Fillmore Condit

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Fillmore Condit (September 4, 1855 – January 6, 1939) was an American inventor, temperance activist and local politician serving New Jersey and later Long Beach, California.

Early life[edit]

Fillmore Condit was born in Roseland, New Jersey on September 4, 1855, the son of Stephen J. and Catherine Tappan Condit.[1] At the age of 24, in 1879 he invented and manufactured a refrigerator door fastener for use in meat markets.[2] According to his own biography, he met his wife Ida Rafter as a customer in his store, and married her in 1881.[3]

Later life[edit]

The couple moved to Verona, New Jersey, where Fillmore soon participated in local politics, serving on the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders.[4] The family moved to California in 1899 for one year, where Fillmore became interested in the oil industry. When they returned to New Jersey in 1901, he was placed in charge of the Eastern District of the Union Oil Co. of California.[5]

Participation in social movements[edit]

He also participated in the temperance and suffrage movements. He was briefly the executive chairman of the Anti-Saloon League of America.[6] One of his most popular tracts was called "The Relation of Saloons to Insanity," published by the American Issue Publishing Company in 1910.[7] He spoke at the National Suffrage Day open-air meeting in Montclair,[8] and was one of the speakers during the tour of the "Torch of Victory," circulated under the auspices of the Women's Political Union.[9] Condit was put up by the Anti-Saloon League as a candidate for governor of New Jersey in 1919,[10] but for personal reasons decided to withdraw, obtaining concessions from the Republican Party they would support prohibition.[11]

Condit's testimony for a grand jury investigating former Syracuse mayor and Tammany boss James Kennedy McGuire, was successful in obtaining McGuire's indictment on charges of soliciting a campaign contribution from a corporation.[12]

Fillmore Condit with Ida in Long Beach circa 1920

City politics[edit]

Condit and his family decided to return to California and settled in Long Beach, where he soon entered into city politics, serving as a councilman and mayor, and succeeded in founding a city hospital there.[13] An article analyzing his hospital policies appeared in the journal California and Western Medicine.[14] After Ida died in 1921, Fillmore married Helen Mackinnon on December 5, 1922.[15] Condit died in Long Beach January 6, 1939.[16][17]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Fillmore Condit & Ida Frances Rafter". www.condit-family.com. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  2. ^ Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens and State Guide, J. J. Scannell, 1919, page 94.
  3. ^ "My Wife and I," Fillmore Condit, Long Beach, Calif., June, 1921, page 6.
  4. ^ Scannell, page 94.
  5. ^ "The Political Graveyard: Condit family of Orange, New Jersey". politicalgraveyard.com. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  6. ^ Cherrington, Ernest Hurst (1924). Standard encyclopedia of the alcohol problem. Vol II. Buckingham-Dow;. Substance Abuse Librarians and Information Specialists (SALIS). Westerville, O. [American Issue Pub. Co.]
  7. ^ "The Relation of Saloons to Insanity | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  8. ^ "Will Address Suffrage Meeting," The Montclair Times, April 18, 1914, page 3,
  9. ^ "Suffrage Torch to Jersey Today," The New York Times, Saturday, August 7, 1915, page 7.
  10. ^ "Runyon Seeks Nomination" (PDF). The New York Times. June 13, 1919. p. 17.
  11. ^ "Prohibitionists Looking to Lane," Asbury Park Press, Oct. 14, 1919, page 2.
  12. ^ "MGuire Indicted When Jerseyman Tells of Graft," New Evening Star, Monday, November 24, 1913, page 1.
  13. ^ "City Hospital Realization of Fillmore Condit's Dream," The Long Beach Telegram and The Long Beach Daily News, 31 Jul. 1924, page 12.
  14. ^ LONG BEACH "COMMUNITY" HOSPITAL. Cal West Med. 1924 Sep;22(9):460-1. PMID 18739417; PMCID: PMC1654459.
  15. ^ "Wedding Bells to Chime for City Official," The Long Beach Telegram and The Long Beach Daily News, Monday, December 4, 1922, section 2, page 1.
  16. ^ "Death Takes Fillmore Condit, Oil Company Founder and Ex-Long Beach Mayor Passes at 83," Los Angeles Times, Jan. 7, 1939, page 21.
  17. ^ "FILLMORE CONDIT; Prohibitionist Candidate for New Jersey Governor in 1919". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
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