Cora Ransom Strain (1871-1960)

From the Colorado State Yearbook, 1945.

  Three-term Colorado state representative Cora Ransom Strain received passing mention in the previous article on Hackett D. Smartt, a fellow Lamar, Colorado native who defeated him for reelection to the state house of representatives in November 1948. As one can see, Strain is a male political figure who was unfortunately saddled with a female first name, a fact that left even the compilers of the Colorado legislative database confused--some even thinking that he was of the opposite gender! All humor aside, Cora Ransom Strain was long a power player in Lamar, Colorado, having a hand in several business concerns in that city. A former member of the city council and president of the Lamar Chamber of Commerce, Strain served three consecutive terms in the Colorado House of Representatives beginning in 1943.

  The son of George Ransom and Euzena Strain, Cora Ransom Strain's birth occurred in Paynetown, Indiana on August 15, 1871. In addition to the man profiled today, the Strain family could also boast of another unusually named figure who attained political and business prominence, Leco Perch "Lee" Strain (1887-1976). The younger brother of Cora Ransom, " Lee" Strain served over a decade in the Colorado state senate and was an important business leader in the town of La Junta.

  A student in the public schools of Indiana, Cora R. Strain was employed in a quarry and in railroad construction prior to his resettlement in Colorado in 1895. Prior to his removal, Strain married in Indiana to May Phoebe Parnell in the early 1890s and later had one son, Francis Elwin "Frank" Strain (1893-1948). Strain later remarried in Kansas in 1899 to Vella M. Carnahan (1879-1961), to who he was wed until his death. The couple's lengthy union saw the births of nine children, those being: Marion Evans (1900-1984), McKinley (1901-), Mildred (1905-1990), Clair Ransom, Pat, Earl Edwin (1918-1945), Carl Warren (born 1920), and two other children that died in infancy. Of these children, Marion Evans Strain followed his father into politics, preceding him as a state representative from Prowers County, an office that he held from 1935-41.

  After establishing roots in the town of Lamar, Cora R. Strain joined with his uncle Morton in the latter's seed, grain, and coal business. Their operation, known as Strain and Strain, underwent a name change in 1901 when another brother, Charles Raymond, joined the firm. Cora and Charles later branched out into the ice and storage business, taking ownership of the Union Ice and Cold Storage Co. in 1908, and in the following year, both helped to open the first public swimming pool in Lamar.

Cora R. Strain as he looked prior to his legislative service.

  Cora Strain would further add to his business resume through the 1900s and 1910s, operating a farm and being a founding organizer and director of the Lamar Gas and Electric Company in 1908; a director of the Lamar Savings and Loan Association beginning in 1913; a member of the Lamar Alf Milling Company, and in 1920 took office as vice president and director of the newly chartered Valley State Bank. Strain and his brother Charles also made headway into the soft drink industry in 1930, when they established a Coca-Cola bottling facility in Lamar, which they continued to operate well into the 1940s. 

  A former president of the Lamar Chamber of Commerce from 1931-32, Strain was also a school board member for nearly two decades and began his political career at the local level with his service on the Lamar city council. He would serve six years on the council, and in 1942 announced his candidacy for the Colorado House of Representatives from Prowers County. After winning the Republican nomination, Strain faced off against Democratic nominee Edward O. Russell. That November Strain eked out a narrow win over Russell, 1,672 to 1,666, and took his seat in the legislature in January 1943.

  The 1943-45 term saw Strain chair the committee on Mercantile and Manufacturing Interests, and also sat as a member of the committees on Banking, Corporations, Indian and Military Affairs, Insurance, and Labor. He would win reelection in 1944 and 1946, and during his final term (1947-49) was named to four new committees, those being Finance, Ways and Means; Printing; Railroads; and Rules. He would be defeated in his bid for a fourth term in November 1948, losing out to Hackett Davidson Smartt. 

  Following his final term in state government, Cora Strain continued residence in Lamar and in 1951 saw his younger brother Leco begin a thirteen-year stint as a state senator from Crowley and Otero County. A Mason and longstanding member of the B.P.O. Elks Lodge, Cora Ransom Strain died in Lamar on April 8, 1960, aged 88. His wife Vella survived him by one year, and following her death in September 1961 was interred alongside him at the Fairmount Cemetery in Lamar. 

Hackett Davidson Smartt (1892-1991)

From the Colorado State Yearbook, 1951.

   Another oddly named Colorado state representative discovered recently, Hackett Davidson Smartt served three consecutive terms in his state's house of representatives and lived to age 98, but despite prominence in state government and a near century-long lifespan, his life largely remains obscure. A native of Tennessee, Hackett Davidson Smartt was born in the settlement of Smartt Station (located in Warren County) on August 18, 1892, the son of Frank George and Anna Belle Smartt. 

  No information could be located in regards to Smartt's early life in Tennessee or the extent of his education, and by 1915 is recorded as a resident of Prowers County, Colorado. He married in that county in April of the following year to Lela Mae Richmond (1889-1978), and the couple's sixty-two-year marriage saw the births of four children, Edward Richmond (1917-1980), Frank Hackett (1918-2008), Jack William (1922-2005) and Bettie Ann (born 1928).

  Following his resettlement in Prowers County, Hackett Smartt became a leader in agricultural circles in his region, operating a farm near the town of Lamar. The first local agent for the Farm Automobile Insurance Company in Lamar, Smartt would serve a decade long tenure as president of the Prowers County Farm Bureau and was elected as vice president of the Colorado State Farm Bureau in 1935. He would be reelected as vice president in 1937, and later was named secretary of the Arkansas River Compact administration, comprising Colorado and Kansas, in the 1950s.

  In 1948 Hackett Smartt won the Democratic primary for state representative from Prowers County and that November won the general election, polling 3,105 votes and defeating another oddly named man, Cora Ransom Strain (1871-1960), who had first been elected to the legislature in 1942. Smartt's first term in the house (1949-51) saw him named to the following committees: Appropriations and Expenditures; Corporations; Counties and County Lines; Irrigation and Water Resources; Livestock; and Public Lands and Forest Reserves. 

  Smartt would win reelection to two further terms in the legislature in 1950 and 1952, and in his last term sat as a member of the committees on Appropriations and Highways. Smartt's life after the conclusion of his legislative largely remains a mystery--unusual when one considers that he lived to be nearly 100 years old! Widowed in 1978, Smartt continued residence in Prowers County and in 1982 celebrated his 90th birthday. He died in Colorado on April 2, 1991, five months short of his 99th birthday. He was survived by three of his children and was interred alongside his wife Lela at the Fairmount Cemetery in Lamar.