Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer (1893-1964), Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer Jr. (1926-2020)

From the Annapolis Capitol, November 3, 1948.

    A seven-term member of Congress from Maryland, Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer had earlier represented Prince George's County in the state Senate for fifteen years. He was born on September 30, 1893, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, the son of Frederick (1856-1929) and Lucinda Ashton Claggett Sasscer (1857-1921).  Sasscer attended schools local to Prince George's County and later graduated from the Tome School in Port Deposit.
   After graduating high school, Sasscer continued his education at the Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He graduated from here in 1914 and passed his bar exam the same year. Within three years of opening a law practice, Sasscer signed on to serve his country overseas during World War I, being a first lieutenant in the 59th Artillery. In 1919 he married to Agnes Goffren (1891-1984), to whom he was wed for over forty years. The couple would have three children, Agnes Lansdale, Lucy Claggett, and Lansdale Ghiselin Jr. (born 1926). Of these children Lansdale G. Sasscer Jr. would follow his father into public life, being an attorney and four-term member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
   Following his return from military service Sasscer recommenced with his law practice and in November 1921 won election to the Maryland State Senate. He would serve in that body for sixteen years (1922-1938) and was the president of this body during the sessions of 1935 and 1937, as well as chairing the committees on Finance and Judicial Proceedings. In addition to his tenure in the state senate, Sasscer served as part of the Maryland delegation to the 1924 and 1936 Republican National Conventions.
  In 1938 Lansdale Sasscer announced that he'd be seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor of Maryland in that year's September primary. As one of four candidates vying for the nomination, Sasscer faced an uphill battle and placed fourth on election day, polling 23, 587 votes to Herbert O'Conor's winning total of 147,613.  O'Conor would go on to win the general election that November and served as Maryland Governor until being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1946.
   Fate intervened in Sasscer's political fortunes in December 1938 when seven-term Maryland Congressman Stephen Warfield Gambrill died in office in Washington, D.C. A few weeks following Gambrill's death, a special election was held in February 1939 to fill the vacant seat, with Lansdale G. Sasscer being the Democratic nominee. Running against Sasscer in this special election was Albert Kingsley Love, who had run three earlier losing candidacies for Congress. When the votes were tallied it was Sasscer who won out, besting Love by a vote of 23, 287 to 4, 742.

                           This painting of Sasscer is in the possession of the Maryland State Archives.

   Sasscer would win his first full term in the house in November 1940, beating Republican nominee John Torvestad by over 30,000 votes. He successively won his reelection bids in 1942, 1944, 1946, 1948, and 1950, serving nearly 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. In early 1952 Sasscer entered the Democratic primary for U.S. Senator from Maryland, and in May of that year lost out to state senator George Perry Mahoney, 122,679 votes to 136, 932.
   Following his senatorial defeat, Sasscer finished his final term in Congress, which concluded in January 1953. He wasn't a candidate for renomination and after leaving the government returned to his law practice in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. It was here that he died on May 5, 1964, at age 70, and he was subsequently interred in the Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery in that town. Agnes Goffren Sasscer survived her husband by two decades, dying in 1984 at age 93 and was also interred in the Trinity Cemetery.

Sasscer in the latter period of his Congressional service, 1952.

                                                                   Lansdale G. Sasscer Jr.

   Politics continued in the Sasscer family with Lansdale Ghiselin Sasscer Jr. (born September 25, 1926) who represented Prince George's County in the Maryland legislature for two four-year terms. A veteran of World War II, Sasscer served in the Coast Guard and was a graduate of the University of Virginia in the class of 1950. Admitted to the Maryland bar in 1951, Sasscer won election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1954 and would serve in that body from 1955-1963. 
   In 1962 Sasscer was an unsuccessful candidate for the state senate, and after his service in the house of delegates returned to the practice of law until his retirement in the 1990s. A member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bar Associations, Sasscer was also a member of the board of directors for the Bank of Brandywine. He died at the Sasscer family home on April 13, 2020, aged 93.

Fetter Schrier Hoblitzell (1838-1900)

                               Hobitzell as he appeared in the 1882 edition of Public Men of Today.


   The life of Maryland congressman Fetter Schrier Hoblitzell is highlighted today, and in this author's opinion his unique name makes an excellent tongue twister (just try saying his full name three times fast!) Born in Cumberland, Maryland on October 7, 1838, Fetter S. Hoblitzell was the son of William and Henrietta Hoblitzell. His education began in the primary schools of Cumberland County and he later graduated from the Alleghany Academy located in that county.
   In the late 1850s, Hoblitzell turned his attention to the study of law and would receive his law degree in 1859. Shortly thereafter he established his practice in Baltimore, but his career as a lawyer was put on hold due to his enlisting for service in the Civil War. Siding with the Confederacy, Hoblitzell joined the First Maryland Regiment of Infantry as a private and later served amongst the ranks of the 3rd Regiment, Virginia Local Defense Infantry.
   Fetter Hoblitzell married on October 28, 1862, taking as his wife Julia Truehart. The couple wed in Richmond, Virginia, and are believed to have remained childless through the entirety of their marriage. Resuming his law practice after leaving the Confederate Army, Hoblitzell was soon bitten by the political bug and in 1870 launched a successful campaign for the Maryland State House of Delegates from Baltimore's 3rd legislative district. He would win reelection to this body in 1876 and 1878, and in the latter year was chosen as its speaker. His stewardship of the house proceedings garnered him praise from his fellow delegates, with the Public Men of To-Day noting that:

"He won golden opinions from every quarter for his able, intelligent and energetic discharge of the delicate duties of his position."

   During his tenure in the house of delegates, Hoblitzell also was a trustee of the St. Mary's Industrial School in Baltimore, serving in that capacity for six years. In 1880 Fetter Hoblitzell was "chosen without opposition" to be the Democratic nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 3rd district, and in November of that year won handily against Republican nominee Joshua Horner, Jr, besting him by over three thousand votes. Hoblitzell took his seat in March of 1881 and would win re-election to Congress in 1882, defeating Republican candidate Thomas F. Lang by over 4,000 votes. 

   During his two terms in the House Hoblitzell sat on the committee on Railways and Canals. After his second term, he returned to Maryland, where in 1888 he was named as Baltimore city counselor. Fetter Schier Hoblitzell died at his Baltimore home on May 2, 1900, after having been ill for several months prior. The 61-year-old former Congressman was later interred at the Loudon Park Cemetery in his native Baltimore. He was survived by his wife Julianna, who died in 1935 at age 92.

An obituary for Hoblitzell was published in the Washington D.C. Evening Times, May 3, 1900.