John Frederick Dezendorf (10 August 1834–22 June 1894), member of the House of Representatives, was born in Lansingburgh, Rensselaer County, New York, and was the son of John B. Dezendorf, a carpenter, and Caroline Whipple Dezendorf. Having studied carpentry, architecture, and civil engineering, he worked in Ohio during the 1850s on the construction of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company line. On 25 September 1860 Dezendorf married Anna Eliza R. Smith in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. They had one son before she died early in the 1860s. In 1863 Dezendorf moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where he married Mary Louise Croft, a teacher, on 19 December 1866. They had two sons and two daughters.

In Norfolk, Dezendorf operated a lumber yard, engaged in shipping, and became active in the local Republican Party. He served from 1868 or 1869 until 1870 as surveyor of Norfolk City and County. In 1870 Dezendorf was appointed assistant assessor for the second Virginia district of the United States Bureau of Internal Revenue, and in 1872 he became appraiser of merchandise at the Norfolk custom house, where he worked for five years. From 1878 until 1881 he was a United States pension and claims agent for Norfolk.

In 1871 Dezendorf campaigned for a seat representing the city of Norfolk in the House of Delegates. He finished last among the four major candidates in a tight race, with the bulk of his support coming from black voters. As chair of the local Republican executive committee early in the 1870s, he defended the party against charges of corruption launched by local Conservatives. In an April 1872 letter to the editor, Dezendorf denied that the Republican Party was composed of northern adventurers and southern scalawags and encouraged the citizens of Norfolk to focus on progress and growth and to leave behind sectional conflict. The next month he distributed placards calling for integrated public education. He was a delegate to the 1876 Republican National Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1878 Dezendorf received his party's nomination as candidate for the House of Representatives from the Second District, but he lost the election to the Conservative incumbent by 2,743 votes out of 20,021 counted. Two years later, in a three-way race occasioned by a split among the Conservatives over how to address the state debt, Dezendorf received a last-minute endorsement from the Readjusters and was elected by a wide margin to represent the district comprising the cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk and the counties of Charles City, Elizabeth City, Isle of Wight, James City, Nansemond, New Kent, Norfolk, Prince George, Princess Anne, Southampton, Surry, Sussex, Warwick, and York. During both sessions of the Forty-seventh Congress (1881–1882), Dezendorf sat on the Committees on Naval Affairs and the District of Columbia. Working to promote the interests of the Norfolk Navy Yard, he advocated an amendment to a navy appropriation bill requiring that a portion of new ships be built there, an effort that helped fuel the local economy. Dezendorf was among the legislators in September 1881 who accompanied President James A. Garfield's body to Cleveland, Ohio, for burial.

By 1882, William Mahone's Readjuster movement, which advocated partial repudiation of Virginia's public debt, had attracted the support of many Virginia Republicans. Dezendorf, a Republican loyalist who opposed adjustment, was soundly defeated in his reelection bid. Mounting a fierce defense of his party in Norfolk, he accused Mahone's supporters of ballot-box fraud and wrote letters to the president and several Cabinet secretaries charging Mahone with violating the civil service act by using political patronage to intimidate federal employees, particularly in the navy yard. Dezendorf lost election as Norfolk County treasurer in May 1883 by a narrow margin despite the success of the rest of the Republican ticket. Two months later he became chair of the Republican State Central Committee. In 1884 Dezendorf led a group of Virginia delegates to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, but the national committee chose to seat a rival group of delegates headed by Mahone.

During the 1880s Dezendorf traveled throughout the North making speeches at Republican meetings. He worked as a civil engineer and as a surveyor in Norfolk, sat on the board of the Montgomery Long Fiber Cotton Gin Company, and spent at least two years in Washington, D.C., as proprietor of the Warner Purifier and Heater Company, which he purchased in 1886. In 1892 Dezendorf again sought the Second District seat in Congress. Local black Republicans nominated a black candidate. The Republican national, state, and district committees endorsed Dezendorf, but he received about 4,700 fewer votes than his Republican opponent and about 14,500 fewer votes than the victorious Democrat. In the last year of his life he served as a United States pension agent. John Frederick Dezendorf died on 22 June 1894 of chronic nephritis at his home in Norfolk and was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in that city.

Sources Consulted:
Biographical information in Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, 29 Sept. 1938; birth date on gravestone; Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, Marriage Register, 10:147 (1860); Marriage Register, Norfolk City (1866), Bureau of Vital Statistics, Record Group 36, Library of Virginia; Congressional Record, 47th Congress; Washington, D.C., New National Era, 4 Apr. 1872; Norfolk Virginian, 8 Nov. 1878, 1 Nov. 1892; Washington Post, 6 May, 25 June, 3 Nov. 1881, 14 Nov. 1882, 25 July, 21 Nov. 1883, 8 Apr. 1884, 29 Oct. 1892; New York Times, 24 Sept. 1881; Washington Bee, 10 June 1882 (portrait), 28 July 1883; New-York Tribune, 14, 24, 29 May, 6 June, 5, 25 Oct. 1883; obituaries in Norfolk Landmark, 23, 26 June 1894, Norfolk Public Ledger, 23 June 1894, Norfolk Virginian, 23, 24 June 1894, and Richmond Dispatch, 23 June 1894.

Image courtesy of Library of Congress.

Written for the Dictionary of Virginia Biography by Barbara Ann Carpenter White.

How to cite this page:
Barbara Ann Carpenter White,"John Frederick Dezendorf (1834–1894)," Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Library of Virginia (1998– ), published 2016 (http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Dezendorf_John_Frederick, accessed [today's date]).

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