Hooper Cumming Van Vorst (1817-1889)

  

From the Yearbook of the Holland Society of New York, 1887.

   The theme of interestingly named judicial figures continues as we take a peek at the life of a judge named Hooper.....Hooper Cumming Van Vorst to be precise. While most people (after hearing the name "Hooper", mind you) will probably remember "Mr. Hooper" and his store on "Sesame Street", one would probably never guess that there was a New York State Supreme Court justice with it as a first name!! An attorney and first President of the Holland Society of New York, Van Vorst was viewed as one of New York's leading legal lights during his sixteen years of service on the bench. Despite his prominence in 19th century New York, Van Vorst is all but forgotten today, and although a few pieces of period literature can be found online that mention him at great length, the following piece aims to shed more light on the life of this oddly named New York jurist, more than a century after his death.

  Born of Dutch ancestry on December 3, 1817, in Schenectady, New York, Hooper Cumming Van Vorst was the son of John (1784-1844) and Elizabeth Baker Van Vorst. A descendant of a Dutch family that had resided in New York since the 1670s, John Van Vorst bestowed upon his son the unusual name "Hooper Cumming", in honor of an "eloquent preacher" (1787-1825) with that name who was then residing in Schenectady. 

   Van Vorst began his schooling in his native city and in 1839 was a graduate of the Union College. During this time he studied law in the offices of Paige and Potter and in 1841 completed his studies and removed to Albany to begin a law practice. During his Albany residency, he was named as "attorney and counsel to the city" by the local municipal board, subsequently serving in this capacity for several years. In September 1848 Van Vorst married Albany native Maria L. Boyd (1821-1855), who died a few months after the birth of the couple's only child, Frederick L. Van Vorst (1855-1919.) Five years following her death Van Vorst remarried to Josephine Treat (1835-1917) and had two more children, John (1872-1899) and Marie Louise (1867-1936).

  In addition to practicing law in the New York state capital, Van Vorst also gained prominence as president of the Albany Young Men's Association, serving a one-year term from 1848-49. In 1853 Van Vorst left Albany and resettled in New York City, where it is noted by the New Amsterdam Gazette "that he was extensively engaged in the practice of law" until 1868, when he was selected by then Governor Reuben E. Fenton to serve as an Associate Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of New York City. His term on the bench lasted but one year, and in 1873 was elected to serve a fourteen-year term as a judge of the Superior Court of New York.

   Shortly following his election to the Superior Court Hooper C. Van Vorst received special designation by the Governor of New York John A. Dix, who named him to "hold special and circuit terms in the Supreme Court of the state" in addition to "occasional service" on the Superior Court bench. The Magazine of Western History Vol. 22 denotes Van Vorst's service on the bench as one of "arduous duties", further noting that he "became famous a learned, careful, impartial equity judge, earning from his fellow judges the sobriquet ''the Chancellor.""  Among the various cases tried before Van Vorst was one in which he "rendered the decision setting aside the lease to the Brooklyn Ferry Company of the valuable East Ferry privileges made for only one dollar rental in the Tweed times."

From the August-September 1886 New Amsterdam Gazette.

    While his time on the bench earned Van Vorst both notoriety and a wide circle of acquaintances, it was his activities in non-judicial areas that are also worth mentioning. Before his service on the Superior Court, he served for a time on the New York State Board of Education and later was a member of the Presbyterian Church's Board of Missions. A religious man, Van Vorst also took on a position as Sunday School teacher for the Children's Aid Society in New York City, where he "did all in his power to lead the children who thronged the school into the paths of a pure moral life."

   As a scion of an old, established Dutch family in New York, Hooper Van Vorst was intricately involved in the establishment of the Holland Society of New York, an organization devoted to the memory of the families of New Netherland and their living descendants. Prior to the society's incorporation in May 1885 Judge Van Vorst served as its provisional president and was one of the original group of 46 signers of the society's certificate of incorporation. Van Vorst served the society as its first "official" president and held this post until his death.

   Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age for judges in New York in 1887, the seventy-year-old Hooper Van Vorst left the Superior Court bench and devoted the remainder of his life to charitable work and the practice of law, forming a firm with his son Frederick that was located on Wall Street. The retired judge is recorded as keeping an active schedule until a few days before his death, which occurred at his home on October 26, 1889. The New Amsterdam Gazette noted in its memorial to him that he "died quite unexpectedly of a congestive chill" and after a well-attended funeral at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church was interred at the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York. 

  In the weeks following his death, Van Vorst received lavish praise in literature of the time, including a substantial five-page memorial in the New Amsterdam Gazette of December 6, 1889. In this obituary, the Gazette recollected that:

"In the death of Hooper C. Van Vorst a notable judicial career has reached its noble and final consummation. For the best years of his life he has been a conspicuous and honored member of our bar and bench. Endowed with choice scholastic abilities, he was able to embellish the trite principles of the law with popular interest, and full recommendations to sober thought and action."

Van Vorst obituary from the Albany Evening Times Oct. 28, 1889.

Gullick Nelson Risjord (1866-1951)

From the Madison Capital Times, August 30, 1951.

    The state of Wisconsin received passing mention in the December 2nd profile of oddly named Iowa jurist Zala A. Church, a Badger State native who lived the first two decades of his life there. In keeping with the recent theme of unusually named jurists, "America's Dairyland" has also produced its fair share of interestingly named judicial figures, including the gentleman pictured above, Gullick Nelson Risjord. A native of Norway, Risjord migrated to the United States in the mid-1880s to seek a new life. After equal periods of hard work and law study, he became a circuit court judge for Wisconsin and would serve nearly four decades on the bench.

   The son of Nels and Sonnef Pollag Risjord, Gullick N. Risjord was the second born son in a family of five children, his place of birth being Tinn, Telemarken, Norway on December 4, 1866. Telemarken is also notable for having been the birthplace of Drengman O. Aker, an Iowa State representative who was profiled here a few weeks ago. Risjord received his primary schooling in Norway and after attaining his eighteenth birthday left his home country to face an uncertain future in the United States. 

   Arriving in America in 1884, Risjord is recorded by Wisconsin, Its Story and Biography as settling in Dane County and is later noted as having "worked in the fields in the Red River valley." He recommenced with his education at the Blackearth High School and the Northwestern Business College in Madison. He continued to build on his education by enrolling at the University of Wisconsin and graduated in the class of 1897. Shortly thereafter he embarked upon the study of law at the University of Minnesota and was a graduate of that university's law school in the class of 1900.

   After receiving his law degree Risjord moved to Ashland, Wisconsin, and joined the law firm of Tomkins and Merrill for a short period and later operated another practice with attorney M.E. Merrill. Gullick Risjord married in Ashland to Josephine Quammen (1877-1925) in June 1904 and later had three children, Norman Edmond (1906-1980), Marion Gertrude (died in infancy in 1909), and Isabelle Josephine (1910-1983). Gullick and Josephine Quammen Risjord were married for eighteen years until Josephine's death at age 48 in 1922. Nine years following her death Risjord remarried in Gogebic, Michigan in November 1931 to Emma Torbol (ca. 1893-1952), who survived Risjord upon his death in 1951.

   In 1911 Gullick Risjord was elected as a circuit court judge for Wisconsin's 15th district, which comprised the counties of Bayfield, Ashland,  Iron, Price, and Taylor. Assuming his judicial duties on January 1, 1912, Risjord logged an impressive 39 years of service on the bench, and during this lengthy tenure served as chairman of the Wisconsin State Board of Circuit Judges in 1933. Risjord also presided over several trials of varying note during his time on the bench, including the 1938 trial of Thomas Duncan, an executive secretary to Wisconsin Governor Robert LaFollette Jr. who had been arrested in March 1938 in connection with the death of Henry F. Schuette, a West Allis, Wisconsin businessman who had been killed when Duncan's car struck him on the night of March 9th. Facts about the case denote that Duncan was (according to police and physicians) drunk at the time of the accident, and after a seven-day trial was found guilty of fourth-degree manslaughter by Judge Risjord and subsequently sentenced to serve "not less than one year nor more than two years in the house of correction."

From the Madison Wisconsin State Journal, August 31, 1951.

    Although advancing in years Gullick Risjord continued to sit on the bench well into his eighties and is noted as having been "opposed for reelection only twice" during his nearly four-decade tenure as a judge. At the time of his death on August 30, 1951, Risjord was the oldest and longest-serving judge in the state His Madison Capital Times obituary remarked that he had been at his office a day before his death, and after a funeral service at the Ashland First Presbyterian Church was laid to rest at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Ashland County.

From the Madison Capital Times, August 31, 1951.

Zala Alphonzo Church (1852-1922)

  A distinguished figure in Iowa law circles, Zala Alphonso Church served sixteen years as a district court judge and had previously served a term as mayor of his adopted hometown of Jefferson. A native son of Wisconsin, Zala A. Church was born in the small town of Dayton on May 28, 1852, one of four children born to Harvey M. (1816-1897) and Elizabeth Tucker Church (1818-1916). The reason behind Harvey and Elizabeth bestowing the unusual first name "Zala" upon their son is unknown at the time of this writing, and one's imagination can run wild thinking of the possibilities! 

   As a child, Zala Church attended the common schools of his hometown of Dayton and later studied at the Evansville, Wisconsin Seminary. After his studies at the latter school, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin and after some study began reading law at that institution's law school, graduating in the class of 1876. Following his graduation, he relocated to Jefferson, Iowa in 1878 and established a law practice with fellow attorney Harvey Potter in the firm of Potter and Church. After a year in this firm, Church founded the practice of Head and Church with attorney A.M. Head and operated in this partnership from 1879-1882. Zala Alphonzo Church married on May 4, 1881, in Green County to Eliza May McCully (1857-1938). Wed for over four decades, the Church's became the parents of three daughters, Iza (1882-1910), Bessie (1887-1973), and Theo (1889-1981).

   The firm of Head and Church dissolved in 1882 and for several years Zala Church operated alone in Jefferson. He is recorded by the Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa as serving as mayor of that town for one term and gave to it "a businesslike, progressive administration." Church also occupied other local offices in addition to his stint as mayor, serving at various times as justice of the peace, Greene County attorney, Greene County recorder, and president of the county school board. In 1888 Church served as a Republican Presidential elector for Benjamin Harrison and in 1894 was elected as District Court Judge for Iowa's Sixteenth Judicial District.

Zala A. Church, from the University of Wisconsin and Its History and Its Alumni,  1900.

   Taking his seat in January 1895, Church succeeded Judge George Washington Paine and was re-elected as judge three times, serving a total of sixteen years on the bench. Church's contribution to Iowa jurisprudence was remarked in the Annual Proceedings of the Iowa Bar Association as having:

"The admirable quality of being able to grasp the meat of a controversy and this quality served him well in the discharge of his judicial duties. He was always considerate of counsel before him. As a practitioner Judge Church was a helpful counsellor, working with an unusually generous spirit and always disposed to accord with others views greater weight and importance than his own. At all times he was disposed to give due consideration to the position of his adversary and never carried acrimony out of the courtroom, no matter how spirited may have been the controversies in which he participated."

   In addition to his judicial work, Zala Church is remarked as being a distinguished Mason, attaining the 32nd degree. Active in other fraternal bodies, Church was a Shriner, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and a past grand master of the Iowa state chapter of the International Order of Odd Fellows. Upon his retirement from the bench in 1911 Church returned to practicing law, operating a joint firm with attorney D.C. McCully for a time, and was still actively practicing until a few weeks before his death, which occurred on January 15, 1922, at his home in Jefferson, Iowa.  Following his death, a substantial obituary for the departed judge was published in the Carroll, Iowa Herald, which denotes that Church:

"Presided with dignity and associated with friends with a degree of good fellowship that was appreciated by his friends all over the district. He was a scholarly man who took interest in educational matters in his court and outside and delighted to associate with people who read and traveled and thought."

  Church's funeral was held on January 18, 1922, and he was later buried at the Jefferson Cemetery. May McCully Church was also interred here after she died in 1938.

From the Jefferson, Iowa Herald, January 18, 1922.

Farlin Quigley Ball (1838-1917)

From the Oak Park, Illinois  "Oak Leaves",  April 4, 1902.

    The Illinois Judicial system of the late 19th and early 20th century can be considered a veritable treasure trove of oddly named public servants. A quick glance at the Illinois Blue Book's roster of the state Judiciary Department of the early 1900s brings up such strange names as Mancha Bruggemeyer (1865-1949, a Chicago Municipal Court Judge), Mazzini Slusser (1853-1922, a Circuit Court Judge), Colostin DeKalb Myers (1847-1920, a Circuit Court judge), Kickham Scanlan (1864-1955, a Circuit Court judge), Lockwood Honore (1865-1917, Chief Judge of the Circuit Court) and Sain Welty (1853-1920, a Circuit Court judge). With all of these oddly named jurists peopling the benches of Illinois's courtrooms, one can wonder if criminals of the period ever had a good laugh when they were sentenced by a judge with a name like "Sain Welty"!

   All humor aside, the above assemblage of unusually named jurists grows ever wider with the addition of today's write-up on Farlin Quigley Ball, a decorated Civil War veteran and attorney who went on to serve nearly two decades as an Illinois Superior Court Judge. A native son of Ohio, Farlin Q. Ball was born in Shelby County on the 28th of March 1838, one of four children born to James Moores (1812-1897) and Keturah Ford Ball (1813-1860). At a young age, Farlin removed with his family to Wisconsin where he attended high school in the city of Monroe. In 1858 he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin and graduated with his B.S. (Bachelor of Science) degree in the class of 1861.

   During the early days of the Civil War, Farlin Ball enlisted in Co. G of the 31st Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and served with this outfit from mid-1862 until the hostilities ceased, and was brevetted as a Major towards the end of his service. After leaving the military Ball returned to Wisconsin and decided upon a career in law, and following his studies was admitted to practice by the state bar. In 1866 he was elected to the first of two terms as Dane County attorney, holding this post until 1868. In the latter year, he married to Elizabeth Hall (1842-1920), and the couple became the parents of three children, Robin (died in infancy in August 1871), Farlin Herbert (1872-1942), and Sydney Hobart (1877-1949). Of these children Farlin Herbert followed in his father's footsteps and became a distinguished lawyer, later serving as a Circuit Court judge for Cook County beginning in 1920.

   In August 1869 the Ball family left Dane County, Wisconsin, and resettled in Chicago. Shortly after his removal Ball was admitted to the Illinois state bar and began a law practice. In the succeeding years, he gained recognition as a lawyer of repute and in 1878-79 served as Treasurer of the Chicago Bar Association. Ball would later serve a term as president of this organization, and also held the presidency of the Chicago Law Institute for a time.  Ball also became an author during this period, publishing "Ball on National Banks" in 1880.

  

From the Oak Park Vindicator, September 21, 1900.

  In the November 1895 Illinois election, Farlin Quigley Ball won a seat on the Superior Court of Cook County, succeeding Judge George Blanke, whose death some months prior had created a vacancy on that court. Ball won reelection to a term of his own on the court in 1900 and continued to serve on both the Superior and Appellate Courts until his retirement a decade later. During his tenure on the bench, Judge Ball served as the court's Chief Justice for a time and also held court as a Judge Advocate of the Illinois National Guard's 1st Brigade. Ball retired from judicial service in 1911 and was widely praised by his contemporaries, being referred to in sources of the time as "the ideal jurist." Ball was even honored with a banquet in his honor, and his 1917 Oak Park Oak Leave obituary notes that:

"He has always been correct in his judgement of the law, always patient and of the judicial temperament. His record as a man, a soldier, a lawyer and a judge is without a blemish."

  Following his retirement, Judge Ball remained a prominent public figure in his neighborhood of Oak Park in Chicago and is remarked as belong to a number of fraternal clubs, including the Masons, Knights Templar, and the Oak Park Club. Sources of the time note that although advanced in age the retired judge remained the picture of health until a few days before his death, which occurred at the West Suburban Hospital in Chicago on August 29, 1917. He was later buried at the Forest Home Cemetery in Chicago. He was survived by both his sons and his wife Elizabeth, who followed her husband in death in 1920 at age 79.

From the Carbondale Illinois Daily Press, April 3, 1908.

Clarendon Witherspoon Ervin (1882-1959)

From the 1947 North Carolina Manual.

    If you've followed the Strangest Names In American Political History for any length of time you may have noticed that the state of North Carolina has been very well represented here on the site, with nine oddly named political figures from the Tar Heel State receiving a profile. From Fleetus Lee Gobble to Ippie Purvis Graham and Arris Idyl Ferree, one can see that North Carolina had no qualms about electing an oddly named state representative.     With that introduction, another strangely named Tar Heel politician gets a write-up here, and one may also notice that he bears a remarkable resemblance to the pitch-fork-holding farmer from Grant Wood's famous artwork "American Gothic" (see link for comparison). Mr. Clarendon Witherspoon Ervin was for many years a Presbyterian clergyman active in the Allegheny County area, and after many years of religious work as well as teaching, Ervin was elected to represent Alleghany County in the North Carolina State Legislature for one term beginning in 1947.

  Clarendon Witherspoon Ervin was born on April 4, 1882, in Henry, South Carolina, the son of Lawrence Nelson Ervin and the former Gotea Wilson. He attended Davidson College in the early 1900s and is remarked as being a standout member of the school track team and editor of the "Quips and Cranks" class magazine. Ervin would graduate from this school in the class of 1905 with his A.B. (bachelor of arts) degree and in 1908 graduated from the Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. He later did post-graduate work at Duke University and the University of North Carolina. 
  He married in June of 1905 to Lizette Gessner Carson and became the father to five children, who are listed as follows in order of birth: John Shearer (1906-1990), Louisa Jeanette (1909-1920), Elizabeth Akers (1910-1963), Lillie (born 1911) and Clara Witherspoon Ervin Snowden (1915-1996).

                           A young Clarendon W. Ervin, from the 1905 Davidson College Yearbook.

    Following the completion of his college work, Ervin became a teacher and Presbyterian minister, serving as a pastor in churches located in Cannonville, Pattersonville, Whitehall, Concord, Amity, and Mulberry, North Carolina from 1908-1913. After his service in the above towns, Ervin was an "evangelist in the Stokes County field" from 1913-1918 and the "Alleghany County field" from 1919-1924. In 1919 Lizette Ervin died aged just 36 and after a decade as a widower, Ervin remarried in January 1930 to Ruth Devene Cox (1902-1990).
    Little is known of Clarendon Ervin's life between 1930 and his election to the North Carolina State House of Representatives in November 1946, and before his election had never held elective office, except a brief tenure as a member of the Alleghany County Welfare Board in 1925. Taking his seat at the opening of the 1947-49 legislative term, Ervin proved to be busy as a first-term legislator, being named to the house committees on Appropriations, Commission, and Institutions for the Blind, Federal and Interstate Cooperation, Game, Mental Institutions, Institutions for the Deaf, Public Welfare, Enrolled Bills, Library and Printing. 
   Clarendon Witherspoon died a decade after leaving the legislature on September 14, 1959, in Sparta, South Carolina. He was 77 years old and was later interred at the Shiloh Cemetery in Sparta. He was survived by four of his children as well as his second wife Ruth, who died in 1990 at age 88.

Kalita Elton Leighton (1871-1928)

 From the Duluth Herald, January 16, 1911.

  The following write-up takes us to the midwestern portion of the United States and one Kalita Elton Leighton, who logged a decade of service as a U.S. District Court Judge for North Dakota. Despite being all but forgotten in this day in age, Leighton was regarded as one of the foremost legal minds in North Dakota during his lifetime, being described by the Bismarck Tribune as a "splendid jurist" and "one of the best judges that North Dakota has known". 

   The life of this strangely named North Dakota judge began in the county of Putnam, Missouri on September 13, 1871, the only child born to Jacob Leighton and the former Laura Anderson. The Leighton family moved from Missouri to Wayne County, Iowa when their son was around six years of age and he received his primary schooling in the village of Allerton, Iowa. He went on to attend the Highland Park Normal College, located in Des Moines. Following his graduation from the latter institution, Leighton taught school during the winter months whilst preparing to enter the University of Iowa's Law School in 1894.

   Kalita Leighton graduated from the University of Iowa in 1896 with a law degree and shortly afterward established his first law practice in Allerton. His stay here was short-lived, however, as he moved to the town of Mystic, Iowa sometime later and remained there for two years. In 1900 Leighton moved to the city of Minot, North Dakota, and opened a law practice with Daniel "Dank" C. Greenleaf (1873-1923), who later served as Mayor of Minot. The firm of Greenleaf and Leighton is recorded as having specialized in "real estate investments" and Leighton's skill as an attorney garnered glowing press in the literature of the time, including the following passage from the North Dakota History and People, Volume II:

"Few lawyers have made a more lasting impression upon the bar of the state both for legal ability of a high order and for the individuality of a personal character which impresses itself upon a community. The zeal with which he devoted his energies to his profession, the careful regard evinced for the interest for his clients, and an assiduous and unrelaxing attention to all the details of his cases brought him a large business and  made him very successful in its conduct."

   Kalita Leighton married on Christmas Day 1901 to Deaksville, Iowa resident Belle Lockman (1878-1968) and the couple became the parents of four children, Roy (born 1902), Will (born 1905), Inez (born 1908), and Barbara (born 1911). 

From the Williston Standard, January 12, 1911.

   In addition to practicing law in Minot, Leighton is mentioned in his Bismarck Tribune obituary as engaging in farming, and it was in January 1911 that he received the high-profile appointment as district judge for North Dakota's Eighth District. Leighton's appointment to the bench was occasioned by the resignation of district judge Evan B. Goss (1872-1930), who had been elected to the North Dakota State Supreme Court the previous November. Then Governor John Burke selected Kalita Leighton to fill the vacancy, and in doing so "could not have made a wiser appointment". Leighton served out the remainder of Goss's unexpired term and in 1912 was elected to a term of his own as judge.

From the Ward County Independent, June 8, 1916.

   In 1916 Leighton ran for reelection and in that year's election faced Minot attorney F.E. Lambert. On election day Leighton bested Lambert by a vote of 885 to 396 and went on to serve another four-year term, leaving the bench in 1920 to return to the practice of law in Minot. Although he may have resigned from the court, Leighton was by no means finished being a public servant, and after a few years devoted to his law practice was appointed by North Dakota Attorney General George Schafer as Assistant Attorney General of the state. Leighton served in this capacity for the next three years and during this time was also active in several fraternal organizations, being a longstanding member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Minot Elks Lodge.

  In the latter period of his life, Leighton suffered from heart disease, and it was this affliction that eventually led to his death. As the Bismarck Tribune related in its January 11, 1928 obituary for him:

"Mr. Leighton had returned home about 11 o'clock after spending an evening with friends in the city and complained of not feeling well. He went to the basement to fix the furnace for the night, and a few minutes later, when Mrs. Leighton received no response to repeated calls, she found him dead."

  Kalita Leighton was 56 years old at the time of his death and a funeral service was held at his home as well as at the Minot Elks Lodge. He was later interred at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Minot and was survived by his wife and four children. 

                                        From the January 12, 1911 edition of the Ward County Independent.

From the Bismarck Tribune, January 11, 1928.

McKendree Hypes Chamberlain (1838-1914)

From the 1928 McKendrean Centennial Yearbook.

     A prominent son of Illinois, McKendree Hypes Chamberlain gained distinction as the President of McKendree College during the late 19th century, and during his decade-plus tenure in that office took great strides to help the school succeed both academically and financially. While his time as President of McKendree College is undoubtedly the most important aspect of his life, Chamberlain had earlier been a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois in 1872, earning him a write-up here.

   It can rightly be said that McKendree Hypes Chamberlain's connection with McKendree College extended back to his birth, which occurred on the college grounds on November 17, 1838. McKendree's father, the Rev. David Chamberlain (1788-1880), is recorded as having been "one of the original subscribers to the fund for the founding of the institution" and at the time of his son's birth was head of the college's boarding department. Chamberlain's unusual name also has a connection to the college that he later oversaw, as he was bestowed the name "McKendree" in honor of the school's namesake, Bishop William McKendree (1757-1835), the first Methodist bishop to be born in the United States. Chamberlain's middle name Hypes came about from one Benjamin "Uncle Ben" Hypes (1805-1896), a prominent citizen who resided in Chamberlain's hometown of Lebanon.

   Recorded as having grown up in the "college atmosphere", McKendree Chamberlain attended McKendree College for six years and graduated in the class of 1859 with an A.B. (bachelor of arts) degree. Shortly afterward he began pursuing the study of law at Harvard University and after graduating in 1861 relocated to Kansas City, Missouri to begin his career in law. His stay here proved to be short-lived, as he moved back to Illinois, settling in the village of Beardstown. Once settled, Chamberlain established a law practice in town and is mentioned by the 1905 edition of the McKendree Pigskin yearbook as developing an interest in newspaper publishing. His newfound interest led him to the Beardstown Illinoisan, where he served as an editor. In 1862 Chamberlain was awarded a master of arts degree by his alma mater and in June of 1869 married in Kansas City, Missouri to Helen Lemira Dana (1841-1928) and later had two children, Clifford Dana (born 1870) and Ellen, who died aged two months in 1876. Shortly following his marriage Chamberlain became engaged in the railroad industry and later was named to the Illinois Railroad Commission for a five-year term. 

   In 1872 Chamberlain was selected "without his knowledge or consent" as a Presidential Elector for the Springfield district of Illinois and was accorded further honors later in the election year when he "was removed from the electoral ticket, and despite his earnest protest, was made the congressional candidate from this district." While having the Republican nomination for Congress quite literally fall into his lap, Chamberlain accepted the offer tendered to him and in the November 1872 election faced incumbent Democrat James Carroll Robinson (1823-1886). As a Republican nominee in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, Chamberlain lost out on election day by a slim margin of only 934 votes. A result from that contest appeared in the Tribune Almanac and Political Register of 1872 and is shown below (with the candidate's names abbreviated.)

    Chamberlain's 1872 candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives marked the beginning and the end of his involvement in politics, and after his defeat migrated west, where he entered the mining industry. After several years he moved to St. Louis and was still a resident of this city in 1894, the year that he became the President of McKendree College. Elected to this post by the college board, Chamberlain was faced with the daunting task of heading a college that was badly in debt, and within a few months of becoming president had instituted a plan that would help the college out of financial stress. As the 1928 McKendree College Centennial yearbook detailed, President Chamberlain noted that "the college must have at least $100,000 of new endowment to make its foundation safe" and after some deliberation made the announcement that "he would expect the people of Lebanon to pay for the debt, then he would ask a wider constituency to furnish the endowment."

   While his plan may have been ambitious, it did succeed. After a year or so of constant work on college finances, the debt was paid off, and over the succeeding years Chamberlain continued to make advances for the college, including having college professor's salaries increased "from seven hundred dollars annually to one thousand two hundred,  paid in full" and had "buildings repaired and steam heat installed, and the curriculum has been changed, until to-day it is second to none." Chamberlain's presidency extended from 1894-1908 and at the time of his retirement in 1908 was honored with the position of president-meritus and college trustee. 

   Around 1910 Chamberlain and his wife removed from Lebanon, Illinois to Los Angeles, California, where they would reside for the remainder of their lives. McKendree Hypes Chamberlain died at his home in Los Angeles on July 28, 1914, at age 76 and was later cremated. His ashes were later returned to Lebanon for burial at the College Hill Cemetery, located a short distance from McKendree College. Chamberlain's widow Helen continued to reside in California following her husband's death and after her passing in 1928 was also interred at the College Hill Cemetery.

From the 1905 McKendrean Yearbook.

Mohler Devore Temple (1891-1971)

From the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, August 25, 1946.

   Today's write-up takes us to Texas and highlights the life of Mohler Devore Temple, long prominent in Republican circles in the county of Lubbock. Temple resided in Kansas, New Mexico, and California before his resettlement in Lubbock, where he was active in business circles and politics. A three-time Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas in 1946, 1948, and 1950, Temple was also a delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1948.

   Born on October 6, 1891, in Pawnee County, Kansas, Mohler Devore Temple was one of eleven children born to David Devore and Mary Serena Mohler. Given the unusual name "Mohler Devore" in honor of his mother's maiden name and his father's middle name, Temple spent a good majority of his childhood moving around the southwestern United States with his family. The Temple Genealogy website gives notice of his residing in Enid, Oklahoma, and New Mexico during his youth, and in the late 1910s is recorded as a corporal in the New Mexico National Guard. In addition to his National Guard service, Temple helped with the construction of the Elephant Butte Dam in El Paso, Texas, and was a veteran of the First World War, according to his 1971 Lubbock Avalanche obituary. 

   Mohler Temple married his first wife Myrle J. Davis around 1918 and the couple later had one son, Earl Davis, who died days after his birth in January 1920. Myrle Davis Temple died sometime prior to 1923 and shortly afterward Temple remarried to Lula J. Goode (1893-1975), with whom he had two daughters, Jane (birth date unknown) and Sally Temple Whiteley (1925-2010).  The early 1930s saw Mohler D. Temple residing in California where he was a "grape products distributor" and around 1936 moved with his family to Lubbock, Texas, where he resided for the remainder of his life. Based as a real estate agent in Lubbock for many years after his resettlement, Temple also owned and operated the "College Inn," a dormitory for the Lubbock Red Raiders football team. 

   Active in politics in the Lubbock County area in the late 1930s, Temple held the position of Chairman of the Lubbock County Republican Committee for several years and later served as a member of the Texas Republican State Executive Committee. In August 1946 Temple announced his candidacy for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's Nineteenth district. As the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal noted in its August 25th edition, Temple's congressional candidacy marked "the first time in history that the Republicans have had a candidate for Congress from this district" and that his candidacy "was based solely on the desire for a large GOP vote over the area in the fall election." Running as a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, Temple opposed five-term incumbent George H. Mahon (1900-1985) and on election day lost in a landslide by a vote of 6,608 to 357.

   Despite that overwhelming loss, Temple pressed on and in 1948 launched another campaign for Congress. In this campaign, Temple struck out at the local Democratic establishment and its bid to keep Republican candidates off the ballot. In an October 31st writeup on his candidacy, Temple decried ballots that failed to record Republican nominees, remarking:

"However, since the Democratic party, which controls the printing of the ballot, has again illustrated that it has no particular concern in complying with the law which was designed to afford the voter the opportunity to cast the ballot of his choice, and is determined to force the voters to vote only for the Democratic candidates, it is time that something be done that will force the party to obey the law and afford the voters in each county the right to a free ballot."

  Temple's opponent that year was again George Mahon. That November Mahon won out, with the electoral results being even more lopsided than they were two years previously, 58,585 to Temple's total of 2,724. The congressional election of 1950 brought more of the same, with Temple losing for a third time to Mahon, who coasted to an easy victory with 17, 828 votes to his opponent's 1,162. Following this victory George Mahon would go on to serve a further fourteen terms in Congress, serving a total of 44 years in all (1935-1979), retiring from office in January 1979.

   Following his defeat for Congress Mohler Temple continued to be a leading Republican figure in Lubbock, serving as part of the Texas delegation to the 1948 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia that nominated Thomas E. Dewey for the Presidency. Little is known of Temple's later life except notice of his death at the Lubbock Methodist Hospital on January 31, 1971, at age 79. His wife and two daughters survived him and both Mohler and Lula Temple were interred at the Resthaven Memorial Park in Lubbock following their deaths.

From the February 1, 1971 edition of the Lubbock Avalanche.

Girvease Almeron Matteson (1857-1935)

From the 1897 New York Red Book.

    An unusually named member of the New York State Assembly, Mr. Girvease Almeron Matteson represented Cattaraugus County's 2nd district in the assembly for three terms in the late 19th century. A lifelong resident of the Empire State, Mr. Matteson has been for many years one of my favorite oddly named political figures to point out to people, not only for his odd first and middle names but also for his being buried close to my home (his cemetery plot in East Otto, New York is within short driving distance!)

   The life of Girvease Almeron Matteson began in the small village of Russia in Herkimer County on December 28, 1857, being the son of Almeron B. (1815-1888) and Jane E. Matteson (1828-1905). Bestowed the odd first name "Girvease" upon his birth, this name is recorded as being spelled in several different ways, "Gervease", "Gervase" and Girvase" being among them. However, the New York Red Book (as well as Matteson's gravestone) gives the spelling as "Girvease", and as I usually consider a gravestone to be the final arbiter in regards to a person's name, it is that spelling that looks to be the correct one.

   The Matteson family resided in Herkimer County until 1867, and in that year moved to East Otto in Cattaraugus County. Here young Girvease attended public school and as an adolescent studied at the Griffith Institute in the nearby village of Springville. His time at this institute extended two years, during which time he took "the college preparatory course in Mathematics for Civil Engineering". Matteson's 1935 obituary in the Ellicottville Post relates that following his graduation he "began teaching at the age of 18 years and taught successfully for ten years" and later notes that he found additional work as a land surveyor.

  Girvease Matteson married in East Otto in March of 1880 to Nellie Perkins (1862-1925) and the couple later became the parents to three children, John P. (1880-1937), Deforest Almeron (1890-1984) and a daughter, Mrs. F.W. Smith of Sardina, New York. Following his marriage Matteson became engaged in real estate transactions in Cattaraugus County, joining up with Edson Beach to form the partnership of Edson and Matteson. This partnership later dissolved and Matteson continued operations on his own, and "succeeded very well in his undertakings."

   Attentive to politics as well as business, Girvease Matteson occupied several local political offices prior to his service in the state assembly, serving at various times as East Otto town clerk, justice of the peace, and postmaster. He was a two-term supervisor of East Otto and was serving his second term in that office when he was nominated by the Second Cattaraugus District Assembly Republican Convention to be a candidate for the New York State Assembly. Chosen on the second ballot, Matteson went on to win the election in November 1895, defeating Republican nominee Frank Campbell by a vote of 3,420 to 1,268. 

   Taking his seat at the beginning of the 1896 session, Matteson was named to the committees on Revision, Insurance, and Printed and Engrossed Bills during this term of the legislature. During his first term in the assembly, the New York Red Book notes that as a first-term legislator, Matteson proved to be remarkably busy, introducing several pieces of legislation, some of which centered on his home county of Cattaraugus. Among these were a bill "providing of the payment of the claims of counties whose insane asylums are no longer of use" and a bill "making for an appropriation for the reservation highway of the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation."

  

From the 1898 New York Red Book.

   Girvease Matteson was subsequently re-elected to the assembly in November 1896 and won a third term in November 1897, in the latter year defeating Democratic candidate Benjamin Franklin Willis by a vote of 3,211 to 1,672. During his third term (which began in January 1898), Matteson served on the Insurance and Ways and Means committees and chaired the committee on Indian Affairs.

   Following his service in the assembly, Matteson remained a familiar figure in the New York State Capitol, holding the post of postal clerk of the assembly for several years. After returning to the Cattaraugus area he operated a farm, was a charter member of the East Otto Grange chapter, was East Otto town supervisor, and chaired the Cattaraugus County Board of Supervisors for a decade. His September 1935 obituary in the Ellicottville Post notes that Matteson was also a prime mover in the establishment of the East Otto Cemetery Association, and served as that group's director and president. The Post also relates that Matteson was a gifted singer, noting that

"He was prominent in the choir, acting as chorister, and was active in the choral union, a musical organization following Salem Parker's class. He was also a member of the famous male quartet that was active in Republican political rallies more than forty years ago."

Girvease A. Matteson, from the 1912 New York Red Book.

   In 1925 Matteson suffered a personal tragedy when Nellie, his wife of over forty years, died at age 63. A year following her death he remarried to Delevan, NY resident Emily Murphy Knight, and following their marriage resided in both Delevan and Buffalo. Matteson continued to be active in civic affairs well into his seventh decade, serving as president of the Bank of Cattaraugus until his death, which occurred on September 18, 1935. The 77-year-old former assemblyman's funeral took place at the East Otto Methodist Episcopal Church and he was later interred at the East Otto Cemetery. 
   Earlier today I sought out Girvease Matteson's gravesite at the East Otto Cemetery and after a quick scope out of the surrounding stones found the Matteson family plot. Some photos from that excursion conclude his article. All in all, an excellent way to spend a birthday!

The Matteson family headstone.

The graves of Girvease and Nellie Matteson.