Lemon Galpin Hine (1832-1914), Lemon Grey Neely (1861-1925)

Portrait from the History of the City of Washington, It's Men and Institutions (1903).

   We continue our stay in the nation's capital with the following write up on Lemon Galpin Hine, an Ohio native who found political and business distinction in Washington, D.C. following his resettlement there in the early 1860s. Although largely forgotten today, the name of Lemon Galpin Hine was a prominent one in the capitol during the late 19th century, as he served on both the city common council and board of aldermen. In 1889 Hine reached his highest degree of political prominence when he was appointed as a District Commissioner of Washington, D.C., a body that comprised three members who governed the district following the dissolve of the territorial government in 1874.

   Born in Berlin Heights, Ohio on April 14, 1832, Lemon Galpin Hine was the son of Sheldon and Mary (Osborn) Hine. His early education occurred at the Norwalk Seminary in Ohio, as well as the Baldwin University (now the Baldwin Wallace University) in Berea. Hine would study law at the State and National Law School in Ballston Spa, New York. Sources relate that Hine spent the latter part of the 1850s in both Iowa and DeKalb County, Indiana, even building a farmhouse in the latter county. Further sources detail his earlier residency in Cleveland, Ohio, with notice given as to his being the manager of The Commercial newspaper in that city when just nineteen years of age.

  Lemon Hine married in Ohio in May 1860 to Mary Tillinghast (1838-1923). The couple was wed for over fifty years and their union would see the births of five children: Charles L. (1861-1911), Mary Christmas (1867-1955, Oliver Cromwell (1870-1936), Blanche (1874-1964) and Mollie.

   Following his marriage, Hine and his wife moved to Coldwater, Michigan, where he practiced law for a time and in August 1861 signed on for service in the "Northwestern Rifle Regiment", later to be called the 44th Illinois Infantry. Hine's Civil War service would see him attain the rank of Lieutenant in that unit's Co. B and he saw action at the Battle of Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas. He would resign from service in April 1862, due to "the loss of his voice", a problem that would continue to plague him for the remainder of his life. 

   A short period after leaving the service Hine removed to Washington D.C., where he would work on "Army pension cases". After further law studies, Hine partnered with William Fitch and John Fox to form a law firm, which was short lived. Hine would make his first foray into District political life in 1868, being elected to the Washington, D.C. Common Council. Following his one year tenure in that body, he was elected to the city Board of Aldermen, serving from 1870-71.

Lemon G. Hine as he appeared early in his life.

  Through the 1870s and 80s Lemon Hine continued to practice law and for two years served as the president of the Washington, D.C. Bar Association. He retired from practice in 1887, as he continued to be plagued by problems relating to his throat. Despite his health concerns, politics again beckoned to Hine in 1889, when he accepted President Benjamin Harrison's appointment to the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia. This three-man board came into being in 1874, following the dissolve of the territorial government of the District of Columbia. This earlier form of government had been headed by a Governor, and beginning in 1878, a three-man commission (whose members were appointed by the President) would govern the district. These men (one Republican, one Democrat, and one civil engineer with no political affiliation) would then choose one of their own as board president. 

   Appointed to the board along with Hine was John Watkinson Douglass (named as President), and these two men would serve alongside engineer Charles Walker Raymond from 1889-90. Many notable Washingtonians lauded Hine's appointment, describing him as one of the "grandest men in this city" and "a courteous gentleman and an honest man". The Washington Evening Star interviewed Hine on his new post, during which he appeared primed and ready to take on his duties, stating:

"What are my plans? Well, it is a little to early to go into particulars, but I can say that I shall do my utmost to look after the interests of the District without fear or favor. I look upon the office of District Commissioner as one of detail, and believe that its duties can be performed just as successfully as those of any other business. But to do so strict attention will have to be paid to business methods. I shall do my best to conduct the office on that plan."

Portrait from the Washington Evening Star, May 16, 1889.

  Hine's tenure as a Commissioner proved to be short, as he resigned in September 1890. Prior to his resignation he had become affiliated with Ottmar Mergenthaler, the inventor of the Linotype machine. The two developed a close friendship, and Hine became financially involved in the development of this new mode of printing, which gained extensive use by the Washington Star newspaper. Hine's interest in this venture saw him become president of the Merganthaler Linotype Machine Company, holding that post until his resignation in December 1891.

   Now retired from business and law, Hine continued to reside in Washington until health concerns compelled him to relocate to Battle Creek, Michigan in November 1913. Hine later contracted pneumonia while at a sanitarium there and died on January 19, 1914. He was survived by his wife Mary, and following his death was taken back to Washington to be interred at the Rock Creek Cemetery. Mary Tillinghast Hine was also interred here following her death in 1923. On May 11, 2017, I was able to photograph the Hine family plot at Rock Creek, and some photos from that excursion conclude his profile here.

Lemon G. Hine (with  frizzy hair), a portrait that appeared in his 1914 Evening Star obituary

From the Washington Times, January 20, 1914.

Portrait from the Biographical Annals of Ohio, 1906-1907-1908.

  Just a few short weeks following the completion of the above article on Lemon G. Hine another politically active "Lemon" was located...Lemon Grey Neely!  Although a good majority of his early life was spent in Pennsylvania, Neely gained a reputation as a prominent civic and business leader in the city of St. Marys, Ohio where he settled in the mid-1880s. In 1905 Neely was elected to represent Auglaize County in the Ohio State Assembly, where he served for one term.

   The son of Jesse and Mary Sigworth Neely, Lemon Grey Neely was born in St. Petersburg, Clarion County, Pennsylvania on May 31, 1861. He received a "district school education" and at age fifteen followed his father into the oil industry, learning the mechanics of drilling and other oil apparatus. In December 1885 Neely removed to Lima, Ohio and in March of the following year married to Carrie May Jamison (1866-1918), to whom he was wed until her death. The couple's three-decade union saw the births of four children, Jessie (1887-1977), Clarence Lee (died in infancy in 1891), Harold Grey (1895-1981), and an infant daughter who died in 1889.

   After two years of residency in Lima Neely relocated to St. Marys in Auglaize County. Soon after his resettlement, he began drilling operations in the area and by the time of his election to the legislature two decades later had gained the reputation of having helped finance "some of the biggest oil producing centers in Ohio and Indiana." As the president of the Neely-Clover Oil Company (founded in 1899), Neely proved to be a man of many hats business-wise, as he also served as a director of the First National Bank of St. Marys, the St. Marys Trust Co., and the Lima Trust Co. 

   Lemon G. Neely entered the political life of Ohio in 1905 when he was elected as Auglaize County's representative to the Ohio General Assembly. Serving during the 1906-08 session, he sat on the committees on Public Works and Hospitals for the Insane. A year after the conclusion of his term Neely was named to the Board of Managers of the Ohio State Penitentiary at Columbus, serving until 1913.

   Several years following his assembly term Neely continued to expand his name through Ohio business circles, being elected as a director of the Columbus Natural Gas Company in 1914 and in the following year was elected to the board of directors of the Avon Coal Co.  In 1917 Neeley established the Lemon G. Neely Co., an oil field leasing business with branches in Ohio, Oklahoma, and Kentucky.

   A Mason of prominent standing, Neely attained the 33rd degree and also held memberships in the Royal Order of Scotland, the Knights of Pythias, and the Shriners. Widowed in 1918, Lemon Neely continued to reside in St. Marys and in early November 1925 was injured in an automobile accident while in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He succumbed to his injuries a few weeks later on November 23, 1925, at his Ohio home. He and his wife were both interred at the Elm Grove Cemetery in St. Marys.

Sayles Jenks Bowen (1813-1896)

Portrait from the Washington Evening Times, December 11, 1896.

    A one term Mayor of Washington City, District of Columbia (then a separate entity from neighboring Georgetown), Sayles Jenks Bowen can be justly referred to as one of the great unsung mayors in American history. A native of New York state, Bowen migrated to the nation's capital in the mid-1840s and after stints as a clerk in the Treasury Department, police commissioner, and postmaster of Washington, Bowen was elected as mayor of our nation's capital in 1868. An avowed abolitionist, the forward-thinking Bowen became the first Washington mayor to oversee schools for African-Americans in the city, and following his one term in office continued as a civil rights advocate and a trustee of black schools.

  Born on October 7, 1813, in Scipio, New York, Sayles Jenks Bowen was the son of Josiah and Deborah (Jenks) Bowen, both natives of Massachusetts. A student in "common schools" local to the Cayuga County area, Bowen also worked the family farm and during his adolescence taught school during the winter months. He would marry on July 2, 1835, to Mary Barker (1815-1882). The couple were wed for over four decades and would have two daughters, Ann Jennet (1843-1850) and Hattie Barker Bowen (1855-1860).

  Following his marriage, Bowen worked at "mercantile pursuits" in his home state from 1838-42, and during this time gained an ally in fellow Cayuga County native Millard Fillmore, then serving as Lieutenant Governor of New York. With backing from his friend Fillmore, Bowen would secure a clerkship in the U.S. Treasury Department, and by 1845 he and his wife had resettled in Washington, D.C.

   Bowen's three years at the Treasury Department saw him serving under Secretary Robert Walker, a prominent figure in the James K. Polk administration. Bowen would draw the ire of Walker in 1848 due to the former's "Free Soil Party" sympathies, and as a firm abolitionist went as far as distributing anti-slavery literature. These acts (as well as Bowen's failure to endorse the candidacy of Lewis Cass for President), eventually led to Bowen's dismissal from his clerkship.

  A supporter of Martin Van Buren's Free Soil Party candidacy in 1848, Sayles Bowen worked as a claims agent and by the late 1850s had become a rising figure in the newly formed Republican Party. Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 Bowen began his rise through local politics, being appointed as Commissioner of Police for the District of Columbia. His time in that post would be short-lived, however, as he resigned later that same year to accept the appointment as disbursing officer for the U.S. Senate. In 1862 he advanced to the post of Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of Columbia and in the year following began a five-year tenure as U.S. Postmaster at Washington, D.C. The Civil War years saw Bowen continue to press for equal rights for black citizens, and during this time served as president of the District of Columbia's National Freedman's Relief Association.

   The year 1868 proved to be a landmark one for Sayles J. Bowen, as he was elected as Mayor of the city of Washington during one of the most important elections in the city's history. Newly enfranchised black voters were able to vote for mayor of the city for the first time, and due to Bowen's record on civil rights turned out en-mass for him at the polls. Eking out a narrow victory over John T. Given, Bowen took office that year with a grandiose vision for the city, including the development of public works projects that employed former slaves, as well as the hope to integrate city schools.

   Acknowledged as the first Washington mayor to "establish public schools for colored children", Bowen's vision put him at odds with a great many white citizens residing in the city, some of whom went as far as to accuse him of being more concerned with civil rights than the city improvements he had started earlier in his term. Bowen was undeterred, however, and he is remarked as having been the first mayor of Washington to promote black citizens to political positions within the city government, when city officials balked at the possibility of continuing to fund black schools in the city, Bowen used $20,000 of his own money to keep them afloat. 

   During his mayoralty, Bowen was both a delegate to the 1868 Republican National Convention from the District of Columbia and from 1866-72 represented the District of Columbia on the Republican National Committee. The Bowen administration also saw the adoption of a system of street parking, which was passed by an act of Congress in 1870.

Sayles J. Bowen.

  During the two years of his mayoralty the optimism that had initially bolstered Bowen's first few months in office waned, and a number of less progressive Washingtonians began to plan for the mayoral election of 1870. Bowen's last months in office were marred by the fact that many public works projects were left uncompleted, with hundreds of miles of city streets still lacking pavement and sewer lines. The city's rising debt proved to be another contributing factor for the "old-line" Washingtonians' search for a new mayor, and in the election of 1870 Bowen was defeated by Democratic candidate Matthew Gault Emery (1818-1901).

  Bowen's life following his mayoralty saw him serving as trustee and treasurer of the Public Schools for Colored Children in the district, as well as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution and director of the St. Elizabeth's Insane Asylum. Widowed in 1882, Bowen remarried in June of the following year to Elizabeth "Bessie" Boyd Bentley (1842-1904), to whom he was wed until his death, which occurred on December 16, 1896. He was later interred at the Congressional Cemetery alongside his wife Mary. On May 9, 2017, I was lucky enough to visit the Congressional Cemetery to seek out Bowen's gravesite (amongst many others), and a few photos from that trip conclude his profile here.

Kosciusko Kemper (1835-1910)

Portrait from the Souvenir Virginia Tercentennial of Historic Alexandria, 1907.

   The Strangest Names In American Political History continues its trek through Virginia, and a week following our write-up on Mottrom Dulany Ball we journey to Alexandria to highlight a prominent son of that city who would serve not only as its Superintendent of Schools but also as its Mayor for three terms....Kosciusko Kemper! A lifelong Virginian, Kosciusko Kemper was born in Warrenton, Virginia on June 18, 1835, being the son of William and Sarah (Humphreys) Kemper. 

  The possessor of one of the most unique first names this author has yet found, Kemper was bestowed the name "Kosciusko" in honor of Tadeus Kosciuszko (1746-1817), the famed Polish military engineer and officer who during the Revolutionary War served as a Colonel with the Continental Army. A popular figure during the Colonial era, Kosciuszko was later promoted to Brigadier General by the Continental Congress and later removed back to Poland, where in 1794 he led the Kosciuszko Uprising against Imperial Russian and Prussian forces. This uprising was unsuccessful in its attempt to free Poland from Russian dominance, and after being captured in November 1794, Kosciuszko was imprisoned until 1796, when he was pardoned by Russian Czar Paul I. Kosciuszko would relocate back to the United States in 1798 for a short period and gained a firm friend in Thomas Jefferson, whom he later entrusted as his executor after completing his will. 

   Kosciusko Kemper's early education took place in private schools and his family would later reside in Charlottesville for a time. In 1851 he enrolled at the University of Virginia, where he would study until 1858. Here Kemper would meet the woman who would be his wife for nearly forty years, Iraetta (IraEtta) Garrett (1838-1896). The couple wed in February 1859 and their union would see the births of seven children, Edward Hudson (born 1866), William Garrett (born 1868), Charlotte (born 1871), Sarah Richards (born 1872), Eliza Garrett (born 1874), Lewis Magnus (born 1876) and Kosciusko Jr. (1877-1929). 

  Following his graduation from the University of Virginia, Kemper entered into a career in education, a theme that would be prominent throughout the remainder of his life. He and his elder brother Delaware are recorded as having "bought out a school" in Alexandria, and both later were affiliated with the Beaufort, South Carolina Female Seminary, with Delaware Kemper serving as its president. Kosciusko Kemper taught school and studied law until the outbreak of the Civil War, and entered into the Confederate Army, being commissioned as a Captain in the First Regiment, South Carolina Artillery. His service in that unit would see him at Fort Sumpter following its capture and he later saw action with General Joseph E. Johnston at Salisbury, South Carolina. Kemper attained the rank of First Lieutenant and served until his discharge at the war's conclusion.

Kemper as he appeared in the Alexandria Gazette, January 26, 1910.

   At war's end Kemper removed back to Alexandria and for four years served as president of the Alexandria Academy, a school for women. He was admitted to the state bar in 1874 and in that same year took office as Mayor of Alexandria, filling out the unexpired term of William Norris Berkley, who had been named as U.S Postmaster at Alexandria. In 1875 Kemper was elected to a term of his own as Mayor and was defeated the following year by J.B. Johnson. Kemper won a third term as mayor in 1877 and served until 1879, when he was defeated by another oddly named man, Courtland Hawkins Smith. Following his last term as mayor Kemper continued to be politically active in Alexandria, serving as its City Attorney for a decade, as well as its Superintendent of Public Schools from 1893-1909. During the first Cleveland administration (1885-89), Kemper was selected by former Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston (then serving as U.S. Commissioner of Railroads) to serve on his staff.

    A Mason of prominent standing in Virginia, Kosciusko Kemper was initiated into the Washington-Alexandria Lodge No. 22 in March 1875 and in the succeeding years attained high rank in that fraternity, serving as Grand Master of the Washington-Alexandria Lodge from 1888-1890 and a Grand Junior Deacon of the Grand Lodge of Virginia. In 1906 he became Grand Master of Masons in Virginia and was also active in Confederate veteran circles, being a past commander of the Robert E. Lee Camp.

    A longstanding member of the Second Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Kemper was for many years a Sunday school superintendent and in 1883 became a church elder. After decades of prominence in Alexandria public life, Kosciusko Kemper died at age 74 on January 26, 1910, at the home of his daughter in Washington, D.C. He had been predeceased by his wife Iraetta in 1896 and both were interred at the Saint Paul's Cemetery in Alexandria. 

   On May 6, 2017, I was lucky to track down Kemper's gravesite at the aforementioned cemetery, and some photos from that excursion conclude his profile here. This author must state that the St. Paul's Cemetery (and the other cemeteries surrounding it) are some of the most picturesque I've yet seen, with some stones dating back to the early 1810s. Numerous instances of ivy-covered trees and crypts abound, along with wrought-iron gated family plots and intriguing gravestone shapes and designs. Interred at the neighboring Presbyterian Cemetery (located a few hundred yards away from Kemper) is the man who defeated him for Mayor in 1879, Courtland Hawkins Smith (1850-1892), who will have his own article posted here in the coming days.

Kosciusko Kemper in Masonic dress, portrait courtesy of aw22.org.

Kemper's obituary from the Washington Herald, January 27, 1910.

A visit with Kosciusko Kemper at the St. Paul's Cemetery

  St. Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery and the surrounding areas (located in the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex) are home to some of the most impressive trees I've seen, as illustrated by the below photographs. Wrapped in century old vines and ivy, this particular tree has to be one of the oldest and largest in the Alexandria area!

I'm dwarfed by its size!!

Mottrom Dulany Ball (1835-1887)

                                                                            Portrait courtesy of Find-A-Grave

   Tucked away in a small cemetery in the churchyard of the historic Falls Church in Falls Church, Virginia lay the remains of Mottrom Dulany Ball, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Confederate Army who made his name, politically speaking, in the Alaska Territory. A U.S. Collector of Customs for Sitka and District Attorney for that Territory, Ball very nearly became the Alaska Territory's first delegate to Congress but saw his hopes dashed when his election failed to be recognized by the house elections committee. The following write-up is of particular importance, as Ball is the first Alaskan political figure to warrant a profile here. I was also lucky enough to locate and photograph his family's plot in the aforementioned churchyard. Some photos from that trip will conclude his article here!

  The eldest of seven children born to Col. Spencer Mottrom (1801-1859) and Mary (Dulany) Ball, Mottrom Dulany Ball was born on June 23, 1835, in Fairfax County, Virginia. A distinguished resident of Fairfax County himself, Col. Spencer Mottrom Ball served several terms as that county's representative in the Virginia House of Delegates. Mottrom Dulany Ball gained his unusual name due to Mottrom being the name of his paternal grandfather (Dr. Mottrom Ball) and Dulany being his mother's maiden name. While the name "Mottrom" is inscribed on his headstone (and is to be found in many other places online) the name is not without spelling inconsistencies, as it is recorded as both "Mottrone" and "Mottram". Still, more sources record him simply as "M.D. Ball".

   Young Mottrom would attend school in Alexandria, Virginia, and after graduating from the Episcopalian High School in that city enrolled at the College of William and Mary. He earned a Master of Arts degree from that college in 1854 and for a time taught school until the dawn of the Civil War. Ball married in October 186o to Sallie Lewis Wright (1839-1923), with whom he had several children, including the following: Mary Stuart (born 1861), William Dulany (1863-1866), Sallie (born 1866), Mottrom Corbin (born 1868), Caroline Linton (born 1869) and Francis Mallory (1876-1968).

   Casting his lot with the Confederacy, Ball entered into service in April 1861 when he raised a cavalry unit (Ball's Fairfax Cavalry) and was soon ordered to Alexandria. Within a short period, he was captured with other members of his unit by Union troops and was later confined to the U.S.S. Powhatan, then located at the U.S. Naval Yard. After several weeks of imprisonment (during which Ball and his men were treated respectfully by their captors), Ball signed his loyalty oath and was released in June 1861. Despite his vow not to take up arms, Ball's home at Fairfax Court House was later subjected to vandalism and looting by Union troops shortly before the first Battle of Manassas.

Portrait from the "History of the Laurel Brigade", 1907. 

  Ball would later serve as a volunteer aide and scout during the Battles of Manassas and Yorktown (those occurring in 1861 and 1862). He would be promoted to Major of the Eleventh Virginia Cavalry and was wounded at least twice during his service, and following injuries sustained at the Battle of Tom's River was kept out of action until February 1865. 

   By the close of the hostilities, Ball had attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Returning to Alexandria at the conclusion of his service, he began law studies at William and Mary College and received his degree in July 1867. Ball's practice extended for several years, and in early 1872 he entered into newspaper publishing, buying an interest in the Alexandria-based Standard and Sentinel, which, after its purchase by Ball and a partner, underwent a name change to the Virginia Sentinel.  

   Ball would continue to be connected with the aforementioned newspaper well into the late 1870s and also switched political faiths following the election of President Grant in 1868. Now an active supporter of Republican principles and reconstruction, Ball took to the stump for Republican presidential candidate Rutherford Hayes in 1876. Following his election as President, Hayes appointed Ball as U.S. Collector of Customs for Sitka, Alaska in 1878 and by July of that year had removed to the Alaska Territory to begin his duties. Ball's time as Collector in the years 1878-79 saw him as the highest-ranking federal government official in the territory (as he was an agent of the U.S. Treasury Department), and as such is recorded as having been a governor of that territory.

  Joined by his family in Sitka, Ball's tenure as Collector of Customs extended until 1881, when he left that post due to his not being reappointed by newly elected President James Garfield. Despite this, bigger things were in store for Ball, and in 1881 he served as an organizer and member of the Alaska Territorial Convention held in Harrisburg (now Juneau). As a territory without a territorial government, the "Department of Alaska" had been overseen by the U.S. Army until 1877 and the Treasury and Naval Departments from 1877-1884. The 1881 territorial convention later resulted in a special write-in election that September that would decide the territory's "unofficial delegate" to the U.S. House of Representatives, and after the votes were tallied Ball was the man selected!

   Following this election Ball journeyed to Washington, D.C. to present his credentials as an elected delegate. Much to his dismay, his election wasn't recognized by the congressional committee on elections, and ultimately was denied a seat in the house. While Ball's tenure in Congress ended before it even began, the house did allocate money to pay his expenses for his trip to the Capitol. 

   Mottrom D. Ball remained in Washington, D.C. for a short period and continued to lobby hard for further government recognition for Alaska. Ball lived to see the Alaska Organic Act of 1884 passed, which provided the territory with a Governor, District Judge, District Attorney, U.S. Marshal, and other offices. In July 1885 he was appointed by then-President Cleveland as U.S. District Attorney for the Alaska Territory and served in that capacity until his death in 1887.

   Ball's last weeks were marred by impaired health and in early September 1887 left Alaska with his family on board the S.S. Ancon, hoping to reach California to restore his health. He died "on the voyage between Wrangel and Tsongas" on September 13, 1887, and is the first political figure profiled here to have died while at sea. Ball's remains were later transported to the Falls Church Cemetery in Falls Church, Virginia, where both his mother and father were interred.

   On April 28, 2017, I was able to locate and photograph the resting place of Mottrom D. Ball at the Falls Church, a place of historical significance. Established in 1732, this Episcopal church could count George Washington and George Mason as two former vestrymen and a 1769 brick meeting house on the property is considered one of the oldest existing church buildings in the United States. Interred next to Mottrom is his widow Sallie, who survived her husband by over three decades.

Maltby Gaylord Gelston (1847-1917)

From Taylor's Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut, 1903.

   Connecticut state representative Maltby Gaylord Gelston represented his hometown of Sherman in his state's legislature for one term in the early 1900s and had earlier served in several local offices, including stints as town assessor and school board member. A lifelong resident of Sherman, Gelston was born on February 9, 1847, the youngest of four children born to Hugh and Cornelia Gaylord Gelston. A grandson of the Rev. Maltby Gelston (1766-1856), a pastor of the Congregational Church at Sherman for nearly sixty years, Maltby G. Gelston attended the public schools of Sherman, New Milford, and the Naples Academy. 

   Gelston married on his 28th birthday in 1875 to Sophia Giddings (1849-1936), with whom he had one daughter, Cornelia (1879-1940). A farmer and active churchgoer in Sherman, Gelston was a past treasurer, trustee, deacon, and clerk of the local Congregational Church, as well as its Sunday school superintendent. A holder of several political offices in Sherman, Gelston served at various times as a town assessor, relief board member, and school board member.

  Elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1902, Gelston served in the session of 1903-04 and was a member of the committee on education. Following his term, Gelston served once again as a member of the Sherman Board of Assessors (1907-08) and as a school committee member (being elected in 1916). Gelston died in Sherman on June 2, 1917, at age 70. He was survived by his wife and daughter and was interred at the North Cemetery in Sherman.

Lotie Irenus Minard (1837-1913)

Portrait from the History of the City of Nashua, New Hampshire, 1897.

   Snappily dressed and sporting a fine example of a 19th-century mustache, three-term New Hampshire state legislator Lotie Irenus Minard was a lifelong resident of Nashua, being born in that city on April 7, 1857, the son of Charles F. and Sarah (Gay) Minard. He would attend the public schools of Nashua and the Crosby Academy and as a young man went into railroad work, which he would follow for four years.

  In the late 1870s Minard entered into the shoe-making trade, and after several years of private work joined the manufacturing firm of Moody, Estabrook, and Anderson in Nashua. Minard would be employed there for seven years and in the mid-1890s was involved in the concrete business in his native city. On October 1, 1884, Lotie Minard married in Nashua to Josephine Hebert (1858-1934), to whom he was wed for nearly thirty years. The couple would remain childless.

  Remarked as having a keen interest in the political life of Nashua, Lotie I. Minard's first run at public office came in 1884 when he was elected to represent Ward 6 on Nashua's Common Council. In 1885 and 1886 he sat on the Nashua Board of Aldermen and in 1890 was elected to his first term in the state legislature, serving in the session of 1891-92. Minard would be returned to the legislature in November 1896, garnering 316 votes on election day. During the 1897-99 session, he would serve on the committee on the Revision of Statutes and won his third term in the house in November 1898.

From the Souvenir of New Hampshire Legislators, 1897.

   After his third term in 1901, Minard returned to his business interests in Nashua, serving as the treasurer of the Nashua Concrete Co. He returned to political life in 1908 when he began service as a Hillsborough County Commissioner, serving in that post for an indeterminate length of time. Minard died in Nashua on February 24, 1913, at age 63. He was survived by his wife Josephine, who, following her death in 1934, was interred alongside her husband at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Nashua.

Atwood Bond Meservey (1831-1901)

From the History of Merrimack and Belknap Counties, New Hampshire, 1885.

   New Hampshire clergyman Atwood Bond Meservey is yet another example of a New England-based minister who also carved out a career in politics, in his case being a one-term member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Like Silenus H. Fellows, Pearl Castle Abbey, and Cola Di Rienzi Meacham, Meservey walked the line between the ministry and politics, and also gained distinction as an educator, serving as principal of the New Hampton Literary Institution for three decades.

    A native of Appleton, Maine, Atwood Bond Meservey was born in that town on September 30, 1831, being the son of William and Elvina Bond Meservey. Atwood Meservey resided on his family's farm until age nineteen and attended both the Kent's Hill Seminary and the New Hampton Literary Institution. He continued his studies at Andover University and Brown University (from which he received his A.M. degree in 1862) and later received his Philosophy and Divinity doctorates from Bates College.

   Ordained as a minister in the Free Baptist church in 1861, Meservey accepted a pastorate at the Free-Will Baptist church in Meredith, New Hampshire. He remained there for one year and in 1862 left his pastorate to join the faculty of the New Hampton Literary Institution, where he would be a professor of mathematics and natural sciences. After a five-year stint at that school, Meservey spent one year as principal at the Northwood Seminary before returning to New Hampton. In 1868 he was named as New Hampton's principal, continuing in that role until his retirement thirty years later.

   Atwood B. Meservey married his first wife Elizabeth Bean in 1861, with whom he had one daughter, Lizzie. Following Elizabeth Meservey's death in 1862, he remarried to Loanna Meade in 1871. The couple would have one child, John Edwin, who died in infancy. Widowed for the second time in 1880, Meservey remarried in 1883 to Clara Bell Fall, who, before she died in 1887, bore one son, Arthur Bond (1884-1952). Arthur Bond Meservey would follow his father into a career in academics, being a Professor of Physics at Dartmouth University for over forty years.

The New Hampton Literary Institution as it looked during Meservey's tenure.

   In addition to his lengthy tenure at New Hampton Atwood Meservey was the author of several textbooks, dealing with subjects such as banking, book-keeping, and political economics. Of these works, "Meservey's Book Keeping" proved to have the widest influence, as it was "In use in over five hundred schools in various towns and cities of New England and in over ninety academies and seminaries." Meservey would also author two works of non-fiction, "Through Struggle to Victory" and "Drifting and Resisting".

   Meservey's one instance of involvement in politics occurred in 1866 when he was elected as New Hampton's representative to the New Hampshire state legislature. Serving during the 1867-1868 house session, Meservey sat on the house committee on education. After leaving the legislature Meservey continued his work at the New Hampton Institute until his retirement in 1898. He resided in New Hampton until his death at age 69 on February 20, 1901, having succumbed to a "complicated disease of the kidneys." Meservey was interred at the New Hampton Village Cemetery and later was acknowledged by the Granite State Monthly as

"A man of marked ability, of sound judgement, of phenomenal tact in school management, and of affable disposition, he will be remembered and revered by the thousands of students who have come under his tuition."

From the Centennial Souvenir of the New Hampshire Yearly Meeting of Free Baptists, 1892.