Jetlee Bryngelson Nordhem (1841-1919)

Portrait from the History of the Norwegians of Illinois, 1905.

  The first Norwegian native to be profiled here on the site, Jetlee Bryngelson Nordhem found his business fortunes in his adopted state of Illinois, where he settled at age 18. Born in Voss, Norway on June 6, 1841, Nordhem was the son of Bryngel and Ingeborge Saue Nordhem. The History of the Norwegians of Illinois notes that he attended the common schools in his native country, worked on his father's farm, and was "confirmed in the Vossvagens church."

  In 1859 Jetlee Nordhem immigrated to the United States, first settling in the town of Long Prairie, Illinois. After a year in this location, he moved to Decorah, Iowa, and in 1862 signed on for service in the Civil War, joining Company H, First Battalion of the Sixteenth U.S. Infantry. During his three years of service, Nordhem participated in several important battles, seeing action at the battle of Marietta, Kenesaw Mountain, Mission Ridge, and Stone River, where he was wounded. 

  After his military service, Jetlee B. Nordhem returned to Long Prairie and married in 1871 to Ms. Julia Jonsdatter Amondson, with whom he would have three children, Joseph Bernard (died in infancy), Harriet Nordhem Hamann (1873-1968) and Edith Josephine (born 1877). 

    Following his marriage, Nordhem and his family relocated to Chicago, where he found employment in the customs service. His years in this occupation saw him serve as an inspector, warehouse ledger clerk, and bond clerk. Nordhem eventually left the employ of the customs service and found work in the publishing industry. He became the Secretary and director of the John Anderson Publishing Co. in the early 1890s and later became its vice president.

  Jetlee Nordhem made his first foray into political life in 1879, when he won election as supervisor of West Town, Chicago, Illinois, serving a one-year term. In 1908 he was named as an alternate delegate to that year's Republican National Convention in Chicago, where William Howard Taft was nominated for the Presidency.

   Nordhem continued to be a prominent figure in Chicago's Norwegian community well into his twilight years, serving as the president of the Norwegian Republican Club of the 28th Ward and also held a life membership in the Norwegian Lutheran Tabitha Hospital Society. Jetlee and his family were parishioners at the English Evangelical Church of the Holy Trinity, and it is recorded that he was a trustee of this church for nearly two decades.

   Details on the remainder of Jetlee B.Nordhem's life are quite sketchy, although it is recorded that he passed away at his home in Chicago in May 1919 at age 78. His wife Julia survived him by thirteen years, dying in November 1932 at age 82. A burial location for both Jetlee and his wife is unknown at the time of this writing.

                                         From the Printer's Ink, Volume 107, published in 1919.

Odbrey Miles Snow (1831-1911)

   Today's profile takes us to Norfolk, Connecticut and one of that area's more oddly named public figures, state representative Odbrey Miles Snow. Born in Jackson, Maine on February 21, 1831, Odbrey was the first of six children born to Levi and Mary Tracy Snow. Snow was afforded limited educational advantages as a youth and married in the mid-1850s to Ruth Ridley Ginn (1839-1923), with whom he had four children. They are listed as follows: Levi Tracy Snow (1860-1949, later a Connecticut State Representative in the 1890s), Melvin Edgar (born 1865), Mary Isabel (born 1867), and Frederick Wooster (born 1874).
  The majority of Odbrey Snow's life was spent engaged in the granite-cutting business. An interesting anecdote is given in a Connecticut Legislative Souvenir about Snow's early years in granite contracting. In 1860 he journeyed south to do business when he "narrowly escaped being pressed into service in the Confederate Army." Snow is recorded as making good his escape from enemy territory with several other men "in a boat from the coast of South Carolina on the night of November 18, 1863." Shortly afterward the group was picked up by the U.S. Brig Perry and returned to friendly territory.
   During the 1870s Snow continued making his name known as a granite contractor, helping to erect "many prominent buildings in the state." In the following decade, he became the head of the granite-cutting firm Snow, Wooster, and Crissey in the town of Norfolk. Snow's placement here on the site rests on his short stint in the Connecticut State House of Representatives, to which he was elected in November 1882. He took his seat in January of the following year, Snow was named to the committee on Roads and Bridges during his term.
   Little else could be found on the life of Odbrey Miles Snow following his time in state government. It is presumed that he continued involvement as a granite cutter, but this remains uncertain. He died at his home in Norfolk on December 21, 1911, at age 80, and was interred in the Center Cemetery in Norfolk. His wife Ruth survived him by over a decade, dying in 1923 at age 84, and was also interred at the Center Cemetery. The rare print of Snow featured in his article here was located via the digital archives of the New York Public Library. This portrait was part of an article that looks to have been a portion of a Connecticut legislative manual, and most of the facts contained herein were located from the brief biography on him located there.

Dancey Fort (1870-1955)

   Hailing from the city of Clarksville, Tennesee, oddly named attorney and jurist Dancey Fort was regarded as one of the Volunteer State's prominent practitioners of law during his life. A practicing attorney for over three decades, Fort also made substantial headway in state politics, serving as a city attorney, state senator, and State Commissioner of Finance and Taxation .

   Dancey Fort's story begins in the town of Adams, Tennessee, where he was born on October 11, 1870, being the son of Josiah and Eliza Penelope Dancey Fort. He was given the odd first name "Dancey" due to it being his mother's maiden name, and as a young man attended local schools and eventually enrolled at the University of Tennessee. Fort later studied at Cumberland University, graduating in 1891 with a bachelor of laws degree.

  After completing his studies, Fort returned to Clarksville and opened a law practice, which "handled much important litigation before the courts". He is recorded by the 1923 work Tennessee, the Volunteer State as being an attorney for the Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company and "several other local corporations." He married in November 1896 to Ms. Bennie Gill (1873-1957), with whom he had two children, Josiah and Mary Yancey Fort. 

   In the same year as his marriage, Fort began testing the political waters, running for a seat in the Tennessee State House of Representatives. He was unsuccessful in this attempt but did win election to the state senate in November 1906 from Montgomery County. Fort was reelected to the Senate in November 1908 (serving from 1909-11) and would also be named chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Executive Committee. In addition to the above offices, Fort would serve as City Attorney for Clarksville for twenty-five years (1901-1926) and also held a directorship in the Northern Bank of Tennessee.

   After leaving the Tennessee legislature Fort's public profile continued to rise, and in 1912 and 1936  was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions held in Baltimore and Philadelphia, respectively. In the following year, Tennessee Governor Hill McAllister appointed Fort as State Commissioner of Finance and Taxation. He served as Commissioner until 1936 when he resigned to accept a seat on the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Tennessee. His service on the bench lasted sixteen years, concluding with his retirement in 1952.

  While a figure of distinction in Tennessee politics and law for many years, Fort was a leading light in local civic affairs, holding office as clerk of the Cumberland Association of Baptist Churches for seventeen years, a teacher in the Baranca Sunday School, and was a charter member of the Kiwanis Club of Clarksville. Fort was also an active figure in several local fraternal organizations, holding memberships in the Knights of Pythias and the Junior Order of Odd Fellows.

   Dancey Fort died at age 83 on June 5, 1955, and shortly thereafter was interred at the Greenwood Cemetery in Clarksville. His wife Bennie survived her husband by two years, dying on January 7, 1957, at age 83. She too was interred at Greenwood, and it is presumed that Fort's two children are buried here as well, although no exact gravesite location could be found for them. The rare portrait of Judge Fort shown above was located in the earlier mentioned Tennessee, the Volunteer State, published in 1923.

     This death notice for Dancey Fort appeared in the Kingsport Times on the day following his death. 

Pharcellus Dean Bridges (1846-1940), Pharcellus V. Crittenden (1846-1933)

   A lifelong Massachusetts resident, Pharcellus Dean Bridges was a prominent farmer and businessman in Franklin County who served three terms in the Massachusetts General Court. Aside from a brief biographical write-up in an 1894 edition of A Souvenir of Massachusetts Legislators (where the above portrait was located) little else could be found on Bridges' life, which extended to the grand old age of 93.

   Born in the town of Deerfield on December 21, 1846, Pharcellus was one of thirteen children born to Benjamin Franklin and Mary Hubbard Bridges. Educated in the common schools of Deerfield, Pharcellus later went on to study at the Deerfield Academy in the early 1860s. After reaching adolescence, Bridges moved to Connecticut where he became involved in the grocery business. He eventually returned to Massachusetts where he and his twin brother Marcellus "conducted the home farm, while also buying and selling farm produce." In addition to this, Bridges was also one of the foremost political and civic leaders in Deerfield, serving as a member of the board of selectmen and later on the board of Overseers of the Poor. Beginning in 1875 Bridges served for 36 years as a member of the Deerfield school board. The Souvenir of Massachusetts Legislators also lists him as being the Captain of Company H, Second Regiment Militia from 1876-1888. 

  Bridges was elected to his first term in the Massachusetts State Senate in 1877, representing the county of Franklin. He was returned to this office in 1885 and in 1894 was elected to his first term in the state house of representatives. It was remarked that Bridges was the "only representative from Deerfield who has been elected to the legislature for a third time for more than thirty years", and during his stint in the house held a seat on the committee on military affairs.

                    Pharcellus Bridges as he looked late in life, found via the Find-a-Grave website.

   After leaving the Massachusetts legislature in 1895, Bridges returned to farming and produce sales, later serving as President of the Board of Trustees for the Deerfield Academy. He died at the age of 93 on August 26, 1940, in Deerfield and was later interred at the Pine Nook Cemetery in that town.

   Rochester, New York resident Pharcellus V. Crittenden is another man with this odd first name who made himself known in the public forum. A lifelong New Yorker, Crittenden was born in the town of West Brighton on August 6, 1846, being the last of eight children born to Austin and Sarah Crittenden. 

  Pharcellus received his education in the Monroe County district schools and later began studying at the Rochester Commercial School. Shortly after graduating from the latter institution, he joined up with the H. Austin Brewster grocery house of Rochester, eventually becoming a full partner in this business. This company would later become known under the name Brewster-Crittenden Co., with Pharcellus serving as its president for a number of years. Crittenden married on October 12, 1879, to Frances Baker, who predeceased him in 1931. The couple remained childless through the entirety of their marriage.

   In 1907 Crittenden was selected as a chief commissioner from New York to the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition being held in Hampton Roads, Virginia. In the following year he served as a Republican Presidential Elector for New York, and during the 1912 Presidential election was named as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Pharcellus Crittenden maintained an active involvement in business affairs well into his eighties and is also mentioned in his Rochester Democrat Chronicle obituary as serving as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Central Presbyterian Church and as vice-president of the Monroe County Savings Bank.

   Pharcellus Crittenden died at age 87 on October 15, 1933, at his home and was interred alongside his wife Frances Delora at the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester. The rare portrait of Crittenden shown above was featured in his obituary in the October 16, 1933 edition of the Rochester Democrat Chronicle.

Menalcus Lankford (1883-1937)

From the Harrisonburg Daily New Record.

   The bespectacled man pictured is Virginia Congressman Menalcus Lankford, certainly one of the more oddly named 20th century U.S. Representatives you'll read about here on the site. I first discovered the name of this obscure politician in 2001, courtesy of the politicalgraveyard website. Since locating his name over a decade ago Lankford's apparent facelessness became the stuff of legend, with no portrait of the man coming to light in all that time. You'd figure that an individual of Lankford's stature would have at least one picture of himself pop up in some form, but sadly this wasn't the case! I eventually gave up hope that I'd see a picture of Lankford, and decided that he may have been camera shy, hence why I hadn't located any pictures of him yet.

   With that being said, I'm pleased to announce that during a furtive search on the newspaperarchive website (mentioned in this site's introduction), a picture of Mr. Lankford has finally been located, courtesy of the Harrisonburg Daily News Record! This rare portrait of him appeared in his obituary in the above-mentioned newspaper on December 28, 1937, and with that introduction, we'll now take a look at the life of this now obscure Virginia politician.

   Born on March 14, 1883, near Franklin, Virginia, Menalcus Lankford was one of four sons born to Dr. Livius and Mary Conway Burnley Lankford. The name "Menalcus" has its origins in Greek mythology and is also spelled "Menalcas". Its meaning is given as one who is "strong, firm, resolute" and was featured in an ancient work by the Greek poet Virgil called the Eclogues. Known by family and contemporaries as "Mack", Menalcus Lankford attended Norfolk High School and later went on to study at the University of Richmond, graduating in the class of 1904. He continued his education at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, earning his bachelor of laws degree in 1906. 

   Lankford was admitted to the Virginia Bar in the same year as his graduation and soon after opened a law practice in the city of Norfolk. In 1909 he married Richmond native Nancy Garland Waddill (1886-1963), and the couple is recorded as being childless. Lankford put his career in law on hold in 1917 when he became an ensign in the aviation service in the U.S. Navy. He served in the Navy throughout American involvement in World War I and at the war's conclusion returned to his law practice in Virginia.

   In 1920 Lankford made the jump into politics, mounting a campaign for Congress. He would lose that election to incumbent Republican Joseph Deal by a vote of 15, 318 to 5, 389. Another candidacy for a Congressional seat in 1924 met with similar results, but in 1928 the political tide turned in favor of Lankford, and in November of that year he won election to Congress, defeating Joseph Deal by nearly 4,000 votes. An article mentioning Lankford's election to the house appeared in the 1929 edition of the San Jose News and also makes light of the coincidence that two men with the last name "Lankford" were then serving as a U.S. Representative (the other being seven-term Georgia congressman William Chester Lankford). In this article, attention is given to Menalcus' odd first name, and the congressman himself is recorded as saying that as far as legislation was concerned, "I'm more in favor of putting more joy into people's lives than taking more out. The more we let people alone the better off we'll be."

   Within months of taking his seat, Lankford made headlines in Virginia newspapers when he proposed a novel solution to aid state produce growers. In his farm relief plan, Lankford proposed the construction of "government canneries and central storage houses" as a "means of handling farm surpluses." In a Richmond Times-Dispatch interview on his idea, Lankford noted that he and a delegation of Norfolk citizens aimed to present the plan to Secretary of Agriculture Arthur Mastick Hyde, noting:

"This would offer a real solution, I believe, to the problem to disposing of the surplus from Virginia farms. Since the chief object of the special session of Congress is to provide some means of handling farm surpluses, I think this is a highly worthy plan to present at this time. This plan would keep Virginia money back home where it belongs. It would eliminate the chances of loss for truck farmers through dishonest dealing by commission merchants, would cut the heavy freight charges no necessary to reach the markets, and would give an effective means of handling the surplus crops of the State."

                                                   From a 1929 edition of the San Jose News.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, December 10, 1935.

   Lankford was re-elected to Congress in November 1930 (again defeating Joseph Deal) and was unsuccessful in his bid for a third term in November 1932. He would serve as a delegate to the 1932 and 1936 Republican National Conventions in Chicago and Cleveland, and in 1933 was named as U.S. referee in bankruptcy for the Eastern District of Virginia. A member of the University of Richmond's board of trustees, Lankford was honored at a December 1935 banquet by his alma mater, not for his status as a politician, but for his past prowess on the football field. In a Richmond Times-Dispatch profile, Lankford was remarked as a standout member of the Richmond Spiders football and baseball teams:

"Mr. Lankford served on the football team for four years, captained the 1904 eleven, and played baseball for two years. He was a catcher on the baseball team, fullback on the football team, and one of the best all around athletes in the history of Richmond athletics. In 1904 he was awarded the trophy as the outstanding athelete at the school."

   Lankford served as a university trustee until his death at age 54 on December 27, 1937, at his home in Norfolk. Lankford was memorialized by ex-President Herbert Hoover in his Harrisonburg Daily News-Record obituary as "a great American idealistically devoted to the interest of the country. As great as his loss is to us, it is a great loss to the nation." Several days following his death Lankford was interred at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia. He was survived by his wife of nearly thirty years, Nancy Waddill Lankford, who, following her death in 1963, was interred at Forest Lawn next to her husband.

Arminius Titus Haeberle (1874-1943), Arminius Calvin Paulsell (1832-1893)

  Continuing on a theme set by Tuesday's article on Epperson R. Fulkerson, another oddly named American diplomat is profiled here on the site, Arminius Titus Haeberle of Missouri. Unlike Mr. Fulkerson, who briefly served as U.S. Vice Consul in Nagasaki, Mr. Haeberle was a career diplomat, serving as a Vice Consul or Consul in several different countries over twenty years time.

   Born in St. Louis, Missouri on January 23, 1874, Arminius Titus Haberle was the son of the Rev. Louis F.  (1838-1928) and Flora Lemen Bock Haeberle (1841-1909). Arminius attended school in St. Louis and later went on to study at both the Elmhurst College in Illinois and Washington University in St. Louis. After completing his studies Haeberle embarked upon a career as a teacher, eventually becoming an instructor at St. Charles College in St. Charles Missouri.

  After several years of teaching and serving as a principal at various locations in Missouri, Haeberle was named to the position of vice director of the Institute Ingles in Santiago, Chili, serving here from 1898-1903. Returning to the United States after his service in Chili Haeberle became the head of the modern language department at St. Louis's McKinley High School, holding this post until 1907. In the year following his leaving McKinley High School Haeberle was appointed to his first diplomatic post, that of U.S. Consul at Manzanillo, Cuba. After presenting his credentials and passing an examination, Haeberle arrived in Manzanillo on June 10, 1908. His service as consul concluded in 1910, and in that same year was transferred to the consulate at Tegucigalpa, Honduras. 

  After arriving in Honduras in January 1911, Haeberle threw himself into his new appointment, being described as "energetic" and "instructive" by the 1912 Congressional Serial Set. This same work also notes that Haeberle made numerous trips by mule through the six districts that comprised Tegucigalpa, and he gave detailed accounts of the region's agriculture, early history, industry, and the area's "considerable mineral wealth".

                              This picture of Haeberle appeared in a July 1914 edition of the New York Sun.

   Haeberle continued to advance as a diplomat in November 1913, when he was transferred to the U.S. Consulate in St. Michaels, Azores. His tenure here was quite brief, as he was moved yet again in February 1915, this time to the consulate in Pernambuco, Brazil. Haeberle spent eight years as U.S. Consul in Pernambuco, with his tenure concluding in 1923. He remained in Brazil as Consul in San Paolo from 1923-1925 and was then dispatched to Dresden, Germany, where he took the post of U.S. Consul General in 1925. His eleven-year tenure in that office saw the rise of Hitler in the early 1930s, during which time Haeberle sent home "confidential reports about him" to government officials.

  Arminius T. Haeberle retired from diplomatic service in 1936, having served as a vice consul or consul in six different areas of the world for twenty-eight years. Following his retirement, Haeberle returned to the United States and settled in Missouri. On October 26, 1943, he was stricken while shaving at his St. Louis home and died shortly afterward.  He was survived by his wife Ida Weineke Haeberle, who died in 1949 at age 76. Both were interred at St. John's Cemetery in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri, the same resting place as Haeberle's parents.

Portrait from the San Francisco Call, March 28, 1893.

    In an update to this article (June 28, 2016), another politician with the first name "Arminius" has been located...Arminius Calvin Paulsell!! A standout figure in the business and political life of San Joaquin County, California, Paulsell was a one-term member of the California State Assembly from that county and was later tapped to serve on the State Board of Harbor Commissioners. 

    A native of Tennessee, Arminius Calvin Paulsell was born in Green County in that state on January 26, 1832, the son of John and Mary Ann Polly (Bailey) Paulsell. The Paulsell family moved from Tennessee to Illinois, where John Paulsell died in 1838. Arminius would reside with his mother in Missouri and at age 14 entered into work at a general store in Springfield. 

   Like many other young men of the time, Arminius Paulsell saw a bright future for himself in California and in 1853 permanently resettled there. Establishing himself in Stanislaus County, Paulsell married the following year to Almira Holford Gardenhire (1839-1910), a daughter of a pioneer Tuolumne County family. The couple are recorded as being the first to be married in that county later had a total of nine children: Mary Catherine (1855-1868), Martha Augusta (1857-1922), Lee Young (1862-1871), John Jefferson (1864-1930), Ann Jeanette (1866-1956), Arminius Calvin Jr. (died in infancy in 1874), Oliver Franklin (1875-1941), Edna (1879-1961) and Jessie (1880-1956).

  Shortly after his marriage, Paulsell resettled in San Joaquin County, where he purchased a farm and began farming and stockraising. Sources relate that he owned 3,500 acres of farmland and in 1872 sold off several hundred acres of it and moved to Stockton (also located in San Joaquin County), where in 1873 he helped establish the Farmer's Union, a cooperative formed "for the purpose of warehousing, buying and selling grain, bags, etc."

   In November 1873 Paulsell was one of two representatives from San Joaquin County elected to the California State Assembly and during this session (1874-76) served on the committees on Corporations and State Hospitals. Following his term, he briefly served on the city Board of Aldermen from Stockton's 2nd ward in 1878.

  After a number of years as President of the Farmer's Union, Arminius Paulsell left that post in 1883 to accept an appointment to the California Board of Harbor Commissioners, being named to that board by then-Governor George Stoneman. Paulsell would serve a total of seven years as a harbor commissioner and in 1890 was even floated as a potential Democratic candidate for Governor of California; his name being placed in nomination by then San Joaquin Superior Court Judge Franklin T. Baldwin.

  Touting Paulsell's experience as a businessman, Baldwin's nominating speech highlighted Paulsell's character and also acknowledged that:

"His sublime record had met with the approval of his fellow citizens in all parts of the state....and that no better man could be selected to act as the standard barer of the Democratic Party."

Arminius C. Paulsell.

   Despite the enthusiastic support of Judge Baldwin, Paulsell's gubernatorial hopes were dashed at the nominating convention in San Jose in August 1890. On the first ballot, he garnered 44 votes, and in the second round of balloting, 25 votes (compared to successful nominee Edward Pond's 217.) 
   After his gubernatorial ambitions had come to naught, Paulsell resided in San Francisco, where he continued in the "buying and selling of grain on a large scale." In 1893 he returned to Stockton, where on March 26, 1893, he died of the effects of Bright's disease at the home of his son John Jefferson. Before his death, Paulsell had been put forth as a possible Superintendent of the U.S. Mint in San Francisco, but his death prevented this from occurring. Paulsell was survived by his wife Almira, who, following her death in 1910 was interred alongside her husband at the Stockton Rural Cemetery.

Paulsell's death notice from the Sacramento Record-Union March 28, 1893.

Epperson Robert Fulkerson (1859-1940)

   This oddly named gentleman is Epperson Robert Fulkerson, a resident of Pennsylvania who distinguished himself as both a Methodist missionary and later as U.S. Vice Consul at Nagasaki, Japan. The rare portrait of Fulkerson shown above was located via the genealogical website www.fulkerson.org, which also fielded nearly all of the details on his early life and education. Born in the town of Newcastle, Pennsylvania on October 2, 1859, Epperson R. Fulkerson was one of eight children born to William Brown Fulkerson Jr (1828-1890) and his wife Mary Sheddon Fulkerson (1832-1909). 

  Little could be found on Fulkerson's adolescence, although it is known that he migrated to Missouri with his family sometime in the 1870s. He is listed as attending college at the Marion Collegiate Institute and later studied at the Simpson College in Iowa. Fulkerson was awarded numerous degrees from other institutions later in his life, including an honorary literary degree from Taylor University and an LL.D. from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1906.
   Religious work was a prominent theme throughout Fulkerson's life and numerous sources give note as to his being a Methodist minister. He was admitted to the Arkansas and Nebraska Conference of Methodist churches and would marry in September 1886 to Ms. Kate Strong. The couple would eventually have four children: Anson (1887-1964), Walter (1889-1972), Raymond (born 1892), and Earl (born 1899). Kate Strong is listed as dying of diabetes in 1903 and two years later Epperson remarried to her younger sister Anna, with whom he had two daughters.
   In 1887 Epperson and his wife traveled to Japan as missionaries of the Methodist Church, and shortly after their arrival he was named to a professorship at the Anglo-Japanese College in Tokyo, this being mentioned in the 1915 edition of Who's Who in American Methodism. Following a two-year stint at this college, Fulkerson was appointed as a principal at the Chinzei Gakuin, a missionary project founded by the Methodist church in Nagasaki, Japan. Fulkerson would continue to serve in this post until 1907 when he resigned because of health concerns.

This sketch of Epperson Fulkerson appeared in the August 1900 edition of the San Francisco Call.

  Epperson Fulkerson's inclusion on the site here rests on his service as U.S. Vice Consul in Nagasaki from 1898-1900.  His tenure in this diplomatic post came at a very interesting time in regards to American foreign affairs, as the Spanish-American War was raging and the Boxer Rebellion in China occurred towards the end of his foreign service in Japan. A newspaper report in an August 1900 edition of the San Francisco Call mentions that Fulkerson viewed the fracas between the Boxers and foreign military forces with much concern, stating:

"I regard the situation in China as one of the most serious that civilized nations have ever had to contend with. War cannot be avoided between that country and the foreign powers, for blood has been spilled and property destroyed and these acts of hostility must be avenged." 

                                        From the August 5, 1900 edition of the San Francisco Call.

   While a war with China never came to fruition, the ongoing rebellion in China was viewed as "suspicious" by Fulkerson, who stated that "the present Boxer movement, I believe, is backed by the Empress Dowager, if not by the entire Chinese Government." The Boxer uprising was eventually crushed by an eight-nation alliance of foreign powers (including the United States, Britain, Japan, and Russia) and the Boxer Protocol Peace Agreement was signed in September 1901. In August 1900 Epperson Fulkerson returned to the U.S. out of health concerns but returned to Japan sometime later to resume his duties as Principal of the Chinzei Gakuin school.

   In 1907 Fulkerson made a permanent move back to the United States, eventually settling in the town of Galt, California. In 1908 he became a member of the Columbia River Conference of the Methodist Church, and six years moved to Canon City, Colorado. In his later years, Fulkerson made numerous appearances on the lecture circuit, speaking on topics related to Methodist church doctrine as well as his past services in Japan. In May 1930 he made an appearance in this author's hometown of Jamestown, New York, lecturing at a joint service at the First and Brooklyn Heights churches. An article on his Jamestown visit appeared in the May 1, 1930 edition of the Jamestown Evening Journal and is shown below.

From the Jamestown Evening Journal, May 1, 1930.

  Epperson Fulkerson continued to reside in Canon City, Colorado until his death on May 29, 1940 at age 80. Although a burial location couldn't be found for him, it is presumed that he was buried somewhere in the vicinity of Canon City, where he had resided for over twenty-five years.

Clapp Spooner (1824-1899)

  A prominent citizen and financier based in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the strangely named Clapp Spooner also served as Mayor of that city from 1863-1864. Although few sources mention him at great length, a fairly substantial overview of Spooner's life was found in America's Successful Men of Affairs, Vol. II published in 1895. The rare portrait of him above (and the only one to be found online) was also discovered in this book.

  Clapp Spooner was born in the village of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire on  June 11, 1824, the third-born son of Charles (1789-1842) and Betsey Powers Spooner (1793-1866), both former residents of Petersham, Massachusetts. Clapp Spooner inherited his odd first name from his paternal grandfather, also named Clapp Spooner (1760-1826). Young Clapp attended common schools local to the Barre, Massachusetts area and as an adolescent found employment as a clerk in a grocery store.

   After leaving behind his clerkship, Spooner joined up with the Thompson and Co. Express in Boston, Massachusetts. In July 1848 he married Harriett Garland, with whom he had one daughter, Anna Garland Spooner (1849-1864). Harriett Spooner died at the age of 26 in April 1852 and in March 1857 Clapp remarried to Catherine Wiley. Spooner's second marriage lasted over thirty years and also saw the births of three more children, Charles Wiley (born 1858), Eliza Towne (born 1861), and Henry Clapp (born 1864).

   During the late 1850s and early 1860s, Clapp Spooner earned a reputation as one of the premier businessmen in New England, eventually working his way up to the position of part owner of the Phillips and Co. Express. In 1854 this company merged with three other independent express companies (including Harnden and Company) to form the famed Adams Express Company, a freight and transport business still in existence today, although it is now known as an equity fund and investment trust. Spooner is listed by the Successful Men of Affairs as one of "the nine organizers of that company and has been identified with it ever since." During the 1870s and 80s, he served as a manager and superintendent of Adams's New England division, and in 1887 he was named as the company's Vice President, serving in this post until 1891.

  While Spooner's business activities dominated most of his life, his involvement in local politics is also a major part of his life story. He was a member of the Bridgeport City Council and in 1863 was elected as the Mayor of Bridgeport. His election to the above offices is remarked by America's Successful Men of Affairs as having an impact on Bridgeport, as "the city has had a great benefit of mature judgment and great business capacity." A roster of Bridgeport mayors (bearing Spooner's name) has been provided below.

   While his involvement in politics was rather short, Spooner is mentioned as being a staunch Republican, and throughout the remainder of his life maintained a "keen interest in political matters, local and national." As he entered his twilight years, Spooner continued a string of successful business endeavors, including being a director of the Hartford Steam and Boiler Co., a past director of the American Steel Company of Bridgeport, past director of the Connecticut National Bank of Bridgeport, and one of the directors of the Bridgeport Brass Company.

  As a result of his numerous financial interests, Spooner became one of Bridgeport's wealthiest residents, and with this wealth came one of Spooner's most lasting attributes, Brooklawn Park. This 200-acre piece of land was bought and developed by Spooner into "the finest suburb of Bridgeport", and he spent the remainder of his life improving and redesigning this landscape to attract Bridgeport's wealthiest and most well-known citizens.

   Clapp Spooner continued to be socially active well into his seventh decade, and this activity was only curtailed by an accident he suffered on the streets of Bridgeport in 1896. In July of that year, he was struck down by a team of horses being driven by a drunk driver. Spooner was on his way to board a trolley car when the accident occurred, and it is mentioned that he was "knocked down by a horse and trampled upon", resulting in serious injury. This accident eventually led to Spooner being confined to his home for the remainder of his life, and he died at his estate on July 30, 1899, at age 75. His cause of death was listed by his New York Times death notice (posted below) as a "general breaking down as a result of the accident." He was interred alongside his wife Catherine (who had predeceased him in 1890) at the Mountain Grove Cemetery and Mausoleum in Bridgeport.

                                            From the New York Times, July 31, 1899 edition.

Luvelia Cotton (1896-1956)

   

   This interestingly named man is Mr. Luvelia Cotton, a lifelong resident of Baker County, Georgia who served a short term in his state's House of Representatives during the mid-1950s. Little could be found online in regards to this oddly named Georgia resident, and the only available biographical resource on him is a brief mention in the Georgia Official and Statistical Register of 1955-56. This reference work also yielded the rare portrait of him shown above. 

  Luvelia Cotton was born in the town of Milford, Baker County, Georgia on October 31, 1896, the firstborn son of John H. and Josephine Musgrove Cotton. Luvelia received his education in the common schools of Baker County and graduated from the local high school in 1913. He later continued his education at the Sparks Collegiate Institute in Cook County, Georgia, attending that school from 1914-1915.

   Luvelia Cotton married in December 1917 to Ms. Emma Rushie Weathersby (1897-1979) with whom he had four children, Lewis Pershing (1918-2002), Lorene (1920-2007), Mary L. (born 1921) and Frank M. (1923-1965). A veteran of the First World War, Cotton served overseas with Co. F, 105th Engineers Regiment. 

  From the few details that are available on him, Luvelia Cotton's life was centered in the private sector, and he is mentioned as being employed by the J.P. Baker Co. from 1921-1924. The Georgia Official Register also makes note of him being a school teacher and retired lumberman before his stint in the legislature, but this book fails to elaborate on where he taught school or what lumber outfit he was employed with. 

  In addition to the above activities, Cotton was elected as Baker County Commissioner in 1949 and served in this post until 1952, and in an interesting political-familial coincidence, Luvelia's father John had held that same office from 1915-1916. In 1954 Luvelia Cotton was elected as a Democrat to the Georgia State House of Representatives, officially taking his seat in January 1955. A roster from the 1955 Register bearing Cotton's name and dates of service has been posted below.

  Cotton's service in the Georgia legislature lasted just one term, and he died in office on March 19, 1956, at age 59. He was subsequently interred at the Patmos Free Will Baptist Church Cemetery in Patmos, Baker County, Georgia. His wife Emma survived her husband by over twenty years, dying in March 1979 at age 82, and was also buried in the above-mentioned cemetery.

Zatae Leola Longsdorff Straw (1866-1955)

  Today on the 57th anniversary of her death, oddly named New Hampshire state representative Zatae Longsdorff Straw is honored as the first female politician to be profiled here on the site! During a long life that extended nearly 90 years, Straw was a woman of many accomplishments, including being the first female graduate of Dickinson College, a prominent physician and head of the Manchester Medical Association, and one of New Hampshire's first female legislators. 
   I originally located Straw's name in a 1925 edition of the Manual of the General Court of New Hampshire. Located throughout this book were numerous instances of candidates and legislators elected that year, and I will admit that when I first saw the name "Zatae L. Straw" I presumed that it belonged to a man. It was only after doing a quick search of the name that I learned the full story of this amazing woman, one which will now be told here on the site!
   Zatae Leola Sturgis Longsdorff was born in the town of Centerville, Pennsylvania on April 16, 1866, one of six children born to Dr. William Henry Longsdorff and his wife Lydia. Zatae spent her early life near the Carlisle, Pennsylvania area and began attending Wellesley College in 1883. The next year she followed in her father and older brother's footsteps by enrolling at Dickinson College. Zatae Longsdorff would eventually graduate from Dickinson in the class of 1887, earning lasting distinction as the first female graduate of that institution in its century-plus history.
  After leaving Dickinson, Longsdorff continued her education at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia, earning her medical degree in 1890. Around this same time, she relocated to the Blackfoot, Idaho area, where she became a resident physician at the Ft. Hill Indian Reservation. In 1891 she returned east and in November of that year married Amos Gale Straw (1864-1926), who himself would become a prominent physician in the Manchester, New Hampshire area. Zatae and Amos would eventually have four children, who are listed as follows: Enid Constance (1900-1981), Zatae Gale (1906-1930), Wayne C. (1909-1931), and David Gale (1923-1979). Amos and Zatae later adopted a fifth child, Gertrude Grey (1898-1986).

                            Zatae Longsdorff as she looked around the time of her marriage in 1891.

   After her marriage to Dr. Amos Straw, Zatae Longsdorff Straw began a medical practice of her own in Manchester, becoming one of the first practicing female physicians in that city, let alone New Hampshire. Straw's medical practice continued well into the 1920s, and as she entered her fifties, she embarked upon a very bright political career.
   In November 1923 Zatae Straw won election as a Republican to the New Hampshire State House of Representatives from Manchester's fourth ward. Officially taking her seat in January 1924, Straw won re-election to the house in November 1925, and during her two terms held a seat on the Committee on Health (later serving as its chair), as well as serving on the Committee on Fisheries and Game. During this term, she introduced legislation "prohibiting of marriage of persons having social diseases", a bill that she later recommended to the Public Health committee. Also during this term Straw accomplished another first, serving as the chairwoman of the New Hampshire Republican State Convention of 1926, being the first woman ever to do so in the state of New Hampshire.

  

  As her second term in the legislature came to a close in November 1927, Straw mounted a campaign for a New Hampshire State Senate seat. As mentioned in the above passage from the Nashua Telegraph, she was "the first woman in the state to aspire for this position." Although she was unsuccessful in her candidacy, Straw continued to be politically active throughout the remainder of her long life.

   This article on Zatae L. Straw appeared in the September 6, 1935 edition of the Nashua Telegraph.
  
   After leaving politics, Dr. Straw continued to be active in several state organizations, including serving as vice president of the New Hampshire Department of the American Legion Auxiliary. In 1935 she was elected as the state president of this organization, serving until 1936. An article on her nomination to this office appeared in the September 1935 Nashua Telegraph and has been posted above.
   Accolades continued to come to Dr. Straw later in her life. Upon the 50th anniversary of her graduation from Dickinson College in 1937, that institution conferred on her an honorary degree in science. Four years later in 1941, she was awarded a gold medal for her lengthy service to medicine by the New Hampshire Medical Society. Many sources on Dr. Straw's life also mention her as serving as the first woman president of the American Medical Society, although no source lists her dates of service.
   Zatae Longsdorff Straw died at age 89 on October 1, 1955, in her native city of Manchester. Her husband Amos had predeceased her in 1926, and two of her children (Wayne and Zatae) had also died at young ages. Straw was memorialized in the Manchester Union Leader as "one of New Hampshire's most distinguished women" shortly after her death and was interred with her husband and children at the Pine Grove Cemetery in Manchester.