Woodville Carthon Haythe (1905-1956)

Portrait from the West Virginia Blue Book, 1934.

   West Virginia attorney and state delegate Woodville Carthon Haythe is another Mountain State political figure who lacked length of years, dying at age 50 in 1956 following a business trip to Ohio. During his short life, Haythe rose to become a leading attorney in Charleston and in addition to his political doings was a veteran of WWII, serving two tours with the U.S. Marine Corps. Born on June 4, 1905, in Hinton, West Virginia, Woodville C. Haythe was the son of Woodville Vincent and Cora Lee (Mitchell) Haythe. 

   A student in the public schools of Summers County, Haythe would go on to study at the Concord State Teachers College as well as Washington and Lee University. Following his graduation from Washington and Lee in 1927 Haythe earned two law degrees from the University of Alabama (1930) and West Virginia University in 1931. In the last-named year, Haythe married to Alabama native Elizabeth Rousseau Bright (birthdate unknown), to whom he was wed until his death in 1956. The couple had no children.

  In 1932 Haythe began the practice of law in Hinton and in 1934 launched his candidacy for the West Virginia House of Delegates as a Democrat. He would defeat Republican nominee F.A. Martin that November by a vote of 3,932 to 2,834 and during the 1935-36 session sat on the house committees on Elections and Privileges, the Executive Offices and the Library, Judiciary, Railroads, and State Boundaries. Following his one term in the legislature Haythe unsuccessfully sought a seat in the state senate (running in the 1936 Democratic primary) and in December 1936 was selected as "West Virginia counsel" for the Legal Aid Service of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen of America. W. Carthon Haythe reentered the political field in 1938 when he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for state senator from the 10th senatorial district.  Unfortunately, his candidacy wouldn't advance past the primary season, losing out to Republican nominee William M. LaFon by nearly two-thousand votes. 

  After the dawn of American involvement in World War II Haythe signed on for service, and despite being well over thirty years of age at the time of his enlistment distinguished himself in the Marine Corps, serving two tours of duty in "the South Pacific and Far East theaters". Following his return from service, W. Carthon Haythe recommenced with his law practice and is also acknowledged as having been "instrumental in the organization of the first Marine Corps League" in the city of Charleston. 

Haythe as he appeared in the 1927 Washington and Lee Calyx yearbook.

   Political office would again beckon to Haythe in 1952 and in that year's Democratic primary entered into the race for state attorney general. He would lose out on primary election day in May, polling 95,367 votes to winning candidate  Chauncey H. Browning's total of 176,748. Browning (who had served as acting attorney general since the resignation of William C. Marland in January 1952) would later be succeeded by John G. Fox (1923-1992), who won election as attorney general in November of that year.

   Haythe continued to reside and practice law in Charleston until his death following a business trip to Warren, Ohio in 1956. While returning home, Haythe suffered a heart attack while driving, but managed to drive himself to a hospital in Gallipolis, Ohio, where he later died. Just fifty years old at the time of his passing, Haythe was survived by his wife and was later interred at the Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston, West Virginia.

Lovatus Chapman Allen (1816-1901)

Portrait from the History of Washtenaw County, Michigan, 1881.

    A transplant to Michigan from Vermont, Lovatus Chapman Allen rose to become a prominent citizen in Washtenaw County, where he was a large landowner and farmer. A holder of a number of local political offices in York township in that county, Allen was later elected to one term in the Michigan House of Representatives in the early 1860s. Born in Huntington, Vermont on September 21, 1816, Lovatus Chapman Allen was one of nine children born to Edward and Abigail (Palmer) Allen. 

   The 1881 History of Washtenaw County records that Lovatus Allen began his schooling in a log cabin schoolhouse located on his father's property and following his family's removal to the nearby town of Richmond attended schools local to that area. At age eighteen he began a stint as a school teacher and during the summer months worked the family farm. Allen continued along that route until age twenty when he left home to seek out work in Massachusetts. After a short spell working in a gun-maker's shop in that state, he returned home to Vermont, where he continued to teach and farm until reaching age twenty-five.

   In the early 1840s, Lovatus Allen left Vermont for Deckertown, New Jersey, where his brother Carlos had settled some years previously. Allen would teach in this area for several years and in 1847 married Sarah Dewey (1822-1881), to whom he was wed for over thirty years. The couple would become parents to ten children, who are listed as follows in order of birth: Kate (born 1848), Mary E. (1849-1940), Louisa (1850-1938), Laura Anne (1852-1936), Lovatus (died in infancy in 1853), )Ada (birth date unknown) Adelaide (1855-1926), Alice (1856-1950), Ida (1860-1945) and William Fitch (1864-1952).

   Following his marriage, Lovatus Allen moved to Branchville, New Jersey, where for three years he was affiliated with a woolen mill in that town. In 1850 he pulled up stakes once again, this time resettling in Washtenaw, Michigan. He would reside here for the remainder of his life and after a period of establishing roots in the community built up a substantial farming complex. In addition to farming Allen also taught school and was elected to a number of local political offices, including that of school inspector and justice of the peace.

   In 1862 Allen reached his highest degree of political prominence when he was elected to represent Washtenaw County in the Michigan State House of Representatives. Serving in the session of 1863-65, Allen returned to farming after leaving the house and was widowed in 1881. Three years prior to his death Lovatus Allen was invited by then Michigan Governor Hazen Pingree to attend the dedication of a monument honoring former Governor Austin Blair. The 82-year-old former representative traveled to Lansing to attend the ceremony and was recorded as being "much pleased" at having visited the state capitol.

   Lovatus Chapman Allen died in York Township on September 5, 1901, just two weeks short of his 85th birthday. He was survived by several of his children and was later buried at the Marble Park Cemetery in Milan, Michigan.

From the October 20, 1898 Saline, Michigan Observer.

Reidar Dare Rovig Sr. (1877-1943)

Portrait from The Rotarian, February 1943.

    Norwegian native Reidar Dare Rovig is yet another in a bevy of new strange name discoveries, and despite attaining high political office (that of Mayor of Yakima, Washington), little information could be located on him.

  Born on November 26, 1877, in Namsos, Norway, Reidar Dare Rovig was the son of Olaf and Petra Rovig. Little is known of Rovig's early life or education, as well as the date of his immigration to the United States. Beginning in 1892 he began a lengthy connection with the Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul, and Pacific Railroad, being employed as a telegraph operator. He would continue to be affiliated with that railroad until 1910, last being a "northwestern passenger agent" based in Bismarck, North Dakota. Rovig married in 1905 in Minnesota to Jane M. Matthews (1883-1964) and later had four sons: Walter Dare (1906-1973), John Forsyth (1909-1993), George Virtue (1912-1919) and Reidar Dare Jr. (1913-1945).

  Upon leaving railway work Reidar Rovig migrated to Washington to make a name for himself in the retail lumber business. Settling in North Yakima, Rovig would establish the Rovig Lumber Co., which in 1916 could boast of having "$100,000 capital". He held the post of manager of that company and around this same time became affiliated with the Superior Lumber Company, of which he would serve as vice president.

  After gaining a firm foothold in the Yakima business community, Reidar Rovig turned to politics, announcing his candidacy for Mayor of Yakima in 1920. Running under the slogan of the "business man's candidate", Rovig won the election on December 6th of that year, defeating Earle J. Barnes by a vote of 2,327 to 2,073. Rovig would serve one term of three years and was defeated for reelection in the November 1923 primary by William B. Dudley, who would go on to win the general election that December.

   Following his time as mayor Rovig continued to be active in the business and commercial life of Yakima, serving as the secretary of that city's Rotary Club. He would hold that post for over twenty years and in the late 1930s also served as a member of the Yakima County Advisory Welfare Board. Reidar D. Rovig died at age 66 in Yakima on March 27, 1943. He was survived by three of his sons and his wife Jane, who would later remarry to Milford Roy Knauft. Both Rovig and his wife were interred at the Terrace Heights Memorial Park in Yakima.

Vaughnam Adolphus Sims (1891-1950)

From the 1935 Bench and Bar of Florida.

  A fairly recent discovery as far as strange names are concerned, Polk County, Florida resident Vaughnam Adolphus Sims was a veteran of WWI who would become a prominent figure in Lake Wales, Florida. An attorney based in both Georgia and Florida, Sims served as City Attorney for Lake Wales for several years and would also be elected as that city's mayor.

   Born in Gwinnett County, Georgia on May 3, 1891, Vaughnam Adolphus Sims was the son of Alfred and Neoma Sims. Vaughnam Sims would attend the University of Georgia, graduating in the class of 1917 with his Bachelor of Laws degree. He would begin the practice of law in Winder, Georgia, and later moved his practice to Greensboro, Georgia, remaining here from 1919 to 1923. 

   A veteran of the First World War, Sims would serve with the 82nd American Expeditionary Forces. He married in the early 1920s to Ruth Jackson (1897-1989), with whom he would have three children: Neil B. (1925-2014), Barbara and Thalia. Neil B. Sims would go on to prominence in his own right, being a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and a past President of the Alabama Psychological Association.

Vaughnam Adolphus Sims, from the 1917 Pandora yearbook.

   In 1923 Vaughnam Sims moved to Lake Wales, Florida, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. In the year of his removal, he took office as Lake Wales City Attorney, an office he would continue to hold well into the 1930s. From 1926 to 1929 Sims served as the Mayor of Lake Wales and in 1933 is recorded as secretary of a Lake Wales School District Board of Trustees.

   A member of the Masons and the Knights of Pythias lodges, Sims was also active in the American Legion, serving as chaplain of the Lake Wales American Legion Post 71 in the early 1940s. Vaughnam A. Sims died in Lake Wales on July 19, 1950, at age 59. He was survived by his wife and three children and was later interred at the Lake Wales Cemetery.

Elof Waldemere Mureen (1893-1952)

 Portrait form the Illinois State Blue Book, 1931-32.

    A former Mayor of Galesburg, Illinois, and a two-term member of the Illinois General Assembly, Elof Waldemere Mureen was for many years prominent in the civic and political life of Knox County. A lifelong resident of the "Land of Lincoln", Elof W. Mureen was born in Peoria County on March 22, 1893, the son of Fred and Minnie Albertina Mureen. His family resettled in Spring Valley, Illinois when he was a child, and in 1906 removed to Galesburg, where Elof completed his schooling. Mureen married on June 28, 1916, to Ruth Adams, with whom he would have four children: Robert Wayne (1917-2015), Virginia Ruth (died 1989), Howard Frederick (born ca. 1924), and Lilian Joan (born ca. 1930). 

   After his marriage, Elof Mureen began work as a salesman and for several years afterward was employed as a "local improvement representative" for a "leading Illinois clay products manufacturer." In 1919 Mureen entered into local political life when he won election to the Galesburg city council and two years later was returned to that body. In 1923 he was elected as Galesburg's mayor as the candidate of the People's Party, defeating Socialist candidate E.P. Nelson. 

    The youngest mayor elected in Galesburg up to that time, Mureen was re-elected as mayor in 1925 and during his second term helped to open a municipal golf course at the Soantegetaha Country Club in Galesburg. After leaving the mayor's office Mureen was appointed to the vacant directorship of the Galesburg Board of Education, succeeding his father Fred, who had died a few days previously. In May 1930 he reached his highest degree of political prominence when he was elected as one of two representatives to the Illinois General Assembly from that state's 43rd legislative district.

   Taking his seat at the start of the 1931-33 session, Mureen served on the committees on Conservation, Fish and Game, Education, and Industrial Affairs. In November 1932 he won a second term in the house, garnering 29, 542 votes on election day. During the 1933-34 session, Mureen sat on the committees on Banks, Banking and Building and Loan Associations; Education; Municipalities; Public Utilities and Transportation; and Uniform Laws. Mureen's two terms in the house were also notable for his having introduced legislation to:

"Authorize school boards to equip playgrounds from moneys in the building fund and to provide supervision for these playgrounds from the educational fund." 

   Mureen's bill would be passed by both houses of the legislature and in June 1931 was approved by then-Governor Louis Emmerson. Following his time in state government, Elof W. Mureen continued service on the Galesburg Board of Education and also authored a book, entitled "History of the Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway--Spoon River Peavine". In the mid-1940s, he joined with his brother Ernest in forming the Mureen Hardware Co., a business that would later be managed by Elof's son Howard. Elof W. Mureen died in April of 1952, shortly after his 59th birthday. A burial location for him remains unknown at the time of this writing.

                            Portrait from the "History of Public Grounds and Playgrounds in Galesburg", 1932.

Buchel Beaumont Gibbs (1886-1961)

A 1933 campaign poster for B.B. Gibbs (author's collection).

   Seeing that February 29th is a day that only comes along once every four years, I figured that an especially interesting write-up was needed for today, and that is precisely what I aim to accomplish with the following article on one B.B. Gibbs of Arizona. 

   As a political memorabilia collector of many years standing, I'm always happening across interesting items to purchase both at antique shops and online, and in the case of today's "honoree", it was a chance peek at the online marketplace website Etsy that led to a very intriguing discovery! In December of last year I happened across the above-pictured poster while browsing political-related items for sale on Etsy, and, intrigued by the mysterious initials "B.B.", set to work finding out more on this bespectacled candidate for Arizona State Auditor. 

   After several false leads and dead ends, I was rewarded with an ancestry.com mention of a "Buchel Beaumont Gibbs" of Texas. A few searches later I happened across a small newspaper write-up on B.B. Gibbs' candidacy for state auditor, including a mention of his being a native of Texas who removed to Arizona in the early 20th century. After this discovery, I knew that the two men were one in the same person and just a short while later I became the proud owner of the poster shown above!

   Despite my owning an interesting piece of strange name political history, details on Gibbs's life remain difficult to come by. It is known that he was born in Eagle Pass, Texas on April 17, 1886, being the son of Jeptha Milton and Iraetta Camp Gibbs. He moved to Bisbee, Arizona in 1905 and is recorded by the Phoenix Arizona Republic as having "studied business methods and accounting practices" after graduation from college. This same paper notes that Gibbs' skill as an accountant brought him notice from two "nationally known" accounting firms, both of which would later employ Gibbs to travel to South America "to handle the auditing of their operations there."

  During his Arizona residency, Gibbs worked as a public accountant "licensed by the Arizona State Board" and in 1927 resettled in Phoenix. He had married sometime in the late 1910s to Ms. Constance Alt and had at least one son, Milton Churchill Gibbs (1921-1977). In 1934 B.B. Gibbs entered into Arizona political life when he announced his candidacy for state auditor in that year's Democratic primary. In the Arizona Republic newspaper article covering his candidacy, Gibbs announced that if elected he would:

"Conduct the office along strict economic lines consistent with my expert training. Co-operation with other state departments will be maintained at all times in an effort toward better accounting practices. Harmony will be prevail so long as a sincere desire is demonstrated to operate within the budget, and in accord with the statutes enacted governing expenditures of public funds."

    As one of two Democratic candidates vying to wrest the nomination from incumbent auditor Ana Frohmiller (1891-1971), Gibbs faced an uphill battle. On election day he placed third with 16,380 votes, polling behind George A. Fleming and Frohmiller, who would go on to win another term as auditor that November. All told  Ana Frohmiller served as Arizona state auditor for 24 years (1926-1950), the longest tenure of any holder of that office.
  Following his defeat for the state auditorship, B.B. Gibbs largely disappeared from public life. He moved to California some years later and died in Los Angeles on October 18, 1961, at age 75. 

Rednor Pitcher Coombs (1873-1942)

Portrait from the 1908 Massachusetts Legislative Souvenir.

    Another curiously named New England political figure is profiled today, Massachusetts state representative Rednor Pitcher Coombs. Sadly, information on Mr. Coombs has proven to be scant, hence why his article here will be on the short side.

   Born in Isleboro, Maine on June 27, 1873, Rednor Pitcher Coombs was the son of Pilsbury and Mary Coombs. No information could be found on the location of Coombs' schooling or the date of his removal to Massachusetts. He married in Chelsea, Massachusetts on April 30, 1895, to Mary Riley (birthdate unknown), with whom he would have two sons, Paul and John. Both before and after his term in state government Coombs worked as a "wholesale provision dealer" based in Quincy. He was also a member of the local Elks club.

   Before his service in the state legislature, Rednor P. Coombs was a member of the Quincy City Council, representing the city's sixth ward. In November 1907 he was elected as one of Norfolk County's representatives to the Massachusetts General Court. Serving during the 1908-1909 session, Coombs sat on the house committee on insurance and would lose his reelection bid the following year to Louis F.R. Langelier, who defeated him, 1,209 votes to 982.

   Little else could be located on Coombs following his defeat for reelection. Ancestry.com gives notice as to his death sometime in 1942, when he would have been around 69 years of age. A burial location for both Coombs and his family remains unknown at this time. 

Hedding Anderson Caswell (1851-1913)

Portrait from the Rome Daily Sentinel, April 14, 1913.

    Long distinguished in the business and political life of Rome, New York, Hedding Anderson Caswell served a three-year term as mayor of that city beginning in the early 1900s. A lifelong New Yorker, Hedding Anderson Caswell was born in the town of Herkimer on June 13, 1861, being the son of William and Harriett Harter Caswell. The Caswell family moved from Herkimer to Camden, New York when Hedding was a child and from there resettled in Rome when he was nine. Caswell attended the public schools of that city and also studied at the Rome Free Academy.

   Having entered his teenage years Hedding Caswell left Rome for the big city, traveling to New York City to begin work in a "large boot and shoe store." This line of work proved to have a lasting influence on Caswell, who, after returning to Rome, joined the shoe store operated by Jerome Dillenbeck. After several years in his employ, Caswell and another partner, Fred Marriott, purchased Dillenbeck's interest in the store and began new operations under the name of Caswell and Marriott. Hedding Caswell married on November 24, 1875, to Ms. Arletta Tiffany (1854-1934). The couple would later have four children: Eva (died in infancy in 1879), Tiffany (1880-1906), G. Frederick (1882-1940), and Pauline (1891-1933).

  After a year of operating in the aforementioned partnership, Hedding Caswell sold his interest in the firm to Fred Marriott and launched a new career for himself by entering into the flour and feed business, being joined by his father-in-law, Erastus Tiffany. The firm of Tiffany and Caswell would continue until Tiffany sold off his interest to a friend, M.J. Wentworth, whereafter the firm underwent a name change to Caswell and Wentworth. Sometime later Caswell would operate this business alone and eventually sold it to his son Frederick.

   Caswell became active in city politics in the late 1880s when he was elected as a member of the Rome Board of Supervisors for the city's fifth ward. In 1895 he was appointed to the city's Board of Aldermen to fill a vacancy and six years later became the Republican nominee for Mayor of Rome. In the election of 1901, it was Caswell facing off against incumbent Democratic Mayor Abner White, who had been in office since 1899. On election day it was Caswell who emerged victorious, receiving a "majority of 189", and in addition to winning the mayoralty the Republicans swept several other city offices, in what was referred to as a "real Waterloo for the Democrats."

  Shortly after being told of his election, Caswell gave a brief address to his constituents, stating that: 

"Gentlemen: I am pleased to meet you as Republicans and Democrats of this city, this evening, for you chose to stand up for a man in any spot and place. If fortune spares my life, I will serve all to the best of my ability. You have won a great victory, for not only have we beaten the ring, but a double ring, and I have made the canvass single handed and alone. I will try to give you an administration that you will feel proud of."

   Entering into office in March 1901, Caswell's original term of two years was extended to three by a provision of the city charter in 1903. His term concluded in January 1904 and he was succeeded by Thomas Gill Nock Jr. (1859-1910). Following his tenure as mayor, Caswell would never again be a candidate for public office but did continue to "keep in touch" with city political happenings for the remainder of his life. 
  Caswell's final years were marred by periods of ill health and in April 1913 underwent an operation for "adhesion of the peritoneum and intestines". Following this surgery prognosis for Caswell's recovery appeared to be good, but this changed a few days later, and by Sunday the former Mayor of Rome was dead, being just 61 years old at the time of his passing. He was survived by his Arletta and two of his children, all of whom were interred in the Caswell family plot at the Rome Cemetery in Rome, New York.

Mayor-elect Caswell, from the March 8, 1901 edition of the Rome Citizen.

Merida Ambros Hobbs (1888-1967)

Portrait courtesy of the Texas Legislative Reference Library.

   We continue our theme of oddly named Texas legislators with Lavaca County resident Merida Ambros "M.A." Hobbs, and I can't help but point out that a first name like Merida is just a tad too close in spelling to the word Mierda, the Spanish word for...excrement. While his first name is certainly unusual, Hobbs appears to have preferred going by his initials, as most period sources mentioning him list him under the name "M.A. Hobbs".

  One of nine children born to Merida Hubbard and Ellen Adelia Hobbs, Merida Ambros Hobbs was born in Texas on November 21, 1888. He inherited his unusual first name from his father and married in May 1909 to Pearl Harbour (1890-1969). The couple were married for over fifty years and had two children, Leila Mae (1910-1998) and Winford Ambros (1926-1997). 

    A rancher for a good majority of his life, Hobbs is recorded as being the owner of 900 acres of land in Ezell, Salem County, Texas. He was a member of the Lavaca County school board for a period of ten years and in November 1940 was elected to the first of two terms in the Texas State House of Representatives. During the 1941-43 session, Hobbs held seats on the committees on Agriculture, Federal Relations, and Livestock and Stock Raising, and the State Eleemosynary and Reformatory Institutions. Reelected in November 1942, Hobbs served as vice-chairman of the House Committee on Livestock and Stock Raising during the 1943-45 session and also was named to the committee on Congressional and Legislative Districts. 

   Information has proven to be quite scant when it comes to Hobbs' life after leaving the Texas legislature. Notice has been found of his death at age 78 on May 9, 1967, at a hospital in Hallettsville, Texas. His obituary in the Shiner Gazette records him as being a "retired rancher" and notes that he had been in "ill health for many years." Hobbs was survived by his wife Pearl, who, following her death in 1969, was interred alongside her husband at the Salem Cemetery in Ezell, Texas.

   

      Portrait courtesy of Find-A-Grave.

Olva Clayton Parker (1860-1922)

Portrait courtesy of Familysearch.com.

   Today's profile on Olva Clayton Parker (a two-term mayor of Tucson, Arizona) is important as it proves that there are still new discoveries to be made when it comes to oddly named mayors of major U.S. cities. Aside from having a first name that sounds like it could be part of the human anatomy, Olva C. Parker is also on a short list of odd-name political figures who were undertakers by profession--Ophir LeRoy Hering and Survellon Burr Holcombe now have some company!

   Born in Paris, Tennessee on January 28, 1860, Olva Clayton Parker was the son of Jessie and Elizabeth Parker. He moved with his family to Anna, Illinois during his childhood and here attended school. During his late teens, Parker took work as a clerk in the "money order department" of the local post office and in 1879 left Illinois for the West. taking a stagecoach from Kansas City to Las Vegas, New Mexico, reaching his destination in April of that year. 

   After establishing his roots in New Mexico Parker worked at cattle ranching for several years and also became caught up in the Lincoln County War, a series of ongoing skirmishes between merchants and cattlemen in the New Mexico Territory. Parker is also recorded in Ward Adams' History of Arizona as having "fought against the Indians at Silver City and participated in numerous drives against Indian outlaw bands." He married in 1894 to Honorene McDonald (1876-1972) and would have three daughters: Malvene (1895-1943), Grace (1897-1980) and Edith (1909-1985). 

   Olva Parker removed from New Mexico in 1896, resettling in Phoenix. He entered into the mortuary business during his time there and in 1898 relocated to Tucson, where he established the Parker Mortuary, a business which he continued to operate until his death in 1922. The succeeding years saw Parker's name become one of the most prominent in Tucson business circles, and in addition to his mortuary company was connected with a number of other interests in the city, including being a director of the Arizona National Bank of Tucson and the Cochise Copper Company.

  In 1916 Olva C. Parker was elected as Mayor of Tucson, officially taking office in 1917. He would serve two terms as Mayor and during his second term saw Tucson become home to the first municipally owned airport in the United States, the Tucson Municipal Flying Field, opened in November 1920.

  After leaving office in 1921 Parker took on the position of president of the Arizona Good Roads Association. In the last year of his life, he incurred a bout of blood poisoning as the result of a scratch on his foot, which weakened his health substantially. He died on August 13, 1922 at age 62, as the result of "diabetes and Bright's disease" and was survived by his wife and three daughters. Following her death at age 96 in 1972 Honorene Parker was interred alongside her husband at the Evergreen Memorial Park in Tucson. 

From the August 15, 1922 edition of the Tucson Daily Citizen,

Dios Corides Hagle (1839-1898)

Portrait from the Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1896.

    Nineteenth-century political figure Dios Corides Hagle can lay claim to being one of the oddest named individuals to ever win election to the Illinois State Senate and is also one of the few men profiled here who served in the legislatures of two different states (those being South Dakota and Illinois.) Like many of the men who've preceded him here, Hagle's first and middle names can be traced back to the ancient Roman Empire and one Pedanius Dioscorides, a traveling physician in the army of Emperor Nero. Regarded as a master herbalist and the "Father of Pharmacy", Dioscorides authored the landmark five-volume work De Meteria Medica (On Medicinal Substances), which would become the "prime authority and source work on herbs and other medicinal substances in the history of Western Civilization, and quite possibly the world."

   The life of this oddly named man began in Brown County, Ohio, where he was born on September 11, 1839. The son of Abraham and Mary Williams Hagle, it is unknown as to why Abraham and Mary chose to split the name "Dioscorides" into two separate names and bestow it upon their son. Sources of the time frequently abbreviate Hagle's name as "D.C. Hagle", and you can imagine my surprise when I found out what those initials actually stood for!

    The Hagle family resided in Brown County until Dios was two, whereafter they relocated to Jefferson County, Illinois. The Hagles later moved to the neighboring county of Wayne, where Dios would attend the "common schools", as well as work on his father's farm. He continued along this route until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, and, finding that the quota for enlisted Illinois soldiers was complete, enlisted as a private in Company D of the 11th Missouri Volunteer Infantry. His time with that company extended three years, during which Hagle saw action at the Battles of Corinth, Iuka, the Red River campaign, and the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863. 

   Hagle's three-year term of enlistment expired in 1864 and following his return to Illinois again took up farming. Shortly after his return, he married Sarah Cunningham, who died in 1866. Around 1867 he began studying law in Clay County, Illinois, and was admitted to the bar the following year. Hagle would remarry in 1869 to Mary Catherine George, with whom he had two children, Maud Araminda (1872-1958) and John W. (who died aged three in 1878). 

   Soon after his admittance to the Illinois Bar Dios C. Hagle established his first law practice in the town of Louisville. He spent several years in practice there and in the mid-1870s relocated to the South Dakota Territory, eventually settling near the city of Yankton, where he would reestablish his law practice. Hagle's time in the Dakota territory saw him enter into the field of politics for the first time, as he was elected to the Dakota Territorial House of Representatives in 1876. Representing the county of Hutchinson during his service, Hagle would be further honored during his term when was chosen as Speaker of the House, continuing in that role through the 1877 term.  In that same year, he decided to return to Illinois, his second wife Mary Catherine having died two years prior. 

   Following his return to Illinois, Hagle began practice once again in Louisville and married for a third time in 1879, taking as his wife Ms. Cerissa B. Ingham (1854-1931). Five children would be born to their union, and are listed as follows in order of their birth: Christa Bell (1881-1893), Dios Corides (1882-1930), Gail H. (1884-1969), Mary (1886-1904) and Dorothy I (1889-1933). 

   A year after his marriage Dios C. Hagle was elected as County Attorney for Clay County, Illinois. He was returned to that office in 1884 for another four-year term and in November 1888 was elected to the Illinois State Senate for a four-year term, representing the 44th district. During this term Hagle was named to several important committees, those being the Judiciary; Railroads; Finance and Claims; Corporations; Appropriations; County and Township Organization; and Engrossed and Enrolled Bills. 

   At the conclusion of his term in 1893, Hagle continued to be a prominent figure in Republican party circles in the state.  In April 1896 he figured prominently in the campaign of John Riley Tanner, then the Republican nominee for Governor of Illinois. Tanner (who had been married to Hagle's wife's sister Lauretta) had his name placed before the state Republican convention by Hagle, who was acknowledged by the Chicago Tribune as having been an "orator of no mean ability." In November 1896 Tanner won the Governorship, defeating incumbent Governor John Peter Altgeld by over 100,000 votes.

   With the incoming administration taking office in January 1897, Governor-elect Tanner appointed Dios Hagle as Assistant Attorney General of Illinois. In what would become his last public office, Hagle served under Attorney General Edward Aiken and died in office on February 6, 1898, at age 58. He had been ill for several months before his death, having suffered from pleurisy (inflammation of the tissue surrounding the lungs.) A resident of the town of Flora, Illinois at the time of his death, Hagle was survived by his wife and four children. He was later interred at the Elmwood Cemetery in Flora. Decades following her husband's death, Cerissa Hagle moved to California with her daughters Dorothy and Gail and died there in November 1931.

Hagle's death notice from the Illinois True Republican, Feb. 7, 1898.

A death notice from the San Francisco Call, February 7, 1898.

Lathrop Cooley Stow (1849-1923)

   Lathrop Cooley Stow was a wealthy Grand Rapids, Michigan furniture manufacturer who served one term as mayor of that city in the late 1890s. A native of Ohio, Lathrop Stow was born in Summit County on January 16, 1849, a son of Zebulon and Edytha Walcott Stow. He and his family resided in Ohio until 1863 when they moved to Michigan. Here Lathrop would complete his education and in 1870 married Frances M. Teeple (1851-1913) with whom he would later have one daughter, Bertha Stow Witwer (1875-1948).

   In 1872 Stow resettled in Grand Rapids and for three years afterward dabbled in real estate. Around this same time, Lathrop's older brother Russell (who had migrated to Grand Rapids a few years earlier) had begun making a name for himself as a furniture manufacturer, being the owner of the Stow and Haight Furniture Co. (later to undergo a name change to the Stow and Davis Furniture Co.) Following his brother's example, Lathrop Stow saw the furniture industry as a lucrative proposition, and in 1876 established the Grand Rapids Furniture Company, of which he would own a "half-interest."

  From the mid-1870s until 1893 Stow would remain engaged with the company he founded, eventually selling off his interest in the last-named year. Two years following the sale he joined his brother's company as treasurer, and in April 1896 won election as Mayor of Grand Rapids, defeating incumbent mayor Charles D. Stebbins by "a majority of less than 100." Noted as being the "first two-year incumbent" to hold that post, Stow served as mayor until 1898 and a few years after leaving that office began a stint as a member of the Grand Rapids Board of Public Works.

  After many years of prominence in Grand Rapids, Lathrop Stow and his family left that city in 1907 and removed to Weld County, Colorado, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. During his residency here Stow developed an interest in ranching and for a time resided at the S.L.W. Ranch (owned and operated by his son-in-law, Harvey E. Witwer.) The former Grand Rapids mayor died in Greeley on January 8, 1923, at age 73, his cause of death being given as "hardening of the arteries." Widowed in 1913, both Stow and his wife were interred at the Linn Grove Cemetery in Greeley.

Portrait from the "Men of Michigan", published 1904.