Evening star., 1927-11-20
Capital Sidelights


search that Senator George III. Moses
as chairman of the joint committee or
| printing, is having exercised In order
| to make the forthcoming permanent
Congressional Biographical Directory
| historically correct and complete Is
shown by the inquiry prosecuted foi
more than three years with an eX
| change of more than 200 letters. with
newspapers and radio broadcastins
| employed to locate some one VINO
| could throw light on the biography OF
Nathaniel Albertson. once Repre-
sentative from Indiana.
| In the course of the inquiry two
men, one 101 years old and the other
50 years old. furnished the important
clues that led Ansel Void the relent
| less sleuth of the congressional com
mittee, all the way across the con
| tinent to a final clearing up OF all
doubt and the completion of the biog
raphy--and both of these old mer
| have since died.
/ Nathaniel Albertson was born fr
| Virginia and served in Congress from
Indiana and later moved to Iowa. A
| W. King of Redlands, Calf, was the
centcnarian who first threw light or
| Mr.. Wold's pathway. AS a boy he
| the name of daughter who had mar
ried and contributed the information
| that Mr.. Albertson had died in keo
kuk, Iowa.
William Howell, the postmaster at
Keokuk, although prodded several
times, could not secure the desired in
| formation. The census records were
searched, the editors of more than a
score of newspapers were appealed to
and the State Departments records
| were consulted. Lew M. O'Bannon
an attorney at Corydon, Ind, solicited
newspaper cooperation.
Then came letter from Chehalis,
Wash, which narrated that:
'I. Fl. T. Hurn, say his brother
George r. Hurn, in the Spring of 1888
sold a horse to Nathaniel Albertson.
The, sale was through Samuel Nc
Cloud, my stepfather: that same
Spring Albertson went 70 Keokuk'
Iowa, and later in the Summer wrote
letter to Samuel McCloud that he
drove the horse he bought of George
Hurn from Port Madison, county seat
of Lee County, Iowa, to keokuk; the
distance was 25 miles, in hours and
80 minutes. He expressed himself wei
pleased with purchase.
Last October N. A. Finley, writing
from Orla, Mo-, disclosed that Nathan
iel Albertson was an uncle OF ms
father, who, as q boy, had lived with
Mr.. Albertson near Greenvllle, lnd
He wrote as follows:
Nathaniel Albertson's only child
Robert, went to school at the semi
nary at Greenville, to Prof. Bill May
Here Robert took sick and died. After
his sons death Uncle Nat wandered
from place to place. never satisfied
He finally went to some town in Iowa
where he died suddenly while sitting
in his chair. / do not know the exact
date of his death.
Nathaniel Albertson's wife was an
English woman and / do not know
what became of her.
"I know of no one else who could
give you further information"
Next, Edward F. Carter, editor OF
the Keokuk, Iowa. Citizen, in Novem
ber, furnished the tip on the 95-year
old man who had been Mr.. Albertson' s
clerk, as follows:
Nathaniel Albertson came to Keo
kuk from New Albany, Ind. in 1853
with him was a young clerk who to-
day is living in Keokuk. aged 81
years, whose memory Is failing, but
who remembers some things about
your lost Congressman. Mr.. Albert
son erected a big brick mansion in
this city, in which house I was born
and lived 40 years, so take an inter.
est in your search for his relations.
"A few years ago two of his daugh.
ters were living at Boonville, Mo. One
was the wife of clothing merchant
and the other was a doctor. Mr.. An
l.
HE says Albertson had four daugh-
ters. The eldest married Thompson.
One married Tom Van Trees, son of a
other two went to Boonville. He said
Mr.. Albertson died at Denver, Colo.
Che thought), after losing everything
in the sinking of steamboat"
Mr.. Carter gave some further In.
formation-that Albertson had owned
large farm near Greenville, Ind; was
member Of a firm in Salem, Ind,
that operated a spinning mill He
quotes Mr.. Annable as saying Mr..
Albertson was disappointed in politics
in Indiana and sought to regain bis
lost laurels in Iowa. While in Keo.
kuk he conducted a wholesale dry
goods and notion store, but his politi
cal ambitions were never realized.
This case Is but a sample of many
interesting jobs of. detective work
and unrelenting pertinacity that Mr..
Void has carried to a successful issue
so as to preserve the vital statistics of
our lawmakers. 1t emphasizes how
men Of such prominence that they
are elected by hundreds of thousands
of persons to represent them in the
National Congress soon pass into OBJ.
livion.
X X X X
Among the returning Congressman
none is happier and prouder than
Representative Elliott w. Sproul of
Illinois, even though his picture was
run in the paper last week by mis-.
take for that of Representative W. Fl.
Sproul of Kansas, who was injured in
an accident. The genial member from
Illinois is proud of the fact that dur
ing the Summer he became a great.
grandfather and now the great-grand-
child has its first tooth.