Evening star., 1925-10-18
OLDEST EX-CONCRESSMAN
/ NOT JUNGLE .JOE'' CANNON
"President for Day. Fable Also Elk.
ploded by New General Directory of
Congress, Nearing Completion.

Our oldest living eXCongressman
according to the records of B!oEra pher
Void. taken from the personal let
ters of William Wallace Grape, was
born on May 16. 1880, in Dartmouth.
Mass. He attended public schools in
New Bedford and at Phillips Andover
Academy. and was graduated from
Yale in 1852. He studied at the Dane
Law School, Cambridge. and was ad
mitted to the bar in 1855. Two years
later he was a member of the Massa
| chusetts State Legislature. and on
November .. 1875, was elected to Con.
gress as successor to James Buffing
ton, who died March T. 1875. Mr..
to March 8. 1888. when he returned
to New Bedford, where he resumed
the practice of law and engaged In
banking and manufacturing.
Three OH Missing" List.
There are now three missing men,
about whom Mr.. Void has been seek
are:
Thomas Childs, jr.. a Representa-
tive from New York. elected to the
Thirty fourth Congress March 4. 1856
March 3. 1850.
John V. Cre4iy. Representative
from PENNSYLVANIA. elected to the
Forty second congress March 4, 1871
March 8. 1879.
Michael tidal, a Delegate from
Louisiana. Il native of France, who
had emic lted to the Republic of
LouisianH State constitutional con-
vention in 1868. and elected as Dele
gate to the Fortieth Congress March
4, 1867 March 3. 1862.
To illustrate how Mr.. Void leaves
no stone unturned to get authoritative
information about each former mem
ber of Congress, take this case of
Michael Vidal. Mr.. Void came from
Madelia. Mimi, and one day he was
visited at the Capitol by a Catholic
priest from that place, who had been
to France and was coming back to tell
his parishioners in Minnesota that his
own people in France. devastated by
the war. needed him and he was going
back to the land of his birth. Ponder
ing over the Vidal case, Mr.. Void
thought this priest might help in
France by hunting up old records
there, so he wrote to Edward Noonan
In Minnesota and got the priests ad.
dress. This was Liable j. Van Hoen-
ackere. Annapes. France. In due time
he received from this priest the birth
~Sh
Vidal was Minister to Morocco, and
the last that has yet been heard of
him he was in Washington In May,
1876, having just returned from Mo-
rocco. according to State Department
records. Who can give any later In
formation about him?
Tombstone As Evidence.
The case of Jonathan McCarty. a
Representative from Indiana who
served in the Twenty-second, Twenty
third and Twenty-fourth Congresses
March 4. 1S3l-March 8. l839). also has
taxed the ingenuity of Mr.. Void. He
wrote first to his birthplace in Gull
peper. Va, then to Connersville, Ind,
from which place he was elected, and
next to keokuk. Iowa, where he died
in 1855. Several letters were ex-
changed with each place, with little
result. Finally Mr.. Void learned that
one Elizabeth McCarty had purcha sed
a lot in keokuk cemetery. He had
the cemetery searched and the in
scription was found jonathan Nc
Carty. died March 80. 1852, aged SO
years"
Next Mr. Void wrote to the super
lntendent of the cemetery and had an
article printed in the local daily news
paper. Two days later the paper
printed an interview with a James B.
Driver, who was a chum of Ed. Nc
Carly, son of the former member of
Congress. Continuing the search, he
has located a grandson of Jonathan
McCarty. Evans McCarty. living at
New Rochelle. N. Y. who is vice
president of the United Lead Co. He
is awaiting the return of Evans Nc
Carly from Europe to complete the
biographical sketch which has been in
complete and uncertain for o6 years
The States of New York, Pennsyl-
vania and Virginia, being the oldest
and most prominent in the earlier
Congresses, have disclosed the largest
number of such uncertain and incom-
plete biographies. and an intensive
campaign is being made by the force
working under the joint committee
on printing to fill in the missing data
and verify from official records what
data are available.
1t is a tremendous job in myriad
details, but 1t Is well worth while,
and one which Senator Moses hopes
will be completed early in the coming
session of Congress.