DeLanson Alson Newton Chase (1875-1953)

From the 1919 Kansas Legislative composite.

  Oddly named Vermont native DeLanson Alson Newton Chase would go on to find success in both business and politics in Kansas during the early part of the 20th century. A member of both houses of the Kansas legislature, Chase achieved his highest degree of public prominence in January 1925 when he entered the office of Lieutenant Governor of Kansas, serving in this capacity for four years.

    A native of Jay, Vermont, DeLanson A. N. Chase was born in that Orleans County town on April 26, 1875, the son of Arthur and Melissa Burdick Chase.  Mentioned as being a descendant of Ohio Governor and Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, Delanson and his family relocated from Vermont to Atlantic, Iowa when he was still a child. They would reside here for about nine years, later moving to the small town of Leoti in Wichita County, Kansas in 1887. Here DeLanson would attend the public school system until the age of fourteen, whereafter he was apprenticed to be a harness maker in Leoti. 

   Chase made his first venture into business life in 1891, when (upon receiving a loan of $400 from his father) he established a "flour and feed store" in Leoti. He continued to run this business for about a year, later selling it off and using that capital to put himself through college. Enrolling at the Central Business College at Leavenworth, Chase graduated from that school in the class of 1893 and in that same year married Harriett Annette Ayer, a high-school student in Leavenworth. Sources relate that Chase (aged 18) and Ayer (aged 16) married "one hour before her graduation from the Leavenworth High School" and that Ayer had the distinction of being the "first and only married woman ever graduated from that institution." The youthful couple would later become the parents of two children, Donna Augusta (born 1900) and DeWayne Alson Newton (1902-1985).

  The late 1890s saw Chase return to the flour and feed business for a time and later relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, where he worked as a government tagger and livestock inspector. During this time he studied law at a night school in Omaha and in 1901 was admitted to the bar. He would practice law in Omaha for one year and in 1903 reestablished his business roots, organizing Chase & Co., a "wholesale manufacturing extract,  spice, tea and coffee house." Chase served as the president and general manager of this company until its sale in 1907, and in the following year took work with the National Spice Company as its "western representative."

   In 1909 DeLanson Chase returned to Kansas, settling in the city of Pleasanton in Linn County. He would soon become affiliated with several business concerns, including the Monument and Ice Company of Pleasanton and the Burke Printing Company in Fredonia. Chase himself would establish both the D.A.N. Chase Ford Motor Co. and the D.A.N. Chase Dry-Goods Company and also held the presidency of Pleasanton's First National Bank.

From the Kansas City Star, 1928.

    D.A.N. Chase first entered political life in Kansas in the mid-1900s when he began service as treasurer of the Pleasanton, Kansas school district. In November 1916 he was elected as Linn County's representative to the Kansas General Assembly and held seats on the committees on State Affairs, and Printing and Rules during the 1917-1919 legislative session. He would win re-election to the house in November 1918 and during the 1919-21 session served as Speaker pro tem of the house. 

   In November 1920 Chase won election to the Kansas State Senate and after two terms here received the nomination for Kansas Lieutenant Governor in 1924. In November of that year he and Republican gubernatorial candidate Benjamin S. Paulson were elected, officially taking office in January 1925. During his final year as Lieutenant Governor Chase launched his own campaign for the Kansas Governorship, and throughout 1928 stumped throughout the state. Recorded as visiting "nearly 500 Kansas towns" during the course of his campaign, Chase was one of three Republican gubernatorial candidates in that year's primary, the others being Clyde Martin Reed (1871-1949) and former House Speaker John Daniel Miller Hamilton (ca. 1892-1973). As the Alma Enterprise reported in its January 2, 1928 edition, both Chase and Reed's lengthy names left the newspaper editors scratching their heads, noting that:

"We can never get much excited about a candidate who requires three front handles to identify him. Perhaps they are not to blame because their parents so labeled them, but why didn't they drop one or two of those initials before they got into politics."

                                                                      From the Alma Enterprise, June 29, 1928.

   On the election day primary 1928, it was the short-named candidate (Clyde M. Reed) who claimed victory as the Republican nominee for Governor. He would go on to win the governorship that November and after leaving that office was elected as U.S. Senator from Kansas in 1939, serving until his death a decade later. Despite losing the primary Chase would serve out the remainder of his term as Lieutenant Governor, which concluded in January 1929. 

  Little else is known of Chase's life after he left office. For many years prior had been a distinguished Mason in Linn County, being both a past grand master of the Pleasanton and member of the Fort Scott Consistory of Scottish Rite Masons. He remarried at some point prior to his death to Emma Dutt, who survived him upon his death in Ottawa, Kansas on October 19, 1953. A burial location for both Chase and his wife is unknown at this time.

  

From the 1925 Kansas State Senate composite portrait.

From the Iola Register, October 20, 1953.

Iman Clair Wiatt (1901-1967)

From the 1958 Kansas Government Journal.

   The "Sunflower State" of Kansas yields another odd named public official in one Iman Clair Wiatt of Kearny County, and, like fellow Kansan Wentzle A. Stewart, obscurity again wins out. Despite being a prominent resident of Lakin, Kansas (not to mention being a four-term state representative), there are but three tiny biographical blurbs mentioning Mr. Wiatt anywhere online! The closest thing that comes to a biography is a death notice for him that was originally published in the Hutchinson News on the day following his death in 1967. The following lines on Mr. Wiatt have been piece-mealed together from any and all sources available.

   Iman Clair Wiatt was born in Bethany, Harrison County, Missouri on July 21, 1901, a son of Edward and Laura Myrtle Edson Wiatt. Bestowed the unusual name "Iman Clair" upon his birth, Wiatt removed with his family to Kearny County, Kansas in 1907 and married on his 22nd birthday in 1923 to Arla Agnus Stinchcomb (1901-1983). The couple would later have two children, Joan Wiatt Shaw (1924-2014) and Edward Ellsworth (born ca. 1933). Prior to serving in the legislature Wiatt was a farmer and "broom corn grower" in Lakin, Kansas, and was also an organizer of the Kearny County Farm Bureau. A member of the Lakin Methodist Church, Wiatt was also affiliated with several civic and business organizations in Lakin, including Treasurer of the Southwest Kansas Royalty Association and President of the Lakin Rotary Club.

   A genealogical webpage describing Wiatt and his family notes that during the Second World War, he was in charge of "scrap iron, machinery rationing, savings bonds, and emergency production loan committees". Wiatt would later serve as director of the Kearny County Bank and continued to serve in this capacity during his time in the legislature. Wiatt also held the post of Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Kearny, County, Kansas during the mid-1950s.

   Iman C. Wiatt won his first term in the Kansas House of Representatives in November 1956 and would be reelected as Kearny County's representative in 1958, 1960, and 1962. He would be unopposed for reelection in 1960 and during the previous year's session served as chairman of the house committee on irrigation. His final term in the state house concluded in January 1965 and he died two years later on June 22, 1967, one month short of his 66th birthday. Wiatt's death notice in the June 23, 1967, Hutchinson News notes that he had passed away at his home in Lakin after having been ill for six months. He was survived by his wife and two children and was interred at the Lakin Cemetery.

From the Hutchinson News, June 23, 1967.

Wentzle Aena Stewart (1897-1983)

From the 1951 Kansas State Legislative composite portrait.

   A two-term member of the Kansas State House of Representatives from the county of Kiowa, Wentzle Aena Stewart has scant information available online, and although few details could be found regarding him, the picture shown above (located via a 1951 Kansas legislative composite portrait) comes as a welcome surprise. Although a Kansan for nearly all his life, Wentzle A. Stewart wasn't born in the state; his birth occurring in Iowa on December 31, 1897. The son of Henry E. (1868-1951) and Ida Stephens Stewart (1870-1958), Stewart moved with his family to Kansas shortly after his birth, and in 1901 the family settled in Kiowa County.

    A veteran of the United States Navy, Stewart married in April 1924 to Ms. Elsie Jane Miller (1904-1994), with whom he would have three sons: Wesley Earl (birth-date unknown), Harold Alvin (died 1992), and Keith Allen (birth-date unknown). A farmer in Kiowa County for a good majority of his life, both Wentzle and his wife are noted as having been "very involved in organizing Kiowa County farming programs for men and women" and he himself was a past president of the Kiowa County Farm Bureau. 

   Before his service in state government, Stewart had extensive involvement in civic affairs in Greensburg, serving as school treasurer for 22 years and as a clerk for two. Stewart also held the posts of town clerk and trustee for eight and four years, respectively. In November 1948 he was elected as Kiowa County's representative to the Kansas General Assembly, garnering 1, 519 votes on election day. Stewart was returned to the legislature in November 1950 and served until the close of the session in 1953. Little else is known of Stewart's life following the conclusion of his term. He died at age 85 on January 3, 1983, and was later interred at Greensburg's Fairview Cemetery.

                                           Wentzle A. Stewart, from the 1950 Kansas Government Journal.

Quintillion Kepler Groves (1855-1909)

From the 1897 Indiana State House of Representative's composite portrait.

   After a few days of highlighting the lives of several oddly named Indiana political figures, we conclude our stay in the Hoosier state with one Quintillion Kepler Groves, who has one of the most unusual names I've stumbled across in quite some time! A prominent citizen of Perry County, Indiana, Groves was for many decades a farmer and merchant based in the town of Tobinsport and was also active in Republican circles within Perry County. He would serve as the doorkeeper of the Indiana State House of Representatives during the 1897-98 term and in the latter year came within a few hundred votes of being elected to the Indiana State Senate.

   The youngest son of eleven children born to Samuel and Eliza Huckaby Groves, Quintillion Kepler Groves was born in Perry County on April 4, 1855. The exact origins behind the name "Quintillion Kepler" are presumed to be connected to two historical figures, Quintilian (an ancient Roman writer) and Johannes Kepler (the famed German academic, astronomer and mathematician). Despite its peculiarity, Mr. Groves' unusual first name is also one of the most varied in spelling that I've yet seen, with several variations of it floating around online. These numerous variations (which include Quintilian, Quintillian, Quintillion, and Quintilleon) are even further compounded by Groves' gravestone, which records it as "Quintillious". With all of these spelling differences, it was a great relief to me to have found Groves' marriage certificate from 1874, and this certificate (which was presumably filled out by both Groves and his wife Nancy) records the spelling as "Quintillion", and it is that spelling that I've decided to go with in his write-up here. That certificate is shown below (click to enlarge.)

   Groves' early life in Perry County saw him receive his "academic education" in Rome, Indiana and during his adolescence worked at both farming and teaching. He married on Christmas Eve 1874 to Nancy Tobin (1856-1940), daughter of former Indiana state representative Robert Tobin (1815-1898) of Perry County. The couple would later become parents to four children:  Robert Tobin (1876-1914), Mary Jane (1878-1921), Samuel (1881-1906) and Thomas Joshua (1883-1971). 

   Following his marriage Groves farmed in an area known as "Polk's Bottom" near Tobin Township. He would later operate a mercantile firm-general store in Tobinsport and also served as a notary public and justice of the peace beginning in the late 1880s. In December 1893 he took part in the Perry County Farmer's Institute being held at Rome, Indiana and is recorded as giving an address on "Economy on Making Hay" in the Breckenridge News.

   Long active in Perry County Republican circles, Groves was tapped to serve as the Doorkeeper of the Indiana State House of Representatives in 1897 and held this post through the 1897-98 term, even being presented with a "gold-headed cane mounted on black ivory wood"; a gift from the assistant doorkeepers of the house. In 1898  "Till" Groves received the Republican nomination for Indiana state senator from the counties of Perry, Crawford, and Spencer. Squaring off against Democratic nominee Oscar C. Minor, Groves narrowly lost the election in November 1898, being defeated by Minor by just 274 votes (6, 246 to 5, 972).

A notice of Groves' Senate nomination from the Breckenridge News, June 1, 1898.

   Following his senatorial loss Groves continued to reside and farm in Tobinsport. A longstanding member of the local Masonic chapter in Perry County, Groves suffered personal tragedy in 1906 with the death of his son Robert, who succumbed to typhoid fever at age 24 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.  Groves continued to be socially active in Perry County affairs until suffering a stroke and for two years "was unable to get about conveniently." The effects of the stroke later were compounded by the onset of bronchial pneumonia, which claimed Groves' life on April 19, 1909. Just 54 years old at the time of his passing, "Q.K." Groves was survived by three of his children as well as his wife Nancy, who died in 1940 at age 86. All of the Groves family (including both of Q.K's parents) were interred at the Lamb Cemetery in Tobinsport following their deaths.

From the Cannelton Enquirer, April 24, 1909.

Thollie Wilbur Druley (1879-1952)

From the 1933 Indiana State Senate composite portrait.

    In the near two hundred year history of the Indiana state senate you'd be hard-pressed to find a name funnier than Thollie Wilbur Druley, a two-term senator from the county of Wayne. A farmer and teacher in that county for a good majority of his life, Mr. Druley is also one of the more obscure Hoosier political figures I've profiled thus far, and the following write-up on Druley could not have been possible without the help of the Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond, Indiana.  As it stands now there is but a tiny amount of information available online in regards to Mr. Druley, and I'm pleased to relate that upon the completion of the following article there will be at least one biography for him available online, and this would not have been possible without the help of Sue King and the staff at the Wayne County Historical Museum!!

  A lifelong resident of Wayne County, Thollie Wilbur Druley was one of three sons born to local farmer Joseph S. Druley and Mollie Rutter Druley, his birth occurring in Boston Township on January 2, 1879.  His early life was centered around work on the family farm as well as attending Richmond High School. He continued his education at Earlham College and Purdue University and married on November 25, 1903, to Emma Elizabeth Minneman (died 1967). The couple would later become the parents of three children: Pauline (1905-2005), Ivan (1907-1998) and Byron (1911-1984).

   Around 1910 Druley took over the operations of the family farm from his father and would continue to farm for the remainder of his life. Druley began a longstanding connection to civic and religious affairs in Richmond when in October 1910 he spoke at a rally celebrating Richmond's centennial, and in addition to farming was a school teacher and member of the Boston township school board.  As a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church of Richmond Druley is also recorded as having taught Sunday school classes for many years.

   Beginning in 1918 Th0llie Druley took on the position of superintendent of the Wayne County Sunday School Association and in this role was prominent in the running of Wayne County's annual Rally Day. In the October 1928 notice (shown below) Druley is also noted as being a member of the Wayne County "organization committee" that would take part in the Indiana Young People's conference being held in Richmond that month.

From the Richmond Item, Sept, 23, 1928, (courtesy of the Wayne County Historical Museum.)

    Thollie W. Druley made his first move into Hoosier state politics in 1921 when he became a candidate for the state legislature from Wayne County. As one of three Democratic candidates vying for the seat, Druley garnered only 800 votes, being defeated by Republican incumbent James M. Knapp, who polled 5, 473. Druley's political fortunes changed in 1930 when he was a successful candidate for the Indiana senate. 

    Taking his seat at the start of the 1931-33 term Druley was the primary sponsor of the so-called "Druley bill" during that session of the legislature. The bill (which "provided for diverting fees from county officials to the general fund and for placing all county officials on straight salaries to be fixed by county councils") was noted as having resulted in "much agitation", which culminated in a rather humorous incident in 1932. The Vidette-Messenger reported in its August 3rd edition that the Druley bill had been stolen from the desk of state Rep. J.W. Ellyson, and that a grand jury investigation into the theft had been announced by then-House Speaker Walter Myers. However, the brouhaha proved to be short-lived, as Rep. Ellyson (who had been in possession of the bill) had inadvertently left it in the "legislative reference bureau" a day before it was discovered missing.

    In November 1932 Druley was elected to a second term in the senate and served until the close of the session. He was an unsuccessful candidate for a third senate term in November 1934, narrowly losing the election to Republican Albert Ferris, 10,886 votes to 10,292.  Druley made one further attempt at reelection in 1941 when he was a candidate for state representative, being defeated in November by Lee J. Reynolds (1877-1955), who bested him by over 4,000 votes.

From the 1931 Indiana State Senate composite portrait.

    After his time in state government, Druley returned to his farm on the "Boston pike" and busied himself with memberships in several fraternal groups, including both the Eagles and Lion's lodges and the local Masonic chapter. The life of this oddly named state senator came to an end in rather unusual circumstances on the afternoon of March 27, 1952 as the result of a tractor accident that occurred on his farm. On that date Druley had been using a tractor to remove boulders from a field on his property when it overturned, pinning him underneath. Byron Druley discovered his father two hours  later and his death was recorded by his death certificate as being the result of a "crushed chest"

    Following funeral services at the Trinity Lutheran Church Thollie Druley was interred at the Lutherania Cemetery in Richmond. He was survived by all of his children and his wife Emma, who passed away in 1967. Pauline Druley Kaufman, the Druley's eldest child, was also the last surviving of their three children, dying in March 2005, six months short of her 100th birthday.

Druley's obituary (courtesy of the Wayne County Historical Museum), from the Palladium, Mar. 28, 1952.

McAdoo Wilson Clouser (1918-1999)

McAdoo "Mike" Clouser, from the Kokomo Morning Times, February 10, 1965.

   A prominent public figure in Tipton County, Indiana for over three decades, McAdoo Wilson "Mike" Clouser represented that county in the Indiana General Assembly for one term in the mid-1960s. A past chairman of the Tipton County Democratic Committee, Clouser also served as part of the Indiana delegation to the 1984 Democratic National Convention held in San Francisco.

   One of thirteen children born to Albert (1889-1963) and Bertha Izora Terwiliger Clouser (1892-1951), McAdoo Wilson Clouser's birth occurred in Modoc, Indiana on May 25, 1918. The origins behind his unusual first name are unknown at this time but could be connected to William Gibbs McAdoo (1863-1941), an influential political figure who served as U.S. Treasury Secretary and U.S. Senator from California. McAdoo served as the treasury secretary under President Woodrow Wilson (who was Chief Executive when Mr. Clouser was born) and it may not be a foregone conclusion that Mr. Clouser received his first and middle names in honor of those two men. While his first name is certainly unusual, Clouser was known by "Mike" throughout his life.

   A student at both Butler University and the University of Indiana, Clouser married in 1939 to Wilma Maxine Heflin (1920-2008), with whom he would have six children: Diane, Barbara, Tom, Tim, Patricia, and Merrilee. A farmer in Tipton County for many years, Clouser operated a 220-acre farm and was also active in several civic organizations within that county, including the United Auto Workers Union #685, the Federal Land Bank Association, the Elwood Masonic Lodge, and the Union 2882 of the C.I.O-A.F.L United Steelworkers. 

   In the early 1960s, Mike Clouser assumed the office of chief probation officer of Tipton County and was still the incumbent in that office when he received the nomination for joint representative from Tipton and Howard County to the Indiana General Assembly in 1964. Opposing Clouser in that year's election was Harold L. Scott Jr., a Kokomo-based realtor. Clouser would win the election that November, gaining 2,244 votes in Howard County and "carried his home county by 585".

A Clouser campaign ad from the Tipton Tribune, October 30, 1964.

    Taking his seat at the start of the 1965-67 session, Clouser sat on the house committees on  Education, the Judiciary (B), and the Organization of Courts and Criminal Code. Busy as a first-term legislator, Clouser was interviewed in the February 10, 1965 edition of the Kokomo Morning Times, which quoted this piece of advice from him: "If you keep active in civic affairs than the job of teaching your children to be good citizens becomes easy." Clouser further related in his Morning Times interview that one of the major pieces of legislation during that year's session was an attempt to repeal a then-existing "right-to-work" law that had been passed by the Republican-controlled house back in 1957. By the time of Clouser's term in the legislature, the law had been so badly received that it was indeed repealed by the legislature, with Clouser noting that: 

"It was of course part of my party's (Democrat) platform and it made Indiana look more progressive than it has been in the last few years. Actually you might think my politics are a bit conservative; maybe more so than a lot of Republicans when it comes to spending money. I fight against bills occasionally in an attempt to save a dollar."

  In 1966 McAdoo Clouser launched his campaign for reelection to the house, running against Republican nominee Elwood Haynes Hillis (1926-     ). On election day it was Hillis who emerged victorious, besting Clouser in the vote count. He would go on to serve two terms in the legislature (1967-1971) and later won election to Congress in 1970, serving here for eight terms.

Clouser's reelection campaign notice from the Tipton Tribune, Nov. 1, 1966. 

   Following his defeat for reelection in 1966, Mike Clouser continued to be actively involved in Hoosier State politics. While employed by the Chrysler Corp. in Kokomo, Indiana he continued to serve as chairman of the Tipton County Democratic committee (having held the post since 1962) and in 1970 announced his candidacy for the Indiana state senate. In the election held in May of that year, he was defeated by Republican candidate Merton Stanley by a vote of 3,526 to 1,756.  Four years later Clouser filed for nomination as U.S. Representative for Indiana's Fifth Congressional district but was unsuccessful in his candidacy.

    In the latter period of his life, Clouser continued to farm and in 1982 retired from Chrysler. Two years following his retirement he served as a delegate from Indiana to the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco where Walter Mondale was nominated for the Presidency. After many years of public service to Tipton County McAdoo W. Clouser died on September 23, 1999, at age 81 at the St. Vincent Mercy Hospital in Elwood, Indiana. He was survived by his children and his wife Maxine, who was interred alongside him at the New Lancaster Cemetery following her death in 2008.

Mike Clouser, from the April 22, 1970 Tipton Tribune.

Arcada Stark Balz (1879-1973)

                                                                   Arcada Campbell Stark Balz, 1879-1973.

   Joining an all-too-short list of oddly named female political figures who've been featured here, Arcada Campbell Stark Balz etched her name into the history books in November 1941 when she became the first woman to be elected to the Indiana State Senate. A nearly lifelong resident of the Hoosier State, Balz was active in numerous women's civic organizations in the state and gained further distinction as president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs in the late 1930s.
   The daughter of James Orbin and Mary Elizabeth Stark, Arcada Campbell Stark was born in near Bloomington, Indiana on December 31, 1879. She was a student at the Manual High School in Indianapolis and would later be engaged as a teacher in that city's junior high school system, teaching history, literature, and art classes. Stark married in Marion County, Indiana on November 20, 1905, to Frederick George Balz (1875-1954), the owner of the Indianapolis-based Star Millinery Company. The couple is believed to have remained childless through their nearly fifty years of marriage.
   Prior to her time in state government, Arcada Stark Balz was a prominent figure in numerous women's clubs in Indianapolis, including service as president of the Indiana Federation of Women's Clubs from 1932 to 1935. Two years later she would assume the directorship of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, holding that office until 1939. Beginning in 1937 Balz was affiliated with the New Harmony Memorial Commission, a "voluntary commission" established by an Indiana legislative resolution that aimed to "preserve and protect" the historic New Harmony settlement, a 19th-century community that had been devoted to religious/Utopian ideals. Balz had been appointed to the commission by then Indiana Governor Maurice Townsend and served as the group's president. During the commission's existence its members:

"Diligently conducted surveys and programs in keeping with the provisions of the joint resolution. It sponsored two elaborate annual Golden Rain Tree Festivals in New Harmony....and numerous newspaper and magazine articles were published for the purpose of cultivating public interest."

From the 1943 Indiana State Senate composite portrait.

    In November 1941 Arcada Stark Balz was elected to the Indiana State Senate from the counties of Marion and Johnson. The first woman ever to win election to the state senate in its 120-year history, Balz defeated Democratic nominee Robert C. Kirby by a vote of 89,093 to 78,654 and took her seat at the start of the 1942-46 session. She would be returned to the Senate in the 1945 election year and served another four-year term. During the 1947 session, Balz was chairwoman of the Committee on Public Health and also held a seat on the Committee on Benevolent Institutions. Having set a precedent as the first female member of the Indiana senate, her government service was praised in her 1973 Kokomo Tribune death notice (shown below) which noted that she:

"Pioneered in the campaign for legislation to license nursing homes and to regulate women's working hours and wages. She was also amongst the first to push for improving school attendance requirements and establishing a merit system for state employees."

  After leaving the senate in 1950 Balz continued to reside in Indianapolis until a few years before her death. She celebrated her 90th birthday in 1969 and later removed from Indiana to Orlando, Florida, where she died at age 93 on August 18, 1973. She had been preceded in death by her husband Frederick in 1954 and was later interred alongside him at Indianapolis' famed Crown Hill Cemetery.

Arcada S. Balz, from the 1947 Indiana Senate composite.

From the Kokomo Tribune, August 20, 1973.

Venorris Raymond Taylor (1821-1904)

From the 1881 Indiana State House of Representatives composite photo.

   From Daviess County, Indiana we journey south to the county of Noble and one of that area's more oddly named public figures...Venorris Raymond Taylor. A transplant to the Hoosier state from Ohio, Mr. Norris represented Noble County in the Indiana General Assembly for one term beginning in 1881.

   Born in Burlington, Ohio on November 28, 1821, Venorris R. Taylor was the son of Philo (1796-1876) and Annebella Harmon Taylor (1795-1856). His family removed from Burlington to Portage County when he was still a child and his early education was limited to the local schools. The Taylor family relocated to La Grange County, Indiana in 1837 and Venorris would continue his studies at the La Grange Collegiate Institute in the town of Ontario. 

   Venorris R. Taylor married on his 29th birthday in Indiana to Mary Anne Rowe (1828-1873). The couple was married for over twenty years and this marriage produced three sons, Philo John (born 1852), William Lamborn (1853-1940), and George Henry (born 1858). The couple would move to Noble County sometime after their marriage and of their three children William would follow his father into politics, being elected as Indiana State Attorney General in 1898. Following his marriage, Taylor taught school for several years and also operated an eighty-acre farm. Widowed in 1873, Taylor remarried two years later to Elizabeth A. Betts, who would survive him upon his death in 1904. 

   Active in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Wolcottville, Taylor began serving as a church trustee in 1877.  He refrained from entering political life until he was nearly 60 years of age, and in 1880 he was nominated as Noble County's representative to the Indiana General Assembly. He would win election to that body that November, and in an odd twist would serve in the same legislative session as his brother Oscar, who was a representative from the neighboring county of La Grange. During the 1881-1883 session, Venorris would hold the chairmanship of the house committee on Banks, as well as serving on the committee on the Sinking Fund. 

   After leaving the legislature Taylor returned to private life in Wolcottville. Alvord's History of Noble County notes that even though advanced in age Taylor continued to be active in the affairs of his adopted hometown, and:

"Proved himself a public spirited and progressive citizen, deeply interested in the welfare of his community and all that contributes to its educational and moral advancements."

  Venorris R. Taylor died at age 82 on August 1, 1904. He would be interred at the Woodland Cemetery in Wolcottville and was survived by his second wife Elizabeth, who was buried at this same cemetery upon her death in 1909. 

Flavian Alphonsus Seal (1879-1959)

From the Washington Davies County Democrat, October 22, 1910.

   If you've followed the Strangest Names In American Political History's Facebook page you'll know that today we begin a week-long stay in Indiana to highlight a few of the Hoosier State's unusually named political figures. Today's profile takes us to Daviess County and Flavian Alphonsus Seal, a prominent local attorney who was elected to two terms as Prosecuting Attorney of Indiana's 49th Judicial District. A practicing lawyer for over fifty years, Seal was born in Barr Township, Indiana on May 13, 1879, one of several children born to William Marshall Seal Jr.(1841-1928) and the former Minerva Jane Padgett (1839-1915).

   Flavian Seal began his education in the "common schools of Barr township" and later taught school for a short period. He continued his schooling at colleges in "Mitchell and Bloomington" and graduated from the University of Indiana at Indianapolis. He married in October 1903 to Mary Graves (1881-1969) and later had seven children: Mable Afra (1905-1978), Ralph Alphonsus (1907-1966), Mildred Mary (1908-1993), Charles Alvin (1910-1971), Cecilia Alice (1910-2005), Mary Estelle (1912-1990) and Margaret Ernestine (1912-1929). 

   Having earned his law degree in 1903 Seal would open a law practice in the town of Loogootee and from 1905-1910 served that community as city attorney. In 1910 he launched a candidacy for Prosecuting Attorney of the 49th Judicial Circuit of Indiana and in November defeated Republican nominee Lewis C. McFadden by a vote of 4,703 to 4,337. Seal would be reelected in 1912 and served until January 1, 1915, being succeeded by Charles Mears, who had earlier served as county attorney from 1898-1901.

  After leaving office Flavian A. Seal was the senior partner in the firm of Seal and Seal with his son Charles Alvin, operating out of Washington, Indiana. Flavian would also serve as a "special judge of the circuit court" for the counties of Martin and Daviess "many times" and was a member of both the Daviess County Bar Association and the Daviess County Hospital's Board of Governors.

   Seal continued to be active in the affairs of Daviess County until his death, which occurred at his home in Washington on March 2, 1959, two months short of his 80th birthday. His wife and six children survived him and following her death in 1969 Mary Graves Seal was interred alongside her husband at the St. Johns's Cemetery in Loogootee, Indiana.

  

Trible Dix Sutton (1902-1987)

Trible Dix Sutton, from the 1966 Virginia House of Delegates composite photo.

    The following profile takes us to Virginia and one Trible Dix Sutton, an attorney who served three terms as Henrico County's representative to the Virginia State House of Delegates. Like Treffle G. Levesque (profiled a few days ago), Sutton's name was located via the 1967-68 edition of "Who's Who in American Politics". While very little exists online in regards to Sutton's life and time in politics, his brief biography in "Who's Who" helped out significantly in terms of gathering information!

   Born in Henrico County on May 24, 1902, Trible Dix Sutton was the son of John Trible and Florence Dix Sullivan. Inheriting his unusual first and middle names courtesy of his parents, Sutton would attend the University of Richmond from 1919-1921 and between 1921-1927 worked as a clerk in the accounting department of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (this according to the previously mentioned Who's Who In American Politics, 1967-68.) He married in Hanover, Virginia on September 19, 1922, to Bessie Bertha McAllister  (1903-1996). The couple later had three children, Howard Trible (1926-1995), Dorothy May (born 1928), and Edward Dix (died in infancy in 1936).

   Sutton began the practice of law in 1928 and would continue in this profession both before and after his time in state government. In addition to practicing law, Sutton was active in several religious and fraternal organizations in Virginia, being a secretary of the Virginia Baptist Board of Missions, moderator of the Dover Baptist Association, and a past master of the Glen Allen Lodge #131 of Free and Accepted Masons. A longstanding member of both the Virginia State and Richmond Bar Associations, Sutton also chaired the Henrico County Democratic Committee for a time. He would also author the genealogical work "The Suttons of Caroline County, Virginia" and in 1941 saw it published by the Richmond Press.

   Elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in November 1963, T. Dix Sutton took his seat at the start of the 1964-66 legislative session and would be named to the house committees on Counties Cities, and Towns, Officers and Offices at the Capitol, and Public Institutions and Welfare. As a candidate for reelection in 1965, Sutton faced an uphill battle, losing the Democratic primary in July to contested election returns. Dr. William Ferguson Reid, a prominent Richmond surgeon who won a court order placement on that year's ballot, became the Democratic candidate for the legislature and hoped to become the first African American elected to the state house since reconstruction. Even though he lost the primary, T. Dix Sutton launched a candidacy as an independent and on November 4th won the election as a write-in candidate.

From the American Jewish Outlook, September 1964.

   During the 1966-67 term, Sutton would sit on the committees on Enrolled Bills, Welfare and Game and Inland Fisheries. He left the legislature at the end of that term and in November 1971 was returned to the house for a third term. Elected as an independent, Sutton served on three new committees during this session, those being Claims, Health Welfare and Institutions, and Militia and Police. 

   Sutton's third term concluded in 1973 and in 1975 was an unsuccessful candidate for the Virginia State Senate's 34th district. After many years of public service to Henrico County Trible Dix Sutton died on March 27, 1987, at age 84. He was survived by his wife and two children and was interred at the Forest Lawn Cemetery and Mausoleum in Richmond.