Chartley Artell Pitt (1878-1966)

Portrait from the 1939Washington legislative composite.

   One of the more colorful political figures to warrant a write-up here, Chartley Artell Pitt rose from humble beginnings in Wisconsin to serve a decade as a Washington state representative, but not before time spent as a vagabond, assistant lighthouse keeper, poet, and published author. While resources on his life remain hard to come by, Pitt was the Portage County, Wisconsin-born son of William C. and Jennie (Eaton) Pitt, being born on April 17, 1878. "Chart", as he was familiarly known, himself gives the following summation of his early life in a brief autobiography published in 1919 in the Chicago Ledger, a periodical he regularly contributed to:

"I am a product of the Wisconsin woods, vintage 1878. My life cord has twisted a bit in the unwinding--and, God willing, I'll tangle it a bit more before I die. There are a few of my footprints scattered around in the Alaskan snows--and several fish in the sea that know the taste of my hook. Been a hunter and trapper all my life --began on rats. Of late it's editors I'm baiting. I have hunted gold, and had the pleasure of not finding it. Took a close up look at the cow camps; and got so that I knew a thousand sheep by their first names."

  With a picturesque early life that saw him widely traveled, Chart Pitt's own vivid writings of riding the rails with hoboes and spending time in hobo camps sound fanciful, with Pitt himself remarking that "Some of my richest adventures have come from the road and its riding." By 1909 Chart Pitt was residing in the Pacific Northwest and on August 18th of that year married in Westminster, British Columbia to Emma May McLeod (1885-1949). The couple would have three children, Lotus Jean Pitt Pasternak (1912-2007) and sons Donald and Gordon.
  A resident of Joseph, Idaho following his marriage, Chart Pitt was published for the first time in 1910, when a poem he'd written, "The Watcher", was featured in the Modern Woodman, a periodical published by the Modern Woodman of America fraternal group. Pitt would win a $10 prize for his efforts (beating out over 1,300 poems) and was acclaimed in both the Modern Woodman and the Steven's Point, Wisconsin Gazette as "a real poet." This same year saw another of Pitt's poems, entitled "Back to the Night", be published in Liberty, a newsletter issued by the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

From the Steven's Pont Gazette, June 15, 1910.

   In 1911 Chart Pitt entered the U.S Lighthouse Service as a  second assistant lighthouse keeper, being stationed at Tree Point Lighthouse near Ketchikan, Alaska. He would remain here with his family until at least 1913 and was afterward stationed at the Destruction Island Lighthouse (where he was a first assistant), and in 1917 was named assistant keeper at the Mukilteo Lighthouse, where he was stationed until 1922. These solitary hours provided Pitt with ample time for writing, and in the late 1910s and early 1920s contributed several articles to the Chicago Ledger, a weekly story paper that featured adventure stories, romance, and poems. The accompanying picture of Chart Pitt in his lightkeeper's uniform and the Mukilteo lighthouse appeared in the Ledger on September 20, 1919.

   Through the 1920s Pitt contributed a number of short stories and prose to then-popular pulp magazines, including Action Stories, Thrilling Adventures, and Outdoor Stories. Pitt's full-length novel, entitled The Bootlegger's Brat, appeared in 1931, dealt with rum-running in Oregon, and even warranted a review in the Sydney, Australia Morning Herald. Still a resident of  Snohomish County at the time of that book's publishing, Chart Pitt was long an advocate of Prohibition and made his debut on the Washington political stage in 1936 when he entered into the race for the Washington House of Representatives from the 38th district, which comprised part of Snohomish and Island County. Running as a Democrat, Pitt won the September 1936 primary and that November was elected to his first term, polling 13,424 votes. 

   Chart Pitt won his second house term in 1938 and would follow that with three more legislative victories, serving ten years in total (1937-47), and was at various times a member of the committees on Elections and Privileges, and Fisheries. His decade-long tenure in the statehouse saw Pitt continue his early advocation for temperance and during the 1939 session spoke on the house floor to "oppose a bill to permit sales of liquor by the drink on trains within the state." Pitt's time in the legislature also saw him aid imprisoned Communist Party political leader Earl Russell Browder, joining 134 other activists, politicians, and intellectuals in sponsoring the Call for the Free Earl Browder Congress in February 1942.

From the 1937 Washington legislative composite.

  In addition to advocating for the prison release of one of the most controversial political leaders in the United States, Chart Pitt was not above theatrics to get his point across on the floor of the Washington legislature, including thumbing his nose at house speaker Jack Sylvester after asking to make a motion, and, during his final term, took to "thumping a baseball bat on boxes and desks" to get a chairman's attention during a raucous debate on the house floor.

  The July 1946 Democratic primary saw Chart Pitt lose in his bid for a sixth term, but he wasn't done politically, as he would launch another campaign for his old house seat in 1948, this time on the Progressive Party ticket. He would poll just 1,405 votes that November, and in the September 1952 Democratic primary was again a losing candidate. Pitt would continue to seek his old seat in the legislature well into his eighties, running candidacies in the 1958, 1960, and 1962 Democratic primary elections. Chartley A. Pitt died at age 87 at an Everett, Washington hospital on February 3, 1966. Widowed in 1949, Pitt was survived by his three children and was interred alongside his wife May at the Evergreen Cemetery in Everett.

From the Washingon legislative composite of 1943.

Truitt Kendall Robe (1869-1949)

From the 1915 Washington legislative composite.

   A pioneer businessman and lumber dealer in the Granite Falls, Washington area, Truitt Kendall Robe was a native Missourian who first removed to the Washington Territory in 1886.  Earning a place here on the site due to his two terms in the Washington house of representatives, Robe is also one of the few odd name political figures to have a settlement named after him, the unincorporated community of Robe, Washington. Born in Cass County, Missouri on January 16, 1869, Truitt Kendall Robe was the son of William Restine and Mary Jessimah Robe.

  Removing to Adams County, Ohio with his family at an early age, Robe attended school in that state, being a student at the North Liberty Academy. He began a brief career as a school teacher in Manchester at age 17 before moving with his family once again, this time to Auburn in the Washington Territory. Following their settlement, young Truitt took employment as a clerk in a local store and later resigned to help his family run a hop farm they'd rented. 

  Beginning in 1889, Truitt Robe and his brother Campbell partnered with E.A. Stevens to form a shingle manufacturing business in Marysville, Washington, continuing in that business for nearly a year. Following a brief flirtation with railroad contracting, Robe joined the mercantile firm operated by Mark Swinnerton in Marysville, and by 1891 had been given the green light by Swinnerton to establish a branch of his store in the settlement of Granite Falls.

  The life of Truitt Robe is intertwined with the early history and success of Granite Falls, and following his settlement there operated Swinnerton's store, the first of its kind in the settlement. Robe would further aid the still young settlement by purchasing forty acres of land and "platting the original townsite of Granite Falls", which by the fall of 1891 consisted of 18 blocks, a two-story hotel, a grocery store, and a nearby railroad-tie mill. Truitt Robe married in Granite Falls in November 1891 to Ella Daisy Turner, then just seventeen years old. The couple's fifty-eight-year marriage saw the births of two daughters, Mildred Mary (1895-1975) and Doris Martha (1897-1977). 

  After leaving the employ of Mark Swinnerton, Robe made his first entrance into the lumber industry, erecting a sawmill with two partners, C.P. Last and W.H. Harding. After selling his interest to his partners, Robe went into business for himself, and after establishing his own mill along the Everett and Monte Cristo Railroad saw it develop into a major manufacturer of lumber and shingles. This flurry of activity also saw the town of Robe spring up around his mill, and by the turn of the 19th century was home to nearly 200 residents, as well as a post office. This area still exists today as an unincorporated community in Snohomish County.

  Following the dissolution of the sawmill operated by Last and Harding, Robe purchased that mill's machinery and received a work-related injury that necessitated a year-long recuperation. After regaining his health, Robe joined with Henry Menzel to form the Robe-Menzel Lumber Co., which would eventually consist of a sawmill, planing mill, and "30,000,000 feet of lumber." The business also added a railway for logging and transportation purposes. This firm would continue until 1910, and after Henry Menzel left the business, Robe followed him into a new business endeavor, the Coast Ice and Storage Company, a dealer in ice, ice cream, and dairy products. Robe would serve that business as its vice president, his full dates of employment being unknown at this time.

From the History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties, 1906.

   A longtime Republican, Truitt Robe entered politics in Washington as a member of the Snohomish County Republican Central Committee and was a delegate to various Republican conventions in the state. In 1912 he announced his candidacy for the Washington House of Representatives on the Progressive Party ticket and that November was elected. The 1913-15 session saw Truitt named to the committees on the Miscellaneous; Municipal Corporations Other than the First Class; the State School for Defective Youth, Reform School and Reformatory; and Township Organization. Robe won a second term in November 1914, polling 2, 861 votes and at the start of the 1915-17 term was named to several new committees, those being Counties and County Boundaries, Dairy and Livestock, Engrossed Bills, Federal Relations and Immigration, Internal Improvements and Indian Affairs, and Mines and Mining.

  After leaving the legislature Truitt Robe was a resident of San Juan Island, Washington, where he raised sheep for a number of years. His final weeks were spent battling rectal cancer and he died in Seattle on November 29, 1949, at age 80. His wife Ella survived her husband by well over a decade, and following her death in 1966 at age 92 was interred at the Wenatchee City Cemetery alongside her husband.

Luthene Claremont Gilman (1857-1942)

From Seattle and the Orient, 1904.

   Native Mainer Luthene Claremont Gilman found his business and political fortunes in King County, Washington following his resettlement there in the mid-1880s. A leading attorney in Seattle for many years, Gilman would win election as that city's attorney and later served a term in the state house of representatives. The son of Henry and Mary Twombly Gilman, Luthene Claremont Gilman was born in Levant, Maine on January 28, 1857. His early education was obtained at the Maine Central Institute (graduating in 1879) and after deciding upon a career in law enrolled at the Columbia University Law School in New York. 

   Earning his law degree in 1883, Gilman relocated to the Washington Territory shortly thereafter and soon established his first law practice. He would become a member of the firm Stratton, Lewis, and Gilman and in 1887 was elected to his first political office, that of Seattle city attorney. Two years later he set his sights on a seat in the state senate, but, along with several other state Democratic candidates that year, went down to defeat. Luthene C. Gilman married in Seattle in August 1887 to Eva Augusta Stinson (1861-1944), to whom he was wed for over fifty years. The couple would have four children, Ernestine (died in infancy in 1889), Benjamin Frederick (1890-1932) Frederick Stinson (1892-1918), and Mary Alice (1894-1955).  

  In 1892 Gilman launched a second candidacy for the legislature, this time for the state house of representatives. He would win the election that November and was remarked as the "only Democrat elected on the legislative ticket in King County" that election year. The 1893-95 session saw Gilman as a member of the Committee on the Judiciary and was  acclaimed as: 

"A polished and ready speaker, forcible, and eloquent when occasion demands, ever alert to the best interests of the people he represents, Mr. Gilman has clearly demonstrated the wisdom of the citizens of King in electing him to the legislature."

From "A Souvenir of Washington's Third Legislature", 1893.

   Returning to his law practice at the conclusion of his term, Gilman joined the firm of Preston, Carr, and Gilman in 1897, and six years later was made Western counsel in Seattle for the Great Northern Railway. This appointment marked a career change for Gilman, and in the next two decades rose to become a leading name in the railroad industry in the Pacific Northwest. Beginning in 1909, Gilman left the legal portion of the railway business behind when he assumed the role of assistant to the president of the Great Northern Railway, necessitating his removal to St. Paul, Minnesota. He remained here until 1914, and in that year was elected as president of the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway. This position also saw Gilman serve as president of two subsidiaries of that railway, those being the Oregon Electric Railway and the United Railways. 

  In 1918 further business honors were accorded to Gilman when he was selected as director of the Puget Sound District of the United Railway Administration, comprising the states of Oregon and Washington. In that same year he removed back to Seattle to assume the post of vice-president of the Great Northern Railway, and in April 1922 added the position of bank director to his resume, being named to the board of directors of the Washington Mutual Savings Bank. 

  Luthene C. Gilman served as vice president of the Great Northern for seventeen years, retiring in 1937 at age 80. He and his wife continued to reside in Seattle at the Rhododendron Apartments until Luthene's death at age 85 on September 7, 1942. Gilman's wife Eva survived her husband by two years, dying in 1944. Both were interred at the Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle.

From the Railway Age and Review, November 1920.

Almerion Page Stockwell (1864-1942)

Portrait from the 1899 Washington legislative composite.

   One term Washington state representative and Mayor of Aberdeen Almerion Page Stockwell is another recent name discovery, as his name was located just yesterday via the 1899 edition of the Legislative Manual and Political Directory of Washington. A native of Michigan, Stockwell was born in Medina, Lenawee County on May 6, 1863/1864,  a son of Levi and Helen A. Stockwell. Listed by most sources under the initials "A.P. ", Stockwell's education occurred in the state of his birth and at age twenty-one left Lenawee County to begin work as a bookkeeper for lumber firms. This work would see him take up residence in Montague, Michigan and Wisconsin, and in 1890 he moved to Washington, settling in the then-burgeoning city of Aberdeen.

   Following his relocation, Stockwell married in 1896 to Carrie A. Jones (1875-1930), to whom he was wed until her death. The couple would have two sons, Richard P. and Malcolm Fuller. Within a few years of his establishing roots in Aberdeen Stockwell had firmly implanted his name in the city's business sector, being a founder of the C.E. Burrows Co. in 1897. As a partner and general manager of that business, Stockwell saw it become a leading firm in the steamboat and transport lines on Grays Harbor and the Chehalis River. The company continued to expand through the establishment of logging sites and lumber mills and following company namesake C.E. Burrows' death in 1907 Stockwell succeeded to its presidency.

   Stockwell's business savvy saw him become affiliated with a number of other business concerns in the Grays Harbor County area, including being secretary-treasurer of the Aberdeen Timber Company and president of the Grays Harbor Boom Company, which he had helped purchase in 1897. While still connected to the C.E. Burrows Co. Stockwell saw that firm take over operations of the Bryden and Leitch Lumber Co. in 1907, and in that year took office as its president (serving in that capacity until 1910.)

   In 1898 Almerion P. Stockwell made his first move into the political life of Washington, being elected as a Republican to the state house of representatives from Chehalis County. Serving during the 1899-1900 session, Stockwell was named to the committees on Claims and Auditing, Federal Relations and Immigration, Fisheries, Miscellaneous, and Tide Lands. During his time in the legislature, Stockwell would pull political "double duty" due to his election as Mayor of Aberdeen in 1900, holding that post for one term. Other than the mention of his election as mayor, little information could be located on Stockwell's time in office.

   Following his brief time in politics, Stockwell resumed his extensive business interests and became connected to the Humptulips Driving Company, a logging firm on the Humptulips River. Taking the reins of secretary and treasurer of this business, Stockwell remained with this business after it had incorporated as the Humptulips Logging Company, being the manager of its offices at Aberdeen and its logging areas in Grays Harbor. Stockwell later added the title of "dairy king" to his resume in the 1900s, being the owner of Meadowbrook Dairy. Specializing in Ayrshire cattle, Stockwell would proclaim that he was "a dairyman for glory, a lumberman for recreation, and a logger for profit."

   Widowed in 1930, Almerion P. Stockwell continued to reside in Aberdeen until his death on April 25, 1942. He was interred alongside his wife at the Fern Hill Cemetery in that city. 

Stiles Rust Nettleton (1834-1911), Stiles Trumbull Stanton (1849-1888), Stiles Ashbel Crandall (1851-1932), Stiles Denison Woodruff (1837-1906)

Portrait from Steel and Searl's Legislative Souvenir of 1895-1896.

   Buckeye state native Stiles Rust Nettleton spent the better part of his seventy-seven years with a case of wanderlust, journeying around the United States. From humble beginnings in Ohio Nettleton rose to be a veteran of the Civil War, took a bride in Michigan, grew cotton in Alabama, was a newspaper owner and Judge in Minnesota, and served as a special treasury agent for the Pribilof Islands in Alaska. Relocating to Seattle, Washington in the early 1890s, Nettleton served one term in that state's house of representatives from 1895-1897. Truly a multifaceted man!

   Born on April 7, 1834, in Delaware County, Ohio, Stiles Rust Nettleton was one of several children born to Hiram and Lavina (Janes) Nettleton. In addition to Stiles Rust, the Nettleton family would also boast Alvred Bayard Nettleton (1838-1911), who went on to prominence in his own right, being a Brevet Brigadier General during the Civil War and Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under Benjamin Harrison from 1890-93.

  Little could be found in regards to Stiles Nettleton's early life or education, excepting notice of his casting his ballot for Lincoln in the election of 1860, and his enlistment for service in the Twelfth Ohio Volunteers. Nettleton's time with that unit saw him see action in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, and in the latter state participated in attacking "the salt supply of the Confederacy" on several occasions. Nettleton would also take part in the raids conducted by General George Stoneman that destroyed portions of Confederate railway supply lines in Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

    Research has shown that during the late 1850s, Nettleton was a resident of Sanilac County, Michigan, and during his time there served as a Notary Public, Commissioner of Roads, and town clerk of Lexington. Stiles R. Nettleton married in Sanilac County on March 20, 1862, to Almeda Orline Mills (1834-1921). The couple was wed for nearly five decades and within a year of their marriage had returned to Ohio. Their lengthy union would see the births of nine children: Elva (1863-1913), Alma (1864-1872), Hiram Sherman (1866-1951), Clark Mills (1868-1943), Fannie Lavinia (1868-1872), Alice Lyra (1873-1962), Mabel Orline (1874-1946), Stiles Rust Jr. (1876-1942) and Sarah Marie (1880-1975). 

   Following his discharge from service in November 1865 Stiles Nettleton is recorded as residing in Alabama, where in 1866-67 he had an interest in a "cotton raising and mercantile enterprise." By 1868 he was again residing in Ohio and in the early 1870s went west as a special agent with the Jay Cooke and Co. In 1872 Nettleton had moved his family to Minnesota, and was later employed as "a local agent for the land department of the Northern Pacific Railroad". 

    Nettleton's early residency in Minnesota saw him residing in the Clay County town of Glyndon, and in 1872 he and his wife became charter members of the Glyndon church. Nettleton also made his first foray into Minnesota politics during this period, being elected as Clay County Judge of Probate in 1879. He would be reelected to that office in 1881 and three years later removed with his family to  Northfield. Following his arrival, Nettleton would add another feather to his cap, that of a newspaper editor. He would purchase the Northfield News, "which he would conduct with success for four years."

    In the late 1880s, Nettleton would move once again, this time purchasing a stock farm in the southern portion of the state. In 1889 he received the appointment as an assistant special agent for the U.S. Treasury Department on the Pribilof Islands, a group of rocky, sparsely populated islands located off the coast of mainland Alaska. Despite being sent to such a remote location, Nettleton took to the appointment with vigor, and in the autumn of 1889 settled into his duties on the Island of St. Paul, keeping a diary of his work with the local citizenry, as well as taking notes on the fur seal population. In the following year, he returned to Minnesota and in 1891 was again dispatched to Alaska, first returning to St. Paul. He was later transferred to the island of St. George, remaining there until June 1892. During his time on St. Paul Island Nettleton was joined by his wife and youngest daughter, with his wife serving as a school teacher on the island during their stay.

Portrait from the 1895-96 composite photo of the Washington House of Representatives.

    After concluding his work on the Pribilof Islands Stiles R. Nettleton resettled in Seattle, Washington, where he worked in the customs service on the Puget Sound. In 1894 he was elected as one of King County's representatives to the Washington state legislature, and during his term (1895-97) sat on the house committees on Corporations, Counties and County Boundaries, Federal Relations and Immigration, Harbors and Waterways, Labor and Labor Statistics and Public Morals. 

    Following his time in the legislature, Nettleton resided in Kirkland, Washington, where he was a mining broker. He died in Kirkland on May 17, 1911, at age 77, and was survived by his wife Almeda and several of his children. Both Stiles and Almeda (along with four of their children) were interred at the Kirkland Cemetery. Prominence would continue in the Nettleton family with Clark Mills Nettleton, a former engineer and railroad contractor who in 1918 took over the ownership of the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

Nettleton's death notice from the Seattle Republican, May 26, 1911.

Portrait from the Evening Post Annual, 1885.

  Hailing from Stonington, Connecticut, Stiles Trumbull Stanton packed an incredible amount of activity in Connecticut state government despite living to the age of just 38. In addition to serving terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives and Senate Stanton was also an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1880 and ran an unsuccessful candidacy for Secretary of the State of Connecticut two years later. The son of Stiles and Abby W. Stanton, Stiles Trumbull Stanton was born in Stonington on December 10, 1849.

  Stanton's education in Stonington occurred at the Russell Collegiate and Commercial Insitute and he went on to further study at the Collegiate Institute of New Haven. Deciding to pursue a career in journalism, Stanton was employed on the staff of the Worcester Press and the Norwich Bulletin, and his time on the latter publication saw him garner a wide reputation as a humorist and "funny man", even having his work copied in various newspapers outside Connecticut.

  Following a three-year stint on the brigade staff of the Connecticut National Guard, Stanton cut ties with the Norwich Bulletin in 1877  and following a trip to Europe returned to his home state. Within a few short years of abandoning his journalistic career Stanton had made substantial inroads in Republican politics in the state, serving as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1880 and in that same year held the post of Secretary of the State Republican Committee. 

   Further honors were accorded to Stanton in May 1881 when he won election to the Connecticut House of Representatives from New London County and would win a second term the following year. 1882 also saw Stanton set his sights on higher office, becoming the Republican nominee for Connecticut Secretary of State. While he would lose that election to David Ward Northrup Stanton would achieve a measure of consolation in 1883 when he was elected to the Connecticut State Senate. Stanton served in the sessions of 1884-1886 and was also president pro tempore of that body during the last Senate session.

  Stiles Trumbull Stanton married in June 1884 to Lucy Bell Babcock (1849-1928) with the couple's marriage being recorded as childless. In early winter 1888 Stanton is recorded as staying at the Grand Union Hotel in New York City, where he would contract pneumonia. His health failed rapidly and by February was reported by the New York Times as being in a coma. On February 3, 1888, Stanton died at that hotel at the age of just 38, and in the wake of his untimely passing was memorialized as having been "handsome and popular, his career fraught with success from the first." Stanton was survived by his wife Lucy, who, following her death in 1928, was buried beside her husband at the Evergreen Cemetery in Stonington.

From the Waterbury Evening Democrat, February 3, 1888.

Portrait from the Biographical Review of New London County.

  Another "Stiles" that made his name known in Nutmeg State politics is Stiles Ashbel Crandall, who, like Stiles T. Stanton, hailed from New London County. Prominent in the towns of Ledyard and Norwich, Crandall served terms in both houses of the Connecticut legislature, was mayor of the city of Norwich and in 1895 was an unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of his state. Born in the town of Ledyard on October 12, 1851, S. Ashbel Crandall was the son of Stiles and Caroline (Greene) Crandall. Crandall's youth was spent on his family's farm and, following study in district schools of the area, began a teaching career at age eighteen. 

  After several years spent teaching Crandall resumed his studies and left Connecticut for the Iowa State University, where he would read law. After graduating in 1878 he returned to his home state and in the following year was admitted to the Connecticut bar. He would soon relocate to Norwich to establish his law practice and in 1880 was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, where he served for one term. In April 1883 S. Ashbel Crandall married Jane Stoddard (ca. 1851-1885) and later had two children, Mary Stoddard (born 1884) and Billings Francis Stoddard (born 1885). Jane Stoddard Crandall would die shortly after her son's birth in 1885 and Crandall never remarried following her death.

  Crandall returned to political life in 1887 when he won election as Mayor of Norwich, a  post he would continue to serve in until 1892. In 1892 he was elected to the Connecticut Senate, garnering 2, 796 votes on election day. Crandall's term (1893-95) saw him sit on the committees on Education and Forfeited Rights and in 1895 became the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor. He would lose that contest to former Lieutenant Governor Lorrin Alanson Cooke, who in 1897 would go on to win the Connecticut governorship.

  After leaving the senate Crandall continued prominence in Norwich, serving as a city school board member for six years and held memberships in a number of fraternal groups, including the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, and the Improved Order of Red Men. S. Ashbel Crandall died at the Masonic Home of Wallingford, Connecticut on November 14, 1932, at age 81. He was later interred at the Gales Ferry Cemetery in Allyn's Point, Connecticut, the same resting place as his wife Jane.

Portrait courtesy of www.saveseeds.org

  Orange, Connecticut resident Stiles Denison Woodruff served two terms in his state's house of representatives and would achieve additional prominence as a founder of S.D.Woodruff & Sons, one of the largest dealers of garden seeds in the eastern portion of the United States. Born on November 27, 1837, Stiles D. Woodruff was the son of Jeremiah and Charlotte Emeline (Nettleton) Woodruff. Stiles would marry in Orange in October 1862 to Elizabeth Maria Clark (1839-1906), with whom he had four children, Frank Clark (born 1866-1944), Watson Stiles (1869-1930), Robert Jeremiah (born 1874-), and Mary (born 1876). Of these children, Watson Stiles and Frank Woodruff would follow in their father's footsteps and serve in the Connecticut legislature, the former being a member of the house of representatives in 1907-08 and in the Senate from 1919-20. Frank Woodruff too would win election to the Senate, serving in the session of 1911-12.

   In the same year as his marriage, Stiles Woodruff entered into military service, enlisting in Co. G of the 27th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. In the spring of 1863 Woodruff (along with many other soldiers from the 27th Regiment) was taken prisoner at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and for two weeks was held at the Libby Prison in Richmond. Woodruff and his fellow prisoners were later swapped in a prisoner exchange and Woodruff himself later saw action at Gettysburg prior to his discharge from service.

   After his return from war Woodruff began a small business venture, the growing of garden seeds. After purchasing the Lyman Treat farm in Orange, Woodruff started out with beets, turnips, parsnips, cabbage and sweet corn. Woodruff's small enterprise eventually evolved into an extensive wholesale and retail enterprise, and by the time of his death in 1906 was acknowledged as "one of the largest growers of garden seeds in the east." In the early 1890s Woodruff's sons Watson and Frank joined the business, and in later years the company added "Maine seed potatoes and onion sets" to their catalog, along with a new type of corn breed called the "Country Gentleman".

A Woodruff & Sons advertisement from 1901.

  While his name grew prominent in Connecticut agricultural circles, Stiles D. Woodruff also cultivated a name in civic, religious, and political affairs in his native county of Fairfield. A longstanding member of the Orange Congregational Church, Woodruff served as church clerk, treasurer, and deacon, and would hold the posts of grand juror and Orange town clerk for two decades. In 1878 Woodruff was elected to represent Orange in the Connecticut House of Representatives, and during his two terms (1879 and 1880) sat on the house committee on the School Fund.

  Following his legislative service, Woodruff continued with his seed business and with his sons Watson and Frank, would lease a house in Long Island, New York, where further varieties of seed were developed. In March 1906, Elizabeth Woodruff, Stiles' wife of over forty years, died. Sickly at the time of his wife's passing, news of his wife's death was withheld from him for a time, and on April 11, a little over a month after his wife's death, Stiles Woodruff died at his home, aged 68. Both were later interred at the Orange Center Cemetery.

Woodruff's obituary from the New Haven Morning Journal and Courier, Apr. 12, 1906.

Andsworth Hardaway Chambers (1851-1934)

 From Volume I of the History of the Pacific Northwest, 1889.

    A distinguished resident of Thurston County, Washington, Andsworth Hardway Chambers was the son of Washington territorial pioneers and went on to prominence in both business and politics, serving as the Mayor of Olympia, Washington for three terms. He was later a one-term representative in the Washington State Legislature and was for many years the proprietor of a successful butchery and meat packing company. Chambers' first name is also recorded as being spelled as "Answorth" in addition to the spelling given here.

   Andsworth H. Chambers was born in Thurston County, Washington on June 25, 1851, being the son of David J. and Elizabeth Harrison Chambers, both former residents of Missouri. Chambers is recorded by Barton's Legislative Handbook and Manual of Washington as receiving his education in common schools and engaged in work on the family farm during his youth. He spent his formative years herding cattle and continued in this line of work until he decided upon a career as a butcher. He married in Olympia on May 20, 1878, to Ms. Mary A. Connelly (1856-1937) and the couple would later have three daughters, including Hope Chambers O'Leary (1890-1925).

   Chambers' first venture into the meat packing and butchering business came at age nineteen, joining with his father to establish an Olympia-based butchery. In 1881 the son bought out the father's interest in the business and in the succeeding years built it into the A.H. Chambers Meat Co., mentioned as being one of the most "extensive slaughtering and packing business in Olympia." In addition to this plant, he is mentioned in the 1905 work Olympia, the Capital City of Washington as operating a market, and "has an extensive jobbing trade in meats among the logging camps and towns of Southwestern Washington." This history of Olympia further notes that Chambers' plant "has a capacity of five cars of cattle per week". Chambers also held prominent positions in several other Olympia-based businesses, including being a director of the First National Bank and having a "controlling interest" in the Olympia Gas and Electric Light Works. 

   Having carved a prominent place for himself in Olympia business circles, Chambers turned his attention to city political affairs beginning in the 1880s. He served as a city council member for a time and in 1886 was elected to the first of three terms as Mayor of Olympia. His three years in office saw the building of the Chambers Block in Olympia, now one of the oldest remaining business blocks in the city. Chambers continued his political ascent after leaving the mayor's office, being nominated by the Democrats of Thurston County to be one of their representatives in the Washington State Legislature in 1890. He went on to win the election that November and during his one term (1891-1893) held a seat on the committees on the Hospital for the Insane, Indian Affairs, Medicine, Surgery and Pharmacy, and Military Affairs. 

From an 1891 Washington State Legislature class portrait in the Washington State Archives.

  The remaining years of Chambers' life have proven to be difficult to research, with few sources mentioning what he may have been up to after his time in the legislature. It has been found that he served as a member of the Washington State Capital Commission from 1915 to 1921, and in 1925 suffered a personal loss with the death of his then 35-year-old daughter Hope C. O'Leary. Andsworth H. Chambers died shortly after his 83rd birthday on July 1, 1934, and was later interred at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Tumwater, Washington. Chambers' wife Mary survived him by three years and is interred at the same cemetery.

Govnor Teats (1858-1926)

   Possessing one of the more humorous names you'll read about here on the site, Washington state lawyer, legislator and judge Govnor Teats was a prominent political leader in the Evergreen State for over twenty years. His unusual first name (which I presume is pronounced like the British greeting "ello govna") and last name "Teats" make for a very funny name, and one can wonder if that was ever brought up by his political opponents! Despite being a state representative and candidate for Lieutenant Governor, little can be found online in regards to his life, with the exception being a write-up in the History of the Puget Sound Country, published in 1903. The rare picture of Teats shown above was located here, and it stands as one of a few available portraits of him.

   Govnor Teats was born in the town of Erie, Whiteside County, Illinois in 1858, the son of Judge Christopher C. and Cloe Warren Teats. Govnor attended school in Illinois and resided here until age sixteen, whereafter he removed to Kansas to take up farming. He eventually decided upon a career in law, and after a substantial amount of study, graduated from the Kansas State University at Lawrence with a law degree. Teats married in Kansas in 1879 to Ms. Ella Reeves, who bore one son, Roscoe (1880-1945). Ella Reeves Teats died shortly after Roscoe's birth and Teats later remarried in 1883 to Florence Robb (1861-1943), with whom he had two more sons, Leo (1884-1964) and Ralph (1886-1977). 

   After passing the Kansas bar, Teats set up a law practice in Abilene and resided here until 1890, when he and his family resettled in Tacoma, Washington. His early years in Tacoma were spent practicing law, and over the following decades built a reputation as one of the "biggest personal injury damage suit lawyers in the state" and was described in the History of the Puget Sound Country as maintaining a large practice, while also being in the possession of "one of the most extensive law libraries in the city."

   Teats first became active in Washington state politics in 1910, mounting a campaign for the state house of Representatives from Pierce County (then the 36th district). His campaign platform (as featured in the Tacoma Times article below) makes note of his being a staunch advocate of the common workman, stating that "the time has come for the State of Washington to change from the present barbarous system of personal injury to a more humane system of compensation to the workman and their dependents in our industries." Teats also elaborates that he was in favor of a "State Compulsory Insurance plan" that would 

"Put all the money paid by the employer and workman in a fund under the control and management of the State Insurance Department, and pay all injured workmen a sum according to the injury, without the intervention of a casualty company of lawyers."

                                                From the Tacoma Times, September 3, 1910.

   The above-mentioned platform obviously resonated with Pierce County voters, as Teats (funny name notwithstanding) did win election to the Washington State House of Representatives that November. Taking his seat in January 1911, he served one term in the house that concluded in January 1913. During his term he is noted as having introduced legislation called the state workmen's compensation law, with the Tacoma News noting that with Teats's guidance the bill passed, but "wiped out his renumerative practice from damage suits."

  As his term in the legislature came to a close, Teats began a campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Washington, running on the then-popular Progressive Party (or "Bull Moose") ticket. He was unsuccessful in his attempt, losing by over 8,000 votes to Republican candidate Louis Folwell Hart (1862-1929), who later became Washington's ninth Governor, serving from 1919 to 1925.

                                                    From the 1913 Tribune Almanac.

  Despite his loss for the lieutenant governorship, Teats continued touting the "Bull Moose" agenda, mounting a campaign for a state senate seat in 1914. A Tacoma Times article on his candidacy (shown below) makes note that he wanted "to go to the senate to create a system of safety which will save life and limb of my fellow men." Despite having the best interests of his constituents at heart, Teats was again unsuccessful.

                  This article on Govnor Teats appeared in an October 1914 edition of the Tacoma Times.

   In 1924 he became a Superior Court judge for Tacoma, serving in that capacity until his death. The last months of Teats's life were plagued by ill health, with his obituary noting that an infection in his right ear developed into a mastoid. Following an operation on September 4, 1926, Teats died at a Tacoma hospital.

  

                                  A Govnor Teats Update...... January 8, 2013

    Our first "update" related article for the new year of 2013 is a brief return to a highly popular posting from October 2012 that highlighted the life of obscure Washington politician and lawyer Govnor Teats. Since putting his article up online a few months ago the humorously named Teats has become the single most viewed profile on the site, due to several interesting factors! In early December of 2012, a brief snippet on Mr. Teats (as well as his picture from the site here) was featured on the popular website www.cracked.com, much to my great surprise. 

  I had never heard of cracked.com but have since found out its one of the most popular sites on the web, and ol' Govnor Teats was featured in an article called a "quick fix" on that website under the header "The 5 Greatest Accomplishments By Men With Stupid Names". While Teat's name is certainly one of the funnier ones you'll read about here on the site, he is certainly amongst good company with four other funny-named politicians on cracked.com, including current U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Richard "Dick" Swett. You can see Teat's article on cracked.com at the address posted below.....

www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/the-5-greatest-accomplishments-by-men-with-stupid-names/

 While the TSNIAPH getting a mention on cracked.com would make any writer's day, it was numerous pieces of e-mail correspondence with Tacoma-based genealogist and writer Greg Spadoni that truly made Govnor Teat's profile here on the site one of the most memorable I've yet written.

  Towards the end of October of last year, I completed the article on Mr. Teats and posted it on the site here. Little did I realize that on the opposite side of the country, someone else was doing their own research on ol' Govnor, research that managed to fill in a few of the blanks in Teat's life while also helping to shape the overall character assessment of him. And now for the backstory!

  Within a week of completing Teats' profile, I received an e-mail from Greg, relating his research in regards to Gino Spadoni, who was accused (and initially convicted) in the shooting death of his ex-foreman Harry Hallen at the Griffin Wheel Co. in Tacoma. The murder itself occurred in March 1921 and Gino was eventually picked up on an unrelated charge of arson in San Francisco in 1925, and this is where the story (worthy of a movie screenplay in this author's opinion) takes a very interesting turn!

                                                         Enter Govnor Teats.........

  After being returned to Tacoma, Gino Spadoni underwent a substantial amount of questioning by Tacoma police, and a trial date for him was set for June 1, 1925. The judge in the case? Mr. Govnor Teats!

  As related in my article on him in October of last year, Teats became a Superior Court judge in Tacoma sometime in the early 1920s, and as Greg so eloquently put in his history of the Griffin Wheel Murder, the choice of ol' Govnor to head the trial "was unfortunate, for his less than stellar conduct of the trial, which began before the first juror had even been selected, was to have a profound impact on the ultimate outcome."

   Throughout 1925, the Spadoni trial and its proceedings were front-page news in Tacoma newspapers. Closing arguments for the trial began in mid-June 1925, with Judge Teats reading instructions to the jury. After a lengthy deliberation, the jury deadlocked, and after further deliberation found Spadoni guilty of murder in the first degree. The story doesn't end there, however, as Spadoni's lawyer (S.A. Gagliardi), successfully appealed his conviction, making a point to state that Judge Teats had made thirty-eight points of error during the trial! Gagliardi's appeal eventually reached the Washington State Supreme Court, and after reducing the points of error from thirty-eight to eleven and finally, to eight, Spadoni's conviction was overturned--mainly thanks to the judicial ineptness of one Govnor Teats.

  The second trial for Spadoni began sometime later in May 1926 under a new judge, Fred Remann. This trial eventually saw witnesses refuse to testify or change their testimony, with the end result being that Spadoni was acquitted of all charges, walking away a free man. He eventually relocated to California, where he lived quietly for the next five decades. He later died in Italy in 1979 at age 85 and is also buried here.

  Teats' tenure as a judge after the Spadoni trial is also under some scrutiny. Greg made note of another trial Teats was involved in, one in which he "outraged the defense", so it certainly seems that as a lawyer and judge, Teats fell short of the mark!

  

   After reading Greg's thought-provoking look at a forgotten piece of Washington history, it's quite interesting to note that a funny-named man featured on the site played an integral role in letting a (probable) murderer go free. While Teats' involvement in the Spadoni trial encompassed a major part of our e-mail correspondence, Greg also clued me into a few new details on Teat's life that so far remained a mystery.

  The first was Teat's date of death, which as of my October article was listed as occurring sometime in 1926. The correct date of his demise was September 4th of that year at age 68. Greg also found that Govnor met his end as a result of an ear infection (of all things!), making him the first politician profiled thus far to die in this way! To top it off, Greg found that Teats was cremated shortly after his death, with the location of his remains so far being unknown. I'd also like to note that the Teats's great-grandchildren eventually changed their last name to Deitz some years after Govnor's death!

   While Teats obviously had to have some skill as a lawyer and politician (he was elected to the Washington State legislature after all) both Greg and I agree that Teats's public career was tainted by acts of buffoonery, both as a judge and earlier. 

   The above passages detail Teats' appointment to the Tacoma Civil Service Commission in April 1896 and his subsequent ouster from that office a year later in July 1897. It seems that Teats (as well as his two fellow commission members) weren't up to the task of performing their duties properly, and were dismissed from office. Charges were actually presented to then Tacoma mayor Angelo Fawcett citing Teats's "gross incompetency, neglect of duty, and prostitution of a public trust for his private gain." Not exactly the kind of thing you want on your resumé! 

   With all that being said, it's quite easy to look back on Teats' career and nitpick due to various mistakes he may have made. These errors of judgment (as well as a very funny name) have led three separate parties (myself, Greg, and cracked.com) to really take Teats to the proverbial woodshed, and even a near century after his death, it seems the poor guy still can't catch a break! 

  

 You can read all about the Griffin Wheel Murder, Gino Spadoni (and more on Judge Teats) at the following link! Please check it out!

http://groupssa.com/ssa/griffinwheelmurder/griffinwheelmurder.html

  In this second update to the Govnor Teats article, SNIAPH site friend Greg Spadoni (mentioned above) has located even more interesting facts on ol' Govnor, including two different obituaries for him published in Tacoma newspapers after his death in September 1926. Greg also managed to locate the birth and death dates for Teat's wife Florence and his three sons, all of which have been added to the main article above. Through Greg's exhaustive research on Govnor, this article has grown exponentially, and will continue to do so as long as new tidbits on Govnor are discovered!

                                           This rare Teats' obit was provided by Greg Spadoni.

  As was mentioned in the previous installment, Govnor Teats was felled by an ear infection, or, to be more precise, a mastoid of the right ear. Judge Teats had evidently been ill for a few months before his death but still managed to maintain an active schedule, hearing cases up until a few hours before his death. This obituary mentions that in addition to his political and judicial activities, Teats was also involved in several local fraternal organizations, including the Elks Club, the Knights of Pythias, and the Modern Woodmen of America. You'll also note that Teats is listed as serving a "hectic term as civil service commissioner", which (if you've read the previous update) is a very good way of putting it! 

  In addition to the above obituary, Greg also located two new portraits of Govnor, both of which are shown below.

    Teats is caricatured as a Roman gladiator (or rather a slightly out-of-shape Roman gladiator) in the above portrait, which was drawn around the time Govnor was serving in the legislature in 1911. Teats' was described in a passage that accompanied the portrait as "the doughty champion of labor. A hard stubborn fighter with a stinging blow that penetrates the vital heart and pierces the quick." While that passage makes Teats sound like a championship boxer, he did indeed try to be a champion of the working man, eventually holding the chairmanship of the legislative committee on labor and labor statistics. The second portrait of Teats (shown below) appeared in the Tacoma Daily Ledger shortly after he was reinstated on the Tacoma Civil Service Commission.

                                           From the Tacoma Daily Ledger, October 22, 1897.