Starr Wenzel Gruner (1878-1951), Starr Holmes Beatty (1872-1946), Star Berton Caywood (1915-1968)

From the Coldwater Pictorial City Directory, 1927.

   A two-term Mayor of Coldwater, Michigan, Starr Wenzel Gruner is also one of the first veterans of the Spanish-American War to warrant a profile here on the site, as he saw action in Cuba in July of 1898. After relocating to California in the mid-1920s Gruner continued to be active in various aspects of public life, being the operator of a clothing store as well as a member of the Santa Barbara City Council.
    The son of German immigrants, Starr Wenzel Gruner was born in Coldwater on August 30, 1878, being one of seven children born to Wenzel and Emily Randall Gruner. Young Starr is noted as having grown up on a farm in Coldwater and attended the local high school between 1891 and 1896 and earned his high school diploma. Following his graduation he took an extended visit to Germany, remaining here for about a year. With the dawn of the Spanish-American War in 1898 Gruner did his patriotic duty and signed on for service in the Thirty-Third Michigan Infantry. He was deployed to Cuba and participated in the Battle of Acquadores and the Battle of Santiago.
   After being mustered out of service at Owosso, Michigan, Gruner returned to his home in Coldwater and on June 1, 1899, married there to Lena Teachout, with the couple remaining childless through the entirety of their marriage. For a good majority of his life, Starr Gruner worked at farming in Coldwater, being the proprietor of an eighty-acre farm on land that had been "cleared by his father."Gruner was also a partner in the Coldwater-based haberdashery of Sloman and Gruner beginning in 1912. In addition to business and farming, he was a Captain General in Jacob's Commandery, No. 10 of the Knights Templar.
   In April 1918 Starr W. Gruner won election as the Mayor of Coldwater, defeating Democratic nominee Rev. S.W.L. Scott. He would be returned to the Mayor's office in the election of 1920 and served until the expiration of his term in 1921. A few years later he left the clothier business and moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1925, the basis for his removal being the result of a "messy divorce".
   Once settled, Gruner began to establish his name in the Santa Barbara business community. He would start up another clothing business in this city and also took an active role in the local American Legion chapter, serving as its treasurer. He would also make a return to politics in 1927, being elected as a member of the Santa Barbara City Council. Gruner was also noted as a keen genealogist, even going as far as to trace his family lineage back over four hundred years. 
  Starr Gruner died of a stroke at the Los Angeles Veteran's Hospital on August 17, 1951, two weeks short of his 73rd birthday. He had been preceded in death by his second wife Miriam in April 1935 and both were interred at the Santa Barbara Cemetery. In an interesting twist, this cemetery also happens to be the resting place of former Santa Barbara mayor Clio Lowell Lloyd, who was profiled here back on March 4th of this year.

From the Henry Republican, July 30, 1908.

  One of those "gray-area" political figures, Starr Holmes Beatty was a minor political office holder in his state, serving as U.S. Postmaster at Delavan before his election to two consecutive terms on the Illinois State Board of Equalization. Beatty would gain additional prominence in the field of newspaper work, being the editor and publisher of the Delavan Times Press. Born in Delavan, Tazewell County, Illinois on April 11, 1872, Starr Holmes Beatty was the son of Rowland John and Eleanor Frances (Holmes) Beatty.

  A graduate of the Delavan High School, class of 1890, Beatty married to Mary Ella Jennings (1873-1947) in the 1890s and would have the following children: Eileen, Eleanor, Mary Charlotte (1899-1985), and Rowland J. (1903-1971).  Early in his life, Beatty entered the publishing field, joining his older brother Guy in purchasing the Tazewell County Press. This paper was later combined with the Delavan Times to form the Delavan Times-Press, and in 1893 Starr Beatty became its sole owner, changing the name to the Tri-County Times.

  Beatty's stewardship of the Times saw it become the "outstanding Republican organ of the county" and he continued with its publishing well into the 20th century, eventually seeing it consolidated with the Delavan Advertiser in 1918.  In January 1898 Beatty gained his first taste of public office when he was appointed by President McKinley as U.S. Postmaster at Delavan, and in 1904 was elected as a member of the State Board of Equalization from the 16th district.

  A body that existed from 1867-1919, the Illinois Board of Equalization oversaw, reviewed, and "adjusted county assessed property values to correspond with assessed values in other Illinois counties". These properties included railroad and telegraph companies, among other incorporated businesses and companies in the state. Beatty's first term on the board extended from 1904-08, and in the last-named year was successful in his bid for reelection, having promised to "carefully and intelligently look after the interests of the taxpayers of this district."

From the Illinois Blue Book of 1906.

  Beatty's second four-year term on the board saw him named to its committees on the Equalization of Lands and General Equalization, and he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912. After leaving office Beatty continued with his earlier newspaper interests and in 1915 attended the meeting of the Peoria District Publisher's Association in Peoria. He would continue prominence in his native Delavan, being a trustee of the Ayer Public Library and during the 1937 Delavan city centennial proceedings was chairman of the publicity committee. Starr Holmes Beatty died in Delavan on April 10, 1946, one day shy of his 74th birthday. His wife Mary Ella survived him by one year, and following her death in 1947 was interred alongside him at the Prairie Rest Cemetery in Delavan. 

Caywood during his legislative service.

  In a December 28, 2019 update to this article, another political "Star" has been discovered, Star Berton Caywood of Colorado. A three-term member of the Colorado House of Representatives from Huerfano County, Caywood died in office in 1968 due to a drowning accident, five months before the completion of his term. While no source mentioning Caywood gives note as to why he was bestowed "Star" as a first name, it is worth noting that his name was located via the 1967-68 edition of Who's Who In American Politics, a work that has fielded several oddly named figures profiled here. 

  The son of John H. and Edna Isabelle (Noble) Caywood, Star Berton Caywood was born in Salida, Colorado on October 6, 1915. He would attend local schools and for one year studied at Denver University. Caywood married in November 1940 to Virla Ruth (Jones) Smallwood (1906-1976). The couple were wed until Caywood's death and had one son (from Smallwood's previous marriage), Darwin Harold (1929-1998).

  A veteran of WWII, Caywood entered the Army as a private and from 1944-45 served with the 185th Replacement Company, being stationed in the South Pacific and Philippines. He would attain the rank of Staff Sargent by the time of his discharge in 1945, and following his return stateside entered into the abstract, insurance, and realty business. Beginning his political career at the local level, Caywood would serve as deputy county treasurer for Huerfano County from 1941-43 and later was elected to the Walsenburg, Colorado city council in 1950. In 1958 he was named to the board of directors for the Colorado Department of Veterans Affairs, where he continued to serve until at least 1965.

Caywood during his legislative service.

  In November 1962 Caywood was elected as Huerfano County's representative in the Colorado legislature and during his first term (1963-65) held seats on the committees on Appropriations, Health and Welfare, and Local Government. Following his successful bid for reelection in 1964, he would chair the appropriations committee during the 1965-67 session and was also named to the committees on Game, Fish and Parks; Natural Resources; and State Affairs. 

  Elected to a third term in November 1966, Caywood continued service on the above-mentioned committees and in July 1968 undertook an outing with his wife and friends that ended in tragedy. While fishing on Martin Lake in Huerfano County on July 19th their boat was upturned by a strong gust of wind, after which Caywood proceeded to swim to shore for help. After swimming several yards, Caywood began swimming back towards the craft but drowned before reaching it. The loss of the popular legislator was statewide news throughout Colorado and in a curious twist, Caywood was one of three legislators from the 1965 house session to meet an unexpected death.

  Virla Caywood was later appointed to fill her husband's vacant seat in the legislature. She would serve out the final months of her husband's term and wasn't a candidate for reelection in 1968. Following her death in 1976, she was interred alongside her husband at the Masonic Cemetery in Walsenburg.

Moyne LeClerque Kelly (1901-1988)

Portrait courtesy of the Texas Legislative Reference Library.

   Hailing from the county of Dickens in Texas, Moyne LeClerque Kelly served two sessions in the Texas State Legislature, being elected as a representative from Dickens County. Both prior to and after his time in state government Kelly earned distinction as a principal and superintendent of schools in both Arkansas and Texas, retiring from his duties in June of 1970.

   Born in Norwood, Pulaski County, Missouri on October 29, 1901, Moyne LeClerque Kelly was the son of John Hazard and Rhoda Garetta Cline Kelly. A graduate of the Corsicana, Texas High School in the class of 1919, Kelly was employed as an oil field worker by the Gulf Production Co. and married his high school sweetheart Helen Marguerite Jones (1902-1991) in December 1919. The couple would later have two daughters, Helen Juanita (born 1925) and Betty Lou (born 1934). During the early 1920s, both Kelly and his wife would be employed by the Methodist Home at Waco, Texas. The couple would remain here for twelve years, with Moyne serving as the manager of the Home's dairy farm and broom factory, as well as being the principal of the Home's Grammar School.

   In 1932 Kelly and his family removed from Waco to Arkansas, where he would teach at a "rural school" in the town of Lonsdale. The Kelly's would move back to Texas in 1933, and after settling in Crosby County Moyne returned to education, serving as the principal of the Leatherwood School from 1934-36. He and his family would move once again in 1936, this time to Lubbock County, Texas. Here Moyne would assume the superintendency of the Roosevelt Consolidated School, and after a two-year term (1935-38), resettled in Afton, Texas, where in 1941 he would take on the position of superintendent of the Patton Springs School.

              Moyne Kelly as principle of the Leatherwood School, from the History of Crosby County, 1876-1977. 

    In 1944 Moyne L. Kelly was named as Superintendent of the State Home at Corsicana, Texas, serving in this capacity until 1949. Two years later he was selected to be the Executive Director of the Texas Board of Hospitals and Special Schools, and after two years in this office relocated to the city of Kerrville to accept the position of superintendent of schools. He and his family returned to Afton, Texas in 1952 and for the next two years would teach school at Patton Springs. In January 1955 Kelly became a candidate in a special election for the Texas State House of Representatives to succeed David Ratliff, who had resigned a few weeks previously, and after winning the election was sworn in on January 8.

  During his first term in the legislature (1955-1957) Kelly held a seat on the committees on Congressional and Legislative Districts, Constitutional Amendments, Municipal and Private Corporations, and State Hospitals and Special Schools. He was a successful candidate for reelection in November 1956, and an election notice for him (shown below) appeared a few months before his victory. In this notice, Kelly intoned that: 

"The matter of passing laws or instituting legislation takes on many forms, if all the people are represented. Laws are passed to protect, to improve, to establish, to prevent; to remove; to alleviate, to inaugurate, to restrain and to help the greatest number of people in the Big State of Texas. If a legislator keeps these things in mind during his deliberations, he cannot be far from right when action is taken on legislative matter."

A Kelly reelection notice from the Aspermont Star, July 26, 1956.

    At the start of his second term in January 1957 Kelly was named to the committees on Agriculture, Judicial Districts, Livestock-Stock Raising, and Penitentiaries. He also continued service on the State Hospitals and Special Schools committee during the 1957-59 term, serving as its chairman.

   Following his time in state government Kelly returned to teaching and in 1968 was once again named as Superintendent of Schools for Patton Springs. He retired from that office in 1970 and died on April 11, 1988, at El Campo, Texas. The 86-year-old retired legislator and teacher was survived by his wife Helen and both his daughters. Following her death at age 89 in 1991 Helen Jones Kelly was interred alongside her husband at the Garden of Memories Cemetery in El Campo. 

  In an aside note, there seems to be some confusion as to the selling of Moyne L. Kelly's middle name, with sources giving its spelling as both LeClerque and Lexlerque. The name is further complicated by Kelly's gravestone in El Campo, which records it as Lee. As the International Genealogical Index gives the name as "LeClerque", it is that spelling that is given in the title of his profile here.

Allerton Cushman Kibbe (1874-1956)

From Taylor's Legislative Souvenir of Connecticut, 1903.

    A return to Connecticut today to profile Allerton Cushman Kibbe, a one-term member of the Connecticut General Assembly from the town of Ellington. The son of Horatio and Alice Phelps Kibbe, Allerton C. Kibbe was born in Ellington on January 12, 1874. As a youth, he was the recipient of an "excellent education" in the Ellington public school system and later at a private school in Somers, Connecticut. Kibbe would also attend Huntsinger's Business College located in Hartford. He married Mary Winifred Dimock (1877-1964) in January 1900 and later had a total of nine children: Ellen (born November 1900), Harriette, Robert Cushman, Mary Allerton (1902-1966), Wallace Dimock (1911-1956), Dorothy Lucia (1917-1952), Eunice Elizabeth, Richard Owen, and William Bradford. 

   Though the majority of his life was spent engaged in farming in Ellington, Allerton Kibbe was also active in Ellington's political affairs, serving as a school board member and town auditor, entering into the latter office in 1899. In addition to these offices, Kibbe also dabbled in various business concerns in the area, becoming the director of the Ellington Creamery Co. beginning in 1900. In November 1902 he was elected as a Democrat to the Connecticut State House of Representatives from Ellington and served during the 1903-05 session. Following his time in the legislature, Kibbe returned to private life in Ellington and was elected as a member of the town school committee in 1922.

  Allerton Kibbe died three days following his 82nd birthday on January 15, 1956. He was survived by his wife Mary and both were interred at the Ellington Center Cemetery. Their daughter Lucia was also interred there following her death in 1952.

Megginson Hall (1842-1907)

Portrait from the Legislative Manual of the State of Indiana, 1903.

   The life and career of oddly named Indiana state representative Megginson Hall is highlighted today, and although a resident of the Hoosier State for nearly his entire life, he wasn't born a native of the United States. Born in Newbegin, London, England on December 12, 1842, Megginson Hall was the son of William G. and Elizabeth Brigham Hall. The Hall family left England in 1843 and after reaching the United States settled in Vigo County, Indiana. Here young Megginson would have an education "limited to the common school" and during the Civil War enlisted in Co. B. of the 54th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His time in this regiment extended three months and would see action at the Battle of Red River in August 1862.

   Hall married on June 9, 1868, to Nancy Marie Huffman. The couple would have one daughter, Myrtha, born in March 1869. A farmer by occupation, Megginson Hall would operate a "fine improved farm containing 112 acres" in Riley Township during the 1880s and would later reside in the nearby city of Terre Haute. He would serve as a member of the advisory board for Riley Township and was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Terre Haute Trust Company until his death in 1907.  

   In November 1902 the citizens of Vigo County elected Hall as one of their representatives to the Indiana General Assembly, winning the election with 7,828 votes. Taking his seat at the start of the 1903-05 term, Hall sat on the committees on Ways and Means, Education, Swamp Lands, Agriculture, and the Soldier's Monument. Little else is known of Hall's life after he left the legislature. He died two years after the completion of his term on September 3, 1907, at age 64. His wife Nancy had predeceased him in October 1906 and both were interred at the Highland Lawn Cemetery in Terre Haute following their deaths.

Shubael Wilmarth Brayton (1822-1898)

From the 1872 Massachusetts legislative composite portrait.

    Lifelong Massachusetts native Shubael Wilmarth Brayton was for many years one of Adams, Massachusetts noted business figures, being both a manufacturer and banker. His placement here on the site rests on his one term as a representative in the Massachusetts General Court in 1874, being elected from his hometown of Adams. Brayton was born in North Adams, Massachusetts in 1822, being the son of William E. and Lucinda Brayton. Little is known of his early life and education, except notice of his marriage to Sarah Wells in the early 1840s. The couple would have five children: Mary W. (born ca. 1844), Herbert Wells (born 1850), Isabel S. (born 1852), William E. (born 1862) and Harriett Sylvia (born 1864). Sarah Wells Brayton died in March 1877 and two years later Shubael would remarry to Rhode Island native Frances Lowden (1834-1907), who would survive him upon his death in 1898.

   In 1851 Brayton joined in a partnership with brothers Rodman and Henry Wells to form the Wells, Brayton, and Co., a business devoted to the manufacture of "satinets and cashmeres". The Wells brothers would sell their portion of the business to Brayton and another partner, S. Johnson, in 1862. The business (now called S. W. Brayton and Co.) continued in manufacturing until 1868 when a fire gutted the inside of the building. Brayton would later have the building rebuilt and for a time had the factory stocked with shoe manufacturing equipment, whilst also purchasing his partner's interest. He continued to run the business (comprising a mill, store, "water privilege" and "tenements") until he sold it in 1871 to the firm of Gallup and Houghton.

   Shubael Brayton first became active in public service in North Adams in the mid-1850s, when he was named a justice of the peace. In November 1873 he was elected as one of Berkshire County's representatives to the Massachusetts General Court and took his seat at the start of the 1874 term. His one term in the house saw him sit on the joint special committee on the Hoosac Tunnel Line of Railroads. He was noted as a "stanch Republican from the foundation of that party" in his North Adams Transcript obituary, which further noted that:

"His likes and dislikes were strong and his estimates of men were not based on outward appearances or station in life. For upright character under the humblest exterior he had sincere regard, while no guise could shield fraud and hypocrisy from his most profound contempt. "

  Following his time in the legislature, Brayton continued with his various business interests, being a director of both the Berkshire Life Insurance Company and the Berkshire Fire Insurance Company, located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In 1885 he succeeded Sanford Blackinton as the president of the Adams National Bank, holding this post until his death thirteen years later.

From the North Adams Transcript, June 20, 1898.

    In the final year of his life, Brayton was afflicted with paralysis, which led to his being confined to his home in Adams in March of 1898. The disease eventually rendered him "helpless and unable to speak" and on June 19, 1898, he died at his home. He was survived by his second wife Frances and was buried at the Hillside Cemetery in North Adams.

From the North Adams Transcript, June 20, 1898.

Heusted Warner Reynolds Hoyt (1842-1894)

Portrait from the Evening Post Annual 1887.

   During a short life that extended just 51 years, Heusted Warner Reynolds Hoyt rose to become a prominent figure in Connecticut law circles, having earlier been brevetted as a Colonel in the Connecticut National Guard. A multi-term member of both houses of the Connecticut legislature, Hoyt's political career reached its apex in 1887 when he was elected as Speaker of the Connecticut State House of Representatives.

   With the exception of a short residency in New York City, Heusted W.R. Hoyt was a lifelong resident of Connecticut, being born in the town of Ridgefield on November 1, 1842.  The son of Warner Hoyt (a Ridgefield minister) and Elizabeth Phillipina Reynolds, Hoyt lost his father when just three years of age and as a youngster moved with his mother to the home of her father, located in Greenwich. Described as a child of "alert mind", young Heusted would attend school at the Greenwich Academy and would later study at Columbia University in New York, being admitted at age seventeen. He would be afflicted with "a protracted illness" during his first term and because of this "could not continue"  with his studies. In 1863 Hoyt joined the Connecticut State Militia, being appointed as a Second Lieutenant in Co. F. of the 8th Regiment, Connecticut National Guard. He would eventually be promoted to Colonel in the Connecticut 4th Regiment and served in this capacity until his resignation in March of 1877.

   Hoyt began the study of law in New York City in the early 1860s with Henry H. Owen and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1865. Soon after receiving his degree Hoyt removed back to Greenwich to establish a law office, and through his practice served as "local counsel" for former U.S. Representative and Tammany Hall leader William Marcy Tweed (a part-time Greenwich resident), who had a $160,000 suit levied against him in 1871 by James H. Ingersoll in the "Connecticut Superior Court". Hoyt would marry around 1872 to Anne E. Waite, with whom he would have three children, Elizabeth Warner, Turner Waite, and Annie. 

   Within a few years of his return to Connecticut Hoyt won election to the State Senate at age 26, being the youngest man to serve during that legislative session. His term extended from 1869-70 and he was returned to that body in the election of 1872, serving from 1873-74. During his first term he chaired both the committee on Enrolled Bills and the Military, and in the second was chair of the committee on Incorporations. Following these terms he returned to practicing law, subsequently being retained as counsel for the Greenwich Savings Bank (where he also served as a trustee) and was a director for the Byram Land Improvement Company.

                    Heusted W.R. Hoyt in 1869, from the "Other Days In Greenwich", published 1913.

   Hoyt reentered political life in November 1885 when he was elected to represent his hometown in the Connecticut House of Representatives. During the 1886-87 term, he served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was reelected to the house in November 1886 and at the start of the 1887 house term was selected as its Speaker, continuing in this post throughout the 1888 and 1889 house terms. Described by the Popular Biography of Connecticut as being a "staunch Republican", Hoyt was also noted as an "able debater" and "affable man" who:

"In every measure presented or discussed he manifested a lively interest, and, whether in the chair or on the floor, always commanded respect and wielded important influence in legislative affairs."

  In 1889 Heusted W.R. Hoyt was honored by his fellow Greenwich citizens by being elected as the first judge of the Borough of Greenwich, and sat on the bench until his death at age 51 on April 8, 1894. His funeral took place during a "blinding snowstorm" and was attended by many members of the Fairfield County bar. A week after his passing Hoyt was memorialized by the Fairfield County Bar in a resolution that noted:

"That in the death of Brother Hoyt this bar fully realizes the loss of one of its most respected and talented members, one whose kindly and genial qualities, loyal friendship, amiable, polished and courteous manners, heroic courage, unswerving integrity in the discharge of his professional duties, and superior intellectual attainments has long commanded the admiration of his fellows, and are worthy of emulation."

  A burial location for both Hoyt and his family is unknown at this time and is presumed to be somewhere in the Greenwich vicinity, where he spent nearly all of his personal and professional life.

  

From "Other Days In Greenwich", 1913.

Esquare Bartlett Miller (1828-1896)

                                               From the Evening Post Annual, published 1895.

   We continue our stay in Connecticut and travel from Waterbury (the home of Luzerne Ithiel Munson) to the city of Killingly, home to one Esquare Bartlett Miller, a peculiarly named member of the Connecticut State House of Representatives. A carpenter by trade, Miller also dabbled in construction and contracting and was elected to two terms in his state's legislature, dying in office in March of 1896.
   Born in Killingly on August 15, 1828, Esquare Bartlett Miller was the son of Welcome and Elsie Bartlett Miller. The origins of his unusual first name "Esquare" are unknown, and as a youth attended the "common schools of Killingly". He would engage in farming after leaving school and married in 1846 to Sarah Harriett Warren, with whom he would have a total of six children: Daniel W. (died in infancy), Chauncy, Esquare J., Henry J., Everett E., and Fred L. 
   Miller worked at farming with his father until his early twenties, when he made the acquaintance of William Burgess, who would employ him as a carpenter. For several years he was employed by both Burgess and others until "going into business for himself." In the early 1860s, Miller became employed by the S. & H. Sayles wool manufacturing company. His time here saw him become a master mechanic and superintendent of construction and in 1866 moved to Dayville, Connecticut to take on a similar job under the employ of  Ezekiel Webster. Sometime later Miller would become a Master Mechanic and Superintendent for the Mechanicsville Co., located in Mechanicsville, Connecticut.
   In 1868 Esquare B. Miller made his first foray into public life in Connecticut, being elected as a selectman for the city of Killingly. He would serve a total of twelve years on this board, and for several years was also clerk of the board. The Evening Post Annual of 1895 (where the above picture of Miller was featured) notes that he continued as a contractor during his time as a selectman, and that:

"Many private houses in various sections of the town were erected by him, as well as many more pretentious buildings, among them being the church and schoolhouse, the mill, No. 3, (250 X 50 ft., 4 stories) and the Store Building, all at Williamsville."

  In addition to his business and time as selectman, Esquare Miller also served as a justice of the peace and town constable, as well as being a distinguished Mason, belonging to the Putnam Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons #15 in Danielsonville, Connecticut. In November 1894 Miller was elected to represent Killingly in the Connecticut General Assembly, winning the election with a "majority of 319." Miller would win a second term in November 1895 with 594 votes and died during this term on March 11, 1896, at age 67. He had been preceded in death by his wife Sarah in 1887 and both were interred at the Westfield Cemetery in Danielson, Connecticut.

Luzerne Ithiel Munson (1838-1895)

                                                   Portrait from the Evening Post Annual, published in  1886. 

    The following write-up takes us to Connecticut to highlight the life of prominent state official Luzerne Ithiel Munson, who occupied the office of State Comptroller in the mid-1880s. Munson is not to be confused with Luzon Burritt Morris (Governor of Connecticut from 1892-1894), who was profiled here back in May 2012. These men died two months apart in 1895 and due to the similarity between their first names (and state of residency) even I sometimes get them confused! Like his political counterpart Mr. Morris, Luzerne I. Munson was a lifelong resident of the Nutmeg State, being born in Wallingford, Connecticut on March 1, 1838, the son of Titus (1799-1842) and Anna Harrison Munson.
    A student in the common schools of Wallingford, Luzerne Munson would go on to attend the Durham Academy for two years. He remained in Wallingford until 1854, moving to Waterbury, Connecticut that year, and would find employment with the Apothecaries' Hall Company. He was affiliated with this business until 1861, whereafter he took work as a bookkeeper and clerk with the City Manufacturing Company of Waterbury. On October 26, 1861, Munson married Mary Bronson Rice (1840-1910), and had two daughters, Mary Edna (1862-1931) and Susie Rice (who died aged seven months in 1864).
   In the year following their marriage, Munson and his wife relocated to Meriden, Connecticut, where he took on the position of Secretary and Treasurer of Julius Pratt and Co., an ivory comb manufacturing business. He occupied these posts both before and after the company's consolidation, and in 1863 removed back to Waterbury to accept the office of Secretary and Treasurer at his old place of work, the Apothecaries Hall Company. He would eventually become manager of the company in 1864, succeeding Dr. Henry Fish. Munson's time as company manager extended until his death three decades later, and in addition to his business dealings was a founding member of the Connecticut Pharmaceutical Association, first joining it in 1876. He served as its president in 1881 and was for several years the chairman of the group's executive committee.
   Luzerne Munson first became active in Waterbury politics in the late 1870s, serving as a member of the Board of Fire Commissioners. He was elected as a city alderman sometime later and also served as a deputy collector of internal revenue and as chairman of the Waterbury Republican committee. In 1881 Munson launched an unsuccessful candidacy for Mayor of Waterbury, losing to Democratic nominee Greene Kendrick by only 90 votes. Munson would attempt another mayoral candidacy two years later and was dealt another loss, on this occasion being defeated by a 42 vote margin.
   In 1884 Luzerne Munson served as part of the Connecticut delegation to the Republican National Convention being held in Chicago. That November he reached his highest degree of political prominence when he was elected as State Comptroller of Connecticut, officially taking office in 1885. His term as comptroller concluded in 1887 and during the final years of his life maintained an active schedule in both religious and fraternal circles. He was a longstanding member of the Odd Fellows Lodge and was honored by being named as the Grand Master of the Pequabock Lodge #48 of that organization. He and his wife were for nearly four decades members of the First Church of Waterbury, where Munson served as an usher and church committee member.
   After suffering a "comparatively short illness" Luzerne Ithiel Munson died at age 57 in Waterbury on October 28, 1895. He was survived by his wife Mary and daughter Mary Edna, all of whom were buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Waterbury following their deaths.

Portrait from the Illustrated Popular Biography of Connecticut, 1891.

Mounce Gore Butler (1849-1917)

Mounce Gore "M.G." Butler, from the December 4, 1905 edition of the NY Tribune.

   One term U.S. Representative from Tennessee Mounce Gore Butler is without a doubt one of the most obscure congressmen on record, and, like Arphaxed Loomis and Calvary Morris before him, was one of a number of "faceless" strange-named congressmen I've managed to happen across. While Loomis and Morris eventually had photos of themselves come to light, the absence of a picture of Mounce Butler was something I'd become accustomed to. Two or three times a year (over the past decade or so) I would begin a search of my usual newspaper archives and book haunts in the hope that a picture of him would come to light, but, inevitably, my search would always end in frustration. I was certain that this congressman (whose first name sort of sounds like a candy bar) would forever be without a face-to-face with his unusual name.

  With that introduction out of the way, I'm extremely pleased to announce a picture of this obscure congressman has finally been located, via the December 4, 1905 edition of the New York Tribune!! Early yesterday I was doing research on another faceless strange-name congressman, Mial Eben Lilly of Pennsylvania when I stumbled across a page in said paper that featured over three dozen photographs of newly elected U.S. Representatives. Among these men was the aforementioned Mr. Lilly, and.....wait for it.....Mounce Gore Butler!! After more than a decade of searching, I'm quite confident in stating that the above portrait is likely the first time a picture of Mr. Butler is available online.

  A lifelong resident of Gainesboro, Tennessee, Mounce Gore Butler was born in that town on May 11, 1849, one of four children born to Thomas Harvey and Mary Gore Butler. Butler's odd first name "Mounce" was shared by several of his relatives, and as a youth attended schools local to the place of his birth. He would go on to study at the Old Philomath Academy in Jackson County and later the Cumberland University, being admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1871. Butler married in the late 1870s to Nannie DeWitt (1850-1927) with whom he would have one son, Bailey Clifton Butler (1877-1970).

  Once admitted to practice Butler launched a law practice in Gainesboro, operating here for a number of years. In 1872 he was selected as a delegate to the Tennessee Democratic state convention and would serve as a delegate to every democratic state convention until 1916. After two decades of practicing law in Gainesboro Butler was named as Attorney General for Tennessee's  Fifth Judicial Circuit in 1894. He served in this post until 1902, and two years later received the Democratic nomination for U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 4th district. Butler won the election that November, defeating Republican candidate W.B. Pickering by a vote of 13, 356 to 11, 596.

  Taking his seat at the start of the 1905-07 term, Butler was named to the house committees on Elections #2 and Reform in the Civil Service. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1906, the nomination instead going to one Cordell Hull (1871-1955) later to gain prominence as a twelve-term representative, U.S. Senator from Tennessee, U.S. Secretary of State under Franklin Roosevelt from 1933-45 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945.

  Following his brief time in Congress, Mounce G. Butler returned to Gainesboro, where he would practice law until his death on February 13, 1917, at age 67. Butler was survived by his wife and son, with Butler and his wife being interred at the Gainesboro Cemetery. Research has also shown that Butler is a distant relation to Vice President and Tennessee resident Al Gore, and their genealogical connection can be viewed here.

The Hon. M.G. Butler in 1905; this is believed to be Mounce Butler during his congressional term.

Grailey Hewitt Berryhill (1896-1976), Grailey Hewitt Jaynes (1873-1935)

Portrait from the Tennessee General Assembly composite photograph, 1967-68. 

    A three-term member of the Tennessee General Assembly, Grailey Hewitt Berryhill was born on August 17, 1896, in McKenzie, Tennessee, being the son of Adam Douglas and Harriett Costen Berryhill. He would attend school in Carroll County and later embarked upon the study of medicine at several colleges, including Tulane University, Washington University, and Vanderbilt University. A standout football player at the last-named school, Berryhill earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt in the class of 1921 and had married in June 1920 to Ms. Thelma Harwood (1898-1967). The couple would later have two daughters, Alica Anne Berryhill Boswell (1925-2013) and Dorothy Grailyn (born 1922). 
  Following his graduation from Vanderbilt Berryhill began the practice of medicine in Madison County where he operated for many decades. In addition to being a physician, Berryhill also held memberships in the American Medical Association and both the Tennessee and Madison County Medical Societies. Sources also note that Berryhill was an instrumental figure in the eventual establishment of the West Tennessee School for the Deaf, as he himself suffered from deafness. 

                   Berryhill's college portrait, from the 1921 Vanderbilt Medical School Class Composite.

   While a good majority of Berryhill's life was centered in the private sector, he refrained from entering political life until he was nearly seventy years of age! Recorded as being a Democrat for the majority of his life, Berryhill switched political allegiance in the mid-1960s to the Republican party, and in 1966 was elected to represent the county of Madison in the Tennessee General Assembly. He would serve three terms here, being reelected in 1968 and 1970. His final term concluded in 1973 and he died three years later on January 10, 1976, aged 79. Berryhill had been preceded in death by his wife Thelma in 1967 and both were interred at the Ridgecrest Cemetery in Jackson, Tennessee.

                       Grailey H. Berryhill, from the 1969-70 Tennessee General Assembly composite.

Portrait from the 1917 South Dakota state manual.

  In an update (July 21, 2018) to a nearly four-year-old article, another political office holder named "Grailey" has been discovered--Grailey Hewitt Jaynes of South Dakota. Interestingly, both he and Grailey Berryhill share the same middle name, and both look to have been named in honor of William Morse Grailey Hewitt (1828-1893), a famed British obstetrician, professor, and author of a number of works relating to gynecology. A native of Missouri, Grailey Hewitt Jaynes was born in the town of La Monte on May 27, 1873.  He would be a student in the public schools and later attended the Powers Business College in Chicago.

  Following his removal to South Dakota in 1883, Jaynes would marry Caroline Amanda Bemis (1874-1940) in the late 1890s and later had two sons, Edwin Hewitt and Grailey Hewitt Jr. (1915-1996). For the majority of his life Jaynes was affiliated with the meat market and livestock industry in Pierre and was also elected to the Pierre City Council, and from 1909-1910 served as acting mayor of the city.

  In November 1916 Jaynes was elected from Hughes County to the South Dakota state senate, serving one term (1917-21). Little is known of the remainder of his life, except notice of his death on June 18, 1935. Jaynes was survived by his wife Caroline, and both were later interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Pierre.

Wilbra Hamlin Swett (1860-1936)

Portrait from the "Manual of Legislative Procedure for the state of Montana", 1895.

   One of only five strange-name political figures from Montana to receive a profile here on the site, Wilbra Hamlin Swett served two terms in the Montana Legislature in the mid-1890s, being elected as House Speaker during his second term. Wilbra H. Swett was born on October 17, 1860 in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, being the son of Eli Chamberlain (1826-1901) and Sarah Hersey Swett (born 1832). The first two decades of his life were spent in the town of his birth. He would attend the public schools of Wolfeboro and was later a student at the Friend's School in Providence, Rhode Island. In the mid-1880s he traveled west, eventually settling in South Dakota, where he would reside for about five years. Swett married in Davison County, South Dakota on June 19, 1888 to Ella Priscilla Stearns (born 1861), a native of Cleveland, Ohio. The couple is recorded as being childless throughout their marriage. 

   A few years following his marriage Wilbra H. Swett moved to Butte, Montana, where he would find work as an engineer with the Butte and Boston Mining Company. Aside from his mining interests, Swett also found time to tread the political waters, and in 1892 was nominated by the Republicans of Silver Bow County for a seat in the Montana State House of Representatives. He won the election that November with 2,679 votes and took his seat at the beginning of the 1893 term. As a first-term legislator with no previous experience in public life, Swett proved to be no slouch during the 1893-95 session, being noted by the Anaconda Standard newspaper as a "workingman who works." This same paper also relates that Swett:

"Proved an earnest and convincing debater, and speedily became one of the leaders of the house. In an atmosphere of corruption there was never a breath of suspicion of the integrity of Mr. Swett as a citizen or of his loyalty as a party man" 

   After a successful first term, Swett was renominated in 1894 and won a second term that November, garnering 3,406 votes. At the beginning of the 1895-97 session, Swett was selected by his fellow legislators as Speaker of the House,  serving in this capacity until the close of the session. 
   Despite his success in mining and politics in Montana, Wilbra Swett left the "Treasure State" in the late 1890s and returned to the place of his birth, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Here in 1904, he purchased a hardware business and later became one of the organizers of the Wolfeboro National Bank, entering into the position of bank cashier in 1906. In 1911 Swett and his wife removed from Wolfeboro to California, where they would reside for the remainder of their lives. Swett had a home in both Garden Grove and Long Beach, dying in the latter city on November 22, 1936 at age 76. A burial location for both Swett and his wife is unknown at this time.