Methuselah Ludwig Steckel (1860-1935)

Portrait from the History of Ventura County, California.

"Distinctively a man of affairs, he has long filled a conspicuous place in the public eye, and as an active participant in important business enterprises, he has attained distinction in a field where sound erudition, mature judgment and commercial ability of a high order are required."

  You'd be hard-pressed to find a stranger name on the California political stage than Methuselah Ludwig Steckel, and the above description from the 1925 History of Ventura County, California gives a brief character assessment of a man who served terms as mayor of the city of Santa Paula, was a bank president, and in 1932 was an unsuccessful aspirant for the California State Assembly. The story of this curiously named man begins in Mulberry, Clinton County, Indiana, where he was born on September 15, 1860. The son of Joseph and Anna Maria (Ludwig) Steckel, Methuselah Ludwig "M.L." Steckel shares his first name with the like-named biblical patriarch who allegedly lived to the age of 969--the longest lifespan of any figure mentioned in the bible. While Steckel's first name is unique amongst political figures featured here, it also has a variation in spelling, being given as "Methusalem" in the 1886 History of Clinton County, Indiana.
  Steckel's formative years in Indiana saw him attend the common schools and also worked upon his family's farm. In October 1882 Steckel married in Mulberry to Carrie Webb (birthdate unknown), to who he was wed until her death. The couple's union produced two children, Elma (1884-1964) and Earl Joseph (1889-1939). An oil driller and fishing boat captain, Earl Steckel drowned in 1939 when his fishing barge "Spray" was struck by a thirty-foot wave during a storm. Following Carrie Steckel's passing, M.L. Steckel remarried in October 1917 to Nellie Vining (died 1944), who survived him upon his death in 1935.
  After attaining maturity Steckel left the family homestead to seek a new life out of state, and in the 1880s relocated to southern Missouri. Establishing himself in Camden County, Steckel operated a corn mill and sawmill for several years and by 1889 was remarked as a leading business figure in the town of Climax Springs. In 1892 Steckel and his family removed to Santa Paula, California, where he resided for the remainder of his life. Here Steckel would purchase a ranch, which through years of improvements, grew to house a "splendid residence", as well as nine acres devoted to growing walnuts and apricots.  
  In addition to accruing a "substantial annual revenue" from his walnut and apricot groves, Steckel made headway into several Santa Paula business concerns, including a number of years as the superintendent of the Santa Paula Water Company. He would also hold the presidency of the Grower's Warehouse Company and was a partner in the firm of Steckel and Page, a leading auto agency in Ventura County that dealt in Ford vehicles. This firm was acknowledged as being the first to "ship in a full car load eight cars in one shipment", this occurring in 1912. Steckel would add a further business feather to his cap in 1925 when he became a charter member of the First National Bank of Santa Paula and was named as its first president.

From the Oxnard Press Courier, April 23, 1924.

  M.L. Steckel began his political career as a member of the Santa Paula city council, where he served for an indeterminate period. In April 1924 he began his first term as mayor of Santa Paula, succeeding S.A. Bond, who had taken office in 1923. Although Steckel's full dates of service as mayor remain murky, he served consecutive terms through at least 1930, as he listed as the incumbent mayor in newspaper reports of the time, and in California's roster of state, county and city officials from 1924-1930. During his term in 1926, Steckel etched his name into local history when he donated land to the city to be used for a park. Steckel's widow Nellie later donated further acreage to the city, and this substantial plot of land was officially dedicated in September of that year, with the proclamation:

"We, today, in this hour dedicate Steckel Park and may it endure for centuries as a living memorial to Mayor M.L. Steckel and the city of Santa Paula."

  In addition to being a place for recreation and camping, Steckel Park also houses an aviary, home to over ninety different species of birds. After a number of years in disrepair, the aviary underwent extensive renovation in 2012-13 and still exists today. 
  Steckel stepped down as mayor in 1930 and was succeeded by W.L. Ramsey, who continued in office into the mid-1930s. In the 1932 election year, Steckel returned to politics when he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for state assemblyman from California's 40th assembly district. Shortly before winning the primary, Steckel's candidacy was profiled in the August 4, 1932 Piru News, which paid special attention to his philanthropic efforts in donating land for Steckel Park. As the Piru News related:

"After full and careful investigation, it has been decided that, of the three candidates in the field, M.L. Steckel is the best qualified candidate for the place. Mr. Steckel is a resident of Santa Paula, 'tis true, but during the forty years of his residence in Ventura County, no worthy effort for the upbuilding and improvement of any part of the county has failed to receive his earnest support. He has worked faithfully and unselfishly for anything and everything calculated to make Ventura County a better place in which to live. He has given largely of his time and money to that end."

From the Piru News, September 1, 1932.

  That November M.L. Steckel was defeated for the assembly by Democrat James J. McBride, who polled 9,309 votes to Steckel's 7,609. Ill health marred Steckel's final years, but despite health concerns still remained a potent force in Santa Paula civic affairs. In May 1935 Steckel was honored by the Santa Paula citizenry when he was awarded a special gold medal for his "meritorious service to the community", and rose from his sickbed to drive to the award ceremony. Shortly before his death, he was further honored by Santa Paula by having the street on which he resided renamed Steckel Road. Methuselah Ludwig Steckel died at his home on August 27, 1935, a few weeks shy of his 75th birthday. He was survived by his wife Nellie and two children and was interred at the Santa Paula Cemetery.

From the Oxnard Daily Courier, August 28, 1935.

Vaudois Edward Handley (1864-1914)

From the San Diego Union and Daily Bee, July 12, 1912.

 Recently discovered via the 1907 edition of the California State Blue Book, Vaudois Edward Handley was a physician and farmer in Escondido who in the early 20th century ran two unsuccessful candidacies for the California state assembly. While his first name is certainly curious, Handley is also on a shortlist of unusually named political figures who've met their end in a, shall we say, strange way; in Handley's case being kicked in the face by a mule and dying a few days later! While his name and manner of death are certainly unusual, the spelling of Handley's first name is under scrutiny, being given as both Vaudois and Vandois in census records and modern genealogical webpages.

  Born in Corydon, Kentucky on July 23, 1864, Vaudois Edward Handley was the son of John Thomas (1839-1920) and Eliza Ann (Baldwin) Handley (1845-1881). While little is known of his early life or education, Handley is listed as marrying in Union County on November 15, 1886, to Emily "Emma" Wallace. The couple would have two sons, Wallace (1887-1891) and Owen Berry "Berry" (born 1888). Handley later remarried in 1895 to Anna J. Winston, who survived him upon his death in 1914. This marriage would see the births of three further children, Louise Winston, John Edward, and Eloise.

  Deciding to pursue a career in medicine, Handley enrolled at the Kentucky School of Medicine in Louisville, where he would graduate in the class of 1889. Following graduation he established himself in Sturgis in Union County and by the turn of the 19th century was still a resident of that town. In May 1901 he was elected as president of the Union County Medical Society, and by November of that year had made the decision to relocate to California. 

  Settling near Escondido, Handley later retired from the practice of medicine and engaged in farming. In 1906 he emerged on the political stage by announcing his candidacy for assemblyman from California's 80th assembly district. Running as a Democrat, Handley lost the general election to Republican Percy A. Johnson, 990 votes to 1,625. In the 1912 election year, Handley announced his second bid for the assembly, this time running as a Republican on an "extreme progressivism" platform. In a July 1912 write-up concerning his candidacy, Handley related that:

"I am a progressive on all issues--the initiative, the referendum and the recall...I believe in the election of United States senators by popular vote and would even favor election of senators in this manner."

  In that year's Republican primary he was dealt a second loss, losing to Fred Judson by a vote of 758 to 1,483. Little is known of the remainder of Handley's life, excepting the manner of his death. By September 1914, Handley had removed to San Diego and soon after his resettlement visited the ranch of his son Berry, located near that city. While visiting this ranch Handley was kicked in the face by a mule, inflicting injuries that necessitated a hospital stay. While under care at the Agnew Hospital in San Diego, Handley developed lockjaw (tetanus) and died several days following the initial accident on October 7, 1914, aged 50. He was survived by his wife, children, and father and was interred at the Greenview Cemetery in San Diego. 

Handley's name was misspelled in this notice from the American Medical Association.