery for sawing, planing, matching, lath and shingle making, and a grinding."

  Following the erection of his new mill, Twing Hitt continued to expand his name through Broome County, erecting four stately houses in Binghamton and also built a grain elevator and sales room near the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad depot. 

A Hitt campaign notice from the Binghamton Press, October 31, 1913.

    Acknowledged as a prominent business leader in Northern Broome County, Twing R. Hitt's sterling reputation eventually led to his jump into politics in 1909. In that year he accepted the nomination of the Prohibition Party as their candidate for the New York State Assembly and on election day placed third in a field of four candidates, garnering 673 votes.

   In 1913 Hitt was again the Prohibition nominee for the assembly, and in that campaign season notices touting his candidacy appeared in Broome County newspapers. In one notice (the Binghamton Press article shown above), Hitt's candidacy attempted to entice religious voters, noting that:

"Mr. Hitt is the only candidate who dares except the brazen challenge to the Christian voters of Broome County, by pledging his support and vote against legislation legalizing Sunday baseball, which is but a leader to an open Sunday in our state."

   Cautioning to keep Sunday holy (and, evidently, without any amusement whatsoever) Hitt found a firm backer in local clergyman Robert L. Clark, who later wrote a political advertisement for Hitt in the Binghamton Press. In that notice, Clark intoned that:

"God commands that we remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Mr. T.R. Hitt, the Prohibition candidate for the Assembly, is the only candidate who dares to stand on God's platform. Quick and Seymour are pledged to legalize the violation of God's law. Ruland is playing Good Lord and Good Devil for your votes. God says: "He that is not for me is against me."

   When Broome County voters went to the polls on November 4, 1913, it was Republican candidate Simon P. Quick who won out, netting 7,601 votes. Twing Hitt polled a respectable 1,278 votes but still placed fourth in a field of five candidates. Hitt would reemerge on the local political scene three years later when he became the Prohibition candidate for Broome County Treasurer but again went down to defeat.
   Twing Hitt continued to reside in Killawog until his death from heart disease on June 18, 1922. He was survived by his second wife Addie and two daughters and was interred at the Killawog Cemetery.

From the Cincinnatus Times, June 1922.

Armentus Boyden Bixby (1834-1909)

Portrait from the "Men of Vermont, published 1894.

   With Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders making his presence felt on the American political landscape, I thought it was high time for a return to the Green Mountain State to profile an oddly named man who in 1888 was the nominee of the Prohibition Party for Vermont State Treasurer--Armentus Boyden Bixby. Descended from a family with its roots in New England extending back several generations, Armentus B. Bixby was born in Mt. Holly, Vermont on June 26, 1834, the son of Armentus William and Hannah Stoddard Bixby. Soon after his birth, the Bixby family moved to Shalersville, Ohio, where in 1841 both parents died of typhoid fever one day apart. The Bixby children would be taken in by relatives back in Mt. Holly and during his childhood engaged in farm work during the summer months and attended local schools in the winter. 

   After reaching his late teens Bixby decided upon a career in medicine, beginning his studies at the Black Rock Academy and later the Kimball Union Academy. From there he went on to attend the Castleton Medical College in Meriden, Connecticut, graduating in the class of 1858. A year before his graduation Bixby married on St. Patrick's Day 1857 to Annie French (died 1860), with whom he had one daughter, Lola Anne. Following his first wife's death, Bixby remarried in October 1862 to Elnora E. Howard (1837-1901). This marriage would see the births of three more children,  Salome Eliza (1873-1953), Maud (died in infancy in 1877), and Howard A. (died in infancy in 1880).

   In 1860 Armentus Boyden Bixby settled in Londonderry, Vermont, where he established a medical practice. His practice would grow to be "large and extensive" and in 1862 joined in the ongoing war effort, becoming an assistant surgeon in the 4th Reg. Vermont Volunteers. Discharged in October 1864, Bixby returned to practicing medicine in Londonderry and in 1882 retired on "account of ill health". Shortly after his retirement he and his family removed to the neighboring town of Poultney, where he resided until his death. 

   An avowed Republican for the majority of his life, Bixby changed his political leanings in 1884 when he joined the ranks of the Prohibition Party. A member of the state Prohibition Party committee and former chairman of the state Prohibition convention, Bixby was the Prohibition candidate for Vermont State Treasurer in 1888, squaring off against Republican nominees William Dubois and Democrat William Peck.  On election day Bixby polled a distant third, garnering only 1, 375 votes compared to Dubois' winning total of 48, 387.

From the St. Johnsbury Caledonian.

   Following his candidacy for state treasurer Bixby was nominated for Rutland County judge of probate in 1892, again being the nominee of the prohibitionists. He was again dealt a loss on election day and after this defeat was never again a candidate for public office. Bixby's second wife Elnora died in January 1901 and three years later he remarried to Mary Helen Hosford (1869-1963), who was over thirty years his junior. The couple was married until Bixby's death at age 74 in Poultney on May 3, 1909. He was later interred in the Bixby family plot at the Poultney Cemetery. 

Armentus Bixby, from the Genealogical Lines of Salome E. Bixby Ross, 1902.

Alos Blank Shaner (1855-1928)

Alos Blank Shaner, from the "Poultry Tribune", Vol. 23, 1917.

    The small city of Lanark, Illinois can lay claim to electing a truly odd-named man as its Mayor--Alos Blank Shaner. A one-term mayor of this Carroll County city (whose population hovered around the 1,500 mark as of the 2010 census), Shaner was an avowed advocate of temperance and in addition to serving as a Mayor and alderman was engaged in a rather unusual past-time, one as far removed from politics as one can imagine--the breeding of chickens! Shaner gained wide prominence throughout the United States as a poultry judge and breeder, even serving as a member of the American Poultry Association Board of Judges.

    A resident of Pennsylvania for the first fifteen years of his life, Alos Blank Shaner was born in Frederick, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on March 16, 1855, one of five children born to John and Maria Shaner. The Shaner family left Pennsylvania in 1870 and settled in Ogle County, Illinois, where Alos would complete his schooling. In January 1877 Shaner married Fanny C. Oltmans (1857-1955), with whom he would have three children, John Albert (1880-1942) Ina (birth-date unknown), and Iva (1895-1973).

   Early in his Illinois residency Alos Shaner began an interest in farming and the raising of poultry, and after removing to Carroll County in the early 1880s continued to build a reputation as a "poultry fancier" and breeder. A specialist in the breeding of "Barred Plymouth Rocks, Buff Leghorns and Colchins" as well as Poland-China hogs, Shaner's reputation in these fields was spotlighted by the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, which notes that he:

"Won his success in the poultry business through careful study and patient effort, and has mastered the full details of his work. Though he abandoned the hog raising industry when he located in Lanark, he still has engagements to act as a judge of hogs and sheep at several live stock shows and state fairs."

    Shaner's status as a poultry judge wasn't just limited to Illinois, however. From the start of his judging career in 1894 Shaner would visit and judge poultry exhibitions in a total of "twenty-nine states, many of them several times", and by the early 1900s was residing in Lanark, Illinois on a "high-class chicken farm." A lifetime member of the American Poultry Association (as well as a member of its board of judges), Shaner was a longstanding advocate of temperance and held the office of President of the Carroll County Law and Order League, as well as the County Temperance League. 
   It wasn't until Shaner settled in Lanark that he began to seek political office, and in 1902 ran on the Prohibition ticket for the Illinois General Assembly. Hoping to represent the state's 12th district in the assembly, Shaner placed fourth out of four candidates on election day, polling only 812 votes to winning Republican candidate James E. Taggart's 12, 481. An electoral result from that election (featured in the Daily News Almanac) is shown below.

    Several years following his assembly loss Alos Shaner was elected as a Lanark city alderman and was still serving in that post when he was elected as Mayor of Lanark in 1911. Little information could be located on his time as mayor (as well as the length of his term), but it has been found that he was a "former mayor" by April 1914, being mentioned as such in a Pacific Poultry Craft magazine published that year. Following his term as mayor Shaner would continue to be active in poultry showings and in January 1917 won several awards for his birds at a Cedar Rapids, Iowa exhibition. 

   On February 14, 1928, Alos Blank Shaner died in Lanark at the age of 72. He was survived by his wife and two children and was interred at the Lanark City Cemetery. Fanny O. Shaner survived Alos by nearly thirty years, dying in 1955 at age 98, and was laid to rest at the same cemetery as her husband.

Alos B. Shaner, from the Poultry Garden and Home, Vol. 5, 1898.

Barr Spangler (1822-1922)

From the Numismatist, Volume 35, 1922.

   A distinguished figure in the history of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Barr Spangler was noted as being the oldest active bank president in the United States at the time of his death at age 100 in 1922. The first oddly named centenarian political figure to warrant a profile here, Spangler was also a prominent figure in the Prohibition Party during the 1860s and 70s, being that party's candidate for Pennsylvania state auditor general on two occasions.

  Spangler was born in Marietta, Pennsylvania on January 13, 1822, a son of John and Anna Barr Spangler. He spent his entire life in Lancaster County and at age 14 began employment as a clerk in a dry goods store. He was given control of this business while still a young man and was later joined by his elder brother William, his son Charles, and a nephew, J. Barr Spangler. On February 2, 1847, Spangler married in Marietta to Mary Ann Sultzbach (1826-1921), and the couple later became the parents of five children, who are listed as follows in order of birth: Cuvler (1848-1906), Anna Bell (1850-1938), David (born 1854), William (born 1856) and Charles Sumner (born 1857).

  While still the proprietor of the B. and C.S. Spangler firm, Barr Spangler became a director of the First National Bank of Marietta and continued in this role for fifty-nine years, terminated only by his death in 1922. He made his first attempt at elective office in 1869, when he ran on the Prohibition or 'Temperance" Party ticket for Pennsylvania State Auditor General. He polled only 3,186 votes, compared to Republican David Stanton, who won the election with 284,097 votes. 

  In 1872 Barr Spangler made another attempt for state auditor, running once again on the prohibition platform. When the votes were tallied on election day he polled only 1,260 votes, placing a distant third in a field of three candidates. Republican candidate Harrison Allen (1835-1904) emerged as the victor with over 350,000 votes and went on to serve as state auditor from 1872 to 1875. In 1885 Spangler was the Prohibition candidate for State Treasurer of Pennsylvania but again came up short in the vote count, garnering only 627 votes to Matthew S. Quay's winning total of 5,338.

  Following his defeat, Spangler continued to be a prominent figure amongst the ranks of the Prohibition Party, even being selected as a delegate to the State Prohibition Convention in 1887. In addition to his numerous candidacies, Spangler served as the Treasurer of the Pennsylvania State Temperance Union for several years.

   Barr Spangler celebrated his 100th birthday on January 13, 1922, and was honored at a dinner celebrating his life, according to volume 35 of the Numismatist. He received a congratulatory telegram from then President Warren Harding and Pennsylvania Governor William C. Sproul, and was noted to be in excellent health at the time of his centennial and was remarked as being a "firm believer in fresh air and very little medicine." Spangler died on September 17, 1922, eight months after his 100th birthday. He willed $5000 to the Marietta First Methodist Episcopal Church and was interred at the Marietta Cemetery.