Uberto Saunders Griffin (1857-1918)

Portrait from the 1905 Kansas Legislative Directory.

  2016 is upon us and following our 2015 "Strange Name of the Year " profile of two-term Kansas state senator Peru Italian Blackerby Ping we continue our stay in the Sunflower State for the first write-up of the new year. A man prominent in the political and business life of Nortonville, Kansas for over three decades, Uberto Saunders Griffin represented Jefferson County in both houses of the Kansas legislature during the early 1900s. A native of Illinois, Uberto Griffin was the third-born son of Samuel Parker and Eliza Saunders Griffin, being born in the village of Farmington on February 21, 1857. 

  The Griffin family left Illinois when Uberto was just two years of age, settling near Nortonville, Kansas. Uberto would attend school in the nearby city of Atchison and as a young man saw his father Samuel enter political life in Atchison County, as he was elected as a state representative in 1870. Samuel Griffin would later represent Kansas' 2nd district in the state senate, serving in that body from 1875-77. 

   As a young man, Uberto Griffin would attend Milton College in Milton, Wisconsin. After returning to Kansas he joined with his father in the mercantile firm of Griffin and Son, with which he would be affiliated for many years to come. Griffin would marry Luella Jane Hart on October 13, 1880, and later had three children: Geneva (1881-1977), Helen (1890-1973), and William (1893-1972). 

   A longstanding member of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church, Uberto Griffin was "converted at a revival meeting at Pardee" when just thirteen years of age. Griffin's connection to that church extended through the remainder of his life, and he would serve at various times as Sabbath school superintendent and "superintendent of the Nortonville school." Sources of the time also note that Griffin was a "druggist" in addition to operating a mercantile store.

   Following in the footsteps of his father, Uberto Griffin would be elected to the Kansas state legislature in 1900. Taking his seat at the start of the 1901-03 session, Griffin sat on the committees on Insurance, Mileage, and Temperance, and chaired the House Committee on the Whole. In the 1902 election year Griffin was re-elected as a representative and two years later won a seat in the state senate from Kansas' 5th senatorial district. Shortly after taking his seat, Griffin was profiled in a small write-up in the Topeka State Journal, which noted that he "would look out for the state university appropriation bills in the senate." During his senate term, Griffin chaired the senate committee on Penal Institutions and also was a member of the committee on Charitable Institutions.

                                      Uberto S. Griffin as he appeared in the Topeka State Journal, Jan. 25, 1905.

   Griffin continued to represent the 5th senatorial district during the special senate session of January 1908 and wasn't a candidate for renomination later that year. After leaving the senate Griffin continued in public service when he was appointed as "revenue collector", a post he would hold for several years. Uberto S. Griffin died at his home in Nortonville on November 22, 1918, after having been "in failing health for a number of years." The sixty-one-year-old former state senator was survived by his wife Luella (who died at age 82 in April 1941) and his three children. Both Griffin and his wife were interred at the Nortonville Cemetery.

Odd Eide (1883-1952)

Portrait from the 1931 Minnesota State Legislative Manual.

    Polk County, Minnesota was featured recently in the write-up on Thrond Torsteinsen Morken, who represented that county in the legislature from 1913 to 1917. That Minnesota county again takes center stage with another odd-named state legislator---Odd Eide! If that name immediately conjures up images of a cross-eyed man à la Ben Turpin or Marty Feldman, you are not alone! I'll admit that when I first stumbled across Mr. Eide's name I got quite the laugh out of it, and while his name is certainly interesting, Eide was also a distinguished public figure in Polk County, Minnesota for many years, serving as that county's representative in the state legislature on three consecutive occasions.

   Like several other oddly named Midwestern political figures who've been featured here, Odd Eide's story begins "across the pond" in Voss, Norway, where he was born on February 16, 1883. He would attend the Middel-Skolen (high school) in Voss and following his graduation in 1899 relocated to the United States. In 1901 he settled in Fertile, Polk County, Minnesota, where in that year he took work as a clerk in the general store/druggist shop of his uncle, Andrew Opheim. Following his uncle's death in 1915 Eide took over the day-to-day management of Opheim's business and also acted as the administrator of his estate. Eide also attended college shortly after arriving in Minnesota, graduating from the Park Region Luther College (located in Fergus Falls) in the class of 1902.

   Odd Eide married on November 30, 1910, to Clara Nelson (1884-1965), with whom he would have eight children: Knute Arne (born 1913), Anna Bessie (birth-date unknown), Anders Opheim (birth-date unknown), Clara Alfhild (1918-2001), Odd Arvid (1920-2009), Alf Rognald (1922-2012), Roald (1924-1976) and Agnes (1926-2009). Following his marriage, Eide continued with his business pursuits in Fertile and became active in the civic and political life of that town, serving at various times as a member of the village council, clerk of the Fertile school district, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Fertile. In November 1928 the citizens of Polk County elected Odd Eide as their representative to the Minnesota State Legislature, garnering 6,787 votes.

   Taking his seat in January of the new year, Eide served on the house committees on the Board of Control and State Institutions; Commerce, Manufacture and Retail Trade, Drainage, Markets and Marketing, Municipal Affairs, and State and County Fairs during the 1929-31 session. He was re-elected as representative in November 1930 and in the 1931-33 session served on two new committees, those being Appropriations and Banks and Banking. Eide won his third term in the house in November 1932 and retired from politics at the end of the 1933-35 session.

    In the latter period of his life, Odd Eide continued to be an active citizen in Fertile, being a parishioner at the Concordia Lutheran Church, of which he served as president. Acknowledged as a "good mixer" with a penchant for gardening and stamp collecting, Eide also earned a reputation as a man who:

"Stood for his convictions and treated everyone equal. A staunch supporter was Mr. Eide, and he was untiring in his efforts to improve the village. He was a Republican with great force and sound judgement."

   On July 21, 1952, Odd Eide died in Fertile at age 69. His wife Clara survived him by over a decade, and after her death in 1965 was interred alongside her husband at the Concordia Cemetery in Fertile. 

Drengman Olsen Aaker (1839-1894)

Portrait from the Iowa State Legislature Historical database.

    Born of humble origins in a small village in Norway, Drengman Olsen Aaker migrated to the United States with his family when still a child and upon reaching manhood became a highly regarded figure in Winneshiek County, Iowa, where he was a lumberman and creamery operator. Aaker was later honored by his adopted state by being elected to two terms in the Iowa State House of Representatives in the early 1880s.

    One of several children born to Ole Drengmansen and Aslaug Gunleiksdatter Moen Aaker, Drengman O. Aaker was born in Hjartdahl, Telemarken, Norway on September 29, 1839, and in 1848 immigrated to the United States with his family via the ship "Lolland". A genealogical website denoting the history of the Aaker family notes that the "Lolland" reached New York in August of 1848 and Drengman and his family later settled in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. The family resided here until around 1854, whereafter they removed to Iowa, settling near the town of Burr Oak Springs. 

   Despite being a recent transplant to the United States, Drengman Aaker proved that his patriotism ran high, and in 1862 enlisted in Co. G. of the 12th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He served throughout the Civil War's duration and was mustered out of service in 1866. Following his return home Aaker moved to the town of Ridgeway in Winneshiek County and married in 1869 to Christina Andersdatter Turvold (1849-1922). Aaker and his wife later became the parents of four children, Lena (1870-1944), John Theodore (1873-1947), Adolph Oscar (born 1878), and Casper Drengman (1883-1960).

   In the years following his marriage, Drengman Aaker grew to become a successful business figure in Winneshiek County, being the operator of a lumber yard. Later he was a member of the mercantile firm of Galby and Aaker, dealing in grain throughout the 1870s. In the latter part of that decade, Aaker sold his lumber yard and became the owner of the Ridgeway Creamery, which later burned to the ground in March 1884. 

   Active in Winneshiek County political affairs, Aaker served in several local public offices prior to his election to the Iowa Legislature. He had earlier been an unsuccessful candidate for clerk of the Winneshiek County court in 1880, being defeated by Myron Hardin. In November 1881 Aaker was elected to the State House of Representatives as a Democrat and after taking his seat in the new year was named to the house committees on Constitutional Amendments, Elections, Railroads, the Asylum for the Insane, and the Soldier's and Orphan's Home.

                                                                    From the 1884 Iowa Legislative Roster.

    Aaker was reelected to the house in November 1883 and during his second term sat on the committees on Schools, State University, Engrossed Bills, and the Soldiers and Orphans Home. In the 1885 election year, Aaker ran for a seat in the Iowa Senate but was defeated by Republican Theodore Weld Burdick (1836-1898). During the latter period of his life Aaker's business as a grain merchant encountered financial trouble due to a "wheat blight", and his death notice in the 1894 Reunion of the Twelfth Iowa V.V. Infantry notes that "from this Mr. A. never recovered."  Suffering from ill health and a "broken down constitution" Drengman Aker died at his home in Ridgeway, Iowa on March 30, 1894, at age 54 and was later memorialized in his obituary as being

"Socially and personally always genial; more than usually intelligent, "D.O" was always popular before the people. He had his faults, as all have. His antagonisms were all political, not personal; and the grave covers them all with a mantle of love and oblivion. Peace to his ashes."

  Following his passing a lengthy funeral possession consisting of "nearly 100 teams" carried Aaker from his home to his burial site at the Lincoln Cemetery in Ridgeway. He was survived by his wife Christina and all four of his children. Caspar Drengman followed in his father's stead and went on to become prominent in his own right, being a lawyer and delegate to the 1940 Republican National Convention from North Dakota.