Smyrna times., 1922-02-08
DEATH OF L. IRVING HANDY
Former Smyrnian, Well-knOwn Edu-
Gator, Lawyer and Politician Passes
Away in Wilmington Late Friday


Gator, Lawyer and Politician Passes
Away in Wilmington Late Friday
Former Representative Levin Irving i
Handy, one of the best known mem
bers of the New Castle county bar,
and for many years a picturesque fig !
ure in Democratic party affairs in
State and nation, died at his home,
917 Washington street, on Friday
evening last, February a. The an
nouncement was received in Smyrna
with sorrow and was no great shock
to those who knew of his failing
health. Only recently he gave up resi-
dence in Smyrna and moved to Will
mingtOn where he purchased a prop
erty, that he, his wife and daughter,
DR.. Margaret Handy, now a successful
practitioner, might be all together.
With the hope of regaining health he |
took course of treatment at Johns /
Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, but it !
was only of temporary benefit if at all. |
He failed rapidly. Heart failure was
! the cause of his death. Levin Irving
Handy was born at Berlin, Worcester
county, Md, December "a, 1861. He
was one of a family of eight children,
and the son of Rev. William Collins
Handy, who was in his generation a
prominent Presbyterian minister of
Somerset county, Nd. The mother of
L. l. Handy was daughter of Rev.
J. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, and
was woman of brilliant gifts and
strong character. The boyhood of L.
Irving Handy was spent partly on the
Eastern Shore of Maryland, partly
with his maternal relatives in Ken
lucky and partly in rural New York,
where his father went to preach in
. 1871.
Principal of Smyrna Schools in sos
In 1881 he was elected principal of
the high school at Smyrna, and it was
, this call which brought him to Della
ware. AS a teacher he made great
success, and the classes he turned out
and the pupils he taught hold his
memory dear. His success in Smyr-
. ma gave him prominence as an educa-
tor and in 1881 he was appointed Su-
perintendent of Kent County Schools
i by Governor Boggs. On January 25
q 1881, he was married at Smyrna, to
4 Miss Mary C. Bell, a daughter of the
n late William M. and Emily Hoffeckel
f Bell. She survives him with one son
y L. l. Handy, Jr., one daughter DR.. Mar
! garet P. Handy, practicing physician
q of Wilmington. While serving as su
o perintendent, he registered as a Law
~ student with John r. Nicholson, the1
> member of the Kent county bar, ART
% later Chancellor of Delaware In 1885,
/ he resigned the position of county su
10 perintendent to accept the principal
,e ship of the old Newark Academy, AM
,t thereupon moved to Newark, De
rs About this time he began lecturin
L before teachers institute in Pennsyl
f. vania and other states. In 1892
il was made chairman of the Democrati
~ State Central Committee, a positio
al which he held until 1896. In 1892 il
rt retired from teaching and devote
w himself to the lyceum lecture field, II
or spending to calls from all parts of TIL
nd country.
mt Elected to Lower House Congress 1S9
ne In 1894 he was candidate for tn
IL Democratic Congressional nomination
NJ. and was defeated in that ambition !
os, Samuel Bancroft, Jr. He became ed
p torial writer for the Wilmingto
gs Every Evening, and continued tn;
work until January 1, 1896. In 18S
he was nominated for Congress
B the Democrats and elected. He ser
ed in Congress one term only, ben
ho re-nominated in 1898 by his party, b
ing defeated at the polls by John
e Hoffecker, an uncle of Mrs. Hand
IN In this election both factions of d
af- Republican party united on Hoffecke
oy- who won by 2513 majority. At Il
inc May term of the Superior Court
bel New Castle county, in 1899, he W
C. admitted to the practice of law, al
red opened law office in Wilmingto
ich where he pursued his profession .un
eb- last October. In this year he was o
in of the Democratic candidates cppos
CONTINUED on Page Four)