Frederic O. MacCartney

Frederic O. MacCartney (November 2, 1864 – May 25, 1903) was an American Unitarian minister and socialist politician. MacCartney is best remembered for having been elected to four terms of office in the state legislature of Massachusetts under the banner of the Social Democratic Party of America and its organizational successor, the Socialist Party of America.

Biography

Early years Frederic O. MacCartney was born November 2, 1864, in the town of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, the county seat of Crawford County, located in the rural southwestern corner of the state. His parents, Alexander MacCartney and the former Mary M. Jones, moved the family briefly to Denver, Colorado, when Frederic was six, before settling down for the next 13 years in Storm Lake, Iowa. He attended Iowa College, now known as Grinnell College, from which he graduated in 1889. Thereafter he entered the Andover Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts, finishing there in 1893.

Legislative career

MacCartney was named as a candidate for legislature by the Massachusetts Social Democratic Party in the November 1899 election, running against a former state legislator in the 4th Plymouth District, previously regarded as conservative and solidly Republican. Social Democrats worked hard over the course of several weeks holding a series of rallies were held in the three towns of the district — Rockland, Hanover, and Hanson — with MacCartney ultimately emerging victorious in the three-way race by a plurality of 102 votes.

Death and legacy

MacCartney died of bronchial pneumonia on May 25, 1903, at Rockland, Massachusetts, following an illness of 11 days. Still a member of the Massachusetts legislature he was just 38 years old at the time of his death.

Under a headline reading "Fought for Mankind; Kind Words from All," the Boston Herald lauded MacCartney's mission, noting that "never in the history of Rockland" had a dead individual been so honored as MacCartney:

The business places and the public schools were closed, and all work was suspended during the services. Flags were displayed at half-staff from all public buildings ... A guard of honor accompanied the remains. From 9 until 2 o'clock hundreds of people from Rockland and the surrounding towns visited the church and paid their last respects to their friend. At 1:30 a special train brought in many people prominent in politics and labor circles ... The funeral was attended by all classes and creeds. The Rockland clergy were present in a body, the town officials, the school teachers, prominent labor leaders of this and other towns, the leading officials of the Socialist Party of this state, and a number of workers from other states.

The funeral eulogy was delivered by James F. Carey, one of nine members of the Massachusetts state legislature in attendance, who remembered his friend as one who "had the joy of sowing the seeds of liberty, of equality, of fraternity."