Landrine Jehu Tatum (1832-1924)

From the Kansas City Word and Way, July 31, 1924.

   A native son of Ash County, North Carolina, Landrine Jehu Tatum was called to the ministry at an early age, and prior to his permanent settlement in Missouri held pastorates in both Georgia and Arkansas. Following settlement in Missouri in 1864, Tatum's ministerial work in the Baptist church extended over five decades, and briefly graced the political stage in 1886 when he was an unsuccessful aspirant for the Missouri House of Representatives from Hickory County. Born in Ash County on February 22, 1832, Landrine Jehu Tatum was the son Buckner and Behethland (Sheriff) Tatum.

  The majority of Tatum's formative years were spent in the state of his birth, and at age 13 removed with his family to Gilmer County, Georgia. Two years later he was called to the ministry, and in October 1847 was baptized in the Mountaintown Baptist Church. Shortly afterward a church was organized in the neighboring settlement of Pleasant Hill, where Tatum was named as church clerk. After being licensed to preach in 1851, Tatum began a teaching career in Gilmer and Murray County that would extend over a year and later undertook theological study at Mercer University in Georgia.

  Following ordination in April 1856, Tatum left Georgia for Arkansas, and after a brief residency there removed to Texas, where he taught school for several months. He later returned to Arkansas where during the Civil War he ministered "to both Federals and Confederates." Tatum married in May 1863 to Margarette Jane (Clonts) Sheriff (1835-1914), a widow with three children from a prior marriage. The couple's five-decade union saw the births of four daughters, Theodosia (1864-1930), Georgia (1866-1958), Margaret (1869-1872), and a child who died in infancy.

  In 1864 Tatum left Arkansas for Missouri and soon after his resettlement in Hickory County entered into a pastorate at the Mt. Moriah Church in Dooley Bend. Three years following his establishing roots in that community Tatum became a founding member of the Old Path Baptist Association, and after its organization served as its clerk and moderator at various times over the next three decades. Tatum's work for the church also saw him affiliated with the American Baptist Publican Society, as a distributor of religious publications.

  Landrine J. Tatum's lone foray into Missouri politics came in 1886 when he garnered the Democratic nomination for state representative from Hickory County. One of three candidates in that year's contest, Tatum would place second to incumbent Republican William Lucas Snidow (1829-1903), who had served six prior terms in both the state senate and house of representatives.

From the Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1887-88.

  The latter portion of Tatum's life saw him continue prominence in Baptist church work, and in 1914 suffered the death of his wife Margarette. He celebrated his 90th birthday in 1922 and later died at the home of his daughter Theodosia on April 21, 1924, aged 92. He was later interred at the Dooley Bend Cemetery in Galmey, Missouri.

From the History of the Polk County Baptist Association, 1897.

Vendie Hudson Hooks (1896-1971)

From the Atlanta Constitution, February 7, 1941.

  Vendie Hudson Hooks of Emanuel County, Georgia is another example of a curiously named clergyman gaining prominence through political service, in his case being a three-term Georgia state representative and one-term state senator. A Baptist minister for nearly fifty years, Hooks was a veteran of World War I and served as president of the Emanuel County chapter of the United Georgia Farmers. Born on November 27, 1896 in Swainsboro, Georgia, Vendie Hudson "V.H." Hooks was the son of John and Calcie America (Strange) Hooks.

  A student in the common schools of Emanuel County, Hooks would go on to attend the Georgia Normal College and Business Institute (graduating in 1915) and later pursued a teaching career, teaching at the Oak Park School. He would be affiliated with the Youmans/Yeomans Brothers Supply and Naval Store in Lexsy, Georgia, and would serve during WWI, his dates of service and area of deployment being unknown at this time. Hooks married in August 1919 to Fleetie Frances Yeomans (1900-1990) and later had six children, who are listed as follows in order of birth: Vendie Hudson Jr. (1921-2007), Frances Celeste (1923-2018), Gerald Delano (1926-2017), Sarah Marcile (born 1929), Donald Jordan (1935-2013) and Betty June (birthdate unknown).

  In the early 1920s Hooks turned his attention to religious studies, and after being licensed to preach in the Primitive Baptist Church, he took pastorates throughout Georgia, including a 39-year tenure at the Mt. Zion church, an 18-year stint at the Rosemary Church, and the Avera and New Hope churches in the town of Lexsy. In addition to active ministerial work, Hooks gained further prominence in the civic life of Emanuel County, being a member of the county board of health, the American Legion, a trustee of the Wesley, Georgia school board, a past president of the Swainsboro Production Credit Association, and was a member of the Ogeechee Production Credit Association.

  A longtime farmer in his region, Hooks' made substantial headway in Georgia agricultural circles, "farming several hundred acres of farmland and timber" in the Emanuel County area, and operated a cotton gin, sawmill, and fertilizer plant in that town. He would serve as the first president of the United Georgia Farmers and was also president of the Emanuel Chapter of the United Georgia Farmers. 

From the Atlanta Constitution.

   In 1940 Vendie H. Hooks announced his candidacy for the Georgia House of Representatives and that November won the general election. Taking his seat at the start of the 1941-43 session, he noted his primary aim was to see "better schools and a more efficient educational system in the state", as well as the "general welfare of agriculture." This term saw him named to the committees on Auditing, Counties and County Matters, Education No. 1, Enrollment (chairman), General Agriculture No. 2, Legislative and Congressional Re-Apportionment, Motor Vehicles, Privileges of the Floor, Public Highways No. 2, and Ways and Means. 

  Hooks was re-elected to the legislature in 1942 and 1944, and during the 1945-47 session was named to seven new committees, those being Amendments to the Constitution No. 1; Excuse of Members Absent Without Leave; the Georgia School for the Deaf; Hygiene and Sanitation; Invalid Pensions and the Soldiers Home; Public Welfare; and the University System of Georgia.

Hooks during his time as president of the Emanuel chapter of the United Georgia Farmers.

  In the 1946 election year, Hooks set his sights on a seat in the Georgia state senate, and that November was successful in his candidacy. The 1947-49 senate session saw Hooks serving on the committees on Agriculture, Appropriations, Conservation, Education and Public Schools, Highways and Public Roads, Insurance, Penal Institutions, and Public Welfare, and after leaving office in 1949 returned to ministerial work.  He continued in the ministry until his death at an Atlanta hospital on February 17, 1971, aged 74. He was survived by his wife and children and later was interred at the New Hope Church Cemetery in Nunez, Georgia. Curiously, Hooks' obituary denotes him as having served four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives, which is incorrect, as the Georgia State Register records him as serving three terms (1941-47) and one term in the state senate (1947-49).

From the Atlanta Constitution, February 19, 1971.

Kiah Bailey Glidden (1819-1891)

Portrait courtesy of Find-a-Grave.

  Sporting a pair of substantial push broom sidewhiskers, Kiah Bailey Glidden was, like our 2019 Strange Name of the Year Submarinus Girard Norcross, a New England based Congregationalist minister who had fleeting involvement in state politics. Interestingly, both of these men were born in Maine and graduated from Maine's Bangor Theological Seminary in the same class (1859). After being ordained, Glidden held pastorates in New Hampshire and Connecticut, and in 1883 was elected to one term in the Connecticut House of Representatives from Mansfield. The son of William and Lydia (Hatch) Glidden, Kiah Bailey Glidden was born in Newcastle, Maine on April 21, 1819.

  Receiving his name in honor of the Rev. Kiah Bailey (1770-1857), a Newcastle based clergyman, Glidden studied at the Lincoln Academy in his native town and briefly worked in a local pharmacy. He married in December 1841 to Damariscotta, Maine native Caroline Hitchcock (1826-1911), with who he had two daughters, Miriam (1846-1933) and Carolyn (1862-1925)

   Following graduation from the Bangor Theological Seminary, Glidden was licensed to preach and from 1859-60 was an assistant pastor at churches in North Belfast and Union, Maine. He was subsequently ordained in Westmoreland, New Hampshire and after a three-year residency in that town accepted a pastorate at the First Congregational Church of Enfield, Connecticut, where he ministered from 1863-66. This was followed by a three-year pastorate in Redding, Connecticut, and in 1869 removed to Mansfield in Tolland County.

  After being installed as pastor at the Congregation Church in Mansfield Glidden settled into a two-decade pastorate, one that later saw him acknowledged as one of the "veteran Congregational clergymen of the state." Glidden would author a history of his adopted hometown and in July 1876 delivered and published an address celebrating Mansfield's centennial. He would be active in the temperance movement in Mansfield and for a time held the post of acting school visitor for the town.

  Kiah B. Glidden made his lone foray into Nutmeg State politics in 1883 when he was elected as a Republican to the Connecticut House of Representatives from Tolland County. His one term (1884-85) saw him named to the committee on Humane Institutions, and during the opening session of the legislature introduced a resolution "that instruction may be given in the public schools on the effects of using alcoholic liquors."

  Glidden wasn't a candidate for renomination in 1885 and returned to his pastorate in Mansfield, where he remained until retiring in 1890. In that year he and his wife purchased a home in Enfield, and a week prior to his death was taken violently ill on a return train trip from the town of Bolton. He would die of "heart trouble" at his Enfield home on October 15, 1891, aged 72, and was survived by his wife and children. Memorialized as a "quiet, amiable gentleman...respected by all denominations", Glidden was later interred at the Enfield Street Cemetery in Hartford County, Connecticut.

From the Stafford Springs Press, October 22, 1891.

Euclid Beauclerc Rogers (1852-1931)

Portrait from the 1923-24 Illinois Blue Book. 

  2020 is upon us and the inaugural posting for the new year takes us to Illinois and Euclid Beauclerc Rogers, a longtime minister of the Central Baptist Church of Springfield. Sharing his first name with the famed Greek mathematician and "father of geometry" Euclid, Rogers first entered the political field at age 70 when he won election to the Illinois House of Representatives from Sangamon County. A native of New York, Euclid Beauclerc Rogers was born in Norwich, Chenango County on March 1, 1852, the son of Decalvus (1822-1898) and Diana (Aldrich) Rogers (1825-1854).  

  Rogers' early education was obtained at the Norwich Academy and from 1868-69 was a student at Colgate University. After leaving that institution he focused his attention on law studies, and in the early 1870s read law in Binghamton in the offices of Chapman and Martin. From 1872-74 Rogers briefly pursued a career in publishing, editing the Norwich Sentinel, before being admitted to the state bar in 1876. Euclid B. Rogers married in Norwich on Christmas Eve 1874 to Sarah Jane Bateman, who he later divorced in the early 1890s. Later newspaper reports denote Bateman as being just fourteen years old at the time of her marriage, a fact alluded to when charges of impropriety were leveled at Rogers in 1889.

   For five years (1877-82) Rogers operated a law practice in his native Norwich before being called to the ministry, and after a period of study was licensed to preach in March 1883. Following his ordination in October of that year, he briefly held a pastorate in Norwich before removing to Owasco, Cayuga County, New York, where he ministered from 1883-84. From 1884-85 Rogers studied at the Hamilton Theological Seminary, and after completing the curriculum accepted a pastorate in Weedsport, New York. After a two year residency there he again moved, this time to Franklin, Venango County, Pennsylvania, where he was affiliated with the local Baptist Church.

  Late in Rogers' two-year pastorate in Franklin (which extended from 1887-89), he was hit with divorce proceedings by his wife Sarah, who instigated them after reports surfaced of Rogers' inappropriate relationship with his private secretary, Jennie Ross. In a Rome New York Sentinel write-up concerning his alleged impropriety, Rogers' behavior towards Ross was described as "unbecoming" and behavior towards his wife, "not edifying". However, as weeks progressed, other newspapers picked up on the story, and after further reporting, it was found that after turning his attention to Ms. Ross and neglecting his wife, Rogers himself had been the one to first bring up a consent to divorce. With the aid of an attorney Rogers brought forward evidence that showed that for a period of two years his wife had carried on a romantic correspondence with a butcher that she had met while the couple had resided in Weedsport. This evidence consisted of thirty-two letters written by Sarah Rogers, which contained mention of future romantic trists and "endearing terms." These allegations by Rogers were later confirmed by Sarah Rogers herself, who "acknowledged her husband's charges" in a write-up in the Utica Free Press edition of September 24, 1889.

  In a September 1889 writeup in the New York Press (shown below), it was revealed that Sarah Rogers "so influenced the elders of the church that they threatened to discharge Mr. Rogers if he should bring a suit for divorce", and that Rogers left his pastorate in Franklin to relocate to the midwest. Actual divorce proceedings were later started by mutual agreement between both parties, and that Rogers himself consented to separation "only on his wife signing a paper acknowledging her unfaithfulness and his innocence."

From the New York Press, September 21, 1889.

  Following his resignation from his pastorate in Franklin Rogers removed to Burlington, Iowa, where he ministered at the First Baptist Church from 1890-92. His time here saw the previous allegations that dogged him resurface, which caused division among the parishioners in his congregation. These old allegations were addressed at a meeting by a number of church elders and members on December 13, 1890, and after a two-hour deliberation the congregation's vote saw Rogers "fully and entirely vindicated". With his later ministry in Springfield, his future prominence as an orator on the lecture circuit, and his election to the Illinois legislature in 1922, Rogers appears to have largely weathered the charges of wrongdoing laid against him by his ex-wife and others. 

  Euclid B. Rogers left Burlington in 1892 to accept a pastorate at the Central Baptist Church of Springfield, Illinois. His ministry in Springfield extended seventeen years, and through the late 19th and early 20th century gained further distinction on the lecture circuit, where he received high praise as an "orator in the truest sense." Rogers proved to be a substantial voice in that era's Lyceum and Chautauqua social movements, visiting areas not only in Illinois but also in Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, South Dakota, and Vermont. Speaking on topics covering religion, the educational system, politics, current events, and social welfare, Rogers gained press as a captivating speaker, and following a lecture to the Iowa State Conference of Charities and Corrections, was favorably reviewed by Des Moines newspaper publisher John Hamilton, who stated:

"Dr. Rogers is a born orator, with a personality strongly resembling that of the noted lecturers of the greatest days of the rostrum. His deep moral earnestness; his genuine sympathy with the masses; his love of truth and his hatred of shams, all combined with a keen wit and hearty humor, make him a power on the platform rarely equaled. He ranks with Hillis, Gunsaulus,  and the real princes of the present day forum."

From the Audubon County Journal, July 30, 1914.

  While still an active pastor in Springfield, Rogers made headway into city civic and fraternal life, holding memberships in the local rotary club, Odd Fellows Lodge, the Masonic order, Knights Templar, and the Ansar Temple of Shriners. From 1909-11 he held a pastorate at the First Baptist Church in Champaign, Illinois, and by 1911 was again residing and ministering in Springfield. 

  In the twilight of his life, Rogers entered the political forum for the first time, winning the Republican primary for state representative from Sangamon County in April 1922. Seventy years old at the time of his victory, Rogers went on to win the general election that November, garnering 34,386 votes on election day. He would serve in the session of 1923-25 and was named to the committees on Appropriations, Charities and Corrections, Education, Roads and Bridges, and the committee to Visit Educational Institutions. 

   Following his one term in state government, Rogers continued residence in Springfield and in December 1925 took part in the Illinois Conference on International Good Will, being the chairman of the Springfield World Court Committee. He died at his home in Springfield on July 30, 1931, aged 79 and was later interred at Oak Ridge Cemetery, the same resting place as that other famous Springfield native, Abraham Lincoln.

Rogers' death notice from the Weedsport Cayuga Chief, August 1931. 

Submarinus Girard Norcross (1834-1888)

From the Conway Daily Sun, August 26, 2011.

  New Year's Eve is upon us, and, as per the custom first established in 2013, the year's final posting is dedicated to an especially odd-named political figure. With six previous installments of '" Strangest Name of the Year" to reflect on, this year's honoree, with his rather nautical-sounding first name, is more than worthy of that title: Submarinus Girard Norcross of Conway, New Hampshire! A native of Maine, Norcross was a clergyman who held pastorates in several states and for the last sixteen years of his life resided in Conway, New Hampshire, where he had a considerable impact through religious work and education. Despite not being a political office seeker, Norcross earns a place here on the site due to his service as a delegate from New Hampshire to the Republican National Convention of 1880.

   The eighth of nine children born to Leonard and Deborah (Nelson) Norcross, Submarinus Girard Norcross's birth occurred in Dixfield, Maine on January 21, 1834. When compared to other unusual 19th-century names featured here, the name Submarinus rests as a true U.F.O., and this bizarre first name may leave you with several questions, including "Why a first name that sounds like submarine?", "what possessed his parents to give him this name?", and "what did Norcross himself think of it?" 

  The answer behind Norcross's unwieldy first name can be found in his 1888 Poultney, Vermont Journal obituary. The father of our subject, Leonard Norcross (1798-1864), was a church deacon and inventor who in June 1834 received a patent for what would later be acknowledged as "the first fully enclosed diving suit." This inventive diving apparatus pioneered the use of elastic Indian rubber and was successfully tested without injury or fatality on the Webb River in Maine earlier in 1834. So proud was Leonard Norcross of his invention that he bestowed the name Submarinus upon his most recent child, with the Journal later relating that:

"He received his deep sounding name from the submarine dress which his father had patented the year of his son's birth."

   History doesn't record Norcross's own feelings in regards to his name, except note of his preferring to write his name as "S. Girard". The name's spelling is recorded as ending in both "-nus" and "-nas". Of these spellings, the former looks to be the correct one, as Norcross is recorded under that name by multiple sources, including the 1850 census, the 1889 General Conference of the Congregational Churches in Maine, and his 1888 Poultney Journal obituary.

  S. Girard Norcross obtained his early education at various academies in his native Maine, studying at Farmington, Bloomfield and Lewiston Falls. He briefly followed a teaching career at the last two academies and was called to the ministry in 1854 at age 20. After a two-year period of attending lectures at Harvard, Norcross returned to Maine and was licensed to preach in July 1858. Following graduation from the Bangor Theological Seminary in 1859, Norcross was ordained as a "colleague pastor" in South Bridgeton, where he remained until May 1861. On August 25, 1861, Norcross married Turner, Maine native Clara Elizabeth Cary (1836-1889), to whom he was wed until his death. The couple would remain childless. 

  After leaving his pastorate at South Bridgeton Norcross briefly resided in Florence, Alabama, where he held a pastorate in late 1861-62, and later returned to teaching, and from 1862-63 taught in Saxonville, Massachusetts. This was followed by a five year (1863-68) stint teaching at academies in Sewickley and Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1869 returned to the ministry when he accepted a pastorate in Caledonia County, Vermont.

  Norcross and his wife resided and worked in McIndoes Falls, Vermont until 1872, and in June of that year removed to Conway, New Hampshire, where he accepted the pastorate of that town's Congregationalist Church. He would hold the pastorate until his death and beginning in June 1873 held an additional pastorate in North Conway. Norcross's long pastorate saw him oversee multiple additions to the church at Conway, and through his "urgent recommendation", a second church was constructed and completed for Conway in 1886, the Second Congregational Church. Norcross and his wife also proved influential in local education, and in addition to his time as supervisor of schools for Conway taught school at both the Conway Academy and a school under their own supervision.

  In 1880 Norcross made his lone foray into politics when he was elected as an alternate delegate from Conway to that year's Republican National Convention that was to be held in Chicago. One of twenty members of the New Hampshire delegation, Norcross saw congressman James Garfield and Chester A. Arthur of New York nominated as the party standard-bearers.

From the 1880 Republican Convention proceedings.

  Following his service as a delegate, Norcross returned to his pastorate in Conway and in 1886 was a delegate from New Hampshire's Stafford Conference to the National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States held in Chicago. In 1887 he took ill and in February of that year retired from the pastorate of the Second Congregational Church in Conway. Through 1887-88 Norcross's health failed to improve and on September 16, 1888, he died of consumption in North Conway, aged 54. Clara Norcross survived her husband by less than a year, dying on June 16, 1889. Both were interred at the North Conway Cemetery under a headstone denoting both's devotion to "the cause of education in Conway."

From the Poultney, Vermont Journal, October 5, 1888.

  

Ashmun Asaph Knappen (1828-1909)

From "Free Masonry In Michigan: A Comprehensive History of Michigan Masonry", 1895.

    Methodist minister Ashmun Asaph Knappen is another example of an oddly named clergyman having a brief flirtation with politics, in his case being the Prohibition nominee for U.S. Representative from Michigan's 3rd district in 1896. A native of Vermont, Knappen was born in the town of Sudbury on September 4, 1828, being the son of the Rev. Mason and Clarissa (Hutchinson) Knappen. A Congregationalist minister, Mason Knappen removed with his family to Michigan in 1833 via horse-drawn wagons through Canada, a four-week trip that reportedly left the young Ashmun "deeply impressed".

    Knappen's education occurred at the Branch Academy in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and married in Kalamazoo in August 1851 to Sarah Jane "Jennie" Stafford (1830-1908), to whom he was wed until her death. The couple would later have six children, Helen, Ida, Harriett, Nelly, Frank, and George Frederick (1867-1952). Of these children Frank E. Knappen made inroads into local politics, being city prosecuting attorney for Kalamazoo from 1880-89 and a Republican Presidential Elector for Michigan in 1904. 

   Ashmun A. Knappen resided in Hastings, Michigan from 1850-57, where he edited the Barry County Pioneer newspaper. In the late 1850s, he moved to Kalamazoo, where he began studying law with Julius Caesar Burrows (1837-1915), who would go on to represent Michigan in both houses of Congress for over three decades. 

    Admitted to the state bar in 1859, Knappen established a law practice in Kalamazoo with Burrows that continued for several years, and by 1867 had formed another law firm with Rufus Grosvenor. In the following year, Knappen had a religious calling, partly influenced by his wife and friends who had "induced him to attend a business men's morning prayer meeting." Now caught between wanting to continue in the practice of law or to devote his life to religious work, Knappen decided upon the latter, and by the fall of 1868 had joined the Michigan Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

   Soon after his admittance to the Michigan Conference Knappen was dispatched to Constantine, Michigan, where he accepted a pastorate.  In 1869 he would take on another pastorate in Sturgis (remaining there until 1870) and from 1871-72 preached in Manistee. For the next decade, Knappen would preach in Coldwater, Lansing, Battle Creek, and Grand Rapids and by 1883 had settled into a pastorate in Hastings. He continued to preach until 1890 and afterward "lived a retired life at Albion."

    An active Mason in addition to his pastorate, Knappen was for many years the Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Michigan. A temperance advocate, Knappen entered the political life of Michigan in 1896 when he was nominated for the U.S. House of Representatives on the Prohibition ticket. Hoping to represent his state's 3rd congressional district, Knappen was one of three candidates that year and on election day in November lost out in a very lopsided contest, garnering only 441 votes compared to Democratic candidate Albert M. Todd's winning total of 24,466.

   A.A. Knappen continued to reside in Albion, Michigan into his twilight years and was widowed in 1908. He followed his wife Sarah in death one year later on June 17, 1909, at age 80. Both were interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Albion. 

Atwood Bond Meservey (1831-1901)

From the History of Merrimack and Belknap Counties, New Hampshire, 1885.

   New Hampshire clergyman Atwood Bond Meservey is yet another example of a New England-based minister who also carved out a career in politics, in his case being a one-term member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Like Silenus H. Fellows, Pearl Castle Abbey, and Cola Di Rienzi Meacham, Meservey walked the line between the ministry and politics, and also gained distinction as an educator, serving as principal of the New Hampton Literary Institution for three decades.

    A native of Appleton, Maine, Atwood Bond Meservey was born in that town on September 30, 1831, being the son of William and Elvina Bond Meservey. Atwood Meservey resided on his family's farm until age nineteen and attended both the Kent's Hill Seminary and the New Hampton Literary Institution. He continued his studies at Andover University and Brown University (from which he received his A.M. degree in 1862) and later received his Philosophy and Divinity doctorates from Bates College.

   Ordained as a minister in the Free Baptist church in 1861, Meservey accepted a pastorate at the Free-Will Baptist church in Meredith, New Hampshire. He remained there for one year and in 1862 left his pastorate to join the faculty of the New Hampton Literary Institution, where he would be a professor of mathematics and natural sciences. After a five-year stint at that school, Meservey spent one year as principal at the Northwood Seminary before returning to New Hampton. In 1868 he was named as New Hampton's principal, continuing in that role until his retirement thirty years later.

   Atwood B. Meservey married his first wife Elizabeth Bean in 1861, with whom he had one daughter, Lizzie. Following Elizabeth Meservey's death in 1862, he remarried to Loanna Meade in 1871. The couple would have one child, John Edwin, who died in infancy. Widowed for the second time in 1880, Meservey remarried in 1883 to Clara Bell Fall, who, before she died in 1887, bore one son, Arthur Bond (1884-1952). Arthur Bond Meservey would follow his father into a career in academics, being a Professor of Physics at Dartmouth University for over forty years.

The New Hampton Literary Institution as it looked during Meservey's tenure.

   In addition to his lengthy tenure at New Hampton Atwood Meservey was the author of several textbooks, dealing with subjects such as banking, book-keeping, and political economics. Of these works, "Meservey's Book Keeping" proved to have the widest influence, as it was "In use in over five hundred schools in various towns and cities of New England and in over ninety academies and seminaries." Meservey would also author two works of non-fiction, "Through Struggle to Victory" and "Drifting and Resisting".

   Meservey's one instance of involvement in politics occurred in 1866 when he was elected as New Hampton's representative to the New Hampshire state legislature. Serving during the 1867-1868 house session, Meservey sat on the house committee on education. After leaving the legislature Meservey continued his work at the New Hampton Institute until his retirement in 1898. He resided in New Hampton until his death at age 69 on February 20, 1901, having succumbed to a "complicated disease of the kidneys." Meservey was interred at the New Hampton Village Cemetery and later was acknowledged by the Granite State Monthly as

"A man of marked ability, of sound judgement, of phenomenal tact in school management, and of affable disposition, he will be remembered and revered by the thousands of students who have come under his tuition."

From the Centennial Souvenir of the New Hampshire Yearly Meeting of Free Baptists, 1892.

Perlin Shearer Butler (1838-1910)

Portrait from "Taylor's Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut" , 1906.

   Connecticut state assemblyman Perlin Shearer Butler is one of a handful of oddly named political figures who were also clergymen, in his case being a minister of the Adventist Church for nearly five decades. A native of Wilbraham, Massachusetts for the first three decades of his life, Perlin S. Butler was born in that town on October 2. 1838, the son of Benjamin Gilbert and Hannah Cross Butler.  He attended schools local to Wilbraham and in August 1862 was ordained as a minister in the Adventist Church. Five years after being ordained Butler organized the Union Christian Church of North Wilbraham and for three years following was its pastor.

   In November 1869 Butler married Juliette Perrin (1845-1916), a native of North Woodstock, Connecticut. The couple would later have two sons, Sidney Perlin (1873-1952) and Ernest Morton (1878-1948). Of these sons, Sidney P. Butler would go to a distinguished career as an educator, being the president of the Butler Business School located in New Haven.

   A few months following his marriage Perlin Butler and his wife relocated permanently to Woodstock, where he would assist in organizing an Advent Christian Church. He would be that church's pastor beginning in 1874 (serving in that capacity for some thirty years) and helped organize two other churches in the neighboring towns of Putnam and Ellington. Elected to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1905, Perlin Butler was one of two representatives from Woodstock to serve in the legislative session of 1906 and was also honored by being named as chairman of the House Committee on Women's Suffrage during his term. 

   Following his term, Butler served as a member of the Woodstock school committee and was also a member of the Board of Trustees for his son's business college. He was for eighteen years the President of the Rhode Island and Connecticut Advent Christian Conference and died in Woodstock on May 12, 1910. He was survived by his wife and two sons and was interred at the Barlow Cemetery in Woodstock. Juliette Perrin Butler and Sidney P. Butler were also interred at this cemetery.

Billington McCarter Sanders (1789-1854)

                                           From the Discourse on the Life of the Rev. Billington M. Sanders, 1854.

   Lifelong Georgia resident Billington McCarter Sanders was one of the most prominent clergymen residing in the Peach State in the early 19th century. A Baptist minister for over thirty years, Sanders is still remembered today as having been the first principal of the Mercer Institute (now Mercer University), helping to guide the school along during its infancy. While prominent in religious and education circles, Sanders also had fleeting involvement in politics, being a representative to the Georgia State Assembly for one term beginning in 1817.
  The eldest child born to Columbia County, Georgia residents Ephraim and Nancy Sanders, Billington M. Sanders was born in that county on December 2, 1789. Before reaching the age of ten young Billington was left parent-less and following their passing was taken into the home of Mr. Ambrose Jones and his family. Sanders began his schooling in the Kiokee Seminary and was later described by an acquaintance as a student who was "apt to learn, high tempered, a little proud and quite spirited." He continued his education at Franklin College in Athens, Georgia, and in 1808 enrolled at South Carolina College, from which he graduated the following year.
   Shortly after his graduation Sanders began a teaching career in Columbia County, Georgia, and continued in this vocation for about two years. He would operate a plantation in that county for nearly two decades and married his first wife, Martha Lamar, in 1812. The couple would have a total of nine children throughout their ten-year marriage, and following her death in 1822 remarried to Cynthia Holliday (1804-1887), with whom he would have a further thirteen children. In all, Billington Sanders fathered a total of 22 children during his lifetime, nine of whom would survive him upon his death in 1854.
    In 1817 Billington Sanders was elected as one of Columbia County's representatives to the Georgia State Assembly, where he would serve for one term. Despite ably representing his district in the state house, Sanders' time in the legislature left him with a disdain for politics, and was later recorded as stating to then Governor William Rabun that "This is no place for a Christian, and I shall never come here again." True to his word, Sanders never again served in the legislature, but would serve as a "Judge of the Inferior Court" for several years.
    A few years following his legislative service Sanders began service as clerk of the Union Church in Warren County, Georgia, and during his time in that post felt called to the ministry, and was licensed to preach in Warren County around 1823. Sander was officially ordained two years later and would serve as a pastor at several Baptist churches,  including those at Williams Creek, Pine Grove, Shiloh, Greensboro, and Powelton, Georgia. 
   During the mid-1820s, Sanders resided in a large log cabin in Penfield, Georgia, devoting one room in said cabin to a "place of worship." Around 1831 the Baptist Convention of Georgia began laying the groundwork for a "classical and theological seminary" near Penfield, and Billington Sanders was sought out to serve as its principal. The Mercer Institute, as the school was then referred to, was officially established in 1833, and during his several years as school head also doubled as a financial agent and teacher. The guiding hand of Billington Sanders saw Mercer Institute through its early years of existence, and after the school was granted its university charter in 1837 he was elected as college president. Sanders continued to serve as president until his resignation in 1839 but would be affiliated with Mercer for the remainder of his life, serving as the secretary and treasurer of the Mercer University Board of Trustees.

From the National Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1896.

   In the latter portion of his life, Sanders continued to be active in church work, serving as the moderator of the Georgia Baptist Association for nearly a decade and was clerk of that same body for seven years. For six years Sanders held the presidency of the Georgia Baptist Convention as well as being a delegate to the Southern Baptist Convention on numerous occasions.

   The final years of Sanders' life saw him plagued by ill health, including attacks of vertigo and a "general prostration of his system." In the last four months of his life, Sanders was confined to his home in Penfield, dying there on March 12, 1854, at age 64. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Penfield Cemetery in Penfield, Greene County, Georgia. One should also note that Sanders' middle name is sometimes given as "McCarthy". This is presumed to be a spelling error, as period literature gives the spelling as "McCarter", as does his biography in "Who Was Who In America" and the Georgia Biographical Dictionary.