Anning Smith Prall (1870-1937)

Portrait courtesy of the Library of Congress.

  Six-term U.S. Representative Anning Smith Prall received a brief mention in April 8th's profile on Esli Lyle Sutton, the man whom Prall defeated for a seat in Congress in 1926. A lifelong New Yorker, Prall was a past member of the New York City Board of Education and city tax commissioner before his years in Congress. Further political honors came his way following his leaving the house, as he was appointed by then-President Franklin Roosevelt to the Federal Communications Commission.

  The son of William and Josephine Rebecca Prall, Anning S. Prall was born at Port Richmond, Staten Island on September 17, 1870. His early education occurred in Staten Island and in the early 1890s enrolled at New York University. He would later enter into the employ of the New York World newspaper, where he worked as a reporter. In 1896 he left that paper and entered the Richmond County clerk's office, where he served as chief clerk for several years. Prall married in January 1892 to Jane Beaver and had two sons, Anning Mortimer and Bryan.

   In 1907 Anning Prall began a decade-long affiliation with the Staten Island Savings Bank's Mortgage and Loan Department, being the director of its real estate division. Twelve years later he was elected as President of the New York City Board of Education, defeating incumbent president Arthur S. Somers. Despite having no previous experience in state educational matters, Prall took to the job with vigor, outlining an extensive plan to increase teacher's salaries and hire only "aggressively loyal Americans" to teach in New York City schools. Promising to try and curb the influence of radicalism in the city schools, Prall remarked that:

"We should not retain in our classrooms for one moment minds so corrupted by radical doctrines that they cannot be aggressively loyal Americans, who are reverent and sympathetic expounders of a democracy which is the most effective government the world has ever devised to ensure all men life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."

Anning Prall as he appeared in the New York Tribune, May 14, 1919.

   Prall's tenure as school board president extended until 1921 when he resigned to join the City Board of Taxes and Assessment. Regarded as "a real estate expert" during his time on the board, Prall served there until 1923,  and in that year entered into national politics for the first time, due to the death of ten-term Congressman Daniel Riordan (1870-1953). 

   A representative from Long Island since 1905, Riordan died in office on April 23, 1923, and following his death, a special election was held to fill his vacant seat in Congress. As the Democratic nominee to fill the vacancy, Prall's opponent in that election was Republican Guy O. Walser, a lawyer based in Staten Island. On election day that year, it was Prall who won by a wide margin, besting Walser by a vote of 28,215 to 9,972. Taking his seat at the start of the January 1924 session, Prall won a second term in November 1924 and two years later triumphed over Richmond County lawyer Esli L. Sutton to win a third term. 

  Prall would serve a further three terms in Congress and would serve on the committee on Banking and Currency during his twelve years in the house. Towards the end of his time in Congress Prall was involved in a serious automobile accident that also injured U.S. Senator Robert F. Wagner. In a Schenectady Gazette write-up on the incident, Prall and Wagner had been on their way to Canada on a fishing trip when Wagner swerved his car to avoid hitting an oncoming truck. Their vehicle ended up driving over a twenty-foot embankment before finally coming to rest "on its side in an Adirondack mountain brook". Both politicians were injured in the accident, with Prall himself sustaining a "compound fracture of one leg."

Prall taking the oath of office shortly before his FCC service.

   Following a hospital stay recuperating from his injuries, Prall resumed work in Congress. During his years on Capitol Hill Prall had gained a firm friend in President Franklin Roosevelt, who in January 1935 appointed him to the Federal Communications Commission. Prall would advance to the post of Chairman of that commission and during his two-year tenure was acknowledged as a staunch defender of "freedom of speech over the airwaves." Utilizing his previous service on the NYC Board of Education, Prall also saw radio as a powerful educational tool, one that if used wisely could spread positive "democratic propaganda" throughout the country, if not the world. As Prall himself stated at an FCC conference in 1936, radio could:

"Spread the ideas and ideals of America, can 'sell' America to Americans, and thus forge a weapon of national unity that no other agency can create."

 Anning Smith Prall died while still chairman of the FCC on July 23, 1937, having succumbed to a heart attack at his summer home in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. He was survived by his wife and two sons and was later interred in the Prall family plot at the Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp, Staten Island. Far from a forgotten political figure, Prall was later honored by having Intermediate School 27 on Staten Island named after him, being known as the Anning S. Prall Intermediate School.

From the Ogdensburgh Journal, July 23, 1937.

Esli Lyle Sutton (1875-1945)

From the Staten Island Leader, October 31, 1924.

   A "lawyer of criminal and corporate reputation", as well as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from New York, Richmond County resident Esli Lyle Sutton had previously been a two-time candidate for Richmond County District Attorney. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 16, 1875, Esli L. Sutton was the son of Charles Albert and Martha Wirt Sutton.  He was a graduate of the University of Minnesota in the class of 1897 and married in Wisconsin in June of that year to Leilah Pearl Gowdy (1880-1965). The couple would later have two daughters, Ila Neva (born 1899) and Janice Lyle (born 1901).

  Esli Sutton began the practice of law in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1904 was recorded as being a resident of Minot in that state. Further information relates that he was also retained as an attorney for the Great Northern Railway. By 1915 Sutton had relocated to New York City and during World War I served as a Major of Infantry. Following that war's conclusion he continued in the practice of law and for a time was head of the Admiralty Law Department of the U.S. Shipping Board in New York City.

   In the early 1920s, Esli Sutton began service as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In late 1924 Sutton announced that he would be seeking the Republican nomination for District Attorney for Richmond County, New York. Running against Democrat Albert Cole Fach (1882-1972), Sutton was touted by the Staten Island Leader as being a strong presence in local civic affairs, as well as having"a host of friends throughout the Borough." 

  On election day 1924, it was Fachs who triumphed at the polls, besting Sutton by a vote of 22, 436 to 13,060. In the year following that loss, Sutton was again a candidate for District Attorney. As the Staten Island Leader reported in its October 9, 1925 edition, Sutton would be making "automobile tours to all corners of the island", as well as speaking tours with other Republican candidates running that year. In November Sutton was dealt another loss to Albert Fach, who would continue to serve as District Attorney until 1931.

From the Staten Island Leader.

   With two unsuccessful candidacies behind him, Esli Sutton set his sights on higher office in 1926, announcing his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 11th Congressional district. Sutton's opponent that year was another oddly named man, two-term incumbent Anning Smith Prall (1870-1937), a former New York City Commissioner of Taxes and Assessment. When the votes were tallied on November 2, 1926, it was Anning S. Prall who coasted to a third term in Congress, besting Sutton by a wide margin, 34, 265 votes to 12, 929.

   Following his loss for Congress Sutton returned to practicing law and sometime later moved to Bergen County, New Jersey. In 1942 he authored and edited a history of the family entitled "Genealogical Notes of the Sutton Family of New Jersey". Three years following the publication of that work Esli Lyle Sutton died in Englewood on April 17, 1945. A burial location for Sutton and his family remains unknown at this time.

Carrollton Arthur Roberts (1903-1979)

Portrait from the Fairport Herald-Mail.

    A recent discovery as far as unusual names are concerned, Judge Carrollton Arthur Roberts of Ontario County, New York is very likely the only man named "Carrollton" ever to be elected to public office in New York state. A veteran of the First World War, Roberts was a former District Attorney for Ontario County and in 1943 began a quarter-century tenure as Ontario County Judge. In the twilight of his life, further honors were accorded to him when he won election to the New York State Supreme Court, being elected at the ripe old age of sixty-four.

  The son of Milton and Mary Roberts, Carrollton A. Roberts was born on January 30, 1903, and spent his early years in Geneva, New York. He would attend a boarding school in Dayton, Ohio during his adolescence and at the dawn of American involvement in World War I enlisted in the Army, joining the 29th Engineers. His time with that unit saw him deployed to both Germany and France, and in the latter country "served in the four American engagements, Soissons, Chateau Thierry, St. Mihiel, and the Argonne Forest." 

  Following his return stateside Carrollton Roberts entered into law studies at Cornell University, attending that school from 1925 to 1928. He continued his studies at the University of North Carolina's Law School and was admitted to the New York bar in the early 1930s. Soon after his admittance Roberts entered into a clerkship at the Geneva-based law firm of Lapham, McGreevy, and Ryan, with whom he would be affiliated for several years. During this time he made his first foray into local politics, being elected to the Geneva Common Council. 

   In 1935 Carrollton Roberts won election as Geneva City Treasurer, holding that post until his election as District Attorney of Ontario County two years later. Roberts would serve six years as District Attorney and in 1943 succeeded to the post of Ontario County Judge. His tenure on the bench extended twenty-five years, and during that time also served in the capacity of family and surrogate court judge. Judge Roberts married in 1950 to Flint, Michigan native Alice Marie Light and later had two children, Marianne and Gregory.

  Three years after taking the reins as county judge Carrollton A. Roberts announced that he would be seeking the Republican nomination for Congress from New York's 38th district. Hoping to wrest the nomination from thirteen-term incumbent John Taber (1880-1965), Roberts faced an uphill battle. The Newark Courier-Gazette reported on that year's primary election, relating that Roberts:

"Is expected only to reap the harvest of the longstanding Townsend opposition to Taber because of his refusal to vote on the Old Age Revolving Pension Plan of Dr. Townsend."

From the Newark Herald Courier-Gazette, August 15, 1946.

   When the primary votes were cast in late August 1946 it was John Taber who claimed victory. He would continue to serve in Congress until 1963, retiring after a total of 41 years of service.  Despite this loss, Roberts would continue as Ontario County Judge, and after a quarter-century on the bench set his sights on a higher judicial position, that of Supreme Court Justice for New York's 7th Judicial District. Several New York newspapers in that district touted Roberts' judicial experience during the 1967 election year and in November Roberts won election to that court.

   Elected as a justice at the age of 64, Roberts would serve only four years on the Supreme Court, announcing his retirement on February 1, 1972. Little is known of Roberts' life following his retirement, except notice of his death in Broward County, Florida on June 6, 1979. A burial location for Roberts remains unknown at this time but is presumed to be somewhere in the Ontario County area.

From the Fairport Herald-Mail, Nov. 1, 1967.

Dorr Sweet Hickey (1898-1942)

Portrait from the Phillips Exeter Academy Yearbook, 1918.

   The city of Oneonta in Otsego County, New York has elected two oddly named mayors in its century-plus history, Bertus Clark Lauren (Mayor from 1926-1931) and today's "honoree", Dorr Sweet Hickey. Hickey was a Yale University graduate and a semi-pro baseball player before his involvement in Oneonta's political life. A three-term alderman in that city, Hickey was elected as Mayor of Oneonta by the city's common council following the death of Mayor Daniel Franklin. In an unusual turn of events, Hickey himself died just three days following his election!

   The son of druggist Thomas M. Hickey and the former May Sweet, Dorr Sweet Hickey was born in Milford, New York on September 21, 1898. Hickey received his first and middle names in honor of his maternal uncle, Dorr R. Sweet (died 1918), a Milford resident and farmer. Hickey graduated from Milford High School and also attended the Phillips Exeter Academy. Hickey would enter into the naval reserves during WWI and at war's conclusion was "stationed in officer's training school at Pelham Bay." 

    In the early 1920s Dorr Hickey entered Yale University and during his time here was a member of the Delta Epsilon Fraternity. Hickey would be a standout athlete during his Yale years, being a member of that school's baseball and basketball teams. Following his graduation from Yale Hickey would continue involvement with sports, being affiliated with the Newark Bears, then the farm team of the New York Yankees. Hickey's 1942 obituary also relates that his time in baseball made him "invaluable" when it came to organizing the Oneonta Professional club in the Canadian-American League.

    Before his removal to Oneonta in 1926, Hickey had been employed by the R.T. French Company of Rochester (famed for their production of mustard and other condiments), as well as the American Art Works of New York City. Following his relocation to Oneonta Hickey joined his father Thomas at the Empire State Oil Company, a "wholesale and retail petroleum dealer". Dorr S. Hickey served as vice president and manager of that company from 1926 until his death and on February 25, 1928, married in Jamestown, North Dakota to Lois Durfee Eddy (1902-1991). The couple would later have two children, Thomas Eddy (born 1929) and Gracia Ann (1931-1981).

   In addition to his time with the Empire State Oil Company, Hickey was active in the public life of Oneonta and Otsego County, being a member of the Oneonta Chamber of Commerce and the Masonic order. He served as Boy Scout commissioner for the counties of Otsego, Delaware, and Schoharie from 1931-1932 and from 1931-37 chaired the Board of Trustees of the Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta.

   Dorr Sweet Hickey entered the political life of Oneonta in 1937 when he was elected to that city's Common Council. He would serve three terms and in late 1942 assumed the responsibilities of acting mayor of Oneonta due to the illness of incumbent Mayor Daniel Franklin, who had served as mayor since 1938. Franklin died in office on October 12, 1942, and on October 28th Dorr Hickey was appointed as Oneonta's new mayor by a vote of the common council. Hickey's time as mayor proved to be extremely brief, as he died three days following his appointment!! Just 44 years of age at the time of his death, Hickey had been ill with Bright's disease for a year prior to his death and was survived by his wife, children, and both his parents.

   Remarked as being "possessed of a winning personality and high character" by his contemporaries, Hickey was later interred at the Milford Cemetery in Milford, New York.

 From the Syracuse New York Journal, 1942.

Foss Oscar Eldred (1884-1956)

From the Daily Times, October 1931.

   A prominent officeholder in Michigan during the first half of the 20th century, Foss Oscar Eldred served in several political capacities during his life, including stints as a state senator, Ionia County Prosecuting Attorney, and Mayor of the city of Ionia. In addition to those offices, Eldred was a Republican candidate for Congress in 1931 and in 1946 was appointed as Attorney General of Michigan. 

   Born in Lacota, Van Buren County, Michigan on March 15, 1884, Foss O. Eldred was the son of Albert and Celinda Eldred. He would attend the Albion College and the Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti. Eldred earned a teaching degree from the latter institution and for several years afterward taught in the Ionia area. He held the superintendency of the Lyons, Michigans school district and for four years served as principal for the State Normal College's training school. Foss Eldred married on August 7, 1907, to Ernanie Mary Olmstead (1889-1951). One son would be born to their union, Albert Ney Eldred (1920-2011), who followed in his father's footsteps, serving as Ionia County Prosecuting Attorney in the early 1950s.

   In the late 1900s, Foss Eldred began focusing on the study of law and was admitted to the Michigan bar in 1910. Following his admittance Eldred joined in a law partnership with Royal Hawley and Harry Gemuend, operating under the name Hawley, Eldred, and Gemuend. In 1912 Eldred entered Ionia County politics for the first time, beginning a short stint as county Circuit Court Commissioner. 

  Eldred returned to his law practice after leaving the above-mentioned post and in November 1920 announced his candidacy for a seat in the Michigan state senate. Running to represent the 18th senatorial district, Eldred coasted to an easy victory that November, defeating Democratic nominee Edward Higbee by a vote of 14, 625 to 5, 361.

  Taking his seat at the start of the January 1921 session, Eldred was named to the following committees during this term: Education, Judiciary, State Affairs, State Hospitals and Supplies, and Expenses. He won re-election to the senate in November 1922, besting Democratic nominee Amos Welch by over 2,000 votes on election day. Eldred's second senate term saw him continue service on the committee on education and also saw him sit on one new committee, that being the committee on Insurance.

An Eldred campaign notice from the Owosso Argus Times, October 5, 1931.

    Foss Eldred wasn't a candidate for a third term in 1924 and one year after leaving the Senate was elected as Prosecuting Attorney for Ionia County. He would serve in that capacity from 1925-1928 and in 1931 launched a candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives. Hoping to represent Michigan's 8th congressional district, Eldred's opponent that year was Democrat Michael J. Hart (1877-1951), a former public school teacher and farmer. In a contest that pitted a "dry" prohibition candidate (Eldred) against a "wet" anti-prohibition candidate (Hart), it was the latter who triumphed in the vote count, beating the heavily favored Eldred by a vote of 25,803 to 20,641. 

   Eldred's political fortunes changed in 1935 when he won election as mayor of Ionia. He held that office for four years and in 1940 served as part of the Michigan delegation to the Republican National Convention being held in Philadelphia. Three years later Eldred was appointed as Deputy Attorney General of Michigan, serving under Herbert Rushton. He continued in that office until 1946, and in that year reached his highest degree of political prominence when he was appointed as Attorney General of Michigan. Eldred's appointment to that post came about due to the Republican State Convention rejecting the renomination of then-Attorney General John R. Dethmers, who would later be appointed to the Michigan State Supreme Court. Eldred would serve out the remainder of Dethmer's term.

   Widowed in January 1951, Foss O. Eldred survived his wife Ernanie by five years, dying on February 17, 1956, one month short of his 72nd birthday. Both Eldred and his wife were interred at the North Plains Cemetery in Ionia following their deaths.

Nelius Moonat Nelson (1870-1930), Nelius Gunnarsen Eggen (1853 - ?)

From the South Dakota Legislative Manual, 1915.

   A one-term member of the South Dakota State House of Representatives from McCook County, Nelius Moonat Nelson's birth occurred in Bellsville Township, Iowa on May 4, 1870. One of five children born to Swedish immigrants Swan (born 1843) and Celia Nelson, Nelius Nelson's birth in Pocahontas County is notable as he was the "first male child born in the county." He attended schools local to the Pocahontas County area and would go on to study at both the Fremont and Highland Park colleges. 

   Nelius M. Nelson left his Iowa home in 1892 and moved to South Dakota, eventually settling in McCook County. He would reside here for the remainder of his life and following his removal became "engaged in the abstracting business." He married on January 8, 1908, in Salem, South Dakota to Swedish native Alma Sundstrom (1881-1972). The couple would have at least three children, Howard (died in infancy in 1911), Virginia Isabel, and Cecilia M.

   Nelson became active in local politics in Salem during the early 1900s, serving for eight years as clerk of the Salem school board and for six years as Salem city auditor. In November 1914 he was elected as McCook County's representative to the South Dakota legislature and took his seat at the start of the January 1915 session. Interestingly enough Nelson served in the same legislative session as that of Olymphious Sigurinius Thompson (1875-1968), profiled here back in July 2011!

  Following his term in the state legislature, little else could be found on the life of Nelius M. Nelson. He died on October 18, 1930, at age 60 and was survived by his wife Alma. Both were interred at the Wildwood Cemetery in Salem, South Dakota.

Portrait from the Minneapolis Journal, February 15, 1905.

   Another "Nelius" who made his name known politically was Nelius Gunnarsen Eggen of Fargo, North Dakota. A one-term member of the North Dakota State House of Representatives, Eggen was a native of Norway, being born in Levanger on either September 7 or September 19, 1853. His middle name is recorded as "Gunnarsen" (this via an ancestry.com listing) and is believed to have immigrated to the United States in 1882. 

   Settling in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Eggen resided here for several years and later was a resident of Minnesota. Nelius Eggen married in Winneshiek County, Iowa in 1887 to Ms. Antoinette "Nettie" Olson (birth date unknown), with whom he would have two daughters, Mable and Ethel. He would migrate to North Dakota sometime later and for many years afterward was a resident of Fargo. 

  In the late 19th century Nelius and his brother Marius would establish Eggen Bros., a business specializing in the sale of pianos and organs. Their company is recorded as "having received many good pianos and organs that are in many Norwegian homes and churches in the Northwest." The Eggen brother's firm would later add lines of clothing to their business, including fur coats, cloaks, jackets, and capes. 

  In November 1904 Nelius Eggen was elected as one of Cass County's representatives to the North Dakota state legislature, garnering 1,460 votes on election day. During his two-year term, Eggen sat on the house committees on Apportionment, Engrossed Bills, Corporations Other Than Municipal, and Women's Suffrage. 

  Eggen's term in the house concluded in 1907 and his post-government career saw him serve as treasurer of the Scandinavian-American Bank of Fargo. Several ancestry.com mentions denote Eggen's later removal to California, where it is presumed that he died; his death date and burial location being unknown at the time of this writing. 

Chancellor William Hookway (1876-1945), Chancellor Hartson (1824-1889)

Portrait from the North Dakota Magazine, Vol, 4, 1914.

   North Dakota state senator Chancellor William Hookway is on a shortlist of American political figures who sport a title as a first name. Like General G.O. Pence and Colonel E. Rudesill before him, Hookway's unusual first name is somewhat misleading, as he never served as chancellor of any post during his life!

   A native of Canada, Chancellor W. Hookway's birth occurred (depending on the source) in either West Lorne or Aldborough Township, Ontario on March 21, 1876 (or 1877), the son of Francis and Mary Hookway. The Hookway family resided in Canada until 1884, thereafter removing to Pembina County, North Dakota. Chancellor would attend the common schools of St. Thomas in that county and graduated from the local high school. He entered the University of Minnesota in the late 1890s and in 1900 graduated from that university's law department. Shortly thereafter he removed to McHenry County and established his first law practice in the city of Granville, continuing in his profession for many years afterward.

   Chancellor Hookway married in the early 1900s to Mary E. Lindquist (born 1877) and later had one daughter, Myrtice (born ca. 1905-1940). Prior to his senate service Hookway served Granville as its city attorney (his dates of service being unknown) as well as a notary public. 

   In November 1910 Hookway was elected to the North Dakota State Senate, defeating his Democratic opponent Knute Steenerson by a vote of 952 to 342. Taking his seat in January 1911, Hookway served on the following committees during his four years in office: Cities and Municipal Corporations, Corporations Other Than Municipal (chairman), Counties, Educational Institutions, the Judiciary, Mines and Minerals, Warehousing, and Grain and Grain Grading. 

Chancellor W. Hookway, from January 12, 1911, Grand Forks Evening Times.

   In July 1914 Hookway failed to gain renomination to the senate in a rather unique fashion. In that year's primary election, he and Democratic opponent J.M. Vatevog both received 398 votes, their tie resulting in a drawing under the supervision of the board of county commissioners. Hookway, unfortunately, lost the draw! Following that loss, Hookway returned to practicing law and later moved to Beadle County, South Dakota, where, in 1943, he was elected as County Judge. He would serve two years on the bench, dying in office on December 8, 1945, at age 69. He was survived by his wife Mary and a burial location for both Hookway and his wife remains unknown at this time.

Chancellor Hartson, 1824-1889.

   From North Dakota, we make our way to California to profile another political "Chancellor", Chancellor Hartson of Napa County. A native of New York, Hartson removed to California during the gold rush years and subsequently went on to gain prominence in state government, being elected as a district attorney, county judge, state assemblyman, and state senator. Hartson would also make two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. House of Representatives, hoping to represent California's 3rd congressional district. In addition to being a distinguished name in Sunshine State politics, Hartson also has connections to my home county of Chautauqua, New York (more on that later!)

   Born in Otsego, New York in 1824,  Chancellor Hartson was the son of Horace and Asenath Liddell Hartson. He attended Madison University in his home state and earned his law degree from the Fowler Law School in Cherry Valley, New York. Like many other young men of the time, Hartson was bitten by the gold rush bug and in 1850 made his way to California. In the year following his sojourn west, he moved to Napa, where he would establish a law practice.

   Hartson's first few years in Napa saw him quickly rise through the ranks of county public life. In 1853 he was elected as county District Attorney and after his term succeeded to the post of county judge, continuing in that post until 1858. In 1854 he married Sinclairville, New York native Electa Burnell (died 1902), to whom he was wed until his death. Four children were born to the couple: Burnell, Ernest Harrison, Channing King (1872-1930), and Daisy Asenath.

  A prominent figure in the early years of the Republican Party in California, Hartson switched from a Whig to a Republican in the late 1850s. In 1862 he was elected to his first term in the California State Assembly, where he served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In the following year, he became a member of the state senate, serving continuously until 1867. During his term, he introduced an important piece of legislation, one that would have a lasting effect on Napa County. In March 1864 he introduced a bill "to aid in the construction of a railroad in Napa County", with bonds in the sum of $225,000 to be issued by the county board of supervisors. The bill was passed in April of that year and in May was voted on "by the people", who approved it by a "large majority."

Portrait from the History of Solano and Napa Counties, 1912.

  Shortly after the aforementioned vote, the Napa Valley Railroad Company was organized, and Chancellor Hartson took office as its first president. The railroad would have its inaugural train launch in June of 1865 and by the dawn of the 1870s, it had been connected to the transcontinental railroad.

   In 1867 Hartson made his first move into national politics when he became the Republican nominee for Congress from California's 3rd congressional district. In a close contest, Hartson lost out to Democratic nominee James Augustus Johnson (a future Lieutenant Governor of California), who defeated him by only 373 votes.  Hartson's second run for Congress in November 1868 brought him another loss to Johnson, this time by an even slimmer margin (just 264 votes!)

   Following these two losses, Chancellor Hartson refrained from political candidacy for several years and focused attention on his law practice. In 1871 he made his first move into banking, being a founding organizer of the Bank of Napa, of which he would serve as president. He continued in that role until January 1879, and in the following year was returned to the state assembly, being elected to fill a vacancy caused by the death of William James Maclay. Hartson would win another term in November 1880 and during the 1881-83 session of the legislature served as one of two chairmen of the Joint Senate and Assembly Committee on Prisons.

   During his assembly term, Hartson was appointed by President James Garfield as Collector of Internal Revenue for the district of San Francisco, an office that he would fill for several years. In 1886 he was even talked of as a potential candidate for Governor of California. Active in several other non-political areas in Napa County, Hartson held the post of president of the Board of Directors of the Napa State Hospital and for a time served as President of the Board of Trustees of Napa College. 

   Chancellor Hartson died on September 25, 1889, at age 65, his death resulting from " a sudden attack of apoplexy" suffered at his home. Acknowledged by his contemporaries as "one of the most kingly of men", Hartson was later interred at the Tulocay Cemetery in Napa.

Portrait from the Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

   In an interesting tidbit to conclude Hartson's write-up here, I've found that he has quite a strong connection to my home county of Chautauqua, New York. Both his parents (Horace and Asenath Hartson) are interred at the Levant Cemetery in Poland, New York, just a few miles from my home! More local connections can be found in Hartson's wife Electa Burnell (1832-1902), who was born in Sinclairville and was a sister of New York state assemblyman Madison Burnell (1812-1865), who represented Chautauqua County in the assembly from 1846-47.

The gravesite of Horace and Asenath Hartson, Levant Cemetery.

Dimmitt Heard Hoffman (1884-1965)

Portrait from the Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1957.

   An attorney based in Sedalia, Missouri, Dimmitt Heard Hoffman was elected as a judge for Missouri's 30th judicial circuit court and subsequently held that post for a total of thirty-six years. One of three children born to Judge Louis Hoffman and the former Sarah Eleanor Dimmitt, Dimmitt H. Hoffman was born in Sedalia, Missouri on August 29, 1884. Hoffman was given the unusual first name Dimmitt due to it being his mother's maiden name and was a student in the public school system of Sedalia. 

   In the early 1900s, Dimmitt Hoffman entered the University of Missouri and in 1907 graduated with his A.B. degree. He earned his Bachelor of Laws degree two years later and for a time taught a commercial law class at a business school in his home city of Sedalia. Following his admission to the state bar, Hoffman joined his father Louis (a former county prosecuting attorney and circuit court judge) in the law firm of Hoffman and Hoffman, which would attain "high place amongst the legal firms of Pettis County and western Missouri".

  Dimmitt H. Hoffman married in September 1916 to Agnes Lucille Davis (1891-1930), with whom he had one daughter, Mary Alice (born ca. 1928). Following Agnes' death at age 39 in 1930 Hoffman remarried to Maurine Hieronymus (1899-1959) and had another daughter, Ruth Maurine (born ca. 1936). 

Dimmitt H. Hoffman, from the 1905 Savitar yearbook.

    After a decade of practicing law in Sedalia Dimmitt Hoffman won election as a judge for Missouri's 30th judicial circuit court in 1922, defeating his Democratic opponent by a vote of 7,570 to 5,504. He would win reelection on five further occasions (1928, 1934, 1940, 1946, and 1952)  and during his lengthy tenure on the bench was elected as a member of the executive council of the Missouri Judicial Conference's Kansas City Court of Appeals district. He was first elected to that council in 1944 and two years later won another three-year term. 

    In 1958 Hoffman was not a candidate for reelection to the circuit court. In October of that year, he had been hospitalized in Wisconsin due to a blood clot in his leg, leading to speculation that he would "not be able to finish out his term". He retired from the bench at the end of his term in December 1958. Tragedy struck Hoffman in August 1959 when his second wife Maurine died at age 59. He would marry for a third time sometime later to Lois Driskell (died 1976), about whom little is known.

    Judge Dimmitt Hoffman died at age 81 on November 30, 1965. He was survived by his third wife Lois and was later interred at the Crown Hill Cemetery located in Sedalia, Missouri.

From the 1937-38 Official Manual of the State of Missouri.

Dosité Samuel Perkins (1866-1939)

Portrait courtesy of www.sulphur.org.

   Hailing from a state that has been severely underrepresented here on The Strangest Names In American Political History, Louisiana native Dosite Samuel Perkins was for many years a physician and surgeon in Calcasieu Parish. In 1914 he was appointed as the first mayor of Sulphur, Louisiana, which had been incorporated as a village a short while before. Prior to this appointment, Perkins had served two terms as Calcasieu Parish's representative in the Louisiana state legislature.

   A lifelong Louisianan, Dosite S. Perkins was born on December 12, 1866, at Rose Bluff in Calcasieu Parish. The son of Confederate veteran and former state representative Eli A. Perkins, Perkins's early life centered around his father's plantation. He attended schools local to the Calcasieu Parish area and studied both chemistry and physics at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. He continued to study at the Tulane Medical School and graduated in 1889 with his medical degree.

  Following his graduation, Perkins returned to Sulphur and established a medical practice. The succeeding years would see him build up a "leading drug store in the town" in addition to being a physician and surgeon. In 1893 he married Septima E. Postell (1871-1953) and later had four children: Paul Samuel (born 1894), Mable (1899-1900), Ruth (born 1901), and Logan Postell Perkins (born 1905). 

   Active in many areas of Calcasieu Parish public life, Perkins served as president of both the Parish School Board and the Calcasieu Board of Public Health. In addition to those posts, he held the vice presidency of the Lake Charles Savings and Trust Bank and also donated the building sites for several churches and schools in the Sulphur area. From 1892-1896 he served two terms in the Louisiana State House of Representatives and for a time served as acting chairman of the committee on Enrollment.

   In April 1914 the settlement of Sulphur was officially incorporated as a village and Dosite Perkins was appointed as its first mayor. His term extended until 1916 and was succeeded in that office by George Root, who had won the village's first mayoral election that September. After his term as mayor Perkins was elected to the Sulphur City Council in the mid-1920s and died on December 13, 1939, one day following his 73rd birthday. His widow Septima survived him by fourteen years, and following her death in 1953 was interred alongside her husband at the Orange Grove Cemetery in Lake Charles, Louisiana.