Roscoe, Horatio, and Sunny Jim
I happened to be in Utica today, so we paid a visit to Roscoe Conkling, Jim Sherman (William Howard Taft’s VP), and Horatio Seymour (Grant’s opponent). They are among the “famous residents” of Forest Hill Cemetery.
First up — Roscoe Conkling!
This guy was something else. Can’t exactly say I “paid my respects” to him, ‘cause I don’t have much. He is pretty fascinating though.
He was both brilliant and an “exceedingly petulant spoiled child”
He was “flame-haired” and insult-hurling and super-duper into the spoils system
President Hayes decided to stick it to Conkling and appointed Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. Collector of the Customs to the Port of New York, saying “how do you like me now, Roscoe Conkling? You and your big dumb machine can kiss my tush.”*
Real shady guy
But also… maybe I don’t give him enough credit.
He was a Radical Republican (which meant something different back then).
He supported the freedman — even standing up for Bruce K. Blanche, the first Black senator to serve a full term (Bruce named son after Roscoe!).
He wanted the South to be closely and firmly supervised after the Civil War.
I need to dig into this more (ew, that is not an intended cemetery pun!). Sure, Conkling had appointees dragged out of bed and bullied into resigning their posts. But as they say… even a thin pancake has two sides. Turns out — I do have some respect for him. Did not see that coming.
*He didn’t really say that, but as I’m sure you know.
Is it just me or did they miss an opportunity for like an upside down Greek ionic flourish on top to sort of match his sweet, sweet head of hair…?
Horatio Seymour ran against Ulysses S. Grant
I’d be lying if I said I remembered that when I saw his name on the list of Famous Residents.
Seymour:
served as governor of New York
ran against Grant (his first term)
was Roscoe Conkling’s brother-in-law!!!
Whhhhhaaat?! I discovered that while at the cemetery. Conkling and his wife (Julia Seymour Conkling) are buried right next to the Seymours.
Even more surprising…? Checking out some of Conkling and Seymour’s politics very quickly….? I land more with Conkling than Seymour on some Very Big Issues and that was unexpected.
Horatio Seymour’s nephew Horatio Seymour is buried beside him, along with his wife Abigail Adams Johnson Seymour. Any relation to Abigail Adams? Yup. Is that helpful to me right now, when I need to make dinner and wanted this to be a quick post? Nope. Nope, it sure isn’t.
Her dad is Hon. Alexander Smith Johnson
And his mom was Abigail Louisa Smith Adams
And her dad was Charles Adams
And his parents were President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams
I could updated the two family trees below to show you just how John & Abigail lead to Charles, etc., etc. and lead to Abigail Adams Johnson Seymour. But I’m not going to. You’ll just have to use your imagination for now.
Does this mean I’m related to Horatio Seymour’s nephew Horatio Seymour…? Yeah, I suppose it does. Very distantly and by marriage. Abigail Adams Johnson Seymour and I both roll up to Henry Adams.
Another cool coincidence
Governor Horatio Seymour’s brother John Forman Seymour and his wives Frances Antill Tappan Seymour and Helen Lincklaen Ledyard Seymour are also buried at Forest Hill Cemetery. Tappen?! I’m reading about Arthur and Lewis Tappen right now in America’s Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick, by Bob Crawford. Any relation?
Of course.
Arthur Tappen was her dad (and John Forman Seymour’s father-in-law) and Lewis Tappen was her uncle. The Tappens were abolitionists and now I’m regretting that I haven’t doodled them yet.
What I knew about James Sherman
Before today, I knew three things about this guy. He was:
William Howard Taft’s VP
the most recent VP to die in office
known as Sunny Jim
Today happened to be very moody and not at all sunny. Nevertheless, now I know a few more things about him:
Middle name was Schoolcraft
First VP to fly in an airplane and throw out the first pitch (those were separate events, but imagine if they weren’t?! The latter wasn’t surprising, since Taft was the first president to throw out that ceremonial first pitch).
I would cast Steven Root to play him
Also called Smiling Jim… which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it
Unable to campaign for reelection in 1912, since he was sick with Bright’s disease
Narrowly missed learning that Woodrow Wilson won (having died less than a week before the election)
Rests eternally with his wife, Second Lady Carrie Sherman, in this fancy mausoleum
See?
But also!
He’s related to The Shermans and The Hoars!! I dug into them recently to see how I’m related (I’m not). They all roll up to Henry Sherman (1546 - 1610). That means, James Sherman is related to…
Roger Sherman, who helped write the Declaration of Independence!
All the Hoars that fall under Roger Sherman (including the ones named for my ancestor, Ebenezer Rockwood)
Senator John Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman
… which is nutty because that means that Sunny Jim was related to both The Ohio Icicle (John Sherman, the guy who asked James Garfield to nominate him for president at the convention) and also Senator George Hoar (the guy who cut James Garfield off at the convention when it was obvious the crowd preferred him over John Sherman, before Garfield had a chance to say anything that would make his nomination unacceptable).
Distantly related.
But still.
PS
When looking for extra history sites in Utica, I came across a brochure online… someone scanned it with a bug smooshed on one of the pages. Thought it was kind of funny until I realized — the bug is on most of the pages of the document… which makes me think the bug was on the scanner. And nobody noticed…? Even on the cover??
In any case, I was going name this little guy Roscoe and he was going to be my little unlikely mascot for this post. Alas, the quality of the scan is not great. Instead, Lil’ Roscoe made a poem… (OK, I made a poem out of phrases in the brochure that were kind of funny when paired with an omnipresent dead bug):
The disturbing image is made even more
somewhat fussy modeling in that
this life-size bronze figure on a stone base…
creatures emerging
And the pose of the bronze figure of
assassinated Archduke.
NOTE: I wasn’t going to link to the brochure because I don’t want to seem like I’m making fun. But also I don’t want Lil’ Roscoe or me to be accused of plagiarism, so here’s the brochure. See what poetry you and Roscoe can make together!
Doodles inspired by:
President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier, by C.W. Goodyear
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris
Presidential Grave Hunter: One Kid’s Quest to Visit the Tombs of Every President and Vice President, by Kurt Deion
President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier, by CW Goodyear
Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving, by Mo Rocca
Other field trips:
More posts where I poke around in family trees and sometimes accidentally find out I’m related to people:
Visiting three dead guys 🪦🪦🪦