Addington Bollinger Campbell Jr. (1896-1983)

From the Camden Courier-Post, May 12, 1949.

  Lifelong New Jersey resident Addington Bollinger Campbell Jr. was long a leading Democrat in Cumberland County, serving several years as county Democratic committee chairman and in 1928 was named to the New Jersey State Democratic Committee. Following his service, he was affiliated with the Internal Revenue Service as chief of the field division and assistant collector, and in 1949 was named by President Truman as U.S. Collector of Internal Revenue for New Jersey's 1st district. The son of leading Cumberland County oyster shipper Addington Bollinger Campbell Sr. (1866-1930) and the former Mary Emma Joslin (1874-1960), Addington Bollinger Campbell Jr. was born on August 29, 1896, in Newport, New Jersey.

  A student at schools local to Bridgton, Campbell graduated from Bridgton High School and later enrolled at the Banks Business College in Philadephia. A naval veteran of World War I, Campbell captained a sub-chaser during his service, and as the commander of Submarine Patrol 204, was responsible for removing a mine cutter that had landed on a beach in Delaware Bay in late 1918. Following his service, he married in Newport in 1920 to Myrtle Lore Lake (1892-1975), to who he was wed for over fifty years. The couple had at least one son, Duncan Lake Campbell (born ca. 1925). 

   In the years after his marriage Campbell was affiliated with his father's oyster shipping business, and in the 1930s owned an oyster-catching vessel based out of Philadelphia. He entered the political field in 1922 with his candidacy for the New Jersey State Assembly. In October of that year, he was a featured speaker at a Democratic mass meeting held in Vineland, and though defeated in the November election, he was again the Democratic nominee in November 1927.

From the Vineland Evening Journal, October 18, 1922.

  Though defeated in his runs for the assembly, Campbell experienced success in local politics beginning with his service as chairman of the Cumberland County Democratic Committee in 1924. He served several years in that post, and in 1928 advanced to a seat on the New Jersey State Democratic Executive Committee, where he sat until 1935. In August 1933 he began a long affiliation with the Internal Revenue Service when he was appointed as chief of field deputies at the IRS office in Camden. 

  After two years as chief of field deputies, Campbell succeeded to the post of assistant collector of internal revenue for New Jersey's 1st district. Serving under collector Harry Maloney, Campbell's tenure extended until April 11, 1949, when Maloney died. Campbell acted as interim collector until May when President Truman nominated him to succeed Maloney. Campbell was later confirmed by the U.S. Senate and was sworn into office in July 1949.  

   Overseeing a district that comprised ten New Jersey counties, Campbell announced in September 1949 that his office would be "cracking down on delinquent taxpayers in the South New Jersey district", and aimed to collect $2,000,000 from 6,000 delinquent taxpayers. Campbell would further state that:

"Businessmen who ignore demands for payment risk having their bank accounts impounded by the government. If their cash or other liquid assets do not cover the delinquency, the law provides their businessess may be disposed of at forced sales to raise the money."

From the Camden Courier-Post, July 1, 1949.

  Campbell was reappointed as internal revenue collector for the 1st district in November 1952, and in August of the previous year announced the opening of an IRS branch office in Bridgton, that would be staffed by ten deputy collectors and two office assistants. Campbell later assumed the title of district collector and served until announcing his retirement in May 1955, being succeeded by Chris L. Gross.

  Following retirement Addington B. Campbell continued residence in Port Norris, New Jersey, and in June 1975 suffered the death of his wife of over fifty years, Myrtle. A prominent club man in his region, Campbell held memberships in the Olivet Lodge No. 607 of Free and Accepted Masons, the Rajah Temple of Philadelphia, the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Lodge Council Chapter Consistory of Scranton, and the Nabb-Leslie American Legion Post No. 82 of Millville.

  After decades of prominence in New Jersey public affairs, Addington B. Campbell Jr. died at the Millville Hospital on October 28, 1983, aged 87. He was survived by his son Duncan and was interred alongside his wife at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Cedarville, New Jersey.

From the Millville Daily, October 29, 1983.

The Strangest Names In Australian Political History?

Cornthwaite Hector William James Rason.

  Last year's back-to-back posting of oddly named British and Canadian political figures proved to be a big hit, and not long after their publishing, I decided upon a sequel to those lists, comprising political and judicial figures from Oceania (Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand). This list, just under one hundred names long, encompasses not only members of the Australian senate and house of representatives (which came into being following the federation of the six Australian colonies in 1901), but also the legislative assemblies of the Australian states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia. Also listed are members of the New Zealand house of representatives and legislative council (the latter becoming defunct in 1951), as well as mayors of cities in both Australia and New Zealand.

1.) Sir Cornthwaite Hector William James Rason--(June 18, 1858-March 15, 1927): Member of the Parliament of Western Australia for South Murchison and Guildford, 1897-1906; Premier of Western Australia, 1905-06.
2.) Bronterre Washington Dooley--(July 4, 1867-October 19, 1913): Member of the Parliament of Western Australia for Geraldton, 1911-13.
3.) Wollaston Bruce Heilly--(1884-1963): Member of Parliament for Victoria, 1943-45.
4.) Eyles Irwin Caulfield Brown--(June 24, 1819-June 17, 1886): Member of the Queensland Legislative Council, 1863-82.
5.) Day Hort Bosanquet--(March 22, 1843-June 28, 1923): Governor of South Australia, 1909-14.
6.) Vaiben Louis Solomon--(May 15, 1853-October 20, 1908): Premier of South Australia, 1899-99; member of the Australian Parliament for the Northern Territory, 1890-1901, 1905-08; for South Australia, 1901-03.
7.) Tharp Mountain Girdlestone--(1823-1899): Member of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria for Ararat, 1862-65.
8.) Keppel Earl Enderby--(June 25, 1926-January 7, 2015): Member of the Australian Parliament for the Australian Capital Territory, 1970-74; for Canberra, 1974-75.
9.) Grosvenor Arundell Francis--(August 14, 1876-November 30, 1944): Member of the Australian House of Representatives for Kennedy, 1925-1929.
10.) De Burgh Fitzpatrick Persse--(September 25, 1840-February 17, 1921): Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland (for Fassifern), 1878-1883.
11.) Hattil Spencer Foll--(May 30, 1890-July 7, 1977): Member of the Australian Senate for Queensland, 1917-1947.
12.) Lyttleton Holyoake Bayley--(1827-1910): Member of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, 1859; Attorney General of New South Wales, 1859. Sir Littleton Ernest Groom--(1867-1936): Attorney General of Australia, 1921-25; Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, 1926-29.
13.) Glenister Shiel--(1929-2008): Member of the Australian Senate for Queensland, 1974-81, 1984-90.
14.) Theophilus Parsons Pugh--(1831-1896): Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland (for Brisbane) 1863-69. Theophilus Martin Nicholls--(1894-1977): Member of the Australian Senate from South Australia, 1946-1968.
15.) Ranville Ashmore Popplewell--(?--1985): Mayor of Randwick, New South Wales, 1955-56 and 1969-71.
16.) Sir Condor Louis Loucke--(1914-1993): Member of the Australian Senate for South Australia, 1964-81.
17.) Cleaver Ernest Bunton--(1902-1999): Member of the Australian Senate for Queensland, 1975.

Tharp Mountain Girdlestone.

18.) Sir Benjamin Benjamin--(1834-1905): Member of the Victoria Legislative Council, 1889-92.
19.) Septimus Denbigh Alldis--(1886-1929): Member of the Parliament for New South Wales (Eastern Suburbs), 1925-27. Septimus Burt--(1847-1919): Member of the Parliament of Western Australia for Ashburton, 1890-1900.
20.) Everard Firebrace Darlot--(January 23, 1859-November 5, 1937): Member of the Parliament of Western Australia for Murchison, 1890-1894.
21.) Lancelot Morton Spiller Hargrave--(1895-1972): Mayor of Adelaide, 1957-1960. 

Lancelot Tregunnell Roper--(1856-1918): Mayor of Auburn, New South Wales, 1896-97.
22.) Mathieson Harry Jacoby--(1869-1915): Member of the Parliament of Western Australia, for Swan, 1901-05 and 1908-11 (House Speaker from 1904-05).
23.) Rivett Henry Bland--(1811-1894): Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, 1849-50.
24.) Boyle Travers Finniss--(1807-1893): First Premier of South Australia, 1856-57.
25.) Athelstan John Henton Saw--(1868-1929): Member of the Western Australia Legislative Council, 1915-29.
27.) Sir Langer Meade Loftus Owen--(1862-1935): Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, 1922-1933.
28.) Nuatali Josephine Nelmes--(?--LIVING): Lord Mayor of New Castle, New South Wales, Australia, 2014-.
29.) Hartog Carel Berkeley--(August 14, 1928-February 17, 2017): Solicitor General of Victoria, Australia, 1982-92.
30.) Voltaire Molesworth--(1890-1934): Member of Parliament for New South Wales (Cumberland), 1920-25.
31.) Otho Orde Dangar--(1842-1923): Member of Parliament for New South Wales (Macleay), 1889-93.
32.) Broughton Barnabas O'Conor--(1868-1953): Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council (Sherbrooke), 1898-1907; Minister for Public Instruction, 1904-07.
33.) Otway McLaurin Falkiner--(1909-2000): Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, 1946-78.
34.) Winsome McPherson McCaughey--(1943-LIVING): {Female} Mayor of Melbourne, Australia, 1988-89.
35.) Follett Johns Thomas--(1863-1942): Member of Parliament for New South Wales (Gough), 1903-20.

Hattil Spencer Foll.

36.) Ephraim Leman Zox--(1837-1899): Member of Parliament for Victoria (East Melbourne), 1877-99.
37.) Theodotus John Sumner--(1821-1884): Member of the Victoria Legislative Council, 1873-1883.
38.) Albrecht Feez--(1825-1905): Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland (for Leichardt), 1880-83.
39.) Guelfi Paul Scassola--(April 19, 1940-August 27, 2002): Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland (for Mount Gravatt), 1977-83.
40.) Ratcliffe Pring--(1825-1885): Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Eastern Downs, 1860-62; for Ipswich, 1863-66; for Burnett, 1867-70; for Brisbane, 1870-72; for Carnavon, 1873-74; Brisbane City, 1878; Fortitude Valley, 1878-79; also Attorney General for Queensland, 1859-65, 1866, 1867-68, 1869-70, and 1879-80.
41.) Athol Railton Richardson--(1897-1982): Member of the Parliament for New South Wales (from Ashford), 1935-52; Treasurer of New South Wales, 1939-41; Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, 1952-67.
42.) Edric Montague Bastyan--(1903-1980): Governor of South Australia, 1961-1968.
43.) Bervin Ellis Purnell--(1891-1972): Mayor of Geelong, 1949-52.
44.) Vautin Hilary Andrews--(1914-1976): Mayor of Geelong, 1959-61.
45.) Octavius Lionel Haines--(?--?): Mayor of Cottesloe, Perth, 1898-1905.
46.) Job Eagles Stone--(1865-1935): Mayor of Toowoomba, Queensland, 1909.
47.) Adolphus Henry Everard Barton--(1842-1916): Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland (for Carnavon), 1904-07.

48.) Barrington Clarke Wood--(1850-1903): Member of the Parliament of Western Australia, 1894-1901; member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia, 1902-03.

49.) Ludovic George Houston McCredie--(1883-1961): Mayor of Holroyd, New South Wales, 1912-14.

50.) Adelbert Theophilus Schleicher--(1851-1924): Mayor of Hunter's Hulll, New South Wales, 1896-97.

New Zealand

Clutha Nantes McKenzie.

1.) Cheviot Wellington Rangi Dillon Bell--(August 18, 1892-September 26, 1960): Member of the New Zealand Legislative Council in 1950, from Wairarapa.
2.) Sir Clutha Nantes Mckenzie--(February 11, 1895-March 30, 1966): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from Auckland East, 1921-23; blinded during the Gallipoli campaign, and later became a leader on behalf of the visually impaired.
3.) Sir Westby Brook Perceval--(1854-1928): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from Christchurch, 1887-91.
4.) Dingley Askham Brittin--(1823-1881): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from Christchurch, 1855-56.
5.) Taito Phillip Hans Field--(1952-LIVING): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from South Auckland, 1993-2008.
6.) Venn Spearman Young--(1929-1993): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from Egmont and Waitotara, 1966-1991.
7.) Bendix Hallenstein--(1835-1905): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from Wakatipu, 1872-73.
8.) Theophilus Heale--(1815-1885): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the Suburbs of Auckland, 1860.
9.) Hallyburton Johnstone--(1897-1970): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from Raglan and Waipa, 1945; 1949-63.
10.) Mojo Celeste Mathers--(1966-LIVING): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the Green Party List, 2011-17.
11.) Marmaduke George Nixon--(1813-1864): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from Franklin, 1861-64.
12.) Sir Dove-Myer Robinson--(June 15, 1901-August 14, 1989): Mayor of Auckland, 1959-65, 1968-80.
13.) Hopeful Gibbons--(October 4, 1856-June 25, 1947): Mayor of Wanganui, 1924-27.
14.) Searby Buxton--(1832-1919): Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from Rangitata, 1887-90.
15.) Hilcote Pitts-Brown--(1905-1990): Member of the New Zealand Legislative Council from Nelson, 1950.
16.) Prentice Arthur Kusabs--(1897-1974): Mayor of Rotorua, 1942-1947.

Tasmania

1.) Lyndhurst Falkiner Giblin--(November 29, 1872-March 1, 1951): Member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for Denison, 1913-16.
2.) Windle Hill St. Hill--(July 11, 1839-May 31, 1918): Member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for North Hobart, 1886-93.
3.) Carmichael Inlach Lyne--(1861--?): Member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for Ringarooma, 1900-06.
4.) Gamaliel Henry Butler--(1854-1914): Member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council for Hobart, 1896-1914.
5.) Tasman Shields--(1872-1950): Member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council for Launceston, 1915-36.
6.) Tetley Gant--(1853-1928): Member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council for Buckingham, 1901-27.

Zearl Verlin Hallcock (1896-1976)

From the Red Oak Express, June 13, 1962.

   A longtime farmer in Mongomery County, Iowa, Zearl Verlin Hallcock served several terms as mayor of Elliott in the 1950s and 60s. A resident of Iowa until shortly before his death, Hallcock was born in Pilot Grove on October 24, 1896, the son of John H. (1870-1962) and Lelia Hallcock (1876-1953). Little information exists on his early life or education, except note of his residence in Pilot Grove with his family. Hallcock married in Pottawattamie County on January 9, 1918, to Loraine Kirby (1901-1975), to who he was wed for over fifty years. The couple had three children, Bernadene (1924-2008), Billy (1928-2011), and Thomas (birthdate unknown). 

  A farmer for the majority of his life, Hallcock first farmed in Pilot Grove and in 1936 took over the operation of the 80-acre Vannorstrand farm, which was purchased by his father. Following its purchase, the Hallcock family's total farming acreage extended to 440 acres in Montgomery County. Hallcock removed to Elliott, Iowa in 1946, where he continued farming, and by 1962 had the "managership of three family-owned farms" in the vicinity. Additionally, Hallcock worked as an auctioneer both before and after his removal to Elliott. 

  Following his settlement in Elliott, Zearl Hallcock was a member of the local Methodist church, the Elliott Businessmen's Club, and the Elliott Activity Club. In 1947 he served as chairman of a two-day Elliott community celebration and entered town politics in March 1950 with his election as mayor. Curiously, there were no announced candidates for mayor of Elliott that year and Hallcock's election was due to "a write-in vote of 41." He served two consecutive terms, 1950-54, and in November 1957 was returned to the mayoral chair. By 1962 Hallcock had logged five terms as Elliott's mayor, and in October 1963 announced that he wouldn't be a candidate for a sixth term.

From the Red Oak Express, October 14, 1963.

  In 1965 Zearl Hallcock entered into the Elliott mayoral race and that November defeated incumbent Robert E. Allen. He left office in January 1968, and in October 1975 suffered the death of his wife of fifty-seven years, Loraine. Hallcock survived his wife by several months, dying in Brighton, Colorado on April 22, 1976, aged 79. He was survived by his three children and was interred alongside his wife at the Hillside Cemetery in Elliott.

Azor Ruggles Mills (1827-1901)

From the Jefferson Bee, October 26, 1954.

  A prominent 19th-century resident of Greene County, Iowa, Azor Ruggles Mills was a transplant to that state from Wadsworth, Ohio, and in the early 1850s became the first person to teach in the recently organized school in Greene County. A Civil War veteran, Mills lost the use of his left arm due to wounds sustained at the Battle of Allatoona. In 1865 he was elected as Greene County's representative in the Iowa state legislature and later served as a county school superintendent. The son of Col. Henry Augustus "Harry A." (1795-1873) and Harriett (Ruggles) Mills (died 1844), Azor Ruggles Mills was born in Wadsworth on February 11, 1827. Bestowed the unusual name Azor Ruggles, Mills received this name in honor of his maternal grandfather (1768-1843), a native of Brookfield, Connecticut who later removed to Canfield, Ohio.

  During his youth Mills studied in schools local to his village and later attended the Twinsburg Academy for Boys. After attaining maturity Mills looked westward and moved to Wisconsin in the early 1850s. Following resettlement, he enrolled in the first class ever to register at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and taught school for a time. Around 1854-55 he moved to Iowa and settled in Jefferson in Greene County. Soon after his arrival, the local citizenry organized a subscription school, the first of its kind in the county. Mills was selected as the school's first teacher and also organized a debating society. The school comprised thirty-two students, and at the dawn of the Civil War, he began military drilling with his class, with all 33 (including Mills) enlisting for service in the Union Army.

  In 1862 Mills took rank among Co. E., 39th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and on October 5, 1864, was grievously injured at the Battle of Allatoona Pass in Georgia. "With four bullets in his coat", Mills was spared a death blow by the ramrod of his rifle, which he was then pulling from his gun. Instead of being struck in the heart, the bullet passed through his left arm, subsequently wounding his fellow infantryman, James Smith. This injury caused Mills to lose the use of his left arm, but he continued to serve in the Army until his honorable discharge in July 1865. After his return to Iowa, Mills was a founding member of the George H. Thomas Post in Jefferson, with which he was affiliated until his death.

  On July 25, 1865, Azor Mills married Miranda Dyle Anderson (1844-1917), whom he had known before the war. The couple were wed until his death in 1901, and had nine daughters: Emma (died in infancy in 1866), Ada (1868-1953), Ella (born 1869), Grace Ruggles (1871-1952), Lilian Bird (1873-1933), Flora (1875-1876), Ethel Ray (1877-1903), Marcy Octavia (born 1879), and Vera Elizabeth (1884-1954).

   In the same year as his marriage, Azor Mills received the Republican nomination for state representative from the counties of Greene, Carroll, Audubon, and Calhoun. Following his election in late 1865, Mills took his seat in January 1866 and during that session was named to the committees on Banks and Engrossed Bills. This term saw Mills back legislation that approved $95,000 for the construction of a main building at the newly organized Iowa State College at Ames, where six of his daughters would attend school.

From the Jefferson Bee, March 14, 1901.

  After leaving state government Mills continued prominence in Greene County, being elected to two consecutive terms as county superintendent of schools where his "labors were practical and whose efforts were effective." Additionally, Mills was a charter member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Jefferson, where he taught a bible class for forty-five years. He also farmed near the northern Jefferson city limits, and with Joseph Manning established a boot and shoe manufacturing business in town. 

  Due to physical disability, Mills later retired from his business pursuits but continued to reside in Jefferson until his death at home on March 12, 1901, at age 74. He was survived by his wife and daughters and was interred at the Jefferson Cemetery. Mills was subsequently memorialized by his fellow townsman and friend John Gray as having had:

"A rare mixture of aloofness and friendliness, aloofness inherited from eastern origins, friendliness bred in the new west. He willingly shared the burdens of humanity even to the risking of his own life, whether on the battlefield, or in the halls of legislation, his strength and voice were ever on the side of right."

Redfield Clipper Mills (1891-1965)

From the Iowa State Red Book.

  Iowa makes its first appearance on the site for 2021 with Redfield Clipper Mills, who was twice a state senator from the state's 17th district. The first veterinarian to be accorded a profile here, Mills returned to politics in 1948 with his unsuccessful run for Iowa lieutenant governor. A lifelong Iowan, Redfield Clipper Mills was born in Redfield, Dallas County, on January 22, 1891, the son of John Henry and Sarah Alice (Duck) Mills. A newspaperman, John Henry Mills was the publisher of the Redfield Record, which he purchased in 1889. Following its purchase, he renamed it the Redfield Clipper, and upon his son's birth in 1891 bestowed upon him the same name!

   A student in both the country and town schools, Mills graduated from the Redfield High School and for three years farmed in North Dakota. Deciding upon a career in veterinary medicine, Mills enrolled at the Kansas City Veterinary College and graduated in 1915. Following graduation, he opened his practice in Redfield and after American entry into WWI enlisted for service. For two years he served with the U.S. Veterinary Corps and attained the rank of First Lieutenant.

  After his return stateside Mills recommenced with his practice in Redfield and married in Dallas County on December 30, 1920, to Ella Frances Shaw (1902-1999). The couple's forty-four-year marriage produced six children: Clipper Eugene (1923-1994), Milton Locke (1925-2003), John Paul (1927-2018), Mary Alice (1928-2008), Donald Thurston (1932-2018), and Janet Elizabeth (1934-2016). 

  In addition to his veterinary practice, Mills was active in the Knights of Pythias Lodge and the American Legion. An active Republican in his region, Mills would attend "every precinct, district, and county Republican convention since 1920." He first pursued elective office in 1924 when he sought the Republican nomination for state senator from the 17th district. Following his win in the Republican primary, Mills went on to oppose Democratic nominee J.W. Morris, and that November defeated him by a vote of 11,646 to 6,246. He took his seat in January 1925 and during the 1925-27 session was named to the committees on Agriculture, the Board of Control, Dairy and Food, Fish and Game, Highways, Labor, Pharmacy, and the Suppression of Intemperance. He also chaired the Committee on Military Affairs.

From the 1925-26 Iowa State Red Book.

  A successful candidate for reelection in 1926, Mills was named to two new committees for the 1927-29 session, Mines and Mining, and Police Regulations. He again chaired the Military Affairs Committee and was named vice-chair of the Committee on Labor. Mills was defeated in his bid for a third term in the June 1928 Republican primary, losing out to Frank Bissell (1878-1970), 4,514 votes to 3,478. Mills would again seek his old senate seat in the June 1932 Republican primary but was defeated by George M. Hopkins (1866-1940), who went on to win the general election in November.

   In 1933 Redfield Mills returned to government service when he took on the post of chief doorkeeper for the Iowa state senate, and continued to serve until at least 1935. In 1945 he was named as a vice commander of the Iowa American Legion at its 47th annual convention, and in 1948 returned to politics when he announced his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of Iowa. In a Dallas County News writeup on his candidacy, Mills's WWI service and terms in the senate were highlighted, with the News remarking:

"Mills is Dallas county's only candidate for state office  in the 1948 election, and is receiving numerous pledges of heavy support in his home county. He is well known throughout the state, but is particularly anxious that the vote in his home county be heavy as a tribute to his long service to Dallas County agriculture and the Republican party."

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette, March 9, 1948.

From the Dallas County News, April 28, 1948.

  One of three candidates vying for the Republican nomination, Redfield Mills lost out in the June primary, polling 88,098 votes to incumbent Kenneth Evans's winning total of 156,620. Two years following his loss he was named as an inspector for the U.S Poultry Association, and in the twilight of his life was a resident of the Iowa Soldier's Home in Marshalltown. He died there on June 12, 1965, aged 74, and was survived by his wife and six children. Ella Mills survived her husband by over thirty years and following her death at 97 in 1999, was interred alongside him at the East Linn Cemetery in Redfield. 

From the Dallas County News, June 16, 1965.

Blackstone Waterhouse (ca. 1844--?)

Portrait courtesy of the Arkansas state archives.

   An early African American legislator from Arkansas, Blackstone Waterhouse represented Jefferson County in the Arkansas House of Representatives for one term, 1883-1885. Information regarding Waterhouse remains at a minimum, and his exact dates of birth and death remain uncertain. Three census records give conflicting accounts as to Waterhouse's state of birth and family, and are recorded below:

• A 1910 census listing (under the misspelled name Blackstom Waterhouse), records him as a 65-year-old resident of Vaugine in Jefferson County, with his birthplace being given as Arkansas. This same record denotes his wife Sallie as sixty-three-years-old, and his parents being born in North and South Carolina, respectively. 
• Another census record from 1900 again records him as a resident of Vaugine and lists his birth year as March 1844. This record denotes his state of birth as Alabama, with his parents being born in Virginia.
• A "B. Waterhouse", born ca. 1840 is recorded in the 1880 U.S. Census as a resident of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. This man is noted as a married black grocer, with a wife, Sallie, and a fourteen-year-old son, William. 

  Elected as one of three Jefferson County representatives in September 1882, Waterhouse took his seat in January 1883 and was named to the committees on Federal Relations and Retrenchment. During this session, Waterhouse introduced one piece of legislation, House Bill No. 278, "a bill to be entitled an act to secure railroad laborers the payment of their wages."

From the January 7, 1883, Daily Arkansas Gazette.

  In the decades following his service in the legislature Blackstone Waterhouse was active in Baptist church work, and in November 1898 served as a delegate to the Arkansas Baptist state convention held in Pine Bluff. He was named to the committee on Correspondence, and in July 1902 attended the convention of the United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten, a black benevolent association founded in Kentucky in 1861. A longstanding member of that organization, Waterhouse was named as a Grand Counsellor at this meeting and at a conclave held in 1901 was named to the committee on Rules.

  Information on Waterhouse after 1904 remains scant. In May of that year, he took part in a Republican committee meeting in Vaugine, which would select delegates to the Republican state convention that September. Newspaper reports of the time denote his continued affiliation with the United Brothers of Friendship. and in 1910 was named to the grand lodge's finance committee. In 1914 he was named an alternate delegate from Jefferson County to the Republican state convention.

You Can Help!

 A burial location for Blackstone Waterhouse remains unknown at this time, as well as his exact dates of birth and death. The period of his life following his legislative service also remains a mystery. If you are a reader or possible descendant and have information that you'd like to contribute, please send along a message via the Facebook link shown at the upper right of this page!

Monday Floyd (ca. 1803--?)

                               

                                                                           From the Georgia Official Register.

   A two-term member of the Georgia House of Representatives, Monday Floyd was a free black carpenter residing in Morgan County at the time of his election. Like Sancho Sanders (profiled back on February 19), Floyd's birth and death dates have been lost to history, and, like Sanders, he provided unsettling testimony as to Ku Klux Klan atrocities committed in his district during the early years of Reconstruction.

   Born in Georgia, Monday Floyd is recorded as a sixty-year-old in the 1870 U.S. Census, along with his wife, Dinah, aged fifty-eight. A Freedman's Bank record, dated May 1870, notes that Floyd had six children, three of whom were deceased. This document also records Floyd's parent's names, Burrill Neal and Sukey. An additional birthdate is given by Floyd himself during his 1872 congressional testimony, noting that he was born December 25, 1803, in Greene County, Georgia, and was raised in the neighboring county of Putnam. During this testimony, Floyd recounts that he was a slave prior to emancipation and after the war relocated to Morgan County, where he worked as a house carpenter.

  In 1868 Monday Floyd was among 33 black men elected to the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate. These 33 men were blocked from taking their seats in September of that year but were not to be denied in their quest for political representation. Through the efforts of legislator-elect Henry McNeal Turner and others, the case headed to the state supreme court, which ruled in the case of White v. Clements (1869) that blacks did have the constitutional right to hold office. By early 1870 the commander of the Third Military District, Gen. Alfred Howe Terry, had conducted a purge of ex-Confederates serving in the legislature and instated the previous election's Republican candidates, and the expelled black legislators.

  Now seated as a representative from Morgan County, Floyd, and his fellow legislators ratified the 15th amendment to the constitution in February 1870. Little is known of his time in the legislature until December 1870, when he was accosted by members of the Ku Klux Klan. In a detailed U.S. Senate document concerning the attack, Floyd was attacked at his home by two Klansmen, who, after leaving the premises, returned a few hours later and shot into the home. Subsequent testimony by Floyd's acquaintance, Andrew Rockafellow, detailed that Floyd was wounded in the attack, being struck at least twice, "in the side or hip, and another in the leg." Rockafellow was later shown these wounds by Floyd after the latter's escape to Atlanta. The Klansmen returned to Floyd's home several days later, but Floyd, having been tipped off to their presence, made good his escape by hiding in the woods, where he hid until making his way to Atlanta. Now fearful of returning to Morgan County, Floyd removed permanently to Atlanta and thereafter kept his visits to Morgan County to a minimum.

  Despite the attempts by the Klan to intimidate him, Floyd remained resolute and was elected to a second term in the state legislature in late 1870. During this term, he would provide testimony on Klan violence and intimidation that was later entered into the Congressional record in 1872. In his remarks, dated November 1871, Floyd makes no mention of the previous Klan attack on his life, but details threatening letters he had received. One, titled "Helltown, Georgia, At Night", requested that he resign his seat in the legislature immediately, and failure to comply would result in the letter's authors being "provoked to put a dire threat into execution." The letter in its entirety can be read at the following link.

  Monday Floyd's life after 1872 remains a mystery. Another Monday Floyd, born 1860 and recorded in 1880 U.S. Census, possibly is a son or grandson of the Monday Floyd profiled here. No records concerning Floyd could be found after 1872, but his memory lives on at the Georgia state capitol. In 1976 a bronze sculpture commemorating the first 33 black legislators was commissioned and two years later was unveiled on the grounds of the state capitol in Atlanta.

You Can Help!

  A burial location for Monday Floyd remains unknown at this time, as well as his exact dates of birth and death. The period of his life following his legislative service also remains a mystery. If you are a reader or possible descendant and have information that you'd like to contribute, please send along a message via the Facebook link shown at the upper right of this page!