Electious Williams Davis (1874-1947)

From the Mississippi Official and Statistical Register, 1924-28.

  Certainly one of the more unusual names to be found among past Mississippi state representatives, Electious Williams Davis represented Jefferson and Claiborne County for one term beginning in 1923. A lifelong Mississippian, Davis was the son of John Whitfield and Julia (Havis) Davis, his birth occurring in Caseyville on March 25, 1874. A student in the common schools, Electious Davis's education was "acquired through his own efforts" and he would attend the Chamberlain-Hunt Academy and the summer normal schools in Brookhaven and Clinton, Mississippi. 

  For five years Davis followed a teaching career before turning his efforts towards law studies. He read law at home via bought and borrowed books and later studied under future state chancellor Richard Wiltz Cutrer in Port Gibson. Davis married in Mississippi in January 1899 to Rhoda Belle Middleton (1879-1953), to who he was wed for nearly fifty years. The couple had three children, Annie Belle (1899-1938), Percy Williams (birthdate unknown), and Prentiss Elliott (1907-1975).

  Active in the First Baptist Church in Port Gibson, Davis was a longstanding member of the Modern Woodmen of the World, a farmer, and served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Claiborne County National Farm Loan Association. He also was named an abstractor by the Federal Land Bank of New Orleans as a land title examiner. 

From the Port Gibson Reveille, March 6, 1919.

  Electious Davis entered local politics with his service as a constable and justice of the peace, and in 1915 was an unsuccessful candidate for county superintendent of public instruction. In March 1919 he announced his candidacy for Claiborne County attorney, with the Port Gibson Reveille noting that:

"There has never been the slightest reproach against his character. He has always borne the reputation of doing well anything he has ever undertaken, and if elected to this office he will give his best effort."

  Running against Davis that year was another oddly named man, Milling Marion "M.M." Satterfield, then serving as county attorney. When the votes were tallied that August it was Satterfield who won out, polling 5,462 votes to Davis's 1,283. Undeterred by his loss, Davis later set his sights on a seat in the Mississippi house of representatives and in 1923 was elected to that body. Serving from 1924-28, he sat on the committees on the Constitution, Fees and Salaries, and Liquor Traffic.

  Little else is known of Electious Davis's life following his term in the legislature. In 1930 he is recorded as a census enumerator for Claiborne County, and his death occurred in Mississippi on January 28, 1947, aged 72. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Wintergreen Cemetery in Port Gibson.

Greenland Thompson Federer (1888-1961)

From the 1926 West Virginia Blue Book.

  The Strangest Names in American Political History makes its first stop in West Virginia for 2023 with a profile on Greenland Thompson Federer, a one-term member of the state house of delegates. A native of Pennsylvania, Greenland "Green" Federer was born in Washington County on July 29, 1888, the son of the Rev. George Andrew and Dora (McKenna) Federer. 

  Removing to West Virginia with his family in 1897, the Federers settled on a farm in Preston County, and Greenland later graduated from the Fairmount State Normal School. As a resident of Gladesville, Federer established a meat market in that area, using a horse and wagon to deliver his product. A veteran of WWI, Greenland Federer served with the Army's 80th Infantry Division in France and was honorably discharged following the close of the hostilities.

  After returning to West Virginia Federer married Thora L. Robinson (1899-1993) in 1920, to who he was wed for forty years. The couple had two daughters, Eleanor (1921-2015) and Eloise. Residing in Morgantown, Federer announced his candidacy for the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1924 from Monongalia County. Running on the Republican ticket, Federer was elected that November, polling 6,818 votes. Taking his seat in January 1925, Federer served one term and was a member of the committees on Prohibition and Temperance, Redistricting, State Boundaries, and Taxation and Finance.

  "Green" Federer continued residence in Morgantown following his term and is recorded as operating several meat markets in that area. He continued in his vocation until WWII and afterwards worked as a real estate broker. Little is known of the remainder of his life, except notice of his death in Morgantown on October 8, 1961, aged 73. He was survived by his wife and daughters and was interred at the East Oak Grove Cemetery in Morgantown.

Septimus Bonham Sightler (1863-1952), Septimus Augustus Harvin Jr. (1907-1983), Septimus Douglass Cabaniss (1815-1889), Septimus Evans Niven (1842-1927), Septimius Hall (1847-1926))

 
From the Montgomery Advertiser, April 29, 1934.

  A quintet of politicians named Septimus is profiled today, and it is worth noting that four of the five share a first name with its origins in ancient times, and is also the Latin word for seventh. The first man to be highlighted is Alabama's Septimus Bonham Sightler, a furniture dealer and insurance man who served four consecutive terms in his state's house of representatives. The son of Joseph Myers and Martha (Hutto) Sightler, Septimus Bonham Sightler was born in Lexington, South Carolina on October 24, 1863.

  During his youth, Sightler attended the Oakey Springs Academy in Lexington, and in 1886 removed to Montgomery, Alabama, where he took employment with the Montgomery Furniture Company. He married in October of the following year to Mary Francis Boykin (1865-1947), and the couple's sixty-year union produced six children: Ann (birthdate unknown), Aileen (1888-1958), Ruth Cleveland (1893-1977), Martha Elizabeth (birthdate unknown), Mamie Bonham (birthdate unknown), Maude Gertrude (1897-1900), and Septimus Bonham Jr. (1905-1999).

  After a two-year residence in Montgomery Sightler joined his brother in Birmingham in 1888, where both worked in the furniture industry. He removed back to Montgomery in 1894 to take on a managerial position in the Ellis-Gay Furniture Company, and in 1900 partnered with George Wragg to form the Wragg-Sightler Furniture Company., which existed until 1904. In December of that year, Sightler joined old partner E.W. Gay to form a new furniture dealership, Gay and Sightler, located in Montgomery. Notices for their new venture appeared in Montgomery Times throughout 1904 and 1905 hawking their wares, noting:

"Gay and Sightler can make you exceedingly attractive prices on ladies' desks, children's rockers, iron beds, centre tables, rockers, hat racks, bed lounges, children's iron beds, bookcases, bed springs, lamps, blankets and other things too numerous to mention: special prices on everything and cash or credit."

  Active in the civic and fraternal life of Montgomery, Sightler held memberships in the International Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Shriners, and served on the Montgomery County Welfare Board and Safety Council. Additionally, Sightler was active in Baptist church work, and at the time of his death in 1952 was actively engaged as a teacher of the Beacon Light Sunday School class. 

  In 1927 the firm of Gay and Sightler dissolved, with Septimus Sightler soon going into business for himself. He began an interest in local politics in 1917 when his name was mentioned as a possible legislative candidate but didn't actively pursue public office until February 1934, when he announced his bid for the Alabama house of representatives. He would win the primary election in June and in November the general election.

From the Montgomery Advertiser, May 8, 1934.

  As he prepared to take his seat in January 1935, Sightler was interviewed a month prior by the Montgomery Advertiser, where he outlined a platform of what he hoped to accomplish in his first term. He opposed ratification of a possible amendment to a child labor law in the state's constitution, on the grounds that it would "virtually take jurisdiction away children from the parents and hand it over to the government." Additionally, Sightler favored the legalization of beer and wine sales, and advocated for driver's licenses "for all persons who operate motor vehicles in the state of Alabama." This four-year term (1935-39) saw Sightler named to the following committees: Commerce and Common Carriers, Criminal Administration, Insurance and Insurance Companies, Public Buildings and Institutions, the Soldier's Home, and Ways and Means.

  All told, Sightler served four consecutive four-year terms in the state house of representatives, and in 1950 announced his intention not to seek reelection, being 86 years old at the time. He retired from politics at the end of his term, and in the last months of his life was honored by the Woodmen of the World for his "long record of service" to the organization. Septimus Bonham Sightler died at his home in Montgomery on February 22, 1952, at age 88. He had been preceded in death by his wife in 1947 and was interred at the Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery.

From the Montgomery Advertiser, January 2, 1952.

Fromm the Sumter Item, December 21, 1983.

  A leading public servant in Sumter, South Carolina, Septimus Augustus Harvin Jr. served four years as Sumter's mayor and was active in several fraternal organizations in that city. A lifelong Sumter County resident, Harvin was born in that county on September 15, 1907, the son of Septimus Augustus and Harriette Ann Harvin. A student in schools local to Sumter, Harvin graduated from Sumter High School in 1925. A graduate of Clemson University in the class of 1929, he earned his bachelor of science degree from that school and married to Mary Ellen Suber (1908-2004) in the 1930s. The couple had two children, Virginia Anne (Harvin) McLaurin and Septimus Augustus Jr. (born 1937). 

  Through the succeeding years, Harvin's name grew to be a prominent one in Sumter. Remarked as "one of the county's largest and most outstanding farmers", Harvin entered the business life of his community in 1940 when he purchased an interest in the Kirkland Division  Co. meatpacking firm, and, following a fire in 1945, bought out the other partners and continued operations under the firm name Harvin Packing Co. 

  Harvin first entered city politics with his election to the city council in 1952. In 1956 he took office as mayor, and his four years in office saw him as a "dedicated public servant" who "was a strong leader in civic affairs and always had the interests of the people at heart." Active in the fraternal life of his county, Harvin was a member of the Elks Lodge, the Rotary Club, Shriners, the Sumter Progressive Club, and the local Masonic chapter. Septimus Augustus Harvin Jr. died on December 21, 1983, aged 76, and was survived by his wife and children. He was interred at the Sumter Cemetery. 

Courtesy of huntsvillehistorycollection.org

  A native of Alabama, Septimus Douglass Cabaniss was an attorney based in Huntsville who served one term in that state's house of representatives. Born in Alabama in December 1815, Cabaniss was the last of twelve children born to Charles and Lucy (Ingram) Cabaniss. A student at the Greene Academy in Huntsville, Cabaniss later attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville and after graduation in 1835 elected to follow a career in law. He began study under Huntsville lawyer Silas Parsons and three years later was admitted to the state bar. He married Virginia Shepard (1824-1907) in 1843, and later had twelve children (six living to adulthood.)

  Cabaniss began practice in Huntsville in the late 1830s, and by 1851 had established a partnership with future state supreme court chief justice Robert C. Brickell (1824-1900). He began his political career by serving Madison County as its first register in chancery from 1839-43 and was an assignee in bankruptcy for that county from 1841-43. In 1860 Cabaniss was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives, where he served from 1861-63. He cast his lot with the Confederacy during the Civil War and is recorded by at least one 1955 source as having been involved in Confederate Army intelligence work.

  In 1865 Cabaniss resumed practicing law and later partnered with Francis P. Ward. Active in civic affairs in his region, he served as president of the Northern Bank of Alabama and was a member of the board of trustees of the Huntsville Agricultural and Mechanical Institute. Cabaniss died in Huntsville on March 30, 1889, and was interred at the Maple Hill Cemetery in that city. 

Portrait courtesy of the Pennsylvania Senate database.

   Remarked as a "progressive practical farmer and dairyman" Chester County, Pennsylvania resident Septimus Evans Nivin also was active politically, serving two terms as Chester County auditor and in the early 1890s was elected to one term in the state senate. One of six children born to David and Sarah (Evans) Nivin, Septimus Evans Nivin was born in the borough of London Britain in Chester County on April 12, 1842. Inheriting his unusual name courtesy of his maternal grandfather Septimus Evans (1771-1849), young Nivin attended the West Chester Academy and followed farming for nearly all his life.

  Residing upon his family's ancestral farm, the Niven family's landholdings comprised 600 acres, and during his life specialized in breeding Jersey cattle, with an 1895 Pennsylvania history noting that:

"He converts their milk to butter in a creamery on his own land, which brings the highest price at the Philadelphia market. It would well pay any farmer to visit this farm and inpect the fine cattle and stable arrangement under the management of Mr. Nivin."

 Active in the Pennsylvania grange, Nivin served as its state treasurer, and attained further prominence in the political life of its region, serving in a number of county offices, and holding the county auditorship for two terms. Additionally, he served as school director and was school treasurer for three decades. Nivin entered the race for the Pennsylvania state senate in 1890 and that November was elected, being the first Democrat elected to the senate from his county in thirty years. Succeeding senator A.D. Harlan, who had resigned to accept a post as U.S. Marshal, Nivin was sworn in in November 1891, with two days left to serve in that year's extra session. Much to the ire of Republicans and Republican-leaning newspapers in the state, Nivin was accorded a full session pay of $500, despite serving only two days. This fact was later brought up when Nivin was announced for reelection in 1892.

  Nivin lost his reelection bid in September 1892, the nod going to another Chester County Democrat, and later returned to farming. He died at his home in London Britain township at age 84 on December 22, 1926, the cause of death being reported as pneumonia. A lifelong bachelor, he was survived by two nieces and was interred at the New London Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

From the West Virginia Blue Book, 1926.

   A long-tenured member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, Septimius Hall is also one of the more oddly named men to win election to that body. First elected to the state senate in the early 1870s, he won his first election to the state house of delegates a decade later, and, all told, served twelve nonconsecutive terms in that body. Additionally, Hall was a delegate to the West Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1872, served a term as mayor of New Martinsville, and was long active in the Odd Fellows lodge in his state. The son of Leonard Stout and Jeannette McGregor Hall, Septimius Hall was born in what is now Ritchie County, West Virginia on February 14, 1847.

  Young Septimius was a student in schools local to New Martinsville and later followed his father into the study of law. He elected not to practice and instead organized a business named the Pittsburg Stave Company, which he operated for over a decade. Hall married Fannie Anshutz (1848-1936) in 1875, to who he was wed for fifty years. The couple had four children, Charles Leonard (1876-1934), Lulu Hall Blair (1880-1953, Septimius Jr. (1884-1958), and Lamoine Mott (1889-1971).

  Septimius Hall began his long political career in 1871 when he was elected to the West Virginia Constitutional Convention. His time at the convention (1872-73) saw him as an active participant in its proceedings, helping to draw up the state's organic law and at the time of his death in 1926 was one of three surviving convention members. While serving at the convention Hall was elected to represent his district in the state senate, where from 1873-75 he chaired the committee on Banks and Corporations and helped pass the state's first general railroad law.

   After several years away from politics Septimius Hall was elected to represent Wetzel County in the state house of delegates, where he served two terms from 1881-85. Following those terms, he served an indeterminate period as mayor of New Martinsville, and in 1906 was reelected to the house of delegates. Here he would serve until his death in 1926, a total of 25 years of service in both houses. During that time Hall served on dozens of House committees, including  Counties, Districts and Municipal Corporations, Forestry and Conservation, Insurance, Labor and Finance, Military Affairs, the Penitentiary, Taxation and Finance, and Virginia Debt.

From the 1907 Manual of the State of West Virginia.

  Septimius Hall died in office on February 27, 1926, aged 79. He had been for several months, with that illness being compounded by a fall down his cellar steps three months prior to his death. He was memorialized in the 1926 West Virginia Blue Book as a "familiar figure" at the capital, noting:

"Septimius Hall is dead and will be sadly missed by a host of friends and neighbors and those who enjoyed a close association with him in legislative service. While steadfast in his political convictions, he was not classed as a biased partisan; the interest of the state in its wonderful development were always near to him, and even when health was failing, and he had earned reief from public duties, he insisted on holding his place in the line."

Leeman Brackett Wormhood (1881-1960)

 

From Madbury Its People and Places, 1968.

  In its long history, the town of Madbury, New Hampshire was represented in the legislature by two curiously named men, Eloi Augustus Adams (profiled here on November 29, 2019) and Leeman Brackett Wormhood, who is highlighted today. A longtime resident of Madbury, Wormhood was employed by the Boston and Maine Railroad and also farmed in the aforementioned town. A multi-term selectman for Madbury, Wormhood served four years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives beginning in 1945, and later was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1956.

  Born in Ossipee, New Hampshire on May 24, 1881, Leeman Brackett Wormhood was the son of Hartley Lord and Julia Eldredge Wormhood. He married Blanche Tibbetts in East Rochester, New Hampshire in 1902. The couple were wed for over fifty years and had a least one son, Leeman Brackett Jr. An engineer on the Boston and Maine Railroad for forty-five years, Wormhood was active in the civic life of Madbury, being a member of the Grange, the Unity Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, and the Union Congregational Church. 

  On the political front, Wormhood served Madbury in several capacities, including a sixteen-year tenure as town selectman (1930-1946). From 1945-49 he represented Madbury in the state legislature, and from 1949-58 was the town supervisor of the checklist. In 1956 Wormhood retired from farming at his home in Madbury and later resided in a rest home in New Hampshire. In that same year, he served as part of the Strafford County delegation to the state constitutional convention, representing Madbury. Widowed in 1958, Wormhood died in Rochester on December 18, 1960, aged 79, and was interred at the Rochester Cemetery. 

From the Boston Globe, December 23, 1960.

Constant Sweeney Lake (1840-1917)

 

  The second posting for this new year takes us to Iowa and Constant Sweeney Lake, a longtime Marengo resident who was active in Democratic politics in that region. A veteran of the Civil War, Lake served as a delegate from Iowa to the Democratic National Convention of 1880 and six years later was tapped by President Cleveland as U.S. Pension Agent for the districts of Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakota Territory, where he served for four years. A native of Ohio, Constant Sweeney Lake was born in Mansfield on February 14, 1840, the son of Elijah and Susan Crothers Lake.

  A resident of Ohio until age thirteen, Lake removed with his family to Iowa City, Iowa in the early 1850s and here received his education. Desiring a career in law, Lake began study in the office of Edmund and Ransom in 1859, continuing until the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted in Co. B., First Iowa Infantry in April 1861 and later re-enlisted in the Eighteenth Iowa Infantry. Sometime later he was transferred to the Twenty-Second Infantry and concluded his service as an adjutant with the Twentieth Iowa Infantry. 

  Constant S. Lake married in the mid-1860s to Sarah Elizabeth Shepherd (1841-1897). The couple's three-decade union produced six children, Bertha Lee (1866-1937), Jessie Louise (1869-1949), C.B., Norma (1872-1951), Lallah (1874-1878), and Pearl (1884-1885).

  Following his war service, Lake resumed his law studies, reading in the office of state representative Rush Clark (1834-1879), of Iowa City. Upon completion, Lake relocated to Marengo in 1866, where he operated a practice with N.B. Holbrook. Sometime later Lake partnered with state senator and future congressman John Nicholas William Rumple (1841-1903), and their firm continued well into the 1880s. In 1880, Lake served as part of the Iowa delegation to that year's Democratic National Convention, journeying to Cincinnati, Ohio where Winfield Scott Hancock was nominated for the presidency.

  In 1886 President Grover Cleveland named Lake as Pension Agent for the districts of Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakota Territory. His appointment was profiled in the Sioux City Journal in April of that year and denotes Lake as "one of the clearest-headed lawyers in the Fifth district", and further notes that he was:

"Universally esteemed as an honorable, open handed, high minded gentleman of education and character. As a democrat he has never faltered, even in the darkest hour of the party's history. He was a delegate from the Fifth district to the national convention, which nominated Gen. Hancock for president, and has been active and influential in state politics." 

 Lake's tenure in the pension office continued until June 1890, when he resigned. He resumed the practice of law in Marengo and continued until the death of his wife Sarah in 1897. Following her death, he resettled in Marion, Iowa, where he lived with his daughter Bertha. He died at her home several days prior to his 77th birthday on February 7, 1917, and was interred alongside his wife at the IOOF Cemetery in Marengo. 

From the Marshalltown Evening Times-Republican, February 9, 1917.

Ledyard Romulus Tucker (1845-1920), Ledyard Park Hale (1854-1926)

 
From the Colorado Assembly composite photo, 1891.

   The first of two political figures named Ledyard, Ledyard Romulus Tucker was an obscure resident of Colorado who served one term in that state's house of representatives in the early 1890s. While little is known of his life, a small obituary published in the January 1920 edition of the Glenwood Post, helped significantly in terms of information. Born in Indiana on November 9, 1845, Ledyard Romulus Tucker relocated to Leadville, Colorado in 1874, hoping to gain his fortune in mining. He soon removed to Pitkin County, "being present at the big rush which brought Aspen to the notice of the mining world."

  In the years following his resettlement, he engaged in mining and farming and operated a mercantile store. At the time of his election to the Colorado legislature he is recorded as a cattleman residing in Elbert County, and in 1889 was serving as Elbert County commissioner. In 1890 he was elected to the state legislature and during the 1891-93 session was chairman of the committee on Stock, and was a member of the Fees and Salaries, Finance, and Ways and Means committees. 

  Later in his life, Tucker was a resident of Basalt and married in January 1898 to Alice B. Lessley (1860-1938). He died in Basalt of heart trouble on January 15, 1920, aged 74, and was survived by his wife. Both were interred at the Rosebud Cemetery in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

From the Glenwood Post, January 17, 1920.

From the manual of the New York Constitutional Convention, 1915.

  One of the standout figures in the Northern New York bar in the late 19th and early 20th century, Ledyard Park Hale served St. Lawrence County as both its district attorney and county judge; resigning the latter post to serve on the state board of charities. In one of his last acts of political service, Hale won election to the state constitutional convention of 1915, representing the 34th senate district. Hale is also one of the "old guard" strange-name political figures, his name first being located in a New York Red Book in the summer of 2000. For seventeen years Hale remained without a face to place with his name, with no photographs of him being discovered. That remained the norm until a chance discovery in 2017 of the above portrait in a 1915 manual of the state constitutional convention. Since that time two more rare portraits of him have been found, all of which will accompany his profile here.

  A lifelong New Yorker, Ledyard Park Hale was born in Canton, St. Lawrence County on May 17, 1854, the son of Horace Winthrop and Betsey (Lewis) Hale. A student at the Canton Academy, Hale earned his bachelor of science degree from St. Lawrence University in 1876. Fitting himself for a career in law, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin's Law School and earned his degree in 1878. Removing to Madison following graduation, Hale practiced there before moving back to Canton, where in 1881 he married Georgette "Georgettie" Bacheller (1856-1938), to who he was wed for over forty years. The couple had two children, Irma Hale Pfund (birthdate unknown) and Horace Charles Hale (1888-1942).

  Ledyard Hale entered the public life of his county with his appointment as assistant district attorney in 1881, an office that he served for twelve years. He pulled political double duty beginning in 1890 with his election as Canton town supervisor, an office that he would hold until 1894. In August 1893 he received the Republican nomination for St. Lawrence County district attorney, and that November was elected. He served from 1894-1900, during which time he:

"Became Canton's loyal and brilliant supervisor, District Attorney of the County, figuring in some of the most prominent cases in its entire history, and acquiring distinction for his exceptional ability."

From the Buffalo Evening News, April 25, 1908.

  Hale's two terms saw him secure convictions in the trial of Ogdensburgh's Frank Conroy who murdered his wife, and in the murder trial of Howard W. Burt. He retired as district attorney in 1899 and soon returned to private practice in Canton.  He was called to public life once again in 1902 when the office of St. Lawrence County judge became vacant, and in that year Governor Benjamin Odell appointed him to fill the seat. He was reelected to a full term of his own in 1903, and during his final two years of service (1907-08) served in the additional capacity of commissioner of the State Board of Charities. He held both posts until his appointment as counsel for the state Public Service Commission in Albany in April 1908. Selected by Governor Charles Evans Hughes, Hale's appointment was looked upon favorably by the New York Press, with the Buffalo Evening News remarking:

"The selection of Judge Hale for counsel to the Public Service Commission is cordially approved by the bar of the state as that of a lawyer both ample in attainment of learning and flawless in qualities of judgment, tact and solid sense that make him capable of rendering the kind of service desired in the official work of the commission. His salary is $10,000 a year and expenses."

 Hale was still in the position of the commission's counsel when he was elected as a delegate to the 1915 New York Constitutional Convention, during which time he served on the committees on Contingent Expenses, the Governor and Other State Officers, Public Utilities, and Rules. During the proceedings, Hale took part in the vigorous debate over possible minimum wage laws and old age pensions, and as chairman of the public utilities committee, recommended that public service commissioners be made constitutional officers who would be "protected from removal for political reasons."

From the Buffalo Evening News, May 3, 1908.

  After the completion of the constitutional convention, Ledyard Hale returned to Canton, where he continued to practice law. His final years were spent affiliated with his alma mater, St. Lawrence University, having first been appointed to its board of trustees in 1884. From 1919 to 1922 he was board president. In 1923 he retired as Public Service Commission counsel, and in the last year of his life was troubled by heart issues. On June 5, 1926, he suffered an attack of paralysis at his home and died shortly thereafter at age 72. He was later interred at the Evergreen Cemetery in Canton. He was subsequently memorialized by the Potsdam Commercial Advertiser as one of the first citizens of Canton, stating:

"Judge Hale was one of those rare men who touched the world, touched men, and touched life at many sides. Rarely do public men, in long service, possess that strength and moral force to keep unsullied by the passing mob. Here was the cleanly man with character and accomplishment, whose entire life bears close inspection. There is no mar--the soul of honor, and in his dealing fair and just."

Bloomfield Drummond Woolley (1876-1957), Bloomfield Holmes Minch (1864-1929), Bloomfield Jervis Beach (1820-1894)

 
From the Asbury Park Shore Press, October 28, 1899.

   A trio of Bloomfields is highlighted in the following profile, and it is interesting to note that two of these men with the flowery name served in the New Jersey State Assembly just one term apart! The first of these men, Bloomfield Drummond Woolley, won election to the assembly at the youthful age of 21 and following his two terms served over thirty years as Long Branch city assessor. Born on April 3, 1876, Bloomfield "B. Drummond" Woolley was the son of Thomas Ridge and Annie Maria (West) Woolley. A distinguished figure in his own right, Thomas Ridge Woolley (1841-1917), was a former undersheriff of Monmouth County who later served as director and vice president of the Long Branch First National Bank, and from 1879-96 was Long Branch's mayor.

   Young Woolley was a student at schools local to Long Branch, and in 1892 began a long career as a banker, joining the Long Branch Trust Co. He retired from his duties there in 1920, and upon his father's death in 1917 assumed the presidency of the Atlantic Engine and Truck Co., serving in that capacity until his death forty years later. During young adulthood Woolley was a volunteer fireman with the aforementioned engine company, initially serving as its secretary. He was later a second assistant and first assistant foreman, and at the time of his first term in the assembly was company foreman.

  In April 1896 B. Drummond Woolley married Emma Kurrus, to whom he was wed for sixty years. Following their marriage, the couple undertook a three-week trip through the midwest, and after returning to Long Branch had a family that produced three daughters. In 1897 Woolley's name began circulating as a potential candidate for the state assembly, and that October was formally nominated at the Monmouth County Democratic Convention. In November Woolley won his legislative seat, polling 2,774 votes, and after taking his seat in January 1898, was named to the committee on Rules. Just 21 years old at the time of his election, Woolley was remarked as the youngest man to serve in the legislature in the state's history. He won a second term in November 1898 and served on the committee on Game and Fisheries during that session. 

  A candidate for a third term in 1899, Woolley was profiled in the Asbury Park Shore Press, where it was predicted that he would be reelected by a large majority:

"The fact that Mr. Woolley has been elected twice to the legislature speaks volumes...He is popular with the young men of Long Branch, and will receive the support of many Republicans. Mr. Woolley's ancestors were of the Jeffersonian type of Democracy. Assemblyman Woolley entered the political arena before he became a voter. His friends predict his re-election by an increased majority."

Drummond Woolley in old age, from the Long Branche Daily Recorder, Apr. 24, 1950.

  When the polls closed in November 1899 it appeared that Woolley had won a third term, but as the night wore on it was revealed that he and other Democratic assemblymen had been overcome by a Republican majority. Three years after his defeat Woolley was named to the Long Branch board of health, and in 1904 was talked of as a possible nominee for Congress, but withdrew his name due to health concerns. He would serve several terms as a member of the Monmouth County Republican committee between 1920 and 1957, and in the former year retired from his duties with the Long Branch Trust Co.

  In 1916 Woolley was returned to another stint on the city board of health, where he served until 1922. He began a thirty-two-year tenure as Long Branch city assessor in 1925, and his long period was profiled in the April 24, 1950 edition of the Long Branch Daily Recorder, where he spoke on the possibility of a full reassessment of all city property that year. 

  The latter portion of Woolley's life saw him continue with his duties as city assessor and was active in several fraternal organizations, including time as Exalted Ruler of the local Elks Lodge, and as a member of the Long Branch Rotary Club. After decades of service to Long Branch, B. Drummond Woolley died at his Long Branch home on May 30, 1957, aged 81, He was survived by his wife Emma, who, following her death at age 91 in 1967 was interred alongside him at the Old First Methodist Church Cemetery in West Long Branch.

From the Asbury Park Press, May 31, 1957.

From the Bridgton Pioneer, November 5, 1895.

   As Bloomfield Drummond Woolley was beginning his first term in the New Jersey assembly in 1898, another Bloomfield had concluded his third term in the legislature a year prior. That man was Bloomfield Holmes Minch. Sporting a fine example of a 19th-century mustache,  Bloomfield Minch was one of the most prominent citizens of Bridgton, where he was a fertilizer dealer, banker, and politician. Elected to his first term in the state assembly in 1894, Minch served multiple terms in both houses of the state legislature. The second of three children born to Francis and Elizabeth (Tice) Minch, Bloomfield Holmes Minch was born in Hopewell, New Jersey on October 10, 1864.

  Minch's early education was obtained in Hopewell and later attended the South Jersey Institute. He graduated in 1883, and then took courses in business at the Bryant and Stratton College in Philadelphia, finishing in 1884. Settling in Bridgton following his return to New Jersey, Minch partnered with William Garrison in the firm of Minch and Garrison, soon to become prosperous in the sales of fertilizers, farming implements, coal, wood, and "agricultural produce." Additionally, both Garrison and Minch were incorporators in the Cumberland Construction Company, of which Minch served as vice president.

  In December 1886 he married Nellie Rabeau, to who he was wed until her death in 1896. The couple had three children, Robert Francis (1887-1930), Mary (birthdate unknown), Oleta (born 1891), and Alberta, who died in infancy in 1895. Following his wife's death, he married Marion Kenney (1881-1955) in 1906, who survived him. This second union would be childless.

  By the mid-1890s Minch's name had become one of the most prominent in Bridgeton, with he and his partner's business receiving glowing press in the Bridgeton Evening News. Some background on the history of their firm was given, with the News noting:

"The business in coal and fertilizers grew rapidly and soon they began the manufacture of fertilizers, the first of the kind in South Jersey. This branch of the business has increased now more than a hundred fold and their brands of fertilizers are sold are known all over South Jersey. The coal business increased to such magnitude that it became necessary to erect a monster coal elevator, with automatic machinery for unloading coal barges and for loading their coal delivery wagons."

 With their business booming, Garrison and Minch's firm also milled grain and later dealt in seeds, while also selling wagons and bicycles. Following his terms in the assembly Minch left this firm in 1898 to concentrate on his personal affairs, with Garrison continuing business alone.

From the Bridgeton Evening News, January 18, 1898.

  Minch's political career began in the late 1880s with his time as an election official and in 1891 he served as Republican chairman for Bridgeton's third ward. His business successes and activity in Republican circles saw his name bolstered for a possible assembly nomination. With his friends in Bridgeton urging his candidacy, Minch consented to run and formally announced his candidacy in July 1894, with the Bridgeton Pioneer reporting:

"Mr. Minch is one of the bravest of the young businessmen of this city and has made a success of his magnificent enterprises, which have added greatly to the value and importance of the city. Ever since Mr. Minch has been a voter he has been closely identified with Republican politics and has been an able and valuable worker for the cause of his party."

  In November 1894 Minch coasted to an easy victory, polling "a remarkable majority of 2,554." He was renominated for his second and third terms in 1895 and 1896, respectively, and after winning re-election served on the following committees: Banks and Insurance, Commerce and Navigation, Printing, the State Prison, and Stationary. He would also chair the committees on State Hospitals and Municipal Corporations. He was not a candidate for renomination in November 1897.

From the History of Trenton, New Jersey, 1895.

  Bloomfield Minch was called once again to public life in 1901 when he received the nomination for state senator from Cumberland County. The nod was widely lauded in newspapers of the period, with the Bridgeton Pioneer noting Minch's popularity was so that "not a ward or township sent a delegate in opposition to him" at the county Republican convention. Elected that November, Minch's first senate term began in January 1901, and he was soon named to the committees on Agriculture, Commerce and Navigation, and Game and Fisheries. All told Minch served consecutive senate terms until 1910 and later served as chair of the committee on Corporations. He was President of the Senate in the session of 1907, and his long senate tenure was noted for his devotion to conservation and natural resources, with Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens noting:

"Minch was the pioneer in championing and presenting legislation in 1902 which laid the foundation for the legislation that followed, creating the various conservation boards that have since taken up the work of conserving the timber lands and water sheds of the state. He was also author of the legislation which provided the fire lines for the protection of timber lands along all railroad tracks, which has had the effect of preventing the vast waste that had previously been created by the fires caused by locomotive sparks."

From the Bridgeton Pioneer, November 7, 1901.

  Early in his senate service Minch pulled political double duty in 1904 with his service as a delegate to the Republican National Convention that year, and in 1916 served as an alternate delegate. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1910 due to his appointment to the state board of equalization and taxes that year, his service extending until 1916. During the First World War Minch, despite being too old to serve, joined in the ongoing war effort by serving as a fuel administrator for the counties of Salem and Cumberland. The latter portion of Minch's life saw him holding prominent posts in a variety of New Jersey businesses, including the following: 

• President of the Bridgeton Glass and Light Company.
• President of the Parker Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company.
• President of the North Bridgeton Land Company.
• President of the Cumberland Building and Loan Association.
• Vice-President of the Bridgeton National Bank.

 Additionally, Minch was active in several fraternal organizations, holding memberships in the Union League Club of Philadelphia, the Elks Lodge, the Cohansey County Club of Bridgeton, the International Order of Odd Fellows Cohansey Lodge, the Brearley Lodge of Masons, the Seaview Golf Club, and the Junior Order of American Mechanics. Both Minch and his wife were members of the First Presbyterian Church of Bridgeton. 

  After decades of prominence in New Jersey, Bloomfield Holmes Minch died unexpectedly at the dinner table of his home in Bridgeton on June 25, 1929, aged 64. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Old Broad Street Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Bridgeton.

From Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens, 1917.

From the Camden Morning Post, June 26, 1929.

From the History of Oneida County, New York, 1912.

  A leading lawyer in Oneida County, New York, Bloomfield Jervis Beach also served one term in the state assembly from that county. Born on June 27, 1820, in Taberg, New York, Beach attended schools local to Rome, New York, and attended Hamilton College in the mid-1830s. He later enrolled at Princeton, and following graduation worked on the Erie Canal as a civil engineer. Beach decided to pursue a career in law by the early 1840s and undertook  study with Calvin B. Gay of Rome, and after his admittance to the bar in 1843 joined him in his law practice.

  After three years with Calvin Gay Beach left that firm and joined the firm of Stryker, Comstock, and Beach. In 1847 he was elected to the New York State Assembly, and during the 1848 term was a member of the committees on Grievances and the Judiciary. Beach also served Rome as its village president from 1853-54, and in 1863 Following his term, he formed the law firm of Beach and Bailey, which continued into 1874 and gained further distinction in a variety of civic endeavors in Rome. A trustee of the Rome Savings Bank and the Water Works Company, Beach served as president of the Central New York Institute For Deaf Mutes and was director of the Fort Stanwix National Bank, the First National Bank of Rome, and the Rome and Clinton Railroad.

  Bloomfield J. Beach died at his home in Rome on March 22, 1894, aged 73. He was survived by his wife Caroline and was interred at the Rome Cemetery in Oneida County.