Glenni William Scofield (1817-1891)

Portrait courtesy of the Library of Congress.

    An intriguingly named U.S. Representative from Warren County, Pennsylvania, Glenni William Scofield rose from humble origins in Chautauqua County, New York to become one of the Keystone State's most prominent 19th-century public officials. Since beginning this project over a decade ago, Mr. Scofield has been one of my favorite figures to point out, not only for his unique first name but for his ties to my home county of Chautauqua. During a political career that extended over four decades, Scofield served in both houses of Pennsylvania legislature, was a six-term U.S. Representative, a Register of the U.S. Treasury, and later a judge on the U.S. Court of Claims--truly a man of many achievements. Scofield is honored today on the 121st anniversary of his death as the newest profile added to the site and his extensive article here will conclude with a few photographs I took of his gravesite at Warren's Oakland Cemetery during two trips, one in October 2010 and one in May of this year.  
   Glenni William Scofield's story begins with his birth in the small village of Dewittville in Chautauqua County, New York on March 11, 1817, the fifth of eight children born to Darius (1788-1862) and Sallie (Glenni) Scofield (1788-1860). Glenni received his education in the common schools of his native county and didn't attend school beyond age 14, having left to learn the printing trade. He engaged in printing until age 17 and soon after returned to his studies, eventually enrolling at the Hamilton College at Clinton, New York in 1836. Scofield graduated from Hamilton in 1840 for the next few years was a teacher in Fauquier County, Virginia and later in the McKean County, Pennsylvania area.
   In the early 1840s, he left his teaching career behind and began pursuing a law degree, studying under future U.S. Representative Carlton Brandaga Curtis (1811-1883). Scofield was admitted to the Pennsylvania state bar in 1842 and shortly thereafter relocated to Warren, Pennsylvania, where he would reside and practice law for the rest of his life.
  After opening a law practice in Warren, Scofield married in November 1845 to Laura Margretta Tanner (1823-1909), with whom he had three children, Ellie G. (born 1850) and Archibald Tanner (born 1854) and Mary M. (1859-1887). Laura Tanner Scofield came from pioneer genes in the Warren, Pennsylvania area, being the daughter of Archibald Tanner (1786-1861), a deputy Warren postmaster, county treasurer, and newspaper publisher. Tanner is also recorded as helping to bring "the first steamboat on the Allegheny River to Warren".
   Glenni W. Scofield began treading the political waters in 1846, when he was named by then Pennsylvania Governor Francis Rawn Shunk as Warren County District Attorney, a post he'd continue to fill until 1848. In the following year, Scofield was elected to his first term in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and was re-elected to that body the following year. During his house service Scofield was mentioned in the 1887 History of Warren County as "one of its most effective debaters" and as a firm abolitionist, Scofield "never relinquished his early convictions in hostility to slavery."
  In the last part of the 1850s, Scofield continued his rise through the Pennsylvania political ranks, winning election to the state senate in November 1856. Taking office in January 1857, Scofield served in the Senate for three terms, the last of which concluded in 1860. Two years later he won the first of six elections to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating  Democratic candidate Milton Courtwright by a vote of 9,954 to 9,462. 

                      Scofield as he looked early in his term in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

   Scofield's twelve years in Congress saw him serve on the Committees on Revisal and Unfinished Business, Indian Affairs, Elections and later chaired the Committee on Naval Affairs. For a good majority of his tenure, Scofield was aligned with the "radical" faction of the Republican Party, and he is noted as being a prime mover behind reconstruction legislation while in Congress and was also a strident advocate for racial equality and black voting rights. In numerous speeches on the House floor, Scofield made impassioned pleas on the subject, arguing that Congress should "awaken the hope and ambition of the whole race throughout the country" and that "the ignorant white people have been led to believe that the elevation of the Negro is the equivalent to their debasement. The reverse is true. The more we improve this unfortunate race, the more we improve our own."
  While Mr. Scofield was obviously a man of honor and good character, his sterling reputation took a hit in 1872 when it was discovered that he had involvement with Congressman Oakes Ames of Massachusetts, President of the Crédit Mobilier Company. Four years previously in 1868, Scofield had purchased Cedar Rapids stock bonds from Congressman Ames, who then suggested to Scofield that he purchase some stock in Crédit Mobilier. No contract was ever consummated between the two men, as Scofield later "disinclined to take the stock" and after a settlement was reached, he was recorded as taking "a thousand dollars Union Pacific bond and ten shares of Union Pacific stock." Obviously, this action was a miscalculation in judgment on Scofield's part, one which left a blemish on an otherwise sterling career in the public forum.

                          This article on Scofield's involvement in Credit Mobilier appeared in 1884.

  The Credit Mobilier scandal tarnished several political careers (including that of Vice President Schuyler Colfax) but Scofield (who declined to run for another term in the house in 1874) is mentioned as having "no interest in the Crédit Mobilier stock" after the settlement with Ames, and "derived no benefit therefrom."
  Despite the sting of Crédit Mobilier, Scofield's public career continued on the upswing after leaving Congress. After returning to Warren in 1875 he maintained a private law practice until 1878 when he was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes as Register of the U.S. Treasury, serving in this post until May 1881. Soon after leaving the post of registrar, Scofield was named by newly elected President James Garfield to a seat on the United States  Court of Claims. Scofield was confirmed and served on this court until July 29, 1891, when health concerns compelled him to resign.

                                  Scofield as he appeared in the 1887 History of Warren County.

   For the last month of his life Scofield is listed by his New York Times obituary as suffering from debilitating health problems, and in the week preceding his death suffered a paralytic stroke that confined him to his bed. He died from "heart trouble" on August 30, 1891, at age 74 at his home in Warren, and his funeral was held the following Tuesday at his home. He was memorialized in the Titusville Herald as a man "full of anecdote and reminisce", and that "his strong sense, his accessibility, his varied experience, his familiar acquaintance with statesmen and business of the departments of Washington made his counsel much sought for, and his influence was often exerted on behalf of his friends and constituents."

                          Scofield's obit as it appeared in the New York Times on August 31, 1891.

                             Another death notice for Scofield that appeared in the Watertown Daily Times.

   On October 10, 2o10 I visited Oakland Cemetery to photograph Scofield's gravesite, and after some tedious searching found his impressive monument overlooking a tree-lined hill towards the middle of the cemetery. On April 8th of this year, I returned to Oakland to photograph the gravesites of two other oddly named politicians buried here (Rasselas Brown and Lansing Ditmars Wetmore) and took the following pictures below!

   Buried in this plot are Judge Scofield, his wife, their children, and Warren pioneer Archibald Tanner (1786-1861), who was the father of Glenni's wife Laura. In the above picture, Glenni Scofield's headstone is third from left.

   
  Buried a few yards downhill from the Scofield impressive monument (which as you can see stands well over twenty feet tall) is the resting place of Judge Lansing Ditmars Wetmore (1818-1905) who served as Presiding Judge for Warren County's 37th district from 1874-1881. Congressman Carlton Brandaga Curtis (whom Scofield studied law under) is also buried here, although I wasn't able to find his gravesite!

    
  On either side of the Scofield monument are the names of the family members buried within the plot. Directly to the right of Glenni's inscription is his wife Laura's. Laura Tanner Scofield survived Glenni by nearly twenty years, dying at age 86 in 1909.

  
120 + years of wear and harsh weather have eaten away at the inscription, as you can see from the photo above. Algae is also quite prevalent on both the monument and Glenni's headstone, which is shown below.

                                                                                         "Glenni W. Scofield"

Wooda Nicholas Carr (1871-1953)

    A one-term U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, Wooda Nicholas Carr had earlier distinguished himself as a newspaper editor and attorney in the Fayette County, Pennsylvania vicinity. Carr was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania on February 6, 1871, the son of John and Amanda Cook Carr. As a child he attended schools local to the Fayette and Uniontown, PA areas and later studied at the Jefferson College, graduating from there in 1891. Soon after leaving college, he removed to nearby Uniontown where he began a stint as a newspaper editor for the Uniontown Standard and later, the Democrat.
   Carr began reading law in 1893 and was admitted to the Fayette County bar two years later. He maintained a law practice in that county for a number of years afterward, and in 1908 formed a partnership with his brother Walter Russell Carr. In 1903 Wooda Car married fellow Fayette County native Julia Kissinger and had one son, John Dickson Carr (1906-1977). John D. Carr would go on to fame in his own right, becoming a prolific author of detective stories and mysteries. Many of these works were published under various pen names, and Carr himself resided in England for many years after marrying an Englishwoman, Clarice Cleaves, in the 1930s.
   Wooda N. Carr began treading the political waters at the turn of the 19th century, announcing his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 24th district in 1900. On election day that year, Carr came up short in the vote count, losing by over 12,000 votes to three-term Republican incumbent Ernest Francis Acheson (1855-1917). In the same year as his congressional loss Wooda Carr served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Democratic Convention, and two years later was elected as Chairman of the Fayette County Central Committee. In 1911 Carr garnered the Democratic nomination for Fayette County District Attorney but failed to overcome that county's Republican majority base.

Wood N. Carr, from the Holt, Minnesota Northern Light, 1911.

                                
   The political tide turned in favor of Wooda N. Carr in November 1912 when he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 23rd congressional district. He defeated incumbent Republican Thomas S. Crago by a vote of 12, 211 to 7,836 and officially took his seat in January 1913. During his one term in Congress Carr was a member of the Committee on Appropriations and was mentioned by The Book of Prominent Pennsylvanians as having:

"Always been a factor in the Democratic politics of his State and district, and possesses great influence with the party."

  Carr was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to Congress in 1914, losing to Republican nominee Robert F. Hopwood. Following his loss, Carr returned to the practice of law in Uniontown and in 1934 was appointed as that city's postmaster, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 1947. Carr died six years later on June 28, 1953, at age 82, and was buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Uniontown. His wife Julia survived him by over a decade, dying in 1966 at age 90. 

                                         Carr as he looked during his term in Congress, ca. 1914.

Welty McCullogh (1847-1889)

Portrait from the Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County.

   A one-term U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, Welty McCullogh's short life of 41 years was spent mainly in the practice of law in his native county of Westmoreland. He was born on October 10, 1847, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, one of six children born to John (1803-1884) and Eliza Welty McCullogh (1818-1882). He received his primary education at the Elder's Ridge Academy and later attended the Washington and Jefferson College from 1866-1869. He would graduate from Princeton University in the class of 1870.   

   Shortly following his graduation McCullogh began the study of law and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1872. He began a law practice later that same year which continued until his death. His law expertise was highly regarded by his contemporaries and the Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland notes that McCullogh's "skill which he displayed in conducting important cases soon placed him in the front rank of the distinguished lawyers in Western PA". During the mid-1870s, he became counsel for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company, and it was noted that "he was retained as counsel for nearly all the large coal, coke, and manufacturing companies in Westmoreland County."

   In 1872 McCullogh married fellow Greensburg native Ada Bell Markle and two children were born to the couple, Harry Markle (who died aged 17 in 1891) and Eliza (birth and death date unknown.)

  

                          An article on McCullogh's nomination from the 1886 Milwaukee Journal.

   In 1886 McCullogh won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 21st district as a Republican, defeating Democratic candidate Henry Donnelly by 255 votes. During his term, McCullogh held a seat on the Committee on Claims and the Committee on Mines and Mining. In addition to the above, the Cyclopedia of Westmoreland makes mention of an interesting tidbit, that of McCullogh being "bestowed the compliment of being the handsomest man in congress". Why this adulation was given to him is anyone's guess, but from the looks of the picture of him above, this author's guess is that McCullogh's impressive whiskers may have had something to do with it! He served one term in Congress (1887-1889) and it is remarked that he "served in the Fiftieth Congress with satisfaction to his constituents of all parties and with honor and credit to himself."

   After leaving office in January 1889, McCullogh returned to Greensburg, where he died of an unspecified illness on August 31st of that year at age 41. He was memorialized at his funeral as a man "endowed by his creator with a strong physique, a handsome face, and talents of a high order. Few, indeed have been more highly favored."

   Within days of his death, McCullogh was interred at the St. Clair Cemetery in Greensburg. His wife Ada Markle McCullogh survived her husband by forty years, dying in Greensburg in November 1929 at age 72.  The rare portrait of McCullogh shown above was discovered in the earlier mentioned Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, originally published in 1890.

                McCullogh's obit as it appeared in an 1889 edition of the Jeannette, Pennsylvania Dispatch.

Ner Middleswarth (1783-1865)

   For today's biography, I have the honor of profiling strangely named U.S. Representative Ner Middleswarth of Pennsylvania. Middleswarth has been one of my perennial favorites on the Strangest Names in American Political History (SNIAPH) list, and I was even able to visit and photograph his gravesite in Snyder County, Pennsylvania in August 2003. The rare portrait of Middleswarth shown above was discovered in Volume II of the 1886 work History of that Part of the Susquehanna and Juanita Valleys, Embraced in the Counties of Mifflin, Juanita, Perry, Union, and Snyder. 

   Ner Middleswarth was born in New Jersey on December 12, 1783, the son of John and Martha Middleswarth. Young Ner removed with his family to Northumberland County, Pennsylvania when he was ten and would reside in a log house during his childhood. Remarked as a "brave and hardy boy", he received what was referred to as "scanty schooling" during his youth. Middleswarth saw service during the War of 1812 as a captain, raising a company of volunteers to take part in the war effort. Attached to the Eighth Pennsylvania Rifles, Middleswarth, and his company are also mentioned as seeing action during the Niagara Falls campaign, marching towards Buffalo in the latter portion of 1812. 
   Ner Middleswarth is recorded as marrying in 1805 to Christine Schwartzkop (one article lists her last name as "Swartzline".) The couple's fifty-six year union produced twelve children (six sons and six daughters) and are listed as follows: John (1805-1831), May (1808-1876), Moses (1811-1888), Abner (1813-1887), Aaron (1815-1882), Abram (1815-1904), Merib (1818-1890), Elizabeth (1820-1902), Jacob (1822-1864), Martha (1824-1915), Sarah (1827-1900) and Matilda (1829-1915). 

This sketch of Middleswarth was done around the time of his military service.

    In 1815, Middleswarth was elected as a Whig to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, serving a total of thirteen terms (1815-1842.) During the years 1828 and 1836, he served as House Speaker. Also during his tenure in state government, Middleswarth became quite successful in a variety of business ventures throughout Snyder County. Among these were the development of two sawmills, two distilleries, a clover mill, and a number of other pieces of real estate. In 1853 Middleswarth was elected to his first term in the Pennsylvania State Senate, serving here until 1855.

   In November 1852, Middleswarth won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, where he served one term (1853-1855). At the conclusion of his congressional service, he returned to Pennsylvania, where in 1858 he began serving as associate judge of Snyder county. The latter office is mentioned as being the last public office in which Middleswarth served, as he died a little over a year after leaving this post. It is mentioned that he was worth in excess of $130,000 in 1860, quite a considerable sum for the time. What is also known is that Middleswarth lost most of this fortune due to a failed business venture involving the Beaver Furnace Company, located in what is now Paxtonville, Pennsylvania.

   Ner Middleswarth died on June 2, 1865, at age 81, and was buried in the Union Cemetery in Beavertown, Pennsylvania. He was predeceased by his wife Christina, who died at age 71 in 1861. During research on this unusually named politician, it was quite interesting to note that numerous genealogical resources exist that mention Mr. Middleswarth as being one of the most distinguished past residents of Snyder County and judging by the number of online sources mentioning his life and exploits, many in the Snyder County area still remember his name today.
  The obituary below for Middleswarth appeared in the June 13, 1865 edition of the Adams Sentinel, a newspaper published in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. If one reads closely, you'll notice that Middleswarth is mentioned as dying "in the 72nd year of his age", when he was in fact 81 years old. He is memorialized in this obit as a "common sense imbued man, whose natural energy and integrity of character rendered him respected and beloved by his fellow citizens."

  On August 17, 2003, I was lucky enough to be on vacation with my family near Beavertown and managed to seek out Middleswarth's final resting place. After some searching, his gravesite was found and one of the pictures I took that day is posted below (note the interesting weeping willow motif carved into the upper part of his stone.) The flag and star next to his gravestone honor his service in the War of 1812.