Orlando B. Batten

Orlando B. Batten
Delegate to the Idaho Constitutional Convention
In office
July 4, 1889 – August 6, 1889
ConstituencyAlturas County
Member of the Montana Territorial House of Representatives
In office
January 8, 1883 – January 12, 1885
Preceded byHenry Chambers
Succeeded byClyde Eastman
Martin L. Emigh
ConstituencyMissoula County
Personal details
Bornc. 1855
Maryland, U.S.
Died(1920-01-20)January 20, 1920 (aged c. 64)
Salem, New Jersey, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationSt. John's College
University of Maryland School of Law
Professionlawyer and politician
Signature

Orlando Bennett Batten[1] (c. 1855 – January 20, 1920) was a lawyer and politician who was a pioneer of the Montana and Idaho territories.

Biography

Batten was born in about 1855 in Maryland, graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis in 1874, and graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1876.[2][3][4] In 1879, he sailed to Oregon to teach at the Bishop Scott Academy.[5] In 1880, he was accepted in Grenada, Mississippi, as a candidate for holy orders of the Protestant Episcopal Church, with the plan to attend a three year preparatory course at Sewanee: the University of the South.[1][6]

However, he soon turned to the practice of law, moving to the Montana Territory in 1881 and being admitted to practice before the Montana Territorial Supreme Court in 1882.[2][7] Later that year, he was elected as a Democrat to the Montana Territorial House of Representatives to represent Missoula County in the 1883 session.[8] In the legislature, he advocated for education reform, including making education compulsory.[9] Later that year, he moved to Oregon, becoming a close associate of William H. Clagett.[10][11]

Batten soon followed Clagett to the Idaho Territory, locating in Ketchum in 1885 and quickly receiving an appointment as deputy district attorney for Alturas County.[12] In 1886, he was admitted to practice before the Idaho Territorial Supreme Court and lost the Democratic nomination for county district attorney.[13][14] The following year, he was reportedly considered for nomination to the Attorney General for the territory by Governor Edward A. Stevenson, after his first nominee was rejected, but instead Richard Z. Johnson was reappointed.[15] In 1888, he again ran for county district attorney, securing the Democratic nomination over Lycurgus Vineyard, but he narrowly lost the general election.[16][17] The following year, he was appointed by Governor Stevenson as one of the initial regents of the University of Idaho, he represented Alturas County as a delegate to the Idaho Constitutional Convention, and he is a signatory of the resulting document.[18][19]

In 1907 and 1909, he was appointed as a commissioner of deeds in New York City.[20][21] On January 20, 1920, he died in Salem, New Jersey, and he was buried in Norfolk, Virginia.[22]

Electoral history

1882

1882 Montana House of Representatives election in Missoula County[23]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Orlando B. Batten 1,570 100.0%
Total votes 1,570 100.0%

1888

1888 district attorney election in Alturas County[17]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican J. L. Waters 1,393 51.1%
Democratic Orlando B. Batten 1,333 48.9%
Total votes 2,726 100.0%

References

  1. ^ a b Journal of the Fifty-Third Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of Mississippi. 1880. p. 47.
  2. ^ a b "Our Law-Makers". The Daily Independent. January 11, 1883.
  3. ^ Register of the Alumni (2nd ed.). The Alumni Association of St. John's College. 1921. p. 9.
  4. ^ University of Maryland 1807-1907. Vol. II. 1907. p. 55.
  5. ^ "Personal". The Oregonian. August 29, 1879.
  6. ^ "To Holy Orders". The Baltimore Sun. April 30, 1880.
  7. ^ History of Montana, 1739-1885. 1885. p. 321.
  8. ^ Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana. Vol. II. 1896. p. 388.
  9. ^ "Compulsory Education". The Weekly Independent. February 22, 1883.
  10. ^ "Montana Matters". The Weekly Independent. August 23, 1883.
  11. ^ "Correspondence". The Missoulian. January 25, 1884.
  12. ^ "Home and Abroad". Semi-Weekly Keystone. July 22, 1885.
  13. ^ Heyburn, Weldon B. (1900). Idaho Laws and Decisions, Annotated and Digested. p. vii.
  14. ^ "The Democratic Convention". Wood River Times. October 6, 1886.
  15. ^ "The Attorney General". The Ketchum Keystone. January 22, 1887.
  16. ^ "The Political Pot". The Ketchum Keystone. September 22, 1888.
  17. ^ a b "Alturas County Official Returns". The Ketchum Keystone. November 24, 1888.
  18. ^ "Boise Democrat". The Idaho News. February 16, 1889.
  19. ^ Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention of Idaho 1889. Vol. I. 1912.
  20. ^ Ordinances, Resolutions, Etc., Passed by the Board of Aldermen of the City of New York and Approved by the Mayor. Vol. X. 1907. p. 493.
  21. ^ Ordinances, Resolutions, Etc., Passed by the Board of Aldermen of the City of New York and Approved by the Mayor. Vol. XII. 1909. p. 1159.
  22. ^ "Orlando B. Batten". Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch. January 21, 1920.
  23. ^ Waldron, Ellis L. (1958). Montana Politics Since 1864. p. 42, 399.