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→In Pensacola
| date_of_death =[[July 24]], [[1907]]
| place_of_death =Pensacola
| occupation =Politician[[Mayor of Pensacola]]<br/>Journalist, publisher
| religion =
| spouse =Matilda Wilcox Bliss<br/>Sara Gertrude Herman Bliss
| parents =Christian Henry and Caroline Fowler Bliss
| children =Edwin S. Bliss<br/>Maud Allen Bliss<br/>Walter Henry Bliss<br/>Charles Herman Bliss<br/>Herbert Bryl Bliss<br/>Bessie Leeds Bliss<br/>Carlyse Genevieve Bliss<br/>Ruby Lee Bliss
| signature =Chbliss-sig.PNG
| signaturesize =200px
}}
'''Charles Henry Bliss''' was [[Mayor of Pensacola]] from [[1905]] to [[1907]]. He was also a publisher of a [[Bliss magazines|quarterly magazine]] called at various times ''Bliss' Magazine'', ''The Bliss Magazine'', and ''Bliss' Quarterly''.
==Early life==
At birth, Bliss was given the name Abraham Lincoln Bliss. He was called by the nickname "Link", which he detested. Accordingly, upon entering school, Bliss began calling himself Charles. Once, when he missed school due to an illness, a schoolteacher came to the Bliss home and asked to see Charles; Bliss' mother replied that she had no son by the name. Thereafter, Bliss convinced his mother to consent to the name change. At the age of fourteen, Bliss left home and headed west, first to Illinois, and then to Iowa. In Iowa he was acquainted with Mormon elders and converted to that faith. He later moved with the Mormon Williams family to [[Wikipedia:Nauvoo, Illinois|Nauvoo, Illinois]], where he lived with them as a member of their family. Near the age of eighteen he set out west again. By the time he arrived at Ogden, Utah, he had worn out the two pairs of shoes he owned; he had walked most of the trip, and all of it from Omaha, Nebraska onward. For a time he herded sheep in Morgan County, before heading to Salt Lake City, where he got a job with an agency which enlarged photographs.<ref>Allen, Maud Bliss. ''Biography of My Father, Charles Henry Bliss''. Unpublished manuscript.</ref> Bliss married Matilda Sophia Wilcox on [[April 17]], [[1879]] in Salt Lake City, Utah. BlissSoon after, a member of the Mormon Church, was church called to him on a mission in to the southern Southern states. Upon returning to Utah, he attended the University of Utah, and there became disillusioned with Mormonism. Bliss and his wife, who remained a devout follower, later divorced, and Bliss returned to his home state of Indiana.<ref>Information provided by E. C. Bliss, Bliss' grandson.</ref>
Bliss settled in Kokomo, Indiana, where he taught school and edited a local newspaper. He remarried, on [[February 20]], [[1892]], to Sara Gertrude Herman.<ref>Information provided by C. Bozeman, a descendant of C. H. Bliss.</ref>
==In Pensacola==
In December [[1895]],<ref>"Mayor is Dead", ''Pensacola Journal'', July 24, 1907.</reF> Bliss and his second wife moved to Pensacola. Bliss worked as a reporter and newspaper editor, also publishing the [[Bliss magazines]]. He later was engaged in the concrete business, as well as in the design and manufacture of metallic [[Wikipedia:Launch (boat)|launches]].<ref>[http://brokert10.fcla.edu/DLData/WF/WF00000029/file30.pdf ''Bliss' Magazine'', January 1899, p.90]</ref>
Wrote a book about Pensacola around 1904 entitled: "Pensacola harbor, beautiful views and pertinent facts regarding the deep water city of the Gulf of Mexico, Pensacola navy yards, Pensacola shipping and Pensacola fortifications"
===Mayoral tenure===
Bliss was elected [[Mayor of Pensacola]] in [[1905]], and was re-elected to a second term shortly before his death in [[1907]].
Although Bliss was elected in 1905 on the "White Democratic" ticket (a faction of the Democratic party which advocated [[Wikipedia:White supremacy|white supremacy]]), he notably took a stand in vetoing Pensacola's 1905 [[Wikipedia:Jim Crow laws|"Jim Crow"]] ordinance, which provided for segregation on Pensacola's [[Pensacola streetcar system|streetcars]], calling the ordinance unconstitutional. The veto was overridden by a unanimous vote of the City Council.<ref>"The Mayor's Veto of Jim Crow Law", ''Pensacola Journal'', September 28, 1905.</ref>
According to a political ad which Bliss ran in the ''[[Pensacola Journal]]'' on May 1, 1907, he accomplished much during his mayoral administration. Bliss claimed to have done much to beautify and improve the City's streets, parks, and other public works:
====Scuffle with W. C. Jones====
In [[1905]], during Bliss' tenure as Mayor of Pensacola, a former city clerk named [[W. C. Jones]] , the former secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, accused Bliss of being corrupt and physically accosted him.
A Georgia newspaper published an account of the altercation:
Mr. Ingraham, Bliss' opponent, was supported by many wealthy and powerful citizens of Pensacola, including [[William Alexander Blount, Sr.]], [[Evelyn Croom Maxwell]], [[Pensacola City Council|City Council]] member and future mayor [[Frank Reilly]], and [[John B. Jones]], the [[Pensacola City Attorney|City Attorney]]. Bliss claimed that "although a poor man, [he] had done more work and spent more money to advertise Pensacola than all the entire gang of rich men who are now trying to defeat him."<ref>Political ads, ''Pensacola Journal'', May 1, 1907.</ref> Bliss claimed that rather than running against Ingraham, he was running against the [[First National Bank of Pensacola|First National Bank]], and that if elected Ingraham would be merely a puppet.
The election, held on [[May 2]], was won by Bliss, who garnered 797 votes to Ingraham's 757. The ''Pensacola Journal'' recounted the celebrations of his supporters:
==Death==
Bliss died around 3 a.m. in the morning of [[July 24]], [[1907]], just more than a month two months after winning a second term as mayor. He had long suffered from a heart condition brought on by an earlier bout of pneumonia. The ''[[Pensacola Journal]]'' reported his death that morning:
{{cquote|Mayor Chas. H. Bliss, after an illness of six weeks, which had become critical in the past week, died at his home on South [[Florida Blanca Street]] at three o’clock this morning. Death was due to heart trouble, and a complication of diseases of which the mayor had long been a sufferer. The fatal collapse occurred this morning shortly before 1 o’clock. Prior to that time, he had been resting easy, and while his physicians held but little hope of his recovery, it was hoped that he would rally during the night and gain strength. With the last attack, about 1 a.m., when it became hopelessly obvious that the mayor was dying, intimate friends were telephoned, and many of them went to the home. Among them were [[Calvin C. Goodman|President Goodman]] of the City Council, [[Frank Dent Sanders|Chief Sanders]], [[Henry Horsler]], and members of the Danion Lodge No. 13, of which the deceased was a member.|20px|20px|"Mayor is Dead", ''Pensacola Journal'', July 24, 1907.}}
==Other images==
<gallery>
Image:Bliss-1907.png|Circa [[19071905]]
</gallery>
==Electoral history==
===[[Mayor of Pensacola]], [[1907]] (Democratic primary)===
''This election was held [[May 2]], [[1907]].''
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Charles Henry Bliss'''
|'''797'''
|'''51.3%'''
|-
|[[Walker Ingraham]]
|757
|48.7%
|}
===[[Mayor of Pensacola]], [[1905]] (General election)===
''This election was held [[June 6]], [[1905]].''
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Charles Henry Bliss'''
|'''1,229'''
|'''58.1%'''
|-
|[[Cheever L. Shine|C. L. Shine]]
|801
|37.9%
|-
|[[Rix M. Robinson]]
|68
|0.3%
|-
|[[C. H. Wells]]
|17
|0.08%
|}
===[[Mayor of Pensacola]], [[1905]] (Democratic primary)===
''This election was held [[April 4]], [[1905]].''
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Charles Henry Bliss'''
|'''526'''
|'''57.2%'''
|-
|[[Frank Reilly]]
|393
|42.8%
|}
==References==