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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>The Political Graveyard: Politicians Who Died of Diphtheria</title> <meta name="description" content="A database of political history and cemeteries, with brief biographical entries for 320,919 U.S. political figures, living and dead, from the 1700s to the present."> <meta name="keywords" content="political biography history genealogy cemeteries politics candidates congress senators legislators governors politicians biographies ancestors mayors birthplace geography elections"> <meta name="author" content="Lawrence Kestenbaum"> <script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-7383562-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'https://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); </script> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFDD" text="#000000" link="#cc0000" alink="#ff0000" vlink="#760000"> <style type="text/css"> p {font-family:georgia,garamond,serif} td {font-family:georgia,garamond,serif} A:link {text-decoration: none} A:visited {text-decoration: none} A:active {text-decoration: none} A:hover {text-decoration: underline} </style> <p align=center style="font-size:28pt; font-family:garamond,serif"> <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">PoliticalGraveyard.com</span><br> <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/index.html" border=0> <img src="https://politicalgraveyard.com/images/tpgmain6.gif" width=450 height=216 border=0 alt="The Political Graveyard: A Database of American History"></a><br> Politicians Who Died of Diphtheria</p> <table width=100%> <td align="center" valign="center"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td></table> <table width=100%><tr><td valign="top"> <h4><b>Very incomplete list!</b></h4> <p><i>in chronological order</i></p> <table align="left" cellpadding=5> <tr><td width=82 align="right" valign="top"> </td><td valign="top"><img src="rd.gif" width=13 height=13> <b>James Otis (1826-1875)</b> — of <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CA/sf-lived.html">San Francisco</a>, Calif. Born in Boston, <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MA/SU-born.html">Suffolk County</a>, Mass., <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/1826/08-11.html">August 11, 1826</a>. Republican. <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/special/forty-niners.html">Went to California for the 1849 Gold Rush</a>; <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/occ/import-export.html">importer and exporter</a>; candidate for Presidential Elector for California; delegate to Republican National Convention from California, <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/R/1872/CA.html">1872</a> (delegation chair); <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CA/ofc/sanfrancisco.html">mayor of San Francisco, Calif.</a>, 1873-75; died in office 1875. <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/group/unitarian.html">Unitarian</a>. Died, of <b>diphtheria</b>, in <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CA/sf-died.html">San Francisco</a>, Calif., <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/1875/10-30.html">October 30, 1875</a> (age <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/death/age/49.html">49 years, 80 days</a>). Original interment at <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CA/sf-buried.html#cms00174">Laurel Hill Cemetery</a> (which no longer exists), San Francisco, Calif.; reinterment at <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/CA/SM-buried.html#cms01912">Cypress Lawn Memorial Park</a>, Colma, Calif. <table width=100% align="left"><tr><td width=20> </td> <td width=26 valign="top"><img src="hand.gif" width=26 height=17></td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"><i>Relatives:</i> Son of George Washington Otis and Hannah Leavitt (Waters) Otis; married <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/1858/">1858</a> to Lucy Hamilton Macondray; second cousin twice removed of <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#857.31.62">Samuel Allyne Otis</a>; third cousin of <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#928.80.95">John Otis</a> and <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#116.20.38">William Shaw Chandler Otis</a>; third cousin once removed of <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#498.51.02">Harrison Gray Otis (1765-1848)</a> and <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#059.61.96">Charles Augustus Otis, Sr.</a>; fourth cousin of <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#306.13.29">Oran Gray Otis</a>, <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#225.82.39">Asa H. Otis</a>, <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#799.32.06">David Perry Otis</a>, <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#485.24.85">Harris F. Otis</a> and <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/otis.html#787.12.01">Harrison Gray Otis (1837-1917)</a>.</span></td></tr> <tr><td width=20> </td> <td width=26 valign="top"><img src="hand.gif" width=26 height=17></td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"> <i>Political families:</i> <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10001-0001.html">Kellogg-Adams-Seymour-Chapin family</a> of Connecticut and New York; <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10001-0010.html">Otis family</a> of Connecticut (subsets of the <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10001.html">Four Thousand Related Politicians</a>).</span></td></tr> <tr><td width=20> </td> <td width=26 valign="top"><img src="hand.gif" width=26 height=17></td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"><i>See also</i> <a href="https://findagrave.com/memorial/26230495">Find-A-Grave memorial</a></span></td></tr> </table> </td></tr> <tr><td width=82 align="right" valign="top"> </td><td valign="top"><img src="rd.gif" width=13 height=13> <b>Paul Edward Rapier (1875-1937)</b> — also known as <b>Paul E. Rapier</b> — of Mobile, <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/AL/MO-lived.html">Mobile County</a>, Ala. Born in Alabama, <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/1875/08-28.html">August 28, 1875</a>. Democrat. <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/occ/newspaper.html">Newspaper advertising manager</a>; alternate delegate to Gold Democrat National Convention from Alabama, 1896; <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/ZZ/CR-consuls.html">Consul for Costa Rica</a> in <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/AL/MO-consuls.html">Mobile, Ala.</a>, 1900-07; <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/occ/accounting.html">accountant</a>. Died, from <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/death/pneumonia.html">pneumonia</a> and <b>diphtheria</b>, along with <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/death/heart.html">myocarditis</a>, in Atlanta, <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/GA/FU-died.html">Fulton County</a>, Ga., <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/chrono/1937/01-18.html">January 18, 1937</a> (age <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/death/age/61.html">61 years, 143 days</a>). Interment at <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/GA/FU-buried.html#cms01061">Westview Cemetery</a>, Atlanta, Ga. <table width=100% align="left"><tr><td width=20> </td> <td width=26 valign="top"><img src="hand.gif" width=26 height=17></td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"><i>Relatives:</i> Son of <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/ransome-rattliff.html#714.43.21">John Lawrence Rapier</a> and Regina (Demouy) Rapier; married to Mary Clare Moran.</span></td></tr> <tr><td width=20> </td> <td width=26 valign="top"><img src="hand.gif" width=26 height=17></td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"><i>See also</i> <a href="https://findagrave.com/memorial/186703329">Find-A-Grave memorial</a></span></td></tr> </table> </td></tr> </table> </td> <td width=180 align="center" valign="center"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td></tr></table> <table width=100%> <td align="center" valign="center"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td></table> <table width=100%> <tr><td align="center"><span style="font-size:20pt;"> <span style="font-family:garamond,serif"> <i>"Enjoy the hospitable entertainment of a political graveyard."</i></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:8pt;">Henry L. Clinton, Apollo Hall, New York City, February 3, 1872</span></td> <td><a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/"> <img src="https://politicalgraveyard.com/images/tpgsub.gif" width=450 height=71 align="right" border=0 alt="The Political Graveyard"></a></td></tr></table> <br clear="all"> <table width=100% cellpadding=2> <tr><td colspan=3><span style="font-size:10pt;"> <b><a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/index.html">The Political Graveyard</a></b> is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. Founded in 1996, it is the Internet's most comprehensive free source for American political biography, listing 320,919 politicians, living and dead.</span></td></tr> <tr><td colspan=3><span style="font-size:8pt;"> </span></td></tr> <tr><td width=32 align="right" valign="top"> </td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"> <img src="rd.gif" width=10 height=10> The coverage of this site includes (1) the President, Vice President, members of Congress, elected state and territorial officeholders in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories; and the chief elected official, typically the mayor, of qualifying municipalities; (2) candidates at election, including primaries, for any of the above; (3) all federal judges and all state appellate judges; (4) certain federal officials, including the federal cabinet, diplomatic chiefs of mission, consuls, U.S. district attorneys, collectors of customs and internal revenue, members of major federal commissions; and political appointee (pre-1969) postmasters of qualifying communities; (5) state and national political party officials, including delegates, alternate delegates, and other participants in national party nominating conventions; (6) Americans who served as "honorary" consuls for other nations before 1950. Note: municipalities or communities "qualify", for Political Graveyard purposes, if they have at least half a million person-years of history, inclusive of predecessor, successor, and merged entities.</span></td> <td width=100 align="right" valign="top"> </td></tr> <tr><td width=32 align="right" valign="top"> </td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"> <img src="rd.gif" width=10 height=10> The listings are <b>incomplete</b>; development of the database is a continually ongoing project.</span></td> <td width=100 align="right" valign="top"> </td></tr> <tr><td width=32 align="right" valign="top"> </td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"> <img src="rd.gif" width=10 height=10> Information on this page — and on all other pages of this site — is believed to be accurate, but is <b>not</b> guaranteed. Users are advised to check with other sources before relying on any information here.</span></td> <td width=100 align="right" valign="top"> </td></tr> <tr><td width=32 align="right" valign="top"> </td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"> <img src="rd.gif" width=10 height=10> The official URL for this page is: <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/death/diphtheria.html">https://politicalgraveyard.com/death/diphtheria.html</a>.</span></td> <td width=100 align="right" valign="top"> </td></tr> <tr><td width=32 align="right" valign="top"> </td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"> <img src="rd.gif" width=10 height=10> Links to this or any other Political Graveyard page are welcome, but specific page addresses may sometimes change as the site develops.</span></td> <td width=100 align="right" valign="top"> </td></tr> <tr><td width=32 align="right" valign="top"> </td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-size:8pt;"> <img src="rd.gif" width=10 height=10> If you are searching for a specific named individual, try the <a href="https://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html">alphabetical index of politicians</a>.</span></td> <td width=100 align="right" valign="top"> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan=3 align="left" valign="top"><span style="font-size:10pt;"> <b>Copyright notices:</b> (1) Facts are not subject to copyright; see <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/499_US_340.htm">Feist v. Rural Telephone</a>. (2) Politician portraits displayed on this site are 70-pixel-wide monochrome thumbnail images, which I believe to constitute <b>fair use</b> under applicable copyright law. Where possible, each image is linked to its online source. However, requests from owners of copyrighted images to delete them from this site are honored. (3) Original material, programming, selection and arrangement are © 1996-2023 Lawrence Kestenbaum. (4) This work is also licensed for free non-commercial re-use, with attribution, under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons License</a>.</span></td></tr> <tr><td colspan=3 align="left" valign="top"><span style="font-size:10pt;"> <b>Site information:</b> The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by <b>Lawrence Kestenbaum</b>, who is solely responsible for its structure and content. — The mailing address is <b>The Political Graveyard, P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106.</b> — This site is hosted by <b><a href="https://www.hdl.com">HDL</a></b>. — The Political Graveyard opened on <b>July 1, 1996</b>; the last full revision was done on <b>March 8, 2023</b>. </span></td></tr> </table> <hr> <table align="center" cellpadding=5><tr> <td align="center" valign="center"> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" border="0" src="https://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights.gif" width=88 height=31></a></td> <td align="center" valign="center"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/politicalgraveyard" target="_TOP" title="The Political Graveyard"><img src="https://badge.facebook.com/badge/40475596932.4982.1015512377.png" width="120" height="84" style="border: 0px;" /></a></td> <td align="center" valign="center"><a href="https://www.twitter.com/polgraveyard"> <img src="https://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/follow_us-a.png" border=0 alt="Follow polgraveyard on Twitter"/></a></td> <td align="center" valign="center"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=thepoliticalg-20&path=subst/home/home.html"> <img src="https://politicalgraveyard.com/images/a150X70b.gif" border=0 alt="[Amazon.com]" align="center"></a></td> </tr></table> </body> </html>