Samuel W. McCall

Samuel Walker McCall
47th Governor of Massachusetts
In office
January 6, 1916 – January 2, 1919
Lieutenant Calvin Coolidge
Preceded by David I. Walsh
Succeeded by Calvin Coolidge
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 8th district
In office
March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1913
Preceded by Moses T. Stevens
Succeeded by Frederick S. Deitrick
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office
1889-1892
Personal details
Born February 28, 1851
East Providence Township, Pennsylvania
Died November 4, 1923 (aged 72)
Winchester, Massachusetts
Resting place Wildwood Cemetery
Political party Republican
Alma mater Dartmouth College

Samuel Walker McCall (February 28, 1851 – November 4, 1923) was a Republican lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He was for twenty years (1893-1913) a member of the United States House of Representatives, and the 47th Governor of Massachusetts, serving three one-year terms (1916-19).

Early years and education

Samuel Walker McCall was born in East Providence Township, Pennsylvania on February 28, 1851, to Henry and Mary Ann (Elliott) McCall, the sixth of eleven children.[1] At a young age, the family moved to an undeveloped frontier area of northern Illinois, where McCall spent much of his childhood.[2] His education began at the Mount Carroll Seminary (now Shimer College) in Mount Carroll from 1864 to 1866,[3] when that school closed to male students.[4]

Governor McCall visiting Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to view reconstruction efforts after Halifax Explosion

McCall's parents then sent him east to the New Hampton Academy in New Hampton, New Hampshire, on the recommendation of a neighbor.[3] McCall graduated from New Hampton Academy in 1870 and subsequently attended Dartmouth College, where he was a member of the Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity and graduated Phi Beta Kappa near the top of his class. While at Dartmouth, he published a newspaper (self-financed by himself and the other editors) a newspaper called the Anvil, and was tapped by the Dartmouth president to stand in for a sick teacher of Latin and Greek at an academy in Meriden, New Hampshire.[5]

After graduating, McCall moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he studied law and gained admission to the Massachusetts Bar.[6] He then opened a law practice in Boston, Massachusetts with a Dartmouth classmate,[7] which he maintained for most of his life. In 1888, he was briefly editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser.[6] In 1881 he married Ella Esther Thompson, whom he met while attending New Hampton Academy;[8] they had five children.[6]

Political career

McCall was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1888, serving three terms between 1889 and 1892.[6] He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1888, 1900, and 1916. McCall was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-third and to the nine succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1893 to March 4, 1913). He served as chairman of the Committee on Elections No. 3 (Fifty-fourth Congress). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1912, and resumed the practice of law in Boston. In 1914, he published a biography of his friend Thomas B. Reed.[9][10]

He was elected Governor of Massachusetts 1916–1918. After retiring from elected office, he engaged in literary pursuits and died in Winchester on November 4, 1923. His interment was in Wildwood Cemetery.

Gov. McCall speaking in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts in 1918 (Calvin Coolidge in background).

His grandson, Tom McCall, was a Republican two-term Governor of Oregon from 1967 to 1975.

Notes

  1. ↑ Evans, p. 2
  2. ↑ Evans, p. 3
  3. 1 2 Evans, p. 7
  4. ↑ The History of Carroll County, Illinois. H.F. Kett & Co. 1878.
  5. ↑ Evans, pp. 14-16
  6. 1 2 3 4 Toomey & Quinn, p. 109
  7. ↑ Evans, p. 18
  8. ↑ Evans, p. 10
  9. ↑ "The Most Interesting Presents to Give or Receive are Books". The Independent. Dec 14, 1914. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  10. ↑ McCall, Samuel W. (1914). The Life of Thomas Brackett Reed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. Retrieved July 24, 2012.

Sources

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Moses T. Stevens		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 8th congressional district
March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1913 		Succeeded by
Frederick Simpson Deitrick
Political offices
Preceded by
David I. Walsh		 Governor of Massachusetts
1916–1919 		Succeeded by
Calvin Coolidge
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