Renwick Sloane McNiece (1886-1983)

Portrait from the Salt Lake Times, May 24, 1916.

  The first odd named American diplomat profiled on the site in well over a year, Renwick Sloane McNiece lived nearly a century and prior to his diplomatic career was a teacher in Salt Lake City, as well as a veteran of World War I. Entering into the foreign service in 1920, McNiece would subsequently be appointed as U.S. Consul to several different countries over twenty years time, with his travels taking him to Malaysia, Barbados, Great Britain, Pakistan, Spain, Chile, Venezuela, and Italy. 

   The son of the Rev. Robert and Sarah (Irwin) McNiece, Renwick Sloane McNiece was born in Salt Lake City on June 28, 1886. Young Renwick would attend private schools in the Salt Lake area and went on to enroll at Princeton University, graduating in the class of 1907. Following graduation, he spent the next decade employed as a teacher at the Salt Lake City high school and in the summer of 1917 briefly worked as the manager for a copper company's office. At the dawn of American involvement in World War I McNiece began field artillery training at the Presidio camp in San Francisco in August 1917. In December of that year, he married Ruth Anderson Storer (1886-1948), to whom he was wed until her death. The couple would remain childless.

   Following his graduation from the Presidio McNiece was dispatched overseas and in February of 1918 was on board the troopship S.S. Tuscania when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland. 210 troops and crewmen would lose their lives in the sinking. He (along with four other Salt Lake servicemen) were among the lucky survivors, and following his rescue at sea was transported to France, where he would serve in "the artillery and supply corps." 

   By the conclusion of his military service McNiece had attained the rank of captain and following his return stateside garnered a teaching fellowship at the University of California, where he taught from 1919-20. McNiece would eventually decide on a career in the foreign service, and after passing his examination was appointed as U.S. Consul (class seven) in Penang, Malaysia in June 1920. After two years of service in Malaysia McNiece advanced to U.S. Consul class six, and in August 1922 was dispatched to St. Michaels, Barbados. He would serve in that capacity from March 1923 to July 1924, and in September of that latter year again changed consulates, this time being stationed as U.S. Consul in Stoke-on-Trent, Great Britain.

From the Salt Lake Tribune, February 10, 1918.

    McNiece's time in the United Kingdom extended until 1929 when he was appointed as U.S. Consul in Karachi, (located in modern-day Pakistan). His three-year consulate in Karachi concluded in 1932, whereafter he took charge of the U.S. Consulate in Vigo, Spain, a role he would fill until 1935. From 1935-40 McNiece continued in diplomatic service in Valparaiso, Chile, and after leaving the consulate there was named consul at Maracaibo, Venezuela in 1940. By 1944 he had again been transferred (this time to Horta, Azores Islands) and after a two-year consulate in that location began his final diplomatic post, that of Consul General in Palermo, Italy.

  In 1948 Renwick McNiece retired from diplomatic service and in that same year was beset by tragedy with the death of his wife Ruth in Zurich, Switzerland. He later retired to Los Angeles and two years following his wife's death remarried to Hazel Morse Hartley, who predeceased him in 1973.  In September 1975 the then 88-year-old retired diplomat wed for a third time, marrying Caroline Mathews Kelly (1906-1989). The couple continued to reside in Los Angeles until his death on February 3, 1983, at age 96. Following his death, Renwick McNiece was interred at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City, the same resting place as that of his wives Ruth and Hazel.

Sunday Cardall Anderson (1894-1987)

From the April 14, 1960 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune.

    Hailing from the county of Salt Lake in Utah, one-term state representative Sunday Cardall Anderson devoted several decades of her life to activity in the Democratic Party in Utah. Despite having 300-plus political figures profiled here on the site, only two of these have been female (the first being New Hampshire state senator Zatae Leola Longsdorff Straw). With the edition of the following biography on Mrs. Sunday Anderson, Zatae Straw now has some company, and seeing that a few new oddly named female politicians have been discovered, that number will continue to grow in the coming months. The following passages on her life have been piecemeal-ed together via newspaper articles I've managed to locate mentioning her service in the Utah legislature and in other aspects of public life. 

   Sunday Anderson was born Sunday Florence Cardall on March 3, 1894, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Richard (1853-1914 and Anne Elisabeth Pedersen Cardall (1861-1908). Anderson married in Salt Lake City on July 22, 1914, to Virgil Erastus Anderson (1893-1975), and later became the mother to several children, who are listed as follows: Virginia Anderson Mollerup (1915-2009), John G.E. (1918-2000), Lyle Marie (1923-1924), Anna Mae (birth-date unknown), Nancy Anderson Shingleton (birth-date unknown) and Richard (birth-date unknown).

   During her adolescence, Sunday Anderson began a lifelong involvement in the affairs of the Utah Democratic party. Throughout the succeeding years, she would hold posts in the Salt Lake Council of Women, the Salt Lake County Democratic Ladies Study Club, the Women's State Legislative Council, and later served as the Utah state vice chairman of the Democratic Party. In November 1950 she was elected to the Utah State House of Representatives from Salt Lake County and here served one term, 1951-1952. In addition to her tenure in the legislature, Mrs. Anderson was an alternate delegate from Utah to the Democratic National Conventions of 1948 and 1952. 

Representative Sunday Anderson pictured in the January 2, 1952 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune.

   After leaving the legislature Anderson continued to be active in local civic affairs, serving as the director of craft work for the Young Women's Christian Association during the late 1950s. She would later go on to hold the post of President of the Salt Lake Women's Democratic Club and in 1966 was the chairperson of a 27-member delegation of Utah women who journeyed to Washington D.C. to visit the offices of U.S. Senator Frank Moss and Representative David King. The delegation attended a campaign conference and workshop during their stay, which had been initiated by the Democratic National Committee. In 1973 Anderson was honored with the Senior Citizens Award of the Year by the Utah Jaycees.

   In her later years, Anderson was a leading figure in the fight to build a senior center on the west side of Salt Lake City, and through her untiring efforts, one was eventually built in the mid-1970s. She was honored as the namesake of the center, now known as the Sunday Anderson Westside Senior Center. Anderson continued to represent the interests of Utah seniors well into her eighth decade, and in 1979 was named as a senior citizen intern for two weeks in the Washington, D.C. office of Representative David Daniel Marriott of Utah. The Deseret News profiled Mrs. Anderson's appointment in its April 12, 1979 edition and highlighted not only her legislative service but also her past leadership of the Utah Chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons. 

From the October 16, 1957 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune.

   A few weeks before her death Sunday C. Anderson was one of three recipients of the annual Susa Young Gates Award, made to honor women "who had given outstanding service" to the state of Utah as well as "demonstrating dedication to the cause of human rights." The 93-year-old Anderson is recorded by the Deseret News as attending an honorees dinner on March 6, 1987, and was noted as having "given service to the state of Utah for 74 years or more."  Just twenty-three days after receiving the award Sunday Anderson died in Salt Lake City on March 29, 1987. She was survived by five of her children and was laid to rest at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Feramorz Little (1820-1887)

   A New Yorker by birth, Feramorz Little made his name (politically speaking) in Utah, where he served three terms as Mayor of Salt Lake City. Little was born in the small town of Aurelius, New York on June 14, 1820, one of four children born to James and Susan Young Little. James Little had immigrated from Ireland to New York some years previously and is recorded as dying in a wagon accident in October 1822 when his son was only two years of age. Little's mother Susan was the sister of Brigham Young, the famed Mormon leader and founder of what is now Utah. 

   A biographical record on Feramorz Little and his family (authored by his brother James) notes that Susan Little and her children removed from Aurelius to the town of Mendon, New York, and later remarried to William B. Stilson. The Little's residency in Mendon saw them reestablish contact with Brigham Young, who had recently resettled in that town. The future leader of the Church of Latter-Day Saints had first become acquainted with the Book of Mormon in 1830, and in 1832, Little's mother and elder brother joined him in the still-young church. Feramorz was not among them, however, having moved into the home of General Solomon K. Chamberlain of Springwater, New York. Little resided with Chamberlain for several years and during his adolescence was apprenticed by Chamberlain to a saddle and harness maker for a few months, and later engaged in farm work for Mr. Chamberlain's son-in-law Harvey S. Tyler.

  Feramorz Little left New York in 1843 and traveled on horseback until reaching St. Louis, Missouri, where he settled for a time. He subsequently moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, becoming a school teacher there, and later married Fannie Maria Decker (1830-1881) on February 12, 1846.  The couple is recorded as having ten children, who are listed as follows: James Tyler (1847-1898), Fannie Augusta (died aged three months in 1851), Juliette Chamberlain (1853-1929), Susan Claire (1855-1918), Luna Rosalie (1858-1909), Feramorz (born 1861), Nelly (born ca. 1860), Marian Josephine (died aged one month in 1862), Nettie Viola (1864-1940) and Frank Clifford (1867-1955)

   In 1850 Little and his wife made the long journey to Utah, and after reconnecting with his family in Salt Lake City, set about making a name for himself in a variety of businesses. He joined the Church of Latter-Day Saints in 1852, Little was named as Bishopric for Salt Lake City's Thirteenth Ward, and in 1858 married his second wife, Julia Anna Hampton (1830/1844-1867) who gave birth to five children: Edwin (1859-1866), Fanny Vilate (1862-1896), Louis H. (died aged one in 1866), Brigham Leon (1867-1933) and William Feramorz (born 1867). 

   In the same year as his marriage to Julia Hampton, Feramorz Little married his third wife Annie Elizabeth Dye (1825-1907), proving that as far as polygamy was concerned, he was without care. The union between Feramorz and Annie would eventually produce six children: Ellen Lorilla (1859-1923), Frederick Wallace (1863-1943), Charles Carter (1861-1926), Leo Augustus (1865-1909), George (born 1867) and Jesse Carter (1871-1959). By the time he turned 51 in 1871, Feramorz Little had three wives and twenty-one children, truly a very busy man!!

                                                 Feramorz Little as he looked in middle age.

   Over the course of his residency in Salt Lake City, Little was acknowledged as one of the area's industrious citizens, helping to design and build a dam on the Jordan River, developing a contract to carry mail (between Salt Lake City and Independence, Missouri) and also helped in the construction of the Utah State Penitentiary. Little is also recorded as serving as Mormon Church Emigration Agent during the 1860s, and the Deseret News notes that "under his supervision, 500 teams were fitted out to go to the Missouri River and carry back to Utah 3,000 emigrants".

   It was only in the later period of his life that Little began to serve in elected office. During the early 1870s, he won election to the Salt Lake City Council and in 1876 was elected as the Mayor of Salt Lake City. He served three consecutive terms in this office, the last of which concluded in 1882. After leaving the office of mayor, Little began pursuing banking interests, becoming a founder of the Deseret National Bank, and later served as its director. 

  In July 1882 Little married his fourth wife, Rebecca Ellen Mantle (1830-1909), who bore Little two daughters, Nellie Vivian (1883-1927) and Sadie Catherine (1886-1914). When one looks at Little's life history it's truly amazing to think that this oddly named Salt Lake City Mayor managed to father twenty-three children by the time he turned 66 years old! In one of his last acts of public service, Little was named as a delegate to the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1887 from the county of Salt Lake.

  A few months after attending the above-mentioned convention, Feramorz Little died at age 67 on August 14, 1887, and was subsequently interred at the Salt Lake City Cemetery. He was survived by his wives Annie and Rebecca, who died in 1907 and 1909 respectively. All four of Little's wives are also interred in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  For those who may be wondering, Little's unusual first name originated from an obscure poet-sultan named Feramorz, who existed on the Asian continent in ancient times.

A memorial for Feramorz Little that appeared in the August 16, 1887 edition of the Salt Lake Herald.