Solva Converse (1790-1877), Salva Goodspeed (1805-1885)

  Today's profile centers on obscure Connecticut state representative Solva Converse. For decades Converse was viewed as a prominent leader in political and business circles in his native county of Tolland and was acknowledged as a leader in area church affairs.
 Solva Converse was born in Stafford, Connecticut on April 1, 1790, the son of militia Captain Solvin Converse and his wife Sarah. Eleven children were eventually born to the couple, and one should note that Solva and his younger brother George were the last surviving members of this large family, both dying on November 22, 1877.
  The Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham Counties (where the majority of the information on Converse was found) records that Converse "received only limited educational advantages" during his youth. He worked at farming during his formative years and was later engaged in the transport of freight with his younger brother Parley, who also served a term in the Connecticut legislature. In 1812 Solva married his wife Esther Blodgett, to whom he was wed for over sixty years. In another interesting familial coincidence, eleven children were born to Solva and Esther, four of whom died in infancy.
  Of the limited sources mentioning Solva Converse's life, all of them stress the importance of his role as a manufacturer of satin and woolen cloths in the Stafford area. In 1839 he was one of the founders of the Mineral Springs Manufacturing Company's first wool mill, established in the village of Stafford Springs. Aside from being a founder in this new endeavor, Converse served the company as an agent and was later named to its presidency. The Commemorative Biographical Record also gives notice that under Converse's leadership of the company "a great and prosperous business was developed."
  In addition to his business interests, Solva Converse was also attentive to political matters in the town of Stafford. He was elected as a town selectman on several occasions and in 1838 the citizens of Tolland County elected him to the Connecticut State House of Representatives. He served a one term in the legislature and a roster from that particular session is shown below. One should also note that this roster misspells Converse's first name as "Salva".

   In the years following his legislative service, Converse continued his involvement with the wool mill and was also a significant benefactor to his local church. Both Solva and his brother Parley were recorded in the 1905 two-volume work Some of the Ancestors and Descendants of Samuel Converse Jr as "the most prominent supporters of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Stafford." Converse is also listed as a contributor to the erection and construction of a new Methodist church in Stafford in 1866. 
  Solva Converse died at age 87 on November 22, 1877. He had outlived six of his eleven children and was survived by his wife of 65 years, Esther, who outlived him by nearly three years, dying in 1880. The portrait of Solva Converse featured above (and very likely the only one to be found online) was discovered in the earlier mentioned Ancestors of Samuel Converse Jr., Volume 1.

  While his first name may be spelled slightly differently, Salva Goodspeed is another man with this unusual first name who entered politics. A lifelong resident of Vermont, Goodspeed served a brief term as one of Franklin County's representatives in the state legislature and later was a selectman for the town of Montgomery.

  Salva Goodspeed was born on August 2, 1805, in Montgomery, Vermont, one of several children born to Seth and Hannah (Stone) Goodspeed. Nothing is known of Salva's early years or education, or his date of marriage. He married Carshina Johnson sometime in the 1830s and had five children, who are listed as follows: Ellen (born 1837), Nelson (born 1839), Monroe (born 1842), Hannah (born 1845) and Dean (born 1851).

   The 1907 History of the Goodspeed Family (where the above picture of Salva was located) notes that he "was prominent in the affairs of his community" for many years and held the office of trustee of surplus money for Montgomery in 1849. In 1855 he was elected to the Vermont State House of Representatives and served there until 1857, afterward serving as town selectman from 1858-1864.

  In addition to his political involvement, Goodspeed was also active in local church affairs, being "one of the pillars of the Episcopal Church at Montgomery." He died at age 79 on June 9, 1885, in his native town of Montgomery and was interred at the Montgomery Village Cemetery. Carshina Johnson Goodspeed (who died in 1902 at age 88) is also interred here.

Memory King Tucker (1897-1985)

  This outstandingly named politician is Memory King Tucker, a Georgia resident who served three terms in his state's legislature. With a name like "Memory King" (which sort of brings to mind a trivia-related television show) Tucker's name is unique in the annals of politics and like most of the men who have preceded him here, obscurity again prevails. Aside from a small biographical blurb in the Georgia Official and Statistical Register, 1963-1964, little else could be found on this intriguingly named Georgian. 
  Memory King Tucker was born in Statham, Barrow County, Georgia on September 19, 1897, the son of Memory James and Eudora Lanier Tucker. Memory J. Tucker served as the first Mayor of Statham, Georgia, so it can certainly be said that politics and odd names ran in the Tucker family! Memory K. Tucker attended schools local to the Barrow County area and later removed to Burke County, where he married Mildred Hill in February 1916. The couple was married for over 40 years before divorcing in November 1956, and this union produced four children: Mamie (died aged one in 1919), Susie (born 1920), Margaret (born 1924), and Mary Elizabeth (born 1927).
  Tucker first became active in Georgia political affairs in 1935, when he was elected to the Waynesboro, Georgia City Council. He served in this post until 1936 and two years later was elected as the Mayor of Waynesboro. Tucker served four years in office and in the years following his mayoral term became active in civic affairs in Burke County. From 1944-1952 Tucker served as a member of the Burke County Board of Commissioners as well as the chairman of the Hospital and Housing Authorities. Further honors were accorded to him when was appointed as the president of the Bank of Waynesboro in the 1950s.
  Tucker's political profile received a significant boost in 1958 when he was elected to the first of three terms in the Georgia State House of Representatives, representing Burke County. Tucker was re-elected to the legislature in 1961 and 1963, and a roster from the 1964 session (bearing Tucker's full name) is posted below.

  Very little is known of Memory K. Tucker's life after his service in the state legislature. His wife Margaret died in 1984 at age 88 and Tucker himself died on February 27, 1985, at age 87. He was subsequently buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Waynesboro, Georgia alongside his wife and infant daughter. The portrait of him featured above was discovered in the earlier mentioned Georgia Official and Statistical Register, published in 1964.

Burpee Laban Steeves (1868-1933)

  This obscure man is Burpee L. Steeves, a physician who gained political distinction as the Lieutenant Governor of Idaho in the early 20th century. Few biographical sources could be found on Steeves, with the exceptions being a write-up in the Centennial History of Oregon, published in 1912, and a small passage in Volume 8 of the Success Magazine of 1905. Further research has indicated that the "L." in his name stands for Laban (a figure in the Book of Genesis) and that he was a Canadian by birth, being born in the province of New Brunswick on July 7, 1868. His parents, Aaron and Lydia (Steeves) Steeves were also New Brunswick natives.
   At the age of five, Burpee and his family are recorded as moving to Prince Edward Island, where he attended the Prince of Wales College. Steeves embarked upon a teaching career which extended until 1888 when he relocated to Oregon and began studying at the Willamette University at Salem. He graduated from here in 1891 and soon after began pursuing a career in medicine at Willamette University at Portland. He received his medical degree from the latter institution in 1894 and thereafter opened a practice in the town of Silverton. Burpee Steeves married in Salem on April 18, 1893, to Ms. Sarah Fiducia Hunt (1871-1939), with whom he would have one son, Laban Aaron Steeves (1894-1943).
   In 1897 Steeves removed from Salem to Idaho and reestablished his medical practice, "winning a wide reputation and large business" in the process. In 1904 he was elected as the Lieutenant Governor of Idaho on the Republican ticket, serving under Gov. Frank Robert Gooding (1859-1928). Steeve's term lasted two years (1905-1907) and is mentioned in the Centennial History of Oregon as "constituting a most commendable chapter in his life." 

From the Sunday Oregonian, November 10, 1912.

   Steeves returned to the medical profession after his term and in 1909 moved back to Salem, where for the remainder of his life he operated a practice specializing in the treatment and prevention of eye, ear, nose, and throat diseases. Steeves's work in this area earned him statewide repute, and it is noted in the Centennial History of Oregon that "his skill and ability today place him in the foremost ranks in the medical profession, not only of Salem but all of Oregon". Following his resettlement in Salem Steeves is remarked as "having invested heavily in property", and in November 1912  received further political honors when he was elected as the Mayor of Salem for one term. Steeves is mentioned by the History of Oregon as giving Salem "a most businesslike and progressive administration" and shortly after being sworn in in January 1913 announced a ban on smoking in the Salem city council chamber, and also approved eight saloon licenses.
   In the years following his mayoralty, Steeves continued in the medical profession, and in 1918 was elected as the President of the Oregon State Medical Association. He served in this post until 1920. The History of Oregon also lists him as being active in church work and was a parishioner at the local Methodist Episcopal Church. Steeves was also a delegate to that church's General Conference in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1916. Burpee Laban Steeves died at the age of 65 on October 23, 1933, at his home in Salem. He was subsequently interred at the Mount Crest Abbey and Mausoleum in Salem. The portrait of him featured at the top of this article (and one of the few to be found online) was discovered in the earlier mentioned Success Magazine, Volume 8, published in 1905. 

                      This portrait of Burpee Steeves was found in the 1923 work "History of Oregon".

Mandeville Treat Ludden (1830-1882), Mandeville Samuel Frost (1845-1922), Mandeville Tyler Mustin (1816-1908), Manderville Tilden Miller (1879-1943)

    A prominent figure in the county of Androscoggin, Maine, Mandeville Treat Ludden received a brief mention in yesterday's article on Liberty Haven Hutchinson, another influential Androscoggin resident and political figure. Hutchinson studied law under Ludden in 1871, and before getting too in-depth on Ludden's life this author should mention that there are some inconsistencies regarding the spelling of his unusual first name. The portrait of Ludden shown above (discovered in the 1982 work Historic Lewiston: Its Government) spells his name with an "r". There are other instances in Maine legislative manuals of this spelling, but the majority of the sources available on his life give the correct spelling as "Mandeville".    
  Mandeville T. Ludden was born in the town of Canton, Maine on February 17, 1830, the son of and attended the Maine Wesleyan Seminary as a youth. He began the study of law under his uncle Timothy Ludden and graduated in 1854 from the prestigious Harvard Law School. The earlier mentioned Historic Lewiston notes that Ludden had the distinction of being the first lawyer admitted to the Androscoggin County bar after that county's incorporation in 1854.
  On New Year's Day 1856 Ludden married Mary E. Jewett (1831-1912) and soon after settled into a law practice with his uncle Timothy in the town of Turner. Mandeville was elected as Androscoggin County attorney in 1863 and was reelected to further terms in that office, his service extending until 1867. Further honors were conferred upon him in 1867 when the citizens of Androscoggin elected him to the Maine State Senate, serving in the legislative sessions of 1868-1869. His term saw him as a member of the committee on the judiciary, and in 1868 acted as senate president pro tempore during the absence of President Joseph H. West.

    In the year following his senate service, Ludden moved to the neighboring city of Lewiston, and two years after his resettlement began service as Lewiston city solicitor. During his tenure as solicitor, he was also elected to the Common Council and Board of Aldermen, serving from 1871-1881. In his last year of service as an alderman, Mandeville Ludden was elected as the Mayor of Lewiston and would serve a one-year term in that post. 
   Shortly after the conclusion of his term Mandeville Ludden died at age 52 on September 21, 1882. A periodical of the time mentions that "in his decease the general public have sustained an inestimable loss" and that he "was a Christian man....respected and esteemed by all who knew him". The Eastern Medical Journal, Volumes I-II (where the above quotations were featured) notes that Ludden's death was "due to that almost always fatal malady, diabetes mellitus". He was later interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Lewiston and was survived by his wife Elizabeth, who died at age 81 in 1912.

From the Rhinebeck Gazette, January 8, 1910.

    Another "Mandeville" who made his name known in public service is Mandeville Samuel Frost of Rhinebeck, New York, who served as Township Supervisor (Mayor) of Rhinebeck for three terms. Born on July 30, 1845, in Clinton, New York, Mandeville S. Frost was the son of Samuel and Barbara Traver Frost. Recorded as attending the "district schools of Clinton" Frost would continue his education at the De Garmo Institute and in 1867 removed to Rhinebeck with his father, and would reside here for the remainder of his life. He married in Rhinebeck in November 1868 to Catherine Marquardt (1850-1928) and later became the father to eight children: Minnie L. (born 1869), Charles M. (1872-1895), Alvah G. (born 1875), Austin (born 1880), Benson (born 1883), Edith (born 1885), Ardelle (born 1888) and Florence (born 1890)

   During his long residency in Rhinebeck Frost served as a school teacher, and also worked at farming. He served at various times as town assessor and as a member of the Dutchess County Rebate Tax Commission, and in 1903 was elected as Supervisor of the town of Rhinebeck. Taking office in 1904, he would serve three terms in office, and upon his retirement from office in January 1910 was remarked by the Rhinebeck Gazette as being:

"A relentless foe of graft and dishonesty and has always been fearlessly outspoken in his oppression to such."

   A member of the St. Paul's Wurttemburg Church, Frost was also a stockholder in the St. Paul's Wurttemburg Cemetery Association. Mandeville Frost and his wife Catherine celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1918 and in 1922 he died at age 77. Frost was later interred at the Wurttemburg Cemetery in Rhinebeck and was survived by his wife Catherine, who died six years after her husband.

  Obscure Butler County, Ohio resident Mandeville Tyler "M.T." Mustin's placement here on the site rests on his one term in the Ohio State House of Representatives, his term extending from 1849-50. Little could be located on Mr. Mustin, and even though he lived to the great age of 92, no photograph or obituary for him could be found.

   Born in Virginia on September 22, 1816, "M.T." Mustin moved with his grandparents to Hardin County, Ohio at age four. They later relocated to the neighboring county of Butler, where during his youth "M.T." taught school. He decided to make teaching his lifelong vocation and is recorded as having taught for over forty years in the "townships of Morgan, Reily, Hanover, and Fairfield." He would marry in 1841 to Rebecca Hand, with whom he had five children.

  Remarked as "one of the Democratic leaders in Butler County", Mustin served Hanover township as its assessor in the mid-1840s and in 1849 began service as Butler County's representative to the Ohio General Assembly. His one term (1849-1851) is given praise in the 1906 Centennial History of Butler County, which notes that he:

"Introduced a number of important bills that became laws; had places on several of the leading committees; and in the general deliberations of the house was an active and influential participant."

Mandeville Tyler Mustin died four days after his 92nd birthday on September 26, 1908. He was later interred at the Oxford Cemetery in Oxford, Ohio.

   This interestingly named politician is Manderville Tilden Miller, a resident of Boone County, West Virginia who served two terms in the West Virginia state senate. Little information could be found on Mr. Miller, with the exception going to a small biography in the third volume of the History of West Virginia Old and New, published in 1923. The picture of Miller shown above (and very likely the only one available of him online) was discovered via the Find-a-Grave website, another one of my favorite internet haunts!
   Manderville T. Miller was born in Low Gap, Boone County,  West Virginia on December 31, 1879, the son of Silvanus and Susan Miller. As a youth, he attended schools local to the Low Gap area and in 1896 began a career as an educator. In addition to his aforementioned teaching career, Miller was also a prominent Baptist minister in the Boone County area and held a pastorate in the towns of Seth, Whitesville, and Chelyan, West Virginia for a number of years. The History of West Virginia gives note that Miller was "an eloquent preacher, and his earnest sincerity is very convincing whether his subject be a religious or secular one."
   In addition to these vocations, Manderville T. Miller married in 1899 to Ms. Flora Roberts, and nine children were born to the couple: Orin, Mallie, May, Norma, Opal, Ruby, Haddon, Frank, and Albert Sidney.
   In 1919 Miller was elected as the Superintendent of the Boone County school system and during his four-year term he is listed as having "thirty graded schools and 150 teachers under his supervision." His term as Superintendent concluded in 1923 and five years later Miller was elected to a seat in the West Virginia State Senate, where he represented Boone County. 
  Miller's term in the Senate concluded in 1932 and he died in the town of Madison, West Virginia on December 2, 1943, shortly before his 64th birthday. He was subsequently buried in the Boone Memorial Park and was survived by his wife Flora, who died in 1955.

Liberty Dodge Packard (1831-1895), Liberty Haven Hutchinson (1844-1882), Liberty Webster Foskett (1840-1923), Liberty Emery Holden (1833-1913), Liberty Eaton Fellows (1834-1912), Liberty Hall (1826-1891), Liberty Walkup (1844-1922)

From the Illustrated History of South Boston, 1900.

   Today's profile will be the largest yet written, as this author has located several political figures with the given name Liberty. The first to be profiled is Liberty Dodge Packard of Boston, Massachusetts. Besides having some truly impressive side whiskers and a name that brings to mind a car dealership, Packard was a leading physician and public servant in his native county of Suffolk.  Liberty D. Packard was born on September 13, 1831, in North Bridgewater (now Brockton), Massachusetts, one of seven children born to Liberty (1808-1894) and Mary Dodge Packard (born 1810). Packard attended local schools and also attended the Adelphi Academy. He began studying medicine early in his life and was also tutored by Dr. Alexander Hinchborn of North Bridgewater. 
  Packard enrolled at the Harvard Medical School in 1860 and graduated with a degree in medicine from the Homeopathic Medical College of New York in 1862. On September 15, 1853, Liberty Packard married Ms. Lucy Ann Kingman (1830-1919), with whom he would have the following children: Ernest Kingman (1856-1877), Nellie Hall (born 1863), Lillie Mansfield (born 1863) and Mary Wallace (born 1869).
  Within months of his graduation from the Medical College Packard established a practice in East Boston and later moved his practice to South Boston, where he resided until his death. Sources of the time mention his caring demeanor and diligence when making house calls, with The Illustrated History of South Boston noting that Packard "was a friend as well as physician to many families, and his books show thousands of calls made for sweet charity's sake." 

L.D. Packard during his legislative service, 1872.

   In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Packard gained local distinction as a public official and educational leader. His name is listed amongst the past presidents of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society and also as a senior member of the American Institute of Homeopathy. From 1867-71, 1883, and 1888-1891 he held a seat on the Boston School Board, eventually serving as the chairman of its South Boston division. His patronage of Boston's educational system is noted by the Illustrated History of South Boston as one of Packard's lasting attributes, stating that"hundreds of South Boston boys and girls have received their diplomas from his hand, and often he has been called "the teacher's friend"".
  While Packard was active in medical circles in the South Boston area, he would also enter the political life of his region. In 1872 he was elected to the Massachusetts General Court, representing Boston's 12th district. He served in the 1873-74 session on the Joint Committee on Education and at the conclusion of his term returned to practicing medicine. In his later years, Packard served as a visiting physician to the Perkins Institute for the Blind and later at the Massachusetts School for Feeble-Minded Children. Packard would die of a heart ailment on January 5, 1895, at his home in South Boston. He was survived by his wife and children, with a burial location for him being unknown at this time.

  This well-dressed gentleman is Liberty Haven Hutchinson, a Maine resident who served as Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives from 1881-82. He was born in the town of Milan, New Hampshire on March 1, 1844, the son of Edwin and Elizabeth Ann (Flint) Hutchinson. Hutchinson received his education in the schools of Coos County, New Hampshire, and later graduated from Bates College in 1871. Shortly after completing his schooling, Hutchinson began reading law in Lewiston, Maine under another oddly named political figure, Mandeville Treat Ludden (who would go on to serve in the Maine State Senate). Hutchinson passed the Maine state bar exam in 1872 and soon after opened a law practice in Lewiston. 
  Hutchinson practiced law in Lewiston from 1871-75 and later established a firm with future Maine Supreme Court justice Albert Russell Savage. In addition to his practice, Hutchinson held a seat on the Lewiston school board for an indeterminate period and was a Sunday school superintendent at the city's Unitarian Church. He married Mary Wyatt Emery in November 1869 and had five children, Annie Luella (born 1870), Albert Savage (born 1871), Edwin Liberty (born 1872), Mary Elizabeth (1874-1899) and Grace Lyndon (1879-1904).
  Liberty Hutchinson's career as an attorney eventually led to his being nominated for a seat in the Maine State House of Representatives. He won election to this body in 1878 and subsequently served in the sessions of 1879-80, and 1881. In the last-named year, he was elected as Speaker of the House by a unanimous vote and was the incumbent in that post at the time of his death on September 9, 1882. Just 38 years old, Hutchinson's untimely death curtailed an already impressive political career and had even been talked of as a potential candidate for Congress in the months prior to his death.
  In a small addendum to this passage, it seems that a penchant for odd names ran in the Hutchinson family. Liberty H. Hutchinson had a younger brother named Freedom (born in August 1847) who also engaged in the practice of law and later served as a city councilman in Newton, Massachusetts.

Portrait from the Souvenir of New Hampshire Legislators, 1897.

   Next up is Liberty Webster Foskett, a resident of Cheshire County, New Hampshire who served two terms in his state's House of Representatives. Born in Winchendon, Massachusetts on February 8, 1840, Liberty W. Foskett was the son of Asaph and Lovice Albee Foskett. He attended schools local to the Winchendon area and saw action during the Civil War as a member of the 36th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He would be wounded in action in June 1864, and at the time of his honorable discharge in November of that year had attained the rank of First Sergeant.
   Foskett married on February 1, 1870, in Keene to Eliza Melvina Kendall (1845-1928). The couple were wed for over fifty years and would remain childless. Following his marriage and relocation to New Hampshire, Foskett maintained memberships in various fraternal groups in the area, including the local G.A.R. Post and was later elected as Grand Master of the local International Order of Odd Fellows lodge. 
  Liberty W. Foskett entered the political life of Keene with his election to the Keen Board of Selectmen, representing Ward 2 in 1885. In 1893 the citizens of Cheshire County elected him to the New Hampshire State House of Representatives, where he represented Ward 2 of the town of Keene. He was subsequently reelected to the legislature in 1896, and in the 1897-98 session sat as a member of the committee on the Soldier's Home. 
   Liberty Foskett's life after leaving state government is largely a mystery, although it is known that he died in Keene on April 14, 1923, at age 83. He was survived by his wife Eliza, who, following her death in 1928, was interred alongside him at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Keene.

   The fourth Liberty to be profiled here is Liberty Emery Holden, a prominent Ohio publisher and man of affairs. Holden wore many hats during his life, being an educator, publisher, businessman, mining magnate, civic leader, and public official. Holden earns placement here on the site due to his service as a two-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Ohio.
  Liberty Emery Holden was born in Raymond, Maine on June 20, 1833, the son of Liberty and Sally (Stearns) Holden. He attended local schools and would graduate from the Waterville College in Maine. He enrolled at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in the mid-1850s and earned both his A.B. degree (1858) and A.M. degree (1861) from that institution. He later began a professorship at the Kalamazoo College, lecturing in "rhetoric and English Literature" from 1858-61, and resigned from that post in 1861 to accept the position of Superintendent of Schools in Tiffin, Ohio. Holden married in Kalamazoo in August 1860 to Delia Bulkley (1838-1932), to who he was wed until his death. The couple's fifty-three-year union produced nine children: Charles Emery (1861-1871), Albert Fairchild (1866-1913), Liberty Dean (1869-1906), Delia (1871-1947) Roberta (1876-1950), Emery (1879-1913), Guerdon (1881-1959), and Gertrude (1881-1967).
   Having entered into law studies during his residency in Kalamazoo, Holden continued reading law after his removal to Ohio, studying under Judge J.P. Bishop. He was admitted to the bar in 1863 but elected not to engage in practice. A year previous, Holden relocated to East Cleveland, a move that proved wise. Holden's move proved to be a boon to his financial status, as he accumulated a fortune through real estate transactions during residence in that area. In addition to real estate, Holden had a hand in a variety of public ventures in East Cleveland/Cleveland, including backing the construction of gas and water mains. Holden would further aid this area in the field of education, and as president of the board of education for nine years, was instrumental in the construction of the East Cleveland High School. This period also saw Holden become a prime mover in the annexation of East Cleveland into the city of Cleveland.
  Looking for new business ventures, Holden saw lucrative opportunities in mining in the Lake Superior region, and by 1872 had become the manager of the Pittsburgh and Lake Angeline Mines located in Ishpeming, Michigan. A prodigious producer of iron ore, this mine was managed by Holden until 1874, when he began to look beyond Ohio for new mining interests.  Finding that the Utah Territory fit the bill, Holden removed to Utah in 1876, where he invested heavily in that territory's silver mines. Holden's business connections in Utah extended until 1893, and having accrued a wealth of knowledge on mining and metallurgy during the period, was a delegate to Washington in 1882 to argue on behalf of the Utah Mine Protective Association. In 1885 Holden again visited the nation's capital, this time as a delegate and executive committee member of the National Bimetallic Association.

                                            Holden as he appeared late in life from the Fourth Estate, 1913.      

   Liberty Holden's residency in Utah saw him be a founder of the Salt Lake Academy in Salt Lake City and would serve as its president. He returned to Cleveland in 1880 and soon began pursuing a new interest: publishing. In 1884 he and a group of investors acquired the Cleveland Plain Dealer for $100,000 and under his ownership, the Plain Dealer grew into "one of the largest, most liberal and influential papers in the United States." During his stewardship of the Plain Dealer, Holden was able to advocate the tenets of bimetallism (reflecting his earlier silver mine interests) and had a writing and speaking style that was praised as "forceful, decided and instructive." 
  It wasn't until 1888 that Holden was elected to his first public office, that of an Ohio delegate to the 1888 Democratic National Convention. He again served as a delegate to the 1896 Democratic Convention, proudly supporting candidate William Jennings Bryan, another leading advocate of bimetallism. In the early 1900s, Holden was elected as the first mayor of Bratenahl, Ohio, a satellite village located within Cleveland. His full dates of service as mayor remain unknown at this time.
   As he entered his seventh decade, Holden remained one of Cleveland's leading public men, and the following list is but a snippet of the organizations and businesses Holden headed or was affiliated with during his life:

• President and proprietor of the Hollenden Hotel and the Hollenden Hotel Company.
• President of the Plain Dealer Publishing Company.
• President of the Maple Leaf Land Company.
• President of the Hub Transfer and Storage Company.
• A director of the First National Bank of Cleveland.
• A director of the Cleveland Transfer and Carriage Company.
• A director of the Western Reserve Insurance Company.
• A director of both the Haskins Realty Company and the Lennox Realty Company.
• Vice-President of the Western Reserve Historical Society.
• Trustee of the Lake View Cemetery Association of Cleveland.
• Trustee of the Western Reserve University.
• Trustee of Adelbert College.
• Chair of the Building Committee for the Cleveland Museum of Art.
• Chair of the Municipal Association of Cleveland.
• Chair of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.

From the National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 11, 1901

  Liberty E. Holden died at age 80 on August 26, 1913, in Mentor, Ohio, and was later interred at the Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland. In July 2013, one year after this article's publication, I was able to make an extended visit to this cemetery to photograph the gravesites of several curiously named politicians. Among these is Liberty E. Holden, who was entombed in the lavish mausoleum pictured below. Also buried in this cemetery were Cleveland mayor Rensselaer Russel Herrick, U.S. Congressman Lycurgus Luther Marshall, and Ashtabula County Judge Quintus Flaminius Atkins. And now some photos of the trip!

Resting on the steps.

   Liberty number five is Liberty Eaton Fellows who served terms in both houses of the Iowa legislature and as a district court judge. Born in Corinth, Vermont on August 22, 1834, Fellows was the son of Hubbard (1800-1862) and Mary (Eaton) Fellows. He received his education in his home county of Orange, and during his youth resided on a farm in his native county.
  After attending the Thetford Academy, Fellows relocated to Wisconsin in 1856 but would reside there only briefly. In 1857 he resettled in Iowa and for the next several years engaged in farming, "clerked in the county offices", and on Independence Day 1861 married Mary Sophronia Reed, a native of Allamakee County. Eleven children were eventually born to the couple, including the following: Wilson Reed (1862-1936), Albert (1864-1932), Lura (1866-1948), Ella (1870-1901), Roger Lee (1872-1936), Jennie (1877-1956), Liberty Eaton (1879-1950), and Grace Caroline (1885-1913).
  After turning his attention to law studies in the early 1860s, Fellows was admitted to the Iowa State Bar in 1862. Three years after entering into his profession, the citizens of Allamakee County elected Fellows to a seat in the Iowa House of Representatives. He took his seat in January 1866, and during the 1866-68 session was a member of the committees on Schools and the State Library. In November 1867, Fellows won the first of two consecutive terms in the Iowa Senate, and from 1868-72 served on the committees on Banks, Public Lands, Schools, and Ways and Means.
  In addition to government service, Fellows was active in several nonpolitical areas, including a two-year term as Grand Master of the Iowa Masonic Lodge, a trustee for the Upper Iowa Hospital, and a trustee for the Insane Asylum in Mt. Pleasant.
   After leaving the Senate in 1872 Fellows returned to his earlier profession as an attorney. In 1889 he was appointed by Governor William Larrabee as Judge for Iowa's 13th Judicial District. He served on the bench until his death at age 77 on July 17, 1912. The Iowa Grand Lodge Bulletin (where the above picture of Fellows was located) gives notice that his death was as a result of pneumonia, which he had contracted the previous winter. Fellows was survived by his wife Mary, who died at age 83 in 1922. Both were subsequently interred at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Lansing, Iowa.

  In this April 10, 2012 update to Liberty Eaton Fellows' article, I want to give a big thank you to a very helpful reader named Kitty who posted on this site's Facebook page. Kitty also graciously provided me with a portrait of Liberty E. Fellows that I had never seen before, and that photograph has been posted above. Amazingly, other people are researching some of these infinitely obscure people and it's even more exciting to note that some manage to stumble across my own odd little corner of the internet here!

  The bearded gentleman pictured above is Liberty Hall, a Minnesota resident who is as equally obscure as the man who preceded him here! Hall was a native of Maine, being born in Oxford County on July 27, 1826, the son of Jeremiah and Sarah Knight Hall. 
  Liberty Hall received a common school education in his native Maine and in 1854 married Rochester, New York native Maria Cobb. Their union produced five children, three of whom lived to adulthood: Clifford F., Harry L., and a daughter, Maria. It has also been found that Hall remarried at some point late in his life to Lenora Ricker. The Minnesota Legislative Reference Library also records him as a book agent before his service in state government.
   Liberty Hall relocated to Minnesota in 1866 and is listed in the History of Minnesota, Volume 4 as the publisher of the Glencoe Register newspaper. In 1871, he was elected to the Minnesota State House of Representatives from McLeod County but was unable to take his seat due to his opponent (Lawrence Gillick) contesting his election. This electoral quagmire was later settled and Hall was officially seated in January 1872. During his brief tenure in the legislature, Hall served on the committee on education and was remarked as doing "noble work in assisting to raise the standard of the public schools of McLeod County."
   Hall's term concluded in January of 1873 and in 1877 was a candidate for the Minnesota State Senate. The election proved to be a nail-biter, with Hall losing by only 15o votes. Liberty Hall died in McLeod County at age 64 on June 21, 1891. The rare portrait of him shown above was discovered in a Minnesota State Atlas published in 1874. This atlas also contains a large sketch of the Hall homestead in the village of Glencoe, Minnesota.

                         This humorous article on Liberty Hall appeared in the NY Times in 1877.

From "Rockford Today", published 1903.

   Next up is the outstandingly named Illinois resident Liberty Walkup, a man who exemplifies the definition of a "renaissance man". If the name "Liberty Walkup" isn't familiar to you, it should be. Mr. Walkup is often credited as the inventor of the airbrush (more on that later) and in addition to this invaluable work was also a Civil War veteran, bible salesman, artist, and art instructor. Walkup earns a place here on the site due to his 1912 candidacy for the Illinois State Senate on the Prohibition Party platform.

  Born on July 14, 1844, in Pine Creek, Illinois, Liberty Walkup was the son of Samuel (1811-1890) and Sophia Ruggles Walkup (1819-1883). His odd first name is given note in the Rockford, Illinois history entitled Rockford of Today, published in 1903. This work notes that it was an "old family name and was brought to this country by Puritan fathers. The parents of Mr. Walkup in bestowing this name upon their son conveyed an heirloom to him of high distinction, of which he has reason to be proud".

  Liberty Walkup attended schools local to Ogle County, Illinois, and in 1862 signed on for service in the Civil War, enlisting in Co. K of the 92nd Regiment Illinois Volunteers. He was injured during his service and was honorably discharged in 1863, whereafter he returned to Illinois. He later moved to Iowa, and in 1869 he married Phoebe C. Johnson (1849-1926) and had one daughter, Eva Alberta Walkup (1869-1872). During the 1870s Walkup taught school for a time and was later employed as a bible salesman for an indeterminate period.

  Walkup relocated back to Illinois in 1881, settling in the city of Rockford. Around this same time in Iowa, a certain Abner Peeler was putting the finishing touches on a new invention of his called a "Paint Distributor", in reality, the first airbrush. Mr. Peeler sold the rights to his invention over to Liberty Walkup and his brother Charles in April of 1882 for the price of $700 for the invention's design, and a further $150 for two prototypes that Peeler had made. Charles Walkup eventually lost interest in the venture, leaving his younger brother to build on the purchase they had made. 

  Liberty Walkup established the Airbrush Manufacturing Company in his hometown of Rockford in 1883, and in the succeeding years it grew into a highly successful business, with the Rockford of Today noting in 1903 that "there is no product of Rockford's many industries that is more widely known or highly appreciated." In 1884 Walkup patented the production model airbrush and in 1886 was awarded the prestigious Elliott Cresson Medal from the Franklin Institute for his improvements to the airbrush. Several years after winning this medal Walkup founded the Airbrush Journal, a periodical devoted to his trade.

  In 1912 Walkup became a candidate of the Prohibition Party for a seat in the Illinois State Senate. Running to represent Illinois' 10th District, he was one of four candidates vying for the seat, and on election day came in fourth place with only 768 votes. A result from that election appeared in the 1912 Illinois Blue Book and is shown above. Walkup passed away a decade later on October 19, 1922, at the age of 78, and was interred at the Mt. Zion Cemetery in Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois. Phoebe Johnson Walkup survived her husband by four years, dying in 1926 at age 76, and was also buried at Mt. Zion.

Walpole Gillespie Colerick (1845-1911)

From the Men of Progress of Indiana, 1899.

  Our profile today centers on the life of Walpole Gillespie Colerick, a Ft. Wayne, Indiana native who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. A lifelong Hoosier, Colerick was born in Ft. Wayne on August 1, 1845, one of six sons born to David Hoge and Elizabeth Gillespie Walpole Colerick. David H. Colerick was himself a prominent Indiana public official, serving two terms in the state legislature and later was a Ft. Wayne judge. The subject of today's article was bestowed his unusual name due to them being his mother's middle and last names. 
   Walpole G. Colerick attended schools local to the Ft. Wayne area and began the study of law under the tutelage of his father. After a period of study Colerick was admitted to the Allen County bar and soon thereafter joined his father in his law practice. The practice of law was a prevalent theme throughout the Colerick family, with each of Walpole's brothers becoming lawyers themselves. 
   Through the succeeding years, Colerick gained praise as a leading attorney in the Ft. Wayne area, and with this rising profile came calls for him to run for public office. The 1882 work Public Men of Today gives note that Colerick was "never particularly an aspirant for political honors, preferring that if any such were in store for him, the office should seek the man, rather than the man the office." 
    In 1878 Colerick had a change of mind on political life and launched a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. Hoping to represent Indiana's 12th district in Congress, Colerick's opponent that year was Republican John Studebaker (1817-1912), a prominent banker and merchant. On election day in October 1878, it was Colerick who emerged victorious, besting Studebaker by a vote of 17,067 to 9,712. Taking his seat at the start of the 1879 session, Colerick would serve on the committees on Elections and the joint committee on the Census. In November 1880 he won a second term in Congress, narrowly defeating Republican candidate Robert Stewart Taylor, and during the 1881-82 session served on the committees on the Census and Public Health.

From the Public Men of Today, 1882.

    After his legislative service concluded in 1883, Colerick returned to Ft. Wayne and was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court Commission in November of that year. He held this post until 1885, and thereafter resumed his earlier law practice, being joined by his nephews Guy Colerick and Kenneth Larwill. On April 11, 1904, Walpole Colerick married Clemence Carrier (1861-1947), a friend of many years standing. It's interesting to note that Colerick married quite late in life (he was almost 60) and in comparison to some of the other men profiled here (many of whom married when they were barely out of their teens), their marriage is quite unique. 
  The couple was wed only seven years before Colerick's death on January 11, 1911, at age 65. The Ft. Wayne Sentinel notes that he had been in a state of impaired health for several weeks before his death, which occurred after undergoing surgery at the Lutheran Hospital in that city. Clemence Colerick survived her husband by over thirty years, dying in 1947 at age 86. Both were interred at the Lindenwood Cemetery in Ft. Wayne, the same resting places as that of Ochmig Bird (1813-1878) an oddly named Indiana State Representative who was profiled here back on December 11.

An aged Walpole G. Colerick, from the January 18, 1911 Ft. Wayne Sentinel.

From the Jan. 18, 1911 Ft. Wayne Sentinel.