Reavy Hawthorne Giles (1896-1936)

Portrait from the 1933 West Virginia Blue Book.

  The political star of Reavy Hawthorne Giles shone briefly during the early 1930s, as he served as both a state legislator and actuary of the state compensation department prior to his death at age 39 in February 1936. The son of Oscar and Mary Etta Giles, Reavy Hawthorne Giles was born in Myndus, Virginia on April 27, 1896. He would attend school in the state of his birth and during adolescence completed a "bookkeeping-secretarial course."

  A veteran of the First World War, Giles was a pilot with the 21st, 85th, and 284 Aero Squadrons. With a brief mention of his war service being given by the West Virginia Blue Book, no other source details the particulars of his military service or area of deployment in Europe. Following his return from the war, Giles married in June 1920 to Juanita Stella Shumate (1896-1981), with whom he had one son, Reavy Hawthorne Jr. (born 1921), who would later lose his life in an airplane crash in France in April 1946.

  A bookkeeper and accountant prior to his entering state politics, Giles won election to the West Virginia House of Delegates from Greenbrier County in November 1932, garnering 9,257 votes on election day. He took his seat in January 1933 and was named to the committees on Insurance, Labor, Medicine and Sanitation, Mines and Mining, Printing and Contingent Expenses, and Railroads. 

  Giles' tenure in the legislature proved to be brief, and just two months after taking his seat resigned in March 1933 to accept the post of actuary for the West Virginia Compensation Department. He would be succeeded by H.L. Van Sickler, who was appointed to his vacant seat. Giles continued to serve as actuary until his death at age 39 on February 28, 1936, at a veterans hospital in Huntington, West Virginia. Despite being in the prime of life, Giles is recorded as having been ill for more than a year and his death was attributed to "a complication of diseases." He was later interred at the Wildwood Cemetery in Beckley, West Virginia. Giles was survived by his wife Juanita, who later remarried to Fred Clark Hardman, who predeceased her in 1953. 

Giles' death notice from the Charleston Daily Mail.

Haymond Alpheus Alltop (1892-1979)

Portrait from the West Virginia Blue Book, 1941.

  A three-term member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from Marion County, Haymond Alpheus Alltop resided in the same city as former West Virginia Governor Aretas Brooks Fleming, who was profiled a few days ago. While there is a dearth of resources mentioning Alltop, enough has been located to compile a small profile on his life. Born in Gilmer County, West Virginia on June 14, 1892, Haymond Alpheus Alltop was the son of Alpheus and Rebecca (Miller) Alltop. Given the unusual name Haymond Alpheus upon his birth, Alltop's first and middle names may have a connection to Alpheus Forest Haymond (1823-1893), a Fairmont, West Virginia resident who had earlier served in the Virginia House of Delegates, the Virginia Secession Convention and for many years was a judge of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

  A student in the public schools, Alltop would go on to study at the West Virginia Business College and married on May 15, 1912, to Mona Ann Satterfield (1895-1966), to whom he was wed for over fifty years. The couple would have at least four children, including Kenneth Alpheus (1913-1987), Kathleen (born ca. 1916), Theresa Mae (1917-2001), and Ruby (1919-2002).

  Following his marriage, Haymond A. Alltop was employed by the Fairmont Mining Machinery Co. in the mid-1910s and was a member of that company's baseball team, serving as a pitcher. He would later enter into a two-decade-long career as a machinist in the employ of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. While little biographical material exists in regards to Alltop's life prior to his legislative service, the West Virginia Blue Book denotes his prominence in labor circles in the state, as he served five years as the president of the Monongahela Valley Trades and Labor Council, and was the vice president of both the West Virginia Industrial Union Council (serving 1937-40) and the West Virginia Federation of Labor. 

   In November 1938 Haymond Alltop was elected as one of three Marion County representatives to the West Virginia House of Delegates, garnering 12,889 votes on election day. Taking his seat at the start of the 1939-41 session, Alltop proved to be busy as a freshman legislator, being named to the committees on Elections and Privileges, Federal Relations, Forestry and Conservation, Insurance, Labor, and the Military. In November 1940 he won a second term in the legislature (receiving 20,039 votes) and in 1942 was elected to his third term with 8,981 votes.

  Little information could be found on the remainder of Alltop's life, except a mention of his brief flirtation with a run for the state senate in 1952. Widowed in 1966, Alltop survived his wife Mona by thirteen years, dying at age 86 in April 1979. Both were interred at the Mount Zion Cemetery in Fairmont.

Aretas Brooks Fleming (1839-1923), Aretas Ellsworth Kepford (1867-1930), Arretus Linton Sharpnack (1877-1960)

Governor Aretas B. Fleming.

"As a legislator, judge and Governor he has served the state and his native country with fidelity and reflected credit upon himself and the people he served. Public spirited as a citizen, he carried his enthusiasm for righteousness and efficiency into the offices he has held. He has attracted the attention, especially while governor, of the whole country to the then almost underdeveloped mineral and timber resources of West Virginia, by public addresses and published articles in trade and other papers."   

   While the above description briefly touches on his career in the public forum, it can rightly be said that there were few men more prominent in late 19th century West Virginia than Aretas Brooks Fleming, a two-term member of the state house of delegates and circuit court judge who in 1890 was inaugurated as the Governor of his state. Undoubtedly one of the oddest named men ever to serve as the Governor of West Virginia, Fleming is referred to by me as an "old guard" strange name political figure, as I located his name way back in 2001 via a copy of the Who Was Who In America 1896-1942 edition, which contained biographies of a good majority of American governors elected up to that time.

   Aretas Brooks Fleming was born near Fairmont, Virginia (now West Virginia) on October 15, 1839, the son of the Rev. Benjamin Franklin (1810-1876) and Rhoda (Brooks) Fleming. Raised on a farm, Fleming's youth saw him engaged in farm work, and would attend school during the winter months, being a student at "private and select schools."

  Like many of the men profiled here in the past, Fleming decided to pursue a career in law early in his life, and in the late 1850s enrolled at the University of Virginia. After completing his studies in 1859 he taught school briefly and in 1860, after receiving his law degree, settled in Gilmer County.

  Fleming's stay in Gilmer County proved to be brief, and during his residency there operated a private school "while waiting for clients." This school was later headed by Aretas' brother Robert, and at the outbreak of the Civil War Fleming closed his practice and removed to Fairmont, where he resided until his death sixty years later. After settling in Fairmont Fleming recommenced with his law practice and in 1863 was elected to his first political office, that of prosecuting attorney of Marion County, West Virginia, which had been admitted as a state in June of that year. He was re-elected to that post in 1865 for another two-year term and in September 1865 married Caroline Margaret "Carrie"  Watson (1844-1931), to who he was wed for nearly sixty years. The couple's union saw the births of five children, Gypsy W. (1868-1954), Ida (1872-1906), twins George (1874-1935) and Virginia (born 1874), and Aretas Brooks Jr. (1882-1945)

Fleming as he appeared in the Prominent Men of West Virginia, 1890.

  During his second term as prosecuting attorney Fleming entered into a law practice with Alpheus Forest Haymond (1823-1893), a former member of the Virginia house of delegates, as well as a Confederate veteran. Their law practice extended until 1872 when Haymond was elected to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and in that same year, Fleming advanced to higher office himself, winning election to the West Virginia House of Delegates. He would be reelected in 1874 and during his two terms was a member of the house committees on the judiciary and finance and taxation (serving as chairman of the latter.)

   Further political honors came Fleming's way in February 1878, when, following the death of sitting judge Charles Lewis, he was appointed as judge of the West Virginia's 2nd judicial circuit court. He would be elected to a term of his own on that court in November 1878 and would continue to be reelected, serving until 1888. In August of that year, Fleming's name was brought forward at the state Democratic convention as a candidate for Governor, and following a unanimous motion from the delegates in attendance on August 17th, officially became the nominee. Fleming's opponent that year was Republican Nathan Goff (1843-1920), former U.S. Secretary of the Navy under Rutherford Hayes, as well as a U.S. Representative. 

  Through the fall of 1888, Fleming's character and previous government experience were boomed in Democratic-leaning papers of the state, with the Point Pleasant Weekly Register referring to the candidate as a man of "probity, temperance, and manliness," and further related that:

"As a gentleman we believe he will elevate the office; that he will not simply use it as a stepping stone to gratify his own personal ambition; that he will not be a mere political schemer; that he will not represent a clique or faction, but that he will have the courage to be governor of the whole state; that he will have that concientious regard for the common weal,  and that broad and enterprising spirit toward our public interests that will encourage and assist in the development of our resources and the general development of our state. In a word, Judge Fleming will make a governor of whom we shall not be ashamed, and who will command the respect and confidence of the whole people." 

Portrait from the Men of West Virginia, 1903.

   The West Virginia gubernatorial election of 1888 proved to be an electoral quagmire when the votes were tallied in November, with Republican Nathan Goff's vote total being a small margin (just 106 votes) ahead of Fleming. The Democrats of West Virginia could not be swayed, however, and after contesting the election results issued a call for an investigation. With then-incumbent Governor Emanuel Wilson declining to step down from office until a clear winner had been decided upon, this investigation would be headed up by a joint committee of members of both houses of the West Virginia legislature. This fact-finding investigation lasted more than a year and in January 1890 the legislature (then heavily democratic), voted along party lines to declare Fleming the duly elected Governor by 237 votes. Despite the brouhaha surrounding votes and rightful claim to the governorship, "no personal animosity" developed between Fleming and Goff, with both referred to as "personal friends long before the contest and have been ever since."

   Aretas Fleming officially took the governor's chair on February 6, 1890, and served until 1893. With Republican legislators still bitter over losing the governorship, Fleming's legislative successes proved to be minimal, excepting the successful adoption of the "Australian ballot", which limited the possibility of election fraud. While hampered legislatively, Fleming's administration did much good to encourage future investment in the natural resources of the state, including mineral and timber, mining operations, petroleum fields, and railroad construction.

  After leaving office in 1893 Fleming returned to the practice of law and was affiliated with various coal mining interests in the state, and in 1901 became a director and attorney for the Fairmont Coal Co., which had been organized that year. This company would later develop into the Consolidation Coal Company, with Fleming continuing to serve on its board of directors, and he would also hold the post of general counsel for that company's properties in West Virginia. Other business accolades that came Fleming's way following his governorship include service as a director for both the Cumberland and Pennsylvania and Monongahela railroads, being a stockholder and director for the Watson Company in Fairmont, and also held a directorship in the National Bank of Fairmont.

  Aretas Brooks Fleming died in Fairmont on October 13, 1923, two days short of his 84th birthday. He was survived by his wife Carrie, who, following her death in 1931 at age 87, was interred alongside him at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Fairmont.

From "West Virginia and Its People", 1913.

From the Iowa Public Health Bulletin, 1914.

   A resident of both Iowa and Kansas during his life, Aretas Ellsworth Kepford gained wide distinction as a lecturer on tuberculosis and the methods to curb its spread. A Methodist Episcopal minister for over three decades, Kepford earns a spot here on the site due to his candidacy for Governor of Kansas on the Independent Prohibition ticket in 1896. Born near Independence, Iowa on June 18, 1867, Aretas Ellsworth Kepford was the son of the Rev. Joseph (1834-1921) and Anna Mary (Snavely) Kepford (1843-1931).

  Little is known of Kepford's formative years. As the son of a Methodist Episcopal minister, Kepford elected to follow his father into the ministry and was admitted to preach at an unknown date. The early 1890s saw him residing in Findlay, Ohio, and in 1892 removed to Kansas where he accepted a pastorate at the Church of God in East Fort Scott. His residency there saw him take part in the 1893 Bourbon County Sunday School Association convention and was a member of its committee on resolutions. 

  Following his resettlement Kepford gained press as an "eloquent young minister and platform speaker", eventually resigning his post in Fort Scott to focus on lecturing. By 1896 Kepford's name had grown so prominent in Kansas he was put forward as a candidate for Governor on the Independent Prohibition ticket in late 1896. In October Kepford accepted the nomination, succeeding the Rev. J.E. Brant, who had withdrawn his name from consideration. As a staunch temperance advocate, Kepford's platform highlighted the failures Governor Edmund Morrill's administration and its "policy of nullification of the prohibitory law", and further noted:

"No honest man can shut his eyes to the fact that the administration has pursued a policy of nullification to the prohibitory law. The truth of this statement is apparent when we remember the joints and saloons are now running in the many cities and towns of the state, and new ones are being added day by day. I know that it is urged by the jointists and saloon keepers are running in support of the opposition. But the absurdity of this assertion is shown by the fact that the joints and saloons are running, contrary to the oaths of executive authority and a constitutional law. That the present administration maintains by a nullification policy these joints and saloons in the interests of its opponents is to ridiculous to need contradiction. Should we longer submit to such pretentions?

From the Fort Scott Daily Tribune and Daily Monitor, Oct. 15, 1896.

   After accepting the gubernatorial nomination Kepford took to the stump, and in the fall of 1896 made "a canvass of the state as far as the limited time before election will permit." On election day Kepford and the prohibitionists went down to defeat, polling dead last in a field of five candidates. He polled just 703 votes to Populist candidate John W. Leedy's winning total of 167,941 but saw incumbent Governor Edmund Morrill lose in his bid for reelection. 

  In the year following his defeat, Aretas Kepford undertook a six-week tour of Europe, including a stop in Rome. Following his return stateside he would lecture on his travels, and in 1898 married Effie Elaine Emmert (1878-1954). The couple's thirty-two-year marriage produced two children, Vernon Francis (1899-1963) and Lucille (born 1904). Kepford and his wife resettled in Carroll County, Iowa following their marriage, where Kepford held the pastorate of the Church of God in Glidden. His ministry there extended several years, and in 1900 attended the Ministerial Association of the Churches of God Conference in Newburg, Iowa.

From the Ceder Rapids Times, 1930.

  Beginning in the 1900s Aretas Kepford began a career on the lecture circuit warning of the dangers of tuberculosis, work that would gain him statewide prominence. Through the early part of the 20th century, Kepford packed churches and lecture halls educating the citizenry of the dangers of the spread of the "white plague." As a representative of the Iowa Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, Kepford worked under former Governor William Larrabee, and in 1908 headed the move to develop an "out-camp" in Dubuque. This outdoor "tented city" was formulated by Kepford and a committee of physicians to treat tuberculosis patients outdoors in a "tented colony", an idea that was received with enthusiasm.

  Kepford's work in the field of tuberculosis prevention eventually led to his appointment to the Iowa State Board of Control, being designated as the state lecturer on tuberculosis. He would serve fifteen years in that post, and his time in office saw improvements in disease prevention and sanitation, including the construction of public drinking fountains. Kepford also advocated for an early form of tuberculosis inoculation in children, using the living germs of the disease. This treatment, then in its infancy, had been pioneered in Colorado and though not perfect, had "precisely the same effect that vaccination has in preventing smallpox."

  In 1913 Kepford briefly returned to ministerial work before resuming his duties as state lecturer. In October 1920 he was appointed as director of the State Juvenile Home in Toledo, Iowa, a recently established institution developed to house "dependent, neglected, and delinquent children." He served eight years as its director before returning to the ministry in 1929, being named as pastor of the English Methodist Church in Gladbrook, Iowa. He reemerged on the political stage in early 1930 when he entered into the race for state representative from Tama County. He was defeated in the June Republican primary by incumbent W. Walter Wilson, who, in turn, would be defeated in the general election that November.

  On August 16, 1930, Aretas Ellsworth Kepford died unexpectedly at his Gladbrook, Iowa home, succumbing to a heart attack following an attack of acute indigestion. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Wilson Cemetery in Independence, Iowa. 

From the Traer Star Clipper, August 22, 1930.

From the Uniontown Evening Standard, Sept. 16, 1935.

  A leading citizen in Fayette County, Pennsylvania for the better part of six decades, Arretus Linton Sharpnack earns placement here on the site due to his 1926 candidacy for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A lifelong resident of Fayette County, Sharpnack was born in the neighboring town of Cumberland on April 9, 1877, the son of Levi Antrim and Elizabeth Jane (Armstrong) Sharpnack.

  Sharpnack's early education was obtained in schools local to Fayette County, as well as the California Normal school. During this time he is noted as having worked the family farm and also worked in a coal mine. He began a teaching career in Cumberland township early in his life, which was followed by his service as principal of the German township schools. He married on August 15, 1900, to Bertha Arnold, to who he was wed until she died in 1915. The couple had three children, Donald Leroy (1901-1950), John Glenn (1903-1925), and Elizabeth (1904-1943). A year after his wife's death Sharpnack remarried to Norma (Long) Zimmerman who predeceased him in 1927. In 1933 he wed Elizabeth Frank, who survived him upon his death in 1960.

   Sharpnack entered the public life of his state in 1926 when he announced his candidacy for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In November he was defeated by Republican candidate Frank L. Bowers, who polled 4,546 votes to his own 1,559. Following his loss, Sharpnack was elected as a member of the German Township Road Board, where he served for twenty-five years. Around 1919 he began service as secretary of the Fayette County Supervisors, Auditors, and Good Roads Association, serving until his death in 1960. He also held the secretaryship of the Fayette County Tax Collectors, Auditors, and Assessors Association, his full dates of service being unknown at this time.

   Active in the civic life of his county, Sharpnack held memberships in the Fayette County Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Golden Age Club of Uniontown, the Uniontown Motor Club, the McClellandtown Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution, and chaired the Boy Scout Directors of McClellandtown. A longstanding member of the McClellandtown Volunteer Fire Department, Sharpnack heavily invested his time in fire-related groups, including service as chaplain of the Fayette County Fireman's Association and the Western Pennsylvania Fireman's Association. Additionally, Sharpnack served as secretary of the Fire Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

From the Uniontown Morning Herald, January 27, 1958.

   In 1931 Sharpneck reentered politics when he became a Democratic candidate for Fayette County commissioner. Though unsuccessful at the polls, he launched another campaign for that office in 1935 but failed to make it past the September primary. Sharpnack also ran another candidacy for the state assembly in 1938, but again went down to defeat. 

  Sharpnack continued prominence in his region through the 1940s and 50s, winning election to the executive committee of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors. Several weeks prior to his death Sharpnack's health began to fail, necessitating a stay at the Weimer Nursing Home in Uniontown. On February 18, 1960, he died at a Uniontown hospital at age 82. He was survived by his third wife Elizabeth and was interred at the McClellandtown Presbyterian Cemetery.

From the Uniontown Evening Standard, Feb. 20, 1960.

Jettes Mollohan (1869-1947)

Portrait from the 1920 West Virginia Blue Book.

   A one-term member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from Nicholas County, Jettes Mollohan served as Nicholas County sheriff and chairman of the Nicholas County Democratic committee prior to his legislative victory in 1918. Late in his life, Mollohan would return to politics, being elected as the mayor of Summersville, West Virginia on the Citizens Party ticket. One of twelve children born to Anson and Anna (Riffle) Mollohan, Jettes Mollohan was born (depending on the source) on either May 28, 1869, or June 20, 1871, in West Virginia. Despite these varying dates of birth, Mollohan's obituary in the Charleston Daily Mail (posted below) lists it as occurring on June 20, 1869, "near Frametown."

   Little information could be located on Mollohan's early life or schooling, excepting note of his marriage on December 29, 1892, to Nancy Elizabeth Tinnel (1874-1941). The couple were wed for nearly fifty years and would have a total of seven children, listed as follows in order of birth: Exie (1893-1905), Ethel Lee (1895-1961), Bertha Maude (1897-1978), Esker Ray (1899-1965), Clara (died in infancy), Thelma Louise (1912-2007) and Russell Dale (1913-2001).

  Residing at Birch River, West Virginia following his marriage, Mollohan and his family later removed to Summersville, where they would reside for the remainder of their lives. Following his resettlement in that city, Mollohan became active in civic affairs of Nicholas County, eventually rising to become Vice President of the Nicholas County Bank. He entered the political life of that county in the late 1900s, taking office as County Assessor in 1908, and following a four-year term in that post served as Sheriff of Nicholas County from 1913-17. Sources also relate to Mollohan being a farmer and "manufacturer of staves and lumber."

  In 1917 Mollohan was elected chairman of the Nicholas County Democratic Executive Committee and continued in that post even after receiving the Democratic nomination for the West Virginia House of Delegates in the summer of 1918. In November of that year, Mollohan would defeat Republican nominee J.T. Burdette by a vote of 1,609 to 1,400 and took his seat at the start of the 1919-21 session. This term would see Mollohan sit on the house committees on Forestry and Conservation, Immigration and Agriculture, and Medicine and Sanitation, and he wasn't a candidate for renomination in 1920. 

  Following his term, Mollohan continued residency in Summersville, where he was a member of the Baptist church and the Summersville Lodge No. 76 of Free and Accepted Masons. Late in his life, Mollohan returned to politics when he was elected to the first of six terms as Mayor of Summersville, winning his last term in July 1947, just four months prior to his death. Widowed in 1942, Mollohan would later reside with his daughter Ethel and son-in-law Okey Mearns until his death at their home on November 2, 1947. The 78-year old former legislator and his wife are interred at the Tinnel-Mollohan Cemetery in Birch River, West Virginia.

Mollohan's obituary from the November 3, 1947 Charleston Daily Mail

Sescoe Curry Isaacs (1897-1967)

Portrait from the West Virginia State Blue Book, 1948.

  The Strangest Names In American Political History begins its month-long stay in West Virginia for a look at the lives of several oddly named men who were elected to public office in the Mountain State. The first of these profiles takes us to Lincoln County and Sescoe Curry Isaacs, a World War I veteran, road contractor, and real estate dealer who served one term in the West Virginia House of Delegates. Born on May 1, 1897, in Sheridan, West Virginia, Sescoe Curry Isaacs was the son of  Greeley Horace and Annie Victoria (Midkiff) Isaacs. 

  Isaacs' early education occurred in both "public and private normal schools" in his home state and is mentioned as having been a veteran of the First World War. Despite the mention of his service in the West Virginia Blue Book (as well as his 1967 Charleston Gazette obituary) no information could be located on the duration of his service or his area of deployment.

  Sescoe C. Isaacs married on Christmas Day 1920 to Mae Damron (1901-1979). The couple were wed for over forty years and had several children, including Ivan Cecil (1920-1993), Virginia Marie (1922-1935), Sescoe Curry Jr. (1926-2000), Betty Jo (1931-2009), Don Chafin (1932-1989), Alma Mae (1934-2011), Anna Margaret (1935-2015), and Harold Greeley (born 1938). A self-employed road contractor prior to his service in state government, Sescoe Isaacs was also an oil and gas well driller, being affiliated with the Ray Gas Co. He is also mentioned as having been a real estate agent in his brief West Virginia Blue Book biography, being "engaged in buying, building, and selling homes." 

  Isaacs entered the political life of his state in November 1948 when he won election to the West Virginia House of Delegates from Lincoln County, besting Republican nominee B.R. Osborne by a vote of 4,473 to 4, 108. Serving during the 1949-51 session, little is known of Isaac's term or his life after leaving office, excepting notice of his being a member of the Welcome Home Baptist Church in Pleasant View, West Virginia.

   Sescoe C. Isaacs died at a hospital in Huntington, West Virginia on April 11, 1967, at age 69. He was survived by his wife Mae and several of his children and was later interred at the Sloan Cemetery in Lincoln County.

Frome the Charleston Daily Telegraph, April 1967.

Blackburn Barrett Dovener (1842-1914)

From the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, June 7, 1900.

   Six-term U.S. Representative Blackburn Barrett Dovener can rightly be considered an "old guard" strange-name political figure, as I first happened across his name over a decade ago. One of the most prominent public figures in West Virginia at the turn of the 19th century, Dovener represented West Virginia's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for twelve years and had earlier served one term in the state legislature from Ohio County.

  Blackburn Barrett Dovener was born in Cabell County, Virginia (now part of West Virginia) on April 20, 1842, being the son of Dr. Robert George and Julia Ann Barrett Dovener. His early education was gained via the district schools of Cabell County and he would later attend the Parkersburg Academy.  He would put his education on hold to enlist for service at the start of the Civil War and remained a staunch Union man throughout the conflict. At the age of just nineteen, he raised a company of men, Co. A. of the Fifteenth Reg. West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and during his war service rose from first lieutenant to captain. 

   At war's conclusion, Dovener resettled in the city of Wheeling where he would marry Ms. Margaret Lynch in December 1865. In 1867 he took on the position of chief clerk in the office of West Virginia Secretary of State John M. Pipes and during his service began the study of law. He was admitted to the state bar in 1873 and soon after established his first law practice in Wheeling. Throughout the remainder of that decade Dovener built up a reputation as an "able and  successful" practitioner of law, and was recorded by the 1903 "Men of West Virginia":

"As a counselor he is safe and wise, and ready in the comprehension of the salient features of a case. As an advocate he is earnest, making his clients case his own. He is ready in debate and fluent in expression. As a man he is affable courteous and polite."

  During the mid to late 1870s, Dovener was a member of the firm of Davenport and Dovener, eventually taking over the firm after George O. Davenport's death in 1880. In 1882 he was elected to represent Ohio County in the West Virginia House of Delegates and served during the 1883-85 session. He was a candidate for reelection to the house in 1886 but was "defeated along with the balance of his ticket." Dovener experienced similar results in 1887 when he was the Republican candidate for Mayor of Wheeling, being defeated by Charles Seabright.

  Returning to his law practice following his mayoral loss, Dovener waited until 1892 to re-enter political life. In that year he announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 1st congressional district and in that year's election faced incumbent Democrat John Overton Pendleton (1851-1916). On election day it was Pendleton who eked out a narrow victory over Dovener, winning another term by just 206 votes. In 1894 Pendleton decided not to be a candidate for renomination, and in that year's contest, Dovener was once again the Republican nominee, this time squaring off against Democrat John A. Howard. On election day 1894 Dovener coasted to a 4,000-plus vote victory, garnering 21,822 votes to his opponent's 17, 375. 

  Taking his seat at the start of the 1895-97 session, Dovener served as a member of the committee on Rivers and Harbors during that term. A candidate for reelection in 1896, Doverner won his second term that November and would subsequently be reelected to four further terms in 1898, 1900, 1902, and 1904. In 1906 he failed to win the Republican nomination for a seventh term (the nod instead going to William P. Hubbard), and upon his retirement from Congress, Dovener was given a "lively reception and warm-hearted farewell" by his fellow West Virginians.

From the Washington Times, February 18, 1907.

  Unfortunately for Dovener, his time in retirement appears to have not been a happy one. Ill health plagued him for "several years" following his leaving Congress and by January 1914 an application was introduced in the West Virginia courts for a "lunacy commission" in regards to Dovener's state of mind, the application being brought about by his wife Margaret.

   In a Fairmont, West Virginian article published in January 1914, Margaret Lynch Dovener alleged that her husband could no longer "take proper care of himself or manage his financial affairs."  A court hearing began on January 17, 1914, with Dovener representing himself during the proceedings. In what must have been a surreal scene inside the courtroom, Dovener "personally cross-examined" each witness and "wound up each inquiry" by asking the witness "Do you think that I'm crazy?" The Fairmont West Virginian also noted that during the proceedings Dovener appeared lethargic and would "frequently drop off into naps while cross-examining witnesses."

  On January 22 the court decided in favor of Margaret Dovener's application, with the former congressman being placed in the charge of Ohio County Sheriff A.T. Sweeney. A few days following that decision, newspaper reports noted that Dovener would be removed to a recently constructed "soldier's home at Nashville, Tennessee." Sometime later he was removed to a sanitarium in Glen Echo, Maryland, where he died on May 9, 1914, at age 72. He was survived by his wife Margaret and a son, Robert. Following funeral arrangements, Dovener was interred under a modest headstone at Arlington Nation Cemetery. 

                                                          Blackburn Dovener during his congressional service.

Latelle McKee LaFollette (1858-1950), Latelle McKee LaFollette Jr. (1902-1981)

L.M. Lafollette, from the Charleston Daily Mail, Aug. 1, 1950.

   Longtime West Virginia public servant Latelle McKee "L.M." Lafollette made great strides in a number of different vocations during a life that extended over ninety years. A practicing attorney for over half a century, LaFollette served eight years as prosecuting attorney for Taylor County, West Virginia and in 1896 entered upon duties as West Virginia State Auditor. Despite having little in the way of information available on his life, an obituary for LaFollette (featured in the Charleston Daily Mail a few days following his death in 1950) came as a welcome surprise and fielded a good majority of the following article. The rare portrait of him above was also featured in that obituary.
    A resident of the "Mountain State" for nearly all his life, Latelle M. Lafollette's birth occurred on August 13, 1858 in Cacapon Springs, Hampshire County, Virginia, being the son of Henry William and Amy Caroline McKee Lafollette. Several years following his birth, Latelle and his family removed to Flemington in Taylor County, West Virginia where he would attend public school, and he would continue his schooling at the West Virginia College, a now-defunct college once located near Flemington.
  During his youth, LaFollette taught school for a time in Barbour County and would later take work as a "civil engineer, and in this occupation he spent two years in the far west." Following his return to West Virginia LaFollette became employed as a deputy tax collector in the cities of Wheeling and Grafton. He began reading law during this time and after being admitted to the bar in  1885 joined the firm of the attorney he had studied under, Samuel P. McCormick. 
   Based in Grafton, the firm of McCormick and LaFollette continued until LaFollette was named as deputy prosecuting attorney of Taylor County. In 1888 he took office as Prosecuting Attorney, continuing in that post until 1896, and in November of that year won election as State Auditor of West Virginia. He would hold that post from 1897-1901 and after leaving office remained in the state capital of Charleston to continue with his law practice. During his term, LaFollette had married on December 20, 1899, to Clara Meldrum DeArmond (1875-1912), with whom he would have four children: Latelle McKee (1902-1981), Robert Brille (1905-1976), James Alexander (1907-1958) and an infant son who died in 1901.
   In the succeeding years, LaFollette would become a prominent fixture in West Virginia's capital city, being one of the charter members of the West Virginia Bar Association. A founding organizer of the Capital City Bank of Charleston, LaFollette continued his banking interests with both the Wood County Bank in Parkersburg and the Grafton Bank. During the early 20th century he would begin a lengthy connection with "coal, oil, timber and gas" businesses and is recorded in his Daily Mail obituary as having had "wide holdings in these fields."
  Latelle M. LaFollette celebrated his 90th birthday in 1948 and was two weeks short of his 92nd birthday when he died on July 31, 1950. He was survived by three sons and was later interred alongside his wife at the Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston, West Virginia. 

LaFollette's obituary from the Aug. 1, 1950 Charleston Daily Mail.

Latelle M. LaFollette, from the June 6, 1940 Sportsmen's Review.

     Public service continued in the LaFollete family in the person of Latelle McKee LaFollette Jr, the son of the preceding gentleman.  A member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for one term in the mid-1940s, LaFollette was later an unsuccessful aspirant for the West Virginia State Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

    Born on July 6, 1902, Latelle LaFollette followed in his father's stead and practiced law for many years. He married Thelma Hatfield (1902-1987) in 1928 and during the succeeding years gained press not only in politics but also as a trapshooter, winning the "singles state championship of West Virginia" in September 1947. Elected to represent Kanawha County in the House of Delegates in November 1942, LaFollette served during the 1943-45 session and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to that body in 1948. 

   In 1952 he became the Republican nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives for the Sixth Congressional district of West Virginia and in that year's contest faced off against future U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd (1917-2009), later to gain distinction as the longest serving Senator in American history. On election day it was Byrd who coasted to victory, besting LaFollette by nearly 10,000 votes, 23, 222 to 13, 465. 

   Following his defeat in 1952 LaFollette would run two further candidacies, one for the state senate in 1958 and another for Congress in 1960. In the 1960 congressional race in West Virginia's 5th district, LaFollette was defeated by incumbent representative Elizabeth Kee (1895-1975) by a wide margin, 77,524 votes to 34,052. In May 1981 Latelle LaFollette Jr. died at age 78. Both he and his wife were interred in the LaFollette family plot at the Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston.

Colonel Ellsworth Rudesill (1861-1944), Colonel Ogden Swayze (1859-1922), Colonel Isham Wood (1887-1983), Colonel Manfred Johnson (1854-1928)

From the "Progressive West Virginians", 1905.

  If you've followed this site for any length of time you may remember reading about General George Oleander Pence, an Ohio representative and state senator who was given a military title as a first name. As it turns out, there happens to be another political figure, born nearly two decades before Mr. Pence, who also lucked into getting a military title for his first name! That man, Colonel Ellsworth Rudesill, was also an Ohio native but would go on to find success in politics in West Virginia during the early 20th century.

   The son of Columbus Jacob and Frank Bentley Rudesill, Colonel Ellsworth Rudesill was born in Medina, Ohio on October 10, 1861. He was bestowed his unusual first and middle names in honor of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the first Union soldier to be killed during the Civil War, his death occurring in Alexandria, Virginia on May 24, 1861. Rudesill's early education occurred in Akron, Ohio and he was a graduate of that city's high school. Following his graduation, Rudesill removed to Gallipolis, Ohio to join his father's business, that of a crockery and queensware (glazed ceramics) retailer. While residing in Galliopolis Rudesill married to Alice Romain Crowley, with whom he would have three children, including Frank Ellsworth (1890-1922, later to become a newspaper publisher in Ohio), Alice M. (birth-date unknown), and Donald Bentley (1896-1953).

   Around 1886 Columbus Rudesill relocated his business to Charleston, West Virginia, where Colonel E. Rudesill would eventually join him. For over twenty years their business (later to operate under the name of Rudesill and Mead) prospered until shutting its doors in 1909. Successful in other non-business related areas, Colonel E. Rudesill entered state politics in November 1902, winning election to the West Virginia State House of Delegates from Kanawha County. Taking his seat in January 1903, Rudesill served as a member of the house for one term (1903-05), and during his second year in office won election as Mayor of the city of Charleston, serving a two-year term. He had earlier been appointed to the West Virginia State Board of Asylums in 1901 for an eight-year term and served as the president during the entirety of his service.

   Following his time in public service, Rudesill served as a census supervisor and in 1911 returned to his business interests, becoming a state agent for the Atlanta based investment firm called the Guarantee, Trust and Banking Company. He later served as the director of the United Savings and Annuity Company of Charleston, and was a longtime member of the Charleston Elks Lodge, serving as the lodge's exalted ruler on three occasions.

From the Charleston Gazette, February 13, 1944.

  Colonel E. Rudesill continued to serve the city of Charleston well into his eighth decade, being connected with the "city collectors office." He died of pneumonia on February 12, 1944 at a Charleston hospital and following funeral services was interred at the Mountain View Cemetery in that city.

From the Charleston Gazette, February 13, 1944.

Portrait from the Standard Atlas of Genesee County, Michigan, 1907.

   Another non-military "Colonel" who made his name known politically is Colonel Ogden Swayze, a Flint, Michigan attorney who served several years as Judge of Probate for Genesee County in that state. A native of New Jersey, Colonel O. Swayze was born in Warren County on September 15, 1859, the son of Daniel and Sarah Angle Swayze. Colonel Swayze would remove with his family to Michigan as a child and would attend the public schools of Lapeer County. He later studied at the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, and following his graduation returned to Lapeer to begin teaching. Swayze later served as a school principal in Ritzville, Washington for a time and again returned to Michigan after two years away.

   Soon after his return to Michigan Swayze entered into law studies in Flint, Michigan, beginning study in the law office of Wisner, Lee, and Atkin. He was admitted to the Michigan bar in 1891 and shortly afterward was elected to his first public office, that of police justice for the city of Flint. He continued in that role for twelve years and in 1896 married Edith Alma Kurtz (1869-1962), a native of Erie County, New York. The couple later had three sons: Colonel Kenneth (1899-1989), Karl Ogden (born 1901), and Donald K. (born 1909).

   In November 1908 Colonel O. Swayze was elected as the probate judge for Genesee County and officially took office at the beginning of the new year. He would win a second term on the bench in 1912 and left office in 1916. Following his term as probate judge Swayze returned to practicing law in Flint and was also affiliated with the Young Men's Republican Club in that city, serving as its president for a time. Swayze died in August 1922 and was interred at the Glenwood Cemetery in Flint.

Portrait from the 1943 Tennessee legislative composite.

   In a February 9, 2017 update, another politically inclined "Colonel" has been located, Colonel Isham Wood of Warren County, Tennessee. In another case of someone being bestowed a military title for a first name, Wood was a farmer and school principal for a good majority of his life and had fleeting involvement in politics, being elected to one term in the Tennessee House of Representatives from his native county of Warren.

  The son of Obadiah and Elizabeth (Orrick) Wood, Colonel Isham Wood was born on August 2, 1887. Little is known of his early life, except his marriage to Hilda Irene Wimberly (1897-1989) in the mid-1910s. The couple were wed for over sixty years and later had one son, Randolph Clay (born 1917.)

   Colonel I. Wood was for over forty years a teacher and principal, teaching throughout middle Tennessee and the town of Lobelville. Elected as Warren County's representative to the Tennessee legislature in 1942, Wood served one term (1943-45) and during that session sat on the committees on Commerce, Education and Common Schools and Public Health and Sanitation.

  Colonel I. Wood died in Warren County on July 10, 1983, a few weeks short of his 96th birthday. He was survived by his wife Hilda, who, following her death at age 92 in 1989, was interred alongside her husband at the Morrison Cemetery in Morrison, Tennessee.

  On April 30, 2018, the name of Colonel Manfred Johnson was located in a 1922 history of McHenry County, Illinois, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was Colonel his first name (and not a title) but that he had fleeting political involvement, as he served as mayor of Harvard, Illinois. While he lacks a picture, enough information has been found to give him a mention here.

  Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin on May 2, 1854, Johnson was the son of Horace and Adeline LaToure Johnson. Relocating to Harvard, Illinois with his family during his youth, Johnson attended school in that town and, after deciding on a career in the medical profession, would further study at Notre Dame University and the University of Michigan. Johnson would graduate from the latter school in 1875 and did post-graduate medical work at the Bellevue Hospital in New York.

  Following his relocation back to Harvard, Colonel M. Johnson began construction on a hospital for Harvard, one that once finished could accommodate 32 patients and several nurses. Sources relate to Johnson's non-medical prominence in Harvard, including stints as city treasurer and alderman, as well as city physician. He would serve as mayor of Harvard, though no source gives note as to his dates of service. John resided in Harvard until his death on June 24, 1928 and he was later interred at the Mount Auburn Cemetery in that city.