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ILLUSTRATED
Popular Biography
OF
CONNECTICUT
COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY J. A. SPALDING
HARTFORD, CONN.
PRESS OF THE CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD COMPANY
I 89 I
-b"\crtr.
A SECTION OF BUSHNELL PARK, HARTFORD, WITH THE STATE CAPITOL AND MEMORIAL ARCH.
INTRODUCTION.
N presenting to the public this new contribution to the State literature of
Connecticut, the author appreciates the fact that various and differing
standards will be adopted by both its casual and its careful readers in
forming their opinions of its merits; hence he desires in the outset to
offer a few thoughts which appear to him to be essential to a correct
understanding of the work, and particularly of its success as an accom-
plishment of a purpose. The critic who views it solely from a literary
and artistic standpoint, and reaches his conclusions from such an observation, will be
likely not only to do its author an injustice, but to lose sight altogether of some of
the best and it is believed the most praiseworthy features of the book. It may be
said, too, that whoever has made up his mind in advance that a biographical work
which includes but six or seven hundred subjects must exhaust the field and prob-
ably embraces everybody of any note whatever within the borders of the State, is
doomed to a large disappointment. And the few — perhaps it may prove the many —
who expect here, as in most other biographical works, to find simply a collection of
governors, and United States senators, and college professors, and gentlemen distin-
guished for very rare and profound attainments of one sort or another, will find that
this is not the work they have expected it to be. In a word, whatever reader for-
gets or overlooks the Popular feature of this volume will need to be set right in
that respect before he can enjoy or even understand, much less pass intelligent judg-
:nent upon, its contents.
The inception of this work is indirectly attributable to the annoyance which
its author has experienced in his previous daily newspaper work, through the pov-
erty of biographical information obtainable from public sources concerning most of
the fairly prominent citizens of our State. His recent complete release from journal-
ism afforded him an opportunity for undertaking to supply in some degree the
deficiency referred to ; and with that end in view this work was begun. It is due
to the reader, and to all who have been successfully or unsuccessfully solicited to
appear as subjects of this biography, to know something of the methods which have
governed its preparation.
During the month of December, 1890, one or two leading citizens of every town
and city in Connecticut were interviewed by the writer, and an arrangement was
made in conformity with which these gentlemen subsequently submitted a list of
names of nearly two thousand persons in all portions of the State, prominent in
business or professional life, or who were holding public positions and properly
entitled to be included in a popular biography of the Commonwealth. The list thtis
furnished included State, county, town, and municipal officials, representatives of the
judiciary, the clergy, the military, the . bar, physicians, merchants, manufacturers.
5 INTRODUCTION.
artizans, business men, and whoever else among the inhabitants of the State could
be regarded as commendably conspicuous in local or general affairs. To each of
the individuals thus designated a personal invitation was extended to appear in the
proposed volume, the scope and character of which were fully described and ex-
plained. Each recipient of the invitation was requested to furnish data from which
an accurate biography of himself might be prepared, and to provide a photograph
from which a vignette portrait might be made, for publication in the book. The
invitation was a cordial one, but no effort was made to induce anybody to accept it
against his wishes. Of the two thousand persons thtis invited, about seven hundred
accepted unconditionally and furnished the information sought. These seven hun-
dred are included in the present volume. Others desired to appear in the book, but
imposed conditions which could not be complied with, — such as that the portrait
should be a full-page steel plate ; or that the sketch should carry an advertisement
of the subject's business;' and in one case a gentleman who has a local reputation
for writing poetry insisted that sundry specimens of his verse must accompany the
sketch. Others declined the invitation for various reasons, principally on the score
of "modesty"; and still others would have nothing to do with the matter because
they had the impression that somehow they were going to be swindled. Of the
entire list fully one-half never responded to the invitation. As will be observed,
however, the favorable responses were enough to render the volume sufficiently for-
midable in size, thoroughly comprehensive in character, and representative of every
section of the State. It is a good beginning of an effort the principal object of
which has been to familiarize the people of Connecticut with the qualities, the
characteristics, the accomplishments, and the features of their fellow-citizens who are
or have been leaders and chief burden-bearers in all the active duties of life. To
fully accomplish the work thus begun, and similarly present the numerous subject^
yet remaining, would require and perhaps may occasion the issue of succeeding
volumes.
Reference has already been made incidentally to the Popular feature of this
compilation ; wherein it differs, as it was intended to differ, essentially, from all
other compilations of State biography that have heretofore been made in this coun-
try. The term Popular in this connection is intended in its best sense — as opposed
to Exclusive. This is not the biography of a class, or a sect, or a party, but of
the People. Its subjects are selected from all walks of life ; and while the list
includes some names of world-wide celebrity, and many of great distinction in the
State, it embraces also others unknown to fame beyond perhaps the limits of their
own neighborhood, yet among the most honorable and in their sphere the most
useful citizens of the Commonwealth. It may be safely stated that there is abso-
lutely no other published collection that includes fifty, even, of the seven hundred
sketches which are spread upon these pages; yet for the purposes of a reference
book of the citizens of Connecticut, to be consulted for information concerning peo-
ple who are prominent in their respective spheres of activity, the least of all these
could not have been omitted from this volume without abridging its usefulness and
impairing its value. The careful reader will doubtless be surprised to discover how
many citizens on lower pinnacles of fame than those whose deeds embellish the
pages of familiar history or biography, are proven by this record to be the peers
INTRODUCTION. 7
of their more celebrated contemporaries. It is believed that this publication will be
the means of pleasantly introducing to their fellow-citizens a great many gentlemen
of distinguished ability and accomplishments, whose lines of action have been circum-
scribed by local limits, — whose works are universally recognized, but whose per-
sonality has heretofore been comparatively obscure.
Inasmuch as the publication of these sketches was to be made with the
authority and approval of their subjects, it has been the intention of the author in
every instance to consult individual wishes in their preparation. In some cases only
the briefest data were furnished ; and the sketches of this class of subjects will be
found to be correspondingly brief. Others entered enthusiastically and extensively
into the Vv'ork of supplying information, affording opportunity in many instances for
complete and quite elaborate biographies. The results in every case furnish a fair
indication of the extent to which facilities have been supplied or withheld by the
subjects themselves. The author is under obligation to many gentlemen, whose
names and faces appear on the following pages, for their active co-operation with
him in his efforts to make this work in the highest possible degree interesting to
the reader as well as valuable for reference.
The political entanglements resulting from the State election (or non-election) in
November, 1890, have involved many of these biographies, contributing an element of
uncertainty as to the political status of some of the subjects which has rendered
all reference thereto a matter of considerable delicacy. Wherever allusion has of
necessity been made to the political career of members of either the legislative or
executive branch of the present State government, or of unsuccessful candidates for
such honors, all expression of opinion has been avoided and the record intentionally
confined to a statement of facts.
In the production of this volume it has been the aim of the compiler to
exhaust every resource for securing absolute accuracy of detail in the matter of
biography, and to make its illustrations faithful and creditable. He is conscious of
having exerted himself earnestly and honestly to prepare for and place before the
public a work of thorough reliability and sterling value. He trusts that the effort
will meet popular appreciation and approval.
J. A. SPALDING.
Hartford, July, 1891.
INDEX.
Abel, Simeon, Bozrah, .
Abell, S. P., Lebanon, .
Adams, Nelson, New Haven,
Adams, Sherman W., Hartford,
Adkins, H. R., Winsted,
Allen, B. R., Hartford,
Allen, Francis B., Hartford,
Allen, John, Old Saybrook, .
Allen, J. M., Hartford,
Allen, Samuel, New Hartford,
Alsop, J. W., INIiddletown, .
Ames, Anthony, Danielsonville,
Andrews, George S., South Glastonbury,
Andrews, J. E., Hamden (Mt. Carmel Center), 173
Andrews, Joseph, West Haven, .
Andross, W. F., East Hartford, .
Anthony, Francis G., New Haven,
Anthony, William A., Manchester,
Arnold, Charles, Thompson,
Atwood, E. F., Bloomfield, .
Attwood, Julius, East Haddam,
Austin, W. N., Plymouth, .
Austin, Willis R., Norwich, .
Avery, Erasmus D., Groton,
Avery, John, Lebanon,
Ayer, Edwin, Old Saybrook,
Babcock, Charles H., Stonington,
Backus, W. W., Norwich, .
Bailey, A. S., East Hartford,
Bailey, B. A., Danielsonville,
Bailey, Ezra B., Windsor Locks,
Bailey, J. M., Danbury,
Baird, J. G., Ellington,
Baker, Davis A., Ashford, .
Baker, Henry A. , Montville,
Baldwin, H. C, Beacon Falls,
Baldwin, J. B., Willimantic,
Ball, Stephen, Hartford,
Banks, Frederick J., Bridgeport,
Banning, Joseph B., Saybrook,
Barber, Peleg S., Stonington,
Barbour, H. S., Hartford, .
Barbour, Joseph L., Hartford,
Barbour, Lucius A., Hartford,
Barbour, Sylvester, Hartford,
Barker, C. W., North Branford,
Page
361 Barker, Nathaniel C, Lebanon,
126 Barlow, J. H., Shelton,
226 Barnes, Charles D., Southington,
33 Barnes, Seth, Bristol, .
294 Barnum, Joseph H., Hartford,
27 Barrows, Albert, Willimantic,
127 Barrows, F. F., Hartford, .
324 Bartlett, R. E., Lebanon, .
19 Bartley, Joseph Dana, Bridgeport,
293 Bartram, E. H., Sharon,
273 Bartram, L N., Sharon,
80 Bassett, E. D., New Haven,
162 Bates, Gustavus D., Putnam,
Batterson, James G., Hartford,
137 Beach, A. Y., Seymour,
177 Beach, B. P., Washington, .
114 Beach, James H., New Britain,
29 Beach, S. Y. , Seymour,
237 Beard, J. H., Shelton, .
323 Beardsley, A. S., Plymouth,
186 Beardsley, C. W., Milford, .
142 Beardsley, George L., Birmingham,
337 Beardsley, James W. , Bridgeport,
333 Beardsley, M. B., Bridgeport,
175 Beardsley, Samuel G., Trumbull,
323 Beckwith, Cyrus G., New London,
Beers, Silas C, Cornwall,
190 Belding, A. N., Rockville, .
21 Belknap, Charles, Bridgeport,
360 Bell, E. L, Portland, .
157 Bennett, Edward B., Hartford,
.94 Bidwell, William L., Windsor,
2S8 Bigelow, A. C, New Fairfield,
297 Bigelow, Edward F., Portland,
170 Bigelow, Hobart B., New Haven,
145 Bill, Benezet H., Rockville, .
64 Bill, Henry, Norwich, .
26S Billings, Charles E., Hartford,
141 Bissell, F. P., Hebron, .
294 Bissell, Lewis, East Hartford,
180 Blake, Amos S., Waterbury,
42 Blake, Rufus W., Derby,
190 Blake, William P., New Haven,
178 Blakeman, James H., Stratford,
67 Blakeman, S. G., Huntington,
159 Bliss, Watson H., Hartford,
145 Bloss, Samuel L., Bethlehem,
Page
281
304
138
297
147
289
184
94
130
153
349
163
188
18
136
258
361
265
209
186
185
272
no
167
299
321
152
292
152
253
177
244
170
301
165
137
65
166
353
156
267
350
279
. 171
106
I S3
370
lO
INDEX.
Boardman, W. F. J., Hartford, .
Bolter, James, Hartford,
Bond, A. H., Hartford,
Bowen, A. J., Willimantic, .
Bradle}', DeWitt C, Westport, .
Bradley, E. E., New Haven,
Bradway, Charles P. , West Stafford,
Brainard, Leverett, Hartford,
Brainerd, Erastus, Portland,
Brasie, James W., Washington, .
Brayton, Charles E., Stonington,
Briggs, Lucius, Griswold,
Brinsmade, John C, Washington,
Brooker, Charles P., Torrington,
Brooks, Isaac W., Torrington,
Bi'own, D. D., Chatham,
Brown, Francis, Winsted, .
Brown, Freeman M., Hartford, .
Brown, Hoxie, Colchester, .
Brown, Nelson A., North Stonington,
Browne, J. D., Hartford,
Browning, C. F., Middletown,
Bruggerhof, F. W., Noroton,
Bryant, S. J., West Haven, .
Buck, Edwin A., Willimantic,
Bucklyn, John K., Mystic, .
Bugbee, Edwin H., Putnam,
Bulkley, Edward M., Southport, .
Bulkeley, Morgan G., Hartford, .
Bulkeley, William H., Hartford, .
Bullwinkle, Richard, Greenwich,
Bunce, Jonathan B., Hartford,
Burdick, George H., Hartford, .
Burlingame, C. S., Canterbury, .
Burr, George W., Middletown, .
Bushnell, Cornelius S., Madison,
Calef, A. B., Middletown, .
Calhoun, David S., Hartford,
Calhoun, J. Gilbert, Hartford,
» Camp, C. J., West Winsted,
Camp, Wm. L., West Winsted,
Card, A. M., Sharon, .
Carpenter, Elisha, Hartford,
Carter, Henry B., Wolcott, .
Carter, Stephen B., Westminster,
Case, A. Wells, Manchester,
Catlin, L. S., Bridgeport,
Chadwick, R. W. , Lyme,
Chaffee, J. Dwight, Mansfield,
Chamberlain, S. E., Wethersfield,
Chamberlin, Franklin, Hartford,
Chandler, F. D. , Eastford, .
Chapin, J. H., Meriden,
Chapman, M. S., Manchester,
Chapman, Orrin, North Stonington,
Chase, George L., Hartford,
Page Page
264 Childs, F. R., Hartford 315
258 Christ, E. K., New Britain, .... 275
207 Clark, D. N., Woodbridge, .... 191
145 Clark, G. S., Middlebury, .... 267
209 Clark, Thomas, North Stonington, . . 263
Si Clark, Wm. B., Hartford 286
140 Clemons, H. N., Danielsonville, . . . 176
130 Cleveland, Edward S., Hartford, . . 93
302 Cleveland, Wm. N., Andover, . . . 217
145 Clowes, Geo. H., Waterbury, . . . 294
306 Coburn, J. M., Brooklyn, .... 140
188 Colburn, George D., Union, . . . 277
109 Collins, John C, New Haven; ... 69
331 Colt, Henry G. , Winsted, .... 339
22 Colton, O. B., Hartford, . . . . 172
57 Commerford, Charles C, Waterbury, . 193
373 Comstock, W. H. H., New London, . . 309
136 Conant, J. A., Willimantic, .... 43
275 Converse, Julius, Stafford Springs, . . 326
283 Cook, Asa S., Hartford, .... 235
269 Cooke, E. Ludlow, Hartford, ... 75
338 Corbin, Lewis A., Rockville, . . . 307
127 Corbin, Philip, New Britain, . . . 122
337 Cothren, William, Woodbury, ... 99
53 Countryman, Franklin, North Branford, . 161
129 Countryman, W. A., Hartford, . . . 238
265 Cowles, W. A., Torrington, . . . 250
330 Crampton, Samuel R., Madison, . . . 56
17 Crilly, John A. , Hartford 198
151 Crissey, Ralph I., Norfolk, .... 3^5
146 Crofut, Sidney W., Danielsonville, . . 237
118 Crossfield, F. S., Hartford, .... 295
143 Crothers, T. D., Hartford, . . . . iSi
205 Culver, E. E., Winsted, .... 275
285
103 Dains, George W., East Litchfield, . . 50
Daniel, William F. , Stamford, . . . 362
55 Davis, Charles H. S., Meriden, . . 182
304 Davidson, C. S., Hartford, . . . . 183
255 Dayton, A. H., Naugatuck, . . . . 250
270 Deacon, Edward, Bridgeport, ... 82
300 De Bruycker, Florimond, WilHmantic, . 252
70 Dennis, E. C, Stafford Springs, . . . 293
169 Dennis, Rodney, Hartford, .... 364
329 Dewey, E. W., North Granby, . . . 196
328 Dewhurst, EH, Bridgeport 276
104 Dick, William J., Newtown, . . . 222
173 Dickinson, L. A., Hartford, . . . 26
357 Dillingham, E. B., Hartford, . . . 175
66 Dimock, Erwin O., Tolland, ... 262
232 Doherty, John B. , Waterbury, . . . 231
36 Donahoe, D. J., Middletown, . . . 197
92 Dunbar, E. B., Bristol, .... 210
246 Dunbar, M. B., Torrington, . . . . 291
189 Duncan, Thomas, Windsor, . . . . 116
T79" Dunham, George, LTnionville, . . . 172
40 Dwight, Henry C, Hartford, ... 72
INDEX.
II
Drake, Sidney, Hartford,
Eaton, W. W., Hartford, .
Edmonds, George B., Bridgeport,
Edwards, Bulkeley, Cromwell,
Eggleston, A. F., Hartford,
Eggleston, J. D., Meriden, .
Elliot, George E., Clinton, .
Ellsworth, P. W., Hartford,
Ely, Dudley P., South Norwalk, .
Emerson, Irving, Hartford, .
Ensign, Wooster A., New Haven,
Etheridge, Frank W., Thomaston,
Fay, George A., Meriden, .
Fenn, Apollos, Plain ville,
Fenn, Jason C, Terryville, .
Fessenden, Samuel, Stamford,
Field, George P., Tolland, .
Fisher, William H., New Haven,
Fitch, Samuel, Rockville,
Fitton, Crossley, Rockville, .
Fitzgerald, R. N., Hartford,
Fletcher, D. S., Hartford, .
Flint, George, Thompson,
Forbes, Ira E., Hartford,
Foster, WiUiam B., Rockville, .
Fowler, F. C, Moodus,
Fowler, George W., Hartford,
Fox, Charles J., Willimantic,
Francis, Oliver S. , South Canterbury
Frisbie, Lemuel T., Hartford,
Frost, Russell, South Norwalk, .
Gaffey, John F., New Haven,
Gardiner, Andrew J., Danielsonville,
Gardner, N. R., Baltic,
Gardner, W. R., Waterford,
Gates, J. Henry, North Branford,
Gatling, Richard J., Hartford,
Geer, Erastus, Lebanon,
Gerhardt, Karl, Hartford, .
Gibbons, Watson, Hartland,
Gibbs, B. B., Bloomfield, .
Gilbert, H. E. H., Coventry,
Gildersleeve, Ferdinand, Portland,
Gildersleeve, Henry, Portland,
Gildersleeve, O., Portland, .
Gillette, E. B., Canaan,
Gillmore, J. M., Rockville, .
Gilpin, Joseph F., Ansonia, .
Ginand, David, Bridgeport,
Glover, William B., Fairfield,
Godard, Harvey, Granby, .
Gold, T. S., Cornwall, .
Goodman, A. C, Hartford, .
Goodrich, Alfred R., Vernon,
Page
160
87
204
197
gS
iq2
296
31
114
43
41
319
297
100
302
108
70
"522
353
193
138
65
199
187
144
176
123
37
253
179
212
96
298
350
320
129
215
74
139
308
134
370
162
109
312
152
128
235
103
174
88
39
50
240
Goodrich, Stephen, Hartford,
Goodwin, E. O., East Hartford,
Goodwin, J. O., East Hartford,
Goodwin, R. S., Thomaston,
Graham, James, Orange,
Granger, S. A., Winsted,
Grannis, Alonzo, Waterbury,
Grant, E. M., Stamford,
Grant, M. F., Norfolk, .
Graves, Henry B., Litchfield,
Graves, John S., New Haven,
Gray, John, Mj-stic,
Greeley, E. S., New Haven,
Greene, Albert C, Westminster,
Greene, Jacob L., Hartford,
Greenslit, David, Hampton,
Gregory, James G., Norwalk,
Griggs, C. Edwin, Chaplin, .
Griswold, Charles, Guilford,
Griswold, Edward, Guilford,
Gross, Charles E., Hartford,
Guernsey, L. ^L, Mj'Stic,
Hall, C. W., Southington, .
Hall, John H., Hartford, .
Hall, Lovell, Middletown, .
Hall, Russell L., New Canaan,
Hamersle}-, William, Hartford,
Hamilton, Alexander, Weston,
Hamilton, Charles S., New Haven,
Hamilton, Wm. H., Danielsonville,
Hammond, E. Payson, Hartford,
Hammond, S. M., Torrington,
Hannum, T. W., Hartford, .
Harris, George A., Preston,
Hart, A. S., Farmington,
Hart, Jay H., Waterbury, .
Hart, Juhus A., Beacon Falls,
Hart, M. A., Riverton,
Hartigan, Wm. R., Burhngton,
Haughton, S. W. , Bozrah, .
Hauser, Christian, Waterbury,
Hawley, Joseph R., Hartford,
Haj'den, H. Sidney, Windsor,
Healy, Robert, Seymour,
Heery, Luke M., Versailles,
Henney, David, Hartford, .
Henry, E. S., Rockville,
Higgins, John E., Hartford,
Hill, Charles E., Stamford, .
Hiscox, O. A., Woodstock, .
Hitchcock, H. P., Hartford,
Hodge, George W., Windsor,
Holbrook, C. M., Hartford, .
Holbrook, S. T., Norwich, .
Holcombe, J. M., Hartford,
Holcombe, N. W., Simsburv,
Page
256
251
132
187
327
146
73
141
255
330
no
131
301
335
125
30
148
347
341
261
119
257
334
252
242
249
46
73
78
274
284
266
366
155
72
291
60
233
325
296
273
37
247
345
271
153
341
106
310
36S
160
312
178
48
157
44
12
INDEX.
Holmes, Israel, Waterbury,
Hopkins, Caleb, Ellington, .
HopjMn, James M., New Haven,
Hough, Elijah J., Wallingford,
Houlihan, M. J., Newtown, .
Hovey, James A., Norwich,
Howard, James L., Hartford,
Howe, George E., Meriden,
Howe, S. H., Norwich,
Hoyle, James, Willington, .
Hoyt, George H., Stamford,
Hoyt, H. W. R., Greenwich,
Hubbard, E. H., Middletown,
Hubbard, L. M., Wallingford,
Huke, Herman W., Torrington,
Hull, Eliphalet B., Darien, .
Hunter, John L., Willimantic,
Huntington, C. W. , Hartford,
Huntington, James, Woodbury,
Himtsinger, E. M., Hartford,
Hurlburt, J. H., Bridgeport,
Hutchins, Joseph, Plainfield,
Hyatt, James W. , Norwalk,
Hyde, A. P., Hartford,
Hyde, Ephraim H., vStafford,
Hyde, Frank E., Hartford, .
Hyde, WiUiam Waldo, Hartford,
Ives, S. A., Thompson,
Jackson, C. E., Middletown,
Jennings, George H., Jewett City,
Jennings, William J., Redding,
Jeralds, Bennett, Yalesville,
Jewell, Charles A., Hartford,
Jewell, Lyman B., Hartford,
Jewell, Pliny, Hartford,
Johnson, C. G., Meriden,
Johnson, Horace, Plain ville,
Jones, A. H., Meriden,
Jones, Edward P., Branford,
Jones, George E., Litchfield,
Joslyn, C. M., Hartford,
Judson, Stiles, Jr., Stratford,
Keleher, Daniel, Stonington,
Kellogg, H. Martin, Lebanon,
Kelsey, Horace E , Westbrook,
Ketchum, L. Y., Woodbury,
Kiefer, Daniel, Waterbury, .
Kingsbury, A., Coventry,
Kingsley, John P., Plainfield,
Kirkham, John S., Newington,
Kirtland, O. H., Old Saybrook,
Knowlton, J. W., Bridgeport,
Knowlton, Marvin, Willimantic,
Knowlton, N. L., Ashford, .
Korper, Adolph, Willington,
Page
i8o
27S
40
280
365
26
150
15S
298
97
224
97
184
76
262
266
25S
32
281
44
246
296
116
27
282
146
"7
342
232
181
305
149
229
22S
228
52
154
332
306
89
39
45
7S
123
64
150
180
154
34S
63
14S
149
62
267
233
Ladd, Charles H., Sprague,
Ladd, Samuel J. P., Canterbury,
Lake, Thomas A., Rockville,
Landers, Charles S. , New Britain,
Landers, George M., New Britain,
Langdon, George, Plymouth,
Lathrop, John M. N., Franklin, .
Lawrence, Charles H., Hartford,
Leach, L. M., Durham,
Leach, Oscar, Durham,
Leavenworth, John H., Roxbury,
Leavenworth, W. J., Wallingford,
Lee, John H., Norwalk,
Lee, WiUiam Wallace, Meriden,
Leeds, John H., New Haven,
Leete, Calvin M. , Guilford, .
Lewis, Edward C, Waterbury,
Lewis, J. B., Hartford,
Lewis, John N. , Voluntown,
Lewis, William I., Westbrook,
Lincoln, Charles F., Andover,
Lincoln, J. W., Chaplin,
Lipsette, Lewis Allen, Meriden,
Little, Saxton B., Meriden, .
Lockwood, D. B., Bridgeport,
Lockwood, F. St. John, Norwalk,
Loomis, Byron, Suffield,
Loomis, C. P., Granby,
Loomis, Dwight, Rockville,
Loomis, J. N., Granby,
Lounsbury, Charles W., Darien,
Lounsbtu-y, P. C, Ridgefield,
Love, AV. DeLoss, Jr., Hartford,
Lucas, Solomon, Norwich, .
Mahl, George, Hartford,
Main, Charles H., North Stonington,
Manross, Elijah, Bristol,
Marden, Francis A., Stamford,
Marggralf, E. C, Watertown,
Markham, E. A., Durham, .
Markham, Oliver, Middletown,
Marlor, Henry S., Brooklyn,
Marlor, Thos. S., Brooklyn,
Marsh, Albert P., New Britain,
Martin, Charles F., Pomfret,
Martin, Earl, Danielson ville,
Martin, Thomas R. , Waterbury,
Marvin, E. E., Hartford,
Marvin, John W. , Saybrook,
Mason, J. K., Suffield, .
Mattoon, B. H., Watertown,
Maxwell, George, Rockville,
AlcConville, W. J., Hartford,
McGaughey, J. D., Walhngford,
McGovern, Patrick, Hartford,
]\IcKensie, T. H., Southington,
Page
155
236
213
25
207
168
224
221
55
262
137
192
139
241
47
321
53
306
322
86
357
155
309
112
61
28
208
234
303
234
227
49
35
117
256
371
356
71
313
303
270
28
68
195
300
299
318
305
58
168
204
119
222
191
230
346
INDEX.
13
McLane, W. W., New Haven,
McLean, George P., Simsbury,
McNeil, Charles, Torrington,
Merrill, T. B., Hartford.
Mcrriman, !•]. A., Meridcn,.
jNIerrow, J. B., Mansfield, .
^lerwin, Samuel E., New Haven
Messenger, F. M., Thompson,
]\Iiller, Charles A., Mcriden,
Miller, Dan A., Bristol,
]\Iiller, Da\nd H., Georgetown,
Miller, Edward, Meriden, .
Miller, W. J., Shelton, .
Miner, (). E., Groton, .
Mitchell, David M., Southbury,
^lix, Frank W., New Britain,
Mix, Norris B., Hamden,
Moore, D. M., Colebrook, .
Moore, N. A., Kensington, .
Morgan, D. N., Bridgeport,
Morgan, James T., Winsted,
Morris, Jonathan F., Hartford,
Morris, Luzon B., New Haven,
Morse, George M., Putnam,
Morse, George N., Meriden,
Morse, Nelson, North Woodstock
Moses, William E., Waterbury,
Munson, L. L, Waterbury, .
Mygatt, A. B., New Milford,
Nason, A. F., Hartford,
Near, John N., Bridgeport, .
Neary, Thomas, Naugatuck,
Nelson, Robert W., Hartford,
Nettleton, W. H., Bristol, .
Newport, E. C, Meriden, .
Newton, C. B., Stafford Springs
Nichols, C. N., Andover,
Nichols, James, Hartford, .
Nichols, Stephen, Bridgeport,
Nickerson, L. J., Cornwall, .
Noble, Thomas K., Norwalk,
North, Joseph Howard, Goshen,
Northend, Charles, New Britain
Northrop, B. G., Clinton,
Northrop, D. W., Middletown,
Noyes, Benjamin, New Haven,
Noyes, F. B., Stonington, .
O'Neill, John, Waterburj', .
Osborn, N. G., New Haven,
Osborn, Orlando C, Oxford,
Osborne, C. E., Monroe,
Page, Charles, North Bran ford.
Page, J. D., Harwinton,
Page
57
67
349
254
201
32S
51
327
66
298
300
265
59
310
7^'
19S
142
251
248
42
302
290
272
354
63
205
79
143
217
196
S3
288
220
369
287
261
308
20
194
205
60
363
71
132
342
314
329
190
202
288
92
318
170
Paige, A. W., Huntington, .
Palmer, H. R., Stonington, .
Palmer, John, Brooklyn,
Palmer, William F., Scotland,
Parker, A. M., Putnam,
Parsons, H. A., Salem,
Parsons, E. F., Thompsonville,
Parish, R. N., Montville,
Patterson, B. C, Torrington,
Patterson, H. D., Naugatuck,
Peabody, Joseph, Jr., Waterford,
Pearl, Patrick H., Hampton,
Pease, Theo. L, Thompsonville,
Peck, Clifton, Franklin,
T'r. k, Henry W., Bethlehem,
Puck, John H., New Britain,
Peck, Tracy, New Haven, .
Peck, William Wales, Woodbridge,
Perkins, Charles E., Hartford,
Perkins, Joshua, Danielsonville,
Phelps, Charles, Rockville, .
Phelps, Clinton, East Granby,
Phelps, James, Esse.x, .
Philips, J. M., Andover,
Pickett, J. A., New Britain,
Pickett, Rufus S., New Haven,
Pierce, John, Southbury,
Pierce, Joseph B., Hartford,
Pierpont, Joseph, North Haven,
Pike, R. G., Middletown, .
Pike, WiUiam C, Steding, .
Pine, Charles H., Ansonia, .
Pine, J. E., Winsted, .
Pinney, Charles H., Derby,
Pinne}', Marcus A., Ellington,
Pinney, Royal W. , Derby, .
Piatt, David, West Haven, .
Piatt, Orville H., Meriden, .
Plumb, D. W., Shelton,
Pomeroy, Charles B., Willimantic,
Porter, John Addison, Pomfret,
Porter, Noah, New Haven, .
Post, WilHam H., Hartford,
Potter, Giles, New Haven, .
Potter, Lester L., Hartford,
Pratt, Ambrose, Chester,
Pratt, Francis A., Hartford,
Pratt, Lewellyn, Norwich, .
Prentice, Amos W., Norwich,
Preston, E. V., Hartford, .
Preston, Miles B., Hartford,
Prescott, William H., Rockville,
Prior, Charles Edward, Jewett Cit3^
Prior, Israel, Stamford,
Pulsifer, N. T., Manchester,
Quick, A. J., South Coventry',
Page
91
368
1 22
336
259
259
348
344
369
361
341
105
156
260
336
345
317
325
104
58
368
159
313
317
355
59
339
120
87
164
318
56
355
326
157
326
319
49
280
311
226
229
79
354
340
166
34
30
18
III
121
124
61
341
316
301
14
INDEX.
Read, David M., Bridgeport,
Reade, H. L., Jewett City, .
Redway, George M., Hartford,
Richards, A. T., Hartford, .
Richards, F. H., Hartford, .
Robbins, S. W., Wethersfield,
Robertson, A. Heaton, New Haven,
Robinson, H. C, Hartford, .
Rogers, WilUam, Hartford, .
Rood, David A., Hartford, .
Root, G. Wells, Hartford, .
Root, J. G., Hartford, .
Rouse, George W., Voluntown,
Rudd, William B., Lakeville,
Russegue, H. E., Hartford,
Russell, Charles A., Killingly,
Russell, T. W., Hartford, .
Russell, William C, Orange,
Sage, Rtifus B., Cromwell, .
Sanger, Marvin H., Canterbury
Scanlan, John E., Hartford,
Scott, L. P., Bethlehem,
Selden, Joseph, Norfolk,
Semple, Alexander, Broad Brook
Sevin, N. Douglass, Norwich,
Seward, S. H., Putnam,
Seymour, Morris W., Bridgeport,
Sharpe, W. C, Seymour,
Sheldon, H. S., Suffield,
Shepard, James, New Britain,
Shove, Henry E., Warren, .
Sibley, P. B., Brooklyn,
Simonds, William E., Hartford,
Simpson, Samuel, Wallingford,
Skelly, M. P., Woodbury, .
Skilton, D. W. C, Hartford,
Skinner, William C, Hartford,
Smith, Andrew T., Hartford,
Smith, Charles B., Hartford,
Smith, C. H., Naugatuck, .
Smith, Edward J., Hartford,
Smith, James D., Stamford,
Smith, Julius B., Burlington,
Smith, Martin H., Suffield, .
Smith, Prentice O., Franklin,
Smith, Robert R., New Hartford
Smith, Sidney K., Naugatuck,
Smith, Washington, Canterbury,
Spaulding, Alva W., Hartford,
Spencer, C. M., Windsor,
Spencer, Daniel C, Old Saybrook,
Sperry, Aner, Hartford,
Sperry, Lewis, East AVindsor Hill
Sprague, William B., Andover,
Squire, W. L., New Haven,
St. John, S. Y., New Canaan,
Page
91
77
271
277
45
333
36
21
90
96
171
292
365
211
25
144
54
188
107
239
210
133
141
223
102
369
208
357
286
90
245
370
29
52
216
274
20S
273
290
227
250
338
345
371
322
98
340
316
237
356
334
84
327
365
257
S3
Stagg, Henry P., Stratford,
Stanley, William M., East Hartford,
Stanton, Avery A., Sterling,
Stanton, George Dallas, Stonington,
Stanton, R. P., Norwich,
Staub, Nicholas, New Milford, .
Steele, E. J., Torrington,
Steele, Thomas S., Hartford,
Stevens, E. C, Norfolk,
Stevens, Frederick S., Bridgeport,
Stevenson, William H., Bridgeport,
Stickney, John N., Rockville,
Stiles, Norman C, Middletown, .
Stillson, Charles H., Ansonia,
Stone, George M., Hartford,
Storrs, Augustus, Mansfield,
Street, F. P., East Hartford,
Strong, David, Winsted,
Sturtevant, C. P. , Norwich,
Sucher, Theodore H., New Haven,
Sumner, E. G., Mansfield, .
Taft, George E., Unionville,
Taintor, Henry E., Hartford,
Taintor, James U., Hartford,
Taintor, Ralph S., Colchester,
Ten-ill, M. W., Middlefield,
Thomas, Aaron, Thomaston,
Thompson, Charles E., Hartford,
Thompson, Curtis, Bridgeport, .
Thompson, E. W., New Britain,
Thomson, James M., Hartford, .
Thurber, Thomas J., Putnam Heights
Tillinghast, George P., Canterbury,
Todd, F. Hayden, North Haven,
Todd, WiUiam S., Ridgefield,
Torrance, David, Derby,
Towne, Henry R., vStamford,
Turner, S. W., Chester,
Tuttle, Byron, Plymouth, .
Tuttle, Dwight W., East Haven,
Twitchell, Homer, Naugatuck, .
Ulrich, George, Hartford, .
Vance, Robert J., New Britain, .
Wadsworth, W. M., Farmington,
Wait, John T., Norwich,
Waldo, George C, Bridgeport, .
Wales, Henry N., Willimantic, .
Walkeley, Stephen, Southington,
Wallace, Robert, Wallingford,
Wanzer, Homer L., New Fairfield,
Warner, Alexander, Pomfret,
Warner, George R., Hartford,
Warner, H. A., New Haven,
Page
336
360
112
331
372
254
220
281
351
86
80
230
88
329
320
218
248
340
355
240
347
351
115
289
361
223
372
332
lOI
232
243
231
352
151
352
325
219
131
344
233
245
253
308
359
23
221
100
315
199
201
38
206
93
INDEX.
15
Warren, Charles O., Eastford,
Warren, Tracey B., Bridgeport,
Watrous, Wm. H., H*artford,
Watson, Thomas, Winsted, .
Watson, Thos. L., Bridgeport,
Weaver, Thos. S., Hartford,
Webb, Frank F., Windham,
Webster, Chauncey B., Waterbury
Webster, John C, Hartford,
Wessells, H. W., Litchfield,
Wessells, L. W., Litchfield,
West, Samuel F., Columbia,
Wheeler, Joseph K., Hartford,
White, Cyrus, Rockville,
White, Edgar D., Andover,
White, Edwin S., Hartford,
White, Henry M., Torrington,
White, Horace, Manchester,
White, John H., Hartford, .
White, Walter?., Putnam, .
Whiting, Charles B., Hartford,
Whitman, H. A., Hartford,
Whitney, Amos, Hartford, .
Page
209 Wilcox, Aug. C, New Haven,
260 Wildman, H. H., New Fairfield,
89 Wile, W. C, Danbury,
373 Wilkinson, Edmund, Greenwich,
278 Willcox, Washington F., Chester,
124 Williams, Francis, Chaplin, .
126 Williams, Street, Wallingford,
364 Williams, S. P., Plainville, .
102 Wilson, J. C, Stonington, .
263 Wilson, N. A., Harwinton, .
174 Winch, J. W., Union, .
284 Winslow, Horace, Simsbury,
311 Wood, John H., Thomaston,
358 Wood, John P., Brooklyn, .
128 Woodward, I. B. , Thomaston,
216 Woodward, P. H., Hartford,
197 Woodward, W. W., Danielsonville,
113 Wooster, Wm. B., Ansonia,
189 Worden, Lewis, Danielsonville,
372
244 Yeomans, M. P., Andover, .
23S Yergason, E. S., Hartford, .
120 York, S. A., New Haven, .
Page
98
225
362
316
135
343
225
204
255
371
351
200
118
201
215
213
360
202
lOI
260
105
203
ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT,
-♦-•-♦-
iM. G. BULKELEV.
HON. MORGAN G. BULKELEY, ^artford:
Governor of Connecticut.
^Morgan G. Bulkeley was born in East Haddam,
in this state, December 26, 1S37, and removed to
Hartford in 1846, where he obtained his education
at the Center District and
High schools. His Ameri-
can ancestor, Rev. Peter
Bulkeley, emigrated from
England in 1634, settled
in Massachusetts, and af-
ter a life of much useful-
ness died in 1659. His son,
the Rev. Gershom Bulke-
ley, prominent in Connec-
ticut colonial history, mar-
'— ^ '^ '\ 7 "*' T'"'' ried the daughter of Presi-
-^ — dent Chauncey of Har-
vard College ; and their
son, the Rev. John Bulke-
ley, became the first minister of Colchester in this
state. His grandson Eliphalet was father of John
Charles of Colchester, and grandfather of Eliphalet
A., whose career is too well known to the older
residents of Connecticut to require much presenta-
tion here. He became a lawj'er, interested himself
in politics and finance, was the first president of the
^tna Life Insurance Compan}' of Hartford, assisted
in the organization of the republican party of this
state, and was its first speaker of the house of
representatives. Among his sons was Morgan G.,
the subject of this biography.
Governor Bulkeley began his business career as
bundle -boy in a mercantile house in Brooklyn,
N. Y., in 1852. He quickly advanced by merit to
he salesman, confidential clerk, and finally partner.
Ujion the breaking out of the rebellion he went to
the front as a private in the Thirteenth New York
Regiment, and ser\'ed during the McClellan Penin-
sula campaign under General Mansfield, at Suffolk,
Ya. After his father's death in 1872, he located
permanently in Hartford, the better to supervise
his enlarged financial interests. He was the prime
factor in the organization of the United States
2
Bank, and became its first president. When the
presidency of the ^tna Life Insurance Company
became vacant b}' the retirement of Thomas O.
Enders, he transferred his abilities to that position;
and the unexampled success which has followed his
management of that company's affairs is another
tribute to his rare perception and managerial skill.
Mr. Bulkeley inherited his father's love of politics,
and naturally became a participant as well as an
interested observer in local political affairs. Hav-
ing made municipal problems a matter of conscien-
tious study, he became councilman, alderman, and
finally for eight years mayor of Hartford. During
his incumbency of this office he exercised a watch-
ful care over income and expenditure, advocating
such measures, irrespectively of partizan considera-
tions, as would advance the interests of the muni-
cipality. He was liberal with his private means
for the amelioration of the distressed and the com-
fort and pleasure of the working classes within the
city; and it is probable that he distributed in this
' way every year more than his salary as mayor.
Developing as he did while mayor of Hartford
such rare executive ability in civil aft'airs, it was
not singular that Mr. Bulkelej-'s friends should
urge his availability as a candidate for gubernatorial
honors. Following this conviction his name was
presented before the republican state convention in
the fall of 1886; but the movement in favor of Mr.
Lounsbury had acquired such momentum that in
the interest of harmony Mr. Bulkeley authorized
the withdrawal of his name as a candidate, and
ardently joined in support of his rival through the
succeeding campaign. In August, 1S88, at the next
state convention of the party, 'Mr. Bulkeley was
nominated for governor by acclamation, and on
the following January, 1SS9, he was inaugurated
and took his seat at the capitol. The vigorous
administration which followed was characteristic of
the man, and will long be remembered as among
the most notable within the history of the common-
wealth.
At the state election in November, 1890, the first
gubernational election under the new secret ballot
i8
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
law, results were declared which were not accepted
as conclusive by the State officials to whom the
election statistics are returnable under the statute,
or by the house of representatives. The legislature
falling to settle the question of gubernatorial suc-
cession by the recognition of a claimant or other-
wise as provided b}^ law, it became Governor Bulke-
ley's duty, under the constitution, to continue to
exercise the functions of that office, which he has
done and will doubtless continue to do until his suc-
cessor " shall be duly qualified."
living. ]\Ir. Prentice is a deacon of the Broadway
Congregational Church and is regarded with the
utmost esteem in the city where he resides.
A. W. PRENTICE.
AMOS W. PRENTICE, Norwich: Merchant.
Amos \V. Prentice of Norwich was born in Gris-
wold, Dec. 20, 1816, and received a common school
education, preparing him for a successful business
and public career. Most
of his life has been spent
in the city of Norwich,
where he has conducted a
mercantile business in one
place for fifty-seven
years. He now holds the
presidency of the Nor-
wich Savings Society,
with one exception the
largest savings institu-
tion in Connecticut. He
has also been a director
in a number of corpora-
tions and for half a cen-
tury has been a prominent manager of financial
and industrial interests in the community where he
resides. In 1S54 he represented the old eighth
senatorial district in the senate, his colleagues in-
cluding James Dixon of Hartford, subsequently
United States Senator, Gov. Henry B. Harrison of
New Haven, Colonel William H. H. Comstock of
New London, the late Gov. Wm. T. Minor of Stam-
ford, and John Boyd of Winsted. In 1859 he was
elected mayor of Norwich and in 1877 he repre-
sented that town in the legislature. The associates
of Mr. Prentice in the house that year included the
late Lieut. -Gov. Gallup of Plainfield, H. R. Hayden
of East Hartford, Eugene S. Boss of Willimantic,
Internal Revenue Collector John I. Hutchinson,
Ex-Mayor Wallace A. Miles of Meriden, Lucius G.
Goodrich of Simsbury, brother of the bank com-
missioner, Lynde Harrison of New Haven, and
Winthrop M. Wadsworth of Farmington. Ex-
Comptroller Chauncey Howard and Henry M.
Cleveland were also members that year. ilr.
Prentice was on the republican side and exerted
an important influence during the session. ]\Iay
18, 1840, he married Miss Hannah E. Parker,
whose death occurred Dec. 24, 18S7. Two daugh-
ters, Mrs. John Willard and Mrs. A. H. Chase, are
J. G. BATTERSON.
JAMES GOODWIN BATTERSON, Hartford :
President Travelers Insurance Company', and a
leading builder and building-stone contractor.
Hon. Jas. G. Batterson was boi-n in Bloomfield
Feb. 23, 1823, of stocks which have furnished some
of the ablest and most versatile business and pro-
fessional men of Connec-
ticut. His mother was
sister to Major James
Goodwin, long president
of the Connecticut Mu-
tual Life Insurance Com-
pany. His father having
established a building-
stone business in Litch-
field, Conn., he lived there
through his boyhood, and
was given the ordinary
education of the acad-
emy, where he fitted for
college, but did not enter.
He gained from his father's business a living inter-
est in and knowledge of geology and the qualities
of different stones and minerals, which has been
a large element in his business success. After
leaving school, he Avent as an apprentice into the
publishing and printing house of Mack, Andrus &
Woodruff, in Ithaca, N. Y., and served out his
time; then returned home and studied law in the
office of the noted Judge Seymour. His health,
however, rendered a life of confined study imprac-
ticable, and he went into business — first with his
father, and stibsequently (in 1S45) independently in
the same line, as importer of and dealer in granite
and marble, and later removing the headquarters
of the business to Hartford. His business has
grown into one of the largest in the United States,,
owning large granite quarries in Westerly, R. I.,
and using their products in carrj-ing out important
contracts for public and private building; among
others the magnificent Connecticut Capitol build-
ing, the Connecticut IMutual building at Hart-
ford, and the Mutual Life and Eqtiitable Life In-
surance Companies' buildings and the Vanderbilt
residence, New York. He was the first in this-
countr}' to use machinery for polishing granite, and
has devised many other improvements in his busi-
ness. He is master of every subsidiary detail of
his business and a practical architect and builder
of fine taste, as well as expert in mechanical de-
tails.
Mr. Batterson in 1863 had been on one of his
various tours through Europe and the East, which
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
19
have made him one of the best infomicd men of
the generation on oriental geography, history, poh-
tics, and social life; and returning from Italy,
where he had given acute attention to marbles and
architecture, passed through England, where the
success of the Railway Passengers' Assurance
Company, founded a few years before, had demon-
strated that accident insurance was practicable — a
fact much shadowed by the failures of previous
petty attempts in England. Grasping at once the
possibilities of the new business, and as a Hartford
man feeling the instinctive local capacity for success
in the insurance field, he induced a number of
other capitalists and active business men to join
with him in starting an accident company''; §300,000
was paid in as capital, and a charter obtained the
same year for insuring against accidents of travel
alone. But it was not till the next year, when the
charter was amended to allow it to insure against
accidents of all kinds, that much business was done.
Very few but the promoters expected it to live any
length of time, and when in a year or so it became
evident that it was to be one of the great business
successes of the age, this sudden growth and pros-
perity came near being more ruinous than its first
difficulties; for it inspired such a belief that the ac-
cident business was the sure road to wealth that,
in the " boom " which followed, a swarm of new
companies were organized, and most of the great
railroads ejected the Travelers and started accident
organizations of their own. A new corporation,
the Railway Passengers' Assurance Company,
composed of representatives from all the leading
accident companies, was formed in the winter of
1866 to consolidate the railway " ticket " business
under one management; five years later every one
of the others was dead, and the Travelers, as the
sole legatee, turned the company into the ticket de-
partment of its own organization. Its superiority
of brains, money, and incredibly hard work and
economy, had enabled it to remain the solitary sur-
vivor. Meanwhile, in 1S66, it had added a reg-
ular life-insurance department, which in the last
few years has taken sudden and enormous strides
that have placed it among the foremost of New
England companies.
Mr. Batterson is a man whom a robust physical
frame, and a still more robust, assimilative, and
flexible intellect, enable to accomplish an amount
and variety of work which fills the ordinary'
man with wonder and despair. One of his most
valuable intellectual qualities is the faculty of in-
stant adjustment to any new piece of work — one
of the rarest and most precious of faculties; to him,
five minutes' time are good for five minutes" ac-
complishment whenever taken. He is a formidable
debater, a capable actuary, a thorough student of
economics, and even a poet.
The amount f)f solid reading he does would alone
tax severely the energies of most men; he keeps
abreast of the highest thought of the age, and
knows what its leaders are thinking and saying on
every subject. He has a large library, of the high-
est quality in selection. His judgment in art is
delicate and just, and his fine collection of pictures
covers a remarkable range of schools and subjects.
Altogether, few men live a more symmetrical life
of business and thought, assimilation and produc-
tion; and in his combination of vigor and delicacy
of mind, of solid judgment and nice taste of ap-
preciation aUke of the profoundest thought and the
subtlest graces of style, he has few equals.
He might easily have attained high political
honors, but he has never coveted them, though his
help and advice are eagerly sought and valued.
He is, of course, an influential member of several
societies for the advancement of learning; holds
the degree of M.A. both from Yale and from
Williams Colleges (the former given at the sugges-
tion of the late Dr. Bushnell); and the educational
interests of Hartford (whose noted High School he
built) are indebted to him for powerful service and
upbuilding.
JEREMIAH :\I. ALLEN, Hartford : President
Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance
Company.
Jeremiah M. Allen was born in the town of En-
field, May iS, 1833, and was educated at the West-
field Academy in Massachusetts, preparing him for
the profession of a me-
chanical engineer. After
finishing his studies, he
devoted himself to teach-
ing for four years, spend-
ing what time he was
able to win from that
pursuit in special lines of
research and investiga-
tion. In 1S65, when only
32 years of age, he be-
came the general agent
and adjuster of the Mer-
chants Insurance Com-
panj- of Hartford. Sub-
sequently he was appointed to a similar position by
the Security Fire Insurance Company of New
York and engaged in the business with characteris-
tic earnestness and energy. But the insurance
field in which Mr. Allen was to become a pioneer
and the most successful of managers, had not at
that time commanded more than a cursory exam-
ination from American underwriters. The work
of personal preparation in his case, however, had
been continued with the utmost fidelity, and when
the time arrived for him to engage in the enter-
J. M. ALLEN.
20
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
prise that has occvipied his maturest thought and
energy, he was amply fitted for the task. Mr.
Allen was an accomplished scientist when he
became the president of the Hartford Steam
Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company in 1867.
This company, which has become one of the
prominent insurance organizations in New England,
was incorporated June 30, 1S66, the cash capital
being $100,000. The late Enoch C. Roberts of this
city was its first president, and retained the posi-
tion until the beginning of 1867, when Mr. Allen
was elected to the presidency, and the company
commenced the career of prosperity that has won
the admiration of underwriters everywhere. When
he first entered the field there might have been
reasonable doubts concerning the success of the
enterprise. It was new and untried in this
countrj'. The ablest talent in special lines was
needed for the inauguration even of the first
business of the company. In President Allen
the man needed most of all for originality and
leadership was found, and the work of his life
has been one of gratifying success. The history of
the great organization of which he is the president
is the history of his own business career. Mr.
Allen is the president also of the Hartford Board
of Trade — an organization that has exercised im-
portant influence in business and manufacturing
centers in the capital city. He is a member of the
board of trustees of the Society for Savings, di-
rector in the Security Company, the Connecticut
River Banking Company, and the Orient Insurance
Company, and one of the trustees of the Hartford
Theological \Seminary. He is also associate execu-
tor and trustee of the large estates left by Messrs.
John S. Welles and Newton Case, the two estates
aggregating upwards of $1,500,000. These facts
indicate more successfully than columns of writing
would the position which President Allen holds in
a community in which fiduciary trusts are be-
stowed only upon men of the highest personal in-
tegrity and honor. To be thus honored in the city
of Hartford is the proudest attainment to be reached
in a business life. President Allen was one of the
organizers of the Asylum Hill Congregational
Church, and is a member of the Connecticut Con-
gregational Club. In personal thought, aim, and
life he is one of the most admirable exponents of
New England Congregationalism. His scientific
attainments have been already indicated in this
sketch. The concrete proofs of his scientific
knowledge will appear from the fact that he has
been for a number of years one of the non-resident
lecturers at Sibley College, Cornell University,
member of the American Association of Mechani-
cal Engineers, and of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science. He is also a mem-
ber of the American Historical Association at
Washington, D. C, the American Academy of Po-
litical and Social Science at Philadelphia, and a life
member of the Connecticut Historical Societ}- at
Hartford. In politics President Allen is a Repub-
lican. He has been a member of the court of
common council in Hartford, and of the board of
water commissioners. For ten years he was ac-
tively identified with the management of the
American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in this
city, and is a gentleman of the broadest public
spirit. The wife of President Allen was Miss
Griswold, daughter of Hermon C. Griswold of El-
lington, and the family includes two children.
J.\MES NICHOLS.
HON. JAMES NICHOLS, Hartford: President
National Fire Insurance Companj-.
President James Nichols was born in Newtown,
Dec. 25, 1830, and was educated for the bar. In
1854 he commenced the practice of his profession in
Thompsonville, but re-
moved to Hartford with-
in a few months, and was
appointed assistant clerk
of the Hartford county
superior court. In 1861
he was elected judge of
probate in the Hartford
district, which embraced
the towns of Hartford,
Wethersfield, Rocky Hill,
West Hartford, Windsor
Locks, East Hartford, and
Glastonbury. The office
was one of great im-
portance and required exceptional ability for the
discharge of its duties. Judge Nichols won the
admiration of all parties on account of the success-
ful way in which the judicial work of the office was
performed. In 1S67 he became the adjuster and
special agent of the Merchants' Insurance Company
of Hartford, and was rapidly promoted by the
board of directors. From the outset he manifested
especial adaptabilitv for the insurance business.
At the time of the great Chicago fire in 1S71 Judge
Nichols was the secretary of the ]\Ierchants and a
manager of recognized standing in the insurance
community. The Merchants company was not able
to recover from the unprecedented disaster at Chi-
cago, and surrendered its charter. The National
Fire Insurance Compau)-, which had been incorpo-
rated in May, 1S69, organized in 1S71 with the late
Mark Howard as president and Judge Nichols as
secretarj'. When President Howard died four
years ago, he was succeeded by the Judge, the lat-
ter's ability as an insurance manager entitling him
to that promotion. The National has made decided
BIOGRAPHY (^F CONNECTICUT
21
progress under President Nichols, and is one of the
ablest and most carefully conducted insurance com-
panies in New England. President Nichols is the
vice-president of the Charter Oak National Bank, a
director in the Phc^enix Life Insurance Company
and a trustee in the State Savings Bank. In poli-
tics he is a republican. He is a prominent member
of the Park church in this city. The wife of Judge
Nichols, who is still living, was Miss Isabella M.
Starkweather, daughter of Mr. Nathan Stark-
weather of this city. There is one daughter, ^Irs.
H. A. Smith of Rochester, N. Y. The life of Judge
Nichols has been one of thorough sticcess and
honor. He is held in the highest esteem in the city
of Hartford, of which he has been a resident since
the summer of 1S54.
years
been
1S03.
W. W. B.A.CKUS.
HON. WILLIAM \Y. BACKUS, Norwich.
William W. Backus, the son of James and
Dorothy Church Chandler Backus of Woodstock,
was the sixth of a family of eight children, and at
the time of his father's
death was but thirteen
of age, — having
born October 22,
His mother was
the daughter of Charles
Church Chandler, a mem-
ber of the Windham coun-
tv bar, and one of the
leading lawyers at the
bar of the state. His
whole life has been spent
in Norwich, except part
of the year 18 19 spent in
Marietta, Ohio, in the
mercantile establishment of Dudley Woodbridge,
Jr. Ill health necessitated his return to Norwich,
where, since 1 8 19, he has resided at the home of his
ancestors, completing seven generations. His time
has been spent mainly in farm operations, causing
the old farm, with large additions, to bud and
blossom, raising large crops of corn, rye, potatoes,
grass, etc. ; keeping a large amount of stock —
annually fattening one hundred head and buying
and selling many more. His losses have been
many and his gains considerable — some losses and
some gains all the time. An eager student, he
worked days and studied nights after going to bed
— sometimes into the small hours. His genealogi-
cal researches have been tireless, and he has
recently published an exhaustive record of the
Backus family in a book of about 400 pages, includ-
ing memoirs, poems, and many other papers of
general interest beyond the limits of the family in-
volved. Mr. Backus is a gentleman of large means,
and his private charities and public benefactions
illustrate his wisely philanthropic disposition. His
recent gift of $75,000 toward the founding of the
W. W. Backus hospital in Norwich is an example
of his practical sympathy for the unfortunate and
distressed. He is now living quietly at his home
in Norwich in fairly comfortable health, though
bent under the burden of nearly ninety j'ears.
HENRY C. ROBINSON.
HENRY C. ROBINSON, H.4.rti-ord : Attorney
at Law.
Among the members of the legal profession in
the city and county of Hartford, there is, perhaps,
none who occupies a position nearer the head of
the list, in point of per-
sonal attainment or the
esteem of his contempo-
raries, than Henry C.
Robinson, the subject of
this sketch. Mr. Robin-
son is a native of Hart-
ford, born August 28,
1832, descended on the pa-
ternal side from Thomas
Robinson, who emigrat-
ed from England and set-
tled in Guilford in 1667,
and tracing his maternal
ancestry in a direct line to
William Brewster, the devout elder of the Pilgrim,
colony which landed at Plymouth in 1620. Mr.
Robinson's early education was obtained at the
Hartford Grammar School, and in the High School
after its union with the Grammar School. From the
preparatory course here he entered Yale College in
I S49, graduating with honors in the distinguished
class of 1853. He at once commenced the study of
law in the office of his brother, Lucius F. Robin-
son, with whom, after his admission to the bar in
I S3 5, he became associated in practice and main-
tained the relation of partner until the death of L.
F. Robinson in 1861. From that time he practiced
alone until recently, though taking care of a volume
of business scarcely exceeded by any law firm in
the state, and maintaining connections as leading
counsel for corporations with such vast interests as
the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Companj-,
the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
Company, and others. His son is now in partner-
ship with him, the firm being H. C. & L. F. Robin-
son. He has also, in the midst of his exacting pro-
fessional duties, found time to serve his city and the
state in various capacities. For two 3'ears, 1872-74,
he was mayor of Hartford, in 187S he represented
the town of Hartford in the general assembly,
and has twice been the candidate of the republi-
can party for gubernatorial honors. In 1S66 he ac-
22
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
cepted from Govei-nor Hawley an appointment as
fish commissioner, and through his instrumental-
ity laws were placed on the statute book providing
for the condemnation of the pound fishery at the
mouth of the Connecticut River, and the discontin-
uance of that horrible style of fishing. Before
these wholesome laws could become fairly opera-
tive, under partisan influences they were repealed
and others substituted which were of no practical
use, as has been proved, in preventing or arresting
the destruction of the shad fishery in these waters,
in spite of artificial propagation. The first artificial
hatch of American shad was made under Mr.
Robinson's direction as commissioner, before the
Connecticut Legislature, and in presence of the
late Professor Agassiz, who was a deeply inter-
ested spectator in the experiments and in the
legislative contest upon the subject, then in prog-
ress. Mr. Robinson also was the commissioner for
Connecticut in the Constitutional centennial cele-
bration at Philadelphia in i88g.
Mr. Robinson's connections with the various
institutions of his native city are numerous and
honorable. Beside being a director in the New
York, New H^ven & Hartford Railroad and
the Hartford & Connecticut Valley Railroad, he
sustains the same relation to the Pratt & Whitney
Company, the Connecticut Fire Insurance Com-
pany, and the Hartford vSteam Boiler Inspection
and Insurance Company, is a trustee of the Con-
necticut Trust and Safe Deposit Company, and of
the Wadsworth Atheneum, a member of the Hart-
ford Tract Society, vice-president of the Connecti-
cut and the Hartford County Bar Associations, has
been president of the Yale Alumni Association of
Hartford, is a member of the Hartford Board of
Trade, Sons of the Revolution, and of various
social organizations. He is an active member of
the Second Congregational Church of Hartford,
and an officer of the corporation. He is esteemed
an important factor in the management of all busi-
ness, educational, and charitable enterprises, and
his counsel is widely sought in affairs thus beyond
the range of professional practice. He is a trustee
of the Hartford Public High School, for which in-
stitution he feels the tender regard of an alumnus
and the common pride shared by every resident of
the city.
Mr. Robinson has been a republican since the
formation of that party. The political offices which
he has held have been conferred by the Repub-
licans, though his support has always come in
greater or less degree from the best element of all
political parties. He was a member of the Chicago
convention of 1880. But he is more a patriot than
a politician; and his eloquent addresses, whether
in the heat of a political campaign or over the
graves of the nation's dead at the celebration of
" Memorial Day," savor most of loyalty and devo-
tion to country, subordinating always persons and
parties to the commonwealth, and the eternal prin-
ciples on which the Republic was founded. His
admirable oration, delivered in Brooklyn on the
occasion of the unveiling of the Putnam equestrian
statue in 1887, excited universal commendation as
worthy to be classed with the best efforts of Stuart
and Deming. Mr. Robinson is an accomplished
orator and scholar, and worthily bears the honors
successively conferred upon him by his Alma
Mater.
In 1S62 he married Miss Eliza Niles Trumbull,
daughter of John F. Trumbull of Stonington.
They have five children: Lucius F., the oldest son,
and now his professional associate; Lucy T. (Mrs.
Sidney Trowbridge Miller of Detroit), Henry S.,
John T., and Mary S. It may be mentioned that
no less than three matrimonial alliances have con-
nected the Robinson and Trumbull families; H. C.
Robinson's brother, the late Lucius F., having mar-
ried a daughter of Governor Joseph Trumbull,
while Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull's wife is a sister
of the subject of this sketch.
ISAAC W. BROOKS, Torrixgton : Banker.
Isaac W. Brooks was born in Goshen, Litchfield
County, Nov. 8, 1838, and was educated at the
Goshen Academy and Brown University. He was
_ a member of the legisla-
ture from Torrington in
1884, occupying the house
chairmanship of the com-
mittee on finance. For
ten years prior to his re-
moval from Goshen to
Torrington he held the
town clerkship of the for-
mer, being regularly
elected by the republi-
cans. He has been the
town treasurer of Tor-
rington, treasurer of the
savings bank there, and
president of the Tornngton Water Company. For
the past nineteen years he has been engaged in
the banking business, being at the head of the
banking firm of Brooks Brothers. He was ap-
pointed one of the receivers of the Charter Oak
Life Insurance Company of Hartford, by Judge
Pardee of the supreme court, and has devoted a
lai'ge amount of time during the past five years to
settling the affairs of that institution. Mr. Brooks
is a gentleman of superior business capacity and
has been eminently successful in his management
of financial interests. He is without family.
I. W. BROOKS.
A>
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
2Z
J. T. WAIT.
HON. JOHN TURNER WAIT, Nokwicii; Advo-
cate, Jurist, Politician, Statesman.
The subject of this sketch presents so marked a
character in contemporary state bio_2;raphy, that
the author of these papers is reluctant to attem^Jt
to i^ive, in the brief space
to which he is confinetl,
so condensed a history as
these limits require. A
full half century in the
state's service, with active
intellect, earnest purpose,
and con.stant application,
has accomplished what
can be scarcely more than
hinted at in this brief
resume. "We must be con-
tent, therefore, to refer
chronologically to some
of the important events in
the life of this distinguished son of Connecticut,
and leave their more elaborate record to the future
historian of the commonwealth.
John Turner Wait was born at New London,
Conn., August 27, 1811. He received a mercantile
training in early life, and, leaving that, passed a
year at Bacon Academy, Colchester, and two years
at Washington, now Trinity, College, Hartford,
pursuing such studies as would benefit him in the
profession he proposed to enter. He studied law
with Hon. L. F. S. Foster and Hon. Jabez W.
Huntington, was admitted to the bar in 1S36, and
commenced to practice at Norwich, where he has
since remained. He was states' attorney for the
count}' of New London in 1842-44 and 1846-54, and
has been president of the Bar Association of that
county from its organization in 1874 to the present
time. He was candidate on the democratic ticket
for lieutenant-governor in 1S54, 1S55, 1S56, and
1857, and with his associates on the ticket failed of
an election. He was the first elector-at-large as a
war democrat in 1864, on the Lincoln and Johnson
ticket, the republican state convention nominating
him for that position by acclamation. He was a
member of the state senate in 1865 and 1866, being
chairman of the committee on the judiciary both
sessions, also serving the last year as president
J)>-o tempore. He was a member of the state house
of representatives in 1867, 1871, and 1873, serving
as speaker the first year, his party nominating him
for the place by acclamation, and subsequently
declining that position, but acting as chairman of
the committee on the judiciary on the part of the
house, and serving on other hou.se committees.
He was candidate for lieutenant-governor on the
republican ticket in 1874, but with his associates on
the ticket failed of an election. He received the
degree of A.M. from Trinity College in 1S51 and
from Yale in 1S71, and the degree of LL.D. from
Howard University in 1883, and from Trinity
College in 1886. In 1876 he was elected to the
forty-fourth congress (to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of the Hon. 11. H. Starkweather), and
re-elected to the forty-fifth, forty sixth, forty-
seventh, forty-eighth, and forty-ninth congresses.
Subsequently he declined a further renomination.
Wliile a member of congress Mr. Wait served on
the committee on commerce, on elections, on
foreign affairs, and on several subordinate commit-
tees; and was also one of the three membei's of the
house associated with three members of the senate,
as a joint commission to consider the existing
organizations of the signal service, geological sur-
vey, coast and geodeticsurvey , and the hydrographic
office of the navy department, with a view to secure
greater efficiency in those bureaus.
It may also be stated here, that while a member
of the house of representatives in 1883 the com-
pliment was bestowed upon him of an appointment
as chairman of the select committee of the house
to attend the unveiling of the statue of Professor
Joseph Henry at Washington, his associates on that
committee being among the most distinguished and
prominent members of the congressional body thus
represented .
As a member of congress Mr. Wait cared for the
interests of his constituents with untiring vigilance
and zeal. The extensive industries which give em-
ployment to thousand of citizens in the two eastern
counties of the state had in him an intelligent and
watchful guardian. As the advocate and friend of
home industries he steadily opposed in Congress
every attempt to impair or weaken the laws under
which Connecticut manufacturing and mechanical
interests have sprung up and prospered, and gave
his support to every measure calculated to advance
the commercial and agricultural prospects of the
State.
During his ten years of service at Washington he
was invariably attentive to the demands made upon
his time and consideration by his constituents in
matters affecting their private interests. Courteous
and frank toward all who approached him, he allied
men to him by the strongest personal ties, and be-
came universally popular as a consistent represen-
tative and champion of his district and state.
The speeches as well as deeds which marked the
congressional career of Mr. Wait, were admirable
and effective. Among those best remembered,
perhaps, have been his very elaborate and able
tariff" speech delivered in April, 1884, his speech on
the Chinese indemnity fund in 1885, and his earlier
effort in 1882, when the South Carolina contested
election case of Smalls vs. Tillman was under con-
sideration in the house; also, earlier than either of
the preceding, his speech in the election case from
24
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
Colorado of Patterson and Belford, delivered De-
cember 12, 1S77; and that in a similar case from
California, of Wigginton and Pacheco, July 6, 1S78
— three clear and forcible presentations of evidence ;
and his effectual effort in 1880 for an appropri-
ation for the New London Navy Yard, finally
carrying a bill through giving $20,000 for -a build-
ing. His address of welcome delivered at Roseland
Park in Woodstock on July 4, 1879, has been charac-
terized as "a gem of oratorical expression and
patriotic sentiment;" and his published eulogy of
the late Hon. LaFayette S. Foster, delivered Sep-
tember 28, 1880, before the superior court at New
London on presenting the resolutions adopted by
the bar of New London county, bears testimony to
the versatility of his genius, and the depth and sin-
cerity of his friendships.
Before entering upon legislative and congres-
sional duties, in the interim between sessions, and
since retiriiig from public service, Mr. Wait's law
practice has been extensive and profitable, his com-
manding influence at the bar insuring him all the
business that could possibly be attended to. For
forty j-ears he was engaged in nearly all the im-
portant cases, civil and criminal, that have come
before the New London county courts. His prac-
tice has included scores of important cases, not
onh' in his own county and the state, but before
the United States courts, all of which he con-
ducted in a masterlj' manner, and was generally
able to bring to a successful and satisfactory termi-
nation for his clients. He is still in active prac-
tice, in his eightieth year, at his office everj^ day,
enjoying good health, with faculties practically
unimpaired. During the past year Mr. Wait has
made several public addresses, all of which were
spoken of in very complimentary terms by the press
of Norwich. It is believed that there is, at the time
of writing this sketch, not another lawyer in this
state still in practice who was contemporary with
him in admission to the bar.
It should be mentioned that Mr. Wait is one of
the corporators of the " W. W. Backus Hospital"
of Norwich, incorporated under the general laws of
this state, and organized April 8, 1S91, to make
available the munificent gift of W. AV. Backus and
W. A. Slater for the charitable purpose indicated.
He is also president of ' ' The Eliza Huntington
Memorial Home " for aged and infirm ladies in
Norwich, a most worthy institution which was
created by the benefactions of the late Jedediah
Huntington and wife — the latter having been a
sister of Mr. Wait. By his will, of which Mr. Wait
was one of the executors, Mr. Huntington provided
buildings and grounds for the Home, and $35,000
cash to insure the proper maintenance of the
charity. Mr. Wait is and has been connected,
officially and otherwise, with many financial in-
stitutions and trusts in New London county, to
refer in detail to which would require more space
than can be given here. Among these may be
mentioned his connection, as trustee, with the Nor-
wich Savings Society, as vice-president with the
Chelsea Savings Bank, and his directorship of the
Uncas National Bank of that city.
From his youth up Mr. Wait has been a liberal
contributor to the public press. He was a writer
for Greeley's New Yorker in 1839, and when in
1840 C. W. Everest (not then Rev.) prepared a beau-
tiful gift volume and engaged John Williams (not
then Bishop), Mrs. Sigourney, Wm. Jas. Hamers-
ley. Park Benjamin, James Dixon, Willis Gaylord
Clark, Robert Turnbull, Melzar Gardner, and
others of the brightest writers of the day to con-
tribute to it, Mr. Wait's contribution was one of the
best of the collection. And now, when a special
historical event is to be written up or an obituary
notice of some prominent citizen furnished, his-
ready pen is the first one thought of to be called
into service.
Mr. Wait is connected by blood with manj'- of the
oldest and leading families in eastern Connecticut.
On his father's side he is associated with the Gris-
wolds and Marvins of Lj-me, while on his mother's
side he is a lineal descendant of William Hyde and
Thomas Tracy, two of the thirty-five colonists who
settled at Norwich in 1659. His family has given
many prominent members to the legal profession.
His father was long one of the leading lawyers at
the bar of New London county, and for several
years a judge of the old county court. He was a
presidential elector in 1793, and cast his vote for
Washington. He represented the town of New
London for nineteen sessions in the general assem-
bly of Connecticut. Before tlie war of the rebellion
Mr. Wait was a democrat. The outbreak of the
war, however, found him a strong union man, and
from that time his political sympathies and efforts
have been with and for the republican party. His
son, lieutenant Marvin Wait, of the Eighth Con-
necticut Regiment, served with distinguished cour-
age on the field, and in the gallant charge of that
command at Antietam he fell mortally wounded.
Enlisting as a private soldier when but eighteen,
the story of his heroic fortitude amid the battle will
be preserved upon Connecticut's historic page along
with that of Nathan Hale, the youthful martyr spy.
Though severely wounded in his right arm Lieu-
tenant Wait refused to go to the rear, and seizing
his sword with his left hand, encouraged his men
to press on, until he fell, riddled by bullets.
In the history of the part Connecticut took in the
war of the rebellion, as written by Rev. John M.
Morris and W. A. Crofut, and published by Led-
yard Bill, a very high compliment was paid to Mr.
Wait by the formal dedication of the work to him.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICl'T.
25
This history contains about nine hundred pages,
and gives a record of the splendid services of our
state regiments, and the leading officers in the
same, with portraits of a large number of the offi-
cers. The following is the text of the dedication:
TO
JOHN TUKXKK WAIT,
LATE SPEAKER
OF THE CONXECTICUT HOUSE OF RFPKESF.XTATIVES:
A PATRIOT
WHOSE ONLY SON FELL IN DEFENCE OF HIS COUNTRY,
AND WHOSE MANY ACTS OF KINDNESS HAVE
ENDEARED HIM TO THE SOLDIERS OF CONNECTICUT:
THIS VOLUME,
THE RECORD OF THEIR SERVICES AND SUFFERINGS,
IS CORDIALLY DEDICATED.
-Mr. Wait married, in 1842, Mrs. Elizabeth Harris,
who died in 1868. He has not married again.
Two daughters are now living; the elder the wife
of Col. H. W. R. Hoyt of Greenwich, the younger
the wife of Mr. James H. Welles. Those who
have known Mr. Wait most intimately in the social
relations of life, bear ready testimony to his excep-
tional worth as a neighbor and friend. He is a
gentleman of the old school, courteous, hospitable,
and generous to a fault. It is the sincere hope of
his fellow-citizens that he may yet survive many
years to enjoy the honors which he has earned and
which are cheerfullj^ accorded to him b\- his con-
temporaries of all political parties throughout his
district and the state.
CHARLES S. LANDERS, New Britain: Cut-
lery Manufacturer.
Mr. Landers was born in New Britain June 8,
1S46, where he has since continuously resided. He
graduated from the New Britain High School in
i860, and entered Willis-
ton Seminary, Easthamp- 1?^*j::-.
ton, Mass., in Decem-
ber, 1S61, preparatory to
a college course at Yale,
but left in 1862 to engage
in the manufacturing bus-
iness. He has always
taken an active interest
in politics. Being the son
of the Hon. George M.
Landers, ex-member of
Congress from the First
district, he may be said
to have been reared for a
democrat, but he has always been an enthusiastic
republican. He was a member of the republican
state central committee for the campaign of 1884,
but beyond this he has always declined to accept
C. S. LANDERS.
anv public office whatsoever. Mr. Landers is at
present manager of the extensive cutlery manufac-
turing business of Landers, Frary & Clark; also a
director in the New Britain National Bank, the
Savings Bank of New Britain, and the North &
Judd Manufacturing Company. He married in
1869 the only daughter of Mr. Loren F. Judd of
New Britain, and has one son, who was a member
of the class of '91 at Yale.
■■~,».*
H. E. RUSSEGUE.
HENRY ELMORE RUSSEGUE, M.D., Hart-
ford: Physician.
The subject of this sketch was bom in Franklin,
Norfolk County, Mass., August 11, 1850. He
passed his early years in his native town, attending
the common schools and
afterward Dean Acade-
my. In 1S67, he left
Franklin to enter mercan-
tile pursuits in Boston,
which held his attention
until Boston's " big fire,"
November 9, 1872, when
he was thrown out of his
business situation. A
year subsequent to this,
after occupying a position
in a wholesale dry -goods
house, he was prevailed
upon, through the in-
fluence of zealous medical friends, to enter the pro-
fession of medicine. March 4, 1S74, ^^ matricu-
lated at the Boston L^niversity School of Medicine,
where he took a full graded course of three years'
study. At the end of the three years, after a com-
petitive examination, he was appointed to the posi-
tion of resident physician and surgeon in the
Massachusetts Homoeopathic Hospital, receiving
the diploma of the hospital in March, 1S78, and
afterwards the diploma of M.D. from Boston LTni-
versity. He married Caroline, the youngest
daughter of Hon. Jos. S. Wheelwright of Bangor,
Maine, and in November, 1878, settled in .South
Framingham, Mass. During his residence in this
place, he built for himself a large practice, remain-
ing there until 18S4, when, upon the death of the
celebrated Dr. Taft, he removed to Hartford,
where he has since practiced his profession most
successfully.
Throughout his professional career Dr. Russegue
has taken a high rank, both with his fellow physi-
cians and the public, filling many positions of trust
and responsibility. He is a member of the Masonic
fraternity and has, for several years, held the posi-
tion of medical examiner for numerous beneficial
insurance associations, among which are the
Knights of Honor and the Royal Arcanum.
26
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
L. A. DICKINSON.
LEONARD A. DICKINSON, Hartford: Insur-
ance Agent.
General Dickinson, as the subject of this sketch
is famiharly known, was born in New Haven, No-
vember 5, 1826. Both his parents died when he was
quite young, and he was
obHged to earn his Hving
from the early age of nine
years, being thus de-
prived of the means of
obtaining a more liberal
education than a few
months each year as the
district school afforded.
He has always evinced a
great fondness for mili-
tary affairs, and for fif-
teen years following 1846
he was a member or offi-
cer in various military or-
ganizations in his native city, and in Hartford after
taking up his residence here. In October, 1861, he
enlisted as private in the 12th regiment, Connecti-
cut Volunteers, for active service in the war of
the rebellion. He was commissioned captain of
Company C November 20, was mustered into ser-
vice the first of the following January, and partici-
pated in all the engagements in which his regiment
took a part. In 1S64 he was assigned to duty as
assistant acting adjutant-general of the second
brigade, first division, of the igth army corps, and
in that capacity took part in Sheridan's Shenan-
doah Valley campaign, until mustered out of ser-
vice November 21, 1864. He was then commis-
sioned as major of the Twelfth regiment, but de-
clined the appointment. Since his discharge from
service in the army he has made Hartford his home,
and has been honored with many positions of trust.
He was quartermaster three years on Governor
Jewell's staff; postmaster of Hartford four j-ears
■under President Garfield; has been a member of
the Connecticut Soldiers' Hospital Board since 1S86;
and is a trustee of " Fitch's Home for the Soldier."
He has held the local agency of the ^?2tna Insurance
Company of Hartford since 1869, in discharge of
the duties of which position he is now principally
engaged. He was made a free mason in New
Haven in 1856. His affiliations in Hartford are
with St. John's Lodge, No. 4, in which he has held
various offices; with Pythagoras Chapter, No. 17,
Royal Arch Masons, of which he was for five years
the secretary; with Wolcott Council, jSTo. i, Royal
and Select Masters; and with Washington Com-
mandery. No. i. Knights Templars. He has re-
ceived from the Grand Lodge the appointments of
grand junior steward and grand marshal, and the
electoral offices of grand senior deacon and grand
junior warden. He is an active member of St.
Thomas' Episcopal Church of Hartford, and for
several years has been the senior warden of that
parish.
General Dickinson traces his genealogical descent
in an unbroken line from the time of Edward the
First of England, in 1272, and in America from
Josiah Dickinson, who landed in Boston in 1630.
Several of his later ancestors were officers in the
revolutionary war, it thus appearing that the mili-
tary tastes of the subject of this sketch are clearly
a matter of inheritance. He is a gentleman of the
highest honor and probity, a firm friend, a kind
neighbor, and an upright and ussful citizen.
A. HOVEV.
HON. JAMES A. HOVEY, Norwich: Ex-Judge
Superior Court.
Ex-Judge James A. Hovey of Norwich, who was
on the .superior court bench in this state from
November 13, 1876, imtil April 29, 1885, and chair-
man of the commission
appointed to revise the
public statutes in 1885,
holding the latter position
from June i, 1885, until
January, 1888, is one of
the ablest jurists which
Connecticut has had, and
the numerous public hon-
ors Avhich have been ex-
tended to him have been
deserved on account of
the character of his pub-
lic services. The work of
Judge Hovey on the re-
vised statutes of 18S7 was invaluable. His was the
mature mind and experience of the commission and
his advice and counsel were in constant demand
while the revision was in progress. He was
assignee in bankruptcy for New London county
tmder the act of 1841, executive secretary 1842 and
1843 under Governor Chauncej' F. Cleveland of
Hampton, member of the board of aldermen in
Norwich from 1849 until 1853, judge of the New
London county court from 1850 until 1854, member
of the general assembly in 1859 and in 1886, and
mayor of Norwich from 1870 until 1871. His
colleagues in the house in 1859 included the Hon.
Augustus Brandegee of New London, the Hon.
Jeremiah Halsey of Norwich, Colonel W. H. H.
Comstock of New London, the late Colonel Henry
C. Deming of Hartford, Judge Edward W. Sey-
mour, now of the supreme court, the late O. H.
Perry of Fairfield, speaker of the house, A. H.
Byington of Norwalk, who attained high distinction
as a war correspondent, and the late Daniel Chad-
wick of Lyme. In the senate were the Hons.
Dwight W. Pardee of Hartford and James Phelps
HlOCiRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
27
of Essex, who have occujMcd hi^h positions on the
beneh and in pnbHe hfe. Judjj^e Hovey has been a
democrat from tlie outset and is one of the most
honored meml^ers of his jiartv in Connecticut. He
has been vice-president and trustee of the Chelsea
Savings Bank, and trustee of the Norwich Savings
■Society. He was president of the Uncas bank and
the Uncas National Bank of Norwich from 1S52
imtil 1S72. The wife of Judge Hovey, who was
Miss Lavinia J. Barber, is dead and the only son is
also dead. The judge was born at Hampton April
•29, 1S15, and was educated in the common and
private schools of his time. He chose the law as a
profession and has met with eminent success.
From 1S30 until 1S42 he was connected with the
state militia. His life has been spent in the towns
of Hampton, Windham, and Norwich.
V ''
A. P. HYDE.
HON. A. P. HYDE, H.vrtford: Attorney-at-Law.
Hon. Alvan Pinney Hyde was born in Stafford,
ilarch 10, 1S25, being the son of Alvan and Sarah
Pinney Hyde. His grandfather, Nathaniel Hyde,
and father, were success-
ful iron manufacturers at
Stafford. The subject of
this sketch was prepared
for college at Munson
Academy and graduated
from Yale with honor in
1S45. He studied law in
the office of the late Hon.
Loren P. Waldo of this
city, but at that time a
distinguished lawyer in
Tolland, and at the Yale
Law School, being ad-
mitted to the bar at Tol-
land in 1S47. He remained in Stafford until 1S49,
when he married Miss Frances Elizabeth Waldo,
daughter of Judge Waldo, with whom he had
studied his profession, and removed to Tolland.
He remained there until 1S64, being associated in
practice with his father-in-law, who was one of the
leading lawyers of the state. Judge Waldo came
to this city with Mr. Hyde. In 1867 the firm was
changed, becoming Waldo, Hubbard & Hj^de, the
late Governor R. D. Hubbard jf)ining as a mem-
ber . ^Ir. Charles E. Gross was admitted to the
firm in 1877. Four years afterwards Judge Waldo
died here and the firm assumed the name of Hub-
bard, Hyde & Gross. William Waldo Hyde and
Frank Eldridge Hyde, sons of Mr. Hyde, were ad-
mitted to the copartnership. Both of the new
partners were Yale graduates. In fact all the
members of the firm at that time and since were
distinguished Yalensians. In 1SS4 the death of
Gov. Hubbard^involved a new change in the firm
name which was then made and has since remained
Hyde, Gross & Hyde. The senior member is one
of the alilest lawyers in Connecticut, his standing
at the bar being one of marked distinction and
honor. His forensic ability is not less brilliant than
his legal, and his eloquence is universally admired.
Mr. Hyde was a member of the general assembly
in 1854, 1858, and 1S62, representing the town of
Tolland in the house. He is a democrat in
politics and one of the ablest representatives of his
party in the state. He is a past grand master of
the Connecticut Grand Lodge of Masons, occupy-
ing the position of grand master for two terms
from May 15, 1S62. He was made a Mason in
1S58, becoming a member of Uriel Lodge No. 24,
which is located at Merrow Station in Tolland
county. His administration was eminently suc-
cessful. Mr. Hyde is one of the most prominent
members of the Yale Alumni Association in this
city. He has traveled extensively in Europe and
has visited all sections of the United States, in-
cluding a trip to Alaska. He is a gentleman of
broad culture and intelligence and one of the most
gifted men in Connecticut. His home is on Charter
Oak Place, the grounds including the spot where
the famous Charter Oak stood for centuries. The
historic associations of the place are reverently pre-
served, Mr. Hyde being one of the most ardent of
patriots as well as the most fascinating of orators.
B. R. ALLEN, Hartford: Insurance Agent,
Stock and Bond Broker.
Bennet Rowland Allen was born in Enfield, May
17, 1838, and was educated at E. Hall's classical
school in Ellington, Wm. C. Goldthwait's in Long-
meadow, Mass., and at
the Connecticut State
Normal School in New
Bi'itain. He became a
teacher in the Ellington
school, which was one
of the leading classical
schools in Hartford coun-
ty in its day. Subsequently
he engaged in manufac-
turing business at Wind-
sor Locks, remaining there
from 1S61 until 1S6S. A
portion of the time he was
the manager of the Med-
licott mill, which was occupied through the war in
making knit goods for the soldiers' use. Afterwards
he became a member of the firm of C. H. Dexter
& Sons, Mr. Dexter, the founder of the companj',
being Mr. Allen's father-in-law, and engaged in the
manufacture of manilla papers. In 1868 he re-
moved to Hartford and became the local manager
B. R. ALLEN.
28
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
of the Hartford Fire Lisurance Company, the
Royal Insurance Company of England, and of the
Pennsylvania Insurance Company of Philadelphia.
In addition to the management of the local trans-
actions of these companies, Mr. Allen is engaged
in the business of a stock and bond broker. He is
held in the highest esteem in business centres in
this city, and is deserving in every way of the uni-
versal confidence felt in his ability. He is promi-
nently associated with Masonic interests, being a
knight templar; is a member, also, of the Connec-
ticut Society Sons of the American Revolution. Mr.
Allen is a republican, politically, but has paid no
attention to public office, having resolutely re-
frained through life from seeking public position.
During the war he voluntarily sent a substitute
into the service, and was thoroughly interested in
the success of the Union cause. The business in
which he was engaged at the time as manager of
the Medlicott company made it of great importance
that his services should be retained here. Mr. Allen
is an active and influential member of the Asylum
Hill Congregational chmxh. His family consists of
a wife and son. The former was Miss Annie Pier-
son Dexter of Windsor Locks prior to her marriage.
The son occupies a responsible position in the Soci-
ety for Savings on Prc.ii street.
HENRY S. MARLOR, Brooklyn: Banker.
Mr. Marlor was born in England in 1S35, and
came to this country in 1840 with his parents, set-
tling in New York city. After spending six years
in attendance at public
school No. II in that city,
at the age of eleven 3'ears
he began to learn the
trade of gold watch-case
making with E. L. Pres-
ton of Brooklyn, Conn.
In 1862 he spent three
months in active military
service as a member of
the Twenty-second New
York Regiment. Later
he entered the Metropoli-
tan National Bank of New
York city, remaining in
that institution for ten years. He afterward be-
came a member of the New York Stock Exchange,
and was elected its vice-president. He retired from
active business in 186S, but has retained his mem-
bership in the Exchange. Since 1869 he has re-
sided chiefly in Brooklyn, Conn., but is accus-
tomed to spend his winters, with his family, in
New York city, where he owns and maintains a
handsome residence on Lenox Hill, at No. iS East
Seventy-eighth Street. He is a gentleman of
H. S. M.-VRLO R.
means and culture, who from humble beginnings
has risen by the force of his own exertions to a
position which he has a right to enjoy, and of which
he may well be proud.
Mr. Marlor is a democrat in politics, a member
of the Baptist Church, of the Grand Army of the
Republic, and of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
of New York. His wife's maiden name was Har-
riet J. Van Brunt, and she is a descendant of one
of the old Long Island families.
F. ST. J. LOCKWOOD.
FREDERICK ST. JOHN LOCKWOOD, Nor-
WALK ; President Fairfield County National
Bank.
Frederick St. John Lockwood of Norwalk was
born in that city Aug. 23, 1825, and graduated from
Y^ale College in 1849, his classmates including
President Timothy
D wight of the university,
ex-Congressman Augus-
tus Brandegee of New
London, and ex-President
W. D. Bishop of the Con-
solidated road. During
the war he A\-as on the
staffs of Major-Generals
King and Russell, and
discharged his official
duties with marked com-
petency and gallantry.
At the close of the war
he returned to Norwalk,
and represented that city as a republican in the
legislatures of 1865 and 1866. In 1-872 he was also
a member of the house, the legislature of that year
containing many of the ablest men in the state.
Prominent on the list were ex-Governor James E.
English, T. M. Waller, Judge V. B. Chamberlain
of New Britain, ex-Speaker William C. Case,
Judges Torrance of the Supreme and John M. Hall
of the Superior Courts, Colonel John A. Tibbits,
and Railroad Commissioner George M. Woodruft'.
Mr. Lockwood acquitted himself with decided
credit during the session. From 1859 until 1802 he
was bank commissioner. He is at present at the
head of the Danbury & Norwalk Railroad- Com-
pany, and is also engaged in banking and manu-
facturing interests. He has been the president of
the Fairfield County National Bank, the office ex-
tending from 1S6S to January, 1890. He has been
the president of the railroad company since 1882.
He is a past worshipful master of St. John's
Lodge, No. 6, of Norwalk, and is a member of the
Norwalk Club. His family consists of a wife and
three children, the former being Miss Carrie Ayres
at the time of her marriage. The children are Eliz-
abeth, born July 30, 1868 ; Frederick A3'res, born
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
29
\V. A. ANTHONY.
November iS, 1S70 ; and Julia Belden, born June
30, iSSi. Mr. Lockwood is a member of the Con-
gregational church, and is held in high esteem in
the citv of Norwalk.
PROF. W. A. ANTHONY, Manciiestkr: Electri-
cian.
The subject of this sketch was born November
17, 1S35, at Coventry, Rhode Island. He attended
the village school, where he began at an early age
the study of algebra and
geometry. He also read
all the books on science to
be found in the school li-
brary, and obtained con-
siderable experience with
machinery and tools in his
father's mill. At the age
of 15 he went to the
Friends' Boarding School
in Providence, where he
pursued his favorite stud-
ies in mathematics and
science, and for a time as-
sisted in the preparation
of experiments for the lectures on chemistry- and
phvsics. Completing his preparations for college at
the academ}- at East Greenwich, he entered Brown
Universitv in 1S54, but under the compulsion of his
deepening interest in mathematical and scientific
studies he left Brown to enter the Scientific School
at Yale, where he graduated in 1S56.
After graduating, Prof. Anthonj' became the
principal of a graded school. He then taught sci-
ence in an academy, then physics and chemistry at
Antioch College, then physics at the Iowa State
Agricultur-al College, and in 1872 he was called to
Cornell Universit}- to take charge of the department
of physics. He remained there till 1SS7, and left
behind him an imprint that the work of Cornell in
his special field will long bear. His interest was
specially strong in electricity and optics, and he de-
vised a great number of experiments to illustrate
his instruction. Even in the academy, in 1S63-66,
his students in physics were required to perform
experiments for themselves. This was the begin-
ning of his physical laboratorj- instruction, which
he tried to improve upon and extend' as long as he
had to do with students, and to prepare for their
careers the physicists and engineers of the next
generation.
It is interesting to note that in 1874, after trying
in vain to procure a Gramme machine from Europe,
as a piece of laboratory apparatus, he designed and
constructed one for the university laboratorj- him-
self. This machine was exhibited at the Philadel-
phia centennial exhibition in 1876. It is still in use
and doing good service in the physical laboratory
at Cornell.
In 1 88 1, appreciating with clear foresight the im-
portant place that electrical applications were to
take in the near future. Professor Anthony set on
foot a movement looking to the establishment at
Cornell of a special course of study for the training
of electrical engineers. This plan met with great
opposition at first, but was finally successful, and
the course is now one of the best attended in the
university.
In 1SS7, desiring relief in a change of occupation,
Prof. Anthony resigned the appointment he had
held with so much credit to himself and so much
honor to Cornell, and assumed the duties of electri-
cian for the Mather Electric Company of Manches-
ter, in this State, in which capacity he has since
continued, devoting himself to the improvement of
the apparatus and the extension of the affairs of
the company.
WILLIAM EDGAR SIMONDS, Hartford: At-
torney-at-Law.
William Edgar Simonds was bom at Collinsville,
in the town of Canton, Hartford county, Connecti-
cut, November 24, 1842. He was educated at the
graded and high schools
in Collinsville, graduated
at the State Normal
School in New Britain in
i860, and taught school
until 1S62. August 14,
1862, he enlisted in Com-
pany A of the Twenty-
fifth Connecticut Volun-
teers, as a private, and '
was soon promoted to be
sergeant-major. At the
battle of Irish Bend,
Louisiana, April 14, 1863,
he was promoted to be
lieutenant of Company I for gallantry in the field,
and was discharged from the service, August 26,
1863, b}' reason of the expiration of his term. He
then entered Yale Law School and there graduated
in 1S65. Since that date he has practiced law in
Hartford. He is the author of books on patent
law as follows: " Design Patents," " Digest of
Patent Office Decisions," " Summary of Patent
Law," and " Digest of Patent Cases." Since 1884
he has filled the lectureship on patent law at Yale
Law School. In 1890 Yale L^niversity gave him
the honorary degree of A.M. Mr. Simonds was a
member of the Connecticut house of representa-
tives in 1883 and chairman of the committee on
railroads. He was speaker of the Connecticut
house in 1SS5. He has been a trustee of the Storrs
Agricultural School of Connecticut since 1886. In
W. E. SIMONDS.
30
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
1888 he was elected to congress from the first dis-
trict of Connecticut. He signahzed his service in
the fifty-first congress by his successful efforts in
connection with international copyright. A bill
looking to that end had been decisively defeated in
the house when Mr. Simonds drew and introduced
another bill and secured for it, after repeated con-
tests, a victory quite as decisive as its former de-
feat, which bill subsequently became a law, it
being the first international copyright act of the
United States, a measure which had been con-
tended for ever since Henry Clay began the agita-
tion of the subject a half century before.
His record in congress has been one of great
activity and intense loyalty to the interests of his
constituents and the state. The services which he
has been able to render will be borne in mind by
his party, who, no less than the entire district, have
been placed under lasting obligation to him for the
conscientious and honorable work he has per-
formed while an incumbent of this important office.
HON. DAVID GREENSLIT, Hampton.
David Greenslit was born at Hampton, June 2,
1 81 7. After graduating from the public schools of
his native town, he spent a year or two in teaching
and in mercantile business
in the city of Norwich, af-
ter which he paid his
attention exclusively to
farming until 1844, since
which date his time has
been occupied almost con-
tinuously in official duties.
May 26, 1840, he was
united in marriage to
Miss Elizabeth Searls,
daughter of John Searls
of Brookl3m, settling in
Hampton, where he has
since principally resided.
He held the offices of sheriff: and deputy sheriff" for
Windham county for sixteen years. In 1S66 he was
elected state senator, serving as chairman of the
State Prison committee. During his term in the
senate he lost his only child, a beautiful young
lady of twenty- two years, by which sad blow he
was almost completely prostrated. In 187S he rep-
resented Hampton in the lower house, where he
was again appointed chairman of the State Prison
committee. Mr. Greenslit has held the office of
president of the Windham County Mutual Fire In-
surance Company for about twelve ^^ears, and is
the adjuster of all the company's losses. He is a
director in the Windham County National Bank,
also in the Dime Savings Bank of Willimantic. He
DAVID GREENSLIT.
has held various town offices, having been acting
school visitor, agent of the town deposit fund, and
first selectman, for terms varying from ten to forty
years. He was in the provost-marshal's office in
Norwich during two years of the war of the rebel-
lion, and acted for the government as general re-
cruiting officer for Windham county. During the
last thirty years he has been extensively engaged
in the settlement of estates, many of which have
involved large responsibilities and required the ex-
ercise of soundest judgment. Mr. Greenslit has
given much attention to the law, not professionally,
but in order to prepare himself for the requirements
of his duties and to enable him to act promptly and
intelligently on the many occasions when legal
counsel might not be at ready command. His ad-
vice in business is thus often sought and highly
valued. Politically Mr. Greenslit is an ardent I'e-
publican, and has been more or less active in state
and local politics ever since the formation of that
party. He served on the state central committee
for a long succession of years. Whatever the wel-
fare of his town or the state has called for, politi-
cally, socially, educationally, or morally, he has
heartily and earnestly undertaken ; and very rarely
has he enlisted in an undertaking which was not
caiTied to a triumphant success. Mr. Greenslit's
life has been one of great activity and usefulness,
and his circle of intimate acquaintances and friends
extends to all borders of the state.
REV. LEWELLYN PRATT, D.D., Norwich:
Pastor Broadway Congregational'Church.
The subject of this sketch was born in Saybrook
(now Essex), in this state, August 8, 1S32. In his
youth he was a pupil at Essex and Durham Acade-
mies, and was afterward
graduated at Williams
College. He was ordained
to the ministry by the
Philadelphia Presbytery
in I S64. For several years
he was professor in the
National Deaf-Mute Col-
lege of Washington, D.C. ,
and of Knox College,
Galesburg, 111., preaching
more or less while serv-
ing as professor ; for
some time at the New
York Avenue Presbyte-
rian Church of Washington, and for two years
at the second Presbyterian Church of Galesburg.
In 1870 the Congregational Church of North Adams
called him to its pastorate, where he labored with
marked success, until Williams College, his alma
LEWELLYN PRATT.
BK^GRAPHV OF COXXKCTTCUT.
3»
))iaici\ invitL'd him lo the professorship of rhetoric.
Thence, in iSSo, he was called to the chair of prac-
tical theology in the Hartford Theological Seminary,
where he remained until the spring of i8S8, resign-
ing to accept the pastorate of the Broadway Con-
gregational Church of Norwich, Conn., where he
continues to labor with great acceptance. Not
inappropriately he might still carry the title of
" Professor of Practical Theology," for in all de-
partments of church work he is eminently practical,
not only finding time to attend to the many duties
of his own church and various calls for occasional
sermons and addresses, but also co-operates, or
rather leads, in many movements of reform, being
identified with the charities and reforms of his own
citv and state, rendering valuable service by his
wisdom and tact, and exercising in them all a
thorough catholicity of spirit. The church over
which he is pastor, through its commanding in-
fluence, contributes to his strength; it being not
only the largest Protestant church of Norwich, but
in a sense the representative church of that half of
Connecticut Ij'ing east of the river.
The secret of Professor Pratt's success as an edu-
cator and preacher lies not in the predominance of
one talent, but rather in a rare and happy combi-
nation of gifts. A commanding presence, genial
disposition, thoroughness and tact, yet withal a be-
coming modesty, unite to form in him a well-
rounded man. As an educator, his broad and
accurate knowledge led the students to have confi-
dence in him, while his genial bearing gave them
confidence in themselves. If possible, he was even
more to the students outside than within the class-
room, a friend and counsellor to whom thej-
naturally came with their troubles. Not unnatu-
rally many of these former pupils continue to turn
to him for counsel, while the institutions with which
he has been connected have shown their apprecia-
tion of his talents — Williams College, by conferring
upon him the degree of D.D. in 1S77, and later by
electing him a trustee; and Hartford Theological
Seminary, by electing him to the same office. The
latter of these he continues to fill. As a preacher,
he masters his subject, covers thoroughly all the
ground, gets at and gives the kernel. The analysis
is correct, delivery easy and forceful, the voice
clear and resonant, and the manner full of earnest-
ness. His delightful social accomplishments, too,
are an important auxiliary to his professional suc-
cess; as the influences which attend companionship
with the cultured and refined, are conceded to be
among the most fascinating and powerful that can
be exerted.
Professor Pratt was married early in life to Miss
Sarah Putnam Gulliver. They have one son,
Waldo S. Pratt, A.M., professor of mu.sic and
hymnology in the Hartford Theological Seminary.
1'. w.
ELLSWORTH.
DR. P. W. ELLSWORTH, Hartford.
Dr. Pinckney Webster Ellsworth was born in
that city, December 5, 1S14, being the grandson of
Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth of the United States
Supreme Court and the
son of Governor W. W.
Ellsworth of Connecticut.
His mother, Emilj^ Web-
ster Ellsworth, was the
eldest daughter of Noah
Webster, the noted lexi-
cographer. He is a de-
scendant of (Governor
Bradford of the May-
flower^ and also of John
Webster, one of the first
governors of the Connec-
ticut colony. Governor
Webster was one of the
leading members of the First Church of Christ, now
known as the Center Church, in Hartford, but ow-
ing to differences of opinion concerning baptism he
removed to Massachusetts, establishing his home in
Haverhill. This Governor Webster was one of
Noah Webster's ancestors, and it is supposed that
the text of the original Unabridged Webster was
prepared in the old Massachusetts home of the
governor. John Steele, who came to Hartford
about six months prior to Thomas Hooker's arrival
here was also an ancestor of Dr. Ellsworth. Chief
Justice Ellsworth, who represented Connecticut in
the national constitutional convention in Philadel-
phia, was the originator of the plan giving each of
the states two senators in the national congress.
Dr. Ellsworth graduated from Yale College in the
class of 1S36 and pursued the most exacting medi-
cal course then required in the noted medical schools
in Philadelphia and New York, graduating from
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the latter
city in 1S39. His medical studies were afterwards
continued in Paris, London, and Dublin. He set-
tled in Hartford as a practitioner in 1843 and in a
few years became one of the foremost surgeons in
the state. He was the partner of Amariah Brig-
ham, who became, subsequently, the superintendent
of the Retreat for the Insane in this city. From
this city Dr. Brigham removed to Utica and became
the superintendent of the Insane Asylum there.
Dr. Ellsworth, in conjunction with his father. Gov-
ernor Ellsworth, was mainly instrumental in pro-
curing these promotions for Dr. Brigham. Dr.
Ellsworth was himself one of the visiting physicians
for a considerable period at the Retreat. He was
one of the organizers of the City Medical Society,
and is among the leading members of the Hartford
county and the state medical societies, and honorary-
member of the New York State Medical Society.
During the war his distinction as a surgeon led to
32
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
his appointment to a brigade-surgeonship, receiving
his commission from Governor Buckingham. He
served on the staff of General Isaac T. Stevens
of the Army of the Potomac, who was shot and
kiUed at the head of his command in the second
battle of Bull Run. General Stevens was the
governor of California and one of the bravest men
in the field. Dr. Ellsworth was an examiner of
recruits for the service and probably made the
personal examination of 9,000 men for the service.
He has also held the office of pension examiner in
this state for nine years, serving in that capacity
under Presidents Johnson, Grant, and Cleveland.
He is a member of the Center Church, where he
was baptised in infancy by the Rev. Dr. Strong,
one of the most noted divines of his day. He be-
came a member of the church soon after his gradua-
tion. His father. Governor Ellsworth, was a dea-
con in the Center Church for fifty years. The only
brother of Dr. Ellsworth, Oliver Ellsworth, was in-
terested for several years with John F. Trumbull of
Stonington in the manufacture of cotton gins.
Afterwards he became a successful publisher of
school books in Boston. Losing his fortune in the
end, he went to Montana and died there some
years ago. There were four sisters in the family,
only one of whom is now living. One died in in-
fancv; one was the wife of President Jackson of
Trinity College; and one the wife of Russell S.
Cook, who was secretary of the American Tract
Society. The youngest sister, Elizabeth Ellsworth,
married the late Waldo Hutchins of New York, a
distinguished lawyer and member of congress from
the metropolis. She is still living. Dr. Ellsworth
has been married twice. His first wife was Julia
M. Sterling, daughter of Jesse Sterling of Bridge-
port, who was one of the first treasurers of the
Housatonic Railroad Company. She died at the
age of twenty-nine j^ears. The second wife, who
is now living, was Julia Townsend Dow, daughter
of Lucius K. Dow of New Haven. There are six
children by this marriage now living. The three
elder are Mrs. Augustus Julian Lyman of Ashe-
ville, N. C, son of Bishop Lyman of North Caro-
lina; Wolcott Webster Ellsworth, who is now pur-
suing a post-graduate course at Yale University, a
brilliant linguist and a student of great promise;
and Emily Webster Ellsworth. The three remain-
ing children of the familj' are under age. '1 he son
of Dr. Ellsworth by his first marriage died in the old
home on Main street near wSt. John's Church, when
only two and a half years old. From that day until
now it has been impossible for Dr. Ellsworth to
speak of the loss without the deepest emotion. The
busiest part of the doctor's life was spent in the
home which he occupied for years, where the
Phoenix Insurance Company's office now stands on
Pearl street. Dr. Ellsworth is an independent in
politics and has invariably abstained from public
office. Even in the church, where his father was a
deacon for half a century, he has maintained the
same position with regard to the holding of office.
Dr. Ellsworth has long been a thorough and con-
scientious student of the Scriptures, the Greek Tes-
tament especially attracting his attention and inter-
est. He is the author of a number of valuable
contributions to the science of theology, including
a work of more than ordinary research entitled
" Immanuel, God with us." His life has been a
notable one in this city.
C. W. HUNTINGTON,
Music.
Prof. Charles Wesley
New London, March 13,
mon school education.
Hartford : Professor of
Huntington was
C. W. HUNTINGTON.
born in
1S29, and received a com-
He adopted the profession
of music and was organist
and teacher from 1S46 un-
til 1SS6. He located in
Hartford in 1S56 and oc-
cupied for years the pro-
fessorship of music in the
State Normal School in
New Britain, and in the
Hartford High School,
and Hartford Female
Seminary. Prof. Hunt-
ington was the first to
discover the merits of the
great singer, Signor Foli,
and introduced him to
the brilliant experience he has had in Europe and
the Ignited States. When the Professor first ob-
served the talents of the distinguished vocalist, he
was a carpenter in this city. The first systematic
musical training which he received was from Prof.
Huntington. As a musician, the Professor has
attained an enviable reputation, and his efforts in
behalf of the higher musical instruction and train-
ing have placed the public under permanent ob-
ligations to him.
It should be stated that the subject of this sketch
is of the eighth generation from Christopher Hunt-
ington, who as a child sailed from England w'ith his
father (Simon) and mother in 1633, the father dying
on shipboard and being buried at sea. Christo-
pher and his mother settled in Windsor, Conn.,
after their arrival in America, and since that gen-
eration all the Ainerican ancestors of C. W. Hunt-
ington have been natives of Connecticut.
There are many pleasant memories of Mr. Hunt-
ington's early professional career. Away back in
1S52 he organized the " Continental Vocalists," and
with them made a complete and most successful
tour of the United States. After four years thus
occvrpied he came to Hartford just before the open-
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT
33
ing of the presidential campaign of 1S56. During
this year the republican party in Hartford effected
its original organization, and Mr. Huntington en-
tered ardently into the work. He formed a pat-
riotic glee-club of one hundred and twenty-five
members, whose singing he personally conducted,
which became one of the most effective features of
the public demonstrations of that enthusiastic cam-
paign. Later he organized the old " South Church
quartette," by means of which the devotional exer-
cises at that church acquired new interest and
effectiveness. The musical accomplishments of
this quartette and its leader made for them a repu-
tation beyond the limits of the city, and they were
induced to make frequent excursions into neighbor-
ing towns and cities, giving popular concerts and
recei\nng a most royal welcome. All the members
of the old quartette are still living. Since 1SS6 Mr.
Huntington has discontinued active professional
work, and devoted his time to various business
enterprises. He is connected with the masonic
fraternitv, being one of the charter members of
LaFayette Lodge, No. 100, of Hartford. His wife
was Miss Martha Eddy of New Britain before her
marriage. She has been for years one of Hart-
ford's most noted singers. Professor and Mrs.
Huntington have but one child, who is the wife of
Mr. Charles E. Newton of this citv.
SHERMAN WOLCOTT ADAMS, LL.B., Hart-
ford: Attornej'-at-Law; President Board of Park
Commissioners.
Sherman W. Adams was born in Wethersfield,
Conn., May 6, 1S36, and is a son of the late Welles
Adams of that place. The latter was descended
from Benjamin Adams,
an early, but not one of
the earliest, settlers of the
township. The subject
of this sketch is also de-
scended from Ens. Wil-
liam Goodrich, Ens. John
Nott, John Robbins,
" Gentleman," Michael
Griswold, Gov. Thomas
Welles, and other pioneer
settlers of Wethersfield;
and from Henry Wolcott,
the Windsor settler. His
education was obtained
in a common school (in the section now known as
S(juth Wethersfield), in the academy of the town,
and in a select school or "institute" at Cornwall,
Conn. His early life was partly spent upon his
father's farm, and partly in a general " store " in
Wethersfield belonging to his father. It was while
in the latter occupation that he turned his attention
S. W. AD.^MS.
to the study of law. His legal studies were piu--
sued in the offices of the late Thomas C. Perkins
and Heman H. Barbour; after which he studied at,
and was graduated from, the Law School of Har-
vard University, taking the degree of LL.B. in the
class of 1861. In March, 1S62, he received from
Secretary Welles a commission as acting assistant
paymaster in the Nav}'; reported at once to Com.
Hiram Paulding at the navy yard, Brooklj-n, for
duty on board the giinboat Somerset. The vessel
proceeded to the gulf and was attached to the
eastern gulf squadron. Here Paymaster Adams
remained until June, 1864, on the same gunboat.
At that date, being much worn down, he was re-
lieved, and came north to settle accounts, and also
to regain his impaired health. In October, 1S64,
he called upon Secretar}- Welles and tendered his
resignation, which was accepted.
Returning to his profession in 1865, Mr. Adams
has continued in practice ever since in Hartford,
with the exception of one year, 1868-9, spent in
Europe. While there, he devoted special attention
to the study of the French and German languages,
and translated and published Eugene Tenot's nar-
rative of the coup cVetat of 1851. He has also
made occasional translations from the German,
Spanish, and Italian languages, and has paid some
attention to the Dutch, Portuguese, and Danish.
He is also fond of stud^-ing the natural sciences,
more especially botany.
Mr. Adams has been much of a delver in matters
of local histor}-, having written many articles in
that line. He is the author of several chapters in
the Memorial History of Hartford County. He is
a member of the National Historical Association,
and of the Connecticut Historical Society, having
been one of the officers of the latter institution for
some years, and compiled the pamphlet recently
issued by its authority.
While republican in politics, Mr. Adams has
never been an active politician. Nevertheless, he
represented his native town in the legislature of
1866, when he introduced a proposed constitutional
amendment, providing for a sole capitol for this
state. It passed, but barely failed to receive the
requisite two-thirds majority in the following year.
He is the author of some of the laws of this state,
of which, perhaps, the most important is the " judg-
ment-lien " law. He is also author of the resolution
providing for a topographical survey of the state,
passed in 1SS9. Beginning in 1877, he was for six
years associate judge of the Hartford police court.
Since 1SS4 he has been president of Hartford's
park commissioners, and was the active member of
the commission for the erection of the Memorial
Arch. While not robust in health, he has never
ceased to be active in some iiseful labor. He is
unmarried.
34
AX ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
F. A. PRATT.
FRANCIS A. PRATT, Hartford ; President the
Pratt & Whitney Company, Manufacturers of
Machine Tools, Gun Machinery, etc.
The name of Pratt occurs among the earhest of
EngHsh simames, and the family, in many of its
branches, held stations of influence and power in
the British Empire. The
first Ameiican ancestor
of Francis A. Pratt was
John Pratt, who came to
America from the south-
ern part of England, and
settled in Dorchester,
]\Iass. , where he was made
a freeman May 4, 1632.
His grandson, John Pratt,
3d, and subsequent de-
scendants for several gen-
erations, were natives or
citizens of Reading,
Mass., from which place
the family ultimately removed to Reading, A't.
The subject of this sketch is of the nmth genera-
tion from the original John Pratt above men-
tioned. The later ancestors of Francis A. Pratt,
for several generations, have been natives and
residents of Vermont, in which state, in the town
of Woodstock, he was born Feb. 15, 1S27. His
father, Nathaniel M. Pratt, a leather merchant, and
a noted temperance agitator, was a native of Read-
ing, A't., where he was born in the year iSoo. His
grandfather, Charles Pratt, also a native of Read-
ing, died at the advanced age of ninety-four, in
Michigan, to which state he removed from Read-
ing in 1S34. They were both men of great mental
and physical strength, of the true New England
t}-pe of that period.
From his childhood Francis A. Pratt possessed
mechanical inclinations which indicated genius.
Whether inherited or not, they were manifested at
a very early age, when the boy was found repeat-
edly stealing away from his companions to con-
struct and put in operation a \\-ater- wheel, or a
turning lathe, or a steam engine. The time after
school or on holidays, which other lads devoted to
play, he employed with his jackknife and such
rude tools as he could command, in giving shape
and form to mechanical designs which had been
evolved from his busy brain during school hours or
while lying awake in bed at night; mechanical
schemes even then, as later in life, often effectually
banishing sleep. It is related of him that when he
was ten or twelve years old he would set up a train
of simple machinery, including perhaps a wood
lathe, to be driven by a belt from the grindstone ;
and by some inducement would tempt his younger
brother Rufus to turn the grindstone while he
fashioned a top or a ball-club with his i-ude turn-
ing-lathe, keeping poor Rufus at the fountain of
power till his back seemed breaking, by his special
pleading or by the tender of some favorite to}'.
Mr. Pratt's parents moved from Woodstock to
Lowell, Mass., when he Avas but eight years old.
His schooling, begun in his native town, was con-
tinued in Lowell, and here at an early age he was
apprenticed to the machinist trade with Warren
Aldrich, a machinist of good reputation at that
time as to his products, and a kind master, who is
now living at an advanced age. The indift'erent
facilities which the machine-shops of that day were
supplied with, furnished just the incentive which the
mind of this young apprentice needed to bring into
exercise his expanding inventive genius ; and the
lack of an appropriate tool was often the father (as
necessity is said to be the mother) in his case of an
invention which eventually supplied it. In 1S48,
when twenty years of age, he went to Gloucester,
N. J., where he was employed in the Gloucester
]\Iachine Works, first as a journeyman and after-
wards as a contractor. The leading partners in
the concern, Messrs. Melchor and Ranlett, were
both New England men. Associated with him in
his contract work for the Glol^cester concern, was
a ]\Ir. Samuel Batchelder, who, leaving New Jer-
sey soon afterwards and coming to Hartford,
Conn., became connected with the pistol factory of
Samuel Colt. Through his influence, in 1S52, Mr.
Pratt followed him to Hartford and took a position
in the same establishment, where he found and be-
came acquainted with Amos Whitney. While he
was there an application came from Lincoln's Phoe-
nix Iron Works for a good foreman, and Mr. Pratt
was selected and recommended for the position.
He accepted the situation, and afterwards became
superintendent of the works. Later on, when an-
other important opening was to be filled imder his
direction, he selected Mr. Whitney for the place,
and the two worked together in this establishment
until 1S61. The year before closing their connec-
tion with the Phoenix Iron Works, the 3'oung men
resolved to unite their fortunes and open a shop
of their own, and accordingly hired a room on
Potter street, doing some of their first work for the
Willimantic Linen Companj-. The next February
their shop was destroyed by fire, but a month later
they were settled in new quarters, where they con-
tinued to grow until all the available space in the
building was occupied by them. In 1862, Pratt &
Whitney took into the partnership Monroe Stan-
nard of New Britain, each contributing $1,200. In
1865, the firm erected the first of the present group
of buildings, and from time to time others have
been added till the plant now occupies about four
acres. In 1869, under a charter from the state,
the Pratt & Whitney Company was incorporated
with a capital of $350,000, afterwards increased
BIOGRAPHY (^F CONNECTICUT.
35
from (.'arnings to $500,000. The story of the finan-
cial and other straggles of the early partners,
Messrs. Pratt and Whitney, in laj'ing the
foundations of the present great corporation, sounds
almost like a romance. Nobody but the parties
themselves can ever understand or appreciate the
nature or the magnitude of the obstacles they en-
countered, the sacrifices involved, and the unceas-
ing and gigantic efforts employed, in surmounting
them one after another as they presented them-
selves. The end sought, and finally obtained,
would never have been successfully pursued if the
two young men had not possessed a reserve-fund
of determination, pluck, and endurance, which
gave them a sublime faith in themselves and a con-
fidence which cannot suffer defeat.
Of the present company F. A. Pratt is president,
and has been from the outset the leading spirit.
He has made no less than eight trips to Europe,
principally in the interests of the company, travel-
ing in England, Germany, France, Austria, and
Italy, and has first and last secured foreign busi-
ness for the company amounting to between two
and three millions of dollars. The European fea-
tures of the company's business is entirely the re-
sult of yir. Pratt's suggestion and efforts ; and the
value of the connection thus formed, and of the
reputation thus made for the Pratt & AVhitney
company all over the civilized world is beyond
computation in dollars and cents. Mr. Pratt enter-
tains a broad and comprehensive view of business,
believing that for his company the world is the
field, and that it is only necessarj^ to seek business
in a liberal and intelligent way to command it in
the open market every time.
Mr. Pratt has been a prominent and leading rep-
resentative of the industrial enterprises of Hart-
ford for thirty years. He has also acquired a high
reputation among scientific men at home and
abroad, and is regarded as an expert in pretty
much all branches of mechanical art. He has re-
cently been appointed by the secretary of the
treasury of the United States as one of the board
of commissioners for the expert examination of the
treasury vaults ; the other members of the com-
mission being Theodore N. Ely, superintendent of
motive power of the Pennsylvania railroad, and
Professor R. H. Thurston of Cornell University.
He has served the city of Hartford four years as
member of the board of water commissioners, and
four years as alderman. He is a director of the
Hartford board of trade, the Pratt & Cady Com-
pany, president and director of the Electric Genera-
tor Companj-, and is officially connected with various
industrial corporations. He is a member of the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and
of the Masonic fraternity a master mason and
member of St. John's Lodge of Hartford.
Mr. Pratt was married, Oct. 31, 1S50, to Miss
Harriet E. Cole of Lowell, ex-Alderman Asa S.
Cook of Hartford marrying an older sister at the
same time and place. There have been eight
children, five of whom died in infancy ; and one
son, Melvin D., dying in 1S83, at the age of twen-
ty-si.K years. Of the two surviving children, the
elder, Carrie Louise, was married, in 1885, to J. E.
Spalding of Hartford, and they have one son.
The younger, Francis C. Pratt, recently graduated
from the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Univer-
sitv, is in business with his father.
W. D L. LOVE, JR.
REV. WILLIAM DeLOSS LOVE, Jr., H.art-
FORD : Pastor of the Pearl Street Congregational
Church.
Rev. William DeLoss Love, Jr., was born in
New Haven, Nov. 29, 185 1, being the second son
of Rev. Dr. Wm. DeLoss Love. He was prepared
for college in the ]\Iilwau-
kee Academy at Milwau-
kee, Wis., and graduated
from Hamilton College at
Clinton, N. Y., in the
class of 1S73. His theo-
logical studies were pur-
sued at Andover Semina-
vy, his graduation from
that institution occurring
in 1 8 78. He was ordained
at Lancaster, Mass., Sept.
iS, 1S7S, and remained
there for three years. He
then spent one year in
foreign travel, visiting important centers of inter-
est in the East. After returning home he resided
at Keene, N. H., for two years, occupying the posi-
tion of private secretary to Gov. S. W. Hale dur-
ing his administration. In 1884, on account of
an obstinate throat trouble, he engaged in com-
mercial enterprises. On the first of January,
1 88 5, he resumed the work of the pastorate and
was settled over the Pearl Street church. May 6, in
that vear. ^Ir. Love has been married twice. His
first wife was j\Iiss Ada M. Warren of Leicester,
]\Iass., the marriage taking place July 6, 1878.
Her death occurred ]\Iay 31, iSSi. His present
wife was Miss Mary Louise Hale, daughter of ex-
Gov. Hale of Keene, N. H., the marriage with
her occurring Oct. 30, 1884. There are two daugh-
ters by this marriage. Mr. Love is the chaplain of
the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the Ameri-
can Revolution, and an interested member of the
Connecticut Historical Society. His preaching
and pastoral work in Hartford have been emi-
nently successful, and the church, under his leader-
ship, has made decided progress. Mr. Love is a
36
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
man of superior culture and training, and his pul-
pit ministrations have entitled him to much recog-
nition in Connecticut.
FRANKLIN CHAMBERLIN.
HON. FRANKLIN CHAMBERLIN, Hartford:
Attorney-at-Law.
Franklin Chamberlin was born in the town of Dal-
ton, Mass., April 14, 1S21, and was educated in the
best public schools in Berkshire county and at the
Harvard Law School in
Cambridge, being a mem-
ber of the class of 1S44
in that institution. His
classmates in the Harv-
ard Law School included
Anson Burlingame, sub-
sequently the champion
of Charles Sumner in
congress and Minister to
China under the adminis-
tration of President Lin-
coln. Henry Stevens, the
celebrated antiquarian,
was also a member of
the class of '44. Mr. Chamberlin has spent a por-
tion of his life in Springfield, Mass., and in New
York city. He removed to Hartford prior to the
war and immediatelj' established himself in a large
and prosperous legal business. For years the late
Ezra Hall was associated in the partnership, which
became one of the best known in this community,
its standing- in legal circles being of the highest
character. In 1S65 Mr. Chamberlin was elected a
member of the house of representatives from this
city, his colleagues on the floor including Governor
Henry B. Harrison and the late E. K. Foster of
New Haven, speaker of the house that year, the
Hon. Frederick J. Kingsbur}' of Waterbur}-, ex-
State Treasurer V. B. Chamberlain of New Britain,
the late David Gallup of Plainfield and David P.
Nichols of Danbury, the former subsequent!}' lieu-
tenant-governor and the latter state treasurer, Rail-
road Commissioner George M. Woodruff of Litch-
field, ex-Bank Commissioner A. B. Mygatt of New
Milford, P. T. Barnum of Bridgeport, Judge
Henry S. Barbour of this city, then a member of
the house from Torrington, the late Edward L.
Cundall of Brooklyn, Edwin A. Buck of Ashford,
the late John W. Thayer of Ellington, and John M.
Douglas of Middletown. Mr. Chamberlin was one
of the ablest representatives that Hartford has had
in the general assembly during the past thirty j-ears
and his work as a legislator was recognized as
being of a high order. His legal attainment and
standing placed him among the most prominent
representatives in the house. Mr. Chamberlin
was a member of the state capitol commission,
succeeding Commissioner Barber of this city, whose
death occurred while the erection of the capitol was
in progress. He brought to the commission the
taste and culture of a man who had devoted his
life to intellectual pursuits, and became one of its
inost valued members. Mr. Chamberlin is one of
the most honored citizens of Hartford. He is at
the head of the law firm of Chamberlin, White &
]\Iills, and is connected with the Pai'k Congrega-
tional church. His wife, who was Miss Mary W.
Porter prior to her marriage, is still living. The
home occupied by them is one of the most charm-
ing and cultivated centers in the city.
A. H. ROBERTSON.
HON. A. HEATON ROBERTSON, New Ha-
AEX : Judge of Probate.
Judge Robertson comes of one of the old fami-
lies of New Haven, where he was born September
25, 1S50. He prepared for college at the Hopkins
Grammar School, grad-
uated from Yale College
in I S 7 2 , and in 1874
from the Columbia Law
School. He was an aide
upon Governor Ingersoll's
staff with rank of colonel
in 1S73, '74, '75, and '76.
From 1S77 to i38i he was
an alderman from the
Sixth Ward of New Ha-
ven. For a time he was
at the head of the im-
portant lamp department.
In iSSohe was the junior,
and in 1882 the senior, representative from New
Haven in the legislature. In iSSo he was a mem-
ber of the committee on railroads and on contested
elections, and in 1882 of the committee on the judici-
ary and the Governor Buckingham statue. He was
senator from the Eighth District in 1885 and 1886,
serving both years on the committees on roads and
bridges and contingent expenses. He was elected
judge of probate of the New Haven district in
1886, re-elected in 1888, and again in 1S90 — the
last time receiving the nomination from both the
great political parties. His business connections
are as director with the New Haven & Northamp-
ton Railroad Compan3% Southern New England
Telephone Company, Co-operative Loan and Trust
Association, and Young Men's Institute. He is a
member and vestryman of Trinity Protestant
Episcopal Church of New Haven; a democrat;
and belongs to the Knights of Honor.
Judge Robertson is the eldest son of Hon. John
B. Robertson, ex-mayor of New Haven, who is
the grandson of Alexander Robertson, an officer of
Marion's Brigade of South Carolina. He is a
BKIGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
37
grandson of Abram Heaton of New Haven on his
mother's side, who was a descendant of a brother
of Theophihis Eaton. Judge Robertson married
Miss Graziella Ridgeway of Philadelphia, Penn.,
and they have two children: Ileaton Ridgeway
and Mabel Harriet Joy Robertson.
Judge Robertson has been constant and success-
ful in the practice of his profession, and has a high
standing before the bar of New Haven county and
the state.
C. J. FOX.
DR. CHARLES J. FOX, Wii i.imantic : Physi-
cian and Surgeon.
Ex-Surgeon-Gcneral Charles James Fox was
born in Wethersfield, Dec. 21, 1S54, and was edu-
cated in the Hartford High school and the New
York University of Phy-
sicians and Surgeons. In
April, 1S77, he became a
resident of Willimantic,
where he .is engaged in
the practice of his profes-
sion. Governor Louns-
bury appointed him sur-
geon-general on his staff,
and he is known through-
out the National Guard
as a popular and eflficient
officer. Since 1SS3 he has
held the place of United
States examining sur-
geon for pensions, and is one of the medical exam-
iners for Windham county. Dr. Fox is ex-presi-
dent of the Windham County Medical society,
chairman of the committee on matters of profes-
sional interest in the Connecticut State Medical
society, member from Windham County of the
centennial committee for 1S92, for the coming cen-
tennial of the State Medical Society at New Haven,
a frequent contributor to state, national, and inter-
national medical journals, and was elected in iSSi
and 1SS2 to represent the American Medical Asso-
ciation before the medical organization in Europe.
In December, 1S90, he was appointed on a com-
mittee of fifteen to draft Willimantic's city charter
and present it to the General Assembly of 1S91.
Dr. Fox is a member of the Putnam Phalanx of
Hartford; an officer of Eastern Star Lodge, F. and
A. M., of Willimantic; member of the Knights
Templar Commandery ; Grand Junior Warden
of the Grand Commandery Knights Templars
of the state of Connecticut; charter member of the
Odd Fellows Lodge in Willimantic; and charter
member of the Willimantic board of trade. He
IS a republican in politics. Dr. Fox is a widower
without children, and a member of the Congrega-
tional chtirch. He is a gentleman of extensive and
influential acquaintance throughout the state.
J. R. H.VWLEV.
HON. JOSEPH R. HAWLEY, Hartfuki.: United
States Senator ; Associate Publisher Hartford
Coitrant.
Joseph Russell Hawley was the son of a Congre-
gationalist minister who in 1S26, being engaged in
some missionary work in North Carolina, was tem-
porarily residing there
with his famih'. J. R.
Hawley was born on the
31st of October of that
year, and is thus a native
of North Carolina, from
which state, however, his
father shortly removed
his family, to settle at
Peterboro in central New
York. Here the lad grew
up, gaining his education
at the public schools of
the district, and closing it
at Hamilton College, from
which he graduated in 1847. In 1S50, at the sug-
gestion of his Uncle David, who was the well-
known city missionary of Hartford, he removed to
this city and began the practice of law, having pre-
viously spent three years in preparation therefor.
He prospered in his profession, and in five 3'ears
after his settlement in Hartford he married Miss
Harriet Foote, daughter of General Foote of Guil-
ford, on Christmas day, 1S55.
Gen. Hawley early distinguished himself as one
of the leaders of the Free Soil party, became active
in politics, and soon decided to abandon the law
and devote himself to journalism. He was con-
nected and thoroughly identified first with the
Hartford Evening Press, and subsequently with
the Hartford Mornmg Courant, of which latter
journal he is still the leading proprietor. At the
breaking out of the rebellion Hawle}' was one of
the very first to enlist for active service, and was
made first lieutenant of Company A, First Regi-
ment, which was mustered into service for three
months on the 22d of April, 1S61. He served until
his term of service expired, again enlisted, and was
in active service entirely through the war, being
honorabty mustered out on the 15th of January,
1866. He enlisted as a private, was advanced
through all the grades of promotion, and when
finally discharged held the rank of major-general of
volunteers. Returning home he was nominated by
the republican party as its candidate for governor,
to which office he was enthusiastically elected. In
1872 he was chosen president of the United States
Centennial Commission. The same j-ear he was
elected to the forty-second congress to fill the va-
cancy occasioned by the death of Congressmati
Julius L. .Strong, and was re-elected for the full
term in April, 1S73. He was defeated in 1S75 and
38
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
1876, but elected to the forty-sixth congress in 1S7S,
taking his seat March 4, 1S79. Thence, March 4,
1S81, he was transferred to the senate, and was re-
elected for a second term in 1887. His record in
congress is one of loyalty to his state, of fidelity to
his party, and of patriotic devotion to the welfare
of the republic.
General Hawley is a vigorous campaign speaker,
and is always in demand when important elections
are pending. He rarely prepares his speeches in
detail, but relies upon the inspiration of the
moment, and in purely extemporaneous effort has
few supei'iors. He has strong and earnest convic-
tions, and possesses the courage to avow them on
all proper occasions.
ALEXANDER WARNER.
HON. ALEXANDER WARNER, Woodstock:
Ex-Treasurer of Connecticut.
Colonel Alexander Warner was born January 10,
1827, at Smithville, R. L In 1834 the family moved
to Woodstock, Conn., where the son received an
academical education.
After leaving school he
engaged in business. The
year 1S61 found him part
owner and manager of a
prosperous twine manu-
factory in Woodstock. An
aptitude for militar}' mat-
ters had already drawn
him into the state militia,
and he was then lieut.-
colonel of the Seventh
Regiment.
A spirit like his could
not move on in the routine
of ordinary life, however attractive the surround-
ings, when a great crisis was calling the brave to
arms. Among the earliest to enlist, he was ap-
pointed by Governor Buckingham major of the
Third regiment, Connecticut ^^olunteer's, and took
part in the battle of Bull Run. After the disband-
ment of the three months' troops he was made
lieut. -colonel of the 13th Connecticut regiment,
and served in that capacity till near the close of
1863, when a severe attack of sickness compelled
him to withdraw from active service.
In the autumn of 1865, Colonel Warner purchased
one of the finest plantations in Mississippi, located
in Madison county, near the center of the state.
Without preconcert about twenty families from the
north simultaneously bought homes in the same
neighborhood. They brought with thein wealth
and intelligence. Curiously enough the new comers
made the acquaintance of each other in an attempt
to recover a large number of horses and mules
which had been stolen from them with absolute im-
partiality by a gang of desperate villains. In the
pursuit, which was swift and successful, the bril-
liant talents of Colonel Warner gave him at once
the position of leadership, which thenceforth con-
tinued undisputed.
Colonel Warner pursued the most exact and scru-
pulous methods in dealing with the large number
of freedmen whom he employed. This kind of ed-
ucation aroused the somewhat dormant minds of
other freedmen to a perception of the injustice they
were in many cases suftei'ing at the hands of their
old masters. Among the whites the new and exact
way of treating the negro provoked deep resent-
ment. A little later, as agent of the freedmen's
bureau, he stirred up more violent antagonisms by
compelling the planters to fulfill their contracts
with emancipated slaves. During this period his
life was in constant danger, but he never faltered
in throwing around the blacks the full protection of
the law.
The home of Colonel Warner; was a center of pro-
fuse and elegant hospitality. He was unavoidably
drawn into politics and played a stirring part in the
stormy drama of reconstruction. He was secretary
of state, trustee and treasurer of the state univer-
sity, six years a member of the state senate, four
j-ears chairman of the republican state committee,
and a delegate to three national conventions.
Long before leaving j\Iississippi Colonel Warner
had taught the old ycgiine to respect and admire
him. In fact he was importuned to enter into the
closest business relations by several prominent na-
tive capitalists. He decided, however, to return to
Connecticut, and in 1S77 purchased a farm in Pom-
fret. In the fall of 1SS6 he was elected state treas-
urer, and his administration of the office marked an
epoch in its history, as by modernizing the methods
of conducting the business he brought it into har-
mou}' with present I'equirements.
While still a resident of Pomfret, Colonel Warner
has extensive interests in Baxter Springs, Kansas,
being president of the Baxter Bank, the local Light
and Power Company, the Baxter Springs ]\Iilling
Company, and the Baxter Springs Manufacturing-
Company. His son, Benj. S. AVarner, now a per-
manent resident of Baxter Springs, is associated
with him in these various enterprises.
Colonel Warner married, Sept. 27, 1S55, Mary
Trumbull Mathewson, a woman of great sweetness
and force of character, whose ancestors in different
lines have been among the foremost people of New
England. Her great-grandfather, General Samuel
ISIcClellan, of Woodstock, married, 2d, March 5,
1766, Rachel' Abbe of Windham, one of the social
queens of the period. Their eldest child, John Mc-
Clellan, married, Nov. 22, 1796, Faith Wilhams,
daughter of Wm. Williams, a signer of the Decla-
ration of Independence, and granddaughter of Gov-
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
39
ernor Jonathan Trumbull. The wife of Governor
Trumbull was a daughter of Rev. John Robinson
of Duxbury, Mass., and a direct descendant of John
Alden and Priscilla ]\Iollines of the Mayjitnuer.
C. M. JOSLYN.
CHARLES M. JOSLYN, H.^rtkord : Attorney-
at-Law.
Mr. Joslyn was born in Tolland, Conn., March
26, iS4(j, his ancestors being prominent citizens of
that town. He was educated at the Tolland High
School and at Monson
Academy, at which insti-
tutions he took a high
rank as writer and speak-
er. He fitted for and ex-
pected to enter Yale Col-
lege, but entered the Law
office of "Waldo, Hubbard
& Hyde instead. He was
admitted to the bar in
May, 1S73, and for two
3-ears was associated pro-
fessionally with Hon . ^Vm.
Hamersley and Hon.
George G. Sumner. On
the lirst of April, 1S75, with E. H. Hyde, Jr., he
formed the law firm of Hyde & Joslyn, which has
ever since continued. The firm has steadily won
its way to the confidence of the public, and stands
second to none in the State for ability and integ-
rity and in the volume and character of the busi-
ness entrusted to its care.
Mr. Joslyn has always been a democrat in poli-
tics, believing in cleanliness and good morals there-
in, and of much influence in the councils of his
party. Bjr reason of his abiUty as a parliamenta-
rian and speaker he has frequently been called to
preside over its state conventions. In 1S74, he
was a member of the legislature from his native
town, receiving the unanimous vote of both par-
ties. In 1S77-S, he was on Gov. Hubbard's staff.
In 1SS5, he was the senior representative from
Hartford, and the candidate of his party for speak-
er. He was also the democratic candidate for
mayor of Hartford, but was defeated. He has
been chairman of the Hartford High School com-
mittee for the past eight years ; is president of the
Hartford Librarj- Association, vice-president of the
Hartford Trust Company, and a director in vari-
ous other corporations. Has always been in de-
mand as a speaker on public occasions, and some of
his addresses have been models worthy of study
and imitation. Among his best known orations
may be mentioned his address on the life and char-
acter of Nathan Hale at South Coventry' in 1878,
his Memorial Day address at Hartford in 1884, his
address at Storrs Agricultural School in iSSS, and
his oration at the dedication of the statue of G<jv-
ernor Hubbard in 1S90. He has been president
of the Hubbard Escort since its organization in
iSSo, when it participated in the Hancock cam-
paign.
I\Ir. Joslyn was married, in 187S, to Miss Minnie
L. Brown, of Providence, R. I. They have one
child. His religious connections are with the South
Congregational chuix-h of Hartford, of which Rev.
Dr. Parker is the pastor.
T. S. GOLD.
THEODORE SEDGWICK GOLD, West Corn-
w.ALL : Secretary State Board of Agriculture.
The subject of this sketch was born at IMadison,
N. Y., March 2, 1S18, and is a son of Dr. Samuel
Wadsworth and Phebe (Cleveland) Gold. During
that year his father re-
turned to Cornwall,
Conn., which was his na-
tive place. In 1S24 he
removed to Goshen,
where he remained in the
practice of his profession
fifteen years. He then
returned to Cornwall to
till his ancestral acres.
Theodore S. Gold gradu-
ated at Yale in 183S. He
spent three j-ears after
graduation as teacher of
Goshen and Waterbury
academies, and as a student of medicine, botany,
and mineralogy at New Haven. In 1842 he began
farming with his father on Cream Hill, Cornwall,
with no resources but their much-neglected farm.
In 1S45 they established on their farm the Cream
Hill Agricultural School, which was successfully
conducted till 1S69. The advancement of the gen-
eral agricultural interests of the state has been his
favorite work. He originated the movement in
1S50 which resulted in the formation in 1852 of the
Connecticut State Agricultural Society, and from
the beginning has held some official position in its
control. In 1S66, at the establishment of the Con-
necticut Board of Agriculture, he was chosen its
secretary, which office he still holds. In \%b\, he,
with the aid of the names of the other corporators,
obtained from the general assembly a charter for
the " Connecticut Soldiers' Orphans' Home." This
was located at Mansfield, and during its mainte-
nance, or until 1S74, he was secretary of the corpo-
ration. He was one of the editors of The Home-
stead, an agricultural paper published in Hartford
from 1856 to 1861; and in 1878 published a history
of Cornwall, Conn. He is a member of the board
of control of the Connecticut Agricultural Experi-
40
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
ment Station, and one of the trustees and secretary
of the Storrs Agricultiiral School at ^Mansfield.
He was twice married: first, at Bridgeport, Sep-
tember 13, 1843, to Carohne E., daughter of Charles
and Eunice Lockwood, who died April 25, 1857; and
second, on the 4th of April, 1S59, to Mrs. Emma
(Tracy) Baldwin, daughter of A. W. Tracy of
Rockville. He has had nine children, of whom six
are living. The oldest son, Charles Lockwood, a
graduate of the Sheffield School at Yale in 1883, is
a farmer on Cream Hill ; the youngest, James
Douglas, a graduate of the same institi:tion in
1888, is a student of medicine.
J. M. HOI'PIN.
H
PROF. J. M. HOPPIN, New Haven : Art Pro-
fessor Yale University.
Professor James Mason Hoppin was born in
Providence, R. L, Jan. 17, 1820, and graduated
from Yale College in the class of 1840. This class
contained some able
thinkers and leaders of
the present generation,
including the Rev. Dr.
John P. Gulliver, who oc-
cupied the presidency of
Knox College, at Gales-
burg, 111., for a number
of years, ex-Governor
Charles R. Ingersoll, the
late Rev. Drs. Henry M.
Dexter of Boston, and
Lavalette Perrin of this
city, and the Connecticut
historian, the late Gideon
Hollister of Litchheld. Professor Hoppin pur-
sued a thorough course of theology and was settled
as a minister in Salem, Mass., for nine years. He
was appointed to a professorship in the Yale Theo-
logical Seminary thirty-two years ago, and was an
instructor in that institution until 1S79. For the
past twelve years he has been connected wath the
Yale School of Fine Arts as professor of the history
of art. He has studied in Germany, and has
traveled extensively through Europe, being one of
the most scholarly and polished representatives of
the university. In 1870, the degree of S.T.D. was
conferred upon him by Knox College on account
of his exceptional attainments as a theological
writer. He has written several books, among them
being "Old England, its Art, vScenery, and Peo-
ple," which passed through eleven editions, " Hom-
iletics," " Pastoral Theology," and " Sermons upon
Faith, Hope, and Love." He is also the author of
the " Life of Rear-Admiral Andrew Hull Foote,"
one of Connecticut's naval heroes during the war.
This varied list was dealt with in the ablest and
most attractive manner, the theological writings
being not less enjoyable than the volumes of
biography and travel from his pen. He is also
a magazine writer of noted ability. Professor
HopjDin is a good preacher, and his pulpit minis-
trations during the time that he occupied one of
the most important professorships in the Yale
Theological Seminary were of an exceptional order
of merit. His sermons as well as his writings
are models of English. The treatise on " Pas-
toral Theology " is one of the ablest produc-
tions of New England scholarship, and will ensure
Professor Hoppin permanent renown as a theologi-
cal thinker and scholar. He has the entree to the
most distinguished literary societies throughout the
country, while his career as the professor of the
history of art in the great university at New
Haven has made him an authority in that iield.
During his early ^-ears the professor was in the
military service of Rhode Island for six weeks
on the side of the state in the Dorr insurrection.
His wife, who is living, was Miss Maiy Deming
Perkins prior to her marriage. There are two
sons, one of whom, Benjamin Hoppin, graduated
from Yale in 1872 and afterwards became an in-
structor in the university. Professor Hoppin is a
member of the Yale College church. In politics he
is a republican, with a leaning towards the inde-
pendent party.
GEORGE LEWIS CHASE, Hartkord : Presi-
dent of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company.
George L. Chase was born in Millbury, ^Vorcester
County, Mass., January 13, 1S28, and was educated
at ]\Iillbury Academy, receiving a thorough Eng-
lish course of studies. At
the age of nineteen years
he engaged in the insur-
ance business as the agent
of the Farmers' Mutual
Fire Insurance Company
of Georgetown, Mass.,
and was subsequently
elected a member of the
board of directors. He
became an eiifieient can-
vasser, operating at first
through southern Massa-
chusetts and eastern Con-
necticut, and within a
included four companies,
transacting business on the ^mutual plan. One of
the number, the Holyoke'Mutual of Salem, is still
engaged in successful operations. In 1848 Mr.
Chase was appointed traveling agent for the Peo-
ple's Insurance Company of Worcester and retained
the position until 1852, when he was appointed
assistant superintendent of jthe Central OhioJ Rail-
L. CHASE.
short time his agency
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
41
road Company and removed to Ohio. Soon after-
wards he was advanced to tlie oftke of i;eneral
superintendent of the road. He was one of the
first representatives who organized the first asso-
ciation of raih-oad superintendents in the United
States, the meeting for the purpose being held at
Cokmibus, Ohio, in 1S53. President Chase re-
sumed the fire insurance business in 1S60, accepting
the western general agency of the New England
Fire Insurance Company of this city. This position
was held until 1S63, when he received the appoint-
ment of assistant western general agent of the
Hartford Fire Insurance Company. In this posi-
tion, as in all others which he had occupied, Mr.
Chase displayed ability of the highest order, attract-
ing from the outset the attention and approval of
the board of directors. In 1S67 the presidency of
the company was placed at his acceptance. After
thorough deliberation :*Ir. Chase consented to
assume the duties and responsibilities of the posi-
tion, and in June of that year he succeeded Timothy
C. AUyn as president. From that time until now
he has been at the head of the Hartford Fire, one
of the oldest and most successful insurance institu-
tions in the United States. His management of
the company's business and interests has been
matchless in character, placing him in the foremost
rank of fire insurance representatives.
The standing of President Chase as an insurance
manager was recognized from the outset by his
associates and competitors in the business. In 1876
he was elected president of the National Board of
Fire Underwriters and is at present the board
chairman of the committee on legislation and taxa-
tion, in all respects the most important committee-
ship in the organization. President Chase's con-
nection with the national board has been one of
commanding influence and leadership. He is a
member of the board of trustees of the Society for
Savings in this city, which is the largest savings
bank in Connecticut, and is also a trustee of the
Connecticut Trust and Safe Deposit Company and
a director in the American National Bank. He is
a leading member of the Hartford Board of Trade
and is thoroughly interested in the industrial
development and prosperity of the city of which he
is so prominent and influential a citizen. President
Chase is a member of the Asylum Hill Congrega-
tional Church in Hartford, and was elected presi-
dent of the Connecticut Congregational Club for
the fourth annual term in March. This club is the
most impc^tant lay organization connected with the
congregational churches in the state and wields the
most extended influence. The late United States
Senator Lafayette S. Foster of Norwich was its
first president. The wife of President Chase, who
was Miss Calista M. Taft prior to her marriage, is
still living. There are two children, one son and
w
A. ENSIGN.
one daughter. The former, Mr. Charles E. Chase,
is assistant secretary in the company of which his
father has been the president for so many years.
The most of President Chase's life has been passed
in this city. He has also resided in Chicago, 111.,
and Dubuque, la.
WOOSTER A. ENSIGN, New Haven : Iron and
Steel Merchant.
The subject of this sketch was born in New
Haven, June 14, 1823, being the son of Thomas
and Esther Ensign, and of a family which is identi-
fied with the early history
of his native city and of
the commercial industry
there which he now rep-
resents. He was edu-
cated in the common
schools and at the famous
Lancasterian school then
under the charge of John
E. Lovell of educational
fame. At the age of fif-
teen he left school and en-
gaged in business as a
clerk in the employ of
English & Mix, then in
the hardware trade. At the end of an engagement
with this firm covering nine years, he began busi-
ness on his own account as a dealer in iron and
steel goods, which business has prospered and in-
creased, requiring in 1876 the erection of the
spacious store which is now occupied by himself
and his eldest son, who constitute the enterprising
and sohd firm of Wooster A. Ensign & Son. Mr.
Ensign was married June 24, 1S46, to Miss Char-
lotte A. Prescott, daughter of Roger Sherman
Prescott of New Haven. They have three children.
He holds or has held many important connections
with the financial institutions of New Haven, hav-
ing been for twenty-five years a director in the City
Bank, vice-president and director in the New Haven
Watch company until the removal of their factory
to New Jersey, and a director in the Maryland
steamboat company of Baltimore, Md. He has
been prominent among the business men and inter-
ests of New Haven for nearly half a century, out-
living many of his early contemporaries. From
small beginnings he passed uninterruptedly through
the various grades of success to the honorable
position which he occupies to-day among the most
prosperous and wealthy establishments in his line
in New England. Mr. Ensign is a member of St.
Paul Episcopal church of New Haven, and is still
active in religious work as he is in the secular duties
of hfe. In politics he is connected with the demo-
cratic partv, in whose honors he has repeatedly
l)een called to share.
42
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
D. N. MORGAN.
HON. DANIEL NASH MORGAN, Bridgeport:
Banker.
Daniel N. IMorgan, one of the most widely-known
citizens of Fairfield county, was born in Newtown,
August 1 8, 1S44, and educated at the Newtown
Academy, Bethel Insti-
tute, and in the common
schools. He was thor-
oughly educated to the
mercantile pursuit, during
the last five years of his
minority in his father's
store, when he succeeded
to the control of the busi-
ness for one year; subse-
quently for three 3'ears he
was of the flourishing firm
of Morgan & Booth, retir-
ing in iS'Gg, and removing
to Bridgeport, where for
more than ten years he was of the firm of Birdsey
& i\Iorgan, transacting a large and profitable busi-
ness in dry goods and carpets, having also during
that period probably the largest dressmaking es-
tablishment in the state, enjoying a choice southern
trade. During the year 1S77 he was connected
with the firm of Morgan, Hopson & Co., wholesale
grocers. He was a member of the common council
of Bridgeport in 1873-4; mayor of Bridgeport in 18S0
and 1 S84 ; on the board of education in the same town
in 1877-78, and for many years parish clerk, and
is senior warden of Trinit}' Church. He is vice-
president and member of the board of directors of
the Bridgeport Hospital; vice-president of the Con-
solidated Rolling Stock Company; sinking fund
commissioner of the city; vice-president of the state
democratic club; president of the City National Bank
since 1S79, — diiring which time $125,000 has been
added to its surplus; president of the Mechanics' and
Farmers' Savings Bank, — whose deposits have in-
increased half a million during the past five
years, with assets now of $1,100,000. Mr. ]\Ior-
gan was state senator from the fourteenth dis-
trict in 1885 and 18S6, having been previ-
ously, in 1883, elected to the lower house by a
majority of 940 — the largest ever given a member
since the organization of the town. For two years
he was Worshipful Master of Corinthian Lodge,
No. 104, F. and A. M. He is now a member of
Hamilton Commandery, No. 5, K. T., and also of
Pequonock Lodge, No. 4, 1. O. O. F. He married, in
1S6S, Medora H. Judson, daughter of the late Hon.
Wm. A. Judson, formerly of Huntington, a lifelong
democrat, and senator from the tenth district in
1852, and a member of the house in 1844, 1S48, 1850,
and 1854. Mr. Morgan's maternal grandfather was
Daniel Nash, late of Westport, who was well-known
locally as an eminent financier, living into his 96th
year. INIr. Morgan's father, Ezra Morgan, repre-
sented Newtown in the legislature in 1842, 1862,
and 1 868. He was of one of the oldest families of
the state; was for many years a merchant, and for
a long time president of the Hatter's National
Bank of Bethel.
The subject of this sketch has two children, a
son and a daughter.
I'. S. BARBER.
PELEG S. BARBER, Stonington : President
People's Savings Bank of Pawcatuck.
Mr. Barber was born in North Kingston, R. I.,
April 29, 1S23. He received the advantages of a
good common school education, and has been
largely engaged in mer-
cantile and manufacturing
business, though at pres-
ent confining his attention
chiefly to transactions in
real estate. He was for
sixteen years in cotton
manufacturing, and fi'om
1850 to 1853 was in the
gold mines of California.
He married, early in life,
Miss Sarah Gardner, who
is still living. Mr. Bar-
ber is largely interested
in the Pawcatuck Nation-
al Bank, of which he is, and for sixteen years has
been, a director. He is president of the People's
Savings Bank of Pawcatuck; also treasurer of the
Pawcatuck Fire District since its organization in
1 8 87, for sixteen years treasurer of his school dis-
trict, fifteen years a member of the town board of
relief, and a notary public. He was on the board
of assessors for several years, and has held various
other local offices in the town in which he resides,
where he has led an active and useful life for thirty-
four vears, and is highly respected and esteemed
bv all his townsmen. ]Mr. Barber comes from an
ancestry which have been prominently identified
with the whig and republican parties ever since
their formation. - In the fall of 1884 he became the
candidate of the republicans for representative
from Stonington in the general assembly, to which
position he was elected by a large majority. He
served in the house on the committee on appropria-
tions. As an ardent supporter of republican princi-
ples and a consistent advocate of temperance, he
did good work for his constituency and the state
during the session of 1885, and made an honorable
record as a legislator. Mr. Barber is a member of
the Baptist church and takes an active interest in
all moral and religious enterprises in the town,
which he is alwavs ready to aid whenever called
upon to do so.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
43
J. A. CONANT.
JOHN A. CONANT, Willimantu: : President
New England Christian Association.
John A. Conant is a descendant in the seventli
generation from Roger Conant, who came from
England in 1623, and finally settled in what is now
Salem, Mass. He was
born at ilansfield. Conn.,
August 16, 1S29, being
the oldest son of Lucius
and ^larietta (Eaton)
Conant, who were tmable
to give him anything
more than a common
school education. At ten
years of age he went to
live on a farm with his
mother's brother, George
Eaton, and remained
there until nearly fifteen,
when he returned home,
and soon after went to work in a silk mill of \\-hich
the Hon. Augustus Storrs was agent. In 1S49,
because of the depressed condition of the silk man-
ufacturing business, he was thrown out of work,
but secured employment at the American mills in
Rockville, where he became acquainted with !Miss
Caroline A. Chapman of Ellington, to whom he was
married in 1852. In 1S54 he engaged with Messrs.
Cheney Brothers to take charge of the winding de-
partment of their mills in Hartford. There he re-
mained two years, during which time he took a
letter from the Wesleyan Methodist Church of
Tolland, and, with his wife, united with the Fourth
Congi-egational Church of that city. Rev. William
AV. Patton pastor. In 1S56, being weary of mill
life, he bought a small farm in West Hartford, but
only a year elapsed before he yielded to the earnest
solicitations of the Watertown Manufacturing Com-
pany to superintend their silk mill at Watertown,
in this state. Having lost the companion of his
youth, who died in 1S63, leaving one son, he was
married the following year to his second wife, Mrs.
Marietta (French) Brown of Mansfield, by whom
he had two sons, but only one is now living. In
1S66 he engaged with Messrs. J. H. & G. Holland
to superintend the throwing department of their
silk works in Willimantic, where he still resides.
When Mr. Conant became an elector he com-
menced voting with the free soil party, with which
he acted until it was merged into the newly-organ-
ized republican party, in which he was a zealous
worker until after the war of the rebellion, when,
seeing the successful influence of the liquor traffic
over its leading men, he left it in 1872 to act with
the prohibitionists. Meanwhile the anti-secret re-
form began to engage his attention. Mr. Conant
has been a member of three secret societies, two of
which are now extinct, and the other he abandoned
many j-ears since because of the clannish spirit and
idolatrous tendency he discovered in such societies.
He has come to look upon all secret organizations
as dangerous to the state, and a hindrance to the
work of the Christian church; and he now holds the
position of president of the New England Christian
Association, formed for the purpose of opposing
and exposing the evils of the lodge system. In
1 884 he was nominated on the anti-secret ticket by
the American party for vice-president, but with the
other candidate, Dr. J. Blanchard, withdrew in
favor of St. John and Daniel; since which time he
has generally acted with tlie prohibitionists, except
when such action would conflict with his anti-secret
ljrincii:)les.
IRVING EMERSON, Hartford : Professor of
Music.
Professor Irving Emerson is one of the most
widely-known and successful musical directors in
the state and the author of leading musical publi-
cations and works now
used in the public schools.
These works include
"Song Land," "Song
Tablet", "Morning Hour,"
"Public School Hymnal,"
' ' First Steps in Song Read-
ing, "and"Song Readers,"
Nos. I & 2, and also a large
number of compositions for
church choirs. He organ-
ized and directed for four
years a large choral so-
ciety in Hartford called
" The Emerson Chorus,"
of two hundred voices, giving three or more con-
certs each season, with Theodore Thomas' and the
Germania orchestras and celebrated vocal soloists,
and presenting at each entertainment some new
work. Afterwards he formed the Hartford Opera
Company, drilling and directing the performances
of " Patience," " Piratesof Penzance,"" lolanthe,"
" Maritana," " Pinafore," " Chimes of Normandy,"
"Betsy Baker," " The Sleeping Queen," and " Pris-
cilla," not only here, but in the neighboring cities of
Springfield, New Britain, ]\Iiddletown,and Rockville.
He also directed several public school festivals, where
over a thousand children took part. He has been
busy in the same kind of work all through this part
of the state. Professor Emerson became a resi-
dent of Hartford in 1S69 and has been the director
of music and organist in the leading churches in
this city, including the South Congregational, the
Asylum Hill and Pearl Street churches, Christ
church and the First Methodist, this service cover-
ing a period of twenty-two years. Biit his most
important work has been accomplished in the pub-
"■'^
IRVINc; EMERSON.
44
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
lie schools of the city, in which he has been the
musical instructor for years. Prior to his removal
to Hartford he resided in Boston, Belfast, Me., and
Montpelier, Vt. During the war he served in the
forty-third Massachusetts ; he is now a member of
the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut. He is a
32^ Mason and occupies official positions in Wolcott
Council and Pythagoras Chapter in this city. He
is also a member of the Improved Order of Red
Men. In politics he is a republican and in re-
ligious belief a Unitarian. His wife was a Miss
Mary E. Young, a prominent teacher in the
public schools here prior to her marriage, and the
family consists of two sons. Professor Emerson
and wife were married in June, iSSS.
He is a member of the Baptist church. His wife,
who was Elizabeth B. Moses prior to marriage, is
still living, but there are no children in the family.
N. W. HOLCOMBE.
DR. N. W. HOLCOMBE, West Simsburv : Post-
master.
Dr. Noah Webster Holcombe was born in Gran-
by in 1S31, and was educated in the University
Medical College of New York city. He has de-
voted his life to the prac-
tice of medicine. He has
served in both branches
of the general assembly,
being a member of the
senate in i86g, and of the
house in 1876. Prior to
the war, he was connect-
ed with the democratic
party, but for the last
thirty years he has been
a republican. He was in
the service as a volunteer
surgeon during the rebel-
lion. He has held numer-
ous offices of trust and responsibility in the town
where he resides, serving on the board of selectmen
and as postmaster at West Simsbury. The latter
is one of the positions that he still retains. He is
also post surgeon at Simsbury. Dr. Holcombe is a
member of Hartford Lodge, F. and A. ;\I., Wash-
ington Commandery, Knights Templar, surgeon of
the Putnam Phalanx, and is connected with Trum-
bull Council of the National Providence Union, and
the Order of Red Men. He is president of the
Simsbury Agricultural Society, president of the
Tunxis Rogue Detective Society, president of the
Connecticut Detective Association, and also presi-
dent of the Simsbury Creamery Company. He is
a director in the National Life Association of this
city, and vice-president and treasurer of the Con-
necticut Association for the protection of game and
fish. Dr. Holcombe is one of the busiest of men, but
always has time to be the most companionable of
gentlemen. He has been a resident of Connecti-
cut during the whole of his active life with the ex-
ception of three years spent in Wilmington, Del.
E. M. HUNTSINGER.
E. M. HUNTSINGER, Hartford: Principal
Huntsinger's Business College.
Mr. Huntsinger is what the world calls a self-
made man. Most men are self-made, and especially
those who are well-made. The subject of this
sketch is worthy of men-
tion, not only for his
natural gifts but for the
quality which New Eng-
landers appreciate, en-
ergy, persistence, and
directness. He is a posi-
tive man both in his con-
victions and in his actions.
Whatever he conceives to
be right, that he does,
even if it should require
him to do differently when
guided by a different
hg-ht.
He was torn at Valley \'iew, Pa., February,
1 85 5. His early educational advantages were good,
and he iinproved them, finishing his school educa-
tion in the English course of the State Normal
School at Shippensburg, Pa. In accomplishing
this he did as so many brave and self-respecting
American boys have been proud to do — defrayed
his own expenses through his own labor. He
taught in the public schools for three j-ears, and
then, with the view of entering upon a business
life, he took a course of training in bookkeeping
and penmanship under Mr. A. H. Hinman at Potts-
ville. He soon showed such a liking for commer-
cial studies and such aptness in receiving and im-
parting instruction therein, that he was induced to
enter the business college field. In pursuance of
this purpose he began his professional work at the
Bryant & Stratton College of Providence, R. I.,
where he taught from 1877 to 1S84; following this
with four years of instruction in the Packard Busi-
ness College of New York. In 188S he opened
Huntsinger's Business College in Hartford, which
proved a success at the start, and which is now in
the ftall tide of prosperity and usefulness. Mr.
Huntsinger is a progressive man in all good direc-
tions. He has an assured standing among the
teachers in his line, and is everywhere known as a
conscientious, thorough worker. He is a zealous
iipholder of organized religious work, a member of
the Methodist church and of the Y. M. C. A. He
is, besides, a thirty-second degree Mason, and an
influential member of that mystic body. He is a
natural "boomer," and t(j whatever he deems
HUXtRAPHY of CONNECTICUT.
45
worthy of his attention he j^ives his whole heart,
soul, mii^ht, mind, and strength. In his college
work he has the valuable assistance of his wife,
who is a lady of rare intellectual attainments, and
an excellent equipoise to his ardent outreachings.
Together, they make an uncommonly strong educa-
tional combination, the results of which the citv of
Hartford and the state of Connecticut will feel in
the coming year9. S. S. Pack.vrd.
STILES JL'DSON, JR.
STILES JUDSOX, JR., Spkatiokd: Attorney-at-
Law.
The subject of this sketch was born in Stratford,
Fairfield county, Conn., February 13, 1S62. He
received his early education in the pul)lic schools of
the town and at the Strat-
ford Academy. At the
age of twenty-one he
entered the Law School
of Yale University where
he was graduated in
June, 1SS5, with the de-
gree of LL.B., and was
awarded the prize for
the best examinatif)n
in his studies. He was
admitted to the bar of
Connecticut the same
year, and entered the
office of the well-known
law firm of Townsend & Watrous in New Haven,
where he remained until September, 1SS6. He
then removed to Bridgeport, where he has since
continued the practice of his profession, and is a
member of the law firm of Canfield & Judson. He
is an active practitioner in the courts, and has been
identified with some of the most important cases
that have arisen in Fairfield county. He is of good
presence before a jury, a fluent and earnest
pleader, quick to grasp the important points in a
case, and has been remarkably successful in his
practice.
Mr. Judson has been connected with the Con-
necticut National Guard for ten j^ears, and is now
captain of Company K, Fourth Regiment, located
at Stratford. He makes a popular and efficient
officer. He was married in 1S89 to Miss Minnie L.
Miles of Milford, and has since made Stratford his
residence, where he has always taken an active
part in town affairs, and has acceptably filled vari-
ous oflfices in the town. He is at present chairman
of the republican town committee and an active
party worker. In the presidential campaign of
188S Mr. Judson went i:pon the stump and won a
reputation as an eloquent and convincing speaker
upon public issues. He is a member of St. John's
Lodge of Masons in Stratford. At the celebration
of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of the
town of Stratford he was chosen as the president of
the day, and was at the time the youngest
male representative of the oldest family in the
town. Mr. Judson was elected to the legislature
from Stratford in the fall of 1S90, and was at once
recognized as one of the leaders on the republican
side of the house in the memorable gubernatorial
contest in the winter of 1891. He was also ap-
pointed to the important position of chairman of
the judiciary committee of the house, a position for
which his talents peculiarly fitted him. The posi-
tion he has attained in the professions of law and
politics gives promise of a very successful future
career.
FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, Hartford: Mechan-
ical Engineer.
One of the early settlers of Hartford was ^^'iI-
liam Whiting, a merchant, whose name is men-
tioned in the histories of this country as early as
1632. He was chosen
treasurer of the colony of
Connecticut in 1641, which
office he retained until his
death. His son, Joseph
Whiting, was elected to
the same office, holding it
thirty-nine years until his
death, when Joseph's son,
John Whiting, succeeded
to the treasuryship and
continued in the office for
thirty-two years. Thro'
this line, in the sixth gen-
eration from William ,
came Maria S. Whiting, who married Henry Rich-
ards and becam# the mother of the subject of this
sketch. Francis H. Richards' paternal ancestor in
America was Thomas Richards, who came to Con-
necticut in 1637, and settled in Hartford, in which
vicinity his immediate decendants were prominent
in planting of new settlements, one of them be-
ing of the party which settled at Waterburj-.
Those in the direct line of the present sub-
ject lived in Hartford for neai'ly a century af-
ter its first settlement. F. H. Richards was
born at New Hartford, Litchfield county, October
20, 1S50, and in his earh" years lived a part of the
time at the home of his grandfather. Marquis Rich-
ards, on the ancestral estate which was founded by
his great-grandfather, Aaron Richards, during the
war of the revolution, and is in part still held in
the family. His school life began at New Haven,
whither his father, Henry Richards, removed with
his family in 1S56, where he attended the then
celebrated "Eaton" graded school. The 5-ears
from 1857 to 1 86 5 were spent on his father's farm,
F. H. RICHARDS.
46
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
near Bakersville, in New Hartford, working sum-
mers at farming, and dui'ing the winter months
attending first the village school and later the acad-
emy, which ordinary advantages were supplement-
ed by private instructors. In 1S65, the family rer
moved to New Britain, where for a few months he
attended the high school. The following year, be-
ing offered the alternative of attending a technical
college or of learning the machinist's trade, he
chose the shop and began his mechanical and in-
ventive career in the factories of the Stanley Rule
and Level Company, under the supervision of his
father, an ingenious mechanic and inventor, in
charge of the machinery department of this exten-
sive establishment. Here, by persistent work and
systematic study extending over a period of eight
years, he acquired both a practical and theoretical
knowledge of the machine-building trades, includ-
ing, besides the trade of machinist, the arts of
wood-working, forging, and the allied branches.
During this time, he made frequent tours for the
critical observation of machinery and manufac-
tures, began the study of patent law, and made
numerous inventions of labor-saving machines,
several of which are still in successful operation.
Mr. Richards' business connections have been in
Hartford since 1882 ; principally with the Pratt &
Whitney Company from 1883 to 18S6, at which lat-
ter date he established his office in that city. In
October, 1887, he was married to Mrs. Clara V.
Dole {nee Blasdale) of Springfield, Mass., who is of
English birth, her father having been a prominent
expert and designer in the lace manufacture until
his emigration to this country about 1852. Since
his marriage, he has resided in Hartford. In
1889, in company with his wife he visited
Paris as a member of a touring party of Amer-
ican engineers, including scientific gentlemen
representing all the leading industries of Amer-
ica. Mr. Richards is a member of the Amer-
ican Society of Mechanical Engineers, a national
organization with headquarters at New York ;
of the Civil Engineers' Club of Cleveland,
Ohio; and of the New York Engineers' Club. In
the Masonic fraternity he is identified with Wash-
ington Commandery, No. i. Knights Templar ;
also with the several Scottish Rite bodies, up to
the 32d degree. His religious associations are
with the Church of the Redeemer (Universalist),
of Hartford ; his political affiliations with the re-
publican party.
Mr. Richards is the author of many important
inventions, among which is the "Richards Envel-
ope Machine," patented in the United States and
foreign countries — the American patents being
now owned and controlled by the White, Corbin &
Co., of Rockville. This machine prints, folds,
gums, counts, and bands, automatically, 80,000
letter envelopes per day, greatly exceeding any
other envelope machine in its capacity and in its
economy in the consumption of paper. He is also
the inventor and patentee of the fundamental fea-
tures of the " Norton Door Check," a device for
autornatically closing light or heavy doors b}- an
air-cushion arrangement, which is now in quite
general use. He has taken out, first and last, 225
United States patents, a lai-ger number, probably,
than any other person in western Connecticut. Mr.
Richards has practically elevated the matter of in-
venting machinery to an art. Whatever is sought
to be done through the medium of mechanical ap-
pliances, he simply finds a way and invents a ma-
chine to do it.
WILLIAM H.\MERSI.EY.
WILLIAM HAMERSLEY, H.vrtford: Attorney-
at-Law.
Mr. Hamersley was born in Hartford, September
9, 183S, being a son of the late Hon. William James
Hamersley, who was for many years a distinguished
resident of the city. He
was a scholar at the
old Hartford grammar
school, afterwards at the
High school, and entered
Trinity college in 1S54,
but left during his senior
year, beginning his legal
studies in the office of
Welch & Shipman. He
was admitted to the bar
in 1859, in 1S63 was
elected a member of the
court of common council,
later was vice-president
of the board, and president during 1867 and 1868.
He also held the position of city attorney, resigning
in the end to accept the appointment of state's
attorney for Hartford county in 1868, a position
which he held for twenty years. He represented
Hartford in the legislature of 1886, serving on the
judiciary and federal relations committees. He
was one of the founders of the Connecticut State
Bar Association, and, with Richard D. Hubbard
and Simeon E. Baldwin, constituted the committee
of that association, through whose initiatory efforts
the American Bar Association was founded. He
was one of the original promoters of the civil pro-
cedure reform, and a member of the commission
that drafted the practice act, and the rules and
forms of procedure adopted by the court for giving
due effect to the provisions of that act; he was also
an early and active promoter of the reform in the
jury system in Connecticut. His time has been
mainly given to the practice of his profession and
to work relating to law reform.
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXECTICUT.
47
J. H. LEEDS.
JOHN H. LEEDS, New Haven : Superintendent
of the Stamford Manufacturing Cf)mpany.
The Leeds ancestry is identified in history witli
the city of Leeds, England, in which the family,
centuries since, was an important one. In idSo
three brothers, Leeds,
emigrated to New Eng-
land, one of whom settled
in Stamford, in this state.
A descendant of the last
was Joseph H. Leeds, a
farmer, resident at the
Leeds' place in Darien,
where his son, the subject
of this sketch, John
Harris Leeds, was born
^larch 4, 1S36. It was
not, as is said of many,
an accident that deter-
mined the course of his
life, but the prevention of an accident. The
New York & New Haven Railroad had been
opened but a few months, and had but a sin-
gle track. Just at dusk, June 24, 1S49, John
H. Leeds, then thirteen 3'ears of age, chanced
to be on its line at a crossroad halfway be-
tween Darien and Stamford, when he heard a
train coming from the east. He knew there was
also a train coming from the west, although it was
hidden from sight by a deep cut and a sharp curve.
All the horrors of a collision were inevitable unless
he could prevent it. He would try. In an instant
he sprang on to the track, and, facing the New
York bound train, waved his hat to attract the at-
tention of the engineer, and then bounded to one
side, barely escaping being crushed as it went thun-
dering by. As it passed him in its lightning speed
he pointed to the west, and shouted to the engi-
neer, "Another train is coming this way." The
engineer at once reversed his engine, and whistled
"down brakes," and then blew a long and loud
alarm. The other train was still unseen, but its
engineer was on the alert, and, hearing the signal,
in turn reversed his engine and whistled the same
signal. But such was the speed of both trains and
the feebleness of the brakes then in use that when
the trains stopped they were only an engine's
length apart. When the boy gave the warning
they were rushing for each other at full speed. On
board the two trains were five hundred people, —
men, women, and children. It is fearful to con-
template the horrors that were inevitable had not
the lad been at the crossroad and done exactly the
right thing. He certainly had not been born in
vain, and the passengers thought so as they shud-
dered at their narrow escape. The railroad com-
pany, acting upon their sense of obligation, gave
him a free pass over their road, good for life, and
also presented him with an elegant silver goblet,
with this inscription:
rr<ESENTED BV THE PRESIDENT .\ND niRECTORS
of
The New York & New Haven Railroad Company
to
JOHN H. LEEDS.
" Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined."
Annexed is a copy of the letter fi'om the com-
pany accompanying the present, together with
young Leeds' reply;
Stamford, August 15, 1849.
My Dear \ 'outig Friend :
The president and directors of the New York & New
Haven Railroad Company, by a unanimous resolution,
have assigned to me the pleasing task of presenting to you
the accompanying cup, as a slight testimonial of their ap-
probation of your manly conduct in preventing a collision
of their trains.
May the impulse which prompted you then continue to
animate you, cheered with the pleasant recollection of
having done unto others as you would thej' should do unto
vou. Your Friend,
H. J. SANFORD, Director.
To Master JrmN H. Leeds.
[reply.]
Darien, August 17, 1840.
Mr. H.J. San ford:
Sir, — I acknowledge with feelings of gratitude and
pleasure the receipt of the very handsome present from the
New York & New Haven Railroad Company through your
hands, but beg to disclaim any merit for an act which the
impulse of the moment prompted and duty urged me to do.
Probably the lives of some of my fellow creatures were
saved through my humble endeavors, and the conscious-
ness of that is sufficient reward.
Yours very respectfully,
JOHN HARRIS LEEDS.
The railroad companj- did not lose sight of the
lad, for three years after he removed to New Haven
and went into their service to learn to be a mechan-
ical and constructing engineer, beginning as an ap-
prentice and going up through all departments.
At one period he ran an engine on the road. He
remained in their employ until 1S60. At that date
he engaged with the Stamford }ilanufacturing Com-
pany as their superintendent and consulting engi-
neer, taking charge of the mineral branch of their
business, they being the oldest and largest manu-
facturers of chemical and dyeing extracts in the
L'''nited States. He has continued with them to the
present time.
]\Ir. Leeds ever has been, and now is, an exceed-
ingly busy man. He has largely served the public
in many and varied capacities, and how worthily is
shown by the testimonials bestowed upon him by
his associates. The positions he has held have
been such that, while of invaluable service to the
community, they have been generally with no
recompense save in the consciousness of well-doing.
He was alderman in 1S63-64, and was assistant
judge of the city court for two years, this office
being then selected by law from the board of al-
dermen. During the construction of the Derby
48
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
railrciad, which occupied two years, he was its city
director. He was for many years a member of the
volunteer fire department. In 1862, when the de-
partment was reorganized, he was one of the first
fire commissioners under the new regime, and was
president of that board for about fifteen years.
Steam fire-engines, fire-alarm telegraphs, and paid
firemen were introduced under his presidency.
One of the new steam fire-engines, by order of the
board, was named in his honor " John H. Leeds."
When the imposing firemen's monument in Ever-
green cemetery was dedicated he was appointed
orator of the daj-. He was for several years presi-
dent of the board of steam engines and boilers;
chairman of the fire and water departments of the
city for two years; and represented the city in
making contracts for water supply. In 1S75, owing
to increased business duties and the claims of the
Stamford Manufacturing Company which required
his services abroad, he withdrew from all public
offices. Upon this the city passed and presented
highly complimentary resolutions signifying their
sense of his eminent services. These were ordered
to be engrossed and jDresented in a permanent
framed memorial. The fire department also pre-
sented a magnificent and costly badge, a miniature
steam fire-engine, and fire apparatus, with the city
coat-of-arms highlj- embellished with diamonds and
rubies. Rarely has any citizen on his withdrawal
from public service been so honored. In 1879-S0
he was sent to the legislature as the city's first rep-
resentative. His colleague, Colonel Dexter R.
Wright, was chosen speaker of the house. It was
the first legislature that met in the new state
house. He was one of the committee on railroads,
and one of the peculiai'lj- important committee on
the construction of the dome of the state house.
Mr. Leeds was state director of the Wethersfield
penitentiary for six 3*ears, from 1879 to 1SS5. He
is now a director of the Yale National Bank, the
New Haven Savings Bank, the New Haven Water
Company, and a managing director of the Stamford
Manufacturing Company, in whose business he has
passed most of his time for years in Europe and
the Orient. Mr. Leeds' first trip to Europe was in
1876, when he opened a barytes mine'on the south
coast of Ireland. Since then his time has been
mostly spent in matters of a commercial and pro-
ductive nature that are found only in the Orient,
where he obtained many of the supplies of crude
materials, such as dj^es, drugs, and chemicals that
are used by the Stamford Manufacturing Company.
He is a most extensive traveler, the nature of his
business requiring him to go to rarely visited places
and among half -civilized and rude people. Besides
every country of Europe, he has visited Asia
Minor, Syria, Northern Egypt, nearly every island
of the Grecian Archipelago, all the cities of the
seven churches of Asia, as well as Tarsus, Antioch,
Aleppo, and the whole of Palestine. In the two
j^ears, 1SS4-S5, he ti-aveled over 80,000 miles by
steamshiiD, railway, horse, canal, and on foot. His
business transactions have been with all the tribes
of the Orient, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Bul-
garians, Koords, Bedouins, Arabs, and Egvptians.
His experiences have impressed him with the con-
\dction that, as a bodj^ the}' are commercially and
politically dishonest, and morally corrupt; while re-
ligious fanaticism is the controlling element of
their lives. jMr. Leeds was married Januarv 27,
1S5S, to Miss Frances A. Hine of Milford.
Physically, he is one of the largest and most
powerful of men. He stands 6 ft. i'^ in., has
heavy broad shoulders, a chest measurement of 46
inches, and weighs 250 pounds, but not accom-
panied with extraneous flesh. His health is vigor-
ous, and his constitution is one capable of long-sus-
tained and continuous labor. He is of a serious
turn of mind, and, being full of business, has little
time for the lighter conversation and frivolities of
life. This record shows that he has had a wide ac-
quaintance with men, and a useful and honorable
cai-eer, working with and upon those material
forces that move civilization on its ascending path-
wav.
S. T. HOLBROOK, Norwich: Judge of Probate.
Judge Supply T. Holbrook of the probate court,
Norwich district, is a gentleman of superior legal
attainments and has held numerous offices of trust
and responsibility. He
has been the judge of the
court of common pleas,
and is regarded with
marked esteem by the
New London county bar.
In politics Judge Hol-
brook is a republican.
He is connected with the
Second Congregational
church at Norwich and is
thoroughly interested in
the religious and educa-
tional standing of the
community. Judge Hol-
brook has been married twice. His first wife was
Sarah E. Shepard. The surviving one was Miss
Carrie Stark before marriage. There are five
children in the family, two sons and three daugh-
ters. The subject of this sketch was born at Rox-
bury, Mas5., Sept. 7, 1822, and received a common
school education in that state. His classical train-
ing was from private tutors. His life has been
spent in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In this
state he has resided in Hartford, New London, and
Norwich. He was formerly a professor of music.
S. T. HOLBROOK.
BlOGRAl'llV OF COXXECTICL'T.
49
p. C. LOUNSBURV.
HON. PHINEAS C. LOUXSBURY, RnK;Ei.iELiJ
Ex-(iovernor of Connecticut ; President Mer-
chants' Exchange National Bank of New York
city.
P. C. Lounsburyis a native of the town where he
still resides; he was born in 1S40. His father was
a farmer, and like most farmers' sons he worked on
the farm during the years
of boyhood and early
manhood. He found
time, however, to acquire
a thorough academic edu-
cation in the schools of
learning in his native
state. He then went to
New York city where he
secured a position as
clerk in a shoe store, and
in time familiarized him-
self with all departments
of the business. Having
laid the foundations for a
successful commercial career he began, upon at-
taining his majority, the manufacture of shoes with
his brother in New Haven under the firm name of
Lounsbury Brothers. The business was afterward
removed to South Norwalk, and carried on under
the firm name of Lounsbury, Jlatthewson & Co.
AVhen the ci\'il war broke out he enlisted as a pri-
vate in the Seventeenth Connecticut Regiment, but
after four months' active service was compelled by
severe sickness to return, being honorably dis-
charged and recommended for a pension, which he
would not accept.
Mr. Lounsbury represented Ridgefield in the
Connecticut house of representatives in 1874, and
occupied a leading position throughout the session.
He was a prominent factor in state politics for the
succeeding decade, and his name was before the
republican state convention in 1SS4, unsuccess-
fully, however, as a candidate for the chief execu-
tive office. In 1SS6 he was the only prominent
candidate for that position before the convention,
and received the nomination for governor by an
overwhelming majority on the first ballot. His in-
cumbency of the office of chief magistrate during
the succeeding two years gave signal satisfaction
to his constituents and the state. He maintained
the position with becoming dignity, performed its
duties ably and well, and achieved distinction
among the many conspicuous citizens who have ad-
ministered the affairs of the commonwealth.
Ex-Governor Lounsbury is a life-long and con-
sistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church,
in which his liberal views and enlightened senti-
ments have always been duly recognized; and he
now occupies an honored relation to her foremost
sch.jols, — notably to Wesleyan University at Mid-
O. H. PLATT.
dletown in this state, of which institution he has
long been a trustee. His business connections are
largely in New York, and he has for some years
been president of the Merchants Exchange Na-
tional Bank of that city, which under his control
has become one of the most solid and prosperous of
the banking houses of the metropoUs.
HON. ORVILLK H. PLATT, Meriden : United
States Senator.
Orville H. Piatt was born in the town of Wash-
ington, Litchfield county, in this state, on July 19,
1827. He was a son of Daniel G. Piatt, a farmer,
and worked upon his fath-
er's farm until he was
twenty years of age. His
education was received in
the common schools and
in the academy of Frede-
rick W. Gunn, of wide
reputation in later years
as the principal of " The
Gunnery," so called, in
the town of Washington,
an institution of learning
which became justly cel-
ebrated. Mr. Piatt stud-
ied law in the office of
Hon. Gideon H. HoUister, Litchfield, the well
known historian of Connecticut, now deceased,
and was admitted to the bar in Litchfield in 1S49.
Subsequently he secured admission to the Pennsyl-
vania bar in Towando, Bradford county, and spent
six months in the office of Hon. Ulysses Mercur,
now judge. of the supreme court of Pennsylvania.
He returned to Connecticut in 1S51, and located in
IMeriden as a practitioner of law, and has since
made that city his home. In 1855-6, he was clerk
of the Connecticut senate and was elected secre-
tary- of state in 1S57. In 1861-2, he was a member
of the senate, and in 1S64 and 1S69 was elected to
the house, — the last year serving as its speaker.
In all these positions he displayed exceptional
qualifications and showed a special aptitude for
legislative business. In 1877, he was chosen state
attorney for New Haven count}', and held that
place till elected in 1879 to the United States sen-
ate to succeed Hon. William H. Bamum. He
was unanimously re-elected at the expiration of
his first term, in 1885, and again at the close of his
second term in 1891.
Senator Piatt is a pleasant speaker and a good
debater — always clear and concise, wasting very
few words for the sake of oratorical effect. As a
lawyer he has had for many years a high standing
at the bar, and has made a specialty of patent
cases, though doing a general law practice. All
50
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
his life he has been a promoter of Christian and
philanthropic enterprises, actively working for the
best good of society through the organized chan-
nels of religion and temperance, while by his own
example assisting every good cause. His career
has been in all respects useful and honorable.
A. C. GOODMAN.
AARON C. GOODMAN, Hartford.
Mr. Goodman is a native of West Hartford,
where he was bom April 23, 1822. After the usual
custom of New England village boys, he had his
experience of wrestling
with the district school,
and at the age of thirteen
years left that institution
to try his hand at clerk-
ing in a Hartford book-
store. After some years
of such employment he
went to Philadelphia, in
1S41, to enter the service
of A. S. Barnes & Co.,
the noted publishers, —
who had established them-
selves in the Quaker City,
under the impression that
Philadelphia, and not New York, was destined to
become the mercantile metropolis of this country.
Mr. Goodman engaged with this firm for two
years ; but before the expu-ation of the first year,
he received an advantageous proposal from his for-
mer employer in Hartford to return and become
associated with him in the capacity of partner.
Looking upon the proposition with favor, he ob-
tained a release from Messrs. Barnes & Co. , at the
expiration of his first year, and on the first of
April, 1842, he came back to Hartford and com-
pleted the proposed connection with his old em-
ployer, taking an equal interest with him in the
business, which was thereafter conducted under the
firm name of Sumner & Goodman. After being
together six j^ears, Mr. Goodman bought his part-
ner's interest in the store, which he continued to
manage alone until 1S52, when he in turn sold out
and went to New York to engage in the paper
trade. He was in business in New York twenty-
one years. At the organization of the Phoenix
Mutual Life Insurance Company, in Hartford, in
1 85 1, Mr. Goodman became a stockholder, and
subsequently a director in the company. He
closed his business in New York and returned per-
manently to Hartford in 1873. Two years later,
m June, 1875, he was made president of the Phoe-
nix Life, succeeding in that office the Hon. Edson
Fessenden. He held the presidency of this com-
pany a little more than fourteen years, resign-
ing in 1889. Since retiring from his official con-
nection with the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance
Company, Mr. Goodman has embarked in no other
active enterprises, feeling that his health had been
somewhat impaired by long and close application
to business, and that he needed rest. He is not
inclined to make any changes which will increase
his business cares or anxieties, and feels that he
has probably performed his full share of the active
duties of an ordinary lifetime.
Mr. Goodman is a member of Trinity church,
Hartford, and has long been connected with the
masonic fraternitv.
G. W. DAIXS.
the close of the war.
GEORGE W. DAINS, East Litchfield: Paper
Manufacturer.
Mr. Dains was born in Litchfield, February 11,
1844. He attended the common schools of the
town, and in 1S61, at age of seventeen, enlisted in
the New York Fourth
Cavalry regiment, from
which he was dischai'ged
in the spring of 1862 on
account of disability from
sickness. In the fall of
1862 he enlisted in Com-
pany K, Twenty- Third
regiment, Connecticut
Volunteers, and served
until the expiration of his
term of enlistment; after-
wards enlisting in the
Third Connecticut Light
Battery, and serving until
He worked at farming two
years or more, then entered and graduated from
Eastman's National Business College at Poughkeep-
sie, N. Y., after which he was cashier for the mer-
cantile house of Benedict, Merriman & Co. of
Waterbury, during which time he was married to
Miss Mary A. Page, daughter of John D. Page, of
the firm of Page & Keeney, paper manufacturers
of East Litchfield. October 1, 1871, he bought Mr.
Keeney 's interest in the mill, and commenced the
business in company with Mr. Page, under the
firm name of Page & Dains, which firm is still
carrying on the business at the old stand.
Mr. Dains has had three children, two of whom
— one son and one daughter — are living. He has
held the offices of justice of the peace, school visi-
tor, town auditor, and registrar of voters. At
present he holds the office of county auditor for
Litchfield county and also that of commissioner of
the supeiior court. He was brought up a demo-
crat, and went into the army as a democrat, but
came out an uncompromising republican. While
his post-office address is East Litchfield, his resi-
dence is on the Harwinton side of the Naugatuck
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
SI
river, which divides the two towns of Harwinton
and Litchfield. He has twice represented the town
of Harwinton in the legislature, first in 1S77 and
again 1S89, when he served as house chairman of
the joint standing committee on claims. At the
November election in 1S90 he was elected to the
state senate from the eighteenth district, and was
with the minority in that bodj^ during the peculiar
proceedings which characterized the remarkable
session of 1S91. He has been engaged in local
politics for many years and chairman of the repub-
lican town committee for the past thirteen years.
He is a member and past commander of L. W.
Steele Post, G. A. R., of Torrington; also belongs
to the orders of Royal Arcanum and Knights of
Honor, in which last-named order he is grand
assistant dictator. In his religious faith and con-
nections Mr. Dains is a Congregationalist.
5S^S-
S. E. MERWIX.
HON. SAMUEL E. MERWIN, New Havex :
Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut.
Samuel E. ^lerwin was born in the town of
Brookfield, Fairfield county. Conn., August 31,
I S3 1. His education was that afforded by the dis-
trict school of that day,
supplemented by a 3'ear's
instruction in a school of
higher grade in the adjoin-
ing town of Newtown.
In his sixteenth year he
removed to New Haven
with his father, where he
spent one j-ear in school
before beginning his busi-
ness life. After serving
as clerk for two or three
years he associated him-
self with his father, whose
name he bears, under the
firm name of S. E. Merwin & Son, and continued
in this relation until 1SS9. Outside of his very
active and successful business life General Merwin
has been identified with a variety of important pub-
lic and private trusts. For two years he served
his city as commissioner of police, and for nine
years was an active and efficient member of the
board of education. In 1S72 he represented the
fourth senatorial district in the legislature, being
elected by a majority of 500 in a district heavily
democratic. He has also been a candidate of the
republicans for mayor of his city, and member of
congress from the second district, his great popi;-
larity in both cases nearly resulting in overcoming
large democratic majorities. His great admiration
and friendship for the soldiers led to his appoint-
ment as chairman of the committee to build the
soldiers' monument erected by the town of New
Haven, and it is largely due to his untiring zeal
and energy that a most beautiful tribute has been
dedicated to their memorj'.
General Merwin is at present the president of
the Connecticut Hospital Society, trustee of the
Orphan Asylum, and president of the New Haven
Savings Bank — the largest savings institution in
New Haven. The various positions show the
esteem in which he is held by his associates, and
show also liis charitable nature, as they are all a
drain upon his time and pocket, without any
pecuniary compensation. He is almost daily the
counsellor and advisor of widows and orphans,
and has been called frequently during the past
twenty years by the business men of his city to
settle various estates, including those of insurance
companies, banks, manufacturers, and merchants;
and in these important trusts, often complicated,
he has ever won the esteem and thanks of the
creditors for faithftil and energetic settlements.
In military circles General Merwin has been more
conspicuous even than in civil life. During the war
he was in command of the New Haven Grays, sub-
sequently he became lieutenant-colonel, and colonel
of the second regiment, and later was adjutant-
general under Governor Jewell for three years.
Probably no man in Connecticut, not in actual ser-
vice, was more efficient during the civil war than
General Merwin. In response to a call from Gov-
ernor Btickingham, the Grays under his command
volunteered to go to Gettysburg. During the
draft riots in New York his company remained
under arms for thirty days, in hourly expectation
of being called upon to aid in averting that appal-
ling danger. Guarding conscripts, burpng with
appropriate honors many officers and soldiers who
had fallen in battle or died in hospitals, and receiv-
ing with proper military display the returning vet-
erans of the war, became a part of his official
duties while in command of the regiment. His
last military service was to direct in the capture of
a party of prize fighters and their associates at
Charles Island opposite Milford. By his judicious
management the whole party were taken to New
Haven and turned over to the civil authorities. The
prompt and efficient action at that time has since
saved our state from scenes of such brutal char-
acter.
General Merwin was chosen lieutenant-governor
of Connecticut for two 3'ears, on the state ticket
with Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley at its head, by the
legislature of 18S9. In the fall of 1S90 he was
nominated by the republicans for governor, but
failed of an election by the people at the polls in
November. On the assembling of the legislature
in January, 1891, a series of entanglements arose
and no legal election or inauguration of state offi-
cers was accomplished by that body — except in
52
AX ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
the case of the comptroller, who was declared to
have been elected by the people. Lieut. -Governor
Merwin is therefore, at the present writing, acting
lieutenant-governor of the commonwealth, and,
under the constitution will remain such until his
successor shall be duly chosen and qualified.
General Merwin's name, in all the various walks
of life, whether civil or military, public or private,
has been synonymous with honor, integrit}-, and
energy. He has done his duty at all times to the
satisfaction of his fellow-citizens.
C. G. JOHNSON.
CHAUNCEY G. JOHNSON, Meriden: Real Es-
tate.
Chauncey G. Johnson, who is engaged in the
real estate business in Meriden, with a large and
successful patronage, was born at Johnstown, Ohio,
Aug. 15, 1S45, and at four
years of age removed with
his parents to Durham,
Conn., where he was ed-
ucated in the common
schools. Both of his pa-
I'ents died before he was
thirteen years of age. In
1 86 1 at the age of sixteen
he removed from Durham
to Meriden and has grown
up with the city, being
identified with its best
interests. He is an ac-
tive member of the Con-
gregational church and the Young Men's Christian
Association. In 1S84 he commenced the building
up of a successful fire insurance business, but in
1889 disposed of his interest to the Meriden Fire In-
surance Co. Since then he has devoted his time
■entirely to real estate interests. During the win-
ter of 18SS he took a three months' trip through the
principal cities of the south and to California, and
on the return trip visited the principal western
cities with a view of gaining a thorough knowledge
of real estate. Flattering offers were made him
while in California and also in Denver to locate
there in real estate interests, but having built up a
successful business in Meriden he concluded to re-
main there where he was well known and possessed
the confidence and patronage of the people. He
also has the management of several large estates,
giving his personal attention to the business in all
its details. Mr. Johnson is a republican in poli-
tics. He was one of the first letter carriers in
Meriden. He is connected with a number of clubs
and associations and is a popular gentleman. His
wife, who was Miss Lucy M. Lee prior to her mar-
riage, died in October, 1889. Only one daughter
remains in the familv.
SAMUEL SIMPSON.
SAMUEL SIMPSON, Wallingford ; President
the Simpson, Hall & Miller Company, and the
Simpson Nickel Silver Companj-.
Samuel Simpson, one of the best-known manu-
facturers in the state, was born in Wallingford,
April 7, 1 8 14, and received a thorough common-
school education. In Jan-
uary, 1S35, he engaged in
the manufacturing busi-
ness, and has since con-
tinued in that line of ac-
tivit}', building up an ex-
tensive industr}' in bri-
tannia, nickel, silver, and
electro silver-plated ware.
He is the president of the
vSimpson, Hall & Miller
Company, and of the
Simpson Nickel Silver
Company. He is also the
president of the National
and Savings banks, occupying this position in each
since its estabhshment. Mr. Simpson is a promi-
nent democrat and has held important positions
within the gift of his party. In 1S80 he was a dele-
gate to the national democratic convention at Cin-
cinnati, and has represented the town of Walling-
ford in the legislature during the sessions of 1846,
1S59, 1865, and 1879. He has been the nominee of
his party on various occasions for the state senate,
and has held the offices of justice of the peace,
selectman, assessor, member of the board of relief,
and warden of the borough. When he first ran for
state senator, he was on the ticket wdth Samuel
Ingraham for governor, and Samuel Arnold for con-
gress. As the New Haven Register of that day
expressed it: " We have three Sams on our ticket."
Only one Sam, however, was elected — Arnold of
Haddam. In the legislature Mr. Simpson exer-
cised a wide influence and was invariably instru-
mental in promoting the best interests of the state.
His busmess interests and associations have ex-
tended beyond Wallingford. From 1840 until 1850
he was engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York
city under the firm name of Simpson & Benham,
his place of business being on Pearl street. He
was one of the original stockholders of the First
National Bank in Meriden in 1863, subscribing to
one-tenth of the stock. He has been a director
since the organization of the bank, Joel H. Guy
being the president. Mr. Simpson married Miss
Martha DeEtte Benham of Cheshire, July 6, 1835.
She is still living. Of a family of six children only
one survives. Mr. Simpson is a member of St.
Paul's church in WalUngford, and holds the office
of senior vi^arden, having been the incumbent of the
position since 1S57. He began his career as a citi-
zen of the state by sustaining the administration of
RIOGRAPTIV OF CONNECTICUT.
53
E. C. LEWIS.
President Jackson, and lias voted for every demo-
cratic candidate for the presidencj' since he became
of age.
EDWARD C. LEWIS, Watekhukv : President
Watcrbiiry Parrel Foundry and Machine Com-
pany.
E. C. Lewis, who is one of Waterbury's most
substantial citizens, and interested in some of the
largest enterprises of that prosperous city, is a na-
tive of North Wales, born
September 23, 1S26. At
the early age of four years
he came to this country
with his father and moth-
er, locating at Bridgeport.
His parents being pos-
sessed of but little
money, they could only
give him a common-
school education, and
early in life he was com-
pelled to go to work in
cotton and woolen mills,
where he was engaged
for eight years. He then sought other occupation
and entered, as an apprentice, the Bridgeport
Iron Works, a concern which he, with others, in
later life, owned and managed. In 1847 he re-
moved to Birmingham and woi-ked for Colburn &
Bassett, who were then prominent iron founders in
that \-icinity. In 1S49 he became foreman for the Far-
rell Foundry & Machine Company of Ansonia, and
it was here that Mr. Lewis demonstrated his thor-
ough knowledge of the business, and also his execu-
tive ability, which soon resulted in his being trans-
ferred to Waterbury as foreman for the same con-
cern, which had a branch foundry and machine
shop at that locality. Mr. Lewis rapidly rose in
the estimation of those by whom he was emploj-ed,
and by the simple force of his ability and character
soon secured an interest in the business, and in a
short time became the active manager and head of
the concern at Waterbury. The Parrel Foundry
& Machine Company have long been known
throughout the Naugatuck valley as successful iron
founders and builders of machinery, and no one
concern in that section has done more to build up
its material interests than they. In this work ^Ir.
Lewis has done much by giving it his best thought
and untiring effort. Politically, he has always
been a pronounced republican, and as such has held
several offices binder the city government, having
been elected twice as a member of the common
council, and also served one term as police commis-
sioner. In the fall of 1SS3 he reluctantly accepted
a nomination for representative in the legislature,
from Waterburv and was handsomelv elected
against an able political opponent, and that in a
town which usually gives a democratic majority —
a sufficient tribute to his popularity and abilitj'.
Mr. Lewis is a member of Trinity Episcopal
church of Waterbury ; a member of the order of
Odd Fellows, and of the Waterbury club. Addi-
tionally to his connection with the Parrel cornpany,
he is a director and one of the original projectors of
the Manufacturers' National Bank of Waterbury,
an owner in several manufacturing concerns, and
has a large real estate interest in Waterbury. He
is thus thoroughly identified with the material
prosperity and welfare of his section, and is also in
hearty and active sympathy with all efforts for the
public good in its higher and broadest sense.
EDWIN A. BUCK, Wh.limantic : Wholesale and
Retail Merchant.
The subject of this sketch was born in Ashford,
Conn., February 11, 1S32, and received in addition
to a common school education one term at the Ash-
ford Academy. At the
age of eighteen he com-
menced teaching and for
six years followed the
business of teaching in
winter and working on a
farm in summer. In
1 85 5 he married Delia
Lincoln, also a native of
Ashford. In 1S56 he com-
menced business in sawed
lumber, which soon grew
into a large trade in car
timber, plow beams and
handles, and also chestnut
finishing lumber, large quantities of which were
shipped to New York. In this business he used
several water-power sawmills and employed a
large number of men. In the year 1865 he pur-
chased at bankrupt sale the property of the West-
ford Glass Company, and associating with him the
late Capt. John S. Dean and Charles L. Dean, also
residents of A.shford, commenced the manufacture
of glass under the firm name of E. A. Buck & Co.
This firm employed in various capacities about one
hundred and fifty men, and made a large addition
to the business interest of the town ; and so success-
fully was the business carried on that it became
necessary to establish houses in both New York
and Boston, not only for the sale of the firm's goods
but other lines of goods not manufactured by them.
In 1874 he sold out his glass business. For several
years he was a director in the Stafford National
Bank and one of the original corporators of the
Stafford Savings Bank, and also became president
of that institution. In 1875 he became interested
E. A. ULCK.
54
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
in real estate in Willimantic and removed to that
place in the autumn of that year, resigning his
offices in the Stafford banks. In the year 1877 he
formed a partnership with the late Allen Lin-
coln of Willimantic and Everett M. Durkee of Ash-
ford for carrying on a grain business, and soon
after purchased the hardware business of Crawford
& Banford at Stafford Springs and located his old-
est son at that place to take care of the business.
This business is still in the same firm name of
E. A. Buck & Co., and he has also two other firms
of E. A. Buck & Co., one in oil the other in hard-
ware, in Palmer, Mass. In addition to the WiUi-
mantic firms of E. A. Buck & Co., dealers in hard
wood lumber, of which firm Col. Marvin Knowlton
is a member, he is also the head of the firm of
E. A. Buck & Co., wholesale and retail dealers in
flour and grain, of which firm W. A. Buck, the son,
is junior partner. In 1885 he was el(j!cted a director
and the following year president of the Willimantic
Savings Institute, holding the position two years
through a very critical time in its history caused by
the irregularities of its treasurer, but finally placing
it on a sound financial basis. He was elected to
his first political office, that of constable of the
town, soon after his admission as an elector, and in
1856, at the age of twenty-four, was elected by the
republican part}- a member of the legislature, being
the youngest member m the house. In 1S62 he was
again elected to the legislature by a coalition of
union democrats and republicans by a very large
majority. He was also appointed by the town to
fill its quota of soldiers, and was a firm friend of
the union cause, furnishing money to pay for en-
listed men which was afterwards paid by the town.
He has always been a firm friend of the soldiers,
assisting many of them in obtaining pensions from
the government. In 1S64 he joined his fortunes
with the democratic party, and the town having
previously been republican, was carried by the
democrats, and in 1865 he was again elected a
member of the legislature. He has held nearly all
of the town offices, — selectman, assessor, town
clerk, and judge of probate. In 1874 and again in
1875 he was re-elected to the legislature, and during
both sessions served on the judiciary committee.
In the spring of 1876, after his removal to Willi-
mantic, he was elected to the senate, it being the
last session in the old state house. In the autumn
of that year he was nominated and elected treasurer
of the state, which office he filled for two years.
He was renominated for the same position in 187S,
but shared the fate of the rest of the democratic
ticket. He has always been active in politics,
filling the position of town committee and state
central committee of the democratic party, and also
a member of the finance committee for the last two
years.
W. RUSSELL.
THOMAS W. RUSSELL, Hartford; President
Connecticut General Life Insurance Company.
Mr. Russell is a native of Greenfield, Mass.,
where he was born May 22, 1824. Educated in the
district schools of his native town and the adjoining
town of Coleraine, with a
■irZ"-^_ supplementary academic
course, he engaged in
teaching for a single win-
ter. This calling, how-
ever, he forsook for mer-
cantile business, following
the latter for about six
years, or until 1852, when
he entered upon what has
proved his life work by
soliciting insurance for
the Charter Oak Life In-
surance Company of Hart-
ford. After four years
service as a local agent, incidental to his mercan-
tile business, he was made the general traveling
agent for the same company, and in 1S57 was
chosen its vice-president. In 1S64, Mr. Russell
was induced to leave the Charter Oak Life Insur-
ance Company and become nominally the actuary
of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company.
In 1865, the legislature of Connecticut chartered
the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company,
and Mr. Russell was induced to become its secre-
tary. He subsequently became president and ac-
tive manager, having held the latter relations now
for nearly a score of years. LTnder his control and
advice the original scope and plans of the company
were radically changed, and it was long ago placed
on an equal footing with the best life companies of
the country. One of the most competent insurance
critics of the present day says of President Russell
that " he is perhaps as fine an example as there is
in this country of the man who seeks his content-
ment in the daily rcjund of duty, satisfied if the end
of the year finds the cause of his company ad-
vanced, its business increasing and the death-rate
normal. He is one of the old workers in life insur-
ance, who has a steady faith in his business, an
earnest desire to benefit all with whom he comes in
contact, and who keeps about him the clean and
pure atmosphere of business honor." The healthy
and prosperous condition of this company is suffi-
cient evidence of the ability and integrity of its
managenient, of which the subject of this sketch is
the head and front.
Outside his business relations Mr. Russell is
called upon to aid in social, civil, and religious work.
He has been a member of the general assembly of
this state, was for a number of years connected
with the Hartford city government, is a director in
several of the city corporations, an officer and
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
55
active worker in Park Congregational Church, and
a director in the city missionary society. He is in-
terested in and often called to assist in the admin-
istration of the educational affairs of his city.
L. M. LEACH.
LEVERETT M. LEACH, Durham; Investment
Securities.
Mr. Leach was born in Madison, Conn., in 1822,
a lineal " son of the Revolution," his grandfather
on his mother's side having been a soldier in the
revolutionary army, who
enlisted at the age of six-
teen , served throught)ut
the war, was in the line
and witnessed the sur-
render of General Corn-
wallis at Yorktown. In
1S35 he removed with his
parents to Durham, where
his father, Leverett W.
Leach, established an ex-
tensive country store, and
where he has ever since
resided. He was educa-
ted at the public and se-
lect schools of his native and adopted town, until
about eighteen years of age. He was then em-
ployed as clerk in his father's store until he reached
his majority. In 1S43 he became a partner in the
business, under the firm name of L. W. Leach &
Son, and continued as such until the death of his
father in 1S66. In 1855 his only brother, Oscar
Leach, was admitted a partner, and since the
decease of his father and until the year 1S82, has
been the senior partner in the business, thereafter
conducted under the name of L. M. & O. Leach;
thus having been for forty-three years in active
mercantile life, as clerk or principal. In 1S44 he
married Lydia ]\I. Thayer, who, with one daughter,
the wife of Charles E. Bacon of Middletown, is
now li\nng. He was a representative in the some-
what memorable legislature of 1849, when Joseph
Trumbull, the last of the famous governors of that
name, was chosen governor by the general assem-
bly, the "free soilers " holding the balance of
power in the house of representatives. He was
also a representative in the legislature of i S60 and
the special session called by Governor Buckingham
in December of that year. He was elected senator
from the " old " 18th senatorial district in 1S62. Was
postmaster from 1849 to '53. He has held various
town offices and was for ten or twelve years first
selectman, justice of the peace, etc. He has been
a director in the First National Bank of Middle-
town for a number of years, and a trustee of the
Middletown Savings Bank since 1S64. He is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In
politics is connected with the republican party, with
a large reserve of independence. He is not at
present engaged in any active business enterprise,
but generally occupied in such business of a public
or private character as a large and extensive
acquaintance with his townsmen and the surround-
ing community brings to him, besides being the
local agent of several of the largest and soundest
investment companies of this and other states.
A. 11. CALEF.
HON. ARTHUR B. CALEF, Middletown:
Judge ^liddletown City Court.
Arthur B. Calef was born at Sanbornton, N.
H., June 30, 1825. He worked on a farm and
taught school winters until twenty-one years of age;
prepared for college in a
year at the New Hamp-
shire Conference vSemi-
nary at Tilton, N. H.;
entered Wesleyan LTni-
versity in 1847 and grad-
uated therefrom in 1S51.
During his college course
he taught district schools
three winters and was
principal of Woodman
Sanbornton Academy at
Sanbornton, N. H., one
term. He studied law at
Middletown with Judge
Charles Whittlesey and was admitted to the bar of
Middlesex county in 1852. He was soon after ap-
pointed clerk of the courts in Middlesex county and
held the office for about eight j-ears. Judge Calef
has been councilman, alderman, recorder, and city
attorney of the city of Middletown, school visitor,
and treasurer of the state of Connecticut. Elected
to the latter office at twenty-nine years of age, he
has survived the distinction for a longer period
than any other living state treasurer. He has been
Grand Junior Warden of the Grand Lodge of A.
F. and A. Masons of the state; was trustee of Wes-
leyan LTniversity about twenty years, and for some
years its secretary, and has been lecturer on consti-
tutional law in the university. He was a delegate
to the national republican convention in i860 and
1S64; was postmaster at Middletown from 1861 to
1S69; was for several years president of the Xi
Chapter of Psi L'''psilon at Wesleyan LTniversity,
and also president of the Alumni Association. He
is president of the Middletown Gas Light Company,
director in several financial institutions, and is now
and has been for seven years past, judge of the
city court of Middletown. He has had an extensive
practice in the state and United States courts.
Judge Calef married, March 21, 1853, Miss Hannah
F. Woodman, granddaughter of Col. Asa Foster of
56
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
the revolutionary army. They have four sons, all
living, among whom are Dr. J. F. Calef of Crom-
well, and Arthur B. Calef of Middletown, an
attorney-at-law. Judge Calef is a direct descend-
ant of Robert Calef of Boston, who wrote and pub-
lished a book in opposition to witchcraft in 1700 and
in reply to Cotton Mather.
C. H. ri.NE.
CHARLES H. PINE, A.nsunia : President An-
sonia National Bank.
Charles H. Pine was born at River ton, in the
town of Barkhamsted, September 20, 1845. He
left the public schools at the age of sixteen 3'ears to
enlist in Company E,
Nineteenth Regiment, af-
terwards the Second
Heavy Artillery, and
served as musician for
three years, or imtil the
close of the war. At its
termination he engaged
in mercantile business
with N. B. Lathrop in Wol-
cottville, now Torring-
ton, remaining two years.
In 1 86 7 he entered the
Ansonia National Bank
as clerk, and was subse-
quently appointed bookkeeper, then teller, elected
cashier in 1S73, and president in 1SS6, a position he
now holds. He has held various offices of trust
and responsibility during his residence in Ansonia,
such as treasurer of the borough of Ansonia,
treasurer of the Pine Grove Cemetery Association,
and treasurer of the Fourth School District of
Derby. He represented the town of Derby in the
general assembly of 1882, and served as house
chairman of the committee on military affairs; was
re-elected a member of the house of 1883, and
chosen speaker. He was paymaster-general on the
staff of Governor Lounsbury in 1887-8. He is an
ardent republican, believing in the principles of
the republican party most thoroughly, and has al-
ways been an earnest, faithful worker in the cause
of republicanism. He is a member of the Grand
Army of the Republic, of the Society of the Sixth
Corps, of the Society of the Army of the Potomac,
and the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut. He
is actively engaged in business pursuits, for, besides
holding the position of president of the Ansonia
National Bank, he is president of the Sperry Manu-
facturing Company of Ansonia, of the Seymour
Manufacturing Company of Seymour, and of the
Bridgeport Forge Company of Bridgeport, treasurer
of the Bridgeport Copper Company of Bridgeport,
and of the Parrot Silver and Copper Company of
Butte City, Montana. He is also a special partner
school education.
in a commission house in New York City doing
business with the West Indies.
Mr. Pine has been, literally, the architect of his
own fortune. Starting a poor boy, without iniluen-
tial friends, he has made his own way in life, and
has reached a degree of success, financially and
socially, rarely attained by much older men than
he. He is regarded with high esteem in political
and business circles throiighout the state, and par-
ticularly in Ansonia, with whose interests he is
closely identified.
SAMUEL R. CRAMPTON, Madison :
Mr. Crampton was born at East Guilford, now
Madison, July 11, 1816. He received a common
Circumstances over which he
had no control kept him
with his father until his
majority. Like many
young men without
means, he engaged in
several kinds of business
which gave him only a
bare living. At the age
of twenty-one he was
chosen town constable.
His father being the trial-
justice of the town gave
him most of his business
in this line. During the
administration of Lean-
ander Parmelee, sheriff of New Haven coutity,
he held the position of deputy for about six years.
After the retirement of Sheriff Parmelee he was
the candidate of the republican party for sheriff
at two different elections, but was defeated each
time, the county being strongly democratic. In
1 8 54, he was elected to the legislature, of which
body he was one of the youngest members. In
1856, he was at the convention which organized
the republican party, and has been in every state
convention of the party since; — a republican who
looks back upon the achievements of the party
with great satisfaction. In business he has been
connected with New York houses about twenty
years, first as commercial traveler for nine years,
and afterwards with Messrs. E. & H. T. Anthony
for a like period, holding a prominent position in
their extensive establishment, then at 501 Broad-
way. In all these years of New York life he held
his residence in Madison. Later, under the ad-
ministration of Prof. Cyrus Northrup, as collector
of the port of New Haven, he held the position of
weigher and gauger for twelve years. He has
been a member of the Congregational church of
Madison for more than fifty years, and has been
active there as in all local matters pertaining to the
S. R. CRAMPTON.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
57
D. 1). KROWX.
interest of the town. He is now livinj;- witli his
second wife, bv whom he has had four chikh-en,
anioni;^ whom he is now enjoyinii' his old at;"e.
DELOS I). BROWN, Chatham: Hotel Proprie-
tor.
Mr. Brown was born at Orleans, Barnstable
County, Mass., in 1S3S. His education was ac-
quired at Chase's Institute in Middletown, and at
Wesleyan Academy in
Wilbraham, Mass. Dur-
ing active life he has been
engaged in manufactur-
ing and mercantile busi-
ness, and in the promo-
tion of these interests has
traveled extensively
through the southern and
western states. He was
at one time house re-
porter of the legislature
for the New Haven Morn-
ing News.
At the outbreak of the
war Mr. Brown enlisted in the federal service,
raised a company for the Twenty-first regiment, C.
V. , going out as first lieutenant. He was promoted
to the rank of captain, and commended in special
orders for gallant conduct at the battle of Drewry's
Bluff. He participated in nearly all the battles in
which the Twenty-first was engaged, including
among others, Fredericksburg, the siege of Suffolk,
the siege of Petersburg, Va. , Cold Harbor, and
Drewry's Bluff. When the rebel general, Fitz-Hugh
Lee, was captured at W^hite House Landing, Va.,
Captain Brown was detailed with his company to
conduct him to Fortress Monroe, and deliver him
up as a prisoner of war. His regiment belonged
to Burnside's famous Ninth Army corps, and was
co.nmanded by Colonel Arthur H. Dutton of the
regular army, and later by Colonel Thomas F.
Burpee of Rockville, Conn., both of whom were
killed in the service.
The father of Captain Brown enlisted in the war
of 1812, but saw no active service. His grandfather
served in the war of the revolution. All the male
members of his father's famih' were in the army or
navy during the war of the rebellion, his older
brother as paymaster and his younger brother as
paymaster's assistant in the navy, and his brother
in-law, Lieutenant F. W. H. Buell, was with him
in the Twenty-first regiment and died in the ser-
vice. His father, the Rev. Thomas G. Brown,
when sixty-three years of age, anxious to take part
in the conflict, was appointed chaplain of the
Twenty-first regiment, and by gallant conduct
under fire, at tlie battle of Drewrv's Bluft", where he
was wounded in the arm, became known as the
" Fighting Chaplain." Captain Brown was a mem-
ber of the htmse of representatives in 18S2; was
county commissioner for Middlesex county for two
terms; is chainuan of the republican town com-
mittee; a member of the Army and Navy Club of
Connecticut: also of Mansfield Post, No. 53, G. A.
R. ; a prominent member of the masonic fraternity,
and of the order of American Mechanics. At the
present time he is proprietor of the Lake View
House, a beautiful summer resort on Lake Pocoto-
paug at East Hampton, in this state.
W. W. MCLAXE.
REV. WILLIA.M W. McLANE, New Haven :
Pastor College Street Congregational Church.
Rev. William W. McLane was born in Indiana
Co., Pa., Nov. 13, 1846. His father was of Scotch
ancestry and his mother of English descent, the
original members of her
family having come to
Philadelphia with Wm.
Penn or his immediate
followers. Mr. McLane
grew up in the country
and was trained in the
Presbyterian faith. He
was graduated Bachelor
and Master of Arts from
Blackburn University,
graduated in theology
from the Western Theo-
logical Seminary in Alle-
gheny, and subsequently
took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Yale
L^niversity for special studies in biology and phi-
losophy. He received the degree of D.D. from his
alma mater in 1882. He taught one j-ear in an
academy and two years in college before entering
the seminary, and stood at the head of a large
class numbering almost fifty when he graduated
in theology. He was ordained a Presbyterian
minister in May, 1S74, and continued in that
denomination nine years, spending the last five
as pastor of the Second Presbyterian church,
Steuben ville, O., then the largest Presbyterian
church in that part of the state. He then left the
Presbyterian denomination and has been pastor of
College Street Congregational church. New Haven,
since January, 1884. Dr. McLane has been twice
married, his last wife, ne^ Miss Fanny Robinson,
being a descendant of the family of John Robinson
the Pilgrim pastor. She is also descended on
her mother's side from Governor Bradford and
on the father's from Governor Carver. Her
ancestors have formed almost an unbroken line
of ministers. There are in the family five
children, all boys, two being sons of the first wife
58
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
and three sons of the second. Dr. McLane is the
author of a book on theology, and has contributed
articles to the leading religious newspapers and to
different magazines. Several sermons and ad-
dresses of his have also been published.
JOSHUA PERKINS.
JOSHUA PERKINS, D.D.S., Daxielsonville.
Dr. Joshua Perkins is a descendant of the sixth
generation of John Perkins, who came from New-
ent, Gloucester County, England, in 163 1, and
settled in Ipswich, Mass.,
and some of whose de-
scendants settled in Lis-
bon, Conn., then included
in the town of Norwich,
Conn. He was born in
Lisbon, Conn., April 16,
1818, attended the com-
mon district school until
twelve years of age, and
at fifteen taught a dis-
trict school, and, as most
all teachers did at that
time, " boarded around in
the district."
At seventeen years of age he was fitted for col-
lege at Plainfield Academy, under the instruction
of that excellent and respected teacher, John Wit-
ter, and in the same class that included Dr. Lowell
Holbrook of Thompson, Dr. Elijah Baldwin of
Canterbury, and Hon. Albert H. Almy of Norwich,
now of New York, and other classmates from this
and other states. He did not enter college, as did
many of his classmates.
At nineteen he was chosen captain of the Sixth
infantry companj^ Eighteenth regiment of Connec-
ticut militia. After serving three years and havmg
no taste or ambition for military matters he re-
signed the captaincy of the company.
Having followed mercantile business in the then
" far west " for a number of years, he returned to
Lisbon, then, after a few years, he came to Daniel-
sonville, where he has followed a successful and
remunerative practice of dentistry for more than
thirty years.
In religion he is a Unitarian, and in politics he
can say of himself, " I am a democrat." He has
taken an active interest in local matters and politi-
cal questions. He was clerk and treasurer of the
borough of Danielsonville six years ('57 to '63); was
warden of the borough three years ('83 to '86); was
registrar of voters in the town of Killingly three
years ('69 to '72); was a member of the board of
education three years ('77 to '80); and is now and
has been for many years past a town auditor. He
was a delegate to the Union National Convention
in Philadelphia in 1866, and a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention at Chicago in
1884, which nominated President Cleveland, and
was by his fellow delegates chosen a vice-president
of that convention. Dr. Perkins has long been a
recognized and trusted leader of the democratic
party in his town, and is well known in Windham
county as an efficient organizer and worker in the
democratic ranks. He has twice ('83 and '88) re-
ceived the nomination for state senator in the Six-
teenth senatorial district. Unfortunately for him
and the democratic party he is in a town and a sen-
atorial district dominated by adverse political con-
ditions, otherwise his well-known abilities would
have done his party able service in a broader field
than his town limits. As a writer and speaker Dr.
Perkins is direct and effective and is worthy of and
has the confidence of his partv.
\>VSV
J. W. MARVIN.
HON. JOHN WHITTLESEY MARVIN, Sav-
brook: Insurance and Investments.
John W. Marvin was born, the youngest son of
Deacon John Marvin, in Lyme, January 13, 1824.
He came of excellent stock, being a lineal de-
scendant of Captain Rey-
^'' ^ nold Marvin, justly re-
nowned in the history of
the town. Up to his thir-
teenth year the family
lived in Lyme ; then it re-
moved to Deep River
(Saybrook). There the
subject of this sketch has
since lived. The town
has found him a capable
and efficient officer. He
has been town clerk, a
member of the board of
relief, justice of the peace,
and has held various other elective ofiices. In 1871
and 1872 he represented Saybrook in the legisla-
ture, and both years served upon the leading com-
mittee — the judiciary. Among his associates were
some of the ablest minds that have found their way
recently to membership in the house — Messrs.
Waite, Ingersoll, Treat, Eaton, and Seymour. In
1871 he was also a member of the committee on
constitutional amendments. During the past sev-
eral years he has been engaged in the general in-
surance business, and latterlj- has added to it a
western loan and farm mortgage agency. His ex-
cellent judgment and sterling integrity have raised
him to financial positions of prominence. He is
now a director in a national bank and savings
bank and in an insurance company. In the fall
of 18S5 he was elected by his party — the republi-
cans — as senator from the twenty first district.
As a legislator, his practical knowledge of public
BIOGRAPHY OF CONXFXTICUT.
59
and general affairs greatl\- facilitated the dis-
charge of senatorial duties, and he easily took
rank among the ablest and most active of his
colleagues.
RIKUS S PICKETT.
RUFUS STARR PICKETT, New H.we.n : At-
torney-at-La\v, Judge of the City Court.
Judge Pickett, a resident of New Haven since
1S54, is a descendant of the sixth generation of an
English ancestor who emigrated from Dover, Eng-
land, and settled at Mil-
ford, in this state. He
was born at Ridgefield,
Feb. 2S, 1S29, studied in
the common schools, and
prepared for college at
Hugh Banks' academy,
in his native town.
On account of the fail-
ing health of his father,
Rufus H. Pickett, Rufus
S. was, when eighteen
years of age, compelled to
relinquish study, and de-
vote himself to the man-
agement of his father's business, which he con-
tinued for six years, when he removed to New
Haven, and for seven and a half j^ears worked at
building and repairing locomotives for the New
York & New Haven Railroad, when it was a sin-
gle track road, doing its business with twenty-
four engines only.
In the Lincoln campaign of 1S60 Mr. Pickett,
then, as now, an ardent republican, was encour-
aged to take an active part, by his friend and former
schoolmate, Cjtus Northrop, then a professor in
Yale college, now president of the University of
Minnesota. He answered some of the numerous
calls for speakers in New Haven and adjoining
towns, speaking in company with Professor North-
rop, Hon. N. D. Sperry, John Woodruff, M.C., and
others. After the Lincoln administration came
into power, and the late James F. Babcock was ap-
pointed collector of the port of New Haven, he ap-
pointed Mr. Pickett an inspector of customs, which
office, and that of weigher and ganger, he held for
several years; and while in these offices, and per-
forming his duties faithfully, resumed study, en-
tered the Yale Law School, took the Jewell prize
as essayist at the close of the first year, graduated
with fair honors in 1S73, and entered upon the gen-
eral practice of law. In 1S77 he was appointed
city attorney, being continued in that office six
years; in 1SS5 was appointed assistant judge, and
in 1SS7 judge of the city court of New Haven.
Judge Pickett heard some of the early boycott
cases, and prepared opinions on them, which had a
wide circulation in the country, and which have
been substantially confirmed by the higher courts
of several states.
Judge Pickett is married, and has four children.
His religious connections are with the Congrega-
tionalists, and he is a "Son of the Revolution"
through his maternal ancestry.
W. J. MILLER.
WATSON J. MILLER, Shelton : President and
General Manager Derb}^ Silver Company.
Watson J. Miller was born in Middletown, Conn.,
November 23, 1S49. His early education was ac-
quired in the public schools, including the Middle-
town high school and
Chase's institute of that
city. This was supple-
mented by a business
course at a commercial
college in New Haven,
from which he went into
business in Middletown,
in ]\Iarch, 1S6S, engaging
in the manufacture of sil-
ver plated ware. He re-
mained there until 1S73,
when he removed to New
York, where he continued
in the same branch of
business for six years. From New York he went to
Shelton, Conn., in 187S, and when the Derby Silver
Company was re-organized, Mr. Miller was made
its secretary and treasurer, and general manager,
ha\-ing been already on the board of directors. Ten
years later he was elected president of the com-
pany, still being continued in the general manage-
ment, both which positions he continues to occupy
at the present time. He is also president of the
South End Land Compam% and of the Shelton
Loan and Savings Institution, and is largely inter-
ested in real estate in the borough of Shelton. He
is recognized as one of the ablest business men in
the Naugatuck valley ; is thoroughly public-spir-
ited, a wise and discreet counsellor, and actively in-
terested in the welfare and progress of the commti-
nitv of which he is so important a factor.
Mr. :Miller was married October 13, 1S74, to Miss
Susie J. Waite, only daughter of Alonzo Waite,
Esq., of Chicopee, Mass. He is an attendant at the
Protestant Episcopal church, but not a member ;
and cheerfully aids in the material support of all
religious organizations and charities. He is also
a member of several mutual benefit societies.
He was one of the first promoters of the enterprise
which resulted in the organization of the Shelton
board of trade, of which he is now a member and
6o
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
director. He has always kept out of polities, though
often urged to become the candidate of his party
for both borough and town offices, preferring to
devote his attention to business and accomplish
what he could for the benefit of his townsmen in
the capacity of a private citizen, rather than as a
public office-holder.
Mr. Miller is a practical philanthropist. He has
helped many of the workingmen of his borough to
build houses of their own, and to save something
for a rainy day. He is strongly in favor of the sav-
ings system among laboring men, and was second in
the state to get a special charter for a savings and
loan institution to furnish aid to workingmen and
mechanics in providing homes for their families. He
also favors the co-operative principle in business, to
the extent of admitting as stockholders in his own
company those who have been faithful as workmen
and have accumulated something for investment,
even though the amount be small. It is a settled
principle with him to promote those who are de-
serving, and give every man a chance to rise in the
world. As a consequence, the Derby Silver Com-
pany is a prosperous institution, the management
is popular, and Mr. Miller has the satisfaction of
seeing his faithful workmen share in the general
prosperity.
JULIUS A. HART, Beacon F.alls: Station agent
N. Y., N. H. Sz H. R. R.
Julius A. Hart was born at Hubbardton, Vt.,
April 4, 1846, being the son of a farmer of moderate
means, and was educated in the common school.
He remained on the farm
until he reached the age
of nineteen, when he re-
moved to Nashua, N. H.,
and engaged in mercan-
tile pursuits. July I, 1S67,
he accepted the position
of head clerk in the coun-
try store of C. W. Elkins
& Co. at Beacon Falls.
He was appointed station
agent in that place, Dec.
21, 1868, and has since re-
tained the position. He
is also the agent for the
Adams Express Co. and the manager of the West-
ern Union Telegraph Co. at Beacon Falls. Mr.
Hart has held the offices of town clerk, treasurer,
and collector. He is a republican in politics, a
member of the Methodist church, an influential
Christian worker, and a member of Centennial
Lodge, No. 100, I. O. O. F. of Naugatuck. His
wife was Miss Sarah A. Mitchell prior to marriage.
The family inchicles three children.
J. A. hart.
T. K. NOBLE.
REV. THOMAS K. NOBLE, Norwalk; Pastor
First Congregational Church.
Rev. Thomas Kimball Noble was born in Nor-
way, Me., Jan. ig, 1832, and was educated at Bow-
doin College and Bangor Theological Seminary.
After the completion qf
his studies he was elected
master of the High School
in Augusta and remained
there for five years, pre-
paring students for Yale,
Harvard, and other New
England colleges. Dur-
ing the war he was in
charge for seven months
of the Christian Commis-
sion at the Army of
the Potomac headquar-
ters, the hospital in con-
nection with the work
being designed for the accommodation of 15,000 pa-
tients. Subsequently he accepted the chaplaincy
of Gen. Charles Howard's old regiment. By order
of the Secretary of War he was detached from this
position and assigned to dut}- on the staff of Gen.
Scott, Department of the South, occupying the po-
sition for eighteen months. He was then trans-
ferred to the staff of Gen. Jeff. C. Davis with head-
quarters at Louisville, Ky., where he remained for
two years, when he was again transferred to the
staff" of Gen. Burbank, who was Gen. Davis's suc-
cessor. This position he retained for one year,
when he accepted a call to the Jennings Avenue
Congregational church in Cleveland, O. The pas-
torate of this church was occupied for three years
and a half. During that period an embarrassing
debt on the church was extinguished and the mem-
bership trebled. In 1872, having declined a call to
the Winthrop church in Boston, which possessed a
membership in excess of 600, Mr. Noble accepted
the pastorate of Plymouth church in San Fran-
cisco, where he remained for fourteen years. Dur-
ing this time a beautiful church edifice w^as con-
structed and the church membership increased by
700 or more. Impaired health compelled him to
resign the pastorate in San Francisco in 1886, and
he traveled extensively through England and the
Continent, visiting France, Belgium, Holland,
Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, during the suc-
ceeding months. On his return he supplied the
pulpit of the Eastern Presbyterian church in Wash-
ington, D. C, for more than two years. The mem-
bership of the church was doubled and the congre-
gation trebled during this period. Declining a call
to the pastorate of the church permanently, he re-
moved north and accepted the pastoral office of the
First Congregational church in Norwalk, one of
the oldest organizations in the state and the mother
BIOC.RAI'IIV OF CONNECTICUT.
6i
of eij^ht surrounding churches. During his pas-
torate of the San Francisco church lie was one of
the lecturers in the Pacific Theological Seminary,
and for seven years was the department chaplain of
the Grand Army in California and Nevada. He is
still a member of Lincoln Post of San F'rancisco.
He is also a member of the Clerical Union Club
and of the Aldine Club, both of New York city.
His wife, who is still living, is a sister of Professor
Bradbury of Cambridge, Mass. He has two
daughters, both of whom are residing in San l-'ran-
cisco. In politics Mr. Noble is a re]niblican.
D. B. LOCKWOOD.
DAVID BENJAMIN LOCKWOOD, Bkiixie-
PORT : Attorney-at-Law.
David B. Lockwood was born in Weston, Conn.,
January 7, 1827. He prepared for college at
Svaples' Acadeni}' in Easton, and graduated from
Wesleyan University in
1S49. He studied law
with the late Judge Sid-
ney B. Beardsle}', and
was admitted to practice
in 1851. After practicing
in Bridgeport for several
years, he removed to New
York city, where he con-
tinued his profession until
the breaking out of the
war of the rebellion, when
he returned to Bridgeport
and enlisted in the Second
Connecticut Light Bat-
tery, where he served for three years. At the close
of the war he returned to Bridgeport, and resumed
the practice of his profession. He has held the
oiBce of city clerk of Bridgeport, was for three
years judge of the city court, and was elected a
member of the house of representatives in 1S75
and in 1883. He held the office of city attorney in
1S80 and 1S85. From 18S2 to 1887 he was one of
the trustees of Wesleyan University. He is one
of the original incorporators of the Mechanics and
Farmers' Savings Bank. He is one of the original
board of directors of the Bridgeport Public Library,
and was largely instrumental in changing it from a
private to a public instituticMi. He drew the pub-
lic act providing for county law library associa-
tions, and gave the initial movement to the Fair-
field county law library, which is now by far the
most important county law library in the state.
He has closely followed the practice of the law,
and is senior member of the firm of Lockwood &
Beers, which has been in existence for twenty
years, and has a large and successful practice. Mr.
Lockwood first married Caroline A. Redfield in
1S56, who died in 1S65, leaving a daughter and son.
CHAS. EDW. PRIOR.
In 1S6S he married Lydia Ellen Nelson, who is still
living, and by whom he had two daughters and a
son. Politically, Mr. Lockwood is a democrat.
His religious connections are with the Methodist
Episcopal church. He is a member of the Grand
Army of the Republic, and of the Seaside Club of
Bridgeport.
CHARLES EDWARD PRIOR, Jewett City:
Secretary and Treasurer Jewett City Savings
Hank.
Mr. Prior was born at Moosup, Conn., Jan. 24,
1856. When he was four years old his parents
moved to Jewett City, where he has since resided.
He received his education
in the common schools of
the town of Griswold. At
the age of seventeen he
secured a situation in the
office of the N. & W. R.
R. Co., in Norwich, where
he remained one year.
In 1875 he entered the
employ of the Ashland
Cotton Company, and
soon became bookkeeper
and paymaster for that
flourishing corporation.
In 1S83 he was elected
secretary and treasurer of the Jewett City Savings
Bank. Two years later he became a member of
the corporation, and after four years of service he
was elected a director. The bank under his care
has become a widely-known institution, and its
greatly increased usefulness is owing in no small
degree to his acknowledged ability in the manage-
ment of its affairs. During his administration a
large premium account has been nearl)^ annihilated,
and the surplus account has been quadrupled.
Mr. Prior has taken a lively interest in musical
matters for many years. He became organist of
the Congregational church in Jewett City when but
fom-teen years of age, and resigned eight years
later to serve the Baptist church in the same
capacity. In 1S83 he brought out his first volume
of Sunday-school songs, entitled " Spicy Breezes,"
and in i8go his second book, "Sparkling and
Bright," was given to the public. His compositions
are now in great demand, as their appearance
in nearly all of our Sunday-school and Gosj^el
praise books testifies. Mr. Prior is an honorary
member of the Worcester County Musical Associa-
tion of Worcester, Mass., and takes an active inter-
est in its affairs. He is a member of the Jewett
City Baptist church, which body he serves as choir-
leader and organist, and has been president of the
Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor
since its organization. He is past master of Mount
62
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
MARVIN KNOWLTON.
Vernon Lodge, No. 75, A. F. and A. M., and has
advanced in masonry to the degree of Knight Tem-
plar, being a member of Cokimbian Commandery,
No. 4, K. T., of Norwich, Conn. Air. Prior married
Miss Mary E. Campbell, and has one son, Charles
Edwin Prior.
MARVIN KNOWLTON, Willimantic : Lumber
Manufacturer.
Marvin Knowlton is to-day best known in Con-
necticut as the leader of the prohibition party, and
he is gratefully remembered in Canada as among
the foremost in Good
Templar work and in
efforts for temperance
legislation during the de-
cade of 1S70-80. The
best years and best efforts
of his life have been de-
voted to the temperance
and prohibition cause.
Born in Ashford, in old
Windham county, in 1837,
he came of a heroic line,
in whose veins the fires of
patriotism and self-sacri-
fice had burned since
colonial days. His father, of the same name,
fought in the war of 181 2. Lieutenant Daniel
Knowlton, the famous scout of French and Inchan
war, was his grandfather. He is a grand-nephew,
also, of Col. Thomas Knowlton of revolutionary
fame, the close friend and adviser of Washington,
who fell at Harlem Heights; and a cousin of Gen-
eral Nathaniel Lyon, the beloved son of Connecti-
cut who fell at Wilson's Creek in 1861.
The obligations of home kept young Marvin in
Ashford until his thirtieth year, and when he was
only nineteen the management of the farm devolved
upon him. In 1868, just after his father's death,
he removed to the city of London, Ontario, in
Canada, and engaged in the wholesale lumber busi-
ness with a brother-in-law. Two j^ears later he
purchased the whole business and developed it to
large proportions.
In 1870 he began to take an active interest in the
temperance work. He joined the Good Templars,
and at once became prominent in the order. He
entered the field as lecturer and organizer, was
largely instrumental in increasing the membership
from 12,000 to 35,000, and was successively elected
to the positions of grand counsellor and grand chief
of the order for Ontario and Quebec; his grand
lodge at that time being the largest on the conti-
nent, and the third largest in the world. He was
delegate to the international grand lodge in tlie
conventions of 1875 and 1S76, at Bloomington, 111.,
and Louisville, Ky., respectively, being chairman
of the Canada delegation in the latter bod}^ Dur-
ing these years he developed great power as a tem-
perance orator. His experience led him to appre-
ciate the insufficiency of moral suasion work alone.
Hence he became one of the foremost advocates of
the so-called Duncan bill, a county local-option
measure which was championed by the temperance
men of all parties, under the auspices of the Canada
Temperance Alliance, in 1875. This agitation cul-
minated in 1878 in what is known as the Canada
Temperance Act or the Scott Act; and Mr. Knowl-
ton was among the foremost of those who were
active and influential in securing the passage of
this measure. Mr. Knowlton thus became a tower
of strength to the temperance cause in Canada.
He was identified with the reform wing of the
liberal party and was strongly urged to accept
various public positions, but he preferred to attend
to his own business and to pursue the temperance
work in his own way. In 1883 he decided to return
to his native state and coiinty, and in 1884 he en-
gaged in the lumber business with the firm of E. A.
Buck & Co. of Willimantic (where he is now), as
manufacturers and wholesale jobbers in native
hard woods for railway and domestic uses. Firmly
convinced by his Canadian experience that moral
suasion and legal suasion must be supplemented by
public ofiicers and organization in sympathy there-
with, Mr. Knowlton promptly identified himself with
the national prohibition party in this country, and he
has, with characteristic self-sacrifice, given to the
movement an abundance of his substance, energy,
and political wisdom, to the signal advantage of
the cause. As a prominent lecturer and political
adviser in the Forbes campaign in 1886; as the
chosen representative sent by Connecticut friends
of prohibition to assist in the campaign for the
amendment in Michigan in 1SS7; as field manager
in the Fisk and Camp campaign in 1888; as chair-
man of the special amendment committee in 1889;
and as state organizer in 1S90, he has been gener-
ally recognized as the leader of the prohibition
movement in Connecticut; while the party has
risen from a spasmodic agitation to a steady, per-
manent place, with a growing political issue.
Mr. Knowlton is a single man and a member of
the Masonic order. He also retains connection
with the order of Good Templars in this country.
He is a man of strong personal popularity, of
marked power and magnetism as a public speaker,
a sagacious politician in the best sense, and always
keenly alive to the whole political situation. He is
a thorough and determined champion of the cause
of " the home against the saloon," and believes in
the speedy coming of a new party of the people,
which shall faithfully preserve the democratic prin-
ciple of equality in the public regulation and
administration of wholesome industries, while
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
G. N. MORSE.
bringing the full power of government to bear
against the forces of rum, monopoly, and corrup-
tion.
GEORGE N. MORSE, Mkkii.en: Ex-State Sen-
ator.
George Newton Morse was born in Meriden, Oct.
i6, 1S53. He is a descendant of John Morse, born
1604, who was one of the seven Puritans of that
name who emigrated from
England to America in
1635, settled at New
Haven, and was one of
the founders of Walling-
ford in 1670, and was a
dejnity and commissioner
to the general court for
fourteen years, dying in
1707 at the age of 103.
On his maternal side Mr.
Morse is a descendant of
Rev. Samuel Hall of
Cheshire, born 1695, died
1776, who married Annie
Law, daughter of Gov. Jonathan Law and grand-
daughter of Gov. Wm. Brenton of Rhode Island.
After the usual training in the common schools,
^Ir. Morse attended, when sixteen years of age, the
Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield in 1869-
70. For several years he was correspondent of the
AV7i' York Mirror and the Tu7-f, Field, and
Farm. He has been at one time or another
in various mercantile pursuits. In 1S72 he was
a member of Charter Oak Hose Company in the
old volunteer fire department. In 1SS2 he moved
to Kansas City but returned to Meriden the follow-
ing year. Was married in 1S77 to Mary A., daugh-
ter of John C. Byxbee, by whom he has had two
children: John B., born 1S80, and Ida L., born
1882. He has been a prominent figure in local and
state politics. At the state convention held in
Hartford in May, 1S8S, to choose delegates to the
democratic national convention, he was chairman
of his town's delegation. He was a delegate to the
state convention held in September of the same
year at New Haven, presenting the name of Hon.
Carlos French for governor in the county caucus,
and Hon. E. B. Manning to the convention for
electoral delegate. The latter was nominated and
elected. Mr. Morse was nominated for state
senator in 1S88 and was elected by a plurality of
353. In the presidential campaign of 1SS8, he
organized and was president of the Cleveland demo-
cratic club of Meriden. In the state senate he was
chairman of the manufactures and woman's suf-
frage committees ; introduced and advocated the
passage of the cigarette bill, which is now the law.
The most notable speeches which he delivered m
63
that body were those on ballot reform, the We.st-
port ballot box contest, oleomargarine, and the
Storrs School appropriation. He was the author of
the famous Parnell resolutions, which were finally
]5assed by the general assembly after a bitter con-
test. He organized and is the secretary of the
Senate Club of 18S9-90. He was chairman of the
town delegation to the state convention held in
Hartford in September, 1890, and at this conven-
tion was a candidate for the office of secretary of
state. He is a member of St. Andrews Episcopal
Church, an officer in the state Democratic Club,
trustee of the Royal Arcanum, a member of the
I. O. Odd Fellows, O. \J . American Mechanics,
Golden Eagles, I. O. Red Men, Political Equality
Club, and vSons of the American Revolution.
J. S. KIRKHAM.
JOHN S. KIRKHAM, Newington: Farmer.
Mr. Kirkham is a native of Newington. He was
born April 6, 1826, and reared on his father's farm,
working hard and attending the common schools
during such portions of
the year as might be con-
veniently spared from
farm work for that pur-
pose. His education was
finished in the Springfield
High School and Newing-
ton Academy. In 1849
he went to California, be-
ing one of the pioneer
band of Argonauts organ-
ized in Hartford by Major
Horace Goodwin, C. G.
Smith, Joseph Pratt, and
others. He was chosen
on the board of managers, and also clerk of elec-
tions in El Dorado county in 1850. After a valua-
ble experience in the gold regions he returned to
Newington, where, since 1855, he has been justice
of the peace. When the town was incorporated in
1871, he was chosen town clerk, and has remained
such since, save for three years. From 1866 he has
been school visitor, and is now chairman of the
board. In addition to these places of trust he is
treasurer of the State Board of Agriculture.
He was a leader in the farmers' organization a
few years ago to contest the claims of the
" Granite Agricultural Works" of Lebanon, N. H.,
growing out of fraudulent notes. Always a
staunch defender of farmers' rights and a leading
spirit in the local and state Grange, he is more
active in the support of agricultural interests than
even the interests of the democratic party. In
1878 he represented Newington in the lower house
of the general assembly, and ten years later served
as state senator from the second district. ]Mr.
64
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
H. C. BALDWIN.
Kirkham has been twice married; first to Miss
Harriet P. Atwood, who died in 1882; his second
w"ife being Miss Mary K. Atwood, to whom he was
married in 1885. He has four children. He is a
member and clerk of the Congregational church in
Newington, and occupies an influential position in
all local religious affairs.
HERBERT C. BALDWIN, Beacon Falls:
Farmer.
Herbert C. Baldwin was born in Oxford, in this
state, Sept. 3, 1840. He was one of four sons of
Lucian Baldwin, and grandson of Matthew Bald-
Avin, of what was formerly
called Salem, now Nau-
gatuck. His educational
accomplishments were de-
rived mainly from the
district school. At the
age of fifteen his father
died, throwing the young
man upon his own re-
sources. He hired out tip-
on a farm and for several
years was occupied in
working summers and at-
tending school winters.
At the outbreak of the
civil war he enlisted in Company K, Thirteenth
regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, commanded by
Colonel Henry W. Birge. This regiment was in-
cluded in the great New England division for the
extreme south, under Major-General B. F. Butler,
and was sent by sea to Ship Island in the Gt:lf,
where the expedition was fitted out against New
Orleans. He served in the department of the
Gulf until July, 1864, participating in the Bayou
Lafourche campaign, Teche, siege of Port Hudson,
and Red River campaigns. He was one of those
who volunteered under general order No. 49, dated
before Port Hudson, La., June 15, 1863, the day
after the general advance had been made, to carry
the rebel works, in which the L^nion forces suffered
defeat. The language of the order, after congratu-
lating the troops upon the steady advance made up-
on the enemy's works, conveyed the " commanding
general's summons to the bold men of the corps, to
the organization of a storming column of a thousand
men, to vindicate the flag of the LTnion and the
memory of its defenders who have fallen," and
promised a just recognition of their services by a
medal of honor " fit to commemorate the first grand
success for the freedom of the Mississippi." This
promise has never been fulfilled by the govern-
ment. In 1864 that portion of the army, the 19th
corps, was transferred north mto Virginia, under
General P. H. Sheridan, and took part in the gen-
eral clearing-out of the Shenandoah Valley. Mr.
Baldwin was wounded in the battle of Cedar
Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1S64 ; the following December
his regiment was transferred with his division to
Savannah, Ga., where they met Sherman's army
and remained with them through the Carolinas
until the final surrender. Mr. Baldwin was in
active service for four years and six months.
being present with his command in every bat-
tle and skirmish in which the regiment took
part, serving as private and through the suc-
ceeding grades to that of second lieutenant,
and being brevetted for gallant and meritorious ser-
vices. After the war closed Mr. Baldwin bought
the farm in Beacon Falls, on which he still resides.
He married Josephine H. Jones of Central New
York, and settled down to farming. They have
five children, four sons and one daughter. He has
been called to fill most of the local offices of his
town, has been elected selectman seventeen years,
during sixteen of which he was chairman of the
board. At present he is first selectman and town
agent, justice of the peace, secretarj' of the board
of education, and representative of his town in the
general court. He has previoiisly represented the
town in the house during the sessions of 1876, 1880,
1883, and 1884. He has always been a republican,
and a zealous worker for the principles which that
party represents. His health is greatly impaired,
and he feels that he should be relieved from any
further public service.
HORACE E. KELSEY, Westbrook : Farmer
and Fisherman.
Horace E. Kelsey was born in Old Saybrook,
September 17, 1862, and received a common school
and academic education, graduating from the West-
brook Academy. He was
formerl}- master of a coast-
ing craft, but gave up that
avocation in December,
1887. Since that time he
has been engaged in farm-
ing and fishing pursuits.
He is the chairman of the
board of selectmen and
has the charge of the
town's business. Mr.
Kelsey is a democrat
politically. He is a mem-
ber of the Westbrook
Grange and of the United
Order of American Mechanics. He has a wife and
three children, two sons and one daughter. His
marriage occurred Januarj' 25, 1877, the bride be-
ing Miss Nancy M. Burdick. Mr. Kelsey has been
a resident of Westbrook since the first year of his
life, and is thoroughly honored in the town where
he resides.
H. E. KELSEY.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
65
^'t., when tlie lad was
D. S. FLETCHER.
DOLPHIN SAMUEL FLETCHER, Hartkord :
General Manager National Life Association.
I). S. Fletcher is a native of Buffalo, N. Y., where
he was born April 9, 1847, his father removing with
his family to Shelburne,
nine years old. He was
brought up on a farm,
and by personal experi-
ence became entirely fa-
miliar with all the duties
and pleasures of a farm-
er's life. He laid the
foundation of an educa-
tion at the district schools,
graduating at Hinesburg
(Vermont) academy in
1S6S. Shortly thereafter
he removed to Brandon
in that state, and entered
the insurance business,
receiving the appointment of special agent and
adjuster for several companies. This position he
retained for several years, performing its duties
with success and to the satisfaction of his princi-
pals, and gaining by experience a knowledge of the
details of underwriting which has proved of im-
mense advantage to him in the broader field in
which he has since been engaged. After a long
and faithful service in Vermont he resigned his con-
nection with the companies alluded to, desiring to
extend the scope and area of his activities, and in
1SS2 came to Hartford, the home and center of the
insurance interest. Here, in January, 1S85, he
organized the National Life Association of Hart-
ford, and was elected its general manager, still
holding the position. Mr. Fletcher is an efficient
organizer and a tireless worker. He has labored
hard and persistently in bringing the peculiar and
original system of the National Life before the peo-
ple, and in establishing it in the public confidence.
The success which has been achieved is very largely
attributable to his personal exertions, and to the
enthusiasm with which he inspires those who are
associated with him as well as his subordinates in
the company's service. Mr. Fletcher is a member
of the republican party, and while in ^"ermont
was a participant in the activities of local and state
politics. Since his residence in Connecticut he has
confined himself to business and esche\ved active
politics. He is a member of Wangunk Tribe, No.
II, of the Improved Order of Red Men, of Hart-
ford, but has no further connection with clubs or
fraternities. Mr. Fletcher has been twice mar-
ried ; first, in 1S71 to ^liss j\Iary Tagert, daughter
of Hugh Tagert, M.D., of Shelburne, Vt.; who died
in 1S72, leaving one son ; second, in 1S75 to Miss
Clara L. Smith, daughter of the late Rev. Eben
Smith of Hartford, bv whom he has two children.
HENRY BILL.
HON. HENRY BILL, Norwich: Book Piiblisher,
State Senator, Bank President.
Henry Bill, son of Gurdon and Lucy Yerrington
Bfll, was born in the north parish of Groton, now
Ledyard, on the iSth day of May, 1824. Up to the
age of fifteen he was oc-
cupied by the ordinary
life of a farmer's boy, at-
tending the public school
during the winter months.
Then he was for a short
time an apprentice in the
printing office of the New
London Gazette, but, not
being satisfied with the
profession, he abandoned
it and engaged in school
keeping in the neighbor-
ing town of Preston. He
then en_g-aged in school
teaching in Plainfield and Groton during the winter
months and assisting his father on his farm in the
summer, till he was twenty 3'ears of age. Then he
entered the field as a book agent, and for three
3-ears traveled through the Western States in this
business. In 1847, having acquired a practical
knowledge of the book business, he returned to Nor-
wich and established the subscription book publish-
ing business, on his own account. For more than
twenty-five years he followed this business with
great success, employing hundreds of agents, in all
parts of the country, distributing some of the most
useful and popular books of the day. His business
outgrowing his strength, he turned it into a joint
stock company, put it in charge of younger men,
and nominall}- retired from active life, to recuper-
ate his failing health.
In 1853 he represented the 8th senatorial district
in the state senate, as a free soil democrat, and
was the youngest member of that body, but in 1856
he zealously espoused the free soil cause and cast
his lot with the republican part}-, with which he
has since been affiliated. In 1868 he was one of
the presidential electors on the Gen. Grant ticket.
With these exceptions, he has held no public office.
During the civil war he was one of the strong
men upon whom Governor Buckingham relied at
all times for advice and assistance, and after the
war was deeply interested in the work of educa-
ting the colored people of the South, and gave
freely of his time and means in this cause. He has
manifested his interest in his native town b)- pre-
senting the homestead of his fathily to the Congre-
gational society for a parsonage, and by endowing
a free library in connection with the same, the good
influence of which will endure forever.
Mr. Bill was married on the i6th of Febioiar}^,
1847, to Miss Julia O. Chapman of Groton, and has
66
AX ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
three living children, two daughters and a son. For
more than thirty years he was a vice-president of
the Chelsea Savings Bank, and for two years was
its president, and only resigned that office on ac-
count of declining health. From his 3-outh up he
has been a member of the Congregational church,
and since his residence in Norwich has been a mem-
ber of the Broadway chi:rch. A fact worthy of
mention in connection with his business life, be-
cause worthy of imitation, is this, that he has in-
vested the proceeds of his enterprises almost wholly
in the city of his residence, by laj'ing out and build-
ing up the most beautiful of lits suburbs. Laurel
Hill, and by holding and improving some of the
most valuable of its business property. This has
proved to him not only good citizenship but sound
financial foresight.
Mr. Bill is one of the best products of our old
Connecticut institutions, — self-made, self-reliant,
strong to execute whatever he plans, a good citizen,
a good neighbor and friend, and one who will leave
a lasting mark for good upon the community where
he has passed the active period of his life.
CHARLES A. MILLER, Meriden : Machinist.
Charles A. Miller, who occupies the po-sition of
master mechanic at the works of the Wilcox Silver
Plate Company in Meriden, was born in Peter-
borough, Hillsborough
county, N. H., June 2,
1S30, and was educated
in the Peterborough acad-
emy. He learned the
trade of a machinist and
remained in Peterborough
until 1S62, when he re-
moved to Meriden and
was emploj-ed there as a
toolmaker and contractor
in the works of Parker,
Snow, Brooks & Co., in
the manufacture of
Springfield rifles for the
government, and in making the Scott & Triplet
rifle for the state of Kentucky. At the close of the
war he became master mechanic of J. Wilcox &
Co.'s woolen mill and remained there for eight
years. He was then employed for a short time as
a toolmaker for the Parker shot gun. The present
position he has held for a number of years. ]\Ir.
Miller was married June 7, 1854, to Miss Sarah ^L
Ames, daughter of Alvah and Betsey Ames, and
has two sons and one daughter. He is a republican
in politics and was a member of the Meriden city
council in 1870, 1871, and 1875. He is a member of
the Center Congregational church and belongs to
Meriden Lodge, No. 77, F. and A. M., of Meriden,
and to the Order of the Iron Hall.
"^i;vr
C. A. MILLER.
J. D. CHAFFEE.
J. DWIGHT CHAFFEE, Mansfield : President
the Natchaug Silk Company.
J. D. Chafi^ee was born in Mansfield, Conn.,
August 9, 1S46. After finishing his education at
Fitch's boarding school at South Windham, he en-
tered business with his
father in manufacturing
sewing silk and machine
twist at Mansfield Center
and Willimantic, Conn.,
under the firm name of
O. S. Chaffee & Son,
which business was es-
tablished by the senior
' Chaffee in 1838. This con-
nection was maintained
with uninterrupted suc-
cess for a long period of
years. In the spring of
1884, Colonel Chaft'ee be-
came interested in the manufacture of silk
and mohair braids for coat bindings, the plant
being at Willimantic. He has been a director of
the Morrison Machine Company of Willimantic,
which was incorporated July, 1882, and is doing a
flourishing business in the manufacture of silk ma-
chinery of all kinds. He was also one of the in-
corporators of the Dime Savings Bank of Willi-
mantic. He is now the president of the Natchaug
Silk Company of Willimantic, whose New York
office is at 546 Broadway. Colonel Chaft'ee is a
breeder of thoroughbred Jersey cattle, and has
upon his farm at Mansfield some of the best strains
of Jersey blood to be found upon the American
Jersey cattle club^book.
As a politician he has never entered into any
scheme or device to put himself forward, as his
strict attention to business would not permit it.
He represented his native town in the legislature
in 1S74, and acquitted himself with credit as clerk
on the committee of cities and boroughs. He was
called upon to represent the twenty-fourth dis-
trict in the senate of 1885, and responded with a
majority larger than was ever given a candidate,
republican or otherwise, in his own town, and for
the 'first time in the history of the part}- carried
every town in the district. He served the first
year upon the committee of fisheries, and had the
satisfaction of seeing all the bills reported favora-
bly by himself pass both houses. The last year in
the senate he served upon the labor committee,
which had before it every conceivable bill that
might seem to benefit laborers. The press gave
him great credit for his deliberations and as be-
ing fair and conscientious in his reports.
As a military man, Colonel Chaffee has had no
training whatever, but his selection by Governor
Lounsbury to a position upon his staff as aid-
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
67
L. A. HARBOUR.
de-camp, with rank of colonel, in 1SS7, gave great
satisfaction to all people with whom he is asso-
ciated,
GEN, LUCIUS A. BARBOUR, Hartford:
President AVillimantic Linen Company.
General Barbour was born at Madison, Ind,,
January 26, 1S46, and was educated at the Hart-
ford High School, graduating from that institution
in 1S64, He was ap-
pointed teller of the Char-
ter Oak Bank, and held
the position until 1S70,
when he resigned for the
purpose of spending two
years in European travel.
He is a man of wide cul-
ture, and his civic and
business career has been
exceptionally brilliant
and successful. His mil-
itary advancements, how-
ever, have the widest
notice in the state, Sep-
tember 9, 1S65, he enlisted as a private in the Hart-
ford City Guard, then attached to the First regi-
ment as Battery D, Rapid promotion awaited him,
his instincts and tastes entitling him to the place of
a military leadership from the outset. In 1S71 he
resigned from the company and was out of service
until Feb, i, 1S75, when he was elected major of
the First regiment, Dec. 29, 1S76, he was elected
lieutenant-colonel and was advanced to the com-
mand of the regiment June 26, 187S. He was in
command of the First at the Yorktown Centennial
in iSSi, and won a national reputation by the
splendid efficiency and discipline which his organ-
ization displayed. The memorable visit to Charles-
ton, S. C, was made in connection with the York-
town anniversary, and resulted in the attainment of
the highest military praise. The tribute paid to
Colonel Barbour's command b}' the celebrated Lon-
don war correspondent, Archibald Forbes, was
deserved by the superb esprit de corps which pre-
vailed in the First. Colonel Barbour resigned the
command of the regiment Nov. 12, 1884. He was
one of the most popular officers connected with the
National Guard, and his selection as adjutant-gen-
eral met with universal satisfaction throughout the
state. General Barbour was a member of the
house of representatives in 1S79, being the col-
league of Hon. Henry C. Robinson. His legisla-
tive career was in keeping with the course which he
had followed in other callings of life, and added to
his reputation and popularity. He was prominently
identified with Battle Flag Day, being a member
of the legislative committee which had the arrange-
ments in charge. He is honored throughout the
state as a distinguished representative of the
national guard.
General Barbour is at the head of the Willimantic
Linen Company, of which he has been the presi-
dent and treasurer since 1884, and is regarded as
one of the ablest business managers in Hartford,
He is also a director of the Charter Oak National
Bank, and a member of the firm of H, C. Judd &
Root, In politics he is a republican, and his relig-
ious connections are with the First Congregational
church of Hartford. General Barbour married
Miss Harriet E. Barnes of Brooklyn, N. \'., a
daughter of A. S. Barnes, the head of the well-
known New York publishing house of A. S. Barnes
& Co. They have two children.
p. MCLEAN.
GEORGE P. McLEAN, Simsblrv: Attorney-at-
Law.
George P. McLean was born in Simsbury, Octo-
ber 7, 1 85 7. He was educated at the public schools
of his native town and at the Hartford High School,
from which latter institu-
tion he graduated in 1S77,
After leaving school he
became connected with
the Hartford Evening
Post, on the reportorial
staff of which journal he
did excellent service, but
soon abandoned journal-
ism for the law, for which
he has special taste and
ability. After a thorough
course of legal study in
the office of Hon, Henry
C, Robinson, he was ad-
mitted to the Hartford county bar in 1881, and has
remained in practice in the city of Hartford to the
present time, retaining his residence in Simsbury,
Mr. ^McLean represented his town with honor and
distinction in the general assembly during the ses-
sions of 1883 and 1884, his facility in debate and
argumentative powers making him one of the most
influential members on the republican side. As
chairman of the State Prison committee in 1SS3 he
reported the bill establishing the board of pardons
and delivered a strong and successful speech in
support of the measure. On the organization of the
board in November of the same year, he was unani-
mously elected clerk, and still retains the position.
In 1885 Governor Harrison appointed him a mem-
ber of the commission on revising the public
statutes, and, on its organization, he was elected
secretary. In the fall of 1885 he was elected state
senator from the third district, and was naturally
accorded in the upper house the same influential
position which his ability and usefulness had secured
68
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
for him in the lower branch of the legislature two
years before. Dmnng the presidential canvass in
1884 he stumped the state in support of Blaine and
Logan, and performed considerable similar service
in the campaign of 1888. The versatility of his
gifts as an orator has been often illustrated before
critical audiences, and on more than one occasion
he has received distinguished compliments from
eminent sources, of which he Avould be jtistified in
feeling proud.
T. S. MARLOK.
HON. THOMAS S. MARLOR, Brooklyn:
Banker.
Hon. Thomas S. Marlor of Brooklyn is an Eng-
lishman by birth, though an almost lifelong resi-
dent of this country. He was born in England on
the loth of December,
1839, but at the early age
of two years came to
America, his parents set-
tling in New York, in
which city, as a boy, he
received his education at
the public schools. He
early engaged in mercan-
tile business in the me-
tropolis, but his tastes in-
clined him decidedly
toward financial pursuits,
and at length he became
a banker, a member of
the New York Stock Exchange, and a prominent
and successful operator among the active financiers
of that great money center. Although ha\-ing
scarcely reached his majority at the breaking out
of the war of the rebellion, Mr. Marlor was in-
tensel}' loyal to the government of his adoption;
and, unable himself to take up arms in its defense,
he not only contributed liberally and freely through
the ordinary channels, but at his own personal ex-
pense procured a recruit and sent him into the field,
thus performing by proxy a duty which he felt to
be upon him, but which was not proper or wise for
him to tindertake to perform in person. In iS6g,
having met with very gratifying success in business,
and being desirous of disengaging himself to some
extent from its burdens, Mr. Marlor purchased a
tract of land in the village of Brooklyn, in this state,
and erected upon it a handsome country residence,
to which he retired with his family. He soon after-
wards acquired considerable other real estate in the
neighborhood of his home, and at once identified
himself with the town of his adoption in the most
thorough and liberal manner. He has in manj^
ways manifested his public spirit and practical
generosity, by the bestowment of various gifts and
privileges upon the town, village, and religious
society with which he is connected. The handsome
soldiers' monument which stands on a public square
in the village was wholly the gift of Mr. Marlor, as
was the site of the state monument to the memory
of General Israel Putnam, which occupies a com-
manding position in the vicinity of the memorial
referred to. The Putnam equestrian statue was
erected by the state, but the site and all improve-
ments thereon, including the grading, the heavy
granite coping, and the granite roadway, were pro-
vided by Mr. Marlor at his own personal expense,
to the acceptance of the state monument commis-
sion. Probably no individual citizen of Brooklyn
ever gave so liberally and voluntarily of his time
and money for the benefit of his fellow-citizens and
the improvement and beautifying of their village as
the subject of this sketch has done since he first
made that delightful town his pernianent abode.
Mr. Marlor has several times been called to accept
positions of public service and trust, but he has
been disinclined to office-holding and has refused,
more importunities of this kind than he has
accepted. Although claimed by the democrats, he
is an independent in the best political sense, and
his elections to office have almost invariably been
by such majorities as to show the voice of the peo-
ple rather than of any particular party. Mr. Mar-
lor has twice represented Brooklyn in the general
assembly, and once the sixteenth senatorial district
in the upper house. He has repeatedly declined
re-nominations for both branches of the legislature,
and in 1886 received the nomination of the demo-
cratic congressional convention, but refused to ac-
cept. In addition to his political services Mr. Mar-
lor has rendered important aid in civil affairs of
local concern. He is one of the corporators of the
Prisoner's Friend Society, and also of the Brooklyn
Savings Bank. He is an active member of the
Episcopal Society of Brooklyn, and is always ready
to pei-form his part in every movement which has
in view the welfare and proper entertainment of
the people and particularly the education and re-
finement of the rising generation. He is not now
in active business, though retaining his member-
ship in the New York Stock Exchange. He there-
fore has the leisure as well as the inclination
and the means to gratif}' his laudable ambition
to make the world better and happier while he is
on the stage of action. Mr. Marlor married, early
in hfe. Miss Mary F. Loper, and there have been
three children, two of whom, both adult sons, are
living and residing in their native town. The
homestead is on the Pomfret road, just on the edge
of Brooklyn village, a delightful spot where many
a guest has tasted and enjoyed the abounding
hospitality of Mr. Marlor and his accomplished
wife.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
69
JOHN C. COLLINS.
JOHN C. COLLINS, New Haven: Secretary
and Treasurer International Christian Workers'
Association.
Mr. Collins was horn in Albion, N. Y. , Septem-
ber 19, 1S50. He prepared for college at the State
Normal school at Brockport, N. Y., graduated at
Yale in the class of 1S75,
and from Yale Theologi-
cal Seminary in 1S7S. He
spent two years with his
brother in the Sixteenth
New York Cavalry, as a
sort of ' ' Boy of the regi-
ment," in the neighbor-
hood of Washington, D.
C. This regiment was
the one that captured
John Wilkes Booth, the
assassin of President Lin-
coln. Young Collins was
present at the hanging of
the four "Lincoln conspirators," as they were
called — probably the only person under fifteen
years of age who saw the conspirators hung —
gaining access to the execution on account of his
familiar acquaintance with the guard.
After graduating from college Mr. Collins consid-
ered several lines of Christian work before reach-
ing a decision as to the particular branch to which
he ought to devote his energies. He finally decided
to imdertake mission work in the city of New
Haven, in which he at once engaged in the capacity
of general superintendent of the Gospel Union, a
mission society in New Haven, the members of
which were prominent Christian people of diiTerent
denominations, the Christian work of which con-
sisted in holding gospel services in the center of the
city, carrying on a Sunday-school, working among
prisoners in police courts, doing auxiliary work such
as penny savings bank, temperance work, and the
like. In 1SS6, in connection with Col. Geo. R. Clarke
of Chicago, 111., he was privileged to take the initia-
tory steps which resulted in the holding for eight
days (June, 1SS6), in Chicago, the first convention
of Christian Workers in the United States and
Canada. In this year also he was ordained by the
Congregationalists to the work of the ministry as
an evangelist, — an unusual proceeding, as Congre-
gationalists do not as a rule ordain ministers unless
they become settled pastors or are going abroad as
foreign missionaries. It was to some extent pro-
phetic of anew order of things in which the church
would recognize the need of ordained ministers
among the masses. During the work in New
Haven, in one way and another, he gathered in
over two thousand children to Sunday-school who
had not been habitual attendants, and reduced the
number of Protestant non-Sunday-school children
from nearly three thousand to about three hundred.
The penny savings bank which the society organ-
ized was a pioneer in juvenile savings, and the poor
children of New Haven put into the bank about
$2,000; and perhaps five thousand more in the
larger savings banks, as a direct result of the in-
fiuence of saving in the small bank. Mr. Collins
was appointed secretary of the committee which
was formed after the first Christian Workers' con-
vention, called the committee for Christian Workers
in the L'l'nited States and Canada. Out of the work
of this committee has grown the International
Christian Workers' Association, which now numbers
nearly eight hundred of the most prominent Chris-
tians-at-work from all the different evangelical de-
nominations in the L^nited States and Canada, and
whose yearly conventions for the consideration of
Christian work and methods are considered the most
intiuential religious gatherings of the year. He
was continued as secretary and executive of the
association, which has been incorporated under the
laws of the state of Connecticut. In 18S7 the
Christian Workers' Association authorized him to
organize a work for street boys under their author-
ity and subject to such rules as he might think
advisable, and in three years the work has extended
into four states, being chiefly confined, however, to
Massachusetts and Connecticut. It consists, in a
word, of opening rooms in the different cities dur-
ing the evenings of the colder months of the year,
supplied with instructive books and interesting
games, to which free access is given to the bo^'S
who are accustomed to spend their evenings in the
streets. A Christian young man is placed in
charge of the room as superintendent. During the
day and summer months when the club is not open
the superintendent visits the homes of the boys,
goes to police court, and watches over those who
get into the hands of the police, having their cases
continued and doing what he can to help them.
He secures employment for them, and in every
way acts as a helpful friend. Every superintendent
is in constant commimication with the secretary,
sending him a report every week of the visits
made, the boys found in police court, what action
has been taken, etc. Mr. Collins's long experience
and the " facility " which he has acquired in this
kind of work enables him to give important advice
to his subordinates, and to aid in the disposition of
individual cases thus brought to his attention by the
superintendent. The total number of boys brought
under the supervision of the work has reached per-
haps about thirteen thousand during the less than
four years it has been in operation. The Boys'
Brigade in Scotland, which has the same object in
view, namely, that of saving street boys, has been
in operation since 1S82, and they have gotten in
about eighteen thousand boys of this class. So it
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
would seem that this society's plan of work is
reaching an even larger number than that of the
Scottish philanthropists. The boys have penny
savings banks, manual training classes, bath-
rooms, and light gymnastics in their club room, as
a means of attracting and helping them. A work
among the students in colleges has also grown out
of the International Christian Workers' Associa-
tion, which consists of the appointment of a secre-
tary who obtains young men from the colleges and
puts them into missions for two months during
their summer vacations, in order that they may
come into contact with the great needs of humanity
and be better lifted to sympathize with the suffer-
ings of men when they become ministers later on.
Besides this, the association has resulted in the
starting of a number of very flourishing missions,
and imparting new life to many churches of dif-
ferent denominations.
Mr. Collins was married in 1S7S to Miss Fannie
M. Smith of Brockport, N. Y. They have seven
children, five boys and two girls. He is a member
of the Church of the Redeemer, New Haven; in
politics a prohibitionist. His chief ability is in the
line of an executive, and he has thus been intrusted
with most of the executive work connected with the
International Christian Workers' Association, al-
though having done a great deal of public speaking
in mission work, and for a number of years made a
thorough study of various forms and methods of
aggressive Christian effort through Christian, evan-
gelical, and mission agencies both in this country
and abroad.
GEORGE P. FIELD, Tolland : Farmer.
George P. Field is the secretary of the Tolland
Grange and a prominent farmer in his section of
the county. He has resided in Massachusetts,
Vermont, New Hamp-
shire, New York and Cali-
fornia. He was born at
South Hadley, Mass., Dec.
3, 1S26, and received a
common school education.
Most of his life has been
spent in mercantile jDur-
suits and farming. He
has held the office of jus-
tice of the peace and is a
republican. He is a
member of the Baptist
church and is connected
with the F. and A. M.
fraternity. His wife was Miss Emily L. Phelps of
Simsbury prior to marriage, and is still living.
There are also three children living, and one is
deceased. While in California Mr. Field was in
the militia service of the state.
G. p. FIELD.
A. M. CARL).
ALBERT MILLER CARD, Sh.aron : Attorney-
at-Law.
Mr. Card has been engaged in active legal prac-
tice since 1S66, with offices at Sharon and on Nas-
sau street, in New York city. He was born in
Ancram, Columbia coun-
ty, N. Y., July 21, 1845,
and is related to the Hon.
Theodore Miller of Co-
lumbia county, a judge of
the New York court of
appeals. He removed to
Sharon when quite young
and was educated at
Sharon high school, Ame-
nia seminar3-, and at East-
man's college at Pough-
keepsie, N. Y., graduat-
ing from the two latter.
In 1S61, he enlisted for
the war, and soon thereafter was injured in a
Harlem railroad accident while going from Sharon
to Amenia, and was obliged to walk on crutches
for nine j-ears. In 1S65, he married Miss Mary L.
j\Iorey, an intelligent and refined lady of Engli.sh
origin, a descendant of the Livingston, Lewis, Ry-
der, and Northrop families, who assisted in set-
tling Columbia and Dutchess counties, N. Y., and
especialh- the Hudson River valley. They have
one son, Clayton M. Card, now twenty-two years
of age, and all are members of the Methodist
Episcopal church.
Mr. Card was United States District revenue
assessor under President Johnson, with head-
quarters at Poughkeepsie, a school commissioner
of Dutchess county, N. Y., ran for assembly from
Dutchess county against Hon. A. A. Brush, now
warden of Sing Sing prison. He was elected a dele-
gate to the general M. E. Conference of 1SS8, and
with ex-Governor Lounsbury constituted the only
two lay delegates to that conference from the state
of Connecticut. As a member of the general as-
sembly of 1 886 he championed the child's labor
and other labor bills, and assisted materially in the
legislation that resulted in their becoming laws.
He is a justice of the peace, commissioner of the
superior court of Connecticut, a director and trustee
in the Sharon Water Company, president of the
fire district of Sharon, is serving his second term
as probate judge of the district of Sharon, and is
now a member of the general assembly, Speaker
Page having appointed him one of the three minor-
ity democratic members of the house on the can-
vass of votes for governor and other state officers.
He is a member of Hamilton Lodge of F. and A.
M., belongs to the Harlem Democratic club, the
Sagamore club, the Tammany Society of Colum-
bian Order of New York city, and is a member of the
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXECTICUT.
71
N. Y. state Bar Association. He is a democrat,
and has always taken an active part m politics,
speakin;^ for McClellan in the campaign of 1S64, and
in each successive campaign for the democratic
nominees down to and including President Cleve-
land in the last campaign of iSSS ; and his portrait
and biographical sketch appear in the book en-
titled ' ' The Leading Orators of Twenty-five Pres-
idential Campaigns," written by Wm. Roberts and
published by Strouse & Co. of New York, in 1SS4.
Mr. Card possesses an intelligent comprehension
of legislative duties, has filled all offices with fidel-
ity, integrity, ability, and honor, and in a manner
satisfactory to his constituents. He makes a valu-
able member of the general assembly, is a thor-
oughly useful citizen, and commands the respect
and esteem of all who know him.
F. A. MARDEN.
FRANCIS ALEXANDER MARDEN, Stam-
ford : Attorney-at-Law.
Francis A. ]\Iarden is a native of West Wind-
ham, New Hampshire, where he was born January
19, 1S40, and in which place he spent his early
years at the public
schools. He was fitted
for college at Phillips,
Exeter, and Andover
Academies, after which he
entered Harvard Univer-
sity, and was graduated
in 1863, taking the degree
of M.A. in 1S65. He
taught school at Stam- -
ford, Conn., from 1S63 to
1S64, and studied law at
Harvard Law School
1S64 to 1S65, and in Octo-
ber, 1S65, was admitted to
the bar in New York city. In 1S66 he was married in
Stamford to Miss Lillie B. Skiddy, which union has
been blessed with four children. Since his marriage
he has been a resident of Stamford, practicing his
profession in New York city, and latterly, with his
family, spending his winters in New York, his resi-
dence there being at No. 640 ]\Iadison Avenue. A
democrat in politics, he has occupied various posi-
tions of trust within the gift of his party, such as
delegate to state and national conventions, judge
of probate for the district of Stamford, burgess of
the borough, nine years member of the school
committee, and a representative from Stamford in
the general assembly for two terms — 1876 and
1878 — when he served on the judiciary and insur-
ance committees. He was commissary-general on
the staff of Governor Waller in 1883-S4. At col-
lege he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and
President of the Harvard Society of Natural His-
tory. He is a member of Union Lodge, No. 5, F.
and A. M., Rittenhouse Chapter, No. 11, Roj-al
Arch Masons, Washington Council, and Clinton
Commandery. Mr. Marden has recently devoted
himself almost exclusively to his legal practice,
which is very large and of such a character as to
demand the most intelligent and careful attention.
CH.\S. NORTHEND.
CHARLES NORTHEND, New Britain : Au-
thor and Educator.
Charles Northend was born in Newbury, Mass.,
April 2, 1 8 14. His preparatory education was
under the charge of that accomplished and efficient
instructor, N. Cleaveland,
Esq., who for about
twenty years was princi-
pal of Dummer Acad-
emy, located in the im-
mediate vicinity of Mr.
Northend's paternal
home. At the age of six-
teen Mr. Northend en-
tered Amherst College,
where he spent two years,
and from which he re-
ceived the honorar}' de-
gree of A.M. On leaving
college he engaged in
teaching, first as assistant at Dummer Academy,
and subsequently in Danvers and Salem, Mass.
After nearly twenty years of experience in the
work of the school-room in these two ])laces, he
was called to the superintendency of the schools of
the former place, a position he held for three years,
when he accepted a position as assistant to the
state superintendent of schools of Connecticut. In
this situation he spent about eleven years, during
which time he had principal charge of the state
teachers' institutes, and for nearly ten years the
chief editorial charge of the Connecfi'ciei Coinmon
School Journal. For two successive years he was
called to assist in conducting institutes in the state
of Maine, working in nine different counties. He
has also assisted at institutes in New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsyl-
vania, and Vermont.
In a historical address on Dummer Academy,
printed in 1865, in speaking of Mr. Northend, the
author says: " During these busy years he has
found time, not only for the editing of an educa-
tional journal and the preparing and publishing of
several school books, but also to attend about a
hundred and fifty teachers' institutes, lasting gen-
erally four or five days, and fifty or more of them
under his direction. For eight years he was super-
intendent of schools of New Britain and for twenty
years a member of its school committee, making in
72
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
all nearh^ forty-five consectitive years in the work of
education.
Mr. Northend was for many years an active
member of the two oldest educational associations
of our countr}- — the American Institute of Instruc-
tion and the Essex County Teachers' Association.
Of both of these institutions he was elected presi-
dent. His works on education, " The Teacher and
Parent" and "The Teachers' Assistant," have
passed through several editions, and have had an
extensive sale. Of the former the North Ameri-
can Rei'/ew ?,a\d.: "There probabl}- lives not the
teacher or parent to whom this book might not
furnish suggestions worthy his diligent heed and
profound gratitude."
Mr. Northend is a member of the First Congre-
gational church of New Britain. Politically he is
a republican. Early in life he was married to
Miss Lucy A. Moody, who died some years ago.
He remains a widower. Two sons have survived
the mother.
ABNER S. HART, Umoxville (Farmington):
Merchant.
Abner S. Hart was a member of the general
assembly in 1SS7, representing the town of Farm-
ington in the house. Mr. Hart cast his first vote
for Henry' Clay for presi-
dent in 1844 and has since
been a member of the
whig and republican
parties. He was born in
Barkhamsted, July 15,
1823, and received a thor-
ough education, prepar-
ing him for the avocation
^-j^ of teaching in the public
schools. He pursued that
calling for fourteen years,
teaching Avinters and
farming through the sum-
mer. In 1 866 he estab-
hshed himself in the drug business at Riverton and
became postmaster there in 1S69. The latter posi-
tion was retained for twelve years. He has held
various local offices, including that of acting school
visitor for fourteen years and chairman of the board
of relief. Since 1S81 he has resided at Unionville,
where he is engaged in mercantile pursuits. Mr.
Hart is a member of Evening Star Lodge, No. loi,
F. and A. M., of Unionville. He is descended from
revolutionary stock, both of his grandfathers hav-
ing served in the war for independence. He has in
his possession a sword that was carried in the ser-
vice by one of them. Mr. Hart is a prominent citi-
zen of Unionville, and is held in thorough esteem in
that community as well as in his old home in Bark-
hamsted.
A. S. HART.
m'
H. C. DVVIGHT.
HON. HENRY C. DWIGHT, Hartford: Mayor.
Henry C. Dwight was born at Northampton,
Mass., January 19, 1841. His father, Henry A.
Dwight, was for a number of years at the head
of an educational institute
at Norfolk, Va., and Hen-
ry C. was there with him
during 1853 and 1854.
Returning north, he en-
gaged early in life in the
dry goods trade at North-
ampton, and was living
there at the outbreak of
the war. He enhsted in
the three-months service,
bvit the Northampton
quota being filled, he was
not able to go to the front
with the first troops from
the state. He again enhsted in September, 1861,
and was instrumental in organizing Company A of
the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts regiment. Sep-
tember 20, 1861, he was appointed Sergeant-Major
of the command, and was with it through the Burn-
side Expedition in North Carolina. In December,
1 86 1, he was appointed Second Lieutenant of Com-
pany H, and April i, 1862, he was promoted to the
First Lieutenancy of Company A. In August of
that year he received his captain's commission.
Mr. W. P. Derby, in his admirable history of the
Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, speaks in the high-
est terms of Captain Dwight. ' ' Fortunately for
Company A," he says, "there was one in the regi-
ment, by birth and association allied with them,
who was a natural leader, of courage and ability,
and to him the command fell." Captain Dwight's
advancement was won through earnest and valiant
services at the front. He remained with his regi-
ment in North CaroUna until the fall of 1863, when
he was assigned to provost duty at Norfolk, where
he had passed a couple of year s — 1 8 5 3 and 1 8 5 4 — as
a student under his father's direction and tutorship.
He remained there until the spring of 1864, when
he accompanied his regiment in the James River
campaign under General Butler. March i, 1864,
he was appointed recruiting officer of the Twenty-
seventh, and under his leadership 343 members re-
enlisted. He served with the Twenty-seventh
until May 16, 1864, when, under special order from
headquarters, Eighteenth Army Corps, he was
assigned to staff service as assistant-commissary of
subsistence, and remained with the second division
of the corps until the close of his term of service,
September 28, 1864. Throughout his army career
of three years, "Captain Dwight's intelligent,
courageous, patriotic service," says Mr. Derby,
" with his genial, self -forgetful spirit, inspired uni-
versal confidence and regard." He is still one of
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
71
the regiment's most popular representatives, and is
president of the regimental association.
General Dwight removed from Northampton to
Hartford in January, 1S65, and has since resided
here. He engaged in business with E. N. Kellogg
& Co., wool dealers, and afterwards with Austin
Dunham & Sons. In 1S79, with Drayton Hillyer
of this city, he organized the firm of H. C. Dwight
& Co., at present Dwight, Skinner & Co., conduct-
ing an extensive wool trade throughout the "West,
Southwest, and New England. General Dwight
has served in the court of common council from the
fourth ward, both as alderman and councilman,
several years, and was a member of the board of.
street commissioners about ten years. He is a
director in the American National Bank and the
PlKienix Insurance Company, vice-president and
trustee of the ilechanics Savings Bank, a member
of the south district school committee, and sustains
other minor official relations with the institutions
of the city. In April, iSgo, he was elected
mayor of Hartford, the duties of which office he
discharges with abilitj- and dignit}-.
Mayor Dwight was one of the charter members
of Robert O. Tyler Post, G. A. R., of Hartford,
and was commander of the Union Veteran Battalion
on Battle-Flag Day, and also on Buckingham Day.
As an old soldier and citizen, as well as in his offi-
cial capacity, he enjoys the fullest confidence of the
public, and is a man whom all delight in honoring.
ALONZO GRANNISS, Waterblkv ; Sheet Brass
and Steel Worker.
Alonzo Granniss was born in Waterbury, March
27, 1S20, and received a public school education.
He has followed the avocation of a sheet brass and
silver roller at Benedict
& Bi:rnham"s Manufac-
turing Company. He en-
tered the employ of the
company when twelve
years old, and at sixteen
was entrusted with the
charge of the department.
This position he has held
since his original appoint-
ment, and is a man de-
sennng in every way of
the trust that has been re-
posed in him. Mr. Gran-
niss is a member of the
Episcopal church and a republican in politics. His
wife, who was Miss Esther D. Payne before mar-
riage, is still living. There is also one son. The
only office that ilr. Granniss has held is that of
member of the coiincil board of Waterbury for six
years.
ALONZO GRANNISS.
REV. ALEX. HAMILTON.
REV. ALEXANDER HAMILTON, M.A., Wes-
ton : Rector of Emanuel Parish, Minister in
charge of Christ Parish, Redding, and Mission-
ary in Fairfield County.
The subject of this sketch is third in descent
from Alexander Hamilton of Revolutionary days,
and son of General Alexander Hamilton of Tarry-
town, New York; and on
the maternal side a de-
scendant of Richard
Nicoll, the famous English
governor of New York.
He was born at Setau-
ket. Long Island, where
he .spent his youth until
eleven years of age, when,
his father owning large
estates in Northern New
Jersej^ in the Ramapo
Valley, he removed there
in 1S5S — remaining till
the close of 1S61, when
his family became residents of New York city.
He was educated at the public school and by
tutors; took a special course in the General Theo-
logical Seminary of New York; and in 1870 was
ordained by Bishop Potter. Ha\nng a special apti-
tude for missionary work, he became engaged in
such effort successively at Armonck, Newcastle,
and Pleasantville, and at Lewisboro, Westchester
county, New York.
Resigning the work at Lewisboro, he purchased,
in 1SS4, the historical Smith residence on Newtown
avenue, Norwalk, Conn. While residing there, he
prosecuted missionary work; and, taking a deep in-
terest in the cause of education, was elected a
member of the school board annually. In 1SS9 the
rectorship of Emanuel Parish became vacant, and
a call therefrom being extended to Mr. Hamilton,
he moved to the rectory, and is now rector of that
parish and missionary of two of the oldest parishes
in Connecticut, — that at Redding being organized
in 1727, and at Weston in 1744. Belonging to these
churches are many old and valuable books and an
ancient communion set; at Redding a Bible and
prayer book, bound in one cover, under date 1726;
while the communion set dates from 1735. Again
elected as school visitor and committee in Weston,
he renders valuable and appreciated ser\nce. He
inherits the financial ability of Hamilton, and pos-
sesses the keenness and aptitude of one who has
trained himself in the practical duties of life. He
is fully alive to the responsibility that rests upon
him, and earnestly desires and endeavors to ad-
vance by personal effoi-t every good cause. Blessed
with robust health, he is enabled to perform labori-
ous work without fatigue; on Stmday holding three
services and two Sunday-schools, preaching three
74
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
sermons, and driving seventeen miles. These,
with calls upon the sick, fill up each of the fifty-
two Sundays of every year. Taking an interest in
local improvements, he aids all enterprises for pro-
moting the welfare of the community in which he
lives. In politics he is a republican, thoi:gh recog-
nizing the principle of equal rights among all men
in the exercise of the elective franchise. Mr. Ham-
ilton has traveled throughout the British Isles and
on the Continent, where he was received with con-
sideration, preaching in the American churches
there, and attending many public receptions. In
1S72 he married Miss Adele Walton, daughter of
"William W. Livermore, banker, of New York city,
and a grand-niece of Charles Floyd, a signer of the
declaration of independence. He has four children
hving, the youngest a son. He is a member of the
Cincinnati Societ}-, Sons of the Revolution, Sons
of Veterans, and the Historical Society of West-
chester County, New York. He is also a frequent
contributor of articles to the press.
;.'^>-.
ERASTUS GEER, Lebanon: Farmer.
The Geer family, or the branch of it which is now
so numerous in New London county, traces its ori-
gin directly to George Geer, who was born in Hevi-
tree, England, in 1621,
and his brother Thomas
in 1623. The biography
of the ancestor and his
descendants, to and in-
cluding the .subject of this
sketch, is given in the
histor}- of New London
county substantially as
follows :
"They (George and
Thomas) were bereaved
of their parents while
young, and were put in
charge of an uncle. They
came to America and settled in Boston in 1635,
without friends or money. George Geer became
an early settler in New London, Conn., about 165 1,
and Thomas 1682.
On the 17th of February, 1658, George Geer mar-
ried Sarah, daughter of Robert Allyn, one of the
earliest settlers in New London, Conn. Immedi-
ately after his marriage he settled on a tract of
land adjoining or near said Allyn's land, on the
grant of fift}^ acres made to him by the town of
New London, now called Ledyard. He was one of
the first officers of the town. He died towards the
close of the year 1726 at the age of one hundred
and five years. He had a family of eleven children,
the eighth of whom was Robert, born Jan. 2, 1675,
and died in 1742. Robert married Martha Tyler
ER.'^STUS GEER.
and had five children, the second of whom was
Ebenezer, born April i, 1709, and died August 28,
1763. Ebenezer Geer married Prudence Wheeler,
Jan. 2, 1735. She was born Sept. 25, 17x2, and died
June 2, 1797. They had ten children, the youngest
of whom was David, born June iS, 1755, and died
Aug. 31, 1835.
David Geer married Mary Stanton, May 17, 1781.
She was born Aug. 28, 1756, and died December,
1837. Their children were Dorothy, David (2) born
Jan. 20, 1784, William S., Prudence, Joseph, Cyrus,
Anna, Robert, Isaac W., and Charles, all born in
Groton, now Ledyard, Conn.
David Geer (2) married Anna Gallup, Jan. 11.
1810. She was born Sept. 3, 17S7, and died Feb. 12,
1S62. He died May 19, 1S67. Their children were
Cyrus G., William F., Thankful S., an infant son,
Sarah A., David, and Erastus, the immediate sub-
ject of this sketch, born Oct. 9, 1S23. David Geer
settled in Lebanon, Conn., 1817, on the farm
now (1891) owned and occupied by his son
Erastus. His farms, now comprising nearly
eight hundred acres, are in a good state of
cultivation. Among Lebanon's substantial men
and representative farmers, none, perhaps, have
accomplished more than the Geer family, and much
credit is due to the indefatigable energy and perse-
verance of David Geer. He was a whig and re-
publican in politics.
His brothers and sisters settled in New London
county, excepting Wm. S., Robert, and Charles,
who settled near Syracuse, New York. His chil-
dren settled in Lebanon, with the exception of
Wm. F., who settled at Syracuse, New York.
Erastus Geer was reared on the farm, and early
learned the cardinal principles of success — indus-
tr}' and frugality. His advantages for an educa-
tion were such as the common schools of the day
afforded, supplemented with a few terms at Bacon
Academy, at Colchester, Conn. At the age of nine-
teen he commenced teaching school, and taught ten
terms during the winters, working on the farm sum-
mers. Being the youngest of the family, he very
naturally continued the occupancy of the home-
stead. He is energetic, prudent, and practical alike
in public and private aft'airs. As a man he is re-
spected at home and abroad ; as a farmer he ranks
among the most enterprising of the town. In addi-
tion to his farming interests, he manufactures the
patent iron stall window frame, a device the result
of his own invention. In politics a life-long whig
and republican, and as siich has held important
offices of the town.
In 1877 he was a member of the state legislature,
serving on the committee of claims. In 1878 he was
appointed one of the county commissioners of New
London county, and served two terms, retiring in
1SS4. He has been twice married, — first to Almira
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXFXTICUT.
75
H. Saxton, May 12, 1S52. She died May 30, 1S53,
leaving one son, Wm. H.; second, to Frances A.,
daughter of Joseph and Lura (Witter) Geer of
Ledyard, Conn., Nov. 21, 1S60. Mr. and Mrs. Geer
are members of Goshen Congregational church in
Lebanon, Conn.
E. L. COOKE.
EDWARD LUDLOW COOKE. H.vrtford: Man-
ufacturer of Burial Caskets, Handles, and Un-
dertakers' SuppHes.
E. Ludlow Cooke was born in North Haven,
April 5. 1S40, and was the youngest of six children.
When he was but six months old tlie family moved
to New Haven, where
they resided many years.
Mr. Cooke's ancestors,
^^•ho were Puritans, came
from Kent, England, to
Plymouth, Mass., some-
time before 1640. One
of them was a celebrated
admiral in the English
navv, whose remains are
entombed in Westminster
Abbey. Samuel Cooke
was one of the first set-
tlers of Wallingford,
Conn., and among his de-
scendants were Commodore Foote and the wife of
Ex-President Hayes. Stephen Cooke, the father
of Ludlow, was a man of sterling qualities. He
was one of the original members of the Free Con-
gregational church of New Haven, and its build-
ing on Church street was erected under his super-
vision. Its pastor at this time was the Rev. ]\Ir.
Ludlow, and after him Edward Ludlow Cooke was
named. Stephen Cooke was the publisher of the
Christiaji Spectator and the Religious Intelli-
gencer. Beside being interested in the growth of
Congregationalism he worked earnestly in the
anti-slavery movement, but died before his hopes
in that direction were realized, and when his
youngest child was but six months old, leaving his
widow dependent on her own exertions for the sup-
port of her family. She, however, was a woman of
the true New England type, and her strong Chris-
tian character, unfailing courage, and indomitable
will, enabled her to overcome obstacles that a
weaker nature would have deemed insurmountable.
She supported and educated her children, and lived
to see them settled in homes of their own.
Ludlow inherited his father's strong anti-slaver}'
principles, and very early in life his sj-mpathies
were aroused for the colored people fleeing from
slaver}'. His home was near that of Amos Town-
send, who for man}- years was the agent of the
" Underground Railroad," and being so well known
in that capacity, feared to shelter the runaways
himself, and used to send them to the home of Mrs.
Cooke, who would keep them for days at a time
when they were sick and foot-sore and unable to
continue their journey; and her youngest son —
though a lad of not more than twelve years — was
often called up at three o'clock in the morning to
act as guide to slaves who were fleeing to Canada.
^'er}• often there were slaveholders in the city
oft'ering rewards of five hundred, eight hundred,
and a thousand dollars for the capture of the fugi-
tives, and they would have the streets near Mr.
Townsend's house patrolled to prevent their escape.
Jlr. Cooke was present at the famous meeting held
in the North Church of New Haven one Sunday
evening in 1S57, to bid farewell to a company of
men who were being sent to help make Kansas a
free state. Rev. S. W. S. Dutton presided and
called for donations of the necessary equipments
for the company. Few meetings have equaled
that since the days of the Revolution. The excite-
ment was intense as man after man arose offering
rifles, Bibles, blankets, and money, but the climax
was reached when Miss Mary Dutton stood up and
contributed a rifle, and the applause was so grep,t
as to fairly shake the building. The next day the
New Haven Register, a democratic paper, in its
account of the meeting printed a doggerel, begin-
ning:
" Shoulder arms, Miss Mary Dutton,
Your knapsack buckle tight.
Put on your soldier breeches
And show them how to fight.
Quick ! march upon the foe,
And now your rifle, cock it
And send a slaveholder to H
With every whistling bullet."
Mr. Cooke was a great admirer of Wendell Phil-
lips and never failed to hear him when he delivered
his lectures in New Haven. In 1S60, soon after the
execution of John Brown, Mr. Cooke and a young
friend invited Mr. Phillips to deliver his celebrated
lecture on that subject. One of the Yale professors
promised to introduce the speaker to his audience,
but at the last moment withdrew, saying that he
feared the act would injure his political prospects.
The resiilt was that Mr. Cooke, though a very
young man, was obliged himself to present the lec-
turer. At this time there were many southern
students in Yale, and they were persistent in their
attempts to prevent ^Ir. Phillips from speaking,
and at one time during the lecture the orator stood
twenty minutes before he could make himself heard.
]\Ir. Cooke attended the public schools of New
Haven until his fourteeenth year, when he entered
a dry goods store, where he remained eight years.
At this time, his health being impaired, he spent a
winter on the island of Porto Rico. At this period
the oil excitement was running very high, and
7^
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
Mr. Cooke, after his return from the West Indies,
went as agent for a company to AVest Virginia,
where he sunk two wells, one eight hundred and
the other twelve hundred feet deep, but found no
oil. Another winter was spent in prospecting, when
he traveled over six hundred miles on mule-back in
Alabama.
In 1864 Mr. Cooke married Ella E., the youngest
daughter of Oliver Parish of Hartford. In 1865 he
associated himself with Mr. Herman Glafcke in
the manufacture of burial caskets. Three years
later the firm was changed to Cooke & Whitmore,
and is, perhaps, the oldest partnership in Hart-
ford, it having remained unchanged for twenty-
three years. For twenty years Mr. Cooke was the
traveling man of the business and probably jour-
nej'ed more miles than any other person in the city
at that time. This being the pioneer concern in
this line of goods, the territory covered was a large
one, extending from Bangor to St. Louis. In 1S72
Mr. Cooke built his fine residence on Woodland
street, where he still resides. The summer of 18SS
he spent in Europe, traveling through Belgium,
Germany, Switzerland, France, England, and
Scotland.
All strong characters have their weak points and
Mr. Cooke's appears to be a passion for antiquities.
He has the largest collection of ancient clocks in
Hartford and also possesses many other unique
and valuable pieces of antique furniture. Mr.
Cooke has been a prominent member of the Fourth
Congregational church for twenty j^ears, and for
thirteen years was superintendent of the Sabbath-
school.
DAVID M. MITCHELL, South Brit.^in ( South-
bury ) : Farmer.
David Merwin Alitchell is a well-known resident
of the town of Southbury, where he was born Oc-
tober 16, 1 84 1, in that part of the town known as
South Britain, where he
still resides. He was
born and bred on the
farm, but took time
enough at the district
school to lay the founda-
tion for a good education ,
which was subsequently
acquired at Hinman's
well-known academy. He
married Miss Hattie I.
Lemmon, who with their
three children is still liv-
ing. He is a republican
in politics, and as such
has served his part}' and his town as selectman, and
has held other minor offices. He belongs to the
Congregational church of Soiith Britain.
-M. HUBBARD.
D. .M. MUrCHELL.
HON. LEVERETT MARSDEN HUBBARD,
Wallingford: Attorney-at-Law.
Leverett M. Hubbard was born at Durham,
April 23, 1S49. He was educated at the Wilbraham
Academy and Wesleyan University, at which latter
institution was also edu-
cated his father. Rev. Eli
Hubbard, who, for many
years before his death, in
1868, had been a clergy-
man of distinction in Mis-
sissippi. His mother was
the daughter of Mr. L. W.
Leach, for many years a
prominent merchant and
honored citizen of Dur-
ham, and the only sister
of Hon. L. M. Leach
and Hon. Oscar Leach,
both of whom are well
known as among the most sabstantial and in-
fluential men in ]\Iiddlesex county. Mr. Hub-
bard's mother died when he was three j^ears
of age, and from that time until he went
from home to attend school he lived with his
grandparents at Durham. After leaving college
he studied law at the Albany Law School, grad-
uating in 1870. In August of that year he located
in Wallingford, and soon became marked at the
bar of his county, and by the community gener-
ally, as a young man of fine spirit and rare in-
tellectual endowments. From that time he has
steadily grown in the confidence and esteem of the
community, until now, no lawyer of his age in New
Haven county has a more remunerative practice,
or is more widely known and respected. From the
beginning of his practice he has maintained an
office connection in New Haven. For a year he
pursued his studies with the late Charles Ives.
From 1874 fo i877 he was a law partner of Morris
F. Tyler, and since that time he has been associated
with John W. Ailing, one of the leading lawyers in
the state. Mr. Hubbard was appointed postmaster
of Wallingford by President Grant in 1872, which
office he held by successive re-appointments until
the inauguration of President Cleveland in 1S85,
when he resigned with an unexpired commission
for three years. He administered that office with
great intelligence and fidelity, and to the universal
acceptance of its patrons, who, without respect of
party, tendered him, upon his retirement, a com-
plimentary banquet, which was widely remarked
at the time for its elaborateness and the enthusiasm
which attended it.
Mr. Hubbard has been borough attorney since
1870, and counsel for the town during most of the
same period. He has been a director in the First
National Bank of Wallingford since its organization
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
17
in iS8i, and a director in the Dime Savings Bank
since 1SS4. He has also been a trustee of the Wes-
leyan Academj- at Wilbrahani, Mass., since 18S1.
Upon the estabUshment of a borough court for
Walhngford by the legislature of 1SS6 he accepted
the position of its first judge, and is now discharg-
ing the duties of that office to the eminent satisfac-
tion of the community. In 1SS6 he was elected
Secretary of State on the republican ticket, which
had Governor Lounsbury at its head, and during
the term of his ofiice performed its duties with
signal ability.
Mr. Hubbard is esteemed throughout the com-
munity as an honorable and upright citizen, en-
joving great popularity among all classes and in
both political parties.
^^^^
HEZEKIAH L. READE, Jewett City: President
Jewett City Savings Bank.
Hezekiah L. Reade was born in Lisbon, Oct. i,
1S27. He is the only child of Silas and Sarah
(Meech) Reade. His ancestors emigrated from
England to this country
in 1640 ; settled at Ips-
wich, Mass., and subse-
quently came to Norwich,
Conn. , where the}- bought
a tract of land one mile
long by half a mile wide,
of Owaneco, the brother
of Uncas, on which the
family has since continu-
ously resided. The deed
of this land bears date
1686. He was educated in
the common schools of his
town; in select schools in a
near village — Jewett City-
my. Spending his summers at work on the farm,
he commenced teaching school winters at the age of
seventeen, continuing this occupation with success
for man}' years. In 1864, he added to his farm
and other occupations that of manufacturer of pa-
per. The business was successfully conducted,
and at length grew into the " Reade Paper Com-
pany," which owned and profitably operated three
paper mills. Of this company he was for a consid-
erable time the business manager. Disposing of
his interest in this business, he was called to the
city of New York to take charge of the agricul-
tural department of " The Hea7-tJL and Home" —
an illustrated paper published by Pettingill &
Bates, and of which both Donald G. Mitchell and
Harriet Beecher Stowe were editors. He contin-
ued with this paper until it was sold to another
leading New York journal. In iS 73, he was one of the
projectors of the " Jewett City Savings Bank," and
H. L. RE.^DE.
and in Plainfield acade-
ujjon its organization was elected its president, and
has been reelected at each annual meeting of the
corporation since. The institution is one of the
most prosperous in the state. At the age of twen-
ty-two he united with a Congregational church.
He immediatel}^ began public speaking on temper-
ance, Sunday-schools, and on specially religious
topics, and in 1S74 began the work of an evangel--
ist. His labors since that time have been in five of
the New England states, and more or less else-
where, beside stated ministrations for indefinite
times to a large number of churches.
In iSSo, he conceived the idea of " compulsory
temperance teaching in public schools." He in-
troduced the first bill into the legislature of Con-
necticut for a public act to this end that was ever
presented before any legislative body. He pro-
cured letters commendatory of the idea from
Noah Porter, D.D., LL.D., president of Yale
College ; Hon. Chief -Justice John D. Park,
D.D., LL.D., of this state; Leander T. Chamber-
lain, D.D., at that time pastor of Broadway
church, Norwich, and others, which he published
in leaflet form, and whose wide circulation pre-
pared the way for the subsequent adoption of the
idea in this state and elsewhere. In 1SS3, he trav-
eled extensively in the west and south in advocacy
of this measure; had personal interviews with the
governors of Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri,
Arkansas, and other states ; presented the matter
to legislative committees, and through the columns
of western papers to the people, sowing the seed
that afterwards yielded a harvest. Subsequently,
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union took up
the matter, and he withdrew for work in other
fields.
Mr. Reade has written a number of books :
" Mone}-, and How to IMake it and Use it," 600
pages ; " Boys' and Girls' Temperance Text Book ";
" Reade's Business Reader "; " Story of a Heathen
and his Transformation," atid others, all of which
have had and are having a wide sale. He has
been a large contributor to the secular and relig-
ious press, and some of his sketches have, with
others from kindred pens, taken permanent forms.
His editorial connection with Connecticut journal-
ism covers many years.
IVIr. Reade was married to Faith B. Partridge in
1S67. Having no children of their own, they edu-
cated a girl who subsequently became a mission-
ary in Japan; and recently have helped to educate
a Japanese who already fills a high place in his
government, and whose future is one of great
promise, both in secular and sacred lines in the
" .Sunrise Empire."
J^Ir. Reade is a republican in politics. Was as-
sistant United States assessor during the last years
of the war, and until the office was abolished.
78
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
C. S. HAMILTON.
CHARLES STORRS HAMILTON, New Haven:
Attorney-at-Law.
Charles S. Hamilton was born Jan. 3, 1S46. He
is descended on his father's side from the famous
family of which Alexander Hamilton was a mem-
ber. The family, which
is of Scotch-Irish extrac-
tion, came to Rhode
Island in 1640, and went
from there to Norwich,
Conn. The Storrs family,
from which Mr. Hamilton
takes his middle name, is
connected wdth the Ham-
ilton family by mamage.
On his mother's side, Mr.
H amilton's ancestors
were of German descent,
who came to New York
about the year 1600, his
maternal grandfather being a direct lineal descend-
ant of Conrad Gesner, the Zurich scholar and phi-
losopher. The early years of Mr. Hamilton's life
were spent entirely in study, and in 1869 he gradu-
ated from coUege with high honors. He has never
failed in his love for the classics, and still reads
Greek and Latin as a pastime, and speaks both
French and German fluently. After graduating,
Mr. Hamilton went to Boston and commenced the
study of law with Congressman Clarke, and entered
the Yale Law School in 1872, graduating one year
later on account of advanced standing. He also
took a special course in the Yale Medical School, to
the more thoroughly fit himself for the extensive
practice in technical cases in which he has since
been so successful. The following winter was
spent in traveling in the southern states, and in
May, 1S74, he opened an office in the Yale Bank
building, which he still occupies. As a jury lawyer
he has been peculiarly successful, and an inspection
of the different court dockets shows that he ap-
pears in a large percentage of jury cases. He
has always from the first fought his cases sin-
gle-handed and alone, except where he has been
called in to act as senior coimsel in closely con-
tested cases. Mr. Hamilton's success at the bar is
due to his superb generalship and thorough prepar-
ation. He is never surprised by an adversary, and
never fails to detect the weak point in the enemy's
line, and take advantage of it. He frequently wins
his case before the actual trial, by ot^tgeneraling
the other party in the preliminary manoeuvering.
He is a " master of English," and his jury ad-
dresses are fine specimens of the use of wit,
pathos, and sarcasm. An announcement that
Mr. Hamilton is to speak in an important case
never fails to crowd the court room with stu-
dents and fellow members of the bar. In poli-
tics, Mr. Hamilton has always been a republi-
can, but has seldom accepted office. In iSSS, in
response to the urgent request of the residents of
the western part of the city, he was nominated for
councilman of the second ward, and was elected by
a handsome majority, although the ward is na-
turally democratic. In 18S9 he was nominated for
alderman, and received a majority of no. In 1S90
he received the unanimous nomination of the con-
vention for state senator, and succeeded in reducing
the usual democratic majority by several hundred.
In the year 1S90 he was chairman of the commis-
sion to compile the charter and revise the city or-
dinances of the city of New Haven, and earned the
perpetual gratitude of the members of the bar and
city officials by the thorough and discriminating
manner in which that task was accomplished. He
takes a deep interest in legislative matters, and has
drafted many of our important statutes.
Mr. Hamilton has a charming family, consisting
of an accomplished wife and two young children.
He is an Episcopalian in religion, and is a member
of St. Paul's church. He has been for many j^ears
a vestryman of that church. ^Ir. Hamilton is a
Freemason, and a member of Hiram Lodge, No. i.
DANIEL KELEHER, Pawcatcck (Stonington):
Granite Cutter.
Daniel Keleher holds the position of captain in
Company B of the Third regiment, C. N. G., and
is a popular officer. He enlisted as a private March
4, 1875, and became sec-
ond lieutenant March 23,
1S76. He resigned Au-
gust 9, 1876, but re-en-
listed as a private in De-
cember, 1S77. He was
commissioned second lieu-
tenant August 18, 1879 ;
first lieutenant May 16,
1882, and captain July 28,
1886. He was a charter
member of the company.
He was born in the
County of Cork, Ireland,
August 20, 1851, and re-
ceived a public school education. Captain Keleher
is a granite cutter by avocation. His work has led
him to different parts of the country, and he has
resided in Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Penn-
sylvania. November 28, 1877, he married Ellen
Tuite of Leeds, Greene County, N. Y., and has a
family of five children. He is a member of St.
Michael's Roman Catholic church of Stonington.
In politics Captain Keleher is a democrat. He held
the office of assessor in 1887 in the town. He is an
officer of the Pawcatuck fire district, assessor of
DANIEL KELEHER.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
79
the eighteenth school district, and is in oilier ways
connected with the interests of the community. He
is a charter member of Narragansett Council,
Knights of Columbus, and is past grand knight.
He was chairman of the Stonington delegation to
the democratic state convention September i6, iSgo.
W. E. MOSES.
WILLIAM E. MOSES, W.^terbury : Publisher
" The Connecticut Guardsman."
First Lieutenant William E. Moses is a commis-
sioned officer in the Connecticut National Guard.
He first saw the light of day in the " Hub," having
been born in Boston,
Mass., March 12, 1S61, in
which city he received his
education. Upon leaving
the public schools, he took
a thorough course in the-
oretical bookkeeping for
the purpose of becoming
an expert and consulting
accountant. Since grad-
uating from commercial
college, he has performed
expert work for corpora-
tions and large firms en-
gaged in nearly every
kind of business, and located in the cities of Boston,
New York, Providence, Washington, and Baltimore.
In addition to this work he has found time to de-
sign and copyright several books and de\nces, used
in accounting, which are meeting with a sale that. is
highly gratifying. He is at present cashier of the
Connecticut Indemnity Association, a well-known
life insurance corporation of Waterbury, with
which he has been connected for the last five years.
Lieutenant Moses comes of a military family — one
proud of its records made in all the wars, from In-
dian to Rebellion — and has served eleven years in
the National Guard of three states. He is the pro-
prietor of a publication, entitled The Connecticut
Guardsman, devoted to the interests of the national
guard of the L^nited States and enjoying a national
circulation. The following is his military record :
Entered the service as private in Company C, First
regiment, Mass. V. M., March 19, 1880 ; discharged
November, 1SS2, to engage in business in Washing-
ton, D. C. Joining Company A, Washington Con-
tinentals, as a private, in 1SS3, he held the several
appointments of commissary-sergeant and sergeant-
major, and in May, 1SS4, was elected first lieuten-
ant and adjutant, which commission was resigned
August, 1885. Enlisting as a private in Company
A, Second regiment, C. N. G., March 2, 1SS7, he
was appointed corporal, August 12, 1887 ; commis-
sioned second lieutenant, January 30, 18SS, and
commissioned first lieutenant, February 26, 1S90.
w. H. rosT.
WILLIAM HENRY POST, H.vrtford : Mer-
chant.
William H. Post is a descendant in the seventh
generation from Stephen Post, one of the first
settlers of Hartford, who came to America from
Chelmsford, England, in
1633, and was a member
of the congregation which
Rev. Mr. Hooker led
through the wilderness in
1636 to found the new
colony of Connecticut.
His name is inscribed on
the monument in the an-
cient cemetery of the Cen-
ter church, erected by
the citizens of Hartford
in memory of the found-
ers of that city. The
subject of this sketch was
born in Andover, Tolland county, April i, 1833.
He received his education at the " little red school-
house " in Columbia, and divided his attention be-
tween study and filial duties at his father's home-
stead until his sixteenth 3'ear, when he went to the
neighboring village of Hebron to assume the duties
of clerk in a country store. After six months' ser-
vice in that capacity he was called to Hartford to a
more responsible position in the dry goods estab-
lishment of Talcott & Post, — his brother Amos
being junior partner in the firm. L^pon the death
of his brother, three years later, he took the vacant
place as partner, January i, 1S53, and w'as con-
nected with the firm twenty-eight years, or until
its dissolution in iSSi. In April of the 3'ear last
named he opened a carpet house in Hartford, under
the firm name of Williain H. Post & Company, E.
S. Yergason being the junior partner. This estab-
ishment is one of the most extensive of its kind in
the state, and stands at the head of the carpet
houses of Hartford, embracing all lines of interior
decorations, and enjoying a reputation of national
extent. Mr. Post's business ability has been well
evidenced in the success of the two firms of which he
has been the financial and managerial head. It is
further illustrated in the positions of trust which
he has been called by his fellow-citizens to occupy
since his residence in Hartford. He is a director
in the Hartford National Bank and the Societ}' of
Savings — two of the strongest and best managed
financial institutions in the state; and is on the
boards of management of many other enterprises
of which Hartford is the home. He takes an active
interest in social, educational, and religious affairs.
Under the pastorate of Dr. Horace Bushnell he
united with the old North church — now the Park
church — in 1852, and has been greatl}^ privileged
in having that distinguished divine, and his sue-
8o
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
cesser, the late Dr. Burton, not only as pastors,
but as intimate personal friends. Mr. Post married
in September, 185 8, Miss Helen Maria Denslow,
daughter of the late William Judd Denslow of
Hartford, and they have four children — one son
and three daughters. Two of the latter are mar-
ried: Helen Louise is Mrs. Thomas Brownell Chap-
man of Hartford, and Alice Maria is the wife of
Frederick Everest Haight of Brooklyn, N. Y. The
only son, William Strong Post, is engaged in the
New York house of W. & J. Sloane, and the juvenile
member of the family, Miss Anne Wilson Post,
a young lady of twelve, is attending school in
Hartford.
ANTHONY AMES, Danielsonville: Retired Mer-
chant and Banker.
Anthony Ames of Danielsonville was a member
of the general assembly in 1SS9 and served with
credit on the republican side of the house. On ac-
count of his connection
with the state board of
education, his influence
was of great importance
in the lines of public
school improvement. Mr.
Ames was born at Ster-
ling, Jan. 18, 1826, and
was educated in the West
Killingiy academy at Dan-
ielsonville. At the age of
18 he commenced teach-
ing school and followed
that pursuit for six years.
When he was 28 years of
age, he engaged in the dry goods business at Dan-
ielsonville in partnership with George Leavens.
Subsequently, he disposed of his interest and estab-
lished himself in the business of a merchant tailor.
In 1858 he was elected town clerk, treasurer, and
registrar of births, deaths, and marriages, retaining
the position for twenty years. In 1S78 he was ap-
pointed treasurer of the Windham Cotinty Savings
Bank. Ten years afterwards he was compelled
to give up this place on account of impaired
health. In 1889 he represented Killingiy in the
legislature, serving on the railroad committee
and the committee on education. He has
been a member of the school board at Killingiy
for 30 years, and is at present the acting
school visitor. Mr. Ames will complete his third
term as a member of the state board of education
in July, 1892. He is a member of Moriah Lodge,
F. and A. M., of Danielson\dlle, occupying the po-
sition of secretar)-. The lodge is one of the largest
and most influential in eastern Connecticut. The
wife of Mr. Ames, who is still living, was Miss
Abby AI. Wheaton prior to marriage. There are
ANTHONY AMES.
W. H. STEVENSON.
no children. The subject of this sketch is most fa-
vorably known throughout the State in which he
has represented the best interests of education and
citizenship.
COL. WILLIAM H. STEVENSON, Bridgeport:
Vice-President and General Manager of the
Housatonic Railway System.
Colonel Stevenson was born in Bridgeport in
1847, and, after receiving a thorough literary train-
ing and education, graduated early in life from
Eastman's National Busi-
ness College with the de-
gree of Master of Ac-
counts. In 1864 he entered
the offices of the Housa-
tonic railway in Bridge-
port and remained there
for several years. In 1S72
he was appointed special
agent of the New York
& New Haven railroad,
an office which he filled
for two years, when he
was appointed paymaster
of the New York Central
& Hudson River railroad, and in the same year
was made superintendent of the Shore Line road.
This line he brought to a high state of efficiency,
placing it in a better position and condition than it
had ever before attained, and as a consequence
he became in demand by several lines, and in 1882
accepted the office of superintendent of the New
York division of the New York, New Haven &
Hartford railroad. In this position, as in all the
offices he had filled, he displaj-ed so much energy,
ability and capacity for managing and controlling
large interests, that he became one of the acknowl-
edged railway experts of the east, and in 1885 was
elected president of the association of American
railroad sviperintendents, in 1887 was brought back
to the railroad in which he received his first lessons
in railroading and was made vice-president and
general manager of the Housatonic railway. It
would scarcely be expected that a man who gave
so mtich attention to so vast a subject as railroad-
ing, and who had by great application and ability
risen rapidly to the head of a prominent system in
so short a time, could have given much thought to
anything else; yet Col. Stevenson has found time
to do a great many other things and to rise to
prominence in other ways as well as in the great
business of his life. In 1S75 he was elected coun-
cilman in Bridgeport and served on the finance
committee, and in 1S76 he was returned as alder-
man, and in 1877 was reelected, and served on the
most important committees of the board. During
this vear he was honored with the democratic
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
8l
nomination for the le.u,islature, against Hon. P. T.
Barnum. In 1S7S he was again elected alderman
and was chairman of the finance committee anil
also the committee on ways and means. In this
j'ear he passed the required examination as a law-
yer and was admitted to the bar of Fairfield county.
In iSSi he was nominated bj' the democratic party
for mayor, and in 1SS4 was elected president of the
young men's democratic Cleveland and Hendricks
club and took an active part in the campaign which
resulted so favorably for his party. He served on
the democratic state committee during the cam-
paign of iSSS. But he gave attention to and
attained prominence in yet another field, and was
appointed aid-de-camp with the rank of captain
on the staff of Brigadier- General S. R. Smith of
the Connecticut National Guard in 1S79. He served
as captain until 1SS4, when he was promoted to the
office of brigade commissar}', with the rank of
major, on the stafi^ of General Smith. In the same
year he was again promoted, acting as aid-de-
camp A\-ith the rank of colonel on the staff of Gov-
ernor Thomas M. Waller. He was the third presi-
dent of the old Eclectic Club of Bridgeport, which
was for ten years one of the most popular social
institutions in the city. In 1SS4 he was elected
grand master of the grand lodge of Independent
Order of Odd Fellows for the state of Connecticut,
and in the following year was sent as representa-
tive to the sovereign gi-and lodge I. O. O. F. by the
grand lodge of Connecticut, at which time he was
elected grand marshal of the sovereign grand
lodge. In 1SS6 he was appointed general aid,
with the rank of colonel, on the staff of Lieut. -
General Underwood of the military branch of
patriarchs militant of the order of Odd Fellows.
He is also a member of the Masonic order, and in
1S85 was chosen exalted ruler of the" Bridgeport
order of Elks. In 1SS7 he was elected director and
president of the New York, Rutland & Montreal
railroad, and also a director in the New York &
New England railroad. In the following year he
was made president of the New Haven & Derby
railroad. He is also a director in the Danbury &
Norwalk railroad and a director in the "West Stock-
bridge railroad. One of his projects, which has
been successfully carried through, was the extension
of the New Haven & Derby railroad to the
Housatonic railroad, the latter road building a
branch to meet it, which was completed in Novem-
ber, 18S8, and opened with great enthusiasm on the
part of the general public, because of its making a
new and independent route from New Haven to
the west. Under the able management of Col.
Stevenson the Housatonic railroad is fast becoming
one of the leading railway systems of New Eng-
land. Recently Col. Stevenson was elected one of
the directors and vice-president of the Shepaug,
Litchfield & Northern railnnid. In 1S90 he was a
leading figure in the politii'al campaign and was
the choice of a large portion of the democratic
party for governor, but he declined to be considered
a candidate, his business interests demanding all
his attcnti<jn.
^^^
E. E. BK.^DLEY.
GENERAL EDWARD E. BRADLEY, New
Haven: President New Haven Wheel Company
and Boston Blackboard and Carriage Company.
General Edward E. Bradley occupies a foremost
place among the business men of New Haven, be-
ing at the head of one of the largest and most im-
portant industries in that
city. His standing as a
public representative is
equally notable. The
General Avas born in New
Haven January 5, 1845,
and received a thorough
public school education.
At the age of sixteen he
engaged in the employ of
the New Haven Wheel
Company, beginning as
shipping clerk. He is
now the president of the
corporation, which has
business relations throughout the world, its trade
extending to most European and South American
countries. General Bradley is also the president of
the Boston Buckboard and Carriage Company. He
has but few superiors in his section of the state as
a business manager, and the rapid promotions
which he has met with in life have been deserved.
In 1 861 he became a member of the New Haven
Grays, one of the celebrated militarj' companies of
the state at that time. The soldierly traits and
instincts which he manifested at the outset attracted
attention, opening the way for the brilliant series of
advancements in the service that awaited him. He
was placed at the head of the company and became
a field officer in the Second Regiment within a
dozen years from the date of his enlistment as a
private in the Grays. Under the administration of
Governor R. D. Hubbard he was made paymaster-
general with the rank of brigadier in the ser\4ce.
General Bradley represented the town of Orange
in the general assembly during the years of 18S3
and 18S4, his career in the house proving him to be
a legislator of decided capability and leadership.
The constitutional amendment providing for bien-
nial sessions was introduced in the house bj- General
Bradley during the session of 1883 and was ordered
published in the laws of that year. The amend-
ment that had been submitted to the people in 1879
had been overwhelmingly rejected and it was feared
at the beginning that General Bradley's renewal of
5loo
82
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
the idea would prove ineffective. 6ut the General's
influence was an impo«-tant factor in getting the
proposed amendment incorporated in the session
laws. In 1884 the legislature ordered the submis-
sion to the people for ratification and it was adopted
at the October election in that year. General
Bradley was elected a member of the senate from
the seventh district in 1S85 and ably served in that
body through the session of 1886. The democratic
state convention of 1886 was held in New Haven
and resulted in the selection of General Bradley for
the second place on the state ticket, the Hon. Ed-
ward S. Cleveland of Hartford being the candidate
for the governorship. The superb enthusiasm with
which the general's nomination was received in the
convention was the most complimentary of tributes
to his popularity. His total vote at the polls was
larger than that of his chief and exceeded by
1,979 the total received by the republican candidate
for the governorship. General Bradley is a mem-
ber of the New Haven Park Commission and
of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce. He
is also a director in the New Haven County Na-
tional Bank, and president of the New Haven
Grays Veteran Association. He is a communi-
cant of St. Paul's Church in that city and is a
gentleman of the most exemplary personal char-
acter. His family consists of a wife and three
daughters. The former was Miss Mary E.
Kimberly prior to her maiTiage with General
Bradley.
EDWARD DEACON, Bridgeport: Secretary
Consolidated Rolling Stock Company.
Edward Deacon was bom in England in 1840,
descended from an old Bedfordshire family of that
name. He completed his education at Liverpool
College; Very Reverend
Dean Howson (now Bish-
op of Chester), Principal.
Shortly afterwards he
came to this country with
other older members of
the family, who settled in
Howard county, Iowa.
. Leaving the farm he en-
tered mercantile life in
1S64, in the service of
Captain "Diamond Jo"
Reynolds of Mississippi
steamboat fame, in his
then immense grain and
pork business at McGregor, Iowa, and soon proved
himself so capable that large financial interests
were entrusted to his care. Subsequently he
assisted in the construction of the Milwaukee &
St. Paul Railroad in 1866-7, being paymaster for
EDWARD DEACON.
the contractors, Judge Greene of Iowa, Alexander
Mitchell of Milwaukee, and Russell Sage of New
York. In this capacity it became his duty to pur-
chase and pay for large supplies for the army of
men and horses, which was strung along the un-
broken prairie, at that time almost entirely unset-
tled and unknown. With one attendant and well
armed, he would drive over the prairies from sec-
tion to section between Austin, Minn., and Ossian,
Iowa, carrying forty to fifty thousand dollars, pay-
ing the men by day upon the estimates of the
engineers, and sleeping at night in the tents and
shanties of the workmen with his cash box under
his head.
In 1 868 he started for himself in the wholesale
agricultural implement business, with headquarters
at McGregor, Iowa, and established agencies for
the sale of threshers and reapers in nearly every
county of southern Minnesota, northern Iowa, and
western Wisconsin. In this he was fairly success-
ful, btit the hard times in the West antecedent to
the panic of 1S73 compelled him to close up his
business and remove to Detroit, Mich., where he
married and accepted a position in the First
National Bank of that city. A few years later he
engaged with the great seed house of D. M. Ferry
& Co., in which he became a stockholder, and re-
mained with them several years.
Having had some previous knowledge of the
rolling stock business, upon the organization of the
Consolidated Rolling Stock Company of Bridgejaort
Mr. 1 )eacon was tendered the office of secretary of
the company, which he accepted and removed with
his family to that city in 18S6. This company,
whose capital stock is $4,000,000 (fotir millions),
owns many thousand freight cars, and maintains
three shops, located in the west, for the building
and repair of its rolling stock. These shops are
under the management of Mr. Deacon, who acts as
purchasing agent and superintendent for the com-
pany. Mr. Deacon is a director of the Detroit
Rolling Stock and other similar companies. He
married, in Detroit, Miss Eliza Stoddard, daughter
of Rodman Stoddard of Connecticut, the fifth in
descent from Rev. Solomon Stoddard, the first
librarian of Harvard College, who was grandfather
of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards, and was also
the ancestor of Aaron Burr and General W. T.
Sherman. The result of this union is a son and
datighter, who are both living.
Mr. Deacon has neither sought nor held public
office, his tastes rather inclining to a literary turn.
He is the possessor of a fairly well filled library,
and enjoys the privileges which membershii^ in the
Fairfield County Historical Society and the Bridge-
port Scientific Society brings to him. He is a
member of the Presbyterian church and a repub-
lican.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
83
J. X. NEAR.
JOHN X. NEAR, Bkuh-.epokt ; Mercantile Printer
and Publisher.
John N. Near was born in Rhinebeck, N. Y.,
June 15, 1S37, of Dutch ancestry, the name being
oritjinallj- spelled Neher. At fourteen years of age
he entered the ofhce of the
Anicrhiin Mtchaiiic in
that place as an appren-
tice. In 1S55 he left there
to accept a position on the
Berkshire County Eagle
at Pittsfield, leaving there
in 1S56 to accept the fore-
manship of the Daily
Farmer at Bridgeport,
Conn. In 1S57 he left this
position on a trip to better
his fortunes, but after an
absence of several weeks
he returned to Bridge-
port, and took the foremanship of the City Steam
Printing House. At this time he engaged in active
politics, and was elected town and city treasurer.
The printing house soon after went into a joint
stock concern, and after a few years the owners
sold the business to young Near, without the pay-
ment of a dollar down.
From this time forth he withdrew from all active
participation in politics, refusing to accept any
office, though often tendered, preferring to devote
his entire time to the business, having a laudable
desire to pay off his obligations, and become in fact,
as well as in name, the owner of the property.
After several years of hard work and personal
supervision of the business he has the satisfaction
of seeing his hopes realized and himself in posses-
sion of the largest job printing business in Bridge-
port. The oifice now no longer requiring all his
attention, being in charge of his sons, and being
again drawn into politics, he was elected a member
of the council, and president of the board in 18S5-
6. In 1SS6, and again in 1 887, he was the candi-
date of his party for mayor. Each time he was de-
feated, owing to the active opposition of the saloon
element in his party. They had been allowed to
keep their places open, not only after 12 o'clock at
night, but also on Sundays, and it was published
that if he were elected the laws would be enforced.
Although defeated for mayor, yet when he came
before the people as a candidate for representative
in iSSS, he was elected by over five hundred ma-
jority.
Mr. Near married Miss Sarah F. Bamum of
Bridgeport, and has two children. He is a demo-
crat, and as such has held the offices of town and
city treasurer, city councilman, and president of the
board, representative in the general assembly, and
is now chairman of the board of fire commission-
ers. Pie is a member of the Universalist church,
and of the order of Knights of Pythias. He is em-
phatically a " self-made man," having by dint of
strict business methods and uriswerving integrity
won an honorable position in the business and
social world, and a competence at the same time.
It is a pardonable boast of the subject of this
sketch, that, starting with nothing, he has never
seen the time when he was absolutely in want
of a dollar. His credit has always been unlim-
ited, for the reason that he never has failed to
pay when promised. To-day, the business which
he has established ranks as the second largest
in this line in the state.
SELLECK Y. ST. JOHN, New Canaax: Banker.
S. Y. St. John was born at South Salem, in the
state of New York, February 10, 1S19. His educa-
tion was obtained in district schools and academies,
where was laid the solid
foundation upon which
his successes in business
pursuits have since been
constructed. He was en-
gaged in mercantile
affairs for many years,
but his connections have
been chiefly with banking
and other financial institu-
tions. He was treasurer
of the New Canaan Sav-
ings Bank for seventeen
years from its organiza-
tion in 1S59, and has been
cashier of the First National Bank of that place
since it was organized under the national banking
law in 1S65. He has been director of the New
Canaan Railroad for a number of years, and was
president of the company from 1S76 to 1878. He is
also president of the New Canaan Cemetery Asso-
ciation, and has held a number of local offices in
that town, including that of town clerk for nine
years, and justice of the peace for even a much
longer term. Jlr. St. John is a republican in poli-
tics, and as such was elected, successiveh* in 1879,
1 88 1, and 18S2, to represent New Canaan in the
general assembly of the state, where he rendered
important service to his constituents and the state.
The subject of this sketch is a prominent citizen of
his town, deeply and actively interested in all public
affairs, and highly esteemed by all who know him.
He married December i, 1S40, Miss Mary A. Sey-
mour, daughter of Holly Seymour of New Canaan ,
and they have had two children, neither of whom
is now living. A granddaughter, who is un-
married and resides with them, is their only
representative.
84
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
-'..■.>'-Y«,'''<- /-
ANEK SPEKRV,
ANER SPERRY, Hartford: Trustee in Settle-
ment of Estates.
The subject of this sketch was born in the town
of Russia, Herkimer County, New York, February
5, 1S12. For a great many years he was in active
business in Hartford, and
well-known throughout
the city and count3^ He
practically retired years
ago, and has since devoted
his attention to the settle-
ment of estates. His
erect form is still a famil-
iar one on the streets of
Hartford; and, although
nearh' eighty years of
age, his step is firm and
his ej'c bright. He has
personally prepared a
sketch of his life, which is
printed verbatim below, and Avill be read b3' his
acquaintances with greater relish than anything
which the editor could offer in its place.
Mr. Sperry writes: " My father and mother went
from New Haven to Russia, N. Y., in the year
1800, and settled on a farm in the wilderness.
They had then one daughter, Laura; they con-
structed a log house in which the)' lived several
years, but the familj' increased and a larger house
was required. It was built at the foot of a small
hill, of logs, and in this house I was born. I take
great pleasure in visiting the spot where the old log
house stood, and looking at the little babbling
brook near by where I have taken so much comfort
in wading in the water, building dams, and after
school filling my fish basket with speckled trout, or
picking twelve quarts of blackberries and carrying
them to ' the corners,' one and a half miles awa}'.
I could generally get two cents per quart, but if
the market was dull Esq. Frink would take them
and give me a yard of cotton cloth that was worth
one York shilling. Mother could alwaj's find use
for it, as I had five sisters and two brothers. The
school-house was one and a half miles away, and I
did not spend much time there. Father was a
tailor and spent most of the winters in ' whipping
the cat,' and that left the chores and wood-chopping
for me to do. The old bay mare ' Cub ' was a great
help to me in getting up the wood; she also carried
us to mill and to meeting. We had about three
.acres of orchard and I remember the names of
nearly every tree. Father built a frame barn and
■one of our neighbors had a frame house ; he died
one day and father bought the house for fift}' dollars,
and the neighbors that had oxen came and moved
the house to our place and we dug a cellar under it
and that made us a very good home. It was a hard
struggle for our jDarents to clear up the land and
raise so large a famih'. We were all brought up in
the Methodist faith and the fear of hell was before
our eyes; but I ' did not see it.' Our advantages
for knowing what was in the future were very
limited. The answer to any and all questions was
' faith.' Our farm was very hilly and it made lots
of hard work. The soil was good. A brook ran
through the south part of it, and a spring supplied
the north part; we had a good sugar bush. Our
neighbors were kind and agreeable. I took lots of
comfort attending singing school.
' ' At the age of sixteen I left home and went to
live with John Graves in the fall, and did chores
for m)- board and went to school. Perhaps some
of the sixteen-year-old boys of the present day
would like to know what chores I had to do. Well,
the first was to get out of bed at four o'clock a. m. ,
dress and go to the barn and milk six cows, feed
forty cows, two oxen, and five horses, then go to
another barn and feed twenty calves and forty
sheep ; then go to a ha^^stack half a mile away and
feed five colts, shovel away the snow and cut a hole
in the ice for them to drink, feed six hogs, — all of
which must be done before daylight. Who can
guess how much hay has been handled? Now
breakfast is ready. After eating in a hurry the
cows are all turned out to water, and put back if
stormy, horses led out to water, and all of the
stables cleaned out; now comes wood-sawing and
filling the woodbox in the kitchen, and then I am
now ready for school. At twelve I must hurry
home and feed all the cattle, and get back to school
for the afternoon. As soon as it is closed I am seen
running home to do the chores, which are not fin-
ished until about eight o'clock; then when supper
is over I am soon between the sheets. This is
repeated every day until spring arrives. I then go
to work for seven dollars per month. This is
followed up for five years; the last summer the
wages reach ten dollars per month. My father
takes all of my wages for the five years. I then
arrive at the age of twenty-one. During my boy-
hood, when at home, my father gave me a small
patch of ground on Avhich I raised watermelons
and sold them at general trainings and picked up a
little money of my own. I enlisted into the artillery
company, Twent^'-sixth regiment, N. Y. S. artillery
under David Joy. Dr. Walter Booth commanded
the company afterward, and our general trainings
were held at Herkimer. F. E. Spinner was colonel,
he who was afterwards United States treasurer.
On the 26th of July, 1S30, I was appointed corporal
of the company'- and received my warrant from
Colonel Spinner on that day. Our uniform was blue,
trimmed with gilt braid, bell-crowned caps made of
patent leather and brass trimmed, with tall red
feather, sword, and belt. I enlisted when I was
seventeen. When I became twenty-one I was sick
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
85
of farming and decided to look for some other busi-
ness. Father said ' If you will stay here and take
care of me and mother, when we get through you
shall have all that is left.' I thanked him for his
very kind and generous offer, and said U< liini,
' You have worked all of your life so far and got to-
gether a farm of fifty acres, and it is well-stocked
and worth about $1,500. Now I shall decline the
offer for two reasons: first, I have brothers and
sisters, and would not take it all; second, I think I
can do better.' I was then twenty-one and had
thirty dollars in my pocket. I left Russia about
the 4th of April, 1S33, for New Haven, by stage;
could not get work, and my thirty dollars was re-
duced to one dollar and seventy-five cents. Left
New Haven at eight a.m., arrived in Hartford at
four V.M., having walked thirty-six miles; applied
at the Retreat for work without success; went to
Mr. Johnson's house near by and staid over night;
told him my situation, and he gave me my supper,
lodging, and breakfast, and it was valued higher
than any gift that I ever received. Next morning
went over to the Retreat and obtained a situa-
tion. "Was employed in the house for six months;
then went outside and drove the team seven and
one-half years. jNIy stay there was verj^ pleasant
and agreeable. I had fifteen dollars per month for
two years and twenty dollars per month for six
years. The managers made me a present of fifty
dollars when I left. Dr. Todd was superintendent
and Phineas Talcott steward when I went there,
and Dr. Brigham was superintendent and Virgil
Cornish steward when I left. The boys there
wanted to rise their money faster than they earned
it, and I lent them money every month at a large
interest. I saved my money and the big interest
helped me out. I spent but very little. I attended
dancing school two winters. The first thousand
dollars that I earned I put into the grocery trade
with a partner, who managed the business two
years and then left with all of the funds. I left the
Retreat in the spring of 1S41, and manufactured
root beer for five months; cleared $875. Then I
formed a copartnership with Frederick F. Tajdor.
VCe bought out Solomon Smith's livery stable,
price 82,500. I had $2,200, and Mr. Tajdor had
S300. We were located on Front street. Mr.
Smith still owned the office, which we afterwards
bought for S700. Then we bought of Christopher
Colt a barn for 81,200; then bought of Griffin Sted-
man a house on Talcott street for $1,500; then sold
the whole to Daniel Buck for an advance of S500.
We then bought of Wm. Kellogg a barn corner of
Front and Talcott streets for 84,000. On this
ground I built my first house; it was a neat little
house of four rooms. August 18, 1844, I was mar-
ried to Nancy B. Miller; she was from East Hamp-
ton, N. Y.; she was six years younger than myself.
We were married at the Methodist Church. I
played the bass viol there five years. I think
Nancy was the best housekeeper in the wide world.
We lived together thirty-nine years; she died
August 31, 1883. Mr. Taylor and myself bought,
in the spring of 1S47, the old Goodwin livery stable
in rear of the Exchange Bank, State street, for
$13,200. Mr. Taylor's health failed in 1850 and I
botight him out and paid him $8,000. I continued
the business tnitil 1S59. I had ten hacks and
twenty-five single teams, and generally kept fifty
horses and attended to most of the funerals. I em-
ployed fifteen men and had a large run of business.
Kept my own books. My hacks cost generally from
$1,200 to $1,500; I had one that cost $2,000, and
^Irs. Sigourney had the first ride in it. I lost over
fifty horses, the value of which was at least $10,000,
and bad debts on my books $10,000. My barn was
burned and the loss, over the insurance, was $8,000.
I gave Geo. K. Reed $5,000, Mrs. Sharp's family
$2,300, Geo. W. Loveland $3,100, Frederick S.
Sperry $300, Philena Fithian $250, PoUa Osborn
$250, and many other smaller gifts, also S. A. L.
$2,200. Lost by endorsements and otherwise over
$20,000. The aggregate amount of losses and gifts
$70,000. The interest added, this amount would,
at this time, make the whole amount considerably
over $100,000.
" I bought ten hacks here, three in New Haven,
thirty-five in Bridgeport. My livery property,
would generally inventory about $30,000. When I
commenced the business, our capital being but
$2,500, I was obliged to have some credits. I got
Robert Buell to endorse for me. He was on my
paper most of the time. I gave him what riding
he wanted , which amounted to about one hundred
dollars per j-ear. I have been interested in the
hack business outside of my own business with
James Givin, ]\Ir. Boyington, ]\Ir. Briggs, John
White, E. P. Cottrell, James Tehan, C. B. Board-
man, Geo. Goyt, I. A. Chamberlain, and ]Merrick
Freeman. I finally wound up by selling out to
Freeman. I took a house of him on Pleasant
street and lived there one year; changed that for
a farm on Windsor avenue. In the spring of 1S60
I bought my house on Ann street. During 1S59
and 1S60 I was out of business, and it was the two
hardest years' work that I have ever done. At
that time Hewett & Rogers failed in the livery
business, and theirs was the first estate that I ever
settled; but I have followed the business ever since,
and my list numbers now 175. My fees wdll amount
to about $17,000.
" When I first started out to take care of myself
the main object was to provide for myself a good
home. I have denied myself many things in my
youth that would have been pleasant to enjoy, but
by so doing I have accomplished my object. I
86
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
F. S. STEVENS.
have got m}- long-desired good home, although in
getting it I have passed through many storms; luit
the storms are o\fer and the sun shines bright."
vSince the above sketch was prepared, Mr. Sperry
has married, May 6, iSgi, Mrs. Emily J. House of
Hartford.
FREDERICK S. STEVENS, Bridgeport: Whole-
sale and Retail Druggist.
Frederick S. Stevens comes of a long and illustri-
ous line of Connecticut ancestry, being of the sev-
enth generation from Thomas Stevens, who died in
Stamford in 1658; a great-
grandson of Lieutenant
Ezra Ste\-ens of Revolu-
tionary fame; and grand-
son of Zadoc Stevens, an
honored representative of
his native town of Dan-
bury in the legislature
of 1824-5. Oliver Wol-
cott was then governor
and Ralph I. IngersoU
speaker of the House.
The men who were sought
for legislative honors in
those days were the lead-
ing men of Connecticut; and of the gentlemen who
served with Zadoc Stevens one became a United
States senator, six became governors of Connecti-
cut, six members of congress, one United States
minister to the court of Russia, and thirty-fot:r oth-
ers obtained high places in the administration of
state affairs. Israel Coe of Waterbury is to-day the
only surviving member of the distinguished legisla-
ture of I 8 24-5.
F. S. Stevens was born in Danbury, 1848, and
removed to Knoxville, Illinois, when quite yotmg.
The public schools of Knoxville and two years in
Knox College, Galesburg, 111., completed his edu-
cational advantages. For about twenty years
he has been engaged in the drug trade in Bridge-
port, which city has honored him with various
positions of trust. He was one of the twenty-five
originators of the Connecticut State Pharmaceuti-
cal association. He was five years on Colonel Wat-
son's staff, C. N. G. 4th Regt. He was elected last
fall to represent Bridgeport in th%- general assem-
bly, as a democrat. He is secretary and a director
of the Masonic Temple Association of Bridgeport, a
past master of Corinthian Lodge, No. 104, F. & A.
M., a prominent member of the board of trade, the
Seaside Club, and of Christ Protestant Episcopal
church. He was married in 1876 to Anna May,
only daughter of Edward L. Gaylord, ex-president
of the Eagle Lock Company of Terry\'ille. His
family consists of four children. Mr. Stevens is a
quiet, genial gentleman, and a thorough business
W. I. LEWIS.
man, whose sound sense, sterling integrity, and
good judgment, have always forced him into the
front rank of his fellow-citizens and his party.
WILLIAM I. LEWIS, Grove Be.\ch, Westbrook.
Mr. Lewis was born at New Canaan, in this state,
in JS40, the son of Isaac Hayes Lewis, and nephew
of John Lewis, for whom the town of Lewisboro,
Westchester county, N.
Y., is named. He is de-
scended from the old
French Huguenot family
of Hayes, who settled
New Rochelle, N. Y., and
from the old Connecticut
family of Lewis. He was
solidly educated at the
New York public schools
and free academy. He
studied law three years
in the office of Lawyer
Sherman in New York
city, and two years at the
Columbian University, Washington, D. C. His
life has been a varied and busy one : in the army,
in manufacturing and mercantile pursuits, and at
times holding several important offices of trust
under the government. In the early part of the
war he enlisted as a private in the 20th Connecticut
volunteers, and being a rapid and fine penman, he
was soon placed on detailed service with Captain
John P. Green, now vice-j^resident of the Pennsyl-
vania railroad, and in the field with the fearless
General Thomas L. Kane, brother of the famous
Arctic explorer, and while on this duty was with
the general day and night, of whom it was said
" He never slept." Mr. Lewis was captured by
the famous guerilla chief Mosby and incarcerated
in Castle Thunder and Libby prisons. Before the
close of the war he was made the general account-
ant of the military railroads, U. S., which was
organized by Thomas A. Scott, the great president
of the Pennsylvania railroad, and he undertook and
successfully accomplished the work of classifying,
arranging, and tabulating the multifarious reports
of the thirty-five railroads operated by the govern-
ment throughout the rebellious states into one
volume or tabulated statement, comprising over
200 folios, which is on file in the archives of the
state department at Washington, D. C, and it is
said to be the finest and most elaborate and com-
plete statistical report of its kind in existence. He
was for three years in the office of the secretary of
the treasury, and while there originated and estab-
lished the system of accounting and rules now in use,
governing the expenses of collecting the revenue
from customs throughout the United States,
wherebv the secretarv of the treasurv controls these
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT
87
expenditures, and which has resulted in saving
millions of dollars to the government. His knowl-
edge of public men is large, having been connected
witli the treasury and for the past seven years
associated with the sergeant-at-arms of the U. S.
senate at Washington. Mr. Lewis has always risen
in the estimation of those with whom he has been
associated by simple force of his ability and charac-
ter. Shortly after the war he married Isadora,
daughter of Mr. William D. Winship of George-
town, D. C. Three sons and three daughters are
the fruit of this union. He is a member of the
Presbyterian church and with his good wife founded
a mission church of that denomination, while
sojourning in Washington. He is also a free
mason and in politics has always been a pronounced
republican. He believes in progression and takes
great interest in everj^thing pertaining to the wel-
fare of Connecticut; especially is he interested in
all improvements in his own locality. He is an enter-
prising citizen of the town of Westbrook. He has
resided at Grove Beach, between the villages of
Clinton and AVestbrook, with his familj^ since 1872.
He is a verj' nervy, tireless worker at whatever he
undertakes, as shown by his energy in causing the
opening of the new and beautiful shore highway
running through Grove Beach and connecting the
towns of Clinton and Westbrook, and in his un-
tiring and persistent work for the breakwater im-
provement at Duck Island Harbor on the sea front
of these towns. He is the founder of Grove Beach,
and the improvements and wonderful growth of
this place in the past few years is clue to him more
than to any other person for his enterprise and
push in developing this charming summer resort.
JOSEPH PIERPONT, North Haven, Merchant.
Joseph Pierpont was born in North Haven March
II, 1S53, and was educated in the common schools
and at Cheshire academy, providing him with a
thorough equipment for
business. He is engaged
in mercantile pursuits and
is a careful and judicious
manager. Mr. Pierpont
is a member of St. John's
Episcopal church at
North Haven, occupj-ing
the position of junior
warden. In politics he is
a republican. He is a
member of the board of
school visitors, his present
term expiring in 1892.
Mr. Pierpont has a wife
and three children. The former was Miss Hattie
B. Brockett prior to her marriage.
W. W. EATON.
JOSEPH PIERPONT.
HON. W. W. EATON, H.\rtford: Ex-Congress-
man.
William W. Eaton was born at Tolland, October
II, iSiG, and received a public school education
there, preparing him for business life. His father,
Hon. Luther Eaton, was
a man of notable honesty
and integrity, possessing
the fullest confidence and
respect of the community
in wliich he resided. He
was also a man of politi-
cal influence and control,
at one time representing
the old twentieth district
in the state senate. Mr.
Eaton inherited the strict
probity and independence
of conviction of his father,
and from the earliest pe-
riod of his life his course has been one of fearless
adherence to what he has believed to be right. On
arriving at his majority he engaged in mercantile
pursuits at Columbia, S. C, and spent three or four
years there in business. The strong individual
views which characterized his subsequent course in
public affairs were established in part at least b}"
his residence at the South. At the conclusion of
his commercial career, which lasted upwards of
four years, he returned North and commenced the
study of law at his old home in Tolland, and was
admitted to the bar in Tolland county. In 1847 he
was elected a member of the Connecticut house of
representatives from Tolland, and was returned the
following year from that town. From that time
until now he has been a prominent figure in Con-
necticut politics. In 1S50 he was elected to the
state senate from the old twentieth district. At the
end of the session of the general assembly that year
Mr. Eaton removed to Hartford, and has since
been a resident here. He received the appointment
of clerk of the Hartford county court, and proved
himself a thoroughly comjDetent official. In 1853
he was elected a member of the house from Hart-
ford and was chosen speaker, a position for which
he was amply qualified both by reason of ability
and experience. Mr. Eaton was also a member of
the house from Hartford during the sessions of
1863, '68, '70, '71, '73, and '74. In 1873 he was
elected speaker for the second time, and discharged
the duties of the position with characteristic effi-
ciency and success. Mr. Eaton possesses special
adaptation for the legislative function, and his
career in the general assembly was marked by the
highest personal integrity and uprightness. During
the session of 1874 he was elected L^nited States
senator from Connecticut, succeeding Hon. William
A. Buckingham, whose term expired March 4, 1875.
88
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
Upon the death of Senator Buckingham in February,
1875, Mr. Eaton was appointed United States sena-
tor, filling the vacancy caused by Mr. Bucking-
ham's death, and assumed the duties of the office
February 13, 1875. Commencing his full term on
the 4th of March following, he remained in Wash-
ington during the sticceeding six years, establish-
ing for himself a record in which the state might
experience a just sense of pride. During the con-
cluding years of his senatorial hfe he was senate
chairman of the committee on foreign relations, one
of the most important in congress. He was opposed
to the appointment of the electoral commission by
which, in 1S76, the election of President Hayes was
ratified, and was the only democrat in the senate
who voted against the measure. Mr. Eaton was
one of the strongest advocates of tariff reform dur-
ing his term in congress, and was the author of an
important measure providing for the appointment
of a tariff commission. His term expired March 3,
iSSi, before his bill could be made a law, but the
subsequent congress enacted a measure covering
the main provisions of Mr. Eaton's act. He was a
hard-money democrat, and held positive views with
regard to the greenback controversy which agitated
the country a few years ago. In the fall of 1SS2 he
received the democratic nomination for congrfess
from the first district, and was elected by a hand-
some majority. At the close of his term he retired
from active political life, though his voice is still
heard and his influence felt in the councils of his
party.
HARVY GODARD, North Granby : Farmer
and Miller.
Harvy Godard was born in North Granby,
March 15, 1823, and was educated in the common
schools, preparing him for a useful and successful
life. In 1873 he was a
member of the general
assembly from the town
of Granby, and was mas-
ter of the state grange
from 1875 until 1879. He
has held most of the of-
fices within the gift of his
town, and is an active
and influential citizen of
Granby. He is a demo-
crat in politics. Mr. God-
ard has devoted his life to
agricultural pursuits. He
is a member oi »St. Mark's
Lodge, No. 36, F. and A. M., of TarifEville. He
has always lived in North Granby, where, in addi-
tion to his farming occupations, he has carried on a
sawmill and gristmill. One of his yearly pastimes
is to distill a small quantity of cider brandy in the
old-fashioned way. Mr. Godard has a wife and
five sons. The former was Miss Sabra L. Beach
prior to her marriage. His only daughter, Grace
M., died in 1878, aged three years.
H.-^RVY GODARD.
N. C. STILES.
NORMAN C. STILES, Middletown: Manufac-
turer of Machinery.
The subject of this sketch, like very many other
persons who have risen to prominence, and who
have been largely instrumental in building up great
enterprises, was a poor
boy, but possessed with
energy and push, and
succeeded in establishing
one of the most import-
ant industries in the coun-
try, from which he retired
in December last, leaving
his son, E. S. Stiles, in his
place. He was born at
Feeding Hills, a village
of Agawam, Mass., June
18, 1834. Through mis-
fortunes to the father, the
subject of this sketch was
deprived of the educational advantages enjoyed by
most boys of his age. He early developed invent-
ive genius and remarkable mechanical ability, and
various devices were constructed by him, previous
to the age of sixteen, when he removed to Meriden
and engaged with his brother, Doras A. Stiles, in
the manufacture of tinware; but this gave him no
opportunity to develop his mechanical tastes, and
he soon after became connected with the American
Machine Works, at Springfield, Mass., where he
remained until he attained his majority. Soon
after he returned to Meriden, Conn., and entered
the employ of Messrs. Snow, Brooks & Co., now
known as Messrs. Parker Brothers. He was em-
ployed in making dies and other small work,
requiring great skill and ingenuity. He subse-
quently entered the employ of Messrs. Edward
Miller & Co. of Meriden, where he remained until
1857, when he concluded to " paddle his own
canoe," and began the manufacture of presses and
dies. His business increased at a rapid rate and
required additional facilities, and Mr. Stiles selected
jNIiddletown as a good place for wider operations,
removed there, and has remained there ever since.
Previous to removing to Middletown, Mr. Stiles
made several improvements in his punching press,
among others an eccentric adjiistment, which was
a great improvement on other punching presses
then in use, and far superior to what was known as
the Fowler press. This device he patented in 1864.
Parker Bros, of Meriden, who were engaged in
manufacturing the Fowler press, adopted Mr.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
89
Stiles' eccentric adjustment, which involved a long
and expensive litigation, resulting llnally in a com-
promise and the organization of the Stiles & Parker
Press Co., in which ^Ir. Stiles held the controlling
interest. In 1S73 Mr. Stiles attended the Vienna
exposition, through which he obtained a foreign
market for his goods. His presses are used in the
armories and navy yards of the United States, as
well as those of Germany, Austria, Prussia,
Sweden, Ti;rkey, Egypt, France, and ^Mexico. He
has interested himself in the public affairs of
Middletown, and served several years as a member
of the boards of councilmen and aldermen. He
married, March 23, 1S64, Sarah M., daughter of
Henry Smith of Middletown. They have three
children, Doctor Henry R., Edmund S., secretary
and superintendent of the Stiles & Parker Press
Company, and ]\Iilly B. ]\Ir. Stiles is a member
of the church of the Holy Trinitv (Episcopal),
of ^liddletown ; of the society of JMechanical Engi-
ineers and Engineer's Club of New York, and of
the Knights Templar of Middletown. In politics
he is a republican.
GEORGE E. JONES, Litchkield: Cashier First
National Bank.
George Eaton Jones was born in Litchfield,
iMarch 31, 1849, and received a thorough common
school and business education. He is engaged in
banking and farming,
being the cashier of the
First National Bank of
Litchfield for sixteen
years and one of the best-
known breeders and im-
porters of Jersey stock in
the state. He is the vice-
president and one of the
directors of the Connecti-
cut Jersey cattle breeders
association, treasurer of
the Litchfield county ag-
ricultural society, treasu-
rer of Litchfield county,
founder and director of the Litchfield Water Co. ,
and the treasurer of Darius Chapter, No. 16, R. A.
M. He is also past master of St. Paul's Lodge of
Litchfield and member of Buell Council, M. E. M.
Mr. Jones is a inember of the Reform Club of New
York city and a staunch democrat in jDolitics. He
has held the positions of burgess and warden of the
borough of Litchfield. He belongs to St. Michael's
Episcopal church in Litchfield. The wife of Mr.
Jones, who was Eva Freelon Colvocoresses prior to
her marriage, died in 1875. There is one daugh-
ter, the fruit of this union. Mr. Jones formerly re-
sided in Hartford, spending six years in this city.
E. JONES.
W. H. WATROLS.
WILLIAM HENRY WATROUS, Hartford:
President, Treasurer, and General Manager of
the Wm. Rogers Manufacturing Company.
WiUiam H. Watrotis was born July 18, 1841, in
Hartford; received his education under Mrs. M'. M.
Perry in the Arsenal school; attended the Hartford
Public High schf)ol one
year; and in 1855, at the
age of 14 years, began to
learn the trade of electro-
plating in the factory of
his uncles, Rogers Broth-
ers, who built the shop
foot of Trumbull street,
now occupied by Jewell
Belting Company. In
1S59 he was engaged with
Rogers, Smith & Co. on
Mechanics street. In 1861
he was among the first to
enlist in Rifle Company
A, First Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, and
served under Captain Joseph R. Hawley, now
L'nited States senator. In 1862 he re-entered the
United States service as first sergeant of Company
B, Twenty-fourth Regiment, C. V., being after-
wards pi'omoted to second lieutenant of the same
company. In 1865 he was with William Rogers
when the latter organized the Wm. Rogers Manu-
facturing Company at the corner of Front and
Grove streets. In 1868 he removed to Waterbury,
where he had charge of the plating department of
Rogers & Brother. In 1870 he returned to Hart-
ford, and founded the Rogers Cutlery Company
with his uncle, Asa H. Rogers. They commenced
business on Asylum street with only two em-
ployes. Soon after Mr. Rogers withdrew, and the
business was moved into a factory in rear of the
Fourth church on North Main street. In 1879 he
purchased one-half of the stock of the Wm. Rogers
^Manufacturing Company, and moved the Rogers
Cutlery Company into their factory, corner of
Front and Grove streets, when he became presi-
dent, treasurer, and general manager of both com-
panies, in which positions he has since continued.
In 18S7 he bought the Kohn silk mill property on
Market street, and moved the Rogers companies
into the buildings which they now occupy. They
employ 150 hands, and sell over $600,000 worth of
goods per year. In 1889 he made a contract with
a factory in Taunton, Mass., to make hollow-ware,
and over 100 hands are kept busy in making blanks
for the Rogers companies. In 1890 he bought the
Wickersham property in Norwich, in this state, and
commenced the manufacture of solid steel handle
kniv'cs, carvers, fruit knives, etc. One hundred
hands are employed, and 2,000 dozens of knives are
made each week. The secret of the transition of Mr.
90
AX ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
Watrous from the condition of a poor bo}- to a siic-
cessful business man, worth many thousands of dol-
lars and employing hundreds of hands, has been his
strict business integrity and the undeviating quality
of goods manufactured, — always selling a better
quality of goods than his competitors for the same
money, — his thorough, practical mechanical knowl-
edge, and his daily personal supervision of every
detail connected with the business, and his interest
in employes, many of whom have been constantly
in his employ for from ten to fifteen years. He is
a strong republican, a member of Robert O. Tyler
Post, G. A. R., a member of Hartford Lodge of
Free Masons, and a member of Washington Com-
mandery, Knights Templar.
WILLIAM ROGERS, Hartford: Manufacturer
of electro-plated ware.
William Rogers was born in Hartford, Nov. 15,
1S33, and was educated in the Hartford grammar
school, at the same time with Senator Joseph R.
Hawley, Hon. Henry C.
Robinson, Hon. Charles
J. Hoadly, LL.D., of the
state library, Charles E.
Perkins, and ex-Mayor
Charles R. Chapman.
His wife, who is still liv-
ing, was Miss Lucy J.
Ramsey, the soprano of
the famous Christ Church
choir. One son, a lad of
ten years, is the fruit of
this marriage. Mr. Rog-
ers is a republican in poli-
tics, but has not held pub-
He is engaged in the manu-
facture of electro-plated ware, and is at present con-
nected with Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co., at Walling-
ford, in this state, under a contract that gives him ab-
solute control of the manufacture and quality of the
goods that bear his name, being made by the orig-
inal Rogers plan , as taught him , and as practiced
by his father. The subject of this sketch was con-
nected from boyhood with the original Rogers
Brothers in Hartford, his father being the senior
member. He was afterwards connected with the
Rogers Brothers, in a contract for 120 months with
the Meriden Britannia Company at Meriden, super-
vising and controlling the quality of goods then
stamped Rogers Brothers. He is the only survivor
of the four Rogers of the original Rogers family,
who established, upheld, and retained the reputa-
tion of the Rogers name upon electro-plated goods.
The Rogers were the first successful electro-platers.
This involved the first successful electro battery,
and preceded by many years the great electrical
WILLIAM ROGERS.
lie office of anv kind.
improvements of late years. In fact, it was the
first step in these wonderful developments. Mr.
Rogers resides on Ann street in this city, and is
widely known throughout the country.
JAMES SHEPARD.
JAMES SHEPARD, New Britain : Sohcitor of
Patents and Expert in Patent Causes.
Mr. Shepard is a descendant of the eighth genera-
tion of Edward Shepard, who came from England,
and was settled at Cambridge, Mass., in 1639; and
of the seventh generation
of John Shepard of Cam-
bridge, who settled in
Hartford, Conn., about
1666. On his mother's
side he is a descendant of
the eighth generation of
Thomas Alcott, who came
from England in 1630,
and settled at Charles-
town, Mass. He was
born at S o u t h i n g t o n.
Conn., May 16, 183S, and
received a common school
and academic education.
On September 25, 1859, he married Celia A. Curtis
of Bristol, and their only child is a daughter. In
1862, they removed to Bristol, where they resided
for twelve years. In 1S66 he began the business of
soliciting patents and has followed it ever since.
Prior to that time he had been employed as a
machinist. He opened an office in New Britain in
1 868, dividing his time between that place and
Bristol until 1876, when he abandoned his Bristol
office and changed his residence to New Britain.
About 1S73 he began to testify as an expert before
the LTiiited States circtrit courts, in causes apper-
taining to patents. He has now had a successful
experience of twenty-five years in soliciting patents,
and ranks among the best and most skillful patent
solicitors in the country. As an expert in mechan-
ics, he is widely known among manufacturers and
patent lawyers, having testified in several hundred
causes, and his testimony having been used in all
parts of the United States, from California and
Oregon on the west, to Pennsylvania and Maine on
the east, and from Wisconsin on the north to Louis-
iana on the south.
In religion he is a Congregationalist, and in poli-
tics a republican. When in Bristol, he was one of
the leaders of his party, but made his change of
residence to New Britain the occasion to withdraw
from all such outside matters as would be liable to
interfere with his regular business. For recreation
he frequents the fields and woods, " hunting with-
out a gun" and " fishing without a hook," for he
and his family are all great admirers of nature.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
91
with no desire to kill or catch. He is president of
the New Britain Scientific Association, and an oc-
casional writer on scientific subjects, botany, min-
eralogy, archanilogy, and conchology being the
branches to which he has paid most attention.
Valuable contributions have been made by him to
the Peabody ]\Iuseum of Yale College, and to the
National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution,
for which he has received special pubHc acknowl-
edgment. He is also an enthusiastic amateur
photographer, and within the last six years has
carried a camera over twenty thousand miles.
I). M. READ.
HON. DAVID M. READ, Brii.gei'okt : Manufac-
facturer and ^Merchant.
Hon. David M. Read of Bridgeport, at present
democratic state senator from the fourteenth dis-
trict, is one of the leading manufacturers and mer-
chants of New England.
He was born in Hoosic
Falls, N. v., October 12,
1832. After the ordinary
educational advantages of
the district school, he at-
tended Drury academy at
North Adams, Mass. In
1S55, he married Helen
Augusta Barnum, daugh-
ter of Philo F. Barnum of
Bridgeport. They have
two sons and one daugh-
ter. Mr. Read was
chosen a representative
from Bridgeport to the general assembly of iSSi,
and served upon the committee on military affairs.
He was a delegate to the National convention in
Chicago in 18S4. He has been councilman and
first alderman of Bridgeport, and is vice-president
of the Savings Bank and a director of the National
Bank. He is a prominent member of the board of
trade and was for fifteen years its president. His
superior business training is shown in the success
he has achieved. He is president of the D. il.
Read Company, and treasurer and selling agent of
the Read Carpet Company, the New York office
of which is at 934 Broadway. He served for
several years as commissary of our Connecticut
brigade of the National Guard, and under Gov-
ernor Ingersoll, in 1S76, the centennial year, he
was induced to accept the position of acting
commissary-general. Senator Read has always
exercised great influence in matters legislative.
He was elected to the senate of 1889, returned to
that body in 1S91; was president pro teinpoi-e of
the senate of iSgi, and performed with signal
ability the difficult duties devolving upon him
A. W. PAIGE.
during that remarkable session. Has been prom-
inently mentioned as an available candidate for
governor.
HON. ALLAN WALLACE PAIGE, Hunting-
ton : Attorney-at-Law.
Allan W. Paige was born in the town of Sher-
man, February 28, 1S54 ; graduated from the Yale
Law School in 1881 ; and subsequently became the
partner of the late David
B. Booth of Danbuiy.
His classmates in the law
school included Messrs.
Frank E. Hyde of Hart-
ford, John C. (Gallagher of
New Haven, ex-senate
clerks Charles P. Wood-
bury and Clinton Spen-
cer, and Sidney E. Clarke
of Hartford. Mr. Paige
pursued a preparatory
college course at General
Russell's Military School
and the Hopkins Gram-
mar School in New Haven, being a student at the
former institution with Mr. John Addison Porter of
the Hartford Post. In 1SS2, Mr. Paige was elect-
ed a member of the house from Sherman, and was
assigned to the chairmanship of the state prison
committee by Speaker John M. Hall. In that po-
sition he performed excellent service for the state.
In 1 883, he was elected assistant clerk of the house,
clerk in 18S4, and senate clerk in 1885. For several
years Mr. Paige was a member of the republican
state committee, and in 1884 was its secretary. In
addition to his law practice in Connecticut, Mr.
Paige is associated with the firm of Duncan <&
Paige of 120 Broadway, New York. At the No-
vember election in 1S90, Mr. Paige was elected a
member of the house from the town of Hunting-
ton, receiving a majority of 228, the largest major-
it}' ever given to any candidate in the town, and
on the assembling of the legislature in January re-
ceived the unanimous nomination for the speaker-
ship from the republicans. He was elected Janu-
ary 7, receiving the total vote of his party in the
house. With one exception, that of Hon. Augus-
tus Brandegee of New London, he is the youngest
speaker the house has ever had, and the third repub-
lican speaker in continuous succession from Fair-
field cotmty,— Col. H. W. R. Hoyt of Greenwich
being speaker in 1887, and Judge John H. Perry of
Fairfield in 1SS9. His unanimous selection, in
spite of geographical objection, was due to his
large legislative experience, and knowledge of
parliamentary law, both essential accomplishments
for the speakership. And it is generally con-
ceded that at no time within the history of
92
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
the state, not even dtiring the war, have party Unes
been so closely drawn, and the duties of the speak-
er so difficult of successful execution as during the
session of the house for the winter of 1891. Mr.
Paige proved himself fully equal to the occasion,
fertile in parliamentary knowledge and resources,
quick in execution and firm in decisions. His po-
sition was a most difficult and trying one, but
his administration of the office was such as
to win for him the unwavering and enthusiastic
support of every member of his party m the house,
and the admiration and plaudits of the republican
press and his party in the state. Speaker Paige is
a gentleman of interesting and attractive personal
qualities, and has met with marked success in Con-
necticut politics. His career has been the result of
his own efforts and energy, and shows what a man
of spirit and perseverance can accomplish.
The wife of Speaker Paige is the daughter of
the late Nelson Downs, who previous to his death
was a prominent manufacturer in Birmingham, and
one of the leading citizens of the Naugatuck valley.
CHARLES E. OSBORNE, Stepney (Monroe):
Merchant.
Charles Edward Osborne represented the town
of ]\Ionroe in the general assembly of 1SS7, and was
appointed a member of the special committee, of
which Senator Coffin was
the chairman, to erect a
memorial tablet in the
main hall of the capitol
in honor of John Fitch of
Connecticut, the first to
apply steam power in
navigation. Representa-
tives Higgins and Wood
were associate members
of the committee from
the house. Mr. Osborne
has been a member of
the board of relief, col-
lector of taxes, and is at
present a justice of the peace, secretary of the
board of school visitors, and acting school visitor.
He is a member of the democratic part3^ and is an
active participant in its management locally. He
was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., June 5, 1S49, and was
educated at the Connecticut Literary Institute in
Suffield, and Wesleyan University, entering but
not continuing the college course. He has resided
at Southport, Bridgeport, Bethel, Watertown, and
Southbury. In 1876 he was married to Miss Martha
E. Burritt. There are three children , all daughters.
Mr. Osborne is engaged in mercantile pursuits, being
a dealer in pianos, organs, and sewing-machines at
Stepney, which is located in the town of Monroe.
C. E. OSBORNE.
F. D. CHANDLER.
REV. FREDERICK DELLMAR CHANDLER,
E.\STFORD : Congregational Clergyman.
The subject of this sketch was born in Pawlet,
Rutland County, Vermont, June 21, 1S42. His
father, Thomas Jefferson Chandler, of English
lineage, was a stalwart
abolitionist, and a man
highly respected for his
sterling Christian charac-
ter. Noted for his atti-
tude toward slavery, he
was thorf)ughly identified
with the noble band of
men whose lives formed
a part of that thrillingly
interesting historic period,
and to whose conscien-
tious efforts are indirectly
attributable the fate
which American negro
slavery met at the hands of this government
through the emancipation proclamation of Presi-
dent Lincoln in 1S63. The son inherited lai-gely
the traits of character which distinguished the
father. Himself a strong anti-slavery man, it is
related of him that the first money he ever pos-
sessed (forty-nine cents) was invested by him when
he was nine years of age in a pocket Bible; the
next money, earned and owned by him, was ex-
pended for a copy of " Helper's Impending Crisis."
Mr. Chandler inherited from his mother, — a noble
Christian woman, — a strong character and an in-
tensely religious nattire, his religious convictions,
manifested at a very early age, showing the trend
of his mind toward the calling which in after years
he chose for his life work. Like many another
ambitious son of a kind but poor father, he had to
fight a ver}- unequal battle with poverty in his at-
tempt to gain an education in the common and
select schools of his native town. In early life he
was noted for his studious habits and unconquer-
able energy, always standing at the head of his
class; and never, — but once, and then unjustly, —
losing a pi'ize, if one was offered, in any competi-
tion in which he had the opportunity to join. He
attended several terms at Castleton Seminary, then
under the wise management of Dr. S. N. Knowl-
ton. Finally he established a high school in the
town of Middletown, but was induced to go to an-
other seemingly more advantageous opening at
Poultney. From thence, under the auspices of the
M. E. Church, he went to one of their theological
seminaries, which was then located at Concord, N.
H., but about that time became apart of Boston
University. It should be stated here that before
entering the university, and while engaged in
teaching, Mr. Chandler began the study of law,
thinking it would be his life avocation; but tmder
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
93
other and stronger intluenccs his mind was turned
toward the ministry. After leaving the Methodist
institution above specified, finding that he was not
in all points in accord with that denomination, he
united with the Congregationalists, and served ac-
ceptably and with good success the chmx-hes in
Hampton, N. 11., Kensington, Alton, and East
Hardwick, Vt., city of Frankfort, Mich., and East-
ford and West Woodstock, in this state. I\Ir.
Chandler is an earnest and effective speaker, an
easy and fluent writer, and has rendered good ser-
vice in the cause of temj^erance wherever he has
resided, always being found in the front ranks of
earnest workers for that most important of moral
reforms. He is in politics a republican of the stal-
wart type, believing that whatever of lasting good
has been accomplished for the temperance cause
has been through the influence and agency of the
republican party. He is the friend of the poor
man, and in sj-mpathy closely allied to their inter-
ests, which he makes his own. He has held several
important local offices, including that of justice of
the peace of Grafton county, N. H., under the ad-
ministration of Governor Walter Harriman, and a
state justice under Governor Cheney.
Mr. Chandler was married October 25, 1S68, to
Miss Julia E. Howe, daughter of Samuel Howe of
Haverhill, N. H., a graduate of old Newbury (Ver-
mont) Seminary. He has no children living.
Mrs. Chandler is an excellent musician and teacher,
and has been an able and successful worker in her
husband's calling.
HENRY A. WARNER, New Haven: Iron Manu-
facturer and Sewer Pipe Dealer.
Henry A. Warner was born in Waterville, town
of Waterbury, jNIarch 10, 1S42, and was educated
in the private and public schools of New Haven,
where he has lived since
he was six years of age.
He was formerly an iron
manufacturer and is now
a dealer in drain and
sewer pipe. He resides
on Orange street in New
Haven and is also the
proprietor o f Warner
Hall on Chapel street.
Mr. Warner has served
in the second company
of G o V e r n o r's Horse
Guard and is a member
of the New Haven
Republican League. He is a member of the Col-
lege Street Congregational church in New Haven.
He has not held public office. Mr. Warner is mar-
ried, his wife being Miss Gertrude E. Morton.
They have no children.
EI)W.\RD S. CLEVEL.\ND.
H. A. W.\RNER.
HON. EDWARD SPICER CLEVELAND,
H.-vrteord: State Senator.
Edward S. Cleveland was born at Hampton, in
this state. May 22, 1825, and received a common
school education. At the age of sixteen he left
home to engage in mer-
cantile life in Hartford.
In 1S48 he was chosen
assistant clerk of the Con-
necticut house of repre-
sentatives, and two years
later he was appointed
engrossing clerk of the
lower house of congi'ess
at Washington, being af-
sociated with John Galpin
of New Haven. In 1854
he was a delegate to the
democratic state conven-
t i o n and secured the
adoption of resolutions averse to the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise, then pending in the cele-
brated Kansas-Nebraska bill before congress. Mr.
Cleveland continued to act with the democratic party
until the attempt was made to force upon Kansas
the Lecompton pro-slavery constitution. He was
instinctively opposed to slavery, and would not go a
step with any political organization which proposed
its extension. In 1S60, he entered the field for Lin-
coln on the anti-slavery extension issue, and
stumped a number of the states in support of the
republican ticket. Soon after the inauguration of
President Lincoln he was apioointed postmaster at
Hartford, and occupied the office for eight years,
proving himself one of the ablest officials of the
government in the state. Under his administra-
tion the highest business principles were enforced,
and it is due to Mr. Cleveland that the post-office
in Hartford was made one of model efficiency and
excellence. He was a firm friend of the L^nion
cause, and gave without stint of his time and means
for the support of the government. Toward the
union soldiers he has always been a true friend.
After the war Mr. Cleveland found himself in har-
mony with the democratic party on the restoration
of the rmion and the rehabilitation of the states
which had participated in the rebellion. In 1S75
and also in 1876, he was elected representative from
Hampton on an independent ticket, carr\'ing the
town each year by a large majority. For a num-
ber of years back he has taken an active interest
in Hartford affairs, having resumed his residence
there in 1S76.
Mr. Cleveland has been prominently connected
with Connecticut politics during the past twentv-
five years, and is one of the best-known citizens of
the state. In 18S6 he was one of the leading mem-
bers of the senate from the first district, having the
94
AX ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
chairmanship of the committee on insurance, be-
fore which Avere many important measures. In the
fall of the same year he had the honor of being
nominated for governor by the democrats. He was
returned to the senate in i8SS, retaining the un-
questioned leadership of his party in that body
throughout the session. He was again returned to
the senate for its succeeding term, and in the
memorable transactions of that body occupied a
conspicuous position not entirely in harmony with
the majority of his political associates, though
highly commended and approved by his constituents
and personal friends.
Mr. Cleveland's social and domestic relations
have always been exceedingly pleasant, and his
hospitality is proverbial. He has a large circle of
acquaintances and friends, while his amiable and
cordial ways give him added popularity with the
people, among whom rather than with any class or
party he always prefers to be assigned, and for
whose welfare it is his highest ambition to labor
effectively in whatever official position he is called
to occupy.
REV. REUBEN E. BARTLETT, Lebanon:
Pastor of the First Baptist Church.
Reuben E. Bartlett was born at Shutesbury,
Mass., May 25, 1S43, and was educated at Madison
L"'niversity. During the war he served as a mem-
ber of the Thirty-seventh
Massachusetts V o 1 u n-
teers, belonging to Com-
pany F of that command,
from July, 1862, until the
conclusion of hostilities in
1S65. His pastorates have
been in the states of Del-
aware, Kansas, New
' Hampshire, and North
Dakota. Prior to his settle-
ment in Lebanon he was
engaged under the aus-
pices of the Home Mission
Society, in North Dakota
and Montana. He became the pastor of the Leb-
anon Church in October, iSgo. In politics he is a
republican. The coui'age and heroism exhibited
by the subject of this sketch on the battleiield has
entitled him to membership in the Grand Army of
the Repviblic, in which he is an honored representa-
tive. He was distinguished for gallantr}- at the
battle of Winchester, Sept. ig, 1S64. Mr. Bartlett
has been twice married. His first wife, Josephine
Moore, died in 1SS2; the second, Lydia M. Dyer,
was the daughter of the late C. H. Dyer of Boston,
Mass. The latter marriage occuiTed April 4, 1S84.
There are seven children by the first wife, all of
whom are now liA-ing.
R. E. BARTLETT.
B. BAILEY.
HON. EZRA BREWSTER BAILEY, Windsor
Locks : Secretary and Treasurer and Manager
of the E. Horton & Son Company; Collector of
Customs for the Port of Hartford.
Hon. E. B. Bailey is a native of the town of
Franklin, in New London county, where he was
born ]March 29, 1S41. He is of the sturdiest New
England stock, his early
"^ ~ ancestry through both
branches representing
prominent families of
both the revolutionary
and puritanic periods in
our country's history,
who, with their descend-
ants, have been distin-
guished for physical vigor
and intellectual attain-
ments, as well as for in-
flexible integrity and pa-
triotism. He is a son of
Aai'on and Eliza (Brews-
ter) Bailey of Franklin, and through the maternal
line is ninth in direct descent from Elder William
Brewster of the Mayflouier through the eldest
son, Jonathan Brewster, who joined the Connecti-
cut colonists in his early manhood and settled be-
low Norwich. Mr. Bailey's paternal ancestors were
the Bailej-s of Groton, whose lineage through the
Puritans establishes theirs as among the most an-
cient of English families. It may be mentioned
here, although out of chronological order, that Miss
Katie E. Horton, who became the wife of Mr. E.
B. Bailey in 1S71, is a descendant in the eighth gen-
eration from John Alden and Priscilla (Mullens)
Alden, prominent characters in Puritanic history;
thus in the present generation mingling several
strains of ancient English blood which have separa-
telv quickened the best subjects of American his-
tory. The Hortons of Windsor Locks represent
one of the oldest and best of New England fami-
lies which, since colonial times, has contributed
numerous and distinguished names to the country's
service and history.
Mr. Bailey's early life in Franklin was spent on
the ancestral farm (of which the subject of
this sketch is now the proprietor), where he was
nurtured in habits of industry, and acquired
at the district school the elementary education
which is the basis of all literary accomplishments.
His daily toil in the hayfield or cornfield, in the
woods and meadows, or at the old mill where his
father made the shingles which supplied the cover-
ing for the roofs of all the houses in the neighbor-
hood, gave the boy a rich experience of the hard-
ships and the pleasures of farm life, and sharpened
his appetite for the healthy farmer's fare on which
he throve £nd grew to the stature of vigorous
^BIOGRAPHY OF CONXECTICUT.
95
manhood. Here he laid the foundation of his
future success, while he imbibed inspiration from
the precept and example of his God-fearing parents
and deported himself in a way to secure the
respect and esteem of his associates and neighbors.
The breaking out of the rebellion in iS6i found
Mr. Bailey still in his minority, but his patriotic
impulses impelled him to enlist for the defense of
his country, and he joined Company B of the
Twenty-sixth Connecticut regiment, going into
camp September 5, 1S62. While in camp, however,
he was prostrated by a severe attack of typhoid
fever, and was taken home, still in a critical condi-
tion, on the fifth of the following November. Al-
though he was for a long time unable to rally from
• this attack, his health gradually returned, but at no
time thereafter during the progress of the war was he
in a condition for active service, and his patriotic
designs were of necessit}- abandoned. As soon as
able to perform anj^ laborious work he again en-
gaged in farm duties with his father, and remained
at the old homestead until 1867, when he removed
to Windsor Locks, and for one year carried on a
farm there, devoting considerable attention to the
raising of tobacco. He then was made assistant
postmaster at Windsor Locks, and in connection
therewith had charge of a store for two or three
years, and held a general agency for various publi-
cations sold on subscription by canvassers. He
afterwards made an engagement with W. J.
Holland & Co., a large subscription book pub-
lishing firm of Springfield, Mass., and exercised
the prerogative of a supervi,sor of agencies. In
the discharge of the duties of this position he trav-
eled extensively, \-isiting nearly every town and
village in the Northern States, Canada, and the pro-
* vinces, haN-ing charge of most of the company's
outd^oor work for four years, and building up a
very large and profitable business. In 1S73, ujjon
the organization of the firm of E. Horton & Son
of Windsor Locks as a joint stock company, under
the corporate name of The E. Horton & Son Com-
pany, manufacturers of The Horton Lathe Chuck,
he became its secretary and treasurer, continuing
in the position for three years. In 1876 he severed
the connection, and removed to his farm in Frank-
lin, — a delightful country place, whose attractions
include some of the most romantic spots to be
found in the state, the shady vales and hillsides of
which have become of late favorite resorts for picnic
and excursion parties. Here he devoted his time to
agricultural pursuits and the raising of Jersey stock
until iSSo, when he was called to assume control of
The E. Horton & Son Company at Windsor Locks;
since which time he has remained its secretary, treas-
urer, and general manager. Heis also connected with
other important business enterprises, being presi-
dent and director, as well as an incorporator, of The
Windsor Locks Electric Lighting Company, in
the establishment of which he was intimately con-
cerned ; a director in The Windsor Locks Savings
Bank; also in The Connecticut River Company, an
important corporation which owns the Enfield and
Windsor Locks water power, and furnishes water
power for all the mills in Windsor Locks; a director
in The Dwight Slate Machine Company of Hartford,
manufacturers of fine tools and special machinery;
director and one of the original incorpora-
tors and a prominent promoter of The Windsor
Locks Water Company, which furnishes the village
with water for domestic purposes; and a director in
The J. R. ]Montgomery Company, manufacturers of
warps and fancy yarns, recently re-organized as a
joint stock corporation, with a large capital, doing
a large and profitable business, and at the head of
all enterprises of its class in the country.
Mr. Bailey is an ardent and active republican ,
and as such has been elected to various positions
of public trust. He has held the office of select-
man, and is now a member of the school board and
acting school \-isitor. He was elected to the legis-
lature from Franklin in 1879 and from Windsor
Locks in 1S82, carrj-ing the former town b}' the
largest majority any candidate ever received, and
carrying Windsor Locks by a majority of thirteen,
although it is naturally heavily democratic. Dur-
ing the session of 1SS3 he was on the committee on
incorporations, and did essential servnce for the in-
corporation of The Windsor Locks and Warehouse
Point Bridge Company. He was elected state
senator in 1S87, running ahead of his ticket
in seven towns of his district, and as chair-
man of the fisheries committee and of the com-
mittee on education carried through a number
of important measures. He was active and promi-
nent in support of the measure, in the senate, giv-
ing to towns the control and management of school
district affairs, his efforts in this reform giving him
favorable notoriety among the friends of edu-
cation all over the state. He was appointed
LTnited States Collector of Customs for the port
of Hartford in i8go, for which position he was
warmly endorsed by both Senator Hawley and
Congressman Simonds, the duties of which office
he performs with characteristic ability and fidelity.
]Mr. Bailev's social connections include member-
bership with the American Society of JNIechanical
Engineers, an " organization for promoting acquisi-
tion of that knowledge which is necessary to the
mechanical engineer to enable him most eft'ectively
to adapt the achievements of science and art to the
use of mankind," with whose high reputation all
are familiar; the Law and Order League, of Wind-
sor Locks, whose object is the enforcement of laws
relative to the sale of intoxicants; the Connecticut
Societvof the Sons of the American Revolution ; and.
96
AX ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
in the Masonic fraternity, with EucUd Lodge, No.
109, F.A.M. of Windsor Locks, Washington Chapter,
No. 30, R.A.M., of Suffield, Washington Command-
ery. No. i, K. T., stationed at Hartford, and Pyra-
mid Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Bridgeport. His
social instincts and tastes are strong; he engages
with enthusiasm in all the activities of the various
organizations with which he is connected. He is a
member of the Congregational Ecclesiastical So-
ciety of Windsor Locks, and a liberal supporter of
its institutions and charities. He is an excellent
representative Connecticut citizen, and always
equal to his opportunity whenever it comes. He
has been successful in whatever he has under-
taken, and occupies an important and influential
position in business, politics, and social affaiis.
As already mentioned, Mr. Bailey was married,
December 14, 1S71, to Miss Katie E. Horton of
Windsor Locks, daughter of Eli Horton, celebrated
as the inventor of the Horton Lathe Chuck. They
have two children, a son and a daughter; the
former, Philip Horton Bailey, in his eighteenth
year, is a member of the senior class at the Hart-
ford Pubic High School; the latter, Helena Ells-
worth Bailey, in her fifteenth year, is at school in
Windsor Locks.
5'ears ; and long a director in the Dime Savings
Bank of Hartford. He is a member of the Pearl
Street Congregational church. His military con-
nection was formerly with the Connecticut National
Guard, as Lieutenant-Colonel of the First regiment.
DAVID A. ROOD, Hartford : Retired ; former-
ly Proprietor United States Hotel.
Col. D. A. Rood is one of Hartford's best-known
citizens, whose name has been familiar with the
public as the long-time proprietor of one of Hart-
ford's best-esteemed and
ancient hostelries. Colo-
nel Rood was born in
Sheffield, Berkshire coun-
ty, Mass., Sept. 28, 1S17.
His education was liber-
al for the times, being
gained at the excellent
public schools of Massa-
chusetts. His life has
been spent in Sheffield,
Mass., Winsted and New
Hartford in this state, but
largely in the city of Hart-
ford, where he was pro-
prietor of the L^nited States Hotel for about thirty-
eight years. He has been twice married ; first to
Miss Maria W. Woodford, who died Jan. 25, 1SS3 ;
and afterwards to his present wife, who was Abbie
F. Carroll prior to their union. There are two
sons and a daughter by the first marriage. Colo-
nel Rood is a consistent republican in politics, hav-
ing been identified with that party since 1S56, and
often honored by offices within its gift. He was on
the Hartford board of police commissioners for ten
years ; treasurer of the Brown School for fourteen
D. A. ROOD.
JOHN F. GAFFEY.
JOHN FRANCIS GAFFEY, New Haven : Pro-
prietor Gaffey's Business School.
John F. Gaffey was born in Hartford, Feb. 15,
1862, and was educated in the public schools of the
Universitv Citv. He was employed at the Winchester
Repeating Arms Compa-
ny's establishment for six
3'ears, and saved money
enough to educate him-
self for the special line of
work that has engaged
his attention for several
3'ears past. While at
Winchester's he patent-
ed a combination rifle
sight ; sporting, military,
and wind-gauge com-
bined.
During the Blaine cam-
paign he was private sec-
retarj- to the republican state central committee,
of which Hon. Lj-nde Harrison was the chairman.
In the campaign of iSSS, he was secretary of the
Connecticut republican state league ; managed
the headquarters at New Haven, and also the doc-
ument bureau for the state central committee, and
organized 123 clubs in the state. He was in the
city council for one term, and refused a second in
order to become deputy collector of internal reve-
nue under Col. John I. Hutchinson, which office he
held for one year, and resigned last November to
give his whole tmie to his business. While deputy
collector, he had charge of eighteen towns, and
made many arrests for violation of the internal
revenue laws.
He has been running his school of shorthand and
typewriting for nearly ten years, and has recently
added penmanship and book-keeping ; also has a
stenographic and copying department and furnishes
supphes for typewriters of all makes, and stenog-
raphers' supplies, all over the country. He is the
author of " Gaffey's Helps to Cogswell's Com-
pendium," and has made many improvements in
the shorthand and typewriting business, espe-
cially in teaching. For two years he had nine
schools in as many difl:erent cities, and in four dif-
ferent states, but he is now giving his whole time and
attention to the New Haven business (having sold
out all the other schools), pupils coming to him to
New Haven from almost every state in the Union.
Prof. Gaft'ey has resided in Trenton, N. J., Phil-
adelphia (Frankfort), Pa., and Bridgeport, being at
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
97
H. W. R. HOVT.
present a resident of New Haven. His wife, who
is still living, was Miss Elizabeth Martin prior to
her marriage. There are no ehildren living in the
family.
HEUSTED W. R. lit )YT, Greenwich: Attorney-
at-Law.
.H. W. R. Hoyt, who won marked distinetion in
legislative eircles and throughout the state by his
admirable discharge of the important duties of
speaker of the house of
representatives during the
session of that body in
1SS7, was born in Ridge-
field, in this state, on the
1st of November, 1S42.
He studied in the common
school and the academy,
and entered Columbia
College. New York city,
but about the middle of
his first term was seized '
with a severe and pro-
tracted illness, and could
not continue. Upon his
recovery he immediately began the study of the
law in New York city, and for the period of about
two years was secretary of the United States prize
commissioners for the district of New York. He
was admitted to practice in 1S65. He is an attor-
ney and counselor-at-law, and has served the town
as its counsel, and the borough as attorney.
Among other important litigation in which he has
been engaged, he was sole counsel for the late
William M. Tweed in a suit brought against him
by James H. IngersoU in the Connecticut superior
court, in which over $160,000 was claimed by plain-
tiff, and successfully defended his client. He is
trustee and attornej' for the Greenwich Savings
Bank, and a director in The B^^ram Land Improve-
ment Compan}-. He is also attorne}" for the Belle
Haven Land Company and other large corpora-
tions. His public life has been quite marked. In
1S69 and 1 8 73 he was in the state senate; in the
former year chairman of the committees on mili-
tary affairs and engrossed bills ; in the latter chair-
man of the committee on incorporations. In 1886
he was a representative from Greenwich, and occu-
pied the leading position upon the floor and in the
committee-room, being house chairman of the com-
mittee on the judiciary. He was returned to the
house in 1S87, and, as before intimated, was called
to preside over the deliberations of that body as its
speaker, discharging the duties of the office with
signal ability and to the entire satisfaction of all
parties. Mr. Hoyt is a staunch republican, an able
debater, quick and effective at repartee, and an
affable man. In every measure presented or dis-
cirssed he manifested a lively interest, and, whether
in the chair or on the floor, always commanded
respect and wielded an important influence in legis-
lative affairs. His nomination for speaker by the
republican party was by acclamation, and his elec-
tion by the house was by more than the republican
majorit}-.
Mr. Hoyt's legal practice is extensive, his stand-
ing before the bar and the pubHc being such as to
secure for him a numerous and profitable clientage.
He is judge of the borough coitrt of (Greenwich,
and in addition to his professional duties is often
called by his fellow-citizens of Greenwich to fill
local positions of public trust.
JAMES HOYLE.
JAMES HOYLE, Willington; Woolen Manu-
facturer.
James Hovle was born in Bradford, Yorkshire,
England, April 3, 1S30. His early education was
received from the common schools of his native
town. In 1S56, then a
young man of twenty-six,
he emigrated to America.
On arriving in this coun-
try, he went to Paterson,
N. J., where he spent a
year engaged in his trade
of wool-sorting. He af-
terwards went to Nor-
wich, Conn., and worked
a year at the same trade,
a n d subsequently t o
Webster, Mass., where he
engaged with Nelson
Slater. He followed his
chosen avocation in several places in the Bay State
until 1863, when he settled in Worcester, where for
ten 3'ears he was engaged as foreman of the wool-
sorting department of the Adriatic Mills, then run
by Jordan, Marsh & Co. of Boston. In 1S73 he re-
moved to Wilhngton, Conn., and bought a half in-
terest in the Daleville Woolen Mills, then owned
and run by James J. Reagan. The business was
carried on two years under the firm-name of Rea-
gan & Hoyle, when the latter purchased the prop-
erty and continued the business with two partners,
under the name of Hoyle, Smith & Co. He shortly
after bought out his partners' interests, since which
time he has carried on the manufacturing business
alone and quite successfully. During his fifteen
years' proi^rietorship of the Daleville Mills, im-
provements in the little hamlet and in the mills
have been steadily going on. He is a man of ster-
ling integrity and good business qualities, and is
held in high esteem by his fellow-townsmen for his
enterprise and moral worth. He has never sought
for office, but allowed the use of his name as a can-
didate of the republicans of his town for repre-
98
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
sentative, at the fall election of 1SS4, to which posi-
tion he was chosen by a good majority, and where
he performed valuable service for his constituents
and the state.
Mr. Hoyle is married and has one child.
A. C. WILCOX.
AUGUSTUS C. WILCOX, New Have.n : Dry
Goods.
Augustus C. Wilcox was born in East Guilford,
now the town of Madison, Aug. 22, 1S12, and
received an academic education. He is the
founder of the firm of
Wilcox & Co. of New
Haven and has been en-
gaged in the dry goods
business smce March i,
fi^^ -**^^ii^'\ 1836. Through his long
\wv\5© "' /^ \ business career his finan-
cial liabilities have been
promptly met and dis-
charged. The record is
deserving of mention as
it covers three of the most
disastrous financial eras in
the history of the country.
Mr. Wilcox is one of the
clearest-headed business managers in New Haven.
He was formerly connected with the state militia
and held a first lieutenant's commission in the
Madison Light Artillery at the time of his removal
from that town to New Haven. He was honor-
ably discharged from the service by Gov. Henry
W. Edwards. In 1S71 Mr. Wilcox was a member
of the general assembly from Madison, represent-
ing that town on the democratic side of the house.
Two years afterwards he was elected to the senate
from the old sixth district, his colleagues including
Hons. Geo. M. Landers of New Britain, Allen
Tenny of Norwich and Wm. T. Elmer of Middle-
town, ex- Judge Stoddard of New Haven and ex-
Speaker Hoyt of Greenwich. Mr. Wilcox has also
taken an active part in New Haven politics and has
served as a member of the common council and of
the board of selectmen. In all of these public po-
sitions his judgment and thorough knowledge of
affairs have been of great value, enabling him to
render the city and state the best of service. Mr.
Wilcox is a member of the Congregational church
in Madison and is a most exemplary representative
of religious thought and principle. He has been
married twice. His first wife was Catherine
Amelia Cruttenden of Madison. The second was
Miss Bertha C. Pajme of West Haven. In busi-
ness, political, and social life Mr. Wilcox has ex-
erted an important influence from the outset, and
is regarded with the sincerest esteem and honor by
all who know him.
ARTHUR F. EGGLESTON, Hartfurij: Attor-
ney-at-Law.
Judge Eggleston was born at Enfield, Conn., Oc-
tober 23, 1S44. He graduated from Williams Col-
lege in the class of 1S68, and after preparation by
legal study was admitted
to the bar of Hartford
county and opened an
office for legal practice in
this city in 1S72. During
the war he enlisted as a
private in the Forty-sixth
Massachusetts regiment,
and served until honor-
ably discharged. During
his residence in Hartford
he has been a member of
the court of common
council and president of
the board; has held the
office of judge of the police court for several terms;
and is now treasurer of Hartford county, and
state's attorney. He is a republican in politics, a
member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Army
and Navy Club. He is associated professionally
with Hon. John R. Buck, the law firm being Buck
& Eggleston. Judge Eggleston's standing before
the bar and the public is that of an able and con-,
scientious lawyer, and his career has been one of
great usefulness and honorable distinction.
A. F. EGGLESTON.
ROBERT R. SMITH, New Hartford: Agent
GreenAvoods Company.
Robert R. Smith was born in New Hartford,
April 15, 1S43, and received a thorough business
education. At the age of sixteen he became a clerk
in a Chicago hardware
establishment, where he
remained until sufficient
experience had been ac-
quired to prepare him for
travel through the west-
ern states as the repre-
sentative of the house.
Returning home for a
visit in 1865 he became
engaged in the building
of the Greenwoods Scythe
Company's works, and
was afterwards persuaded
to remain as manager of
the concern. He continued in that position until
1870, when, upon the death of his father, he found
himself in charge of Greenwoods Company, Green-
woods Scythe Company, the New Hartford Car-
riage Company, and an interest in what was known
as ' ' the brick store. " From that time to the present
ROBERT R. SMITH.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
99
his occupation has been in connection with these
different concerns, two of which have become ex-
tinct.
Mr. Smith is a director in a number of corpora-
tions, and is a gentleman of superior business qual-
ifications. He was married in 1S67, his wife being
Miss Minnie M. Simmons of Canaan. She died in
1S90, leaving three children. The subject of this
sketch has strenuously opposed the acceptance of
public ofiice. The only place he has ever accepted
has been that of pound keeper, his reelection hav-
ing taken place annually for the past twenty years,
and there have been a good many jovial occasions
over the fact. He is a member of the North Con-
gregational Ecclesiastical society, and also of Amos
Beecher Lodge, F. and A. M., of New Hartford,
together with two or three other secret organiza-
tions. Mr. Smith is held in thorough regard and
esteem in the communitv where he lives.
HON. WILLIAM COTHREN, Woodburv: At-
torney-at-Law.
William Cothren, son of William and Hannah
Cothren, was born at Farmington, Me., Nov. 28,
1S19. In his ancestral lines he is the descendant of
a soldier in King Philip's
war, 1676; a soldier in the
war betAveen England and
France, 1744-5; ^ lieuten-
ant in the war of the rev-
olution; and a sergeant
in the war of 1812. He
prepared for college at
Farmington academy,
and graduated at Bow-
doin College in 1S43. He
received his second de-
gree, in course, at the
same college, in 1846, and
the degree of jM aster of
Arts, ad eiindeni, at Yale L^niversity, in 1S47. He
studied law under the direction of Hon. Robert
Goodenoughof Farmington, ile., and Hon. Charles
B. Phelps of AVoodbury, in this state. He settled
in Woodbury in 1S44, and was admitted to the bar
of Litchfield county in October, 1845. He entered
upon a large and successful practice at Woodbury,
and has continued in practice there ever since. He
ranks among the leading lawyers of the state. As
a citizen he has ever been public spirited and gen-
erous. He has lent his voice and pecuniary aid to
every monument or other public improvement dur-
mg his time. He was elected a county commis-
sioner for Litchfield county in 1S51. In 1855 he
was elected senator for the old sixteenth district, by
the face of the returns, received his certificate, and
took his seat in the senate. During the session his
WILLIAM COTHREN.
seat was successfully contested by his opponent, on
a ground which ever since has been held universally
untenable, both in Congress and in the several
states where the question has been raised. He
served as a mem.ber of the lower house in 18S2. In
April, 1856, he was admitted an attorney and coun-
selor of the United States circuit court, and on the
8th of March, 1865, he was admitted an attorney
and counselor of the supreme court of the United
States. He was elected corresponding member of
the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, at
Boston, Mass., May 5, 1847, and a member of the
Connecticut Historical Society, Nov. 23, 1852, of
which for many years he was a vice-president; an
honorary member of the Old Colony Historical
Society, at Plymouth, Mass., April 24, 1854; a cor-
responding member of the Wisconsin Historical
Society, Jan. 17, 1855; a corresponding member of
the Yermont Historical Society, Feb. 3, 1S60; a cor-
responding member of the IM'aine Historical Society,
Sept. 18, 1S61; elected worshipful master of King
Solomon's Lodge, No. 7, of F. and A. M., in Decem-
ber, 1852, which office he held two years; a member
of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Alpha of Maine,
Sept. 20,1873; a member of the Sons of the American
Revolution in iSSg; and a member of the First Con-
gregational church in Woodbur}-, July 7, 1850. He
has held the offices of justice of the peace and
notary public during all his professional life. On
the 3d of September, 1849, he was married to Mary
Jane Steele, a descendant of Hon. John Steele, first
secretary of the colony of Connecticut, and of Rev.
Benjamin Colton of West Hartford, a descendant
of George Colton, the first of the name in Connec-
ticut. They have had one child, who died young.
He was one of the organizers of the republican
party, and has been somewhat active in its inter-
ests, but has never been a chronic office-seeker.
During the civil war he was a zealoits and active
supporter of the Union cause, giAnng a large share
of his time, and more of his means than he could
well afford. He was, during the whole contest, a
member of the committees fcjr the enlistment of
men, and the care of their families, and was emi-
nently the soldier's friend, and has so continued
ever since. From the twentieth year of his age he
has been a contributor, in prose and verse, to the
press and magazines of the day. A short time
after his settlement in Woodbury he turned his at-
tention to the collection of the historical data of the
town, the result of which has been the publication
of an elaborate history of the town, in three vol-
umes of twenty-five hundred pages. The first vol-
ume was issued in 1854, and was the pioneer work,
in its scope and completeness, as a full history of a
New England town, that had been issued. He has
also published numerous legal and historical pam-
phlets.
100
AX ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
H. N. WALES.
HENRY N. WALES, Willimantic: Judge of
Probate.
Judge Wales is a native of the town of Windham.
He was born August lo, 1S37. He hved and was
employed on a farm with his father until he became
twenty-one years of age,
availing himself in his
childhood of such educa-
tional advantages as the
public schools of Wind-
ham offered. He was in
the employ of William C.
Osgood in Norwich in the
meat business from No-
vember, 1S58, till the early
part of 1862. From 1S62
to 1S67 was engaged in
mercantile business at
South Windham and Wil-
limantic, being a member
of the firm of Webb & Wales. From 1867 to 1S73
was in the employ of George H. Norman, con-
tractor, of Newport, R. L, in superintending the
construction of public water-works in Waterbury,
Conn., New Bedford, Medford, Charlestown, and
Lowell, Mass. In 1873 and 1874 was employed by
the city of Manchester, N. H., as superintendent
of the construction of their water-works. In 1875
and 1876 was employed by Frye & Kitridge, con-
tractors, of Lowell, Mass., to superintend the con-
struction of a portion of the Boston water-works.
In 18S7 he returned to Willimantic, and engaged in
the pork -packing business two years; then entered
the employ of Hyde Kingsley of Willimantic,
dealer in lumber, coal, and building supjDlies, as
bookkeeper and manager; continued in that capac-
ity until 1882; from March, 18S3, acted as his busi-
ness agent by power of attorney till his death in
February, 1886. Mr. Wales occupied the position
of town clerk and treasurer in iSSo, 1SS2, 1883, and
1884. Was elected clerk and treasurer of the
Natchaug school in 1S83, and has continued to hold
the office since. He was elected in borough meeting
chairman of a committee to ascertain the best
method of introducing water in the borough of
Willimantic in July, 1882; also chairman of a coin-
mittee to draft a charter for the introduction of
water and petition the general assembly for such
charter. In 1883 he was elected water commis-
sioner for three years from January i, 1884. Was
appointed postmaster by President Cleveland De-
cember 19, 1885; took possession of the office Jan-
uary I, 1886, and served four years and two months,
to March i, i8go. He was elected judge of probate
for the district of Windham November 4, 1890, and
still holds the office. In these numerous and vaiied
positions of public trust Mr. Wales has m*de a
record of honorable, faithful, and able service, to
which his fellow-citizens bear ready testimony.
His important services to the borough of Williman-
tic, in connection with the introduction of the sys-
tem of water-works there in 1885, is a matter of
history, and has placed the citizens of that thriving
community under lasting obligation to him.
]\Ir. Wales was married October 31, 1871, to Miss
Euphemia A. Tanner, daughter of Warren Tanner
of WilUmantic. She died August iS, 1S89, leaving
no children.
APOLLOS FENN, Plaixville : Deputy Jailer
Hartford County Jail.
ApoUos Fenn was born in the town of Plymouth
January 12, 1820, and was educated in the common
school of Litchfield county. His early years were
spent in the clock indus-
trj'. In 1864 he repre-
sented the town of Farm-
ington in the general as-
sembly, being elected by
the republicans by one of
the largest majorities ever
given a representative
from that town. Through
the war period he held the
office of provost-marshal
under Marshal L. G.
Goodrich, and was
brought into contact in
numerous ways with the
troops at that time. After the war he removed to
Hartford and was a member of the board of police
cominissioners in 1874. He was also a member of
the council from the second ward. He has been
deputy sheriff in Hartford county for thirty j-ears
and has held the position of jailer for twenty, being
the senior officer in the state in that line of service.
During this period he has had ripwards of 1,700
prisoners under his charge. His experience as a
detective extends over a period of thirt^'-five years,
commencing with the arrest of the notorious horse
thief, HeiTing, who was sentenced and died in State
Prison. He was the successor of Colonel Henry
Kennedy in the office of jailer, and retained the
position until the new jail on Seyms street was
completed. During the term of Sheriff O. D. Sey-
mour he was displaced. The accession of Sheriff
Spaulding to the shrievalty resulted in the restora-
tion of Jailer Fenn to his old place, which he has
since held for ten years. As a detective deputy
sheriff Fenn has been entrusted with important
business, being commissioned for special service by
Governors Buckingham and Hubbard, Sheriffs
Westell Russell and O. D. Seymour, and by L. G.
Goodrich of Simsbury and Wm. Hamersley of
Hartford. He was commissioned by the late Gov-
ernor Chauncey F. Cleveland as the captain of an
APOLLOS FENN.
BIOC.RAPHV OF COXXECTICUT,
lOI
independent rifle company in Litchfield when a
youn-;- man. Deputy Sheriff Fenn has had a family
of fourteen children, six of whom are living.
Among the latter is General Wallace T. Fenn of
Governor Bulkeley's staff. His wife was Amelia
C. Clark of Plainville. He is connected with the
Congregational society at Plainville and has also
been associated with the Park church in this city.
At one time he resided in New Haven, but the
most of his life has been spent in Farmington,
Plainville, and Hartford. In each of these towns
he is held in the highest esteem. A quarter of a
million dollars has passed through his hands during
the period in which he has been in active life and
not one cent has been lost or misappropriated.
Absolute personal integrity has been the watchword
of his career.
LEWIS WORDEN.
LEWIS W(~)RDEN. Danielsonvii.i.k: Hotel Pro-
prietor.
Lewis Worden. the veteran proprietor of the
Attawaugan hotel in the borough of Danielsonville,
was born in Charlestown, R. L, September 3, iSiS,
where he spent his boy-
hood and attended school
until fifteen years of age.
Since leaving Charlestown
he has resided tempora-
rily in several places, be-
ing fourteen 3'ears in
Brookhni, two years in
Plainfield, and one 3-ear
in Providence, R. L He
removed to Danielsonville
forty years ago, engaging
in the livery business ; and
it is said that he has
owned some of the finest
teams in eastern Connecticut. In 1859 he became
proprietor of the Attawaugan house, the principal
hotel in the borough, which he has owned and
managed uninterruptedly up to the present time, a
period of more than thirtj'-two years. He is also
the owner of a fine farm a short distance outside
the borough limits, to which he devotes his per-
sonal attention. !Mr. Worden has been twice mar-
ried; first to Miss Olive S. Cox, who died nearly
forty-five years ago; second to Miss Sarah Darby,
whose death occurred in 1889. One son, the fruit
of his first marriage, died in the military service
• during the late war. Mr. Worden is a member of
the Westfield Congi-egational church of Danielson-
ville, and of the republican party. He has been
identified with the business and social affairs
of the borough for more than a generation, and is
generally esteemed as an upright and hf)norable
citizen.
CURTIS THD.MPSON.
CURTIS THOMPSON, Briih;eport: Attorney-
at-Law.
The ancestors of Curtis Thompson were of Puri-
tan stock, and among the early settlers and planters
of the old town of Stratford, Conn. He was born
in Trumbull, Oct. 30,
1S35, where his parents,
George Thompson and
Lucy A. Curtis, were
temporarily residing. He
was educated at the Strat-
ford school and academy,
and Harvard University;
admitted to the bar in
Fairfield County in 1864.
He has since practiced
law at Bridgeport, resid-
ing, most of the time, in
Stratford or Bridgeport.
Stratford honored him by
an election to the general assembly during the
years 1865, '66, and '67, where he served on the
judiciary, incorporation, and* other committees. In
1S6S and '69, and '72, he was deputy judge of the
city court of Bridgeport. In 1S74, '75, and '76, he
was councilman and alderman. In 1S79, '82, '86,
and '87, he was city attorney, and, in 18S3, town
attorney. Since 1872 he has been an active trustee
of the Bridgeport Savings Bank, and he is an
officer or attorney of many other corporations.
He is a member of the South Congregational
church and societ}', is connected with the Seaside
club, and with the masonic fraternity. He received
the degree of 1\l.A. from Yale College in 1871.
He married in 1S67 ^NI. Louise Willcox, daughter
of James Willcox, then president of the Willcox &
Gibbs Sewing Machine Company, and Katharine
Barry of New York cit)^; is of English, Irish, and
Dutch stock. They have two living children,
James Willcox Thompson, a graduate of Yale, '90,
and now a member of the bar at Knoxville, Tenn.,
and Katharine Barry Thompson.
An early experience of four years in the probate
court laid the foundation of a large and extensive
practice in the settlement of estates and litigation
growing out thereof. His general practice in all
branches has, however, been wide, and especially
in real estate, corporation, and banking law. He
possesses the confidence and esteem of the best
citizens, and for many years was the trusted
counsellor of Hon. P. T. Barnum. He has tried
many very important criminal and civil cases.
Believing it to be the duty of every citizen to actively
participate in the management of public affairs he
has always voted, and promoted the success of the
republican party. He is the friend of temperance,
and is often found contending against the establish-
ment of new saloons. In municipal affairs he has
lo:
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
had much to do as attorney for many towns and
communities. In 1S88-89 he was the mover, and
the chairman of the committee, in procuring the
consohdation of the city and town government of
Bridgeport; which great measure has resulted in
giving to Bridgeport not only the most economical
but also the most efficient local government in the
state.- It is his purpose to be always found on the
right side of every moral, civil, and religious ques-
tion, and to be ready to help and advance it with
such means as he can command.
NATHAN DOUGLAS SEVIN, Norwich: Phar-
macist.
N. Douglas Sevin, senior member of one of the
best known drug firms in New London county,
was born at Bozrah, June 1, 1842. His educa-
ti(jn was obtained at
public schools, with eigh-
teen months in a private
school at Norwich. He
became identified with the
drug trade as early as
1S59, having in that year
begun a clerkship in one
of the oldest Norwich
houses, with which he re-
mained until the estab-
lishment of the firm of
Lanman & Sevin in 1S65.
The business was thus
conducted until 1S79,
when Mr. Sevin bought his partner's interest and
became sole proprietor. Later his son was taken
into the business and the firm name changed to N.
D. Sevin & Son. During the civil war Mr. Sevin
served in the Twenty-sixth Connecticut Volunteer
Infantry as hospital steward, and was with Banks's
expedition to Ptjrt Hudson. He is now a prominent
member of Sedgwick Post, No. i, G. A. R., the first
grand army post established in this state. He has
long been identified with the masonic order, and is
past commander of Columbian Commanclery,
Knights Templar ; past high priest Franklin Chap-
ter, No. 4, and has reached the thirty-third degree,
Scottish rite. He is a member of and also has held
the oftice of president of the state board of phar-
macy, and for many years has been a vestryman in
Trinity Church. In 1SS2 he was elected on the
democratic ticket to represent Norwich in the state
legislature, and his eminent popularity is clearly
demonstrated by the fact that he was the first dem-
ocratic legislator elected in Norwich since 1859.
Mr. Sevin united in marriage with Miss Anna I\I.
Jennings of Norwich, by whom he has had one son,
the young man who is now associated with him in
business as a partner.
D. SEVIN.
J. C. WEBSTER.
JOHN C. WEBSTER, Hartford: Vice-Presi-
dent ^^tna Life Insurance Company.
John C. "Webster was born at Kingfield. Me.,
May 24, 1839, and received a thorough English
education, completing the course at the High School
in Concord, N. H. He
acquired the printer's
trade at Concord, and
was at the head of one of
the largest offices in that
city before he was twen-
ty-two years of age. In
1S64 he became the gen-
eral kgent of the ^tna
Life in New Hampshire,
and made rapid advance-
ment in that capacity,
displaying from the out-
set marked adaptation for
the life insurance busi-
ness. In 1S73 he was appointed superintendent of
agencies for the company, and removed from Con-
cord to Hartford. He was elected vice-president
in July, 1879, and has since retained that position,
discharging the duties of the office with excep-
tional ability and success. During the past twelve
years Mr. Webster has been the editor of T/w
^■Eina, a quarterly publication devoted exclusively
to the interests of the ^tna Life. His writings
have commanded wide attention in insurance
circles, giving the paper a standing that could have
been attained in no other way. Mr. Webster is
also a member of the board of trustees of the
Hartford Trust Company, one of the largest insti-
tutions of the kind in the state. He was one of the
founders of the Hartford Horticultural Society,
which was organized in April, 1SS7, and incorpo-
rated by the legislature in May, 1889, Mr. Webster
being the president of the society at that time.
The Horticultural Society has been an organization
of great influence in Hartford county, and its ex-
hibitions have not been surpassed in Connecticut
for years. The work that it has accomplished is
due largely to the leadership of Mr. Webster. The
Gentlemen's Driving club of Hartford, an organiz-
ation that comprises the names of many of Hart-
ford's worthiest citizens, has borne the name of
ilr. Webster on its roll of membership and list of
directors for a number of years. In politics he is a
republican. He is connected with the First Uni-
tarian Congregational Society of Hartford, and is
a member of the executive committee. With the •
exception of one year, 1856, which was spent at
Lawrence, Mass., the active business life of Mr.
Webster has been passed in Concord, N. H., and in
Hartford, Conn. His home, however, is in West
Hartford, being within a short distance of the city
boundary. His public spirit has done a great deal
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
103
towards the development and prosperity of that
town. Mr. "Webster has been twice married. His
rirst wife, who was ]\Iiss Sarah B. Norton of King-
field, ^le., died in 1S6S. The second wife, ]\Iary
E. L. Abbott, was of Concord, N. H. She is still
living. There are no children. While Vice-Presi-
dent Webster has steadily declined pul)lic office
and position, he regards public alTairs with great
interest, and is one of the most patriotic and
public-spirited of citizens.
DAVID GINAND.
DAVID GINAND, Bridgei'Ort: Cutler.
Mr. Ginand was born in Spire, Germany, October
iS, 1S37, where he received a public school educa-
tion. For the past thirty years he has resided at
Bridgeport and is one of
the leading German citi-
zens of that city. In 1S75
he was president of the
German School Corpora-
tion, a society organized
in Bridgeport for the pro-
motion of the study of
German and took an active
part in the agitation in
that city for school district
consolidation. IniS76he
was elected a member of
the first board of educa-
tion there on a non-par-
tisan ticket, and has been re-elected regularly to
the office since. He is a republican in politics.
^Ir. Ginand is a member of the leading German
societies in Bridgeport, including the Concordia
and the Turner organizations. He has represented
the latter in the North American Turnerbund at
its biennial assemblies in Indianapolis, Newark,
Davenport, Boston, Chicago, and New York. For
the last ten years he has represented the Connecti-
cut societies in these national gatherings of the
Germans. He removed to the United States in
1S51 and lived in Waterville and Naugatuck trntil
the war broke out, when he removed to Bridgeport
and engaged in the manufacture of arms. From
1S64 until 1868 he was employed in the Wheeler &
Wilson works. He then established himself in
business and has since carried on a ciitlery business.
Mr. Ginand is a member of St. John's Lodge, No.
3, F. and A. M. of Bridgeport, and formerly be-
longed to the German Reformed Church, but re-
signed his membership on account of differences
with the society. He is a man of marked inde-
pendence of thought and action and thoroughly
6 elieves in the right of personal judgment. His
wife, who is still living, was Miss Christiane Land-
schulz prior to her marriage. There are five child-
ren in the familv, two of whom are sons.
C. S. BUSHNELL.
CORNELIUS S. BUSHNELL, M.vdison: Mer-
chant, Ship Builder, Railroad Builder and Man-
ager.
Cornelius S. Bushnell, vice-president of the Erics-
son Coast Defense Company of New York, was
born in ^Madison, July 18, 1S2S, and received a pub-
lic school education. Mr.
Bushnell resides in Madi-
son through the winter,
spending the summer in
New York. He was for-
merly a resident of New
Haven, and represented
that city in the legislature
of 1862, being a member
of the house. It is neces-
sary in delineating the
public services of Mr.
Bushnell to speak at some
length of the general as-
sembly of 1S62, in which
he was a leading and distinguished figure. It con-
tained many of the prominent men of the state,
including Josiah M. Carter of Norwalk (who was
elected speaker), John S. Rice of Farmington,
Abijah Catlin of Harwinton, Thomas Clark of
North Stonington, Abner L. Train of Milford,
John P. Elton of Waterbury, Erastus S. Day of
Colchester, Amos S. Treat of Bridgeport, Henry
G. Taintor of Hampton, Bartlett Bent, Jr., of
Middletown, Charles Chapman of Hartford, and
Alvan P. Hyde of Tolland. Mr. Bushnell was one
of the strongest supporters of the war, and when
the capture of the national capital was threatened
in 1S62 he was identified with the best measures
presented in the legislature providing for the organ-
ization and equipment of troops for the front. He
was the heartiest of co-operators with Governor
Buckingham, one of the foremost and most pa-
triotic of the New England war governors, and sus-
tained his hands in every effort that was made to
furnish the government with troops. The legisla-
ture of 1S62 held two sessions, the exigencies of the
period demanding a session in December. The de-
mand that the soldiers in the field should be al-
lowed to vote for state and national officers became
a memorable issue of the legislative year. Mr.
Bushnell took an active interest in all the questions
that the war forced upon public attention, and was
a trusted leader on the republican side. His most
important service in connection with the war, how-
ever, related to the adoption of the Moiiitor that
was designed by Ericsson, I\Ir. Bushnell being one
of the jorincipal colaborers with the great inventor
in the effective presentation of the new and mar-
velous enginery that was to revolutionize naval
warfare. He is the vice-president of the noted
Ericsson Coast Defense Company, and his name
104
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
will be permanently associated with the war period.
He was with C. M. Clay's battalion for the defense
of Washington during the conflict, and is a member
of Admiral Foote Post, G. A. R., in New Haven.
Mr. Bushnell has been a prominent railroad builder
and manager, and at one period was the controlling
power in the Shore Line road. He has also been
extensively interested in commerce, merchandise,
and ship-building. He has spent most of his life
in New Haven and New York. His church rela-
tions are with the Dwight Place Congregational
church in New Haven, and his family consists of
a wife and eight children. He has been married
three times, his present wife, Elizabeth Maxwell,
being the widow of E. C. Ford, of Cleveland, O.,
at the time of her marriage. Mr. Bushnell is an
honored citizen of Connecticut, deserving in every
way the place which he holds in the respect and
admiration of the republic.
A. WELL.S CASE, Manchester : Paper Manu-
facturer.
A. Wells Case and A. Willard Case are twin
brothers and constitute the well-known firm of Case
Brothers, manufacturers of papers at Highland
_ Park, in the town of ilan-
chester. The}- operate the
Highland Mills, the Chap-
lin Mills, and the Union-
ville Mills. They are al-
so proprietors of the fa-
mous mineral springs at
Highland Park, where
are bottled the Rock and
Tonica waters, the latter
of which has acquired a
deserved reputation by its
successful employment for
the relief and cure of many
diseases of the blood. A.
Wells Case, the subject of this sketch, was born in
:Manchester, October 30, 1840, and received his edu-
cation in the public schools of that town; his vaca-
tions being passed on his father's farm. At the age
of seventeen he entered the employ of the then
well-known firm of Messrs. W. & E. Bunce, paper
manufacturers. At the age of twenty-one he left
home and engaged in mercantile pursuits with suc-
cess. Later on he associated himself with his
brother in business, as above stated. Mr. Case is
an inventor of some note, which talent he has
turned to good account in his manufactories. He
is a republican and represented Manchester in the
legislature in 1889. He has been an influential
temperance man for years, and is held in high
esteem by his townsmen as an honorable and use-
ful citizen.
A. W. CASE.
E. PERKINS.
CHARLES E. PERKINS, Hartford : Attorney-
at-Law.
Charles E. Perkins is descended from a noted
hne of jurists, his father, Thomas C. Perkins, and
grandfather, Enoch Perkins, being in their time
among the foremost law-
yers of the state. Enoch
Perkins graduated from
Yale College in 17S1 and
was afterwards a tutor in
that institution. He be-
came a leader of the bar
in Hartford county. His
death occurred in 1S2S.
Thomas C. Perkins, the
father of Charles E. Per-
kins, graduated from Yale
in 1818, the late Governor
Henry Button of New
Haven being one of his
classmates. Mr. Perkins became the successor of
his father, Enoch Perkins, as a leading lawyer in
this city, being the foremost practitioner here for
years. He died in 1870, half a century after his
graduation from Yale, honored and revered by the
entire community. The subject of this sketch was
born in this city, March 24, 1S32, and was educated
at the Hartford high school and Williams College,
graduating from the latter in 1853. He adopted the
legal profession and has been for twenty years one
of the most prominent lawyers in Northern Connec-
ticut. He has devoted his attention principally to
civil and patent suits and is an influential counsel,
not only in the courts of Connecticut, but also in
the United States supreme court at Washington.
One of his two sons, Mr. Arthur Perkins, who is a
graduate of Yale, is associated with him in busi-
ness. The remaining son, Mr. Thomas C. Perkins,
is an electrical engineer. Mr. Perkins is a republi-
can in politics, but is not in the least sense of the
word a politician. The only public offices which he
has held have been the city attorneyship and the
position of water commissioner. At no time in the
city's history has the municipality received abler
service than during Mr. Perkins's term as legal ad-
viser and counsel concerning its interests. He is a
member of the Asylum Hill Congregational church,
and is held in the utmost respect and regard
throughout the community. The family of Mr.
Perkins consists of a wife and five children — two
sons and three daughters. Mrs. Perkins, who was
Miss Lucy M. Adams of Boston prior to her mar-
riage, is a descendant of Presidents John Adams
and John Ouincy Adams. ]\Ir. Perkins is a gentle-
man of exceptional modesty and reticence, both in
his home and among business associates. His pro-
fessional career from the outset has been character-
ized by the highest personal honor and integrity.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
105
E. S. VERGASON.
ED(rAR S.M-ITH VERGASOX, Hartiord: Mer-
chant.
E. S. Yergason was born in the town of Windham
on the loth day of September, 1S40. He remained
in his native town in attendance upon the district
school and at the Pine
Grove Seminary in South
Windham, until he had
fully completed his educa-
tion, and in 1859 went to
Hartford and engaged in
service as a clerk with the
dry gor)ds firm of Talcott
&- Post. His connection
with the house continued
twenty-two years, during
which period he acquired
a most thorough and
practical knowledge of the
business in all its
branches. During the presidential campaign of
1S60, Mr. Yergason was one of the thirty-six young
republicans of Hartford who on the evening of ]\Iarch
7th, organized the original "Wide Awake" club,
an organization which spread over the whole coun-
try, and undoubtedly elected Abraham Lincoln
President of the United States. Mr. Yergason as a
voung man was an ardent republican and patriot,
and at the breaking out of the war of the rebellion
he early enlisted and served as a private in Com-
pany B, of the Twenty-second regiment, Connecti-
cut \'olunteers. At the expiration of his term of
service he returned to the store and remained in
the employ of Talcott & Post until the two partners
separated in iSSo, when he joined tlie last named
gentleman in the formation of the firm of William H.
Post & Company, whose extensive establishment in
the line of carpets and interior house decorations, in
the city of Hartford, has a reputation co-extensive
with the country itself. As a professional decorator
Mr. Yergason is a gentleman of excellent taste and
executive ability, and he personally superin-
tends this entire department of the firm's extensive
business. He has made and executed contracts for
the most elaborate decorations in the private resi-
dences of the wealthiest citizens of Washington,
New York, Brooklyn, Albany, Providence, and
other metropohtan cities, — competing for the busi-
ness with the most noted decorators of New York
and Philadelphia. The recent decoration of the
White House at \Yashington by the firm of Wni.
H . Post & Co. , under the exclusive management of
Mr. Yergason, has been commended by connois-
seurs at the capitol as the finest example of artistic
taste in the line of interior decoration to be found
on the continent. Referring to the eiTect produced
in the " Blue Room " of the executive mansion by
Mr. Yergason 's treatment of it, one of the govern-
ment officials publicly states his belief that "it is
to-day the most beautiful room in the world." It is
no small compliment to the house of Wm. H. Post
&• Co. when it is selected to produce the finest possi-
ble effects in the dwellings of the wealthiest citizens
of the land, and the home of the chief magistrate
himself.
Mr. Yergason is an attendant at the Asylum
Avenue Congregational church, is a member of
Robert O. Tyler Post, G. A. R., and of the Army
and Navy Club of Connecticut. He married in
Hartford Miss Emeline B. Moseley, third daughter of
the late D. B. Moseley, who was editor, as well as
proprietor and founder, of the Religious Herald,
the organ of Connecticut Congregationalists. They
have three children.
p. H. PEARL.
PATRICK H. PEARL, H.\mpton: Farmer.
Patrick Henry Pearl is a descendant of the fourth
generation from Timothy Pearl, who came from
Dorchester, Mass., early in the last century, and
settled in Hampton,
where he lived until his
death in 1773. Many of
his descendants are living
in various parts of the
c o u n t r y. Patrick H.
Pearl was the son of
Philip and Clarissa Pearl,
and w^as born in Hamp-
ton June S, 1S19, and has
resided in that town dur-
ing his life-time. He was
educated at the common
schools of his native
town, and at the Connec-
ticut Literary Institution at Suffield. Soon after at-
taining his majority he was engaged in mercantile
pursuits for a few' j^ears in partnership with the
late Hon. Mason Cleveland, but most of his life has
been spent in farming until within a few years past.
He was married Oct. 25, 1853, to Deborah Williams
of Pomfret, who died May iS, 1S61, leaving a son,
Philip Pearl, who is now a member of the firm of
D. Wood & Co., merchants, of Webster, Mass. On
March 15, 1866, he contracted a second marriage
with Mary L. Cowles, daughter of William C.
Cowles of East Hartford, who is still living, having
no children. He has held various offices in the
gift of his townsmen, representing his town in the
legislature of 1861, and held the ofldce of justice of
the peace for more than thirty years, acting as trial
justice in a majority of cases brought in his town
during his term of office. At the election held on
the first Monday of April, 1S63, he was elected to
the office of judge of probate for Hampton district,
took possession of the office July 4, 1S63, and held
io6
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
it continuously by reelection until January, 1889,
extending over a period of twenty-five years and
six months, and then retired from the office on
account of constitutional Hmitation, having arrived
at the age of seventy years. He was formerly a
whig, and has been identified with the republican
party since its formation, but never allowed him-
self to be swerved from the right by love of party.
He is not connected with any church or religious
society, but is a regular attendant at the Congrega-
tional church in his town. He is a member of the
masonic fraternity, and a staunch supporter of its
principles and tenets. He is now .spending his days
quietly at his pleasant home in his native village
and attending to the various calls upon him for ad-
vice in legal and business affairs.
S. G. BLAKEMAN.
COL. SELAH G. BLAKEMAN, Huntington:
Farmer.
Colonel Blakeman is a native of the town of
Stratford in this state, where he was born May 23,
1841. He attended the district school in that town,
and later the high school
in Milford. He enlisted
as a private in the Seven-
teenth regiment, Connec-
ticut vohinteer infantry,
July 29, 1S62, and was in
every engagement, and
on every march that the
command took part in as
a regiment, until he was
discharged as a sergeant
at the close of the war.
In 1866 he married and
bought a farm in Hunt-
ington, where he now re-
sides. He has been first selectman of the town,
has held the office of deputy sheriff for three years,
and other minor offices in the town. In 1S79 he
Avas elected to represent the town in the legislature.
He served as aid-de-camp on Governor Lounsbury's
staff in 18S7-S with the rank of colonel. He is a
past post commander of Kellogg Post, G. A. R. ;
was a delegate to the national encampment, G. A.
R., held at Denver, Col., in 1883; was an aid-de-
camp on Commander-in-Chief Burdette's staff, in
1886, at the encampment at San Francisco, Califor-
nia, and on Commander-in-Chief Alger's staff, in
1S90, at the encampment in Boston. He has served
between four and five years as foreman of the Echo
hose and hook and ladder company of Shelton. He is
a prominent member of the I. O. O. F., and has the
reputation of being one of the best drill masters in
the order. His business is farming, but for the past
few years he has spent most of his time in l)uilding
roads and grading. In politics he has always been
a strong republican.
J. E. HIGGINS.
JOHN E. HIGGINS, Hartford: City and Town
Clerk and Registrar.
John E. Higgins has held the position of city
clerk in the state capital since 1874, with the excep-
tion of one year, and the office of town clerk and
registrar of births, mar-
riages, and deaths without
interval during the same
period. His career in
these offices has been one
of marked success and
satisfaction. While Mr.
Higgins is a pronounced
democrat in politics, his
course as a public official
has been so characterized
by devotion to the inter-
ests of the community,
without regard to partisan
lines, that men of all par-
ties politically have given him an enthusiastic support
at the polls, ensuring his retention in office, no mat-
ter how popular a competitor might be in the field
against him. The plan of placing his name on
both tickets has prevailed for a number of years.
Of course, it is impossible to consider majorities
under such circumstances. A gentleman whose
public career attracts all classes of citizens to his
support, irrespective of political' affiliations, de-
serves the heartiest of commendations. It would
be a mistake, however, to presume that City Clerk
Higgins owes his success simply to good fellowship
and affable manners. While he possesses these
traits beyond even most public favorites, his recep-
tion of the popular suffrage has depended, in the
main, on the character and value of his services.
There is not a town clerk's office in the state that is
more intelligently conducted than the Hartford
office. The systematic classification of town rec-
ords, the order and precision with which the work
of the office is managed, and the uniform courtesy
with which the public has been treated have made
the office the model one in Connecticut. This is
not saying a word beyond what the place merits.
As city clerk, Mr. Higgins is ex officio clerk of the
board of aldermen in Hartford. It is in this capac-
ity that much of his best public work has been ac-
complished. The journal of the board, which is
prepared and printed under the city clerk's hand,
is far superior as an official production to the jour-
nals of the state legislature. The Year Book, which
is also arranged and edited by Mr. Higgins, is
sought for far and wide by the municipal govern-
ments. Great improvements have been made in
both the town and citj^ clerkships during Mr. Hig-
gins's incumbency of these offices. The subject of
this sketch was born in New London, June 19,
1S44, and received a public school education. At
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT
107
the outbreak of the war he was a teaeher in the
Portland pubhc schools. This j^osition was resigned
for the military service of that period. Mr. Hig-
gins became a member of the Third United States
Artillery, and was in the army for three years.
He is a prominent member of Robert O. Tyler
Post of the Grand Army in Hartford, and has
taken an active part in the noted veteran assem-
blages and demonstrations that have occurred in
this city since the war. He is also a member of
Green Cross Council, Knights of Columbus, and of
the Hartford Lodge of Elks. City Clerk Higgins
is a member of the Roman Catholic church in this
city, being connected at present with the cathedral
parish: but for. twenty-five years he was a member
and attendant at St. Peter's. The wife of Mr.
Higgins, who is held in the most thorough esteem
in the community, was Miss Adella E. Cohins prior
to marriage. There are no children in the family.
Mr. Higgins removed to Hartford from New
London after the war, and was employed for
eight years at the Colt works. He was first elected
city clerk in 1S74, and from that time until now
he has been an occupant of public office and
position.
RUFUS B. SAGE, Cromwell: Farmer.
Rufus B. Sage, the son of Deacon Rufus Sage,
was born March 17, 1S17, in that part of Middle-
town since known as the town of Cromwell. The
youngest of a family of
seven children, he was ~"^
left fatherless at the age
of nine and thrown upon
his own resources to make
his unaided way in the
world ; hence his boyhood
was a scene of struggling
toil, quite unfavorable to
educational attainments.
However, by his energjr
in making use of the com-
mon school and academj-
at winter terms, he was
enabled to lay the founda-
tion for after efforts in the slow progress of self-
tuition. He thus became the student of opportun-
ity, impelled by a strong desire to learn. This
induced young Sage to choose the occupation of
printer, and he became initiated to the mysteries of
that art at a newspaper office in the city of Middle-
town. In the fall of 1836 he went to Washington
county, Ohio, serving as school teacher for a term
and then laboring as compositor upon the Marietta
Gazette'. A favorable opening presenting itself at
Parkersburg, W. Va. , he engaged in the capacity
of foreman upon the only paper published in that
R. B. SAGE.
place. "While there, in the spring of 1S3S, he em-
barked in an enteri:)rise which took him southward
with a cargo of ice. This transaction resulted in a
money loss, but proved rich in experience and
observation, for that which he then saw and heard
in Louisiana and Mississippi transformed him into
the future unrelenting foe of the slave institution.
Upon his return ncjrth he accepted a situation at
Circleville, O., where he became well known as a
writer, speaker, and participator in public affairs.
His stay here was signalized by the organization of
a debating club, through his influence, which
became very popular, and his connection with the
press also brought him in contact with the most
prominent citizens of the country. His next en-
gagement was at Columbus, late in 1839, a busy
compositor upon the Ohio State Bttlletin, carefully
im])roving any leisure at his disposal in attendance
at the state library or upon the legislative sessions.
Early in 1840 commenced the ever memorable
political struggle, known as the "log cabin cam-
paign," in stipport of Gen. W. H. Harrison for the
presidency. With this Mr. Sage was identified and
bore a conspicuous part from the very first. A
weekly campaign paper, and later on a daily, was
edited and published by him, that did most effect-
ive service in bringing about the grand result of
electing the whig national ticket b}- an overwhelm-
ing majority. One incident among the many that
are noteworthy, wherein Mr. Sage performed the
part of detective, is worthy of special mention.
The democratic leaders, in their desperation, sought
to stem the popular current by setting adrift an
ingenious forgery, purporting to come from the
whig state central committee, Alfred Kelly, chair-
man, which unexposed would have proved ver)'
damaging to the whig interest. ]Mr. Sage, by his
shrewdilfess, most thoroughly penetrated the secret,
exposing the infamous act and those concerned in
it, thus springing upon their own necks the noose
they had so cunningly looped for others. The day
following Gen. Harrison was in Columbus, and
meeting our detective said, extending his hand,
" Well, Mr. Sage, you outgeneraled their generals
this time ! I congratulate you." The turmoil of
party strife being closed, public attention began to
be directed to other things. The great west, from
Missouri to the Pacific ocean, then so little
known, became a theme of much interest. Sharing
largely in that interest, and incited by a strong de-
sire to know more of the vast region beyond the
Missouri frontier, Mr. Sage set about organizing a
party of enterprising young men to visit and ex-
plore those countries. His efforts were successful,
so far as talk was concerned; but at starting, ^lay
I, 1841, only five came to time, and only one besides
himself reached Independence, Mo., at which
point that one also left him. Undaunted hx the
io8
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
gloomy outlook, after a delay of several weeks, Mr.
Sage joined a party of Indian traders and pushed
his onward way toward the setting sun. Now
began a series of adventures, explorations, and ex-
tensive travels, among Indians and wild beasts,
alone or with such company as chance presented,
for an interval of three years, the details of which
the reader can find in a book entitled " Scenes in
the Rocky Mountains," etc., by Rufus B. Sage,
Carey & Hart publishers, Philadelphia, Pa., 1S46.
In July, 1844, he returned to Columbus, O., and
immediately issued a campaign weekly in support
of Henry Clay for L''^. S. president, protesting with
all earnestness against the annexation of Texas and
the consequent extension of the slave power. The
result was a grand triumph in Ohio, which however
was neutralized in New York by the abolition vote,
cast for Burney, thus giving the national election
to James K. Polk, and setting in train the tremen-
dous evils that followed. Mr. Sage next appeared
in the editorial chair of the Chillicothe, O., Gazette,
with which paper he severed his connection in
1S45, and returned to visit his old home after an
absence of ten years. In this quiet retreat he pre-
pared his book of travels, which had a successful
run through several editions. And at this point
came a change of long-cherished plans. An aged
invalid mother required of him the care he could
not find heart to deny. Yielding to her wishes, he
married and set himself faithfully to solve the puz-
zling question so often discussed, " Will farming
pay ?" Mr. Sage says it will. vSatisfied with home
comforts and busied with home interests, he has
kept aloof from public office, having never held
one, either town, state, or national. His estimate of
m.erit does not count any one the more worthy
because of popular favor, office, money, fine cloth-
ing, or proud display. He remarks that it is not
often the richest ore crops out upon the surface,
neither is the mere place-seeker the best deserving
of popular confidence. At the age of fourteen, Mr.
Sage joined the Congregational church in Crom-
well, and amid all the vicissitudes of his eventful
life he has been more or less active in support of
religion and good morals. His name was upon the
pledge-roll of the first temperance society of Con-
necticut, and he has been a prohibitionist from the
first genesis of the idea, ever prompt to strike in its
favor whenever such blow would tell, but " not as
one who beateth the air." U^niformly a studious
and laborious man, he is now over seventy-four
years old, hale and robust, with good prospect for
several years to come. He seldom clrinks coffee,
tea never, has been a lifelong abstainer fi'om
spirituous drinks of all kinds, nor has he used
tobacco in any form. In brief, the grand result is,
he has never been laid by from sickness for a single
day during his whole life.
SAMUEL FESSENDEN.
HON. SAMUEL FESSENDEN, Stamford: At-
torney-at-Law.
The Hon. Samuel Fessenden. one of the ablest
and foremost leaders of the republican party in
Connecticut, was born in Rockland, Me., April 12,
1S47, and prepared for
college at Lewiston Acad-
emy. At the age of 16,
however, he sacrificed his
college pursuits for the
army, and enlisted as a
private in the Seventh
Maine Battery. Decem-
ber 14, 1864, he was ap-
pointed ta a second lieu-
tenancy in the vSecond
United States Infantry by
President Lincoln, the
promotion being recom-
mended by GeneralGrant.
One week afterwards he was advanced to the rank
of captain in that command. But having been
recommended for promotion in the artillery ser-
vice, he declined the captaincy in the Second regu-
lars, and January 15, 1S65, was commissioned
second lieutentant in the First Maine Battery. At
that time he was less than iS years of age. He
was appointed on the staff of Major-General A. P.
Howe May i, 1865, and remained in that position
until the conclusion of the war. He participated
in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania,
Cold Harbor, and Petersburg, and won honorable
recognition from his sujieriors. At the time when
under normal circumstances he wcnild have been a
brilliant student at college, he was serving with
the heroism of a veteran in the field. Returning
from the war, he entered the Harvard Law School,
where he completed his legal course. March 4,
i86q, he was admitted to the Fairfield county bar
in this state, and has since resided in Stamford.
In 1874, when he was but 26 years of age, he was
elected a member of the general assembly from
Stamford, and was appointed on the judiciary com-
mittee. He made one of the ablest speeches of the
session on the parallel railroad project, carrying
the house by the eloquence and force of his presen-
tation of the case. In 1876 he was one of the dele-
gates from Connecticut in the national republican
convention at Cincinnati, which nominated Presi-
dent Hayes. In 1S79 he was re-elected to the gen-
eral assembly, and was the foremost republican in
that body. The nomination of the Hon. O. H.
Piatt for the United States senatorship was due
mainly to the leadership displayed by Mr. Fessen-
den. In 1SS4 Mr. Fessenden was elected secretary
of the national republican ci-)mmittee, and mani-
fested in that capacity executive training of the
highest order. He is still a member of the national
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
109
committee and a member of the executive com-
mittee, and one of its most trusted advisers.
For fifteen years he has been a prominent figure in
republican conventions in lliis state, being the
recognized leader by the delegates. His eminent
qualities as a lawyer led to his appointment as
state's attorney in Fairfield county, a i)osition which
he has held with marked success for a number of
years. Mr, Fessenden prepares his cases with
great thoroughness, and in the courts where he
appears his knowledge of law and eloquence
in addressing courts and juries makes him *a
formidable opponent. He was one of the found-
ers aud original members of the Army and
Navy Club of Connecticut, and the universal
favorite with veterans of the war throughout the
state. His personal traits have endeared him to
thousands of men in the country, who know of no
honor too important to be conferred upon him.
His future is full of promise and inspiration,
whether considered from a professional or political
point of view.
JOHN CHAPIN BRINSMADE, Washington.
John Chapin Brinsmade, principal of the Gun-
nery School, was born in Springfield, Mass., April
24, 1S52. His father, William B. Brinsmade (Yale
1840) was for a long time
superintendent of the
Connecticut River Rail-
road. His mother is the
daughter of the late
Colonel Harvej- Chapin,
a descendant in the sixth
generation of Deacon
Samuel Chapin, who set-
tled in Springfield in 1642.
On his father's side he is
descended from Rev.
Daniel Brinsmade (Yale,
1745), who came to Wash-
ington (then a part of
Woodbury) in the latter half of the eighteenth
century, and was for some time the minister of the
Judea Congregational Society. His son, Daniel
N. Brinsmade (Yale, 1772), was a member of the
state convention for the ratification of the constitu-
tion of the United States.
The subject of this sketch attended private
schools in Springfield and the Gunnery in Wash-
ington, and graduated at Harvard University in
the class of 1874. In the fall of that year he be-
came assistant teacher at the Gunnery. In Octo-
ber, 1876, he was married to Mary Gold Gunn (his
cousin), daughter of F. W. Gunn, principal of the
school. Since Mr. Gunn's death in iSSi he has been
principal of the Gunnery. He has five children,
three sons and two daughters.
J. C. BRINSMADE.
HENRY GILDERSLEEVE.
HENRY GILDERSLEEYE, Portland: Ship-
builder.
Henry Gildersleeve was born in Portland, in that
part of the town now known as Gildersleeve, on
the 7th of April, 181 7; was educated at the district
school, and at the age of
seventeen commenced in
his father's yard to learn
the business of shipbuild-
ing. He soon acquired a
thorough knowledge of
the details of the business,
and at the age of twenty-
five he was taken into
partnership with his father
under the firm- name of
S. Gildersleeve & Son,
which firm, up to the pres-
ent time, have built 142
vessels of all classes, both
sail and steam. In December, 1872, he associated
himself with the house of Bentley, Gildersleeve &
Co., shipping and commission merchants on South
street. New York. He retained his connection with
the Gildersleeve ship-building firm, and at the end
of ten years he retired from the New York firm,
resigning in favor of his son, Sylvester, who con-
tinued the business in connection with his brother
Oliver, under the firm name of S. Gildersleeve &
Co. Henry Gildersleeve, since retiring from his
New York business, has devoted his whole time
and attention to the ship-building and other interests
with which he is connected in his native town.
On the 29th of March, 1839, he married Nancy,
daughter of Samuel Buckingham of Milford, by
whom he had one child, Philip, born Februar\- i,
1842. His first wife died on the 14th of March,
1842, and on the 25th of May, 1843, he married
Emily F., daughter of Oliver Northam of Marl-
borough, by whom he had seven children: Oliver,
born March 6, 1844; Emily Shepard, born Septem-
ber 8, 1846; Mary Smith, born March 8, 184S, died
October 18, 1S51; Anna Sophia, born Februarj- 26,
1850, died August 27, 1854; Sylvester, born Novem-
ber 24, 1S52; Louisa Rebecca, born May g, 1S57;
and Henry, born September 4, 185S. The death of
the second wife of Henry Gildersleeve occurred on
the nth of November, 1873; and on the 12th of
June, 1S75, he married Amelia, daughter of Colonel
Orren Warner of East Haddam, by whom he had
one child, Orren Warner, born November 26, 1S78.
Mr. Gildersleeve has been identified with many
public enterprises outside of his ship-building inter-
ests. He was for a number of years a director in
the New York & Hartford Steamboat Company,
and president of the Middletown Ferrj- Company,
and is now president of the Middlesex Quarry Com-
pany, also president of thfe First National Bank of
no
AN ILLUSTRATED' POPULAR
Portland, and trustee and one of the original in-
corporators of the Freestone Savings Bank, also a
director of the Middlesex ^Mutual Assurance Com-
pany of Middletown. He has been for many years
an active member and liberal supporter of the
Trinity Episcopal church at Portland, was a large
contributor to the funds for the erection of their
elegant new church edifice, and a member of the
building committee. In iS6o, as the nominee of
the democratic party, he represented Portland in
the state legislature, and sustained every measure
for the vigorous prosecution of the war.
a member for forty-three 3'ears. Politicallj^ he is a
Jeffersonian democrat, and although he was nomi-
nated as a candidate of that party for mayor, he
declined the honor, preferring a quiet life outside
of all political entanglements.
J. S. GRAVES.
JOHN SAMUEL GRAVES, New Haven.
Mr. Graves was born in Hebron, Tolland coimty,
Connecticut, September 2, 1S07. He was educated
at the district school. Books were few, but the
Bible and catechism were
thoroughly taught. Gov-
ernor Peters of colonial
times, after whom he was
named, took especial in-
terest in his education and
welfare. His mother was
a Peters, the family being
at that time one of the
- largest and most respect-
' able in the state. At
fourteen years of age he
left home and served four
years as a clerk with Jo-
seph Goodspeed of East
Haddam. At the age of eighteen he was taken to
Hartford to begin the study of medicine. His
health failed him, and he went to New Haven, his
present residence, intending to lead a mercantile
life. From 1828 to 1830 he conducted a brokerage
business, after which he undertook the dry goods
trade, in which he became highly successful. Be-
sides having the largest store in the state he car-
ried on a heavy southern trade until 1S47, when he
sold out to Wilcox & Crampton, having in view the
starting of a gas company. He married, in July,
1837, Polly Merwin, the daughter of Dr. Philo Mer-
win of Brookfield, in this state. Eight children
live to mourn a lovely and devoted mother. His
elevation to many official stations of responsibility
and trust shows him to have been a man of great
ability and honor, as well as of broad and progres-
sive views. He has held the offices of notary pub-
lic, justice of the peace, city councilman, and of
vestryman in Trinity Episcopal Church. He was
the prime mover and founder of the New Haven
Gas Light Company, holding the offices of vice-
president, secretary, and treasurer, and variously
in active official service for twenty-three years. He
still continues in the company of which he has been
J. w. beardslev,
JAMES WALKER BEARDSLEV, Bridgeport:
A Retired Farmer and Stock Dealer.
Mr. Beardsley is a son of Elisha H. Beardsley,
and has been a farmer all his life. He is a native
of the town of ]\Ionroe, where he was born May 8,
1820, and where his father
pursued the same occupa-
tion. He is descended in
regular line from William
Beardsley, one of the first
settlers of Stratford; and
on his mother's side,
through a distinguished
ancestry, from Robert
Walker, one of the found-
ers of the Old South
Church of Boston in 1669.
]Mr. Beardsley was edu-
cated at the common
schools and at the pre-
paratory mstitute of Samuel B. Beardsley. As be-
fore stated, his life has been spent entirelj- on the
farm, and he long ago became the holder of much
landed property, including a large and valuable
stock farm in the state of Illinois. His residence
has been in Monroe and in Bridgeport, to both of
which localities he has contributed much in the
way of material adornment and of personal in-
fluence. In 1S78 he gave to the city of Bridgeport
one hundred acres of land for a public park, on
condition that the city should expend a certain
comparatively small amount of money yearly, for
a number of j-ears, in its care and management.
At first the city doubted the propriety of accepting
the gift on the conditions which the donor im-
posed, but it was finally accepted, and the condi-
tions have been fulfilled. This park is now re-
garded as one of the great features of the city.
For the original property Mr. Beardsley had been
offered $20,000; it would be worth for city lots to-
day hundreds of thousands. It cannot be doubted
that he takes great satisfaction in seeing the im-
provements which the cit}' is making from year to
year in " Beardsley Park," many of which were of
his own suggesting. He bestows yearly upon it
much time, attention, and money, and his efforts in
its behalf are highly appreciated by the citizens of
Bridgeport, as is the original magnificent gift.
Mr. Beardsley's fine residence was originally the
homestead of James Walker, Jr., which descended
to the former through his mother, Betsey (Walker),
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXECTICUT.
hi
Beardsley, the daughter of James Walker, Jr. It
is kept very choicely, and regarded sacredly as the
home of his ancestors for three generations, or
since 1739. Mr. Beardsley was a member of the
Connecticut legislatiu'e in 1S4S, representing the
town of Monroe, and being elected to the office by
the democratic party. He is an influential member
of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and a liberal
contributor to its charities.
E. V. PRESTON.
EDWARD V. PRESTON, H.vrtfokd : Siiperin-
tendent of Agencies of the Travelers Insurance
Company.
-Major Edward \*. Preston was born in Willing-
ton, Conn., June i, 1S37, being the second son of
Joshua and Caroline Eldredge Preston. The fam-
ily consisted of seven
children, three of whom
reside in Hartford. The
major's grandfather,
Amos Preston, and great-
grandfather, Darius Pres-
ton , were born in the
same house in Willington
in which his father and
himself first saw the light. '
This ancient structure,
which has been the birth-
place of four generations
in the family, is still
standing. The Prestons
in this country are descendants of William Pres-
ton, who emigrated from England in 1635, reach-
ing Boston on the True Love, the last of the sev-
enteen ships from London to Boston in that year.
The genealog}^ of the family, however, is traced
back to the time of Malcolm, King of the Scots.
The name of Preston was assumed on account of
the territorial possessions of the family in Mid-Lo-
thian, Scotland. The first of the name on record is
Leolphus De Preston, li\-ing in the time of William
the Lion, about 1040. His grandson, Sir William
Preston, was one of the Scotch nobles summoned
to Berwick by Edward I. in the competition for the
Crown of Scotland between Bruce and Baliol,
the decision having been submitted to Edward.
Subsequently, Westmoreland county, England, was
represented in Parliament by members of the fam-
ily, Edward III. being king at the time. John Pres-
ton, also a member of the family, retired from the
bench in 1427 on account of his great age. William
Preston, from whom the American branch is de-
scended, originally located in Dorchester, but after-
wards removed to New Haven, where he died in
1647. Some of his children remained in Dorchester.
The Eastern Connecticut Prestons are traced from
John Preston of Andover, Mass., who married
Mary Haynes of Newbury in that state in 1706 and
removed to Windham county, where he died in
1730. The Connecticut branch of the family figured
conspicuously in llie Revolutionary war, the Lex-
ington alarm, April 19, 1775, caUing them to the
front. The list of Revolutionary soldiers published
by this state shows twenty-five representatives of
the Connecticut Prestons in the service. The fam-
ily has been ec|ually active and prominent in church
interests. The history of Windham county is rich
with narratives concerning their work in this direc-
tion.
At the outbreak of the war in 1S61, the subject of
this sketch was engaged in business in this city,
being a member of the firm of Griswold, Griffin &
Co., which was located at the southeast corner of
Asylum and Trumbull streets. April 22, 1861, he
volunteered temporary assistance as a clerk in the
adjutant-general's office under General J. D. Wil-
liams. In July, Col. Orris S. Ferry of the Fifth
Connecticut, which was then organizing, requested
the appointment of Major Preston as quartermaster
of the command. July 17th he received the appoint-
ment, being given the rank of first lieutenant, and
was mustered into the ser\nce July 23d. In Sep-
tember, 1861, he was detailed by Col. Dudley Don-
nelly and afterwards by Gens. G. H. Gordon and
A. S. Williams to be acting assistant quartermaster
of the First Brigade, Gen. Banks's division, and re-
tained the position until Jan. i, 1862, when he re-
turned to his old place in the Fifth Connecticut. In
March, 1S62, Lieutenant Preston was detailed as an
aid-de-camp on the staff of Gen. Ferry, who had re-
ceived a brigadier's commission. During a part of
the time until Feb. 19, 1S63, he was acting assistant
quartermaster of the division. On that date he
was commissioned by President Lincoln as ' ' addi-
tional paymaster L^. S. Volunteers, with the rank
of major," and held this position until July 31, 1865,
when he was honorably discharged by the secretary
of war. ]\Iillions of dollars passed through his hands
during the war and his accounts squared to a cent in
the final settlement with the government. Major
Preston is a member of the veteran association of
the Fifth regiment; also of the Army and Navy
Club of Connecticut, and of Robert O. Tyler Post,
G. A. R. He is one of the trustees of the $10,000
fund owned by the Post. He is also a member of
the board of trustees of the Connecticut Literary
Institution at Suffield, of the Baptist state conven-
tion, and president of the Baptist Social Union of
the state. For the past twenty years he has been
the treasurer of the Asylum Avenue Baptist society
in this city. He is at present a member of the
board of aldermen from the second ward , and has
also served from that precinct two years in the
council board. In politics he is a republican. His
business life since the war has been connected with.
112^
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
the Travelers Insurance Company, where he has
held the position of superintendent of agents for a
quarter of a century. The duties of the office re-
quire executive abilit}' of the highest order. In the
discharge of these duties he has visited every section
of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The
family of Major Preston consists of a wife and two
children, one son and a daughter. Mrs. Preston,
prior to her marriage, was Miss Clara M. Litchfield,
daughter of the late John G. Litchfield of this city.
The son, Mr. Harry E. Preston, is also connected
with the Travelers. Major Preston's career from
the outset has been one of honor and integrity, and
he is regarded throughout the country with the ut-
most esteem and respect.
AVERY A. STANTON, Sterling: Farmer and
Lumberman.
The subject of this sketch was born in Preston
in 1837, and is the great-great-grandson (;f General
Thomas Stanton, who came from England and
settled in Stonington. He
is brother of Captain John
L. Stanton who fell at
the seige of Port
Hudson, and of Rev.
William E. Stanton who
was for several years pas-
tor of the First Baptist
church at Lowell. In
1848 Mr. Stanton and his
mother (his father having
died one year previous),
removed to Voluntown in
this state. He received
his education at the
schpols of Voluntown, East Greenwich, R. I., and
at the Connecticut Literary Institution of Suffield.
He taught school about eight years in eastern
Connecticut and Rhode Island, and in 1862 settled
in the town of Sterling, where he has since resided,
engaged in farming and lumber business.
In 1864 he was elected one of the school visitors
of Sterling, which position he held for twenty-four
years. In 1873 he was elected first selectman, and
has held other important town offices, being town
agent and auditor for a number of years. In 1874
he represented the town of vSterling in the state
legislature. In 1884 he was chosen to fill the unex-
pired term of R. H. Ward, county commissioner,
and by the same legislature was chosen county
commissioner for the term of three years. He still
holds this position, having been appointed for a
second term of four years. Mr. Stanton married
the daughter of Benjamin Gallup of Voluntown —
has five sons and three daughters. He belongs to
a family that is able to trace 6,000 relatives. He is
a Baptist, and in politics a zealous republican.
'i/A
A. A. STANTON.
SAXTON B. LITTLE, Meriden; School Teacher.
Saxton Bailey Little, a descendant of the seventh
generation fix)m Thomas Little, who came to Ply-
mouth, Mass., from near London, England, in 1630,
was born in Columbia,
'J
^
/"
S. 1:. LITTLE.
Conn., April ig, 1813.
His ancestral mother was
Ann Warren, whose
father, Richard Warren,
was one of the company
who came over in the
Mayflower in 1620. His
education was in the com-
mon schools, supple-
mented by some instruc-
tion in Tolland, East
Hartford, and Bacon
academies. Beginning to
teach school at the age of
sixteen, he taught fifteen winters, "boarding
'round," as was the custom sixty years ago. He
taught in Bacon Academy in 1836, one year; six
winters in Goshen Hill, Lebanon, Conn.; two and
a half years in Willimantic; and in Greeneville three
years. In 1850 he removed to Rockville, in the
town of Vernon, Tolland County, and remained
there neaiiy four years, which completed his ser-
vice in the public schools. In April, 1S54, he was
appointed assistant superintendent and teacher in
the Connecticut State Reform School at Meriden,
and upon the death of the lamented Dr. E. W.
Hatch, Feb. 7, 1874, he was appointed acting super-
intendent. He closed his connection with the in-
stitution July 31, 1875, after a continuous service
there of twenty-one years and four months. The
trustees of the school, in their report to the general
assembly in 1S74, speaking of Mr. Little^aid: " We
should fail in our duty if we did not signity to you
our high appreciation of the well-applied and faith-
ful services of this officer during these many years,
and to testify that his labors in the position of as-
sistant superintendent and teacher have contrib-
uted largely to the marked success of the school."
Since he left this school he has made the tour of
Europe, going as far as Naples and Pompeii. He
has traveled quite extensively in the United States
and Canada, visiting Central and Southern Cahfor-
nia, Florida, the New Orleans exposition, Yosem-
ite Valley, Luray and Mammoth Caves, etc. He
was married Aug. 19, 1836, to Sarah Maria Tracy.
She died Dec. 31, 1844, leaving two sons, Charles
L. and Frank Eugene, the former a well-known
contractor and builder in Meriden; the latter is
post-office inspector. Both were in the L^nion
army. Frank served four years and was breveted
major in the One Hundred and Seventh colored
regiment.
Mr. Little has filled many public offices in Meri-
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXi:CTICUT
113
den. He has been a member of the common coun-
cil, of the high scliool committee, and is now, and
has been for many years school district committee.
He is a republican and a member of the First Con-
gregational church in ^leriden. He is a great
lover of books, and has been an efficient helper in
establishing a free library in Columbia, his (jld
home. He gave to it §1,500 as a permanent fund,
the interest onlj- to be used for the purchase of
books; and he has also given the library more than
a thousand volumes. He is one who believes that
it is wise to g^ve to public objects of charity while
living, leaving no chance for one's heirs to practi-
cally question his sanity or thwart his wishes. It
may be added that Mv. Little has throughout his
life been very strict in his habits. He never used
tobacco in any form, and has been a total abstainer
from all alcoholic drinks for sixty-one years. Has
personally employed a physician but once for over
fiftv years, and that solitary exception was a case
of measles.
^'
r *1
HORACE WHITE.
HORACE WHITE, Manchester: Farmer.
Horace White, honored, respected, and called
" Uncle Horace " by all classes, and whose name is
a familiar one in Manchester and adjoining towns,
was born at the old pine
tree homestead of his
father (Henry White) in
East Windsor, Conn., in
the year iSoi; was given
by his parents a good
common school education,
which was the best thing
possible for a farmer to
do for his children in those
days and times. He re-
mained in the service of
his father during his
minority and continued in
the care of the farm until
the death of his father, some few years later, and in
company with his brother Willard (long ago de-
ceased) had the full care and control of the old Tol-
land turnpike until it was abandoned or discon-
tinued as a turnpike. In 1S42 the part of East
^^'indsor where the old homestead was located, to-
gether with the village of Oakland, was set off to
and became a part of Manchester ; some three 5-ears
later a goodly portion of said East Windsor was set
off to what is now known and called South
Windsor.
Mr. White was married to his first wife, Asenath
Fuller, in 1827, and soon after erected for himself,
on the eastern portion of the old homestead, a new
and model farmhouse and buildings, where he con-
tinued to live a sturdy, prosperous, and thrifty
New England farmer until 1S75. Then finding him-
8
self at the age of seventy-four years, and in com-
fortable financial circumstances, he decided to
abandon farming and retire to more pleasant and
social surroundings. He therefore sold his farm
and stock complete and purchased a residence
projierty in North Manchester, near the depot, and
fitted it up with all the requisite improvements and
luxuries of the present time, and now lives there,
an old gentleman in his ninetieth year of age, in com-
fortable health, with his daughter, Wealthy A., as
housekeeper, who keeps a watchful and careful eye
to his every comfort, enjoying the fruits and means
of his well-spent life. His first wife died in 1866
while at the farm, leaving, as the fruits of their un-
ion, two children, H. Tudor White, now a promi-
nent citizen of Windsor, and Wealthy A. AVhite,
now having care of her father in his declining years.
Mr. White married for his second wife (in March,
1S69) the widow of the late Warren Fuller of Mon-
son, Mass., and they lived nearly twenty-one years
in happy companionship of one another (she dying
January, 1S90), a venerable old couple.
Mr. White, in his early years, and especially
after becoming a resident of Manchester, has been
honorably and prominently connected with all, or
nearly all, of the town's industries, enterprises, and
progress. He was for many years connected with
the manufacture of stockinet at Manchester Green,
and with the concern known as the " New Pacific "
at the extreme eastern part of Manchester, now
Lydallville. During his almost lifelong residence
in Manchester he has occupied every position of
prominence within the gift or suffrage of his towns-
men. He was elected a member of the legislature
in 1S57; was appointed and elected a county com-
missioner of Hartford county in 1862, and served
with eminence and credit to his county and constit-
uency for the term of three years; was appointed
by the honorable superior court one of the commis-
sion of three (his colleagues being the Hon. Wm.
Hamersley of Hartford and Civil Engineer Rice of
New Britain) to establish the disputed boundary
line between the towns of Suffield, East Granby,
and the Massachusetts border, Governor Hubbard
acting as counselor for Granby and Buck &
Eggleston for Suffield, — a contest lasting sixteen
days, in which Mr. White proved himself a compe-
tent and effectual arbitrator for the towns directly
interested.
Mr. White has been in politics a lifelong repub-
hcan, always standing prominent and firm in what
he believed to be just and fair, never recognizing
the tricks of cheap politicians further than to stamp
upon and spurn them. He has been connected
with the Second Congregational church of Man-
chester from its organization to the present time,
and alwavs an honorable, consistent member there-
of, c. w. c.
114
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
F. G. ANTHONY.
FRANCIS GRANGER ANTHONY, New Ha-
ven: Deputy Collector.
Francis G. Anthony was born in Lima, Living-
ston county, New York, October 6, 1S30. He is the
son of William Miles Anthony, who was a native
of Harwinton, in this
state, where he was born
in August, 1804. Mr.
Anthony's education was
acquired in the public
schools of Lima and the
neighboring town of West
Avon , with part of a year
at a select school in Ba-
tavia, N. Y. The death
of his father when the lad
was but thirteen years of
age terminated his attend-
ance at school, as the
family were left without
means, and thus were unable to incur the expense
of a liberal education. During the year of his
father's death Mr. Anthony came to New Haven, —
part of the trip, from Rochester to Albany, being-
made on a canal boat, — to live with his uncle,
Willis M. Anthony, who proved to be better, if
possible, than a father to him. Here he spent nearly
four years as clerk, first in Washington Yale's dry-
goods store, an dithen with Fairman & Johnson. He is
one of the original " Forty-niners," having taken
the California gold fever on its first outbreak. On
the 6th of February, 1S49, he sailed from New
York with a party of gold-seekers for California on
the bark Clarissa Pej'kins, going around Cape
Horn, the trip occupying two hundred and seven-
teen days. Arriving in vSan Francisco, the party
disbanded, and Mr. Anthony went to the mines.
He was a practical gold miner for two years, meet-
ing with varying success, making some daj's $200
a day, other days nothing. Was a baker in Nevada,
California, for about one year, at w^hich business he
did better than at mining — the income being more
certain , and not so much up and down as in ' ' pros-
pecting for diggings." He returned east in 1S52;
lived in Jlichigan two years, operating a foundry' ;
went to Kentucky in 1854, where he was in general
merchandizing eleven years at Athens, in Fayette
county, seven or eight years of which time he was
postmaster. The succeeding five years he spent in
New York city, and in 1S70 he returned to New
Haven, where he has since been employed in the
tax collector's office; at the present time is the
deputy tax collector, and for the last thirteen years
has been the rate-book maker. He has been a
director in the Masonic Mutual Benefit Association
of New Haven for fourteen years, and is at present
executor of several estates. He is also a commis-
sioner of the superior court for New Haven county.
His acquaintance with New Haven people is very
extensive, his business giving him familiarity with
nearly every tax-payer in the city. He has been a
lifelong democrat, though not an active politician;
is a prominent member of the ^Masonic fraternity,
in which he has taken all the degrees up to and in-
cluding the thirty-second. He has held the office
of recorder of New Haven Commandery, Knights
Templar, since 1S80; belongs to the Arabic order
of the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Anthony was married July 31, 1854, to Miss
Electa Hulbert of Ann Arbor, Michigan, by whom
he has had three children. Mrs. Anthony died
February 29, 1888, and but one of the children, the
youngest, has survived her.
P. ELY, South Nobwalk
w
D. P. ELY.
HON. DUDLEY
Banker.
Dudley P. Ely is a native of Connecticut, having
been born in the town of Simsbury, Hartford
county, on the i6th of November, 181 7. Thirty
years of his business life
were spent in New York
city, where he secured a
competency. In 1S61, he
returned to his native
state, becoming a resident
of South Norwalk, where
for many years he was
one of the most active and
prominent citizens of that
place, and until increasing
years required him to lay
aside some of the burdens
and responsibilities which
his numerous and varied
mterests had laid upon him. He was the youngest
child of Benjamin Ely, who was a graduate of Yale
College of the year 1786, and a prominent citizen of
this state. The Ely family are of French descent,
the first of the name in England having come there
from France. John Ely, a great uncle of Dudley
P. El}', was colonel of the Third Connecticut regi-
ment in the revolutionary war, and carried the
French coat-of-arms engraved on his sword hilt.
The first American ancestor of Dudley P. Ely was
Richard Ely, who arri^'ed in America about the
year 1660, and settled in Lyme in this state. Mr.
Ely's maternal ancestry was English, and his grand-
father was an officer in the revolutionary war. Mr.
Ely was educated at the public schools of Simsbury
until the age of fourteen years, when he was sent
to Hartford and took a two years' course at Mr.
Olney's school, a noted institution of that day. He
then started to make his own career. His first em-
ploj'ment was at a store in his native town. His
aptitude and activity were such that at the age of
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
115
eighteen years he had placed in his entire charge
and management a store in West Hartland. After
remaining there a year, his ambition led him to
seek his fortune in New York city. He first be-
' came a bookkeeper there for his brother, with
whom he subsequently became a partner, and
whom he afterwards succeeded in the business.
His ability and energy found full scope here and
brought him a substantial fortune. After going to
South Norwalk, he identified himself with many of
the business and public interests of that place. He
invested largely in real estate, and is to-day the
largest owner of real estate property in that pros-
perous citv. He built the Hotel Mahackemo block
on the corner of Washington and ]\Iain streets, the
largest business block in South Norwalk. In April,
1S65, Mr. Ely was elected president of the First Na-
tional Bank of that place, which position he still re-
tains. When South Norwalk was incorporated as
a citv in 1S70, Mr. Ely was chosen its first mayor,
and was re-elected to that office four subsequent
terms. He was president of the Norwalk Gas
Light Company for more than twenty years, but
recentlv resigned that office to relieve himself of
the burden of its duties. He was also president of
the South Norwalk Savings Bank for more than
ten vears, but retired from that office to free him-
self from its cares. He was the first president of
the Norwalk Iron Works Company, and the first
president of the South Norwalk Printing Companj-.
In addition to these positions, he was a director of
the Danbury & Norwalk Railroad Company, the
Norwalk Horse Railroad Company, the Fairfield
County Fire Insurance Company, the Norwalk Fire
Insurance Company, the Relief Fire Insurance
Companv of New York, and the Peter Cooper Fire
Insurance Company of New York, which latter po-
sition he still retains. In agricultural matters Mr.
Elv has taken a lively interest, and for many years
was president of the Fairfield County Agricultural
Society, which had an exceptionally prosperous
career under his administration. ]\Iore for the pur-
pose of recreation than of profit, he has carried on
a farm owned by him in the suburbs of the city,
and has been an enthusiast on the subject of jaoul-
try and pigeons, having raised many varieties of
the best species. In his business career, Mr. Ely
has furnished an example of honor, integrity, and
reliability worthy to be imitated by the younger
generation, who can see in him and his career what
can be accomplished by industry, thrift, and good
character. Mr. Ely is of social disposition, a good
story teller, and an entertaining talker upon topics
that have come under his personal observation and
experience, or within the range of his reading,
always having intelligent and often original ideas
of value upon both public and private matters. He
has been a valued and a valuable adviser of manv
people, and in niany good causes, which he has
aided both by his counsels and his means. He has
been a large, though modest, contributor to chari-
table causes, and particularly interested in charities
like the Children's Aid Society and such institu-
tions, which seek to protect and make better the
children and youth of the land. He is a member
of the Congregational church of South Norwalk.
HENRY E. TAINTOR, Hartford: Attorney-at-
Law.
Henry Ellsworth Tain tor was born at Hampton,
Windham county. Conn., Aug. 29, 1S44. He is a
son of the late Hon. Henry G. Taintor of Hampton,
who was for many years
a prominent citizen of
that town, and at one
time the state treasurer of
Connecticut. On his
mother's side Mr. H. E.
Taintor is a great-grand-
son of Oliver Ellsworth,
formerly chief justice of
the United States su-
preme court, yiv. Tain-
tor prepared for college
at Monson, Mass., and
entered the class of 1S65
at Yale University, con-
tinuing a member until he left in January, 1864, to
enter the army. After leaving the United States
service he did not return to college, but received a
degree in regular form as if he had completed his
course there. His military record covers nearh- two
years: he enlisted Jan. 14,1864, asprivate in Company
A, First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, served with
his regiment till the close of the war, and was dis-
charged as second lieutenant Sept. 25, 1S65. In
1866 he established his residence in Hartford, and
soon afterwards began the practice of law here,
which he has since continued uninterruptedly. He
was married May 13, 1869, to Miss Jane G. Bennett,
daughter of Lyman Bennett of Amsterdam, N. Y.,
who is a descendant of an old Hampton family.
Thcv have one child. Mr. Taintor was executive
secretary to Governor Jewell in 1872-73, and asso-
ciate judge of the Hartford city court at the same
time. He has been a member of the court of com-
mon council several terms, and of the board of
aldermen two years; was clerk of the Hartford
city court for thirteen years. He is now assistant
judge of the Hartford police court and coroner for
Hartford county. He is also one of the trustees of
the State Savings Bank, as well as one of its attor-
neys, and attorney for the Society for Savings on
Pratt street. He is a member of the Grand Army
of the Republic, and has held several offices therein
ii6
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
including those of commander of the department
of Connecticut and judge-ad vocate-general on the
staff of the commander-in-chief. His rehgious
connections are with the First Congregational
church of Hartford, and in politics he is a republi-
can. There is not a lawyer in the state who has a
more honorable standing before the bar or the
public.
JAMES W. HYATT, Norwalk: President Fair-
field County National Bank.
The subject of this sketch is among the citizens
of Connecticut who are distinguished for their ser-
vices both to the commonwealth and the republic,
and for the wide range of
public honors which have
been conferred upon
them. Mr. Hyatt was
born in Norwalk in 1S37.
He studied in the common
schools until he was tliir-
JAMES W. HYATT.
teen years of age, when
he commenced an active
business life. Step by
step he rapidly and stead-
ily advanced, and we find
him from 1S60 to 1872 a
tnisted clerk with the
banking firm of Le Grand
Lockwood & Co. of New York. Since his return
to Norwalk, Conn., in 1S73, he has had positions of
trust placed in his charge. In 1S73 he was elected
justice of the peace, and also vice-president of the
Danbury & Norwalk Railroad Company, which
office he held until iSSi, when he was elected its
president. In 1874 he was elected president of the
Norwalk Horse Railroad Company, and has been
re-elected each year since. In 1S75 and 1S76 he
represented the town of Norwalk in the state legis-
lature, and was appointed on the house committee
on finance, a position of considerable importance,
and in 1S76 did much excellent work for the com-
monwealth. In 1S76 Governor IngersoU appointed
him bank commissioner to fill the vacancy caused
bv the resignation of the Hon. George M. Landers,
who was returned to congress. This position he
held almost continuously until the spring of 18S7,
when he was appointed United States treasurer by
President Cleveland. He was warden of the
borough of Norwalk for six years; a selectman of
the town ; has held the offices both of vice-president
and president of the Danbury & Norwalk Railroad;
vice-president and director of the National Bank
of Norwalk; and president of the Norwalk Club.
He was elected to represent the Thirteenth sena-
torial district of Connecticut in the legislature of
1SS4, but resigned his seat on Februar}- 26 of that
year to accept a re-appointment to the bank com-
missionership by Governor Waller. At the close
of his term in the service of the state he was ap-
pointed Ignited States bank examiner for Connecti-
cut and Rhode Island; and subsequently, as above
stated, to the treasuryship of the United States. •
His present active official connections are with the
Fairfield County National Bank and the Norwalk
Horse Railroad Company, of both which corpora-
tions he is the president.
Mr. Hyatt is a member of the Episcopal church
of Norwalk, of the Masonic fraternity, and the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows. He married
Miss Jane M. Hoyt of Stamford, and has a family
of four children. He is a straightforward demo-
crat of the old school, to the principles of which
political faith he consistently adheres. He is of a
nervous temperament and positive character, quick
to decide and prompt to act, a discriminating stu-
dent of human nature, strong and loyal in his per-
sonal friendships, a useful and honored citizen, and
a true patriot.
THOMAS DUNCAN, Pgquonock (Windsor): Pa-
per Manufacturer.
Thomas Duncan was born in Scotland, August
13, 1832, and was educated in the Scottish parochial
schools. He remained in Scotland rmtil he was
twenty years of age, when
he removed to this coun-
try, where he has since
resided. He spent nine
months in New Jersey
after his arrival from
Scotland. For thirty-
eight years he has been a
resident of Connecticut
and has been prominently
associated with business,
political,''and religious in-
terests during that time.
He has been twice a mem-
ber of the legislature from
Windsor, serving on the republican side of the
house. He is identified with the Congregational
church and is an influential representative of that
denomination in the state, being a member of the
Connecticut Congregational Club. He is connected
with the Hartford Paper Company, the Globe Sul-
phite Boiler Company, and is treasurer and gen-
eral manager of the Hudson River Water Power
and Paper Company at Mechanics ville, N. Y. At
present he is engaged in the erection of a large
paper mill in connection with the pulp works there,
which will be one of the largest in the country
when finished. Mr. Duncan has been married
twice. His first wife, who died in 1867, was Miss
Grace Yule prior to her marriage. The second
wife, who is still living, was Janet Gillies. There
THOMAS DUNCAN.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
117
were five children by his first marriage, four of
whom are Hving. Mr. Duncan is on(? of the lead-
ing manufacti:rers in Hartford county, and is
widel\- known as a business manager. He is a
gentleman of the most enjoyable personal charac-
ter, and has hosts of friends in Hartford county.
Mr. Duncan's home is at Poquonock.
1836. His early ed-
SOLOMON LUCAS.
SOLOMON LUCAS, Norwich: Attorney-at-Law.
Solomon Lucas, one of the most successful prac-
titioners at the bar of New London county, was
born at Norwich, April i,
ucational advantages
were somewhat limited,
but he acquired a solid
education in the pub-
lic schools, and proceeded
to a preparation for his
life work \\-ith a determi-
nation and spirit which
made the undertaking
almost an accomplish-
ment from the outset.
He was a diligent and
earnest law student in the
ofiice of Hon. John T.
Wait of Norwich, and in
1S62 was admitted to the bar, since which time he
has been in active and continuous practice in that
city. He was married in 1864 to Miss Elizabeth A.
Crosby, daughter of Hiram Crosby, a prominent
woolen manufacturer and dealer of Lyme, Conn.,
who removed to Norwich and there spent the last
years of his life. Mrs. Lucas died in October,
1S74, leaving two daughters. Mr. Lucas is a dem-
ocrat in politics, and as such represented Preston
in the legislature of 1863, of which body he was
one of the youngest members. He has since de-
clined to run for any political office, being entirely
devoted to his profession. He is, however, state's
attorney for New London county, to which position
he was called on account of his professional fitness
rather than for political reasons. His religious con-
nections are with the Second Congregational
church and society, and he has been first commit-
teeman of that society for many years. He holds
a directorship in the Norwich Street Railway Com-
pany, and sustains semi-ofiicial relations with
various minor local enterprises. He is an active
and useful citizen, always ready to perform an 3^ pub-
lic service which lies clearly within the line of duty,
not incompatible with his professional obligations.
Mr. Lucas enjoys an enviable reputation among
his legal contemporaries and with the public. His
standing as a lawyer is high, and he is accorded
universal credit for the great success which he has
conquered. He has been absolutely untiring in
working his way upward in his profession, until at
the present time he ranks among the leading prac-
titioners of the state. As state's attorney he has
discharged his duties ably and faithfully. A dis-
tinguished meml)cr of the New London county bar
says of Mr. Lucas; " He is a bright, keen, success-
ful lawyer, earnestly devoted to his profession; one
who takes good care of his clients, and is not dis-
mayed by any opposition. He has been the archi-
tect of his own fortune, and deserves great credit
for winning the high position which he occupies as
an attorney and advocate."
W. W. H\DE.
WILLIAM WALDO HYDE, Hartkokd: Attor-
ney-at-Law.
William Waldo Hyde, acting school visitor and
president of the street board, was born in Tolland,
March 25, 1S54, and was educated at Yale College,
graduating with honor in
the class of 1876. His
classmates in the univer-
sity included Prof. Arthur
T. Hadley, John J. Jen-
nings of Bristol, and the
late Walker Blaine of
Washington. Islr. Hj-de is
a member of the distin-
guished law firm of Hyde,
Gross Sz Hyde of this city,
and is a law^-er of .su-
perior attainments. He
has been a member of the
board of school visitors
and the acting school visitor for a number of years,
winning especial distinction in that position. The
public schools of the city, which must be affected
in an important manner by his administration and
influence, have not been noted for more thorough
or conscientious work during their history than at
present, ]\Ir. Hyde is the president of the board
of street commissioners, a position of more than
ordinary responsibility in the municipal govern-
ment, and has discharged the duties of the place
with uninterrupted success. He is a member of
the South Congregational church, the University
Club of New York, the Hartford Club, St. John's
Lodge, No. 4, F. and A. M., of this city, and of
Washington Commandery, Knights Templar. He
is also a member of the Improved Order of Red
Men. He is one of the ablest and most influential
representatives of the democratic party in Hart-
ford, and is widely known as a leader throughout
the state. His father, Hon. A. P. Hyde of this
city, and his grandfather, the late Judge Loren P.
Waldo, have conveyed to him through training and
education the purest principles of democracy. Mr.
Hyde has a famih% consisting of a wife and two
children. The former was ]^Iiss Helen E. Watson,
daughter of the late George W. Watson.
ii8
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
JOHN HENRY WOOD, Thomaston : Superin-
tendent Seth Thomas Clock Company; President
Thomaston'Knife Company.
J. H. "Wood is the oldest son of Henry and Julia
(Ford) Wood, and grandson of James and Susan
(Elmer) Wood of East Windsor, his mother being a
direct descendant of
Barnabas Ford, one of
the oldest settlers of
Northbury (now Thomas-
ton), then part of the
town of Waterbury. Mr.
Wood was born June 30,
1S28, and began early in
life to earn his own living,
working at farming si;m-
mers and attending school
\ "■'^''^^^'^ j^^"" ^ during the winter months.
\ ' /^''•■>' >-"' At the age of fifteen he
received from his father
J. H. WOOD.
his time as a heritage,
and immediately contracted with ]Morse & Blakes-
lee (both cousins of his), to serve a three j-ears' ap-
prenticeship in learning the trade of making clock
movements, remaining in the employ of the firm
one year after the expiration of the term. Since
1S4S, with the exception of about nine months, he
has been connected with the Seth Thomas Clock
Company as contractor and foreman, and for the
past thirty-four years, as superintendent of the
clock movement factory of the company. He
was married at the age of twenty-one to Mar}-
Ostrom of Torrington, by whom he has had two
children, a daughter and son. The daughter,
Eliza, married Lieutenant O. B. Sawyer of Com-
pany A, Fourteenth regiment, Connecticut ^'olun-
teers, and died Feb. 17, 1S72, leaving two sons,
Frederick H. and Wilbur J., and one daughter, who
died in infancy. Lieutenant Sawyer died Nov. 16,
1874, leaving his two orphaned boys in the care of
their grandparents, John H. and Mary Wood; both
of them are at present pursuing a collegiate
course at Weslej-an University in [Nliddletown. The
son, Henrj' O., is married to Bell ]\Iallory, resides
in Thomaston, and is assisting his father by keep-
ing the books of the department under his charge.
Mr. Wood is a public-spirited, kind-hearted, affa-
ble gentleman, and a man of thorough temperance
principles and habits. In politics he is a republi-
can, having been connected with that party since
its formation. He has been grand juror, school
committee, trustee for thirty years (and at present)
of the ^Methodist Episcopal Church, chairman of
the building committee which erected the present
church in 1S66, one of the corporators, and at
present a director, vice-president, and one of the
loaning committee of the Thomaston Savings Bank,
and president of the Thomaston Knife Company.
He was a member of the general assembl}- of Con-
necticut from Thomaston in 1887, having in the
election a clear majority, over three other candi-
dates for the same office; he was assigned by
Speaker Hoyt to the committee on banks.
,\
4"^'
tfi'iv:
\\x\
J. p.. BUNCE.
commission business
m
JONATHAN B. BUNCE, H.\rtford: President
Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Mr. Bunce is a native and has remained during
most of his life a resident of Hartford, where he
was born April 4, 1832. His father was a merchant,
and the boy's earlj' edu-
cational experience in the
district and public high
school was sandwiched
with mercantile apprenti-
ship in the paternal estab-
lishment. A year and a
half in the scientific de-
partment of Yale Univer-
sity effectually and per-
manently disturbed his
connection with the home
store, and, at the age of
twenty-two, the young
man embarked in the
New York city, as a mem-
ber of the firm of Dibble & Bunce, which he fol-
lowed for nine years, or until called back to Hart-
ford bv the death of his father in i860. Here he
became a partner- — which relation his father had
sustained luitil his death — with Drayton Hillyer,
in the wool business, the firm being Hillyer &
Bunce. This partnership and business was main-
tained for fifteen 3-ears, at the expiration of which
period he accepted the vice-presidency of the Phoe-
nix Mutual Life Insurance Com^jan}-. From 1875
to 1889 he occupied that position, and on the reor-
ganization of the compan}- in 1SS9 was advanced to
the presidency, in which latter position he has re-
mained to the present time. At the breaking out
of the war he was appointed quartermaster-general
of Connecticut, holding the office through the unex-
pired term of his predecessor, to complete which he
was appointed. He was married May 9, 1S60, to
Miss Laura Dibble, daughter of Calvin B. Dibble
of Granby. They have had eight children, of
wh(.>m six are now living — three sons and three
daughters. Mr. Bunce is a member of the Pearl
Street Congregational church and society, of which
institution he was one of the original incorporators.
In politics he is a republican, and has been such
since the birth of the party. He has been and still
is connected with several of the financial and char-
itable organizations of the city, among which may
be mentioned his relations as director with the
Phoenix National Bank, Hartford Fire Insurance
Company, the Society for Savings, Connecticut
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
119
Trust and Safe Deposit Company, the American
Deaf and Dumb Asylum, and the Hartford Hos-
pital. He has been for thirty years secretary of the
Hartford Retreat for the Insane, and has sustained
various official positions of minor importance not
here enumerated.
The Bunce family is one of the ancient and repre-
sentative families of Hartford, going" back in a
direct line to John Bunce, one of the early settlers
of the town. The father of the subject of this
sketch, James M. Bunce, and his grandfather, Rus-
sell Bunce, -will be well remembered, either per-
sonally or by reputation, by many of the older in-
habitants of Hartford of the present day. They
were, as are all their descendants, men of stalwart
integrity, and of great sagacity in civil and com-
mercial affairs, and strict observants of external
courtesies in their intercourse with men; conscien-
tiously fulfilling to the best of their ability all the
duties and obligations of life.
^.^,
>?||\^:
CHARLES E. GROSS, H.^^rtford : Attorney-at-
Law.
Charles E. Gross, of the Hartford law firm of
Hyde, Gross & Hyde, was born in this city August
18, 1S47, and educated at the Hartford High School
and Yale College, gi-ad-
uating with honor from ~^
the university in 1869.
After g r a d u a ting he
taught for a time in El-
lington. He then studied
with Waldo, Hubbard &
Hyde, and was afterward
admitted to partnership.
At the death of the senior
member, Judge Loi-en P.
AValdo, his name was in-
coi-porated in that of the
firm, which was known as
Hubbard, Hyde & Gross,
until the demise of Governor Hubbard. Mr. Gross
is a prominent member of the Hartford count}* bar
and one of the most successful practitioners in the
city. He is a democi-at in politics. The only office
that he has held is that of school visitor. But he
has declined numerous nominations, preferring to
give his entire attention to business. He is a mem-
ber of the Asylum Hill Congregational church and
a gentleman of the most exemplar}' character. He
has a wife and two children. The former was Miss
Nellie C. Spencer, daughter of the late Calvin
Spencer of Hartford, and is a lady of high social
prominence. Mr. Gross is a member of the Yale
Alumni Association and is one of the ablest repre-
sentatives of Yale training and culture in this city.
As a lawyer and citizen he is held in the highest
personal regard.
C. E. GROSS.
GEORGE M.AXWEI.L.
GEORGE MAXWELL, Rockville: President and
Treasurer Hockanum Company, Woolen Manu-
facturers.
The Maxwell family are of Scotch-Irish descent,
and ior many years resided in the north of Ireland,
Hugh Maxwell, the grandfather of the subject of
this biography, having
been a native of Minter-
burn, county Tyrone,
where he was born in
1733. His father, who
bore the same name, be-
ing a Calvinist, and dis-
liking the established
church of Ireland, deter-
mined to remove to Amer-
ica with his family. The
younger Hugh ardently
espoused the cause of the
colonists during the war
of the revolution, attained
the rank of colonel, and was well known as a brave
officer and Christian patriot. He died in 1799, at
the age of sixty-seven. His son Sylvester, the
father of George Maxwell, was born in 1775, grad-
uated from Yale in 1797, married Tirzah Taylor, by
whom he had four sons and four daughters, settled
in Charlemont, Mass., as a lawyer, and died in
1S5S.
George INIaxwell, the only surviving brother
among S}-lvester's eight children, was born July
30, 1S17, in Charlemont, where he remained until
seventeen years of age, varying the time \\dth such
employments as the farm requires, when not en-
gaged in his school duties. He then removed to
Greenfield, Mass., and for ten years filled the posi-
tion of a clerk, making Rockville his residence in
1S43. Here he began a mercantile course, which ex-
tended over a period of four years, when he became
identified with the New England Company, manu-
facturers of woolen goods. He remained ten years
with this company, and then transferred his rela-
tions to the Hockanum Company, first holding the
office of treasurer and subsequently that of presi-
dent, both of Avhich he now fills. On the re-organ-
ization of the New England Company he was made
its president. He speedily became an influential
factor in the leading financial enterprises of Rock-
ville, where his executive genius and sound busi-
ness qualities placed him in many positions of trust.
He is treasurer of the Springville Company,
president of the Rockville National Bank, president
of the Rockville Gas Light Company and of the
Rock\nlle Railroad Company, treasiirer of the
Rockville Water Power Company, president of the
-Rockville Aqueduct Company, and director of va-
rious other enterprises, including the Society of
Sa\-ings of Hartford, the Hartford Trust Company,
120
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
and the National Fire Insurance Company of the
same city. Mr. Maxwell's political affiliations are
with the republican party, by whom he was elected
to represent the town of Vernon in the general
assembly of 1S71, and his district in the state sen-
ate in 1S72. He was an active and influential
member, and for many j^ears a deacon in the vSec-
ond Congregational church of Rockville, and now
sustains the same relations in the Union Congrega-
tional church, in which the First and Second
churches were recently merged. He is also a trus-
tee of Hartford Theological Seminary. In benevo-
lent enterprises, and all efforts to advance the
cause of Christianity, he has b^en a leading spirit
and a tireless worker. He has during his long resi-
dence in Rockville ever been actively enlisted, by
personal effort and generous pecuniary aid, in the
advancement of all public improvements, and in
the widest possible dissemination of intelligence
through the medium of the public schools.
Mr. Maxwell was married, November 3, 1S46, to
Harriet, daughter of the late Hon. George Kellogg,
the founder of Rockville and a gentleman whose
memory is revered by all who ever knew him.
They have five children, three sons and two daugh-
ters.
[Mr. ^laxwell died at his home in Rockville,
April 2, 1S91, after the above sketch had been pre-
pared. — En.]
AMOS WHITNEY, Hartford: Superintendent
The Pratt & Whitney Co.
Amos Whitney, one of the founders of The Pratt
& Whitney Co. , the largest concern of the kind in
the state, was born at Biddeford, Me., Oct. S, 1833,
and was educated in the
common schools at Sacca-
rappa in that state. At
the age of twelve he re-
moved to Exeter, N. H.,
where he remained until
he was fourteen years of
age. He then entered
the employ of the Essex
Machine Co. in Lawrence,
Mass., and learned the
machinist trade. He is
one of the most competent
mechanical workers in
New England and has at-
reputation not only in this
Mr. Whitney came to Hart-
ford forty years ago. In connection with Mr.
Francis A. Pratt, who has been for years at the
head of the Pratt & Whitney Company, he organ-
ized the business, which was begun in the most un-
assuming manner. The most extravagant dreams
AMOS WHITXKY.
tained an enviable
countrv, but abroad.
of the founders could not have foreshadowed the
success that has attended their work and manage-
ment. The company is known in every European
capital of importance, its productions of machinery
and ordnance giving it a world-wide distinction.
Mr. Whitney is a gentleman of the most retiring
disposition and has declined active participation in
public affairs. He is a republican in politics. His
religious associations are with the L^niversalist
church. The family of this noted business mana-
ger consists of a wife and two children, one son and
one daughter. Mrs. Whitney, prior to her mar-
riage, was Miss Laura Johnson. His home is one
of delightful social attractions and domestic felicity.
'''^i 'tvmw7Ji>
J. 1;. PIERCE.
JOSEPH B. PIERCE, Hartford: Secretary and
Treasurer of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspec-
tion and Insurance Company.
Mr. Pierce was born in that part of Plymouth
which is now known as the town of Thomaston,
Oct. 13, 1S35, and received a common school educa-
tion, preparing him for a
business career that has
proved exceptionally suc-
cessful. Prior to his re-
moval to this city he was
connected with the Seth
Thomas Clock Company.
Most of his business life,
however, has been asso-
ciated with insurance in-
terests. He was in the
fire insurance business
from 1S61 until 1873. In
]\Iarch of the latter year
he accepted a respon.sible
position with the company which he now represents,
and has sustained his share in advancing and pro-
moting its interests. He is a gentleman of excep-
tional abiHty in the insurance field, and has had an
invaluable experience in the special hne of insu-
rance which his company has developed. He is a
prominent member of the Fourth Congregational
church in this city, chairman of the society's com-
mittee, member of the board of deacons, treasurer
of the evangelistic fund, secretary of the Hartford
Tract Society, and member of the board of trustees
of Warburton chapel. He is also the president of
the Hartford Manufacturing Company. In politics
Secretary Pierce is a republican. His wife, who is
still living, was Miss Sophia A. Boardman, daugh-
ter of the late EHzur Boardman, and a descendant
of one of Hartford's oldest famihes. The only
daughter, Mrs. Arthur H. Merry, is now residing
at Augusta, Ga. ]\Ir. Pierce has been a resident of
Hartford since 1S54, and is thoroughly esteemed
and honored in the community.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
121
M. 15. PRESTON.
MILES B. PRESTON, H.vrh-ori. : Sheriff of
Hartford County.
Miles Barber Preston was born in Simsbury in
May, 1S50, his parents being Truman W. and Mary
Etta Preston of that town, the latter, whose maiden
name was Mary E. Brong,
was a native of Addison,
N. Y. Her death oe-
cmTed a few years ago
at Culpeper, Va. The
father of Sheriff Preston
is still living at Hartford,
having returned north
after the death of his
wife in Virginia. The
subjeet of this sketch was
educated in the public
schools, completing his
studies in the private
.school of the late Rev.
O. S. Taylor in Simsbury. Mr. Preston's father
was, during this period, the town clerk of Simsbury,
this fact in it«self opening to him the best opportuni-
ties for obtaining a satisfactory education. At an
early age Mr. Preston e.xhibited a decided taste for
ornamental painting, and his business career has
been shaped in the main b}- that fact. His father
was the proprietor and manager of a carriage shop,
and the ornamental work in painting offered special
attraction to the son. He learned the trade and at
the age of nineteen removed to Hartford, engaging
in the railroad shops of the New York & Hartford
road. In 1S70 he accepted a position of responsi-
bility in the works of John ^Markham at Pleasant
Valley, in Barkhamsted, being placed in charge of
the painting department and remaining there three
years. In 1873 he returned to Hartford and entered
the employ of the H., P. & F. road as an orna-
mental painter. After spending five j-ears in the
company's shops, he decided to engage in business
for himself, and bought out the place owned by
Theodore Thorpe, Jr., at the corner of Pearl and
Trumbull streets. Benjamin W. Kenvon was
admitted to partnership with him, the firm being
Preston & Kenj-on. The business was commenced
in 1S7S and has developed into one of large propor-
tions. Messrs. Preston S: Kenyon unquestionably
have the largest amount of sign work of any house
in New England outside of Boston. The j^residen-
tial campaign of iSSo opened an interesting and
profitable field of work, the net campaign banner
becoming an indispensable adjunct of the canvass.
^Ir. Preston caught the idea and developed an
admirable specialty in connection with it. In iSSi
house painting was added to the firm's business,
employing a considerable corps of workmen. The
firm of Bonner, Preston & Co. , which conducts one
of the finest trades in the city in its line, was estab-
lished February 4, 1889, its place of business being
in the Hills block, opposite Exchange corner. The
house carries the largest stock of artists' materials
in the state; also extensive lines of photographer's
supplies. The firm devotes special attention to
wall papers and decorations and altogether employs
a force of Mty hands. Mr. Preston is an active
participant in both of these firms, being one of the
busiest managers in the city.
He was one of the founders and vice-president of
the Hubbard Escort, the best political organization
in this locality. He has been a member of the
Putnam Phalanx for twelve years, and at present
occupies the position of quartermaster on the staff
of Major O. H. Blanchard. He is a member of
Amos Beecher Lodge, F. and A. M., of New Hart-
ford, and belongs to the higher orders of Masonry
in this city, being a member of "Wolcott Council,
Pythagoras Chapter, and Washington Command-
ery, Knights Templar. He is a past chancellor of
Washington Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and is a
member of Hartford Lodge of Elks and of Trum-
bull Council, National Provident Union. His
political career has been as honorable as it has been
successful. For a number of years he was the
chairman of the democratic committee in the first
ward in this city. Although the precinct is a
republican stronghold it gave Mr. Preston a
majority of forty-one for sheriff in November. He
was not a resident of the ward at the time and had
not been for a considerable period. The tribute
was in recognition of his manliness and integrity of
character and was the more gratifjnng as it was
spontaneous and unsought. Mr. Preston was one
of the East Hartford bridge commissioners at the
time it was transferred to the towns of Hartford,
East Hartford, Manchester, Glastonbury, and East
Windsor. During the administration of President
Cleveland he held the responsible position of
Deputy LTnited States Marshal in this state, receiv-
ing the appointment from ^Marshal N. D. Bates of
Norwich, who made him chief deputy. It was in
this office that Sheriff' Preston's best official work
was executed. He showed marked adaptability
for the duties and performed them with exceptional
success. When he retired from the deputy's office
in 1S90 it was with the knowledge that he had won
and received the fullest approval from the public.
His nomination for sheriff added strength to the
democratic ticket from the outset, and his election
was by the largest majority of any candidate on
the general ticket. Mr. Preston is a member of the
First ^lethodist church in this city and is connected
with the Young Men's Christian Association. He
has been married twice. His first wife was Miss
Hattie H. Seymour, daughter of ex-Sheriff" O. D.
Seymour of this city. Her death occurred five
years ago. The two children, the fruit of this
122
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
marriage, died in infancy. The second wife, who
was recently married to ]\Ir. Preston, was Miss
Nellie F. Dole of Springfield, Mass., stepdaughter
of Francis H. Richards of this cit}-, the patent ex-
pert and mechanical engineer. The rapid progress
which Sheriff Preston has attained during the past
twelve years, both in business and politics, has
been the result of jDersonal merit. He is profound-
ly interested in the measures and reforms that have
been instituted for the advancement of working-
men, and his sympathies and counsel will invaria-
bly be in favor of improving their condition.
JOHN PALMER.
JOHN PALMER, Brooklyn: President Wind-
ham County National Bank.
John Palmer, the son of James B. Palmer, was
born in Ashford, Windham county, Conn., April
24, 1820. His education was acquired in the com-
mon schools of his native
to^^•n and in Wilbraham
academy. During his mi-
nority he was employed
as a clerk in a countr}'
store in Eastford, and in
1839 removed to Brooklyn,
where he conducted a
mercantile business for
ffteen years, disposing of
his interest in 1S54 to a
successor. He was dur-
ing a part of this time
postmaster at Brooklyn,
under the administration
of Postmaster-General CoUamer. :\Ir. Palmer was
town clerk and treasurer of Brooklyn for five years.
He has held since 1S57, and now holds, the office of
secretary and treasurer of the Windham County
Mutual Fire Insurance Company; and is president
of the Windham County National Bank, which po-
sition he has occupied since 1880. He is also at
present a trustee of the Brooklyn Savings Bank.
Mr. Palmer has resided in Brooklyn uninterruptedly
for fifty-one years, and his whole life has been one
of distinguished honor and usefulness; while his
name has been closely identified with the successes
of the staunch financial and fiduciary institutions of
which he has been so long the chief or associate
manager. He is a member of the Episcopal church
of Brooklyn, one of the ancient religious societies of
the commonwealth, whose roll of membership has
included some of the most distinguished citizens of
the state in former generations. He is a republican
in politics, having been identified with that party
since its original organization in 1856. Mr. Palmer
was married in 1S50 to Miss Frances M. Davison,
daughter of Septimus Davison, Esq., of Brooklyn.
She is still living, with three daughters, Frances L.,
Charlotte H., and Helen il.
PHILIP CORBIN.
HON. PHILIP CORBIN, New Britain: Hard-
ware Manufacturer.
Philip Corbin was born in Willington, October
26, 1S24, the son of a farmer with a large family,
whose genealogical tree goes back to the Puritans.
From earliest school age
to nine years he received,
the year through, such
educational advantages as
the common schools af-
forded. From the age of
nine to sixteen he could
attend only the winter
terms, being busy on the
farm at other seasons.
Six full weeks at the
academy completed what
may be technically called
his schooling, but his later
travels, observation, and
wide reading have given him a liberal education.
Two j-ears afterward, or in 1844, he went to New
Britain, where he was apprenticed to North &
Stanley, hardware manufacturers in a small wa}',
in what was then a village. So thoroughly did he
apply himself to the principles of the business that
when he came of age he applied for and secured a
large contract for some of the best work given out.
For five years he went from success to success, and
then, in 1S49, having an ambition not for wealth,
but to become a larger employer of labor, he and
his brother, Mr. Frank Corbin, founded what has
grown into the present extensive hardware manu-
factory of P. & F. Corbin. It is one of the leading
firms in the country, and employs 1,200 persons in
its various departments. Mr. Corbin has always
been at its head, carrying it through the most dis-
couraging circumstances, with a sagacity that
places him in the front rank of our captains of in-
dustry. Ever an active member of the whig party
first, and then of its successor, the republican, he
has never cared for office, content to see, from a
private station, the best interests of the country
conserved. In 1S49 he was induced to accept the
position of warden of the borough, and when New
Britain was incorporated became a member of the
common council. The establishment of the water
works was largely his work, and he has served
maii}^ years upon the board of water commissioners.
He is also a trustee of the New Britain Savings
Bank. In 1884 he was chosen to the house, and
served as house chairman of the exceedingly im-
portant committee on insurance. It was character-
istic of him to spend a great deal of time in examin-
ing the technical merits of the measures submitted.
His nomination for state senator in the fall of 1S88
was wholly unsolicited, but was demanded by the
interests of the district. His election which followed
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
12'
proved the wisdom of the convention's choice, and
gave to the district an able senator and a loyal
worker. As in all other fields of service, his ex-
perience in the senate chamber was one of great
usefulness to his constituents and the state, and of
lasting credit to himself.
GEORGE W. FOWLER, Haktfokd: President
The Fowler iS: Miller Company, Commercial Job
Printers.
George W. Fowler, who has been at the head of
town affairs in Hartford as selectman since 1SS3,
was born in Westfield, Mass., October 15, 1S44.
He received a public
school education , and
learned the printer's trade
in the ofTiceof The \]'est-
ficld Xei^'s Letter. Dur-
ing the war he was with
The Spj-ing field Repub-
liean. In 1S64 he re-
moved to Hartford, and
entered the employ of
The Hartford Times.
Eight years were spent
in the composing-rooms
of that paper. In 1S73
^ ^ '•' G. W. FOWLER.
Mr. Fowler organized the
printing firm of Smith, Fowler & ISIiller. After-
wards the organization was incorporated under the
name of The Fowler & Miller Company. Mr.
Fowler became the president, and has since re-
tained that office in the company. He is a man of
exceptional business ability, and the company
under his management has become one of the lead-
ing printing houses in the city. Mr. Fowler en-
tered political life as a member of the council
board from the Sixth ward. He represented that
precinct in the board of aldermen for eight years,
and was one of the best informed members of the
city government. He was appointed a member of
the special committee on revision of ordinances,
serving with Messrs. John H. Brocklesby and
Henry E. Taintor. He has been a member of the
board of selectmen for eleven years. He was
elected to the first place on the board in October,
1SS2, and has served continuoush* in that office
since 1SS3. During the past three years he has
been nominated by both political parties for the
position. During his administration the new alms-
house has been erected, and the old town property
that was formerh' used for the pui-pose has been
transformed into one of the most delightful and at-
tractive sections of the city, increasing the grand
list by 8200,000. The committee in charge of the
sale of the old town property has been composed
of First Selectman Fowler, A. E. Burr, E. W.
Parsons, J. W. Dimock, and E. C. Frisbie. Mr.
Fowler is also the chairman of the free bridge com-
mission. He is a member of St. John's Lodge, No.
4, F. and A. M., of this city, Hartford Lodge of
Elks, Wangunk Tribe of the Improved Order of
Red j\len, the National Provident Union, and the
Gentleman's Driving Club. Mr. Fowler has a wife
and one daughter. Mrs. Fowler prior to her mar-
riage was Miss M. Louise Rowles, daughter of
Judge Rowles of Tennessee. In politics Mr. Fow-
ler is an out-and-out democrat, and is one of the
sincerest leaders of that party in the city. It is an
interesting fact that the first selectman and ex-
Mayor John G. Root were born in the same town.
During Captain Root's administration as mayor
the town and municipal departments were imder
the control of two honored citizens who made their
wav here from 'Westfield.
REV. H. MARTIN KELLOGG, Leb.anon ; Pas-
tor First Congregational Church.
Rev. Henry Martin Kellogg was born at New
Boston, N. H., April 2, 1S51, and received a
collegiate education. He graduated from the Man-
chester High School in
186S and from Dartmouth
College in the class of
1S73. He studied the-
ology at Princeton and in
Union Theological Sem-
inarjs New York, grad-
uating from the latter
in 1S76. His pastorates
have been First Presbyte-
rian chvu-ch, Atlantic
City, N. J., Congrega-
tional church at Frances-
town, N. H., First Con-
gregational church,
Greenwich, Conn., and the First Congregational
church at Lebanon. Mr. Kellogg has been mar-
ried twice, his first wife being Miss Cora O. Alton,
the marriage occurring October 16, 1S79. This
lady's death took place ^larch 5, 1SS2. The sec-
ond wife, who is still living, was ]Mrs. Stella G.
West, the marriage with her being solemnized May
5, 1SS5. The family includes three daughters. In
politics ]Mr. Kellogg is a prohibitionist. During
his college career Mr. Kellogg was a member of
the Delta Kappa and the Theta Delta Chi societies.
He has been a somewhat extensive writer for the
secular and religious press. He is the author of
"Twelve Hours with Young People," and "The
Genealogy of the Billerica French Family." Mr.
Kellogg is an earnest preacher and pastor in the
church and is regarded with marked favor in
eastern Connecticut.
H. M. KELLOGG.
124
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
'.'*
T. S. WEAVER.
THOMAS S. WEAVER, Hartford; Journalist.
Thomas Snell Weaver, was born in Willimantic
Feb. 5, 1845. He received a common school edu-
cation and was one of the graduates of the old stone
school-house, a historical
. '' -^S|5?\ educational institution of
Windham county. At
fourteen years of age he
entered the ofhce of the
Willimantic Journal to
learn the printer's trade,
and was engaged there
for eight years during a
greater part of the time,
his father, the late William
L. Weaver, being the edi-
tor, and for a short time
he was editor of thai
paper himself. He went
to Worcester, Mass., in 1867, and after several
years connection with the job printing business be-
came attached to the Worcester Daily Press, to
which daily newspaper he contributed local and
paragraphic work. In 1878 he assumed the position
of telegraph editor and paragraph writer on the
New Haven Register, and was connected with that
paper for four years, during which time he made a
national reputation for writing sentimental and
humorous paragraphs, being more widely quoted
by the newspaper press of the country than any one
in the business, with the exception of " Bob " Bur-
dette. He also did a large share of the editorial
work for the Register. He assumed a position as
a special writer on the Boston Globe in 1SS2, but
remained there only a few months. He was then
offered the chair of editorial writer on the Hartford
Evening Post, which position he held for eight
years, adding considerably to the reputation of that
paper by his sharp political work and brief para-
graphs under the head of " Postings." The duties
of the position becoming onerous and his health be-
ing in danger of breaking down he consented,
after repeated urging, to return to Willimantic and
assume the editorship of the Journal, his alma
mater. He is now with that weekly, attending to
all the multifarious duties which fall to the lot of
the editor of a weekly newspaper, doing his own
reporting and editorial work. He resides in Hart-
ford, where he has important newspaper connec-
tions with out-of-town dailies. He is regarded as
a newspaper man of iintiring industry and capacity,
covering a Avider range in his work than almost any
other newspaper man in the state. He married
Delia A. Chipman of Willimantic in 1S70, and has
five children, his oldest son being connected with
the New Haven Register as general reporter. He
is prominent in Royal Arcanum circles, and a mem-
ber of the Grand Council. He is a republican
" from the word go," having cast his first vote for
Joseph R. Hawley for governor of Connecticut, and
voted the straight republican ticket at each election
since. He is a member of the Windsor Avenue
Congregational church of Hartford, and has taken
a livelv interest in its affairs.
W. H. PRESCOTT.
WILLIAM HENRY PRESCOTT, Rockville,
Secretary and Treasurer of The White, Corbin &
Company.
William H. Prescott is a native of Loudon, New
Hampshire, where he was born Aug. 12, 1840. At
the age of four years his parents removed to Man-
chester, in the same state,
three years later to North
Chelmsford, Mass., and
agam, after two years,
to Halyoke. in which lat-
ter city his education was
chiefly acquired. After
ten years in Holyoke, at
the age of nineteen, the
young man went to Rock-
ville and entered the em-
ploy of ]\Iessrs. White &
Corbin, as accountant in
the office of the firm,
which had recently com-
menced the then comparatively new industry of
envelope manufacturing by machinery. Mr. Pres-
cott developed at once a very marked ability for
business management, and from being frequently
constilted by the firm on imjjortant issues, he came
in a few years to be considered as an indispensable
factor in the company's affairs, though not pecu-
niarily interested therein. In 1866 he was admitted
into the firm as a partner, which then became
AVhite, Corbin & Company, with the office business
entirely in his charge. As time passed, ]\Ir. White,
the senior partner, became interested in manu-
facturing enterprises outside, and the whole burden
of management came tipon Mr. Prescott. Since
the incorporation of " The White, Corbin & Com-
pany " in iSSi, although Mr. White has occupied
the position of president of the corporation, Mr.
Prescott has been its secretary, treasurer, and gen-
eral manager, as well as a director, and has dis-
charged the duties of his position with such mas-
terly ability as to place the company at the head of
envelope manufacturers of the countr3% if not of
the world, in point of enterprise, financial strength,
and capacity for production. His judgment in all
business afliairs is rated as of the highest order,
in recognition of which every considerable financial
concern in the city of Rockville has first or last
called him to a place in its management or control.
Additionally to the position he occupies in his own
BIOGRAPHY e^F COXXECTICUT.
125
company-, Mr. Prescott is a director in the American
Mills Company, in the First National Bank, in the
People's Saving Bank, and in the Rockville Water
Power Company; president of the Rockville Mutual
Insurance Company, and of the Standard Envelope
Company; trustee and director in the Rockville
Building and Loan Association; auditor of town
accounts; and sustains various minor official re-
lations among the institutions of the town and
city. He is an active and influential member
of the Union Congregational society, is thor-
oughly interested in educational affairs, and in
all matters appertaining to public improvements.
He is a stockholder in nearly or quite every pros-
perous corporation in Rockville, and owner of
much real estate in the city and its vicinitj', all
acquired by his own individual exertions, and by
the careful application of business principles which
he had learned by close study and observation to be
wisest and best.
Mr. Prescott married Miss Celia E. Keeney,
daughter of the late Francis Keeney, who for
many years was proprietor of the Rockville hotel,
and a highly-esteemed gentleman. They have two
children.
COLONEL JACOB L. GREENE, H.\rtford:
President Connecticut ]\Iutual Life Insurance
Company.
Jacob L. Greene was born at Waterford, INIaine,
August 9, 1837. His father, Captain Jacob H.
Greene, was a man of staunch character, distin-
guished for physical
vigor, intellectual force,
positive convictions, and
strong religious views.
His mother was a lady of
most affable character,
winning and ^graceful in
manner, thoroughly in-
telligent, and earnestly
devoted to the welfare ^
and advancement of her T
children. At an early
age the subject of this
sketch manifested a strong
disposition for stvid}-, and
sought every opportunity within his reach for in-
tellectual attainment. The ^Michigan University
at that time opened its doors without cost, so far as
tuition was concerned, and the young student
turned his steps thitherward. There he completed
his course of studies, and engaged in the practice
of law at Lapeer. Hardlj- had he begun his
profession when the war broke out, and he en-
listed as a private in the Seventh Michigan in-
fantry, being soon afterward made a commissioned
officer. His regiment was ordered to the School of
1*^;
I ""
-'
L. GREENE.
Instruction at Fort Wayne, where it was filled up,
and in August was sent to the front. Colonel Greene
served until the spring of 1S62, advancing to the
first lieutenancy of his company. In 1S62 he suffered
a long and exhaustive illness, prostrating him ff)r
an entire year. He recovered, however, during the
summer of 1S63, and returned to the field; accepted
an appointment as assistant adjutant-general on
Custer's staff, and served with him until the battle
of Trevellyan Station, where he was captured,
June II, 1S64. He was in Libby, Macon, and
Charleston prisons. While at Charleston he was
one of the Union officers placed under the Union
fire by the rebel authorities. He was afterward
removed to Columbia, where he was paroled and
transferred to the Union lines. He was not able,
however, to secure an exchange until April S, 1865.
Immediately after his exchange he returned to the
front, joining General Custer at Burksville Junc-
tion, April 10. After the grand review of the
Army of the Potomac at Washington, General Cus-
ter was ordered to New Orleans. Colonel Greene
accompanied him, and went with him up the Red
River to Alexandria, where a division of cavalry
was organized. Thence Custer advanced into
Texas, having been made commander of the cen-
tral division of Texas, and of the cavalrv in the
department, with headquarters at Austin. Colonel
Greene was made chief of staff in both commands;
meanwhile he had been promoted to the full rank
of major, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for
distinguished gallantry. When Custer was mus-
tered out as a major-general of volunteers, Colonel
Greene applied for his muster out, and finally re-
ceived it in April, 1S66, one year after the close of
the war. He spent the next four years at Pitts-
field, i\Iass., where he became assistant secretary
of the Berkshire Life Insurance Company. He
began his insurance career as an agent of that com-
pany, but his executive ability soon manifesting
itself, he was asked to take a position on the office
staff". He was called to Hartford June i, 1S70, as
assistant secretary of the Connecticut j\Iutual Life
Insurance Company, was made secretary in April,
187 1, and president of the company in March, 187S,
siicceeding the late President (loodwin. He is at
the head of one of the largest insurance organiza-
tions in the United States, to which honorable posi-
tion he brings the qualifications of undoubted abil-
ity, the most absolute fidelity, a clear conception of
duty, and a loyalty to principle which under no
circumstances either surrenders or compi'omises.
As a citizen. Colonel Greene's abilities and habits
of industry lead him into various useful activities.
He is a frequent and popular speaker at meetings
of religious and scholastic bodies, and has been
selected as the orator of the day on several import-
ant state occasions. He is senior warden of Trinity
126
AN ILLUSTRATED P(3PULAR
church, a leading member of the Church Temper-
ance society, and trustee of the Bishop's fund. He
is a director of the Connecticut Trust and Safe
Deposit Company, and of the Society for Savings;
a director also of the Hartford Fire Insurance
Company, and the Phoenix National Bank. His
social connections include membership in the Con-
necticut Society of the Sons of the Revolution,
trusteeships in the Watkinson Library, Church
Home, and other local organizations; and he is a
man of superior intellectual endowments, which
render him not only an able business manager, but
a thoroughly useful and greatly- valued citizen.
F. F. WEBB.
FRANK F. WEBB, Windham: Merchant and
Banker.
Frank F. Webb was born in Scotland, November
6, 1S52. He is the son of Paschal and Rhoda
(Kingsley) Webb, and his father, now some years
deceased, is remembered
as a man of the highest
respectability, who en-
joyed the confidence of
his townsmen, and was
by them frequently dur-
ing his lifetime called to
occupy positions of honor
and trust. F. F. Webb
lived at home on his
father's farm in Scotland
during his 3'outh, and had
the advantages of the
public school there, which
were later supplemented
by a finishing course at the High school in Willi-
mantic. After the death of his father in 1S70, the
old homestead was sold, and the family moved to
W^illimantic. Here, after attaining his majority,
he embarked in trade with Jerome B. Baldwin,
under the firm name of Baldwin & Webb; and for
several years conducted a successful business in
clothing and furnishing goods. In 1S7S he was
married to ]\Iiss Janette Lincoln of Willimantic.
He was elected clerk and treasurer of the borough
of Willimantic, and last fall was elected to repre-
sent the town of Windham in the state legislature,
being the candidate of the democratic party. He
is a director in the Windham National Bank and the
Willimantic Savings Institute, of which latter he was
treasurer for two or three years. He is a member
of the Congregational Society of Willimantic.
Mr. Webb is a gentleman of quiet habits, careful
and conscientious in his expressions of opinion, of
undeviating honor and integrity, and is regarded
as an excellent judge of men and affairs from a
business standpoint. His mercantile career and
brief public service have been alike honorable and
successful.
S. p. ABELL.
SILAS PALMER ABELL, Lebanon: Farmer.
Silas P. Abell was born in Lebanon, August 10,
1822, the youngest of seven children. His father
dying in 1S25, and the family not being blessed
with much of this world's
good, the subject of this
sketch when nine years of
age was put out to work
for his board and clothes,
and was to attend school
in the winter months un-
til sixteen years of age.
At the age of sixteen he
made another bargain
with his employer, in
which he was to stay with
him until he was twenty-
one years of age, and was
to receive in addition to
his board and clothes, one hundred and twenty-five
dollars. Young Abell, by improving time at school
and his evenings at home, was able to teach school
two winter terms before he was of age, for which
his employer received ninety dollars. During all
these years there was no written agreement be-
tween the parties. The young man was faithful to
his employer, and the latter was as kind as a father
to his ward. He attended a select school for one
term after his "time was out," and continued to
work for his old friend during the summers and to
teach school during the winters, until he was
married. Mr. Abell and his wife live on the same
farm still, which they have owned since the death
of their old friend. The old gentleman (Col. Julius
Clark) died in 1S6S. Mr. Abell married Miss So-
phronia Robinson of Lebanon, ]\Iarch 22, 1S46.
They have had six children, of whom three are still
living, viz.: Mrs. C. A. Brown, Mrs. Elisha P.
Spafard, and Myron R. Abell. jNIr. Abell has been
an assessor, a member of the board of relief, select-
man, town agent, notarj' public, justice of the peace,
— appointed to the latter office for the first time
in 1S50 by the legislature. He has probably
written more wills than any other person now living
in his part of the town, and has settled, either as
executor or administrator, nineteen estates of de-
ceased persons in his district and those adjoining.
He was a member of the legislature during the ses-
sions of i860 and iSSo. In his early manhood Mr.
Abell was a democrat and voted with that party.
He has subsequently been identified with the free
soil party, the republican, and the prohibitionists;
being led to change his political affiliations first be-
cause of his abhorrence of slavery, to which he be-
lieved the democratic party to be wedded, and last,
for the reason that he held the temperance reform
to be paramoimt in importance to any political
party whose platform is not soundly constructed on
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXECTICUT
127
prohibition principles. Mr. Abell is an indepen-
dent thinker, and makes it a point to vote as he
thinks. He holds no office at present, except that
he is clerk of the Congregational church in Leb-
anon, of which church he was one of the deacons
for eighteen years, until he resigned in 1SS7.
■'■:m
F. W. KRUGGERHOF.
F. W. BRUGGERHOF, Noroton: Seedsman.
Frederick W. Bruggerhof was born in Prussia,
October 15, 1S30, and received a thorough public
school education. His early life was spent at St.
Louis, ^lo., but for the
past fort\'-two years he
has been a resident of
New York city and Con-
necticut. He is a member
of the firm of James M.
Thorburn & Co., Xew
York city, being one of
the oldest establishments
of the kind in the metrop-
olis. It has been in busi-
ness since 1S02, being en-
gaged in the seed trade.
Mr. Bruggerhof is the ac-
tive partner in the con-
cern. But it is not in business alone that he has
attained eminent success. He has also won wide
attention in the state of his adoption as a public
representative. ^Mr. Bruggerhof was elected to the
house of representatives from Darien on the demo-
cratic ticket in 1S74, his colleagues from Fairfield
county at that time including the Hon. Samuel
Fessenden of Stamford, ex-Governor P. C. Louns-
bury of Ridgefield, and that old and popular legis-
lator, Cornelius Mead of Greenwich. In 1S75 Mr.
Bruggerhof was elected to the senate from the
Twelfth dii^rict, and was chairman of the commit-
tee on finance. His associate members in the senate
included the Hon. Thomas S. Marlor of Brook-
h-n, ex-State Comptroller Chauncey Howard of
Coventr}-, the Hon. Caleb B. Bowers of New
Haven, and the Hon. Washington F. Willcox, now
member of congress from the Second district. In
1S76 he was returned from the Twelfth district, his
colleagues that year including General S. E. Mer-
win of New Haven, Edwin A. Buck of Windham,
Charles C. Hubbard of ^liddletown, collector of
internal revenue under President Cleveland for the
Connecticut district, Congressman Willcox, and
ex-Lieutenant-Governor Ephraim H. Hyde of
Stafford. Senator Bruggerhof was on the state
democratic electoral ticket in 1SS4, being one of the
electors-at-large, and had the satisfaction of casting
his electoral vote for Grover Cleveland, who was
elected to the presidency. Politically, as well as
from a business point of view, the ex-senator from
the Twelfth has won gratifying distinction and
success. He is connected with the Presbyterian
church. The wife of Senator Bruggerhof, who
was Miss Cordelia E. Andreas of New York city,
is living. The family includes one son and four
daughters. The eldest daughter is the wife of W.
N. Capen, Esq., of New York city. The second is
the wife of E. C. Hoyt, son of the late Senator
Oliver Hoyt of Stamford. The third is the wife of
A. H. Smith, son of Commodore James D. Smith
of Stamford, ex-treasurer of the state under Gov-
ernor Bigelow. The fourth daughter is the wife of
Franklin M. Jones, a member of the banking house
of J. I). Smith & Co. of New York city. The son,
Edward Everett Bruggerhof, was lately married
to Miss Lucy F. Otis of Yonkers, N. Y.
H. ALLEN.
FRANCIS B. ALLEN, Hartford: Second Vice-
President Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and
Insurance Company.
Francis Burke Allen was born in Baltimore,
Md., in 1841, and received a thorough education,
preparing him for the avocation of a mechanical
engineer. In February ,
1S62, he was appointed in
the engineer corps, United
States navy, from Illinois,
remaining in active ser-
vice until 186S. He was
with various ships and
squadrons, and on special
duty in New York during
the entire period. His ,
service through the war
was exceptionally credit-
able. In 1S6S he resigned
his commission in the
navy to enter the service
of the Novelty Iron works in New York. After-
wards he Avas assistant to the superintendent of
motive power on the Northern Pacific R.R. In lS72
he became the special agent of the Hartford Steam
Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company in the
New York department. In 1SS2 he was promoted
to the position of supervising general agent ui the
home office, and in iSSS was made second vice-
president of the company'. His department in-
volves a general supervision of the company's busi-
ness in the field and the superintendency of agents.
]\Ir. Allen is exceptionally adapted to this work by
training and experience. He is connected with the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers of New
York, the American Society of Naval Engineers,
Washington, D. C. , the ^Marine Engineers' Society
of New York, the National Association of Station-
ary Engineers; and is lieutenant commander of the
National Association of Naval Veterans, vice-
president of the Naval Veteran Association of Con-
128
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
necticut, member of the Army and Navy Club of
Connecticut, and of Robert O. Tyler Post, G. A.
R. He is the senior aid on the staff of Commander
Wells, N. A. of N. V., and is one of the most pop-
ular of the naval veterans of this state. He has
resided in Portland, Me., Philadelphia, Chicago,
and New York, and is widely known by reason of
his business and naval associations. Mr. Allen is
a member of the Congregational church, and a
gentleman of the most enjoyable personality. He
has a family, consisting of a wife and five children.
The name of IMrs. Allen prior to marriage was
Miss Margaret Louise Williams. In politics ]\Ir.
Allen is a republican.
E. D. WHITE.
EDGAR D. WHITE, Andover: Farmer.
Edgar D. White was born at Andover in this
state February 20, 184S. He was educated at the
public schools of Andover and the select schools of
that town and of \Mlli-
mantic. He began teach-
ing at the age of seven-
teen, an occupation which
he followed most of the
time winters and part of
the time throughout the
year, until he arrived at
the age of thirty-nine.
"During this time the
larger part of his summers
have been spent on the
farm, and a portion of the
time he has been em-
ployed in bookkeeping
and as railroad station agent. For the past .few
years a large part of his time has been and is now
being spent in settling estates of deceased persons
and in various positions of trust. He has been
elected to office by his school district, town, and
church, having been almost constantly in office
from the age of twenty-one to the present time.
He has served his town as school visitor, assessor,
grand juror, and auditor, and is at present a mem-
ber of the school board. He is a member, as well
as deacon, clerk, treasurer, and Sabbath-school
superintendent, of the Andover Baptist church.
Mr. White married, at the age of twenty-one. Miss
Lydia A., daughter of Norman Sprague of
Andover. The}- have one daughter, an only child.
Politically he has been a lifelong democrat. His
home has always been in Andover, although his
labors have temporarily located him in New Britain,
Coventry, and Columbia. He has served as clerk
of the probate court for four j-ears, ending in Jan-
uary of the present year. He is guardian of two
boys, aged respectively thirteen and fifteen \-ears —
the sons of a cousin.
J. M. GILLMORE.
JAMES MONROE GILLMORE, Rockville :
Photographic Artist.
The subject of this sketch was born at Gillmore's
Hill, in Stafford, Tolland county, in this state,
December 31, 1S3S, being of the second generation
from Captain Nathaniel
Gillmore, who settled at
that place in the early his-
torv of the town. His
father, William Gillmore,
was a man of strong char-
acter and occupied promi-
nent places of public trust
in civil and militar}- affairs
during his lifetime as well
as conductmg important
m a n u f a c t u ring enter-
prises on his own account.
It may be mentioned that
Nathaniel Gillmore, in his
day, held a commission as commander of a " troop
of cavahy," the original of which document is in
the hands of James M. Gillmore, signed by Gov-
ernor Jonathan Trumbull — who was a son of the
famed war governor of Connecticut, and a tried
and trusted friend of General George Washington
— and by Samuel Wylhs as secretary. Also that
the first military commission of William Gillmore
was signed by Governor Henry Edwards ; while
his appointment "to be colonel of the Nineteenth
regiment " bears the signature of Governor William
W. Ellsworth, and is dated May 28, 183S, being
less than a year prior to the birth of the subject of
this sketch. The elder Gillmores, not unlike many
of their New England contemporaries, were hardy,
self-reliant, and resolute people, accustomed to the
hardships of long journeys on foot, and to personal
undertaking's which would appall the present
generation. Young Gillmore Avas nurtured and
trained in the same sturdy line of moral, religious,
and business economies that characterized his an-
cestors, and thus received a thorough preparation
for all the active duties of his later life. His edu-
cation was such as cotild be obtained in the common
schools of his time, and was of the practical, rather
than the ornamental, type. It proved to be suffi-
cient, however, with the advantages he has taken
of observation and experience, to enable him to
occupy and adorn the many social and civil posi-
tions he has been called upon to fill. His first start
in business was made at the age of eighteen years,
when his father sent him to Hinsdale, Mass., to
establish a branch of his foundry and iron works in
that jjlace. He executed the trust in a successful
and satisfactory manner. Two years later he went
to Springfield, Mass., and turned his attention to
art works, and subsequently adopted photography
as a profession; since which time he has had art
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
129
rooms in various places in New York and the New
England states. His studios have invariably been
the resort of patrons of testhetic taste and culture,
and his productions have borne favorable compari-
son with those of the best artists in this or any
other countrv. He has for some years conducted a
flourishing business in the city of Rockville, where
he is now permanently located.
Mr. Gillmore married, in July, 1S64, Abbie M.,
daughter of Silas Batchclder of Canterbury, N. H.
She is a direct descendant on her father's side from
a branch of the Kimball family, which was distin-
guished in central and southern New England for
its probity, sound sense, and general thrift. They
have two daughters, Jennie and Josie, bright and
interesting girls, who are the pride and light of
their domestic circle.
Mr. Gillmore's connection with social and fra-
ternal organizations are numerous and honorable.
He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity
for thirty-two years, and is now senior warden of
the Blue Lodge, King of the Chapter and Captain
of the Guard in the Council. He is a charter mem-
ber and vice chancellor of Damon Lodge, K. of P.,
a member of the organization of American Mechan-
ics, and of the Rockville republican club, with
which political party he has been identified all his
Hfe. In all masonic organizations and gatherings
he bears an intelligent and active part, and is held
to be a master workman and authorit}^ in the
ritualistic ceremonies, fundamental laws, and con-
stitutional spirit of the order. The circle of his
official and personal friendships is thus wide and
still extending, including the best social element of
his citv and the state.
JOHN HENRY GATES, North Bkanford:
Farmer.
Mr. Gates was born, and has alwaj's lived, in
North Branford. The date of his birth is recorded
as April 29, 1S31. He was married January 3, 1858,
to Miss Sara Louisa Todd,
who, with two sons and
one daughter, is still liv-
ing. He was a tax col-
lector in 1S70, and in 1S89
represented the town of
North Branford in the
state legislature. He at-
tends the Congregational
church of his place, and
for twenty-six years has
been the librarian of its
Sunday-school. In poli-
tics Mr. Gates is a repub-
lican. He cast his first
vote in 1856 for John C. Fremont, and has voted at
every presidential election since, save one.
9
J. K. liLCKl.VN.
1 86 1, and won an hon-
He was commissioned
I, 1862, and first Heu-
J. H. GATES.
JOHN K. BUCKLYN, Mystic: President and
Principal Mystic Valley Institiite.
John Knight Bucklyn is a native of Rhode
Island, in which state he was born March 15, 1834.
He was educated at Smithville Seminary and
Brown University. Most
of his life has been spent
as a teacher, preacher,
and lecturer. A part of
early manhood was passed
in the machinist business.
Principal Bucklyn gradu-
ated from Brown L^ni ver-
sify in 1861. He was a
member of the Phi Beta
Kappa society while in
college. Immediately after
graduation, he enlisted in
Battery E, First Rhode
Island Light Artillery,
and was mustered Sept. i
orable record in the war.
second lieutenant March
tenant in December of the same j'ear. Oct. 19, 1864,
he was made captain by brevet ' ' for gallant, merito-
rious, and often distinguished services before Rich-
mond and in the Shenandoah Valley," and received a
full commission as captain in 1865. He participated
in forty-five battles and was woimded at Fredericks-
bvirg. He was also shot while commanding his
battery at Gettysburg. In 1864-65 he was on staff
duty at the headquarters of the Sixth Coi-ps, Army
of the Potomac, which was commanded by Connec-
ticut's most distinguished soldier, Gen. Sedgwick.
After returning from the war he became the prin-
cipal of the public school in Mystic, and remained
in that position until 1S6S. He founded the Mystic
Valley Institute in 1868, and has since been the
principal of the school, which has attained decided
success in its field. The institute was chartered in
1880. During that year Principal Bucklyn trav-
eled in Europe extensively. He has also spent
considerable time in visiting the states of the
Union east of the Rocky Mountains, acquiring ma-
terial for his profession and work. He is the com-
mander of Williams Post, G. A. R., member of the
New London County Historical Society, also of the
Rhode Island Historical Society of Soldiers and
Sailors, and of the Loyal Legion. He is a member
of the Baptist church and has been a superintendent
of Sunday-school work for twenty years. He has
held the office of school visitor and is a notary pub-
lic. In politics he is a republican. Principal Buck-
lyn was married by the Rev. Dr. Swaine in the
Central Congregational church at Providence, Jan.
9, 1864, his bride being Miss Mary McKee Young,'
daughter of Edward R. Young. He has two sons,
John K., Jr., and Frank A. Bucklyn, both of whom
130
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
are graduates of the Mystic Valley Institute and
the New York Medical College. Both are prac-
ticing. Mrs. Bucklyn, wife of the principal, is hv-
ing, and has been an earnest and efficient partici-
pant in the work of the institute. The present
faculty of the school consists of John K. Buckh-n,
A.M., LL.D., John K. Bucklyn, Jr., M.D., Frank
A. Bucklyn, M.D., Miss Ella M. Addis, A.B.
LEVERETT BRAIXARD.
HON. LEVERETT BRAINARD, Hartford:
President of The Case, Lock wood & Brainard
Company.
Mr. Brainard is one of the most prominent and
successful business men in the state. He was born
in Westchester Society, Colchester, Feb. 13, 1S2S,
and was educated in the
public schools and Bacon
Academy in that town.
From the age of thirteen
years, when he was left
in charge of the old home-
stead in Westchester on
account of the death of
his father, he has been
the architect of his own
success in life. The
standing which he has
won as a business mana-
ger in Connecticut will
show the character of his
work. He is at the head of the largest printing
establishment in the state, a director in the ^-Etna
Life Insurance Company, the New York, New
Haven & Hartford Railroad, the ^tna National
and State Savings Banks, the Orient Fire Insurance
Company, the Connecticut General Life, and in the
Hartford Silver Plate Company, and is the presi-
dent of the Hartford Paper Company. A portion
of his earl}- life was spent in the state of Pennsyl-
vania. In 1S53 he became a resident of Hartford,
coming here as the first secretary of the City Fire
Insurance Company. He remained with this in-
stitution until he became one of the active partners
of the firm of Case, Lockwood & Co. When the
present company was incorporated by the legisla-
ture, he became the secretary and treasurer,
retaining the position tmtil 1S91, when he suc-
ceeded the late Newton Case in the presidency.
Mr. Brainard has been a member of the court of
common council of the city of Hartford, and repre-
sented the town in the legislature in 1SS4. He
was appointed house chairman of the committee on
railroads, and rendered in that capacity invaluable
service in the legislature. In 1890 he was appointed
*at the head of the world's fair commission from
this state, his principal associate being ex-Governor
T. M. Waller. Mr. Brainard was appointed by the
joint members of the commission at Chicago as
chairman of the committee on manufactures, in all
respects the most important of the working commit-
tees of the commission. The selection of a citizen
from Connecticut for this responsible place was a
high comphment to the state, not less than to the
gentleman upon whom the honor was conferred.
In politics he is a republican, and has been a distin-
guished representative of that party's interests from
the outset of his public career. He is a member of
the Pearl Street Congregational Society in Hart-
ford. His wife, who was Miss Mary J. Bulk-
eley prior to her marriage, was a daughter of
the late Hon. E. A. Bulkeley of Hartford, the
founder of the xEtna Life Insurance Company.
Mrs. Brainard is a sister of Governor Morgan
G. Bulkeley, and of ex-Lieutenant-Governor Wil-
liam H. Bulkeley. There are seven children
in Mr. Brainard's family, the home being on Wash-
ington street.
JOSEPH DANA BARTLEY, Bridgeport: Edu-
cator and Author.
Joseph Dana Bartley was born in Hampstead,
N. H., September 17, 1838. His father was Rev.
John M. C. Bartley, who was pastor of the Con-
gregational church of
that town for over twenty
years. His paternal
grandfather was D r.
Robert Bartley, who was
educated in Edinburgh
LTniversity, Scotland.
His mother, Susan Dana,
was the daughter of Rev.
Daniel Dana, D.D., who
was a pastor in Newbury-
port for over fifty years,
and was for one j-ear
president of Dartmouth
College. His great-
grandfather, Joseph Dana, was pastor of the South
church of Ipswich, Mass., for sixty-two years.
Mr. Bartley was fitted for college at the academy
in Atkinson, N. H., and took the regular course at
Williams, gi'aduating in 1859. We quote the fol-
lowing from the quarter-centennial report of his
class.
"After graduation, he spent one year of theologi-
cal study at Princeton, and then became assistant
in the academ}^ at Blairstown, N. J., and after-
wards, principal of the Susquehanna Institute at
Duncannon, Pa. In 1863 he was called to the
charge of Skaneateles Academy, where he remained
till April, 1866, when he became principal of the
Female High School at Newbur3-port, Mass. In
1 868 he was elected to the head of the High School
of Concord, N. H., and in 1875, in response to a
J. D. bartley.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
131
second call, accepted the principalship of the High
School at Burlington, Vt., where he remained until
1SS2, when he tt)ok charge of the High School at
Bridgeport, Conn., in one of the finest .school build-
ings of the state. He has compiled several school
books, made his gift of song tiseful, and entered
generously into all good citizenship. He has had
active membership in the Teachers' Associations
of the several states oi his service, has been vice-
president and director of the American Institute of
Instruction, member of the New Hampshire Histor-
ical Society and of the Philharmonic Society of
Burlington, trustee of the Concord Public Library,
and examiner of Dartmouth College, had part in
the Peace Jubilee at Boston, and has contributed to
various educational journals, notably T/ie New
England Jom-nal of Education, and in all
methods, old and new, has kept well at the head of
his profession."
In Bridgeport, Mr. Bartle}* has been a director of
the Y. M. C. A. from its foundation, and is vice-
president of the Choral Society. He has recently
resigned his position in the High School after ten
years of service.
SYLVESTER W. TURNER, M.D., Chester:
Physician.
Sylvester W. Turner, son of Rufus Turner,
M.D., and Sarah (Wooster) Turner, was born at
Killingworth, Conn., March 12, 1S22. At the age
of sixteen he entered Yale
College, and graduated
in 1S42. Taught school
at Norwalk, Conn., and
Newbern, Ala., for a
year ; then commenced the
study of medicine, and in
1S46 received the degree
of M.D. from Yale. In
1S4S he married Gertrude,
daughter of the Rev. Syl-
vester and Lucy Swift
Selden of Hebron, Conn.
His wife was a descend-
ant of Governor Griswold
of Connecticut, and also of John Eliot, "The fti-
dian Apostle." She died in May, 1890, leaving a
son and two daughters. Since graduation Dr.
Turner has been a practicing physician for forty-
one years at Chester. He was for seven years
clerk and treasurer of the Middlesex County Medi-
cal Society, and for three years member of the
state board of examiners for the Yale ^ledical Col-
lege. He was a delegate to the meetings of the
American Medical Association at New Haven,
New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and New-
port, and since 1880 has been a permanent member
S. W. TLR.NEK.
of the association ; is also a member of the Ameri-
can Academy of Medicine. He has been for more
than thirty years active in educational matters, being
during that time secretary of the board and acting
school visitor. Was a member of the Connecticut
legislature in 1S65, at the close of the rebellion.
Politically he is an earnest republican. He has
been a trustee and director of the Chester Savings
Bank since its incorporation in 1871. Is a member
of the Congregational church, and president of the
Chester Librarv Association.
€
.F
/
JOHN GR.W, M.D.
JOHN GRAY, M.D., Mystic : Physician and Sur-
geon.
John Gray, M.D., the second eldest of five sons
and four daughters of Robert and Sarah Sherman
Gray, was born in the town of Plainfield, Windham
county, Connecticut, Sep-
tember 7, 1S24, where he
received his early and
preliminarj- education at
district, select, and aca-
demic schools, and where,
at the age of eighteen
j-ears, he commenced the
study of medicine and sur-
gery under William H.
Cogswell, M.D., a highly-
esteemed and successful
practitioner in that town.
From July, 1S42, to No-
vember, 1S44, he was un-
der the able instruction of Fordyce Barker, M.D.,
at Norwich, Conn., a young physician who had rap-
idh' acquired an enviable reputation for his profes-
sional skill, and subsequently occupied the profes-
sor's chair of obstetrics in Bellevue Hospital Medi-
cal College, New York.
While in Norwich he learned practical pharmacy
in the drug store of R. W. Mathewson, M.D. For
a brief time after leaving Norwich he was with E.
F. Coates, M.D., at Mystic, to assist him in prac-
tice. In 1845-6 he attended lectures at the Univer-
sity Medical College, New York. In March, 1846,
he permanently located in practice at [Mystic, by
request of its citizens and the first-settled and old-
est physician in the place, Benj. F. Stoddard, I\I.D.,
whose esteem, confidence, and professional favors
he eminently and gratefully enjoyed up to his death
ni February, 1848. In connection with his practice
he established the first drug store in the place, and
has continued it with his son. He has two profes-
sional degrees, M.B. and M.D., from Yale College,
and is a member of the New London county and
state medical societies. He has never published or
written an}- medical work or papers of importance,
nor occupied or desired any more prominent posi-
132
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
tion in the profession and general public than to
be held in their esteem as strictly honorable, cour-
teous, and a skillful physician. He has filled some
town positions of trust, and for eleven years prior
to 1869 was acting and commissioned postmaster
at Mystic.
He was married July 14, 1S47, to Miss Emma
Packer, the daughter of M. R. and P. Packer, at
Mystic, and has one child only {a son), Mason P.
Gray, born April 2, 1850, who is a prosperous phar-
macist in the place.
J. O. GOODWIN.
ward S. Goodwin, Esq.
JOSEPH OLCOTT GOODWIN, East Hartford-
Town Clerk and Notary Public.
Mr. Goodwin is a descendant in the seventh gen-
eration of Ozias Goodwin, one of the first settlers
of Hartford. He was born in East Hartford, April
16, 1843, and has always
resided in that town,
-upon land that has been
in his family for over two
hundred years. He at-
tended the common
schools, and afterwards
a private school under
the veteran teacher, Mr.
Salmon Phelps, in East
Hartford. His first
knowledge of business
was obtained in the gen-
eral store and post-office
kept by his father, Ed-
who was for many years
justice of the peace and town clerk, besides holding
many other positions which showed the confidence
and esteem of his townsmen.
Mr. Goodwin left his father's store in 1862, and
learned the printing business in all its details in the
office of the Calhoun Brothers of Hartford. With
the assistance of two other young men he began in
1S63 the publication of a little paper, The Elm
Leaf, the first newspaper issued for East Hartford
readers. In this work he tasted a brief experience
of the sweets, and the incidental discipline and
fatigues, of the editorial career. He left the print-
ing office in 1871. His evenings and vacations had
been devoted to reading and study, and in 1870 a
sketch from his pen appeared in Harpers' Maga-
zine. He has since contributed occasional articles
to Harpers' publications and other periodicals, and
has been a frequent contributor to the local press.
His leisure time for a number of years was given
to the work of gathering material for a history of
his native tcnvn, and he read a paper on that sub-
ject in the lecture course of 1877-8. During the fol-
lowing year he published, " East Hartford: Its
History and Traditions." Later he prepared a
shorter sketch of the town's history for the Memo-
rial History of Hartford County, In politics, a
democrat, he was, in 1874, appointed deputy-regis-
trar for East Hartford, and was, in October of that
year, chosen town clerk. He has since been annu-
ally re-elected to that office, often by the cordial as-
sent and nomination of both the leading poHtical
parties. Chosen a member of the board of school
visitors in 1S76, he was for a number of years its.
chairman, — has been acting visitor since 1877, and
is secretary and auditor of the board. To his active
interest in schools is mainly due the establishment
of the high school in East Hartford. In 1878 he
was chosen representative by an unusual majority.
Besides the settlement of numerous estates, many-
minor offices and trusts have been committed to
;Mr. Goodwin's care. Associated with the Raymond
Library Company as one of the original trustees,
he is at present one of its directors and its secretary.
As town clerk and notary public, Mr. Good-
win has been brought into close intimacy with
the public and private business interests of East
Hartford. He was married, October 26, 1876, to
HattieJ., daughter of Ralph G. Spencer, whose
ancestors were among the first settlers of the colony
of Connecticut. They have three children. He
attends the First Congregational church.
B. G. NORTHROP, LL.D., Clinton: Clergy-
man, Educator, Author, Lecturer.
Dr. Northrop, the apostle of " Village Improve-
ment," whose name will ever be associated in
this land with that important work, is a native
of Litchfield county, a
section of Connecticut
which has been prolific
in great men. He was
born in the town of
Kent, July 18, 1817.
Born and bred on a farm,
he has carried through
his whole life a keen ap-
preciation of the privi-
leges and privations of
the farmer's lot. Early
in life he experienced dif-
ficulties in acquiring a
collegiate education,
which inspired him with the lofty resolve of mak-
ing the public schools in Connecticut free to all.
In his youth he manifested a fondness for trees and
tree-planting, which has grown with his growth,
till he has become their foremost advocate. His
life, both in Yale College and the Yale Theological
Seminary, was characterized by the same faithful
energy which enabled him to surmount all difficul-
ties in preparing for college. Before and after
B. G. NORTHROP.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
133
graduating he taught, in all, two years. During
his ten years' pastorate of a Congregational church
in Framingham, ^lass., his intelligent and efficient
interest in the schools of his town soon attracted
attention, and introduced him to a wider sphere of
usefulness. For nearly eleven years he was agent
of the Massachusetts boai'd of education, when his
services were required by his native state, and he
was made secretary of the Connecticut board of
education. This responsible position he held for
sixteen years, during which, in the face of an op-
position which would have daunted any less deter-
mined advocate, he was the leading agent in mak-
ing the schools -of Connecticut by law free to all.
This period of over twenty-six years' service in state
supervision of schools is believed to be longer than
the similar service of anj^ other person in this coun-
try. In 1867 the Massachusetts board of education
expressed " much regret at his resignation of the
office he has filled with great ability and accept-
ance, and their high appreciation of his fidelity and
devotion to his duties, and the good he has accom-
plished for the schools of Massachusetts." vSinii-
larly, the report of the Connecticut board of edu-
cation, issued in January, 1883, contains a very
complimentary review of his labors during the six-
teen years of his administration, " which produced
lasting and important results of great benefit to the
entire state."
The nation is especially indebted to Dr. North-
rop for what is known as " Arbor Day in schools,"
an idea suggested by him eight years ago, and
since then so efficiently urged and supported by him
that thirty-eight states have adopted the day.
The number of trees planted by school children
under the stimulus of Arbor-day observance in
these different states, within the period included,
already reaches into the millions — a result whose
present and prospective importance and value can
hardly be estimated. He has given a great deal of
voluntary, unpaid labor to the general cause of
\-illage improvement in the past sixteen years, and
villages on both sides of the Connecticut river,
and beyond the borders of New England, across
the continent and in California, eloquently attest
his success in interesting not only the boys and
girls in the schools, but also the grown folks, in
the good work of making the home and the town
beautiful.
Dr. Northrop has twice visited Europe, and has
found time, in his busj?- life, to write a number of
valuable and timely books and pamphlets. He has
lectured widely over the country, on the lyceum
platform, in normal schools, academies, colleges,
and educational conventions, including a course of
twelve lectures before the Lowell Institute of Bos-
ton, and two courses before the Peabody Institute
of Baltimore. His tall, commanding figure, earnest.
L. F. SCOTT.
nervous manner, readiness of apt illustration, suit-
ing specific advice to special needs, forces home his
views far more vividly than is possible to the printed
page.
Dr. Northrop was married early in life to Miss
Harriette E. Chichester, and they have two child-
ren. His political affiliations are with the repub-
lican party.
CAPTAIN LEVI FRISBE SCOTT, Bethlehem:
Farmer.
Levi F. Scott was born in Bethlehem, Conn.,
Nov. II, 1S18. He had only a common school edu-
cation; has always been a farmer, and always lived,
and now lives, on the
same farm on which his
father, grandfather, and
great-grandfather lived.
He had, in his youth, only
limited means; but by his
energy and perseverance,
he has worked himself up
to the top of a farmer's
calling. At the age of
eighteen he was enrolled
in an infantry company
in his own town, was
chosen corporal, and went
up, step by step, to be
captain of the company, which office he held for
several years. He had the best drilled company in
his regiment, and, at a meeting of the officers, he
was chosen colonel, but declined the office. He
was, however, strongl}- urged by his superior
officers to accept, as he owed the honor to the regi-
ment and the regiment owed the same to him, but
he still declined.
At the age of twentj'-one he joined the Congre-
gational society, and has been a faithful worker in
it over fifty years, and has held many of its offices
of trust. Soon after joining the society he also
united with the church, and has always maintained
an exemplary Christian life. On Nov. 11, 1850, he
married Miss Emiline Young, a near relative of the
late Governor Young of New York. ISIrs. Scott
died Jan. 21, 1890, deeply mourned by all who
knew her. She left one son and one daughter, both
of whom are still living. In 1880 Mr. Scott was
invited by Secretary T. S. Gold to deliver a lecture
on " Farm Life " before the state board of agricul-
ture, held at Newtown. He gave another lecture
before the same board in 1S83, held at Waterbury.
He has also delivered lectures upon dilTerent sub-
jects in all the towns around him, and in some of
them he has appeared several times; his knowledge,
wit, and sound logic drawing a full house. He has
also written for different agricultural papers all
over the country. His treatment of his theme has
134
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
always been reasonable and persuasive, taken from
experience and observation. He has spoken before
farmers' clubs and granges many times, but never
till 1 891 did he unite with the grange, when one
was formed in his own town. Previous to this he
had been president of a farmers' club. He has
held offices of honor and trust in the town of which
he has always been a citizen, and has been a lead-
ing temperance advocate in Bethlehem, and several
places where liquor was sold Avere broken up
through his influence and writings. He Avas direc-
tor in a iire insurance company fifteen years.
B. B. GIBBS.
BARNEY BARZILLAI GIBBS, Bloomfield:
Pastor Baptist Church.
The subject of this sketch was born Jan. 13, 1S22.
Early in the seventeenth century three brothers
Gibbs, from Scotland on the Enghsh border, set-
tled on Long Island,
N. Y. The son of one of
them, Samuel Gibbs,
moved into New Jersey
about 1750. Leaving
there, he settled in Genoa,
Cayuga County, now
Lansing in Tompkins
County, N. Y., on a fai-m
four miles north of the
present beautiful city of
Ithaca. Mr. Gibbs' father
lived on that farm sixty-
six years. He died there
March 5, 1857. The
maternal grandparents, Oliver Bigelow and Esther
Harding, born in Colchester, Conn., in 1759, be-
longed to most worthy and patriotic families, well
known in the early history of the commonwealth of
Connecticut. Having finished a course of aca-
demic study, Oliver Bigelow enlisted as a soldier in
the army of the revolution. After the war he
graduated from a medical course. For a short
time he practiced medicine in Goshen, N. Y., to
which place the Hardings and others went, in con-
sequence of the desolation of the Wyoming Valley,
where they had settled before the war. They
afterward left Goshen and returned to the vallev.
At the time of the memorable ' ' Wyoming Massa-
cre " in 1778, when the fort was about to fall into
the hands of Indians, two brothers of Esther Hard-
ing were slain. The lead in the fort was buried.
Esther, then eighteen j^ears old, assisted by a
colored girl, took the powder in a leather sack to
the river and sunk it. Though seen by the savages,
they reached the fort in safety. For six months
Esther was a captive among the Indians. Dr.
Oliver Bigelow and Esther Harding were married
m 1786. To them were born five daughters and
one son. The eldest of these, Nancy, married
Gerritt Goodwin Gibbs (son of Samuel above men-
tioned). They had four sons and four daughters.
Of these children, Barney Barzillai, the subject of
this notice, was the fifth, and the third son. As to
health, he was never strong. His grandmother
Bigelow used to tell him that God had spared his
life in answer to her prayer, and that he would
have to preach. His eldest sister was the special
instrument, through grace, in awakening him to a
sense of his need of God's mercy. While in his
academic course he professed faith in Christ. Dr.
John S. Maginis, president of " The Hamilton Lit-
erary and Theological Institution," baptized him
into the fellowship of the Baptist church of Hamil-
ton, N. Y., Nov. 18, 1839. His father designed
him for the legal profession ; but he chose the min-
istry of the gospel. Graduating from " ]\Iadison,"
now "Colgate LTniversity," m 1S46, and from the
Theological Seminary in 1S48, he was ordained to
the work of the gospel ministry at Ithaca, N. Y.,
a few weeks after. He went south that fall, into
the Mississippi Valley. He spent a few months
in Southwest Louisiana, in the " Attackapa
Country," seeing slavery there on the sugar planta-
tions, in, perhaps, its severest forms. The next
year was spent in middle Mississippi, preaching
to three churches, and to several congregations of
slaves, in the four counties of Yazoo, Warren,
Hinds, and ^ladison. He rode 3,000 miles on
horseback and 2,000 by steam that year. In 1S51
he took the pastorate of the Wall Street Baptist
Church in Natchez, Miss. He was married that
year to Miss Eliza E. Poyer of North Norwich, N.
Y. His labors in Natchez were greatly prospered.
Beginning with a new church of eighteen members,
he left it, after three years and six months, with
one hundred and seventy-seven communicants.
The sickness of his wife called him north. In a
few weeks she passed away. He did not return
south, but supplied various pulpits and labored as-
evangelist. In 1S55 he became pastor of the Bap-
tist church in Geneva, N. Y. In 1857 he was
married to the daughter of Colonel Samuel Hart-
well of Chenago County, N. Y. He has three sons.
Dr. Charles B., of New York, Herbert H., attorney
and counsellor in the city of New York, and Clesson
F. Gibbs, D.D.S., of Bridgeport, Conn.
Mr. Gibbs has said: " Had I given myself
especially to evangelistic work I should have ac-
complished more." Possibly, yet his pastorates
have been successful. The condition at Geneva
was low, house sadly out of repair, and congrega-
tion small. But stimulus came; the attendance in-
creased, and additions gave strength and courage.
The work with the church in Jordan, N. Y., was
one of correction and earnest labor to lead the
membership to deeper spirituality. Returning to
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
135
Geneva, in a second pastorate there he succeeded
in inspiring the people with a better apprehension
of Christian life and to higher motives in gospel
work. Prosperity followed, and the impulse then
given lingers there to this day.
In 1865 his mother (widowed and alone) urged
him to come home. He thought change for a time
would be advantageous. He went; but the cares
of the farm and the wear and tear of much travel
in supplying neighboring churches caused him to
accept, after two years, the pastorate of the church
at Union Springs, N. Y. Four years of ordinary
prosperity were had there. He went to Spencer,
N. Y., in 1S71 — a country field, ten miles across
it. with many outposts for service. Additions
strengthened the church ; expensive repairs greatly
improved the house; but the pastor's health failed.
He was called to New York city, where he worked
with varjdng success nearly five years. He suffered
much there from malaria. Going to Catskill on the
Hudson, his health began immediately to improve.
Five years there, beginning with conditions of dis-
order and discouragement, were favored with much
success. Two years were spent in Wales, Mass.,
with the Baptist church.
Jlr. Gibbs considers that the gospel supplies the
true grounds of culture and advancement for all
people. His six years in the south were a most in-
teresting and valuable experience. They supplied
him with more intelligent thought on the great
national issues of the day; assured him of the need
of sounder ethical principles in our civil govern-
ment; showed him that the people, north and
south, should have more intimate acquaintance in
social, political, and commercial matters; that such
acquaintance would check the growing strife, and
modify the bitterness of discussion. The late Jef-
ferson Davis was then rising to the acme of south-
ern popularity. In the senate chamber of Mis-
sissippi, he heard ^Ir. Davis in his famous and
eloqent eulogy of Calhoun, and felt that a crisis
was near at hand. But his southern hfe supplied
him neither with feeling nor argument for slavery.
As a gospel minister he had to do with the highest
interests of both master and slave. He has, there-
fore, always held it both as privilege and duty to
notice the fact that he was never hindered, but
often encouraged, in his labors for the slave; and
he felt himself respedted and trusted by the south-
ern people. Ten miles from Jackson, the state
Capitol, in the little town of Raymond, rumor said
one morning that a slave had been killed. Mr.
Gibbs was assisting the pastor there as evangelist.
The excitement called a meeting of planters, at
once, over which he presided as chairman. He,
with a committee of planters, investigated the case,
and reported the next day that the slave had been
cruelly beaten with a hand-saiu, but that he
would recover. The meeting censured the master,
and required of liim a promise of humane treat-
ment for the future.
Mr. (xibbs has given forty-three years to his
chosen work — the highest of earthly callings.
Loyalty to truth has marked his cour.se. He is now
in Bloomfield, Conn. His work there will appear
more fully in the future. Extreme conservatism is
tenacious, and also persistent; not to be changed
in a day. Connecticut was the home of some of
his ancestors. The interests of the state and peo-
ple he cherishes with special regard, confiding in
the appointed instrumentalities of truth. Another
says, "The garment of praise must be the out-
growth of the inner life;" and it is wise to remember
that —
" Across the fields of toil there fall
The notes of vender sunset bell."
W-^'
W. F. WII.LCOX.
HON. WASHINGTON F. WILLCOX, Chester:
Congressman, Second District.
Washington F. Willcox was born in Killingworth
August 22, 1834. He remained at home with his
father, who was a farmer, until sixteen years of
age. He attended the
common district schools,
and subsequently a select
school conducted by Rev.
Mr. Bell, pastor of the
Congregational church of
Killingworth, from whom
he also received private
instruction for several
years in the higher Eng-
lish branches and in
Latin. Subsequently he
entered the Hopkins
Grammar School at New
Haven, where he prepared
for college, but entered the Yale Law School, from
which he graduated in 1861. The same year he
was admitted to the bar in Middlesex county, and
opened a law office in Deep River, where he has
since continued the practice of law. During the
years 1862 and 1863 he represented his native town
in the lower house of the legislature; was elected to
the state senate in 1S75-6, serving as chairman of
the judiciary committee during two terms. In
1875 he was appointed state attorney for Middlesex
county, which office he held for eight years. He
was elected to the fifty-first congress as a democrat,
receiving 24,959 votes, against 24,161 for the repub-
lican candidate and 1,165 scattering.
]\Ir. Willcox was married January i, 1S6S, to
Salome C. Denison, who is now living, a daughter
of the late Judge Socrates Denison of Chester.
They have four children, the issue of their said
marriage, two daughters and two sons.
136
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
F. M. BROWN.
FREEMAN M. BROWN, Hartford.
Mr. Brown comes of revolutionary stock, his
maternal grandfather having enlisted from Rhode
Island and served through the war as a private.
He was born in the town
of Union, February 26,
18 17, but soon afterwards
his father removed with
his family to the neigh-
boring town of Stafford,
where his boyhood was
chiefly spent upon the
farm. He attended the
district schools until he be-
came fifteen j^ears of age,
when he entered a store
at Southbridge, Mass., as
clerk and learned the
business which he follow-
ed through much of his later life. He commenced
mercantile business for himself in Staiford in 1S3S,
and while there held the office of deputy sheriff for
Tolland county. In 1845 associated with D wight
Slate (now of Hartford) under the firm name of
Slate & Brown, he removed to Windsor Locks and
was engaged in mercantile pursuits and the manu-
facture of general machinery, putting up a build-
ing therefor, which was the first movement in the
growth of that village. This firm made the first
one thousand pistol barrels and cyhnders for Colt's
revolvers, which were ordered by the United States
government before Colonel Colt had any facilities
whatever for the manufacture of fire arms. During
his residence at Windsor Locks, covering a period
of nearl}' twenty-five years, he was largely engaged
in building, completing more private residences and
tenement-houses than any other single individual
in the place. While at the Locks, he was also a
part owner in and agent for a woolen manufactur-
ing establishment known as the Sequassen Woolen
Company, located at Windsor. He held the office
of postmaster there for several years, was also
selectman, town clerk, a member of the board of
education, and rei^resented the town of Windsor
in the legislature during the sessions of 1847 and
1S53, and Windsor Locks in 1864 and 1868. He
afterwards removed to Hartford, and since his
residence in this cit)^ has been deputy internal
revenue collector for four years and selectman
during one year. He also acted as census enum-
erator in 1S90. His business connections are now
with the Beach Manufacturing Company of Hart-
ford, ^lajor Brown has been for twenty j-ears
a member of the Putnam Phalanx, and Avas
for nearly eight j-ears major of the command.
He was also a member of the Odd Fellows'
fraternity, and was grand master of the grand
lodge of Connecticut in 1855-56. He is a member
of the First Universalist societj- of Hartford; in
politics he is a democrat. The major is living with
his second wife and has three surviving children,
two by his first wife and one by the second. He has
traveled very extensively in all parts of the country
and for twentj'-five years was among the farmers
of the west and northwest, buying wool. His life
has been one of great activity and usefulness, and
he has performed his share of public service,
always discharging Avith fidelity and a good con-
science the trusts that have been committed to his
charge.
ANDREW YALE BEACH, Seymour: Merchant.
Andrew Y. Beach was born in Derby, Conn., in
that part of the town which is now Seymour, Oc-
tober 27, 1S36. His father is Sharon Y. Beach of
the same town, and his
mother's maiden name
was Adeline Sperry. ^Nlr.
Beach lived at Seymour
until he was 20 years old,
attending the public
schools in his native town,
and being for a while a
student at the West Rock
Seminary at New Haven,
Previous to leaving home
he was employed in his
father's paper mill at Sey-
mour. In 1856 he went
to Springfield, Mass., and
was clerk in the freight office of the Hartford &
New Haven Railroad Company, which position he
held for nearly two years, resigning to accept the
agency of the Naugatuck Railroad at Naugatuck.
Later Mr. Beach was appointed agent for the same
road at Seymour, holding that position till 1867,
when he was appointed general ticket agent of the
road, with headquarters at Bridgeport. He held
this position five years, making thirteen 3'ears in
the employ of the Naugatuck Railroad Company.
Mr. Beach resigned his position with the Nauga-
tuck Railroad and removed to Springfield, Mass.,
in 1872, to become agent of the New York, New
Haven & Hartford Railroad, having entire charge
of the company's business in Springfield, excepting
the ticket department. This position he held until
June, 1SS7, when, owing to a much-needed rest, he
resigned and removed to Seymour, where, after a
few months of rest, he engaged in the coal and
grocery business, in which occupation he is still
engaged.
Mr. Beach's political record has always been that
of a republican. He was a member of the Spring-
field board of aldei-men in 1SS4, 1885, and 1S86, the
latter year being honored with the presidenc}- of
the board. During the years in Springfield he made
A. Y. BEACH.
I
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXECTICUT.
137
"his church home with the State street Baptist
people, by whom he was highly esteemed, and was
frequently called on to assist in mission work in
different parts of the city. He is a director of the
S. V. Beach Paper Company of Seymour, holding
one-fifth of the stock.
Mr. Beach has been twice married. His first wife
was Mary C. Woodford, daughter of B. B. Wood-
ford, formerly of Winsted. This union was blessed
with one daughter, who is now married and resides
in Seymour. His present wife's maiden name was
Alice M. Hilton, also born in Seymour, where they
now reside.
H. H. BILL.
BEXEZET H. BILL, Rockville: Attorney-at-
Law.
Benezet Hough Bill, who has held the office of
-state's attorney in Tolland County since 1S69, was
born at Xew Milford, Penn., Feb. 26, 1829,
and was educated in the
Suffield Literary Insti-
tute, the academies at
Worcester and Wilbra-
ham, and in the Yale Law
School at New Haven,
graduating from the latter
institution in 1S54. Prifjr
to engaging in his profes-
sion at Rockville, Mr. Bill
resided in Lebanon. He
has held a number of
town offices and is a use-
ful and valued citizen.
In politics he is a re-
publican. He is connected with the Union Con-
gregational society at Rockville. Mr. Bill com-
menced his professional practice in Rockville
Avhen quite a j'oung man, and was for many
years a partner with Judge Dwight Loomis
of the Superior Court. He established, in a
very brief period, not only a remunerative busi-
ness, but a most excellent reputation as a
citizen. He proved himself to be an honorable and
public-spirited gentleman, as well as an able
attorney, and his townsmen were not slow to
recognize his abilities and signify the confidence
which they have ever since continued to repose in
him. He has for many years occupied a leading
position among the lawyers of Rockville, and in-
deed of all Tolland county; and no citizen of his
section has won more honorable distinction in all
the walks of public or private life. He is now, and
has been for many years, president of the Rock-
ville Savings Bank, one of the old and prosperous
institutions of that city.
I Mr. Bill has twice married, his first wife being
Miss Kate Griggs, daughter of Rev. Dr. Griggs of
Bristol. The second wife, who is living, was Miss
Lucinda R., daughter of Mr. Charles Bronson of
Waterbury, before her marriage with Mr. Bill.
One daughter, Lelia L., married Mr. Charles
Phelps of Rockville, but is now deceased. The
remaining daughter, Kate E., is the wife of Dr.
Thomas F. Rockwell of Rockville.
JOSEPH ANDREWS, West H.^ven (Orange):
Carpenter and Builder.
Joseph Andrews was born in Meriden, February
14, 1S32, and was educated in the common schools.
He is at present first selectman and town agent in
Orange, where he is en-
gaged in the building
business. He has held
the position of warden of
the borough. In politics
he is a republican. IMr.
Andrews is a past master
of Annawan Lodge, F.
and A. M. in ^yest Haven,
and has been a represent-
ative in the Grand Lodge.
He has resided in the
towns of Wallingford and
New Haven, and is prom-
inently known in his sec-
tion of the state. His wife, who was Miss Eliza
Jane Peck prior to her marriage, is still living.
One son is a physician in Buffalo. j\Ir. Andrews is
a member of the Congregational church.
JOSEPH ANDREWS.
JOHN H. LEAYENWORTH, Roxbury: Farmer.
John H. Leavenworth was born in Roxbury,
Aug. 13, 1S30, and received a common school and
academic education, completing the course in the
Woodbury Academy. He
has devoted his life to
farming and teaching.
He commenced the latter
pursuit in the public
schools of Roxbury and
Woodbury when he was
seventeen years old, and
taught for twenty-nine
terms. In iSSo he was a
member of the general
assembly from Roxbury,
serving on the democratic
side of the house. He
has held all of the impor-
tant town offices, serving as selectman for eight
j-ears, member of the board of assessors six, mem-
ber of the board of relief, juror, and grand juror.
For twelve j'ears he was the superintendent of the
North Congregational chui-ch Sunday-school, which
J. H. LEAVENWORTH.
138
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
he attended in Woodbury, and is at present a mem-
ber of the church committee, having declined the
chairmanship of the society's committee. Mr.
Leavenworth Hves in the same home in which he
was born sixty years ago. He was married April
12, 1852, to Miss Mary Ann Peck, daughter of
Marquis D. Peck. She is still living. The family
also includes one son and one daughter. ]Mr. Leav-
enworth is a member of King Solomon's Lodge,
No. 7, F. and A. M., of Woodbury, and is one of
the most honored citizens in the community where
he resides.
R. N. FITZGERALD.
R. N. FITZGERALD, Hartford: Wholesale
Merchant.
Ransom N. Fitzgerald was born in Manchester,
May 3, 1S4S, being the youngest son of the well-
known paper manufacturer of that town, who was
engaged in the business
upwards of forty years,
the firm name being
Keney & Fitzgerald. The
subject of this sketch was
educated in the common
schools of Manchester,
and at the age of sixteen
he commenced learning
the business of paper-
making in his father's
mill. Eventually he was
admitted to partnership
in the establishment. At
the death of his father in
1S72 he purchased the mill and formed a partner-
ship wdth Messrs. George W. Cheney and Edwin
Bunce, under the firm name of R. N. Fitzgerald &
Co. This partnership existed until 1S74, when the
mill property was destroyed by fire. Mr. Fitzgerald
then removed to Hartford, and purchased the boot
and shoe business at No. 201 Main street, conduct-
ing it successfully for a number of years. In iSSo
he became a partner in the wholesale grocery house
of Bronson & Fitzgerald, No. 142 State street, where
he is still engaged in business. The firm is widely
known through the Connecticut Valley, conducting
a large and successful business. Mr. Fitzgerald is
a luember of the court of common council from the
Fourth ward, and represents the council board on
the city hall committee. He is a democrat in poli-
tics. The councilman was one of the founders,
and has been for two 3'ears the president, of the
Gentleman's Driving Club in this city, and is a
prominent member of the Hartford order of Elks.
He is a member of LaFayette Lodge, F. A. M.,
of this city, an officer in Washington Commander3%
Knights Templar, and has held various offices in
the Scottish Rite bodies. He is also a member of
the Mystic Shrine, and has attained to the thirty-
C. D. BARNES.
second degree in Masonry. Councilman Fitzgerald
was married in 1S76 to Miss Alice C. Btince of
Manchester, only daughter of the late Edwin Bunce
of that town. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald reside at
36 Main street in this city, owning one of the
pleasantest residences in that section of the muni-
cipality.
CHARLES DENNIS BARNES, Southington :
]\Iercliant, and President Southington National
Bank.
Charles D. Barnes, senior member of the boot
and shoe firm of Charles D. Barnes & Son, was
born in Southington, December 12, 1S41. He en-
joyed the ordinary ad-
vantages of the district
schools, with a finishing
experience at the Meriden
High School; and became
an apprentice at the car-
penter's and joiner's
trade, which he followed
until 1S72, and then took
charge for two years of
the shipping department
in the bolt works of the
Peck, Stow & Wilcox
Company. In 1S74 he es-
tablished the boot and
shoe business in Southington now conducted under
the firm name of C. D. Barnes & Son. Mr. Barnes
sustains official relations wnth several of the busi-
ness institutions and corporations of his native
town, bemg secretary, treasui-er, and general man-
ager of the Southington Lumber and Feed Com-
pany, which position he has occupied since 1S81;
one of the directors and on the loan committee of
the Southington Savings Bank ; a director, and
elected vice-president, of the Southington National
Bank in January, 1S89, and appointed president of
the institution in January, 1890; also president of
the Oak Hill Cemetery Association. He was a se-
lectman and grand juror in 1873; town clerk, treas-
urer, and registrar of births, marriages, and deaths
in 1874, and continuously since with the exception
of a single year; also treasurer of the school fund.
When the borough of Southington was formed, he
was nominated for warden on the only ticket in the
field, but declined and was finally persuaded to
accept a position as one of the burgesses; and is
now on the committee on highways and sidewalks,
and chairman of the sewer committee. He is rep-
resenting the town of Southington in the general
assembly the present year, being a member and
clerk of the appropriations committee. Among his
society connections it may be mentioned that he is
vice-president of the Merchants Club of Southing-
ton; was one of the charter members of Trumbull
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
139
Post, No. 16, Grand Army of the Republic, and its
first post commander, holding;: the office for some
years. Mr. Barnes was in active mihtary servnce
during the war of the rebelhon. He enhsted in In-
fantry Company B, Fifteenth Connecticut Volun-
teers, June 22, 1S62, and was with that regiment
every time it left camp, until wounded and cap-
tured at the battle of Kinston, N. C, ^March S,
1S65. He spent the remaining time, imtil Rich-
mond was surrendered, in " Hotel Libby,"and was
discharged as sergeant, June 9, 1S65.
:Mr. Barnes has been twice married ; first to
Sarah E. Hamlin of Southington, in September,
1S65, the issue of which marriage was two children,
one dying in infancy, the other, a son, Frank H.,
now living and in business with his father. Mr.
Barnes' second marriage was with Sarah H. Grid-
ley, widow of Lieut. Henry Lewis of the Twentieth
Connecticut Volunteer Infantry.
Mr. Barnes has always been a staunch republi-
can, as may be inferred from the many positions of
trust to which he has been called as the candidate
of that party. He is a member of the First Con-
gregational church of Southington, active in church
and society work, and in harmony always with
whatever is undertaken to elevate and improve the
moral and religious status of the communitv.
JOHN H. LEE, NoRw.^LK : Warden of the Bor-
ough.
John Hawley Lee was bom in Redding, August
g, 1850, and was educated in the public schools
and under Albert B. Hill, tutor at the Sheffield
Scientific School in New
Haven. Since 1S71 he
has resided at Norwalk,
and is prominently asso-
ciated with public afi'airs,
as warden or mayor,
member of the board of
education, school commit-
tee, and vice-president
of the board of trade.
He is a member of St.
Paul's Episcopal church,
and has been master for
three years of St. John's
Lodge, No. 6, F. and A.
M. , of Norwalk. He was one of the founders of the
Masonic Temple, and is third vice-president of
the Cooperative Building Bank, located in the
World building, N. Y. city. He is a member of
the Norwalk Club, its first president for two j-ears,
and chairman of the local democratic committee.
He is the manager of the Cleveland Baking Powder
Company, Boston, Mass. The wife of Mr. Lee
was Miss Annie B. Heins prior to her marriage.
J. H. LEE.
KARL GERH.VRUT.
KARL GERHARDT, Hartford: Sculptor.
Karl CJerhardt, the artist, whose country house is
at Cottage Grove, in Bloomfield, was born in Bos-
ton, January 7, 1853, and was educated in Phillips
school in that city. He is
of German parentage, and
is a fiuent linguist, speak-
ing English, German, and
French gracefully. Mr.
Gerhardt, who has at-
tained noted eminence as
a sculptor, spent a j^ear
and a half in the regular
army. He began his
business life as a designer
of machinery, and first
worked with the Ames
Manufacturing Company
of Chicopee, Mass. In
1S74 he visited California, and on his return was em-
ployed by the Pratt & Whitney Company of Hart-
ford, as a designer in their extensive machine works.
While thus engaged he made a bust of his \\-ife in
his leisure hours, and subsequently a life-size statue
of a " Startled Bather." These two works not only
attracted the attention of the Hartford press, but
so greatly interested Charles Dudley Warner and
Samuel L. Clemens that they requested J. O. A.
Ward, the eminent sculptor, to pay them a visit and
examine them. The object of this invitation was
to ascertain whether Mr. Gerhardt gave such
proofs of talent as would warrant the attempt to
raise a sum of money large enough to pay his ex-
penses to Europe, and to educate him under the
best masters of the art in Paris. Mr. Ward's opin-
ion was emphatically in favor of the idea. After
several efforts to enlist the cooperation of wealthy
citizens had failed, Mr. Clemens (" Mark Twain")
and his wife determined to assume the expense
themselves, both of travel and maintenance — a
pledge which they noblj- redeemed, although the
fact is known to few persons outside of the sculp-
tor's personal friends. On his arrival at Paris, he
successfully passed the preliminary examination.
Among sixty competitors, most of them having
been favorably circumstanced to study the art, the
self-taught Hartford sculptor was recorded as the
twenty-eighth. At the end of the first year, Mr.
Gerhardt received, in the annual examination, an
honorable mention ; at the end of the second year
he was received at the annual Salon; and in 1SS4,
the last year of his study abroad, ^tvo pieces were
received — " Echo," a marble statuette now in the
possession of Mark Twain, and " Eve's Lullaby," a
life-size group, which received a diploma of honor
at the World's Exposition at New Orleans.
The statue of Nathan Hale, which is stationed in
the east corridor of the state capitol, and the bronze
140
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
statue of Governor R. D. Hubbard on the capitol
gi-ounds, were designed by Mr. Gerhardt. Both of
these statues have received the highest praise from
competent sculptors. The home of Mr. Gerhardt
in Bloomfield is a deUghtful one. Besides the wife
who was the inspiration of his lirst attempts in
sculpture, there are two children, daily adding joy
and delight to his domestic surroundings. He is
connected with the Congregational church and is
independent in politics.
C. p. BRADWAY.
CHARLES PHILIP BRADWAY, West Staf-
ford : Inventor, and Manufacturer of Turbine
Water Wheels and Motors.
C. P. Bradway was born in South Glastonbury,
May 23, 1843. Having completed his education at
Monson Academy, he served the Monson firm of
Merrick, Fay & Co. , straw
hat manufacturers, as
boiler tender the follow-
ing winter. His health
becoming delicate, he
joined a fishing part}-,
coasting along the New
England shore, Sable
Island banks, etc., taking
the position of cook when
at every landing the stew-
ard invariably became dis-
abled. Evidence of his
early inventive genius
may still be seen on the
chamber-floor, the pentagonal checker-board, and
the old bedstead head-boards of his boyhood's
home in Monson, where designs of water-wheels
formerly covered every available surface. His
knowledge of machinery seemed intuitive. His
first water-wheel that came into actual service was
used for running the home .shop. In its manufac-
ture he obtained permission to use a lathe in a
factory, seven miles away, just as the hands were
going out to dinner. On their return the superin-
tendent was astonished to find the lad busily at
work. "Where did you learn to turn iron?" in-
quired the superintendent. " Right here," was the
reply. In this home shop he spent his spare mo-
ments, repairing an infinite variety of articles for
the neighboring boys, manufacturing pistols, pow-
der, etc., grinding the latter in a coffee mill and
.surviving an explosion that singed his eyebrows,
and imprinted the form of the dish in his forehead.
In the intervals of helping about the farm he also
built a saw-mill on the home place, using one of
his wheels as motive power. The first wheels for
which he received a remuneration were sold to a
Mr. Finlay of East Glastonbury and a Mr. Jones of
Woodbury, for which he received $150 and $200 re-
spectively. On this wheel he neglected to take out
a patent, and the design was appropriated by
another. Thus he was obliged to abandon the
manufacture of his own invention. He then tried
his fortune as a book agent with marked success, in
Vermont and Pennsylvania. He afterward fitted
up a store in Danville, Pa., from which he equipped
scores of agents. It was in Danville that he found
his wife, Sarah J. Houghawout. They were mar-
ried in 1873. Eight children have been born to
them, seven of whom are living. Mr. Bradway
has been a prominent member of the Y. M. C. A.
and is connected with the Congregational church.
In politics his i^rinciples are republican. Since his
return to the east he has purchased a pleasant
home in West Stafford, including a large machine
shop where he has been engaged in producing cul-
tivators and other agricultural implements in their
season, water-motors, and especially the giant tur-
bine wheel, which from the fact of its having
twelve gates, it has been suggested should be
called the " New Jerusalem."
JESSE MILTON COBURN, M.D., Brooklyn:
Physician and Surgeon.
Dr. Jesse Milton Coburn was born in Pittsfield,
N. H., March 27, 1853, being a descendant of Wil-
liam Colborne, Esq., herald under Queen Elizabeth
of Dudley Castle, near
Dudley, Worcestershire,
Eng. His father was
Rev. J. ]\Iilton Coburn of
Manchester, N. H. Dr.
Coburn was educated in
the pul)lic schools of that
city, Pembroke academy,
and the Boston U^niversi-
ty. He pursued his med-
ical studies under Prof. J .
H. Woodbury of Boston
and received the degree
of M.D. at the universitj-
in 1S74. He commenced
the practice of medicine at South Framingham,
Mass., but subsequently removed to Shrewsbury,
where he married Miss Abbie M. Cutler, daughter
of Aaron G. and Lucy Nourse Cutler. In 18S0 he
settled in Brooklyn, Conn., succeeding to the prac-
tice of the late Dr. James B. Whitcomb of that
town, where he has since resided. He has an ex-
tensive practice and is regarded as one of the most
successful physicians in Eastern Connecticut. Dr.
Coburn has two sons. He is a member of the Bap-
tist church in Brooklyn and is a prohibitionist in
politics. He belongs to the order of Odd Fellows,
and is a gentleman of decided popularitj- in the
town where he resides.
DR. J. M. COBURN.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
141
JOSEPH SELDEN, Norfolk: Manufacturer.
Joseph Selden was a member of the generiil
assembly in 1SS5, serving on the repubhean side of
the house. He is connected with the .^Etna Silk
Company, and is one of
the leading business men
in this section of the state.
He was born in West
Hartford, October 17,
1S23, and was educated in
the common schools and
the Westfield Academ^^
In the military service he
attained the rank of lieu-
tenant-colonel. Prior to
his election to the legisla-
ture he was honored with
political position and had
served on the board of
selectmen. The btisiness life of Colonel Selden has
been spent in the town of Norfolk for the most part.
A part of his career, however, was passed in Rock-
ville. He has been married twice; his first wife,
Lavinia Fuller, died in 1S57. The present wife was
Miss Emma Fuller. One child is living. Colonel
Selden is a member of the Norfolk Congregational
church, and is held in high esteem in the com-
munity where he resides.
JOSEl'H SELDEN.
STEPHEN BALL, Hartford: Secretary Hart-
ford Life and Annuity Insurance Company.
The accompan}-ing vignette fairly presents the
familiar features of Stephen Ball, who for twenty-
four years has been officially connected with one of
the most popular and pro-
gressive life insurance
corporations of Connecti-
cut. Mr. Ball is a native
of New Haven, where he
was born in 1S39. Most
of his life has been spent
in this state, and a large
part of his active business
experience has been in
Hartford with the com-
pany in whose service he
is still engaged. He was
in the employ of the gov-
ernment at New Orleans
before coming from that city to Hartford in April,
1S67. In the following August he formed a con-
nection ^^nth the Hartford Life and Annuity Com-
pany as its a.ssistant secretary. In 1874 he became
its secretary, and has since been its chief manager.
Mr. Ball has a thorough knowledge of the science
and practice of life insurance, and in the manage-
ment of that company he has been instrumental in
giving it a reputation and standing which few
STEPHEN HALL.
kindred corporations have achieved. He is so
thoroughly identified with the company that its his-
tory is practically his biography. Mr. Ball, at
fifty-two years of age, is still in the prime of life,
and devoting his undivided energies to the main-
tenance of the high standard of excellence in life
insurance which, under his management, this com-
pany long ago reached.
E. M. GR.A.NT.
REV. EUGENE MELNOTTE GRANT, Stam-
ford: Universalist Clergyman, Editor, and Cor-
respondent.
Mr. Grant was born at Auburn, N. Y., August
29, 1847. His father, Franklin W., was born at
Nashua, N. H. The family is descended from a
Scotch clan of Grants in
the same line with the
late General U. S. Grant,
but which separated some
four generations back.
His mother, Miss Sarah
Ann Dias, was born of
English parents in the
city of London, but came
to this country when only
seven years old, and never
returned. The Grant
family of the last genera-
tion were all educated
machinists and successful
railroad men, Franklin holding various positions,
including master machinist, assistant superintend-
ent, and contractor. This made the child life of
the subject of this sketch a roving one. Auburn,
Syracuse, Corning, Rome, Sackett's Harbor, Cape
Vincent, and Buffalo, in New York state, and
Toronto, Ontario, were successively places of resi-
dence until the family returned to Auburn to settle
down. Here the young man was early put to learn
the trade of his father, machinist, soon after which
the latter died, leaving him the eldest of five child-
ren at seventeen years of age, with the responsi-
bility of their maintenance. His trade completed,
he accepted a business offer, which he pursued for
somewhat more than two years, when his attention
was attracted to the ministry. He at once began
preparations for study, which ended^with the Theo-
logical school of St. Lawrence University. His
first pastoral settlement was at Madrid, N. Y., in
the spring of 1870, some months before leaving
school. A year later he removed to Churchville,
N. Y., where he was elected standing clerk of the
Niagara Association of Universalists, and again to
Tidioute, Penn., then a thriving oil town. While
there he married Miss Emma E. Pepper, [of Little
Falls, N. Y. Four children have been born to
them, one son and three daughters. A call to a
double pastorate at Waterville and West Waterville
142
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
(now Oakland) took him to Maine, where he held
his only public office — that of chairman of the
school committee, to which he was elected by a
large majority for the purpose of reorganizing and
properly grading the public schools, according to
his expressed ideas, which was afterwards accom-
plished to the satisfaction of the town. In the fall
of 1S76 he accepted a call to the church at Ports-
mouth, N. H., one of the oldest in the denomina-
tion, having had for pastors some of the most noted
of her preachers. During a harmonious and suc-
cessful pastorate of more than five years he held
the office of standing clerk of the Rockingham As-
sociation of LTniversalists, and successively trustee
and president of the New Hampshire L^niversalist
convention. Late in iSSi he removed to Stamford,
Conn., to take charge of the Second Universalist
church (the First church being at Long Ridge, in
the northern part of the town), where he still con-
tinues. Unity and prosperity have accompanied
his ten years' pastorate. He has established a
promising mission at Mianus, under the care of his
church. He and his church are greatly respected,
and their works highly commended by the people
of the town. Every department of church activity
is carefully superintended by the pastor.
Mr. Grant has been active in every effort to pro-
mote the welfare of his church in the state, as will
appear from the number of offices he holds in her
interest. He has been several times elected dele-
gate to the general convention of LTniversalists, has
twice been elected assistant secretary, and bj' virtue
of holding the office of state secretary he becomes
a permanent member of that body. He is secretary
of the state convention, the executive committee
thereof, and the missionary board; is standing
clerk of the Southern Association, and secretary of
the Connecticut Universalist Club, of which he was
one of the founders. He is editor of the Connecti-
cut department of the Gospel Banner of Augusta,
Me. ; Connecticut correspondent of the Christian
Leader of Boston, Mass., the leading denomina-
tional organ in America; and he also edits and
publishes The Message, a small weeklj- paper,
having the local importance of being the recognized
organ and advocate of his own church, the Long
Ridge church, and the Mianus mission. He is the
author of a vesper service book, and contributor to
various publications. He is a Free and Accepted
Mason, with the rank of Knight Templar, and an
Odd Fellow. He has achieved considerable suc-
cess during the last half dozen years as the organ-
izer and conductor of summer excursion parties
throvighotit New England, the St. Lawrence, and
the Province of Quebec. In politics he has uni-
formly voted the republican ticket, casting his first
vote for his distant relative. General Grant, for
president of the L^nited States.
WILBERT N. AUSTIN, Plymouth.
Wilbert N. Austin was born in the town of
Goshen, June 23, 1859, and was educated in the
Torrington high school. He is the proprietor of
the stage line between
Thomaston and Terry-
ville and carries the L^ni-
ted States mail. He is a
vestryman of St. Peter's
church in Plymouth and
is thoroughly interested
in the work of the church.
In politics Mr. Austin is
a democrat. He lived in
the town of Goshen until
he was thirteen years of
age, when he removed to
Toi-rington, residing there
for five years. Most of
his business life has been spent in Plymouth. He
was married in 1S82 to Miss Minnie I. Mattoon of
Plymouth. They have one son, Ellsworth WeUs
Austin, born May 23, 1891.
W. X. AUSTIN.
NORRIS BENNET MIX, Hamde.n: Ice Merchant.
Norris B. Mix is a native of the town of Hamden,
and one of a family of ten children. He was born
February 3, 1S26. His parents being in moderate
circumstances, at the age
of ten years the boy was
put out to work for his
board and clothes with
Judge Dyer White in
New Haven. While there
he had the opportunity of
attending John E.Lovell's
school, and thus during
the four years that he re-
mained with the judge he
acquired considerable lit-
erary culture. At four-
teen he went to West-
port to learn the tailor's
trade, but the length of his legs rendered the fa-
vorite posture of a tailor uncomfortable, and he
abandoned this design and turned his attention to
the cabinet-maker's trade, at which he worked until
the confinement of indoor-life affected his health.
He then for two or three years worked at house-
carpentering, and in the open air succeeded in fully
regaining his health. Subsequently he was em-
ployed in the shops of the New York & New Haven
railroad, and in 1S64 moved back to Hamden, his
native town, where he engaged in and has since
followed the ice business. While in New Haven
he was elected to the common council and to a
place on the board of street commissioners. After-
Mix.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
143
wards he represented Hamden in the state legisla-
ture during the sessions of 1S7S-79, and for six
years served as first selectman of the town, to
which position he was chosen as the candidate of
the democratic party. Mr. Mix has been many
years married, his wife's maiden name being Maria
N. Hendrick. They have three children, one of
his sons being associated with him in business. He
is a member of the Methodist church, of the Odd
Fellows, and of the Masonic fraternity.
I.. I. MUNSOX.
LUZERNE I. MUNSON, Waterhlkv: Druggist.
L. I. Munson was born in Wallingford (North-
ford Society), in March, 183S. He received a com-
mon school education, and also attended for two
years the Durham Acad-
emy. In 1S54, at the age
of sixteen, he came to
Waterbury and engaged
as a boy in the service of
Apothecaries' Hall Com-
pany, where he remained
until 1S61, when he went
as bookkeeper and ship-
ping clerk with the City
Manufacturing Company,
since merged with the
Benedict & Burnham
Manufacturing Company,
occupying the position for
a year and a half. In 1S62 he moved to Meriden
to take the offices of seci'etary and treasurer of
Julius Pratt & Co., and later was secretary and
treasurer of Pratt, Read & Co., when the three
firms, of which that firm was constituted, were
consolidated. In 1S63, at the age of twentj'-five, he
returned to Waterbury and re-entered, as secretary
and treasurer, the establishment where he had pre-
viously been employed as a boy, the Apothecaries'
Hall Company, of which he has since been the
active manager. Aside from his large political ac-
quaintance, Mr. Munson is widely and popularly
known throughout the state as one of the original
members of the Connecticut Pharmaceutical Asso-
ciation, for several years the chairman of its execu-
tive committee, and for one year its president. He
is also a member of the American Pharmaceutical
Association. Mr. Munson's political record is that
of a party leader and worker rather than that of an
ofiice-holder. He has served for years as a mem-
ber of the board of fire commissioners, assessor,
and member of the board of sewer commissioners.
Twice he has been the candidate of his party for
mayor of the city of Waterbur}^ and in 1SS5 and
18S6 was state comptroller, having been elected on
the republican state ticket with Hon. H. B. Harri-
son at its head. His administration of the affairs
of that important position was conspicuousl}- suc-
cessful.
As a business man Mr. Munson exhibits industry,
honesty, and ability, and has achieved a substan-
tial success. As a political leader he possesses
similar qualities, with corresponding results. The
openness of his political methods and the frankness
of his manners makes him popular alike with sup-
porters and opponents, and he has escaped, in a
large degree, the personal bitterness and hostility
wliich political activity often entails. He be-
longs to the Waterbury Club and the Republican
League of New Haven. He has a wife and two
daughters. He is active in all public afliairs relat-
ing to the community in which he lives.
G. H. UURDICK.
GEORGE H. BURDICK, H.^rtkord: Secretary
Phrenix Insurance Company.
IMr. Burdick is a native of Granville, Washington
county, New York, where he was born in Decem-
ber, 1 84 1. He is descended from Connecticut stock,
his grandfather, David
Burdick, being a native
and long a resident of
Stonington. He removed
to Granville, New York,
where his son, A. S. Bur-
dick, the father of the
subject of this sketch, was
born and resided the most
of his life, engaged in the
practice of the law. His
standing as a lawyer was
very high, and his legal
practice extended over
Washington and Saratoga
counties, in which last-named county the closing
years of his life were spent.
As a boy, Mr. Burdick attended the public schools
of his native town, and at about the age of fifteen
came to Hartford and entered the dry-goods store
of C. S. Weatherby, then located on the corner of
jSIain and Morgan streets. The dr3'-goods trade
did not, however, seem to be well suited to his
tastes, and after remaining in the store a few
months he returned to Granville, and soon after
entered the academy at Poultney, Vt., where he
prepared for and afterwards entered the Li^niversity
at Troy, N. Y. It was the hope of his father that
the young man would take a theological course and
enter the ministry, but this plan did not harmonize
with his own ambitions; and after a year at the
tiniversity he fully decided to abandon all thoughts
of a profession, and to engage at once in active
business. Having relatives in Hartford, and hav-
ing made some pleasant acquaintances during his
brief residence here, as before noted, he came to
144
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
this city in search of business, and almost imme-
diately entered the office of the Phoenix Insurance
Company as a clerk. He was advanced through
sticceeding grades of promotion, and in 1867 was
made assistant secretary of the company, retaining
that position until September, 1S88, when he was
elected secretary. This latter office he now holds.
Mr. Burdick was married in 1865, and three child-
ren have been born to hini, only two of whom — a
son and a daughter— are now living. He is an
active member of the Asylum Avenue Baptist
church, and has been the clerk of the church since
its organization in 1872. In politics he is always to
be found acting with the repubhcan party.
C. A. RUSSELL.
HON. CHARLES ADDISON RUSSELL, Kil-
lingly: Manufacturer; Congressman from the
Third District.
Charles A. Russell was born at Worcester,
Mass., March 2, 1852. He received his primary
education in the common schools of that city, and
prepared for college under
the tuition of Rev. Harris
R. Greene. He gradua-
ted at Yale in the class
of 1873, taking high rank
as a student, as well as
winning popularity in his
class by his genial man-
ner and his enthusiasm in
college sports. After his
graduation, he immedi-
ately devoted himself to
newspaper work, and
was, up to 1878, actively
engaged on the Worcester
Pri-ss as city editor, and was for a short time there-
after connected with the Worcester Spy. Since
that time Mr. Russell has been engaged in the
business of manufacturing at Dayville, in the town
of Kilhngly, as treasurer of the Sabin L. Sayles
Company, woolen mills, incorporated. In 1881 he
was appointed aid-de-camp on the staff of Governor
Bigelow, and was a very popular member of the
official gubernatorial family. He served the town
of Killingly in the house of representatives in 18S3,
and was chairman of the committee on cities and
boroughs on the part of the house. While in the
legislature he distinguished himself by his readi-
ness in debate and skill in disposing of public busi-
ness. He was secretary of the state in 1885-86,
having been elected on the republican state ticket
with Hon. H. B. Harrison at its head. Thus the
stages were very natural that in the fall of 1886 led
to his elevation as candidate for congress in the
third district; and, as before whenever a candidate
for public office, he received a victorious support at
the polls. The honor thus bestowed has since been
twice repeated, Mr. Russell now serving his third
term in the house. The record shows that the in-
terests of the third district were wisely entrusted
and have been safely guarded at the national capi-
tol during Mr. Russell's incumbency of the high
and honorable office.
Of Congressman Russell's genealogy, it may be
mentioned that his paternal ancestors settled near
Cambridge, Mass., and Hved there long enough to
take a hand in the celebrated Lexington fight be-
fore they migrated to New Hampshire, where the
father of the subject of this sketch was born in
1820. The mother — a Wentworth — traces her
lineage directly to the old colonial Governor Went-
worth of New Hampshire. The well-remembered
Henry Dunster, first president of Harvard College,
was also of kin with the ancestry alluded to.
Mr. Russell was married in 1880 to Miss Ella
Frances Sayles, daughter of Hon. Sabin L. Sayles
of Killingly, and they have two children.
HON. WILBUR B. FOSTER, Rockville; Presi-
dent " The Boston Clothing Company."
Wilbur B. Foster was born in Monson, Mass.,
March 31, 1853, and educated at the Monson
Academy. At twenty years of age he went to
Rockville and established
himself in the ready-made
clothing trade , which
business he has continu-
ously followed until the
present time, being now
the senior member of his
firm, and representing
the largest clothing estab-
lishment in the city. In
iS74he married Miss Edna
Winchell, only daughter
of Cyrus Winchell, Esq.,
one of the leading manu-
facturers of Rockville.
In 1886 he was appointed postmaster of Rockville,
holding the office four years. He was secretary of
the local board of education for a number of years,
and is at present acting school visitor. He has
held many important town and city offices, and last
fall was elected state senator from the twenty-third
district, being the candidate of the democratic
party. He is a prominent member of several
secret organizations; is past Chief Ranger Court
" Hearts of Oak," Ancient Order of Foresters of
America; and has twice been selected by Foresters
as their representative to national conventions, at
Chicago and Minneapolis. He has recently been
appointed a trustee of the Connecticut Hospital for
the Insane, at Middletown.
W. B. FOSTER.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
145
BAKER, Oakdale (Montville):
HENRY A.
Postmaster.
Henry Augustus Baker occupied the offices oi
judge of probate and town clerk for twenty-five
years, and has been a notary pubhe for thirty.
Since 1S75 he has been
engaged in the fire insur-
ance business, but was
formerly a carpenter and
farmer. He is also the
postmaster at Oakdale,
receiving the appointment
in 1SS9 as a republican.
For the past sixteen years
Judge Baker has been
engaged in compiling a
history of Montville and a
genealogy of the first
settlers there. The work
is now nearly ready for
pubHcation. From 1S53 until 1S57 he re ided in
Norwich. The judge i;, a native of Montville, the
date of his birth being October 29, 1823. He re-
ceived a common school education. May iS, 1846,
he was married to Miss Hannah Fox Scholfield,
who is still living. There are also two children
living, three having died. Judge Baker is a deacon
in the First Congregational church at Montville,
and clerk and treasurer of the church. He is also
a member of Oxoboxo Lodge, F. and A. M., at
^lontville, and has held the position of chaplain of
the organization.
II. A. HAKEK.
JAMES W. BRASIE, Washincjton : Town
Clerk.
James W. Brasie was bora at Norfolk, February
I, 1S68, and was educated at Winsted. He was
elected town clerk of Washington by the democrats
the first year of his ma-
jority, and is now serv-
ing for the second term .
He is also clerk of the
probate court for the dis-
trict of Washington. He
is the station agent of the
Shepaug, Litchfield &
Northern rtjad at Wash-
ton depot, and is an active
business man. Mr. Brasie
is a member of the First
Congregational church at
Winsted. His wife, who
is still living, was Miss
.Minnie G. Cook prior to her marriage. The subject
of this sketch is thoroughly popular in his com-
munity. His election as town clerk was carried by
a majority of 47 votes.
10
J. W. KKASIE.
C. W. BARKER.
C. W. BARKER, North Brani-qru: Printer.
Clarence W. Barker was born in the town of
Branford, Oct. 6, 1856, and was educated in the
common schools. He has been engaged in the card
and novelty business for
twelve years, his avoca-
tion being that of a card
printer and novelty deal-
er. Most of his life has
been spent in Branford.
Eight years ago he re-
moved to North Branford,
where he has since resid-
ed. During President
Cleveland's administra-
tion he held the office of
postmaster. He is a mem-
ber of the grange at North
Branford and of the
Knights of Pythias lodge in Branford. He is
also actively connected with the Congregational
church, and the Young People's Society of Christ-
ian Endeavor work and is an influential member
of the society. Mr. Barker has a wife and four
children. The former was Miss Minnie G. Barthol-
omew of Northford prior to her marriage.
ANDREW JACKSON BOWEN, Willimantic :
Attorney.
Andrew J. Bowen was born in 1S45 at Eastford,
and educated on his father's farm and in the schools
of his native town. A desire at one time to enlist
was not approved by his
parents, and consequent-
ly his military record did
not materialize. After
teaching school a few
terms he engaged in trade
in one of the village stores
of Eastford, doing a good
business, amounting one
year to $20,000. While
living in his native town
he held the offices of
school visitor, school dis-
trict committee, bank di-
rector, constable, board
of relief, justice of the peace, postmaster, and rep-
resentative in the state legislature. The latter
position was occupied in iSSo, when he served on
the committee on incorporations. He introduced
several bills and resolutions, part of which were
passed and became law. He studied law four
years, some of the time with Judge Richmond of
Ashford; after which, in 1S81, he moved to Willi-
mantic, where he has since resided and practiced law.
He has become identified with the moral and busi-
A. J. KOWEN.
146
AN ILLUvSTRATED POPULAR
ness interests of Willimantic, and at one time was
president of the Morrison Machine Compan}- of that
place, and is now the treasurer of said company.
In politics he was reared a democrat, but always
votes republican, and uses pen and voice in advo-
cacy of the principles of the latter part}'. Since
1865 he has been a member of the Congregational
church. He married Hannah R. Rindge at the
age of twenty-two, and has three children, namely,
Bessie, Clarence, and Ernest.
S. A. GRANGER.
S. A. GRANGER, Winsted: Secretary and Treas-
urer The Morgan Silver Plate Company.
Salmon Algernon Granger was an officer in
Litchfield county's favorite regiment, the Second
Heavy Artillery, during the war, and possesses a
record that commands
admiration wherever it is
mentioned. He enlisted
April 25, 1861, as a pri-
vate in the Second Con-
necticut under the late
General Alfred H. Terry,
and was at the first bat-
tle of Bull Run. He re-
enlisted in the nineteenth
infantry, which was sub-
sequently designated as
the Second Connecticut
Heavy Artillery and com-
manded Company I at
the time of Lee's surrender. In 1S64 he was with
Sheridan in the great Shenandoah campaign. At
the close of the war he accepted the position of su-
perintendent of the New England Pin Company of
Winsted and remained in that capacity for twenty-
two years. In 1 888 he was one of the organizers of
the Morgan Silver Plate Company of Winsted, and
became the secretary and treasurer. Mr. Granger
w^as born in New Marlborough, Mass., August 12,
1839, and was educated in the common school. He
acquired the trade of a carpenter, but failed to pur-
sue it after the war. He was married December
19, i860, his wife being Miss Carrie A. Potter, daugh-
ter of Newton C. Potter of Torrington. He has two
sons, one sixteen and the second twelve years of
age. In politics his position is that of an indepen-
dent. He is a member of the school committee and
a trustee of the Methodist church of which he has
been a member since 1859. He is a past master of
St. Andrew's lodge of Winsted, F. and A. M., past
H. P. of Meridian Chapter R. A.M. , and has attained
the 32O in Masonry. He also belongs to the order
of Odd Fellows, and is past grand regent of the
Connecticut Royal Arcanum, and grand treasurer
of the N. E. O. P. of Connecticut. He has also held
the oifice of junior vice-commander of the Grand
Armv in this state.
RICHARD BULLWINKLE, Mianus (Green-
wich): Stock Farmer.
Richard BuUwinkle was born in New York city.
May 12, i860, and was educated in Grammar School
No. 1 8 and the College of the City of New York.
He began the stud}- of
medicine, but was com-
pelled to relinquish it on
account of ill health. He
has spent a great deal of
time in traveling in this
country, and is a gentle-
man of extensive observa-
tion and culture. He has
held the office of town
treasurer in Greenwich,
and is a republican in
politics. He is connected
with the LTniversalist
church and the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows. Formerly he was of
the firm of R. BuUwinkle & Co. in Greenwich, and
is now president of the Volunteer Rock Drill Com-
pany at South Beach, Conn. Practically he was
compelled to give up business in October, 1890, and
is now spending most of his time on the stock farm
which he owns at Mianus. His wife was Miss
Estella A. Bowen before marriage. There are
three children, ah of whom are living.
RRHARD BULLWINKLE.
FRANK ELDRIDGE HYDE, Hartford: At-
torney-at-Law.
Frank E. Hyde, at present a member of the
prominent law firm of Hyde, Gross & Hyde at
Hartford, was born at Tolland January 21, 1858.
He was educated in the
public schools of Hartford,
and at Yale Cohege, grad-
uating in the class of 1879.
After completing his col-
lege course he pursued his
legal studies at the Colum-
bia and Yale Law Schools,
graduating from the latter
in 1871. He was immedi-
ately admitted to the bar,
and has since been m ac-
tive practice in Hartford.
Mr. Hyde represented
Hartford in the legislature
in 1S87, and was re-elected for the succeeding ses-
sion of 1889, being the fourth generation in his
family to be represented in the general assembly of
the state. His father, Hon. A. P. Hyde, served
several terms in the house, representing the town
of Tolland; his grandfather, Alvin Hyde, and his
great-grandfather, Nathaniel Hyde, representing
E. HVUE.
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXECTICUT.
147
the town of Stafford, each in his day serving- with
honor and distinction. All have been democrats.
The late Judge Waldo, for many years among the
foremost lawyers of the state, was the grandfather
of Mr. Hyde on his mother's side, and he also
achieved a most honorable legislative career. Mr.
Hyde has successfully followed in the footsteps of
his ancestors, ably and honorably serving tlie in-
terests of his constituents and clients, whether in
the execution of public trusts or of his professional
duties.
JOS. H. IJARNUM.
JOSEPH HALL BARNUM, Hartkokd: Editor
and Proprietor " The Hartford Sundav Jour-
nal."
Captain Barnum was born in East Hartford,
May 27, 1S3S, and received a common school and
academic education. His father was Eli Barnum,
who was a hatter by trade,
and a cousin of the late P.
T. Barnum, the family
originating in Danburj-.
On his mother's side Cap-
tam Barnum is a descend-
ant of Colonel Peter Har-
wood of Massachusetts,
who served with credit in
the Revolutionarj- army.
At the age of fifteen j-ears
the subject of this sketch
removed to Hartford and
entered the employ of the
Sawyer Silver Spoon
Works. At sixteen he went to The Hartford Times,
Avhere he acquired an insight into the printer's trade.
From the composing rooms of The Times he entered
the employ of The Morning Post, under James M.
Scofield, and was in that office when the war com-
menced. ]\Ieanwhile he had served in the Volun-
teer Fire Department of the city, advancing from
old No. 5 on Church Street to the assistant fore-
manship of the ^tna Hose Company. Captain
Barnum was among the first in this city to respond
to the call for troops, and enlisted April 20, 1861, in
the Light Guard Infantrj-, Company A, First Con-
necticut. During the previous February he had
enlisted in the Light Guard as one of the city mili-
tary companies, and proceeded with it to the field,
when the first call for volunteers was issued. He
was in the first battle of Bull Run with his regi-
ment. At the conclusion of the three months' ser-
vice he returned home and again ff)und employ-
ment on The Morning Post. In July 1S62, his
ardor made it impossible for him to remain longer
at the case, and he became a worker in enlisting
the Bee Hive Company of the Sixteenth Regiment,
the old firm of Starr, Burkett & Company being
especially interested in the organization. Captain
Bununn was mustered as first heutenant of the
company, August 24, the command being assigned
to the left of the regiment, the second place of
honor in the organization. First Lieutenant Bar-
num was placed in charge of regimental supplies at
Arlington, when the Sixteenth started for the mem-
orable Maryland campaign of 1862, which culmi-
nated in the battle of Antietam. After that engage-
ment Lieutenant Barnum was promoted to the cap-
taincy of Company H, his commission dating Sep-
tember 20, 1862. He was selected for this position
by Colonel Frank Beach, who was one of the most
impartial judges of military attainments. Captain
Barnum was at Fredericksburg, serving at the head
of his company. Owing to the illness of his wife
he was compelled to resign, February 23, 1862, and
return to Hartford. The vacancy in the company
was not filled, however, and in May Captain Bar-
num was called to an interview with Governor
Buckingham, and earnestly requested to accept the
return of his old commission. Governor Bucking-
ham supported his own wishes in the matter by re-
ferring to the personal desire of Colonel Beach that
Captain Barnum should be induced to return. He
was again mustered. May 12, 1863, and joined the
command at Suffolk, Va. , in time to participate in
the Peninsula campaign of that year. During one
of the protracted marches of that campaign. Cap-
tain Barnum was prostrated by the heat, and com-
pelled for the first time in his life to fall out of line.
The effects of that day's service have been felt from
that time until now. When the Sixteenth was
ordered from Virginia into North Carolina, Jan-
uary, 1864, Captain Barnum, as officer-of-the-day at
the time of the regiment's departure, was called
t:pon at a critical juncture to perform an important
service. The incident referred to was in connection
with the destruction of the regimental camp at
Getty's station near Portsmouth, Va. The attack
at Plymouth, N. C, which resulted in the capture
of nine companies of the Sixteenth was commenced
April 17, 1S64. Three days prior to that event.
Captain Barnum was selected with Company H to
relieve the Union forces on Roanoke Island. Sun-
day morning, April 17, he started on that mission.
Ten hours later the bombardment of the outpost by
the rebels had commenced. During the summer of
1S64, Captain Barnum remained at Roanoke, where
the nucleus of the regiment was preserved, and the
field and staff reports and muster rolls of the
absent companies kept intact. An important ex-
pedition was made under Colonel D. W. Wardrop,
the destruction of mills and property in the neigh-
borhood of Plymouth being the objective point.
Captain Barnum commanded the Sixteenth, and is
deserving of the greatest credit for the work which
he accomplished in its behalf. In jNIarch, 1S65, he
was ordered with his command to Newberne, N. C,
148
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
and relieved the troops in that city, which were
then performing provost duty. He commanded the
escort that accompanied General Grant from New-
berne to Raleigh, the object of General Grant's
visit being a conference with General Sherman.
Captain Barnum remained in command of the Six-
teenth until April 19, 1865, when he was relieved by
the late Captain Thomas F. Burke of this city, the
senior line officer. June 24, 1865, the subject of this
sketch was mustered out of servdce, and returned
home at the head of his company. His military
career was one of strict devotion to duty. He was
one of the best disciplinarians in the regiment, and
instinctively a soldier from head to foot. After re-
turning home he started The Soldiers" Record in
company with Lieutenant Wm. E. Simonds, who
has since represented the First district in congress.
Afterwards he assumed the management of The
Gas Light, a bright theatrical paper of the time,
and The Travelers Journal. In 1874 The Gas
Light was dropped, and in April of that year The
Journal was established as a Sunday paper, the
Captain becoming one of the pioneers in Sunday
journalism in Connecticut. The Sunday Journal
has been his hfe work in the field of business.
From the outset it has been a successful enterprise.
Its owner and manager is an able new.spaper man,
and the success which it has attained is due to his
intelligence and administration. Captain Barnum
was unanimously elected commander of the Btick-
ingham Rifles after the war, and served in the
National Guard for a while. His military instincts,
however, found full opportunity^ for development in
Washington Commandery No. i, K. T., of which
he has long been a member. He held the position
of Captain-General in the Commandery for three
terms, and was in military command of the organ-
ization during the Chicago pilgrimage. Captain
Barnum is a 32O Mason, and is also a member of
Pyramid Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine,
Bridgeport. He is a Past Chancellor of Crescent
Lodge, Knights of Pythias. Captain Barnum was
one of the vice-presidents of the great assemblage
that was held here, in recognition of General
Grant's death. He has never sought political office
of any kind, having devoted himself to his news-
paper enterprises. Captain Barnum has been
married twice. His present wife, Mary A. Root,
was the daughter of Lyman Root of Westfield,
^Mass. On her mother's side Mrs. Barnum is con-
nected with the poet, William Cullen Bryant, and
with General Nathaniel Lyon. The surviving son by
the first marriage, Charles H. Barnum, is connected
with The Sunday Journal, occupying a responsi-
ble position in the management. Captain Barnum
has been a resident of Hartford since 1853. He is
an independent in politics, and his paper has been
guided essentially on that principle.
GREGORY
JAMES G. GREGORY, M.D., Norwalk.
Dr. Gregory was born in Norwalk in 1843. After
a thorough course of preparatory training in the
public schools of his native town, he entered Yale
College, from which insti-
tution he graduated with
the class of 1865, and from
the New York College of
Physicians and Surgeons
in 1868. He was for two
years connected with the
medical staff of the Brook-
lyn City Hospital. In 1870
he returned to Norwalk,
where he has since resid-
ed and been in almost
constant practice. Dr.
Gregory represented Nor-
walk in the legislature in
1879, serving as chairman of the committee on fed-
eral relations, and a member of the committee on
claims. He was also on the staff of Governor Big-
elow, as surgeon-general, in 18S1-S2. He has filled
various local offices in Norwalk, including that of
burgess and warden of the borough; and is a trus-
tee on the part of Fairfield county of the Middle-
town Asylum for the Insane. He has taken an act-
ive part in educational interests, and has been in-
strumental in securing many important advantages
in this direction to the rising generation of his na-
tive town.
OZIAS HOLMES KIRTLAND, Old Saybrook:
Town Clerk.
Ozias H. Kirtland has had three years of service
in the general assembly of this state. He was first
elected a member of the house in 1852, representing
the town of Saybrook.
That year the town of
Old Saybrook was incor-
porated by the legisla-
ture. During the years
of 1882 and 1S83 he rep-
resented Old Saybrook in
the house, serving on the
republican side. He was
a member of decided in-
fluence. He was born in
Saybrook, Sept. 24, 1819,
and received an academic
education. His early life
was spent in farming and
in teaching. Subsequently, he became interested
in fishing enterprises in the Connecticut river; also
on Lake Ontario in Jefferson county, N. Y., and at
Savannah, Ga. In 1S60 he organized with David
W. Clark the firm of Kirtland & Clark and engaged
in shipping fish in large quantities to New York.
O. H. KIRTLAND.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
149
In 1S69 the lumber business was added, being re-
tained until the present. In 1S64 Mr. Kirtland was
elected town clerk of Old Saybrook and has held
the position continuously since that time. He is a
member of the Congregational church and held the
office of deacon from 1850 to iSgo. He was in the
state militia for ten years. Mr. Kirtland has been
married twice, his first wife, who died Feb. 3, 1S79,
being Miss Elizabeth R. Clark. The second wife
was Miss Elizabeth R. Whittlesey prior to her mar-
riage. The family also includes two sons and one
daughter.
BENXET JERALDS, Y.vlesvili.k : Contractor
with the Charles Parker Company.
Rennet Jeralds was born in Watertown, October
10, iSiS, ^d received a common school education.
His life has been spent chiefly in the towns of Pros-
pect and Wallingford.
He has held various pub-
lic offices in the town
where he resides, and is
at present a member of
the board of relief. He is
also a notaiy public and
is a I'epublican in politics.
Years ago he was con-
nected with the state mili-
tia. At the age of iS
years Mr. Jeralds entered
the employ of William
]\Iix of Prospect, the first
spoon manufacturer in
the United States, and remained with him three
years. When he attained his majorit}-, he began
the manufacture of britannia spoons on his own ac-
count, and continued in the business in Prospect
until 184S, when he formed a copartnership with
Eli Ives of Mei'iden and prosecuted the business
until 1853. During that year i\Ir. Jeralds bought
out the interest of I\Ir. Ives and subsequently dis-
posed of the plant to Mr. Charles Parker of Meri-
den. He immediately became the superintendent
of Mr. Parker's spoon factor}- in Yalesville and re-
moved to that place in 1S54. He retained the posi-
tion of superintendent imtil 1876, when the contract
system was inaugurated, and ]\Ir. Jeralds became
a contractor in the establishment. In politics Mr.
Jeralds identified himself with the free-soil party
and was defeated as a candidate for the legislature
on the free-soil ticket in 1S51 by one vote. Since the
organization of the republican party he has uni-
formly voted for its candidates and interests. He
was for years a justice of the peace in Wallingford
and has been actively associated with school affairs
in his community. The subject of this sketch has
been married five times. The survi\nng wife was
at the time of her marriage with Mr. Jeralds the
BENNET JERALDS.
widow of Charles T. Sherman of West Haven. He
has six children, five daughters and one son, twenty-
five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Mr. Jeralds is a member of the Episcopal church in
Yalesville.
J. W. KNOWI.TON.
COL. JULIUS W. KXOWLTOX, Buiugeport:
Postmaster.
JuHus W. Knowlton was born in Southbridge,
Mass., November 28, 1S3S. He is the son of
William S. Knowlton, and traces his American
ancestry to Thomas
Knowlton, who emigrated
from England in 1632
and settled in Ipswich,
Mass. When Julius AV.
was seven years of age
his parents removed to
Norwich, Conn., and
three years later t o
Bridgeport, where he was
educated in the public
and private schools. In
i860 he engaged in busi-
ness in Bridgeport, con-
tinuing until the breaking
out of the rebellion, when he enlisted as a private
in Company A, Fourteenth Connecticut Volunteer
Infantry, and upon the organization of the regi-
ment was made commissary-sergeant. He was
promoted to the second lieutenancy of Company C,
and was in command of that company at the battle
of Gettysburg. On the third da}' of that battle he
was wounded, and remained in a hospital on the
field eleven days, when he was removed to Balti-
more, and soon after to his home in Bridgeport.
The following January he returned to the front,
but on account of his wounds was unable to per-
form arduous military dut}% and in 1864 was dis-
charged for physical disabilit}*.
In October, 1866, Colonel Knowlton was one of
three who purchased T/ie Bridgep07't Standard,
organizing under the joint stock laws of Connecti-
cut, with ^Ir. Knowlton as secretary and treasurer
and business manager. He resigned this position
in 1873, to take the superintendency of the Moore
Car Wheel Company of Jersey City, N. J. In 1S74
he accepted a position in the post-office department
at Washington, D. C, and was later made chief
clerk of the department by P. I\I. -General Marshall
Jewell. In 1S75 he received the appointment of
postmaster at Bridgeport, which position he now
occupies.
Colonel Knowlton is a republican, and is active
and prominent in the councils of his party. He has
served two terms in the legislature, has been a
member of the republican state committee, and was
on Governor Jewell's staff, with the rank of colonel.
150
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
He is a prominent member of the Masonic fra-
ternity, having taken all degrees to and including
the thirty-second — Scottish Rite. He is a mem-
ber of the military order of the Loyal Legion of the
United States, the Army and Navy Club, Grand
Army, and the Seaside Club. ' He has been assist-
ant adjutant-general G. A. R., a member of the
National Council, and in 1880 was a delegate to the
National Encampment. He is a member of the
First Universalist society of Bridgeport. He mar-
ried, December 17, 1S66, Miss Jennie E. Fairchild,
of Newtown, Conn., and they have had two child-
ren, neither of whom is at present living.
L. Y. KETCHUM.
LEANDER Y. KETCHUM, Woodbury: Post-
master.
Leander Y. Ketchum was born at Clyde, Wayne
county, N. Y., December 15, 1850, and Avas edu-
cated at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. , and at
Dickinson College, Car-
lisle, Pa. His professional
studies were pursued in
the medical department
of the University of New
York. He also took a
full course in the New
York College of Pharma-
cy, graduating from the
latter in 1876. tlis father
was Judge Leander S.
Ketchum of Clyde, a law-
yer ot prominence in
western New York, judge
of the county court
through successive terms, and member of the New
York constitutional convention in I S60. Dr. Ketchum
was educated for West Point originally, but owing
to the death of his father that project was given
up. Prior to 1876 he spent several years in Califor-
nia. After receiving the degree of M.D., he prac-
ticed in New York cit3^ at Arcade, Wyoming Co.,
N. Y. , and in Ansonia, finally settling at Wood-
bury. He is, in addition to his medical practice,
the proprietor of the leading drug store in the town,
postmaster, having received his appointment from
President Harrison, medical examiner, and post
surgeon. He is a member of the Litchfield county
and state medical societies. He also belongs to
King Solomon's Lodge, No. 7, of Woodbury, which
possesses one of the most interesting historical
structures in the state. Dr. Ketchum has been mar-
ried twice. His first wife was Miss M. Belle Coth-
ren (daughter of the Hon. Wm. Cothren of Wood-
bury), whose death occurred within a few years.
The present wife was Miss Sophia Horton, niece of
Prof. James L. Ensign of New Haven. The doc-
tor has a large practice in the town. In politics he
is a republican.
J. L. HOWARD.
HON. JAMES L. HOWARD, Hartford: Manu-
facturer, President James L. Howard & Com-
pany and Hartford City Gas Light Company.
Hon. James L. Howard, Lieutenant-Governor of
the State of Connecticut in 1887 and 1888, is the
eldest son of the late Rev. Leland Howard, and
was born in Windsor, Ver-
mont, January 18, 1818.
He received an academic
education, and began his
business career as a clerk
in the city of New York.
In 1838 he came to reside
in Hartford, and in 1841
engaged in the manufac-
turing business on his
own account, and has
been a manufacturer ever
since. His firm was in-
corporated in 1876 as
James L. Howard &
Company, of which he became and is now presi-
dent. He is widely known to the railroad interests
of the country as a manufacturer of railroad supplies.
Since his residence in Hartford, he has frequently
been called to serve the city in vaiious public
capacities, having been a councilman, alderman,
police commissioner, chairman of the board of park
commissioners, member for many years of the high
school committee, and one of the building committee
in the erection of the fine high school building. In
all these capacities he has won the esteem of citi-
zens irrespective of party. His exceptional busi-
ness abilities have also met recognition from the
institutions of the cit3^ Additionally to his official
connection with his own house, he is president of
the Plartford City Gas Light Company, a director
in the Phoenix National Bank, a director in the
Traveler's Insurance Company ever since its forma-
tipn, and sustains the same relation to the Hartfonl
County Fire Insurance Company, the Retreat for
the Insane, the Farmington River Power Company,
and several important manufacturing companies.
He is also on the board of directors of the New
York & New England Railroad Company. His
election to the position of lieutenant-governor in
1S87 was a recognition not only of his sterling
qualities as a loyal and patriotic citizen, but of his
practical business ability, his administrative tact, and
his familiarity with parliamentar}- rules and usages.
Mr. Howard is a representative layman of the
Baptist church of the country, his local connection
being with the First Baptist church of Hartford, of
which he is and has long been a deacon. He is held
in high esteem and has been greatly honored by
the denomination, which he represents in a wider
than state limit. He was president of the Connec-
ticut Baptist Convention from 1871 to 1876, and is
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
151
now a trustee and member of its executive commit-
tee; he was one of the originators and first presi-
dent (and re-elected additional terms) of the Ba])tist
Social Union, and is now president of the board of
trustees of the Connecticut Literary Institution, the
leading educational corporation of the church in
Connecticut; he was also president of the American
Baptist Publication Society from 1873 to 1877, and
of the American Baptist Home Mission Society
from 18S1 to 1S84. He is now one of the trustees
of Brown Univ^crsity.
Mr. Howard was originally a whig, and nat-
urally became a republican when the party of
" free men, free soil, and free speech " was organ-
ized in 1856, and has always given earnest and
active support to republican principles. He is
distinctively a leader in everything that goes to
make up good citizenship, and in the tokens of con-
fidence which his fellow-citizens have showered upon
him.
Mr. Howard was married, June i, 1842, to Miss
Anna Gilbert, daughter of the late Joseph B. Gil-
bert of Hartford. There have been five children,
of whom three are living; the eldest, Alice, is now
the wife of Judge E. B. Bennett of this city.
FRANCIS HAYDEN TODD, North Haven:
Farmer.
F. Hayden Todd was born in the town where he
still resides, August 8, 1S27. He was educated at
public and private schools, and has followed agri-
cultural pursuits all his
life. He was one year in
the New Haven Foot
Guards, but boasts no
other military record. He
has held many public of-
fices, including that of
selectman for four years,
grand juror for nearly
thirty years, treasurer of
the tovai for the last f om*-
teen years, and various
other town offices since
1864. In 1883 he repre-
sented North Haven in
the legislature, serving on the committee on agri-
culture, having been elected by the republicans.
He is a Congregationalist by profession, also a
member of the North Haven grange. He united
in marriage with Miss Elizabeth M. Gill, who is
still living, and they have three sons. Mr. Todd
has had most of the grand juror business of the
town since 1864, and is, with one exception, the
longest in this office of any person in his part of
New Haven county. His record is that of an hon-
orable and useful citizen.
^r^'^
F. H. TODD.
W. H. BULKELEY.
WILLIAM H. BULKELEY, Hartford: Dry-
Goods Merchant.
General William H. Bulkeley has been a ])romi-
nent citizen of Hartford for many years, conspicu-
ous beyond the limits of the city and county, in
political and business cir-
cles, first, as having occu-
pied the second highest
office within the gift of
the state, and next as
the proprietor of one of
the most noted dry-goods
houses in this section of
New England. He is de-
scended from one of the
oldest New England fam-
ilies, the representatives
of which have invariabl}^
impressed themselves
upon the moral, social,
and business life of the communities in which they
have lived.
General Bulkeley was born in East Haddam,
March 2, 1840. Seven years later, his father, the
late Hon. EHphalet A. Bulkeley, established his
residence in Hartford, and remained here until his
death a few years ago. The young man was edu-
cated in the district and high schools of Hartford,
principal T. W. T. Curtis being one of his instruct-
ors. He left the high school before graduation,
with an admirable record for scholarship and appli-
cation, and entered an old and leading dry-goods
establishment here as a clerk. In March, 1857, he
went to Brooklyn, N. Y., and engaged in the same
business with H. P. Morgaii & Co. Afterwards he
entered the dry -goods trade for himself, and con-
ducted a successful business for six years on Fulton
Street, Brooklyn. In 1868 he returned to Hartford
and organized the Kellogg & Bulkeley Company,
lithographers, of which he has since been the pres-
ident. He was for several years vice-president of
the ^tna Life Insurance Company, and is at pres-
ent a member of its board of directors. He is also
a director or otherwise officially connected with a
number of the banking, insurance, and other cor-
porations of Hartford. In 1878 he purchased the
"Bee Hive," a famous dry -goods establishment,
which he has since managed with great success, it
being the chief secular object of his attention.
General Bulkeley has had large experience in
municipal and state politics, and has been both bur-
dened and honored with official positions. He was
ii\-c years in the common council board of Hartford,
serving one year as vice-president, and one as pres-
ident of that body. At the expiration of his mem-
bership in the council, he was appointed a member
of the board of street commissioners, retaining the
position by successive appointments between seven
152
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
and eight years, and proving one of the most effi-
cient members the board has ever had. General
Bulkeley was elected to the office of Lieutenant-
Governor of Connecticut on the ticket with Governor
Bigelow, and served through 1881 and 1882 with
credit. As presiding officer of the senate, he won
and received the ajjproval of that body, irrespective
of party.
General Bulkeley has a creditable war record,
having been one of the first to respond to the call
for troops after the attack on Fort Sumter. He was
a member of the Brooklyn City Guard, G company,
Thirteenth regiment, N. Y. N. G., and advanced to
the front with his command, April 19, 1861. The
organization was in service for four months. In
1862 he organized Company G, of the Fifty-sixth
regiment, N. Y. N. G., and was elected captain.
He was with his command through the Pennsylva-
nia crisis of 1S63, being in General " Baldy "
Smith's division. The regiment was ordered home
during the New York draft riots, after which it was
disbanded, its term of service having expired.
General Bulkeley is an active member of Robert
O. Tyler Post, G. A. R., of Hartford, and also of the
Army and Navy Club of Connecticut. In private
life he is a gentleman of superior traits of charac-
ter; a member of the Pearl Street Congregational
church, and a generous contributor to its charities.
S. C. BEERS, Cornwall: Merchant.
Silas Curtis Beers was the judge of probate in
the Cornwall district for four years from 18S0, and
occupied the position of town clerk and treasurer
for fourteen consecutive
years, discharging the du-
ties of the place with
great efficiency and suc-
cess. In 1867 he was a
member of the house
from the town of Corn-
wall, his colleagues from
Litchfield county includ-
ing Henry B. Graves of
Litchfield, Seth Thomas
of Plymouth, Nathaniel
Smith of Woodbury, and
the Rev. John Churchill,
also of W(jodbury. In
politics Mr. Beers is a republican. He is a member
of the First Congregational church in Cornwall, in
which he has held the office of deacon for a number
of years. He is a member of the firm of M. Beers
& Sons, and is engaged in mercantile pursuits.
Mr. Beers is unmarried. He was born at Cornwall,
March 13, 1S27, and received a common school edu-
cation. He is one of the most respected and hon-
ored citizens of the town in which he lives.
S. C. BEERS.
ELISHA B. GILLETTE, Canaan: Farmer.
Elisha B. Gillette was born in that town, Nov.
27, 1829, and received a common school education.
His father, Joseph P. Gillette, was from Milford,
and his grandfather, Ben-
jamin Gillette, was a sol-
dier of the revolutionary
war. The subject of this
sketch was a member of
the house of representa-
tives in 1 884 from Canaan,
serving on the democratic
side. He has been a
member of the school
board and school commit-
tee, occupying the posi-
tion of clerk and treas-
urer. He has also been a
justice of the peace. Mr.
Gillette is a member of the Methodist church. For
the past thirty years he has been engaged in the
lumber and charcoal business, and in farming.
The wife of Mr. Gillette was Miss Sarah L. Abells
before her marriage, and is still living. The
family includes five children.
E. B. GILLETTE.
CHARLES BELKNAP, Bridgeport: President of
the Belknap Manufacturing Company.
Charles Belknap was born in East Randolph,
Vermont, March 29, 1825. Brought up on a farm
until 1 84 1, he went to Chicopee Falls to work in a
cotton mill. In 1844 he
went to Cabotville (now
Chicopee) to learn the
machinist trade with the
Ames Manufacturing
Company. He was mar-
ried in May, 1845, to Mar-
cia C. Goddard. In 1849
he removed to Springfield
and was employed in the
United States Armory
shops. In August, i860,
went to Bridgeport with
Dwight Chapin & Co.,
manufacturers of brass
and iron goods. In 1861 was engaged in the man-
ufacture of army appendages. Did not go to the
war and was not drafted, but wishing to be repre-
sented sent a substitute. In 1863, in company with
Mr. E. G. Burnham, he organized the Belknap &
Burnham Manufacturing Company for the manu-
facture of engineers' supplies, gas, steam, and
water goods. From small beginnings this business
grew to large proportions and was afterward
changed to the Eaton, Cole & Burnham Co., one of
the largest of its kind in the country.
In 1875, having retired from the above corpora-
CHARLES BELKNAP.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
153
DAVID IIEXXEY.
tion, and having associated with him several gen-
tlemen who had held prominent positions in the oUl
firm's emjjloy, the Belknap Manufactiiring Com-
pany was organized to manufacture the same line
of goods, in which he has held the position of presi-
dent since its organization, owning the majority of
the capital stock.
DAVID HENNEV, H.\rtkord : President and
Treasurer Hartford Light and Power Company.
Alderman David Henney was born in Onslow,
la., Oct. 7, 1S55, his parents at the time being resi-
dents of that state. One year later the familj' re-
turned to Connecticut and
settled in Willimantic.
After a residence of severi
years in that place, Mr.
Henney, the father of the
alderman, decided to re-
move to this city, where
he could give his childi-en
the best of educational
opportunities. It was the t ,
question of education, in /
fact, that determined his
return east from Iowa.
All of his children have
been thoroughlyeducated,
and each of the five sons occupies a responsible and
influential position in the community where he re-
sides. The subject of this sketch was educated in
the public schools of this city, graduating from the
Hartford High School in the class of 1874. He was
a clerk in the Mechanics Savings Bank here for
four years, after which he engaged in the broker-
age business. In 18S7 he organized the Hartford
Light and Power Company and has been its presi-
dent and treasurer from the start. At the session
of the legislature in 18S7 the company was incorpo-
rated under a special charter and was the first to
introduce the incandescent sj-stem in this city. It
was also the first to establish electric motors,
furnishing power for industries of various kinds.
President Henney was mainly instrumental in
getting the electric street railroad line established.
He is also the originator of the project for running
electric railroad lines from West Hartford Center
by way of Farmington to Unionville and from the
Windsor town line on North ]Main street to Poquon-
ock and Rainbow. These plans will be carried
into effect as soon as acts of incorporation are
granted by the legislature. Mr. Henney is the
president and treasurer of the Hartford Steam
Company. He also owns a valuable farm in Union-
ville, which is carried on under his immediate
supervisitm. He is one of the shrewdest business
men in the city. Alderman Henney has been a
member of the court of common council seven
years, six of the numlier being spent in the board
of alderman. He was chairman of the ways and
means committee for four years, the position being
the most important one in city government and re-
quiring special knowledge of municipal finances
and management. Mr. Henney discharged the
duties of the place with complete success. He is
the chairman of the eighth ward republican com-
mittee and is the only republican who has been
able to win an election in that stronghold of de-
mocrac)^ for three consecutive terms. The alder-
man is a member of the First Presbyterian church,
and was for a number of years the president of the
young people's association in that chtirch. He has
a wife and two children. The former was Miss
Elizabeth Simonds of this city prior to her mar-
riage. The brothers of the alderman are James B.
Henney of Boston, formerly superintendent of mo-
tive power on the New York & New England, John
Henney, Jr., superintendent of motive power on
the New York, New Haven & Hartford, Charles
M. and Judge Wm. F. Hennej^ both of whom have
held influential offices in the city. The only sister
resides at the familj'^ home here. Alderman Hen-
ney is a inember of the Hartford Order of Elks.
His career as a business man and citizen has enti-
tled him to the honor and esteem of the entire com-
munity.
E. H. BARTRAM, Sharon: Tcnvn Clerk and
Treasurer.
Ezra Harris Bartram was born in the town of
Sherman, Fairfield County, Conn., July 26, 1S20.
He depended upon the district schools of his native
town for his education,
and at the age of fifteen
quitted both the town
and school and took up
his residence in Sharon,
where he has since re-
mained. He has followed
mercantile pursuits for a
considerable part of his
life, and has otherwise
been engaged in farming.
At twenty-two years of
age he was married to
Miss Laura Williams, who
died March 9, 1SS4. Six
children survive her. Mr. Bartram is a member of
the IMethodist Episcopal church of Sharon. He is
also a democrat, and has, as the candidate of that
party, been frequently chosen to fill public offices
in his town. He has been constable, assessor, and
was a justice of the peace until excluded from fur-
ther holding that office by his age. He is still a
notary public, and continues to fill the important
position of town clerk and treasurer. Mr. Bartram
E. H. BARTRAM.
154
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
has not been conspicuously prominent in public
affairs, on account of his quiet disposition and
habits; but his life has been one of great usefulness,
and he has the confidence and respect of all who
know him.
ADDISON KINGSBURY.
ADDISON KINGSBURY, Coventry: Box Manu-
facturer.
Addison Kingsbur\- of Sovith Coventry, senior
member of the firm of A. Kingsburj- & Son, is one
of the most noted and successful paper box manu-
facturers in New England.
The business includes the
product from five facto-
ries which are located in
South Coventry, Rock-
ville, New London, and
Willimantic in this state,
and at Northampton,
Mass. Mr. Kingsbury is
the inventor of the ma-
chine for c u 1 1 i ng the
blanks for the boxes. The
industry was started at
South Coventry in iS68
and rapidly developed,
becoming in the course of a dozen years one of ex-
tensive proportions and standing. Millions of boxes
are now turned out annuallj'- by aid of the machin-
ery devised by ]\Ir. Kingsbury. In iS8o, after hav-
ing established an extensive plant at Rockville, the
far-sighted manager of the industry located a fac-
tor}^ at Northampton. In 1S83 Arthur L. Kings-
bury was admitted to the firm and has since been
an active participant in its interests and business.
In 1S85 the subject of this sketch invented a glue-
ing machine, which is still in use, and also the ma-
chine for cutting box blanks. These inventions
have contributed materially to the firm's success.
The combined production of the firm's factories
amounts to upwards of ten million boxes a year,
giving emplojauent to over 150 hands and doing
over $100,000 business annually. One of the spe-
cialties by which Messrs. Kingsbury achieved their
success is the furnishing of printed labels with the
boxes. The founder of the business is also inter-
ested in the Kingsburj^ & Davis Machine Company
of Contoocook, N. H., which turns out the machine
he invented for cutting blanks, as well as other pa-
per-box machinery. He has spent much of his time
in New York and is a gentleman of wide business
acquaintance. His career has been one of superb
success and may be adduced as an illustration of
the prosperity that awaits ability and energy in the
industrial pursuits of this country. The manufac-
turers of America, of whom Mr. Kingsbury is a
worthy representative, are entitled to the highest
credit for the part which they have performed in the
development of the American people. Mr. Kings-
bury was born at South Coventry, November 15,
1S35, ^^^ received a common and select school ed-
ucation. He began life as an accountant, bt:t the
most of his business career has been in connection
with his paper box industry and inventions. In pol-
itics he is a republican. He is connected with the
Congregational church. He has been twice married.
The second wife, who is still living, was Miss Sara
M. Scott prior to marriage. There are two child-
ren living, one of whom, Arthur L. Kingsbur}', is
associated with his father in the firm and business,
as before intimated.
HORACE JOHNSON.
HORACE JOHNSON, Pi.ainville: Carriage Man-
ufacturer.
Horace Johnson was born in Decatur, Otsego
county, N. Y., December 25, 1822, and received a
district school education. He was only five years
old when his father died.
Since that time he has
made his own way in the
world, working on a farm
during his early years for
his board and schooling.
At the age of sixteen,
after completing the sea-
son on a farm at three
dollars a month, he made
his wa}' back to Connecti-
cut, where his parents
were born, with only sev-
enteen dollars in his pos-
session. The subsequent
three years were spent in the town of Litchfield,
where he learned the carriage-maker's trade. He
then removed to New Britain and worked four years
for Normand Warner, who is still remembered by
man}- people in that locality. Mr. Johnson after-
wards effected a partnership with L. S. Gladding
and carried on a successful carriage business until
the commencement of the war. The firm con-
trolled an extensive business in the south and lost
heavily. Mr. Johnson's partner died soon after the
war was ended and the whole management of the
business devolved upon him. His plant was de-
stroyed b}- fire seven years ago, causing the loss of
nearlj' one-third of his property. The works Avere
rebuilt immediate^ and the business continued.
Mr. Johnson manufactures onljr first-class goods,
which are sent throughout the country, principally
in the south. His "Jefferson spindle " buggy has
taken several prize medals at state fairs, and is to
be found in every city on the Atlantic coast. He
has been a member of the board of selectmen at
Plainville and treasurer of the grand lodge of Good
Templars in this state. He is a prohibitionist in
BIOGRAl'IIV (~)F CONNECTICUT.
155
politics and a member of the Congi-egational church.
!Mr. Johnson also belongs to the Order of Odd Fel-
lows. His family consists of a wife and three child-
ren. The former was Miss Susan L. Adams prior
to marriage. In the management of his business
since the war, j\lr. Johnson has frequently visited
the south and has extensive transactions in that
section. His life has been characterized by the
strictest business integrity, and he has thoroughly
deserved the success which he has attained.
JAREl) W. LINCOLN, Chaplin: Postmaster.
Jared W. Lincoln was born in Windham, Sept. 8,
public school at North
schools in Chaplin and
J. W. LINCOLN.
1S23. He attended the
Windham, and private
Willimantic, and, at the
age of seventeen com-
menced teaching school.
He taught fourteen win-
ter terms. He was mar-
ried to Joanna Spafford in
April, 1S44. The}' have
had two children, Edgar
and Clinton; the latter
died in 1S62; Edgar is liv-
ing in Chaplin, ilr. Lin-
coln moved to Chajilin
in 1S56, and entered the
store of his brother Allen
Lincoln, as a clerk. Soon
afterwards he bought the store and has conducted
a business in general merchandise, until within a
few years, having been succeeded in the business
by his son, Edgar S. Lincoln. Mr. J. W. Lincoln
has retired from trade and is farming on a small
scale, preferring outdoor life for health, principally,
but also for comfort and independence. Mr. Lin-
coln has served his town in variovis public capaci-
ties since his residence there. He was a represent-
ative in the state legislature in 1862; was elected
town clerk and treasurer in 1863, both which offices
he now holds, and has held for twenty-seven j^ears.
Although a republican in politics, and the candi-
date of that party whenever nominated for office,
he has generally received the votes of both political
parties. He was appointed postmaster of Chaplin
in 1863, under President Lincoln, and held the
office until Mr. Cleveland's accession to the presi-
dency. He was again appointed in 1889, under
President Harrison, and is still in office. He re-
ceived a notary public's commission from Governor
English in 1868, and has held that office contin-
uously since.
Mr. Lincoln is a member of the Chaplin Congre-
gational church, of which he was elected clerk and
treasurer in 1S70, and has remained such to the
present time, being still in office.
CHARLES H. LADD, Spragie : Farmer.
Charles H. Ladd was born in the town of Frank-
lin , July 31 , 1S4S, and received a common school edu-
cation. Most of his life has been devoted to agri-
cultural pursuits, and he
has taken an active part
in advancing the interests
of the town. He is a
member of the board of
trade, which was organ-
ized for the purpose of re-
viving the industrial en-
terprises in Sprague,
which in j-ears past have
made that town the cen-
ter of so much interest.
He has held the offices of
selectman and justice of
the peace, and was a
member of the general assembly ivom the town of
Sprague in 1878. The legislature of that year was
the first to occupy the new capitol, spending a few
days there at the last of the session. In politics
Mr. Ladd is a democrat. He is a member of the
Methodist church. His family consists of a wife
and three children. The former was Miss Rebecca
A. Steere prior to her marriage.
C. H. LADD.
GEORGE AUGUSTUS HARRIS, Preston:
Division Freight Agent, New York & New Eng-
land Railroad.
George A. Harris was bom in the town where he
now resides, August 12, 1840. After graduating
from the public schools, at the age of sixteen he
entered the employ of
Nash, Brewster & Co.,
lumber dealers of Nor-
wich, as bookkeeper and
accountant, remaining
with the firm four and a
half years. In 1861, at
the close of his connection
wth the above firm, he
began his career in the rail-
way service with the old
Norwich & Worcester
Railroad Company — now
a division of the New York
& New England system.
His service on this line has been continuous since
that date, covering a period of thirty years, and
embracing by successive promotions the grades of
receiving freight clerk, freight conductor, passen-
ger conductor, clerk in the ticket department,
superintendent's office, president's office, freight
department, agent at Norwich, and division freight
agent, — which latter position he now holds.
Mr. Harris is married and has five children; his
G. .\. HARRIS.
156
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
wife was Miss Catherine Amelia Dewey previous to
marriage. He is a republican in politics, and as
such has held the treasuryship of the town of Pres-
ton. He is a member of the masonic fraternity,
and has taken all degi'ees up to and including the
thirty-second.
T. I. PEASE.
THEODORE I. PEASE, Thompsonvii.le: Whole-
sale Lumber Dealer.
Theodore Isaac Pease was born in the town of
Enfield, September i8, 1844, and received a thor-
ough common school and academic education, com-
pleting the course at the
Connecticut Literary In-
stitute. His business ed-
iTcation was acquired at
Eastman's College. I n
1S60-1 he was assistant
bookkeeper with the Nay-
asset Paper Company.
Subsequently, 1S64-5, he
served as bookkeeper with
C. Blodgett & Son, whole-
sale lumber dealers at
Burhngton, Vt. In No-
vember, 1865, he returned
home and assumed the
lumber business of Judge Seth Terry, who had been
in partnership with his father, Theodore Pease, the
new firm becoming T. Pease &- Son. In 1S69 Henry
S. Pease, a brother, was admitted to the concern,
which was rapidly increasing its transactions. The
subject of this sketch obtained a complete knowl-
edge of the lumber bu.siness in Michigan, Vermont,
and Canada. He was president of the Pease, Rob-
inson & Jackson Company of Stanton, Mich., for
several years, till he sold out his interest in Janu-
uary, 1S89. He is treasurer and manager now of
The Quebec Lumber Company, with dressing mills
at West Burke, Vt., where the company dresses
and ships annually nearly six million feet of pine,
spruce, and hard woods, mostly imported from Can-
ada. To this and the management of the whole-
sale business of The T. Pease & Sons Company he
devotes his whole time. The company keeps two
salesmen on the road selling to the Itimber dealers
through New England, and it is known as among
the largest shippers of lumber in this section of the
countrj-.
Although a very busy man, and for years carry-
ing the burdens of a large and increasing business,
he has been more or less identified with the devel-
opment of the town. He is always public-spirited
and interested in public matters. For years he has
been an active member of the Enfield Congrega-
tional church, and early identified himself with the
Christian Endeavor movement. He became the
first president of the Christian Endeavor Society
formed in his church, and one of the first to inove
for the organization of the Enfield Christian En-
deavor LTnion, and was elected its first president.
He is now serving his third term as superintendent
of the Sunday-school of his church, and is earnestly
engaged in religious and benevolent work.
He has held important offices in Enfield and rep-
resented that town on the republican side of the
state legislature during the session of 1874. He has
held the offices of town clerk, treasurer, and regis-
trar, and has been the clerk of the probate court.
He is a member of Doric Lodge, No. 94, F. and A.
M., of Thompson ville, and also belongs to the
Knights of Honor. He is also a member of the
Putnam Phalanx of Hartford, occupying the posi-
tion of sergeant-major on the non-commissioned
stafi^ of Major O. H. Blanchard. He was married
January i, 1868, to Miss Jennie E. Ellis, and has
one daughter, Miss J. Estella Pease, who was born
January 15, 1874. His family hold a prominent
place in the social life of Thompson ville, and have
hosts of friends throughout the state.
boy.
^0
LEWIS BISSELL, East Hartford: Farmer and
Dealer in Real Estate.
Mr. Bissell was born in South Windsor, July 6,
1S29, and grew up as does the average farmer's
dividing his time between the farm and the
district school. His early
life was spent in his
native town, after which
he removed to Vernon,
then to Manchester, and
finally to East Hartford,
which has since 18S6 been
his permanent place of
abode. Early in life he
married Miss Cornelia A.
Palmer of Vernon, a lady
of many excellent traits
of character, to whom he
is indebted for much of
the domestic happiness
with which his home has been filled, and to whose
counsel and cooperation he attributes a good share
of the success he has attained in business affairs.
They have one child, a son, Robert P. Bissell, who
is a prosperous merchant in North Manchester, in
which town he has resided since infancy, having
been a native of South Windsor, as was his father.
Mr. Bissell is a member of the Congregational
church at North Manchester, with which he united
when a resident of that town. His life in Man-
chester was one of great activity, having been ex-
tensively engaged in building opet-ations. He
built the largest block in the village, containing the
LEWIS KISSELL.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
157
hall that bears his name. While there he was
called to fill the office of first or second selectman
of the town for six consecutive years, and was
prominent in various ways in improving the town
and advancing its interests. More recently he has
devoted himself exclusively to his bus:.i:ss affairs,
and has declined public offices of everj'' k^ud. He
is a republican in politics, having been coj::ccted
with that party ever since its organization, fl^ is
a good judge of values in real estate, and has made
several successful ventvires in this line. Since 1886
he has foreseen the advance which was likely to
take place in East Hartford real estate, and has in-
vested there quite advantageously. His sound
judgment, honesty, and strict integrit}^ are unques-
tioned, and his superior ability as a business man
is sufficiently attested by the fact that he began life
without means or influential friends, and has by
his own unaided exertions accomplished the degree
of success and prosperity by which he is now
attended.
JOHN yi. HOLCOMBE, Hartford: Vice-Presi-
dent Phtjenix Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany.
Mr. Holcombe is a native and has always been a
resident of Hartford, still li\4ng in the house where
hie was born June S, 1S4S. He prepared for college
at the Hartford High
School, and graduated
from Yale University in
the class of 1870. In 1875
he became secretary of the
Phoenix Mutual Life In-
surance Company, and re-
tained that position until
elected to the vice-presi-
dency in 1S89. He has
been a member and presi-
dent of both branches of
the Hartford cit}^ govern-
ment for several terms,
being elected to these
positions by the republicans of the second ward;
and is at present a member of the board of health
commissioners. His business connections, aside
from the official relation he sustains to the Phoenix
Life, are as director in the American National
Bank, the Mechanics Savings Bank, and the Con-
necticut Fire Insurance Company, and as vice-presi-
dent of the Fidelity Company, all of Hartford. He
is a member of the Center church congregation
(Dr. Walker's), the oldest church organization in
Connecticut.
Mr. Holcombe was married, in 1873, to Miss
Emily S. Goodwin, daughter of E. O. Goodwin of
Brooklyn, New York, and they have three children,
two sons and a daughter.
J. it. HOLCOMBE.
BENJAMIN A. BAILEY, Damelsonviu.e: Agent
Ouinebaug Company.
Mr. Bailey was born at Marblehcad, Mass., June
19, 1828, and was educated in the public schools of
Massachusetts. He is connected with the Quine-
baug Company at Daniel-
sonville and is a director
in the Windham County
National Bank of Brook-
lyn. Mr. Bailey has been
engaged in the manufac-
ture of cotton products
and in mechanical inter-
ests during a large por-
tion of his life. Since 1874
he has been the agent of
the Ouinebaug Company.
He has resided at Great
Falls, N. H., and at
Biddeford and Lewiston,
Me. In the latter city he was a member of both
branches of the court of common council, serving
as a republican. His wife, who is still living, was
Miss Emily W. Burbank of Conway, N. H. They
have had six children, five of whom, four sons and
one daughter, are living. ]Mr. Bailey is a member
of the Congregational church at Danielsonville.
li. A. BAILEY.
MARCUS A. PINNEY, Ellington: Dairy Farmer.
Marcus A. Pinney was born in Ellington, Octo-
ber 14, 1850, the son of Albert and Lavinia Pinne}-,
grandson of the once noted Benjamin Pinney, bet-
ter kno^\^l as Judge Pin-
ney, who was justice of
the peace for many years,
judge of probate and of
the county courts of Tol-
land county several years;
representative in the gen-
eral assembly a number of
times; and senator from
the old twentieth district
in 1S33. The Pinney fam-
ily is the most ancient and
one of the most numerous
families that ever lived in
Ellington.
Marcus A. Pinne3^ the subject of this sketch,
since completing his education at the Ellington high
school, has followed the same occupation as his
father — daily farming. He has always shown a
natural taste and inclination in that direction, and
has managed his affairs in a way which entitles him
to be considered a thrifty and successful farmer. In
politics he is a democrat, and was elected by that
party a representative in the general assembly of
1889-90. He was one of the state delegates^to the
'O
M. A. PINNEY.
158
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
Washington centennial at New York in April, 1889.
He was one of the charter members of the Elling-
ton grange, and is prominent in the organization,
having been unanimously elected to the office of
worthy master for the present j-ear.
Mr. Pinney married Julia E. Peck of Ellington,
and has one child, a son.
GEORGE E. HOWE, Mekiukn : Superintendent
of Reformatories.
He was born in Livonia, N. Y., May 31, 1S25.
It was while Mr. Howe was superintendent of the
public or union schools of Painesville and of Hamil-
ton, Ohio, from 1S53 to
1S59, that the attention of
Governor Salmon P.
Chase was drawn to him
as an accomplished dis-
ciplinarian and school
supervisor. The Ohio
Reform School for boys,
located near Lancaster,
which was now in its rude
incipiency, was in need
of a superintendent ; and
Governor Chase sent for-
ward to the Ohio state
senate the name of George
The senate at once con-
and Mr. Howe entered
G. E. HOWE.
E. Hcjwe for the position
firmed the nomination.
in 1S59 upon his life work in reformatories. He
found the Ohio institution in a very crude condi-
tion. Two of the buildings were built of logs.
To the great work of improvement and develop-
ment, he at once gave his best energies, and so
signally did his enterprise and his methods com-
mend themselves to the state officers of the time,
that they became not only the official acquaintances
of the superintendent, but many of them, like Gov-
ernor Salmon P. Chase and the Hon. John A. Foot,
state senator from Ohio, and commissioner of re-
form schools, his personal friends. As soon as Mr.
Howe revolved in his own mind what was the
proper system for a reformatory of j^outh, he came
to the same plans so successfully installed by the
famous Dr. Immanuel AVichern of Germany. It
seemed to him that the nearer a reformatory for
youth could be constructed and carried on like an
excellent Christian famil}^ the inore easily and suc-
cessfully could it attain to its object. Accordingly
he sought to apply the "family system" of Dr.
Wichern to the Ohio refoi'matory. That system
had not been known in this country, and Mr. Howe
was the first to apply it. So natural a system did
it prove to be, and so fraught with the best results,
that Mr. Howe has had the satisfaction of seeing it
transplanted into many other states. It has be-
come the popular system of the whole country, and
the counsel of Mr. Howe, as the founder of the
system in this country, has been sought for in
establishing it in the many new institutions of the
land. As soon as the achievements of the Ohio
reformatory became known abroad, Mr. Howe was
sought for at reformator}- and prison congresses, — as
in 1870, at Cincinnati, b}' the National Prison Re-
form Congress; and in 1872, in London, England,
by the International Prison Congress; in 1874, in
St. Louis, Mo., by the National Prison Congress;
and in 1S80, in Cleveland, Ohio, by the national
meeting of the same distinguished body. In all of
these deliberative assemblies he expounded the
" family system " and its working; and at the Lon-
don congress was called before the body three
times, in sessions of twenty minutes each, to ex-
plain as fully as he might the sj'stem as operating
in the Ohio reformatory, as well as in other
reformatory institutions of the United States.
While in Europe he visited the principal reforma-
tories of Great Britain and the continent, and at
Hamburg met Dr. Immanuel Wichern, founder of
the celebrated " Rauhe Haus," from whom had
been derived the germinal idea which had given its
present form to the Ohio institution. He also was
welcomed to an interview with the celebrated De
Metz, in Paris, the founder of the colony at Mettray.
At Lancaster the old and rough buildings disap-
peared; new, commodious, and architecturally
beautiful buildings took their places; and the Ohio
reformatory became a model for the erection of
similar reformatories in other places, and an
example of what may be done in public institutions
for the building up of good character in vicious or
wayward youth.
Mr. Howe has the gift of government, is able to
rule by his presence, and does not need to employ
the coarser means of discijDline, except to a verj-
limited extent. He teaches that all prison sugges-
tions should be banished nearly or entirely from such
reformatories, " believing that the strongest wall is
no wall " ; and that every family in the sj-stem
should be well regulated by a kind, loving, family-
like, confiding, but yet steady and tirm discipline;
and well supported by excellent school instruction,
while yet our ambitious espj'it de carp for good
living, and reverence for things high and sacred,
should pervade the whole life of the institution.
In April of 1S78, Mr. Howe was called to the
superintendency of the State Reform School of
Connecticut, located at ]Meriden, and assumed the
duties of the position on the 23d of that month.
Here he applied the same system, and has seen
similar results, similar gi'owth, and similar pride in
the institution spring up over the state. The courts
no longer hesitate to send bad boys to his care and
training, hvX rather seem to covet the opportunity.
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXECTICUT.
159
From the Connecticut, as from the Ohio reformatory,
many boys once bad have gone out to become good
citizens of the body poHtic, and worthy members of
society, some of them attaining to professional dis-
tinction. Five new large cottages, built of brick,
have been erected, each one now tenanted bv about
fifty boys, while the large congregate department
is also full, the superintendent presiding with such
ease over the large farm and its appurtenances,
the institution homes, and the inmates, as that
not a ripple of disturbance is seen, and kind, joyous
feeling prevails everywhere.
Mr. Howe has had tempting offers placed before
him to draw him from his Connecticut position. In
1888 the board of managers of the State Industrial
School of New York, located at Rochester, invited
him to take the charge of that institution, to install
there the "family system"; but he remains in
charge of the Connecticut reformatory to the great
satisfaction of the governing body of trustees, and
of the citizens of Meriden with whom he holds
relations of high esteem.
ofiicial connection therewith for a great number of
years. He now holds the office of justice of the
peace, and is otherwise more or less active in the
public affairs of his town.
CLINTON PHELPS, East Grankv: Farmer.
Mr. Phelps has been the town treasurer of East
Granby for eleven years. He has been a deacon of
the Congregational church in that town for eighteen
years. It is needless to
add that he is a highly es-
teemed citizen, who pos-
sesses the complete confi-
dence and esteem of all
his fellow-townsmen. Mr.
Phelps is a native of East
Granby, where he was
born. July i, 1842. His
elementary education was
acquired in the common
school, and supplemented
with a full course of
studies at Schofi eld's
Commercial College in
Providence, R. I. He married Miss Mary J. Ris-
ing, a daughter of David Rising of Suffield, by
whom he has had four children, three of whom are
now living. He is more extensively engaged in
farming than anj^ other person in his town, and
combines with his agricultural pursuits the milk
business, milling, and dealing in grain, feed, and
fertilizers. He is an owner in and patron of the
East Granby creamery, of which he was for a long
time the president and manager. He has also had
considerable experience in the settlement of estates.
Politicall}' he is a democrat, and as such represented
East Granby in the legislature in 1887. His church
relations are with the Congregational society of his
town, and, as already stated, he has maintained
CLINTON PHELPS.
SYLVESTER KARBOL'R.
SYLVESTER BARBOUR, Harti-oud: Lawyer.
Mr. Barbour was born in Canton, this state, Jan. 20,
183 1 , the son of a farmer of moderate means, one of a
family of nine children, all of whom lived until the
youngest was forty years
old ; the mother being a sis-
ter of Rev. Dr. Heman
Humphrey, for many j-ears
president of Amherst Col-
lege, and first cousin of
John Brown. He spent
his childhood and youth
partly at hard work on
the rugged farm of his
father, and partly in the
district school. He spent
the subsequent portion of
his minority in like work
in summer, at school in
autumn — first in the Connecticut Literary Insti-
tute in Suffield, and afterwards in Williston Semi-
nary, East HamjDton, Mass., taking a classical
course, and teaching district schools in winter, to
obtain means for pursuing his education. The
next four years of his life were spent partly on the
farm, partlj^ at the seminar}-, partly in teaching
select schools and academies, and partly in the
study of law in the office of his brother, the late
Judge Heman H. Barbour of Hartford, and in the
Poughkeepsie Law School ; and he was admitted to
the bar in Hartford in July, 1856, having the honor
of being examined and recommended for admis-
sion by the late Governor Richard D. Hubbard.
In November of that year, the day after casting
his first presidential vote (for John C. Fremont), he
removed to Iowa, practicing in Osage, Mitchell
county, until i36o, when he returned to Connecti-
cut, practicing for a year in New Hartford, fourteen
3'ears in Ansonia, and since that time in Hartford.
"While practicing in Ansonia he held many offices,
such as secretary and treasurer of the Water Cona-
pany. Opera House Company, Savings Bank (all
of which corporations he assisted in forming), town
clerk, registrar of births, deaths, and marriages,
chairman of school and Congregational societj'-
committees, school visitor, and judge of probate for
the district of Derby.
Politically he acted with the republicans until
1872, when he joined the liberal part3^ and sup-
ported Horace Greeley for president, and has since
that tinie acted with the democratic party.
While in New Hartford he was president of the
i6o
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
Wide Awake Club, and in Ansonia, during the
dark days of the civil war, was a member and offi-
cer of the Union Loyal League.
In iS6o he married the daughter of Hon. J. F.
Collin, ex-member of Congress, of Hillsdale, New
York, and she is still living, with a son and daugh-
ter, the latter being a member of the senior class
in the classical department of Smith College, North-
amjiton, Mass., with which she graduates in June,
1891.
H. p. HITCHCOCK.
HENRY P. HITCHCOCK, Hartford: Merchant
Tailor.
Mr. Hitchcock was born in Hartford, June i,
1837, the event of his birth occurring in the his-
torical mansion (now demolished), corner of High
and Walnut streets, for
several years occupied by
Mrs. LydiaH. Sigourney.
During his infancy his
father's family moved to
Hitchcockville in the town
of Barkhamsted, and si.x
or seven years later to
Farmington, where his
boyhood was chiefly
spent, and where he at-
tended the public schools
and Deacon Hart's cele-
brated institute at Farm-
ington, which graduated
in its da}^ a great many pupils who have since
become distinguished in the variotis walks of life.
After the death of his father in 1852, the young
man returned to Hartford, and, being obliged
to abandon all thought of further educational ad-
vantages, turned his attention toward the means of
obtaining a livelihood. Noticing in the Hartford
Coiiraiit one morning, in startling tyjDC, the head-
line, " Boy wanted," he apphed as chrected to N. J.
Brocket & Co's gents furnishing store. No. 10 State
street. The vacant position was a subordinate one,
but he took it and gave to the firm his best efforts,
with such satisfaction and success that he was ad-
vanced step by step and continued with the house
for ten years, finally resigning to accept a position
with Kelsey & Carpenter, to become one year later a
partner under the firm name of Kelsey, Caipenter
& Hitchcock. In 1863 Mr. Carpenter retired and
under the style of Kelsej- & Hitchcock the remain-
ing partners continued the business on the corner
of Main and Pearl streets for nineteen 3?ears. Sub-
sequently, after a brief period of entire freedom
from business, he established himself on the identi-
cal spot where he learned the trade in 1S52, and is
now conducting a flourishing business there.
Mr. Hitchcock has been active in social and po-
litical, as well as business Hfe, during the many
years of his residence in Hartford. As a young re-
publican he was one of the original, " Wide
Awakes" of Hartford, the parent company of that
important organization w^hich doubtless accom-
plished the election of Abraham Lincoln to the pres-
idency. He has repeatedly occupied positions of
honor as the candidate of the republican party,
having been in the city council once from the fourth
ward and four times from the first ward, and on
the board of aldermen two years from the first. He
is a member of the Veteran Association Hartford
City Guards, and has been for thirteen years its
secretary ; ciuartermaster of the Veteran City
Guard, a member of the Sons of the Revolution,
second vice-president of the Young Men's Republi-
can Club, a member of the Hartford Board of
Trade, the Hartford Historical Society, and the
Connecticut Congregational Club. He is a mem-
ber of the Pearl Street Congregational church, and
has sustained that relation since 1S58.
Mr. Hitchcock was married. May 23, 1865, to
Miss Charlotte F. Hunt of North Coventry. Their
pleasant home is at 119 Trumbull street.
SIDNEY DRAKE, Hartford: Book Publisher
and Binder.
.The subject of this sketch, whose active life be-
gan in Hartford sixty-five years ago, is a native of
Windsor in this state, where he was born May 8,
181 1. According to the
old English genealogists,
the Drake family is one
of great antiquity and of
Saxon origin. In the land
and naval service of Great
Britain, in the professions
and in commerce, it has
furnished numerous rep-
resentatives of great emi-
nence. Among its many
distinguished branches,
the family which early
held its seat at Ashe was
ever prominent; and from
this branch most of the Drakes of Massachusetts
and Connecticut are descended. John Drake of
Ashe, in Devon county, married Christian Billet in
1360. From him in the ninth generation sprang
John Drake of Wiscomb, the emigrant who came to
Boston in 1630, and to Connecticut before 1639, set-
tling at Windsor. Sidney Drake is of the seventh
generation from John, the emigrant. His father,
David Drake, was an extensive farmer and brick
maker of Windsor, ranking high for ability and
judgment.
The early life of Sidney Drake was chiefly spent
in the public_schools ofjWindsor_and^on^his father's
SIDNEY DRAKE.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
I6l
farm. At the age of sixteen he came to Hartford
to learn the trade of book-binding with D. F. Rob-
inson & Co. In 1S41 he became a partner with J.
Seymour Brown, and with several changes of part-
ners has carried on the trade on his own account for
over fifty years. The establishment has always borne
a high reputation for the excellence of its work, as
may be inferred from the fact that among its early
patrons were such noted publishers as Phillips &•
Sampson of Boston, G. &• C. Merriam of Spring-
field, and Pratt, Oakley &- Co. of New York; while
its more recent customers have been such as are
very particular in regard to the quality of their
bindings. During the palmy days of book publish-
ing in Hartford, Drake &• Parsons bound millions
of books from the home press, and millions more
for publishers in other parts of New England and
New York — their list of such customers numbering
seventy different houses.
Mr. Drake's connection with the book-publishing
business has been, however, a xevy important fea-
ture of his active business life. In 1861, being urged
thereto by Mr. Drake, a purchase was made by
Walter S. Williams in connection with the firm of
Drake & Parsons, of the interest of Joseph Kellogg
in the then existing publishing house of Hurlbut &
Kellogg; and thereupon was formed the partner-
ship of Hurlbut, Williams & Co., for continuing the
publishing business. This proved to be the " tide
in their affairs which led on to fortune." The war
of the rebellion breaking out soon after, in 1S62 the
first volume of Headley's " History of the Rebel-
lion " was published by this firm, and the sales in a
short time ran up to 150,000 copies. The impulse
given by this first successful issue of war literature
led to the rise in this city of several different pub-
lishing concerns, the aggregate publications of
Avhich, in addition to their own, flooded with work
for several years the printing oftice of Williams &
Wiley and the bookbindery of Drake & Parsons.
The firm of Hurlbut, Williams & Co., with some
changes of partners, continued, doing a very suc-
cessful business, till 1S65, when it was organized as
a joint stock company under the name of the Amer-
ican Publishing Company, in which "Sir. Drake has
always been a director; and he was largely influen-
tial in the early history of the business in procuring
such books for publication as have had the
largest sale. This company has been one of the
most successful and widely-kncnvn subscription
publishing houses in the country, and distinguished
for making large sales of man}- of its publications.
Among these may be mentioned " Headley's His-
tory of the Great Rebellion," Richardson's " Field,
Dungeon, and Escape" and " Beyond the Missis-
sippi," and Mark Twain's " Innocents Abroad."
Mr. Drake was one of the original organizers of
the republican party in Hartford, and has retained
11
his connection therewith until the present time. In
religious faith he is a Congregationalist, worship-
ing at the Asylum Avenue Congregational church.
In August, 1S42, he married Miss Catherine Brown
of Bloomfield; she died Ma}- 4, iSSq, in her eighti-
eth year; there are no children.
Mr. Drake through a long career has borne an
honorable and spotless name, not more for the
fidelity of his work than the integrity of his Aeal-
ing^-
REV. FRANKLIN COUNTRYMAN, North
Bkam'cjru: Pastor of the Congregational Church.
Rev. Franklin Countryman is a graduate of Yale
College and the theological seminary connected
with that institutif)n, completing his collegiate course
in 1S70. He was born in
New Haven, Sept. 23,
1849, his parents being
Nicholas and Louisa
Countryman of that citj'.
He is a brother of Chief
Clerk Wm. A. Country-
man of the Bureau of La
bor Statistics in this state,
and is a man of felicitous
culture and training. His
first pastorate was at
Prospect, where he was
settled in 1S74, remaining
for three years. In 1880
he was settled at Georgetown and remained there
for two years. The call to the North Branford
church was accepted in 1SS2 and the last eight years
have been spent in that pastorate. Mr. Country-
man has been the chairman and is at present the
secretary of the North Branford school board and
is president of the Guilford Christian Union. He is
the representative of the New Haven East Consoci-
ation in the state committee on fellowship and work,
and is an earnest and influential co-laborer with the
clergv of his locality in advancing the interests of
the church. Two of his sermons have been printed:
one on " Christian Service proportioned to
Ability," and a sermon preached />/ 7neiiioria}n
Colonel George Rose of North Branford. He
has also prepared an article for a History of
New Haven County to be published in the
autumn. As a collegian at Yale his life was one
of the sincerest fidelity to truth, the group of men
in his class with whom he maintained the happiest
of relationships including the Rev. E. G. Selden
of Springfield, Mass., the Rev. James G. K. Mc-
Clure and the Rev. Roderick Terry of New York,
the Rev. John S. Chandler of missionary distinc-
tion, the Rev. Edward Sackett Hume, also of the
foreign mission field, the Rev. Lewis W. Hicks,
who has occupied prominent pulpits in Vermont
REV. F. COUNTRV.MAN.
l62
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
and this state, and the Rev. Henry L. Hutch-
ins of Kensington. A finer group of men cannot
be produced by any of Yale's noted classes. The
Yale associates and friends of Mr. Countryman
hold him in the highest esteem. He belongs to the
grange in his town and is a member of the Connec-
ticut Society of the Sons of the Revolution. The
first wife of Mr. Countryman, who was Miss Mary
L Pickett, daughter of Judge Picket of New Haven,
died in 1S77. The second wife was Miss Ella S.
Butricks of New Haven, who is still living. Mr.
and Mrs. Countryman have one child living, now
eight years of age. He has of late acted with the
prohibition party.
FERDINAND GILDERSLEEVE, Portland:
Merchant, Postmaster, President Freestone Sav-
ings Bank.
Ferdinand Gildersleeve, the fourth child of Syl-
vester and Emily Shepard Gildersleeve, was born
on the twentieth day of August, 1S40, in that part
of the town of Portland
now called Gildersleeve.
He attended the district
school in his native village
till nearly twelve, and
was for the three follow-
ing years at boarding
school. He then, in 1855,
at the age of fifteen, en-
tered his father's store,
and, soon after becoming
twenty-one, was admitted
to membership in the firm
of S. Gildersleeve &vSons,
ship-builders and mer-
chants. He is now, and has been, continuously
connected and identified with all the branches of
the business since first entering it.
The establishment of the post-office at Gilder-
sleeve in May, 1872, was largely the result of his
efforts. He was the first postmaster, and continues
to hold the office.
In 1S79 he succeeded his father as president of
The First National Bank of Portland, and held the
office for two years; is now a director in the same
bank and in The Middlesex Quarry Company;
president of The Freestone Savings Bank, a vestry-
man in Trinity Episcopal Parish, a member of the
town board of education, and for many years has
been a notary public. In January, 1S90, he suc-
ceeded his brother Henry as president of The Mid-
dletown Ferry Company, and is still occupying
that position ; he is also a director of The Portland
Water Company. He has been on various commit-
tees on enterprises and improvements in the town and
vicinity, and trustee for school and other funds.
He was an active member and supporter of the
F. GILDERSLEEVE.
well-known Portland Lyceum, and takes a deep
interest in it now that it has again begun to hold
meetings. He highly values and appreciates the
advantages of a debating society, and finds his ex-
jjerience in the lyceum has been of incalculable
benefit in many waj^s. He spent six months in 1S64
traveling in Europe, visiting many of the places of
interest in Great Britain and on the Continent, and
has made various trips to many of the important
cities and places in the United States and Canada.
Mr. Gildersleeve married, on the 2Qth of October,
1879, Adelaide Edna, born March 12, 1845, daugh-
ter of William R. and Mary A. Smith of Portland,
by whom he had one child, William, born Septem-
ber 23, 1880. She died Sept. 28, 1880. On the
12th of September, 1883, he married Harriet
Elizabeth, born Jan. 8, i860, of Hartford, eldest
daughter of Ralph and Sarah A. Northam, for-
merly of Portland. They have two children,
Sarah, born Sept. 28, 18S5, and Richard, born
Oct. 27, 1889.
GEORGE S. ANDREWS, South Glastgnblry:
Farmer and Miller.
Mr. Andrews was born in South Glastonbury,
March 30, 1819, and was educated in the common
schools of the town and the Glastonbury academy.
In 1 85 2 Mr. Andrews vis-
ited London under c o n-
tract with the late Sam-
uel Colt of Hartford for
four years to stock fire-
arms for the allied armies
in the Crimean war. After
his return home he en-
gaged in farming in South
Glastonbury. He also
opened a feldspar and
flint quarry in the place
and built a mill for grind-
ing the product to be used
for porcelain and china
ware. The enterprise is one of extensive possibili-
ties and will increase in value hereafter. Mr. An-
drews is a democrat in politics and has twice repre-
sented his town in the general assembty, being a
member for the consecutive years of 1876 and 1877.
He has served a number of terms on the board of
selectmen and has held other local offices. He is
connected with the Episcopal church. Formerly he
resided in Hartford. His life has been spent chiefly
in farming and mechanical pursuits. The wife of
Mr. Andrews was Miss Louisa H. Killam prior to
marriage, and is still living. There are three child-
ren in the family.
[Mr. Andrews died at his home in South Glas-
tonbury, April 8, 1 891, after the above sketch had
been prepared. — Ed.]
'''-f:-.:
G. S. ANDREWS.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
163
E. D. HASSETT.
EBExXEZER D. BASSETT, New Haven: Ex-
!Minister to Hayti.
Ebenezer 1). Bassett was born at Litchfield,
Conn., on Oct. 16, 1833. His father was a mulatto,
and his mother a pure Indian of the Pequot tribe.
He attended the Birming-
ham Academy, and early
distinguished himself as
a mathematician by solv-
ing problems in the dif-
ferential and integral cal-
culus with as much ease
as an ordinary scholar
would perform examples
in arithmetic. After fin-
ishing the course of study
at this academy, he at-
tended the State Normal
School at New Britain,
from which he was grad-
uated in 1S53. During the two years following his
graduation he taught successfully the Whiting
Street Grammar School in New Haven. At this
time he availed himself of the pri\-ilege of continu-
ing the study of the classics and higher mathe-
matics under professors at Yale College.
In 1S55 he married Miss Eliza Park of New
Haven, and moved to Philadelphia, Pa., where he
accepted the principalship of the Institute for Col-
ored Youth, a school founded by the Orthodox
Society of Friends for the purpose of giving a
liberal education to colored youth, and preparing
them to become efficient teachers. At this institu-
tion he taught the advanced classes in Latin, Greek,
and the higher mathematics, and devoted himself
to the education of his race. Here he exhibited
marked ability as an instructor and disciplinarian.
He possessed the rare quality of inspiring his pupils
with an earnest desire to excel in whatever they
undertook, and he therefore cultivated to a high
degree the power of patient investigation and ap-
plication. Mr. Bassett's scholarly ability awakened
in his pupils a desire to emulate him. About this
time the institute used to be visited by interested
persons from all parts of the United States and
even from the old world, and, as they listened to
the translations of Homer, of Virgil, and of Horace,
and as they saw the facilit}' with which difficult
problems in mathematics were demonstrated and
solved, they would exclaim, " This is wonderful! "
And this expression was not exaggerated when we
consider that these results were achieved during
the dark and apparently hopeless days of slavery.
Through the untiring efforts of Mr. Bassett this
school was made to rank with the best institutions
in the countr}-. The proficiency of his classes be-
came a standing argument against the injustice
which could keep in the darkness of ignorance
minds capable of such attainments. So much was
the cause of freedom advanced and its possibilities
worked out in the quiet of the school-room.
At the beginning of President Grant's adminis-
tration, it was decided by the republican leaders at
Washington that colored men of acknowledged abil-
ity should receive positions in both home and foreign
service. Mr. Bassett was the first candidate
selected unanimously by the prominent men of his
own race, and supported by distinguished persons
in all parts of the Li'nion for a diplomatic appoint-
ment. In President Grant's first list of nomina-
tions Mr. Bassett's name was sent for the mission
to Hayti, and the nomination was promptly con-
firmed by the senate. This appointment made Mr.
Bassett the first colored man to represent our coun-
try abroad. Mr. Frederick Douglass spoke of it as
" a significant event, the triumph of a cause — the
first small wire stretched over a chasm separating
two races."
After receiving from his countrymen manj- ova-
tions and considerate attentions, Mr. Bassett sailed
for Hayti in June, 1869. When he reached Port-
au-Prince he was received with every evidence of
regard and satisfaction by the Haytian government
and people. Hayti was unfortunately at this time
in the midst of a bitter civil strife. Mr. Bassett
found himself surrounded at once by factions and
intrigues, and yet, in the discharge of his duties,
he won and maintained the confidence and respect
of our government at Washington, by whom he
was highly commended for his heroic conduct dur-
ing the Salnave revolution.
Mr. Bassett's experience at this time in a country
where the right of asylum had a particular force
and significance, brought to him afterwards an in-
vitation from the Kent Club of the Yale Law
School, to lecture before its members on the sub-
ject. The New Haven Palladiuin, at this time,
in speaking of this lecture said: " Mr. Bassett, hav-
ing been our ambassador at Port-au-Prince, was
peculiarly qualified for the masterly handling of
' The Right of Asylum.' The lecture was listened
to by a highly intelligent and appreciative audience,
among whom were many w'ho are prominent in
law circles. Those who attended had the pleasure
of hearing an able and scholarly disquisition on the
subject."
Mr. Bassett so won the confidence of the Haytian
people by his nine years residence among them,
that he was appointed by President Salomon in
18S0 to be Haytian consul at New York. He faith-
fully discharged the duties of this office until the
end of President Salomon's administration in De-
cember, 1888.
Mr. Bassett's ripe scholarship and high attain-
ments make him distinguished among scholars.
His thorough study of the classics and of the
164
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
French language shows itself in the style of his
writing, which is finished and accurate. He is
unassuming and cordial in his manners, thus mak-
ing his social intercourse pleasant and agreeable.
He could hardly fail to have an honorable positicni
in the community at his present home, New Haven,
where he is known as one of its scholarly, public-
spirited and influential citizens. On many occasions
he enjoys extended courtesies from New Haven's
city fathers. In all the relations of life he is em-
phatically a good man — not passively good, but
actively worth}' and earnest.
HON. ROBERT GORDON PIKE, Middletown:
Lawyer.
Robert G. Pike comes of an honored and worthy
ancestry, being a lineal descendant of John Pike,
Esq., a Puritan, who came over in 1632, and settled
in Salisbury, N. H., with
his two sons; of whom
one was Major Robert
Pike, commander of all
the Massachusetts forces
east of the Merrimac dur-
ing the Indian wars of
his time, and for a period
of fifty years and more
was a prominent and in-
fluential officer of the col-
ony. The poet Whittier
says ' ' he was one of the
wisest and worthiest of
the early settlers of that
region. He was by all odds the most remarkable
personage of the place and time." He protested
eloquently against all laws punishing witches and
Quakers, and especially contended against clerical
usurpation. Of the seventh generation from this
honored ancestor, in a direct line, which is marked
by clergymen and magistrates, came the subject of
this sketch.
Robert G. Pike was born in Newburyport, Mass.,
April 14, 1S22; was graduated at Harvard Univer-
sity in 1S43; was then private secretary to Hon.
Caleb Gushing in Washington, D. C.; subsequently
studied law with Hon. Seth P. Staples; and was
admitted to the bar in 184S. He practiced law in
New York city until 1S59, when important business
duties in Connecticut led him to give up a lucrative
practice and move to Middletown, Conn., where he
still resides. August 3, 1S52, he married Ellen M.,
daughter of Silas and Mary Miles Brainerd of
Portland, Conn. By her he had six children, now
living, three sons and three daughters.
Mr. Pike is a man of strong intellect, scholarly
tastes, and a wide range of information. He is a
fine writer and speaker, and is always instructive
and entertaining. He is an accomplished lawyer
R. G. PIKE.
and wise counsellor. He counts among his clients
many of the most prominent and wealthy families
of Middletown and vicinity. Although a modest
and retiring man, he has long been a prominent and
highly-respected citizen, discharging with signal
success the many official duties which have been
imposed upon him. He has been judge of the city
court, alderman, president of the board of educa-
tion, eighteen or more years, president of the Rus-
sell Library from its organization, and senior war-
den of the Holy Trinity parish about twenty years.
In all that pertains to the public schools he has ever
manifested an active interest. It was largely
through his influence that the new Central School
building and the new Johnson school building were
erected, and he was chairman of the building com-
mittee. He was also chairman of the building com-
mittee when the beautiful church building of Holj'
Trinity was erected. Mr. Pike also has held im-
portant state offices. He was state fish commis-
sioner for twenty years, and chairman of the shell-
fish commission fi-om its organization . He has done
much toward increasing fish-food in the state. As
chairman of the shell-fish board, he did much to
bring the oyster industry under proper laws and
regulations, — to the lasting benefit not only of the
oyster cultivators, but also of the state. His popu-
larity with the oystermen was such that when, in
1889, he resigned his office on the board, over three
hundred leading oystermen petitioned him not to
resign. All the shell-fish reports were prepared by
him, and they present a fund of valuable informa-
tion on the subject of oyster cultivation. In estab-
lishing the boundary line between Rhode Island
and Connecticut in 1SS7 he was unanimously elected
by the commissioners of the two states chairman
of the joint commission, and he discharged the
duties of the office to the great acceptance of all.
His ripe experience and full legal knowledge made
him a valuable member of the commission. The
commissioners' report to the legislature, prepared
by him in i88g, is full of valuable historical infor-
mation upon the disputed boundary line, and shows
wide research and learning. He took an active
part in reviving the Air Line Railroad enterprise
and securing its bridge charter; and when the work
on the road stopped for want of means, he rendered
efficient aid as counsel of the company in soliciting
and procuring town help for its completion, and
preparing the final construction contracts. Mr.
Pike has taken no very active part in politics. He
has been nominated twice for mayor; but, being a
strong temperance advocate, he was defeated by
the pro-liquor votes. In politics he is a republican,
with intermittent mugwump tendencies. He is a
member of the Episcopal church, and is distin-
guished for his uniform courtesy, kindness, and
benevolence.
BIOCIRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
165
i^i'm^
II. H. KIGELOW,
Mr. Bigelow's eclu-
HON. HOBART B. BIGELOW, Nkw Haven :
President of The Bigclow Company.
Hobiirt B. Bigelow, one of New Haven's eitizens
who has been entrusted with the administration of
the highest pubHe ofhce within the gift of the state,
was born in North Haven,
New Haven county, on
the i6th of May, 1S34.
Upon his father's side he
came from the Massachu-
setts Bigelow stock, a
family that has made its
record since colonial diiys
for producing substantial,
energetic, and useful citi-
zens. His mother was a '■*'"'
Pierpont, a descendant of
the Rev. James Pierpont,
the second minister of
New Haven, and one of
the founders of Yale College,
cation was that common to the sons of farmers at
that time. He attended the district school of North
Haven, and when, at about the age of ten, his
father moved to South Egremont, Mass., his educa-
tion was continued there, in the same class of
school, until he was old enough to enter the South
Egremont Academj-, where he remained until he
was seventeen.
At this age he entered upon the work of life.
He began to learn the trade of machinist with the
Guilford Manufacturing Company, remaining with
this company until its failure, after which he went
into the employ of the New Haven Manufacturing
Company, then under the management of his uncle,
Asahel Pierpont of New Haven, where his appren-
ticeship was finished. After this, and until 1861,
he had charge of the machine department of
Messrs. Ives & Smith as foreman, under both Ives
& Smith and their successors, Wilcox & Gay. In
1 861, upon the death of Mr. Gay, he bought Mr.
Cyprian Wilcox's interest in the machine-shop and
continued in his own name. Later he acquired of
Mr. Wilcox the foundry connected with the estab-
lishment, and the business was carried on under
the name of The Bigelow Manufacturing Company.
At this place, under close, careful, and intelligent
management, ^Ir. Bigelow's business grew until
there was no longer space for his buildings. They
had extended along Whitney avenue and through
the block to Temple street, and in 1S70 he was
compelled to remove to a wider location. He
bought a tract of land on Grapevine Point, includ-
ing a disused building (originally built for a
machine-shop, and in this place the business has
since been conducted.
Two years prior to his removal Mr. Bigelow' had
added a department for the manufacture of bcjilers,
a department for which his establishment has since
become famous throughout the country. In 1875
tlie firm style was made H. B. Bigelow & Co.,
Henry Elson being received as partner, and in 1S77
the partnership was extended by the entrance of
Mr. George S. Barnum. Its present form is that
of a corporation, The Bigelow Company, organized
in 18S3 under a special charter granted by the
legislature of that year.
^Ir. Bigelow's continuous success in his business
had not passed unnoticed by his fellow-citizens, and
in the period between 1863 and 1881 he was called
upon to fill a variety of public stations. He was a
member of the common council, as councilman in
the year 1863-64, and as alderman 1864-65, tmder
the may'oralty of the late Morris Tyler. He was
supervisor 1871-74, and filled most acceptably the
office of fire commissioner for the years 1874-76.
He also served one term as representative from
New Haven in the general assembly of 1875. So
long an experience had especially fitted him to fill
the place of mayor, and though belonging to the
party normally in the minority in New Haven, he
was, in 1879, elected for a two-years term by a
very handsome majority. Mr. Bigelow's adminis-
tration of this office was marked by two events of
peculiar and permanent interest to the citizens of
New Haven. It was under his administration, and
very largely due to his support and encouragement,
that the East Rock Park Commission was created
and the park opened, and this great addition to the
beauty and comfort of the city made possible. The
other was the well planned and successful effort of
the city government under his encouragement and
direction for the building of the breakwaters which
have been projected and are being carried on by
the United States Government for the improvement
of our harbor. Upon the close of his term as
mayor, he was called by the majority of the citizens
of the state to occupy the office of governor, a place
which he filled with quiet dignity, thorough im-
partiality, and great good sense.
Mr. Bigelow was married in 1857 to Miss Eleanor
Lewis, daughter of the late Philo Lewis, a branch
of a family that has left its mark in the administra-
tion of New Haven city affairs. His family con-
sists of two sons, both of whom are associated with
him in business.
In 1882, upon the death of Nathan Peck, he was
elected president of the Merchants' National Bank
of New Haven, and retained that position imtil the
fall of 1S89, when he resigned- — but still retains
the position of director.
Since Governor Bigelow's retirement from official
life, his attention has been devoted to his company,
with lesser interests in a large variety of business
enterprises. His career has been pre-eminently
that of a business man, familiar with and skillful in
1 66
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
modern methods of conducting large enterprises,
and basing his success upon thoroughness, energy,
careful and thoughtful attention to details, avoid-
ance of speculation, and the severest integrity.
His administration of public affairs has always
been marked by the same characteristics. These
qualities have won him the hearty esteem of his
fellow-citizens, which has been deepened by a quiet,
open-handed, and broad-minded practical benevo-
lence, of which very few realize the full extent.
C. E. BILLINGS.
CHARLES ETHAN BILLINGS, Hartford:
President of the Billings & Spencer Company.
Mr. Billings was born inWeathersfield, Vt. , Dec.
6, 1835, and was educated in the common schools
at Windsor in that State. He acquired the profes-
sion of a mechanical en-
gineer, and is at present
a member of the Ameri-
can Society of Mechani-
cal Engineers. President
Billings formerly resided
in Utica, N. Y. His busi-
ness life, however, has
been spent for the most
part in Hartford, where
he has been instramental
in establishing an exten-
sive and prosperous in-
dustry. The company
manufactures machinists'
tools and drop forgings, and is at the head of that
line of business in the state. President Billings is
regarded as one of the foremost business men in
the city, and has been for years a successful man-
ager of industrial interests. He is the author and
patentee of many useful inventions manufactured
by his company, which are largely sold in this
country and Europe. He is a prominent repre-
sentative of the masonic order, having received
all of the York and Scottish degrees. He is a past
grand commander of the Grand Commandery of
Knight Templars of Connecticut. His local mem-
bership is with Washington Commandery. He has
also been associated with the Connecticut National
Guard, formerly being a private in the First Regi-
ment. He has been a member of both branches of
the court of common council, spending four years
in the board of aldermen. During the last two
years was chairman of the ordinance committee
on the part of the upper board, and has exerted an
important influence in that capacity. He is a
republican in politics, and has represented the third
ward in the municipal government. Alderman
Billings is connected with the Second Ecclesiastical
society, the Rev. Dr. E. P. Parker's, and with the
Hartford Club. He has traveled abroad, visiting
Europe during the summer of 1890, and is a gentle-
man of the most enjoyable personal character. He
has been married twice, the second wife being Miss
Eva C. Holt of this city, daughter of councilman
Lucius H. Holt. There are four children by the
two marriages.
AMBROSE PRATT.
AMBROSE PRATT, M.D., Chester: Physician
and Sm-geon.
Dr. Ambrose Pratt of Chester, Conn., according
to the genealogical record of the Pratt family, is a
descendant in the eighth generation from Lieuten-
ant William Pratt, who
came from England with
the Rev. Thos. Hooker in
1632. Thos. Hooker and
his companions first came
to Newtown, now called
Cambridge, Mass. Mr.
Hooker and Lieutenant
Wm. Pratt, with others,
came through the forest
from Cambridge to Hart-
ford in 1636, and they
were among the early set-
tlers of the town of Hart-
ford.
Lieutenant Wm. Pratt married Elizabeth Clark
of Saybrook, and finally settled in Essex. His old-
est daughter, Elizabeth, married Wm. Backus of
Norwich, from which union one hundred and fifty-
one descendants are recorded in the genealogy of
the Pratt family.
Dr. Ambrose Pratt, son of Ambrose and Dolly
(Southworth) Pratt, was born in Deep River, in the
town of Saybrook, July 11, 1814. His father died
the April previous to his birth, and his mother hav-
ing married again, he lived with his step-father till
about sixteen years old. He attended the district
schools till about fourteen years old, when, being
ambitious to improve every opportunity for
higher instruction, he walked daily four miles
and back, in the winter of 1829-30, to attend
a select school. In the spring of 1830, without
the advice of friends and without money, he
determined to tr}- to get a college education. He
prepared for college in two years and entered Yale
in the fall of 1833. B3' the aid of an excellent and
energetic mother and other kind friends, and by
teaching some in junior and senior years, he kept'
up with his class in their studies, and graduated
with them in 1837. After graduation he was pi-in-
cipal of Hills academy at Essex for one year, where
he proved to be a verj' successful teacher. In the
winter of 1839-40 he attended a partial course of
medical lectures at New Haven. In the fall of 1840
he entered the Columbian Medical College at Wash-
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
167
ington D.C., from which he graduated in 1S43.
While studying medicine in Washington, he taught
a classical school and devoted much time and study
to the medical flora of Washington and vicinity. In
1S43 he commenced the practice of medicine and
surgery in Chester, Conn. In November, 1S44, he
married Julia M. Spencer, daughter of Dea. George
Spencer, a lady of good education, good constitu-
tion, and who had a strong and steady nervous sys-
tem, by whom he has now living four daughters.
He remained in Chester five years, had an extensive
practice, and was regarded as a skillful physician
and surgeon, performing most of the minor opera-
tions in surgery called for in his vicinity. In 1848
he moved to the city of Milwaukee, Wis., and there
coiTiinenced the practice of medicine. While in
Milwaukee, in the spring of 1850, he opened an in-
firmary for the treatment of chronic diseases, intro-
ducing therein the inhalation of medicinal vapors,
dieting, exercise, electro-magnetism, and the mas-
sage, and the appliances of hydropathy. In May,
1S53, he was called to Chester to assist and advise
in the treatment and care of a case of chronic spinal
affection. At this visit to his former place of prac-
tice he was induced by friends to return to Chester
and open an institution for the treatment of chronic
diseases. The house he formerly occupied was
very large and available, and very pleasantly situ-
ated for that use. In July, 1853, he opened a sani-
tarium under the name of the ' ' Chester Water-
Cure and Medical and Surgical Institute," introduc-
ing into his treatment all the improvements of the
times. This institution was at once extensively
patronized, requiring an enlargement of the ell
part of the house. The institution continued in
successful operation till 1S61, when, owing to the
breaking out of the war, it was closed, and Dr.
Pratt, from purely patriotic motives (being too old
to be subject to draft), offered his services to Gov-
ernor Buckingham as surgeon of a regiment. He
was accepted and commissioned as surgeon of the
22d regiment, C. V., his commission bearing date
from November, 1862, and was on duty in the field
every day till July 7, 1863, when the term of ser-
\-ice of the regiment expired. Dr. Pratt also re-
ceived a commission (after a competitive examina-
tion before an army medical board convened in
New York) from the secretary of war as surgeon of
the S3d colored regiment, dated Feb. 6, 1S65, then
in the service of the United States, stationed at
Fort Smith, Arkansas. This commission he did
not accept, owing to the prospective early termi-
nation of the war. After the close of his army ser-
vice in 1S65, Dr. Pratt resumed the practice of med-
icine in Chester, and is still one of the three physi-
cians of the town. In addition to his professional
duties he has a small farm of thirty-five acres, in
one square tract, the best land in the town which
he keeps in a high state of cultivation, and has it
well stocked with a choice herd of Jersey cows. Dr.
Pratt inherited a strong and energetic constitution
from his ancestors, and has always been a healthj%
hard-working, and busy man. He has not only at-
tended faithfully to his professional d.uties, but has
devoted much time to study and reading. He never
took a vacation, spent no time in fishing, hunting,
or card-playing. He has treated the rich and poor
with the same faithful attention, and as a counselor
among his patients was always regarded as their
confidential friend. Dr. Pratt was always a man
of nerve. In the presence of the sick and wounded
he is calm, cheerful, and never loses his presence of
mind. He has always maintained exceptionally
good habits, never using tobacco or stimulants in
any form, and sustains an unblemished moral char-
acter.
Dr. Pratt has been active as one of the board of
school visitors of the town for many years. He has
delivered several addresses on temperance; is a
member of the Grand Army, and has often ad-
dressed gatherings on decoration days, under their
auspices. In politics he is a republican, but not an
aggressive partisan. He is a Congregationalist by
profession, and member of both church and society.
He is a reader of religious works and is a man of
very positive religious sentiments, though very lib-
eral. He is anti-sectarian, opposed to all church
creeds or dogmas, yet tolerant of all who differ
from him in religious opinions, feeling and holding
that truth, justice, and amity are higher than relig-
ious beliefs.
MORRIS B. BEARDSLEY, Bridgeport: Attor-
ney and Judge of Probate.
jSIorris B. Beardsley was born at Trumbull,
Conn., August 13, 1S49; prepared for college at the
academy in Stratford, Conn.; graduated from Yale
in the class of 1870. After
leaving college he attend-
ed lectures at Columbia
College Law School for a
year; then went to Bridge-
port, and studied law in
the office of William K.
Seeley until June 25, 1872,
when he was admitted to
practice at the Fairfield
county bar, and was taken
into partnership by Mr.
Seeley, the firm name
being Seeley & Beardsley.
This partnership was dis-
solved in January, 1874, and in the following April
he was elected citj^ clerk, and held that office for
three successive terms. In 1877 he became judge
of the Bridgeport probate district, and has held
M. li. HE.4RDSLEV.
i68
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
that office ever since. He has been a member of
the board of education for three years, and was its
secretary. June 5, 1S73, he married Lucy J. Fayer-
weather, a niece of, and largely remembered under
the will of, the late millionaire leather merchant,
Daniel B. Fayerweather, and has three children.
Politically he is a democrat. Is a member of the
First Congregational church. Is a thirty-second
degree Mason, an Odd Fellow, a member of the
Seaside Club of Bridgeport, and of the Aldine
Club of New York, and last, but not least, a
" Shriner."
consists of a wife and five children. The former,
prior to her marriage, was Miss Elizabeth A. Chap-
man. Mr. Langdon is a member of the Congre-
gational church, and an earnest religious worker.
geor(;e languon.
GEORGE LANGDON, Plymouth: Merchant,
Manufacturer, and Farmer.
George Langdon was born in Plymouth, Aug. 4,
1S26, and graduated from Yale College in 1848, his
classmates including Judge Nathaniel Shipman of
the LTnited States district
court, and Judge David
S. Calhoun of the Hart-
ford County court of com-
mon pleas. He resided
in Colchester from 1849
until 1S53. During the
latter year he represented
that town in the general
assembly, his colleagues
from New London County
including the Hon. Jere-
miah Halsey of Norwich,
Judge James Phelps of
Essex, ex-United States
Senator W. W. Eaton. The Hon. Alfred E. Burr of
The Hartfoj^d Times, and Major F. M. Brown
were also members of the house at that time, ex-
Senator Eaton occupjdng the position of speaker.
After leaving Colchester, Mr. I>angdon resided at
New Brunswick, N. J., from 1S55 until 1857. The
balance of the time has been spent in Plymouth.
In politics he is a republican. He is a justice of
the peace. For ten years he was a member of the
board of selectmen, and was acting school visitor
for eight. He has also held the offices of town
treasurer and grand juror. For thirty years he
has been connected with the Connecticut State
Sunday-school association, and has been actively
identified with its work. He has held the chair-
manship of the executive committee of the associa-
tion. Mr. Langdon was one of the founders of
the Novelty Rubber Company, a successful manu-
facturing corporation, and became one of its
directors and its secretary. He was one of the
incorporators of the Plymouth Woolen Company,
one of its directors, and its secretary and treasurer.
He was also one of the founders and a director
of the Thomaston Knife Compan3^ His family
J. K. MASON.
New York Mutual,
JARVIS KING MASON, A.M., M.D., Suffield.
Dr. Mason is a member of the Hartford County
and State Medical Societies, and of the American
Medical Association , also a Fellow of the American
Academy of Medicine.
He is the medical exam-
iner and health officer of
the town where he re-
sides and vice-president
of the Library Associa-
tion. He is also the med-
ical examiner for a num-
ber of insurance compa-
nies, including the ^F^tna,
the Phoenix, the Mutual,
the Connecticut General,
and the Hartford Life and
Annuity, of Hartford; the
Union Mutual of Boston,
the New York Mutual, the New York Life,
the Mutual Benefit of New Jersey, and the
Penn Mutual of Philadelphia. He is a repub-
lican in politics and a member of the Congre-
gational church. Dr. Mason was born in the
town of Enfield, November 8, 1S31, and pre-
pared for college at Wilbraham, Monson, and
Easthampton. He graduated at Yale in 1855, his
classmates including Hon. Lyman D. Brewster of
Danbury, the Rev. Charles Ray Palmer, the Rev.
Dr. John E. Todd, Theodore Lyman, P. H.
Woodward, and Lewis E. Stanton of Hartford.
After completing his college course he engaged in
teaching in Ohio, Texas, and Mississippi. He be-
gan the study of medicine in 1S58 under the tuition
of Dr. J. L. Plunkett of Carthage, Miss. In 1859
he returned north and continued his studies under
Dr. Clarke of Whitinsville, Mass., and Dr. Wm.
Warren Greene of Portland, Me., the latter having
been professor of surgery in the Berkshire Medical
College, the Michigan University, and in the med-
ical department at Bowdoin. Dr. Mason com-
pleted his medical course at Harvard, and received
the degree of M.D. in 1861. He immediately set-
tled at Suffield, where he has since continued in
practice. Dr. Mason has been married three
times. His first wife was Mrs. Mary R. Reynolds
of Monson, Ma.ss. She died in 1S64, after a year's
marriage. In 1S73 he married Miss Clara K. Hal-
laday of Suffield, who died in 1S76, leaving two
daughters, one of whom died at the age of seven
years. In 1877 Dr. Mason was married for the
third time, the bride being Miss Mary Louisa East-
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
169
man, daughter of the Rev. L. R. Eastman of Am-
her.st. The fruit of this marrias^e is one son and
two daughters, all of whom are living. Dr. Mason
is thoroughly interested in liistorical and biograph-
ical literature, and has spent nn)st of his leisure
during the past thirt}- j-ears in these pursuits. He
is a gentleman of wide culture, and a leading resi-
dent of the town where all of his professional life
has been passed.
HON. ELISHA CARPENTER, Haktiukd: Judge
of the Supreme and Superior Courts.
Judge Elisha Caq^enter was born in that part of
the old town of Ashford which is now known by
the name of Eastford, Jan. 14, 1824, and received a
common school and aca-
demic education. He was
appointed judge of the su-
perior coiu't July 4, 1 86 1,
and was made a judge of
the supreme court in 1S65.
For thirty years he has
been a prominent repre-
sentative of the legal pro-
fession of this state, and a
jurist of undoubted at-
tainments. Prior to the
appointment to the bench
he had held the offices of
judge of probate and
state's attorney, and had served for two sessions in
the state senate. He first became a member of that
body in 1S57, his colleagues including the Hon.
D^^•ight Loomis of Rockville, who is now a judge
of the supreme court, the late Governor James E.
English of New Haven, and Ralph S. Taintor of
Colchester. In 1S5S Judge Carpenter was returned
from the old 14th district. It is one of the most in-
teresting facts in connection with the history of the
Connecticut senate, that the roll of 1S58 has fur-
nished four members of the superior and supreme
courts. Three of the members, ex-Judge Dwight
W. Pardee of this city, the late Judge vSidney B.
Beardsley of Bridgeport, and the subject of this
sketch, have attained eminence and honor in the
highest court in this state, while the fourth has
served tor years as one of the ablest jurists on the
superior court bench in Connecticut. Judge James
Phelps of Essex, who was the colleague of Judge
Carpenter in the senate in 1858, has also served in
the national congress. The incident that these four
interpreters of the law were associate law-makers
in the senate in 1858 is one of great value in estimat-
ing the genius and spirit of the Ccmnecticut judi-
cial system. Tenure of office in the higher court
judgeships is practically identical with the consti-
tutional limit. Judge Carpenter was the president
pro tempore of the senate in 1858. In 1861 he
HON. E. C.A.RPENTEK.
represented the town of Killingly in the house
of representatives, serving as chairman of the
military committee. During the first week of
this session the legislature passed a bill confirming
the act of Governor Buckingham in sending troops
into the United States service without authority of
law, and providing for further furnishing (jf state
troops for such service. After his appointment to the
superior court bench. Judge Carpenter removed
to Wethersfield. He remained in that town sev-
eral years, but eventually settled in Hartford,
where he now resides. His career on the supreme
court bench has been identified in an exceptional
manner with public interests. Of recent years he
has been called upon to prepare the most impoi-tant
opinions of the court relative to labor issues. The
noted boycott f)pinion, which defined the rights of
workingmen so clearly that there has been no con-
test in that direction since, was from his pen. The
opinion relative to the forfeiture of wages in case
of a violation of contract, which the supreme court
enunciated two years ago, was also prepared by
Judge Carpenter. This opinion presented with the
utmost clearness the fundamental principles of law
relative to the rights of labor. It was also Judge
Carpenter's perception of the spirit and object of
the secret ballot law that led the supreme court last
year to a strict construction of the text, the idea of
secrecy in the statute being regarded as the funda-
mental one. Anything outside of the strictest con-
formity to one course immediately destroyed the se-
crecy of the vote. It is in cases and issues of this
nature that Judge Carpenter has rendered the pub-
lic inestimable service. He is a man of absolute
personal integrity, and his career has been a price-
less inspiration for bench and bar during the thirty
years in which he has discharged the duties of a
judge in the highest courts of the state. In politics
Judge Carpenter is a republican. He is a member
of the Asylum Hill Congregational church, and is a
typical representative of the great denomination
with which his entire religious life has been identi-
fied. During the war Judge Carpenter was the
firmest of supporters of the Union. Unable to
share personally in the military activities of the
struggle, he provided and sent a substitute into
the field, though himself never the subject of
any military conscription. His heart and hand
were governed by an exalted patriotism, the
very thought of which was an inspiration to many
a man in the field. The oration which he pronounced
at the funeral of Gen. Lyon in Eastford during the
initial year of the war was a matchless tribute,
showing that the Judge's heart was in loyal kinship
with that of the fallen hero, by the side of whose
grave the state was bowed in the most affectionate
sorrow and reverence. Judge Carpenter has been
married twice. His first wife was Miss Harriet G.
I/O
AX ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
Brown of Brooklyn, Conn. She died July 3, 1S74,
leaving three daughters and one son. The latter
died Sept. 11, 1S79. The present wife was Miss So-
phia Tyler Cowen, niece of the late Gen. Robert O.
Tyler and daughter of the late Mrs. Cowen, whose
memory will long be regarded with affection and
enthusiasm in this city. There are two children by
the latter marriage. One of the daughters of Judge
Carpenter by the first wife is Mrs. Myron H. Bridge-
man of this city.
A. C. BIGELOW, New Fairfield: Farmer.
Allen Clarington Bigelow was born January 25,
i860, in the town where he now resides, and where
his life has principally been spent on the farm. He
married Miss Sarah Bell
Benedict, and they have
two children. He is a re-
publican in politics, and
is considered one of the
best workers in that party
in the town of New Fair-
field. He was employed
as a census enumerator in
iSgo, and is at the present
time one of the messen-
gers of the Connecticut
house of representatives.
Mr. Bigelow is a young
man of many pleasing
accomplishments, and an earnest and enthusiastic
citizen, whose interests are all identified with the
town of his nativity. He was educated at the West
Center school of New Fairfield.
A. C. BIGELOW.
DAVIS A. BAKER, Ashford: Merchant.
Davis A. Baker has twice been a member of the
general assembly, the first term occurring in 1S67,
when his colleagues from Windham county included
Henry M. Cleveland from
Brooklyn, George Daniel-
son from K i 1 1 i n g 1 y ,
Thomas Tallman and
Lucius Briggs of Thomp-
son, and Frank S. Burgess
of Plainfield. Mr. Baker
was also a member of the
house in 1S87. The local
offices which he has held
include that of acting
school visitor for seven-
teen years, constable and
collector two years, select-
man five years, judge of
probate eight years, town clerk and treasurer eigh-
teen, and was postmaster under President Cleve-
land's administration. He is one of the leading
D. A. BAKER.
and most successful members of the democratic
party in his town. He was educated at the Ashford
Academy and the State Normal school at New
Britain, and began life as a public school teacher,
proving himself especially adapted to that avoca-
tion. He was a contractor and builder for a num-
ber of j-ears, but for the past decade or more he
has devoted himself exclusively to mercantile in-
terests, managing a prosperous business in that
line. His two sons are associated with him. The
wife of Mr. Baker, Miss Ehza H. Walbridge, is
still living. Mr. Baker, was born in Ashford, Octo-
ber 28, 1834, and has spent his life in that town,
where he is thoroughly honored and esteemed.
J. D. PAGE.
JOHN DENNISON PAGE, H.\rwinton: Paper
Manufacturer.
Mr. Page was born Jan. 10, 1S16, in that part of
the town of Manchester which was afterwards set
apart and incorporated as East Hartford. After
acquiring his education at
the public schools, he
learned the trade of mill-
wright, which business he
followed in his native
town for the next twenty-
five years. In i860 he
gave up the business in
East Hartford and en-
gaged in the manufacture
of paper at Lisbon, this
state, the firm being J. D.
Page & Co. This busi-
ness he continued for
three years, selhng out at
the end of that time and returning to East Hart-
ford, where, in 1863, he became a partner in the
well-known firm of Hanmer & Forbes, paper man-
ufacturers, under the style of Hanmer, Forbes &
Page. Here he remained two years. Selling his
interest he removed to East Litchfield, town of
Harwinton, where he has since resided, engaged in
the manufacture of paper, and where he has estab-
lished and built up one of the important industries
of the state in his line. He has associated with
him in the business his son-in-law, the Hon. George
W. Dains, present senator from the Eighteenth
district, the firm name being Page & Dains. His
wife's name before her marriage was Mary Alvord.
There have been four children, only one of whom,
a daughter, is now living. She is the wife of his
business partner, the Hon. George W. Dains, above
mentioned. Mr. Page has never sought public
office, and has never accepted it, save in 1872, when
he represented his town in the state legislature of
that j-ear. He is a republican in politics and a
prominent citizen, being held in high esteem bj'
his fellow townsmen.
BIOGRAPHY OF COXXKCTICUT.
171
i#<
W. ROOT.
G. WELLS ROOT, Haktkord: Wholesale Com-
mission ilerchant.
Mr. Root is senior partner in the firm of Root &
Childs, a mercantile house which was established
in Hartford in 1S26, by A. & C. Day. Afterwards
the firm became A. &- C.
Day & Co.; then Day,
Owen & Co.; Owen, Day
& Root; Owen, Root &
Childs; and finally Root
& Childs. Up to 1864
their business was a job-
bing business, and their
sales were to the principal
retailers throughout New
England, the northwest,
west, southwest, and
south. It may be said,
there was not a state in
the Union that merchants
from them did not visit Hartford for the purchase
of domestic dry-goods. From that time the busi-
ness gradually changed to a package commission
business, sales being made exclusively to the job-
bing trade. This led to their opening a store in
New York city. They now occupy one of the finest
stores in New York, corner Church and Leonard
streets. They have a sample office in Chicago, and
are represented by agents in Boston, Philadelphia,
and Baltimore. Their business is very large, they
selling the entire production of a large number of
New England and southern mills. Mr. Root com-
menced with Day, Owen & Co., nearly forty-eight
years ago, and Mr. Childs over thirty years ago.
The Days and Mr. Owen have passed " over the
river." Probabh' no house has been more exten-
sively known throughout the country for the past
sixty years than this house under its different or-
ganizations. It has gone through all financial
panics for the past sixty years without a blemish,
and its record is a ver\- proud one.
Mr. Root was born in Augusta, Oneida county,
N. Y., April 26, 1826, a descendant of Thomas
Root, one of the first settlers, and a great-grandson
of Jesse Root, a distinguished jurist of the revolu-
tionary period, who was born in Coventry, Conn.,
and spent most of his days in that ancient town.
Mr. Root spent the first eight years of his life at
his birthplace, from which he went to Mount Mor-
ris. Livingston county, N. Y., and remained nine
years, obtaining during these years a theoretical
education at the public schools, and a three years
practical education in a country store. In 1843 he
came to Hartford and entered the employ of Day,
Owen & Co. , into which firm he was admitted as a
partner in 1851. Calvin Day retired from the
partnership in 1861, and -the firm name was then
changed to Owen, Day & Root. In 1S64 Horatio
Daj' went out and the firm was again changed to
(^wen, Root & Childs. Mr. Owen soon afterwards
retired from active business, but remained as a silent
partner until his death. The firm then became Root
& Childs, as it has since remained. Soon after en-
tering the firm he married Miss Paulina S. Brooks,
daughter of the late David S. Brooks of Hartford,
who with their five children is still living.
Mr. Root was a member of the Hartford board
of police commissioners for nine years, and a mem-
ber of the common council one year. He is a
director in the Hartford National Bank and in the
Phnenix Insurance Company; president of the Sig-
ourney Tool Company, the Taft Company, and the
Mankato Pipe Company; he als(^ holds member-
ship in the Hartford Club and the Hartford Board
of Trade. He is an active and influential member
of Park church, and an enthusiastic and stalwart
repubhcan. He is a man of positive convictions
and absolute frankness in their expression. His
long i-esidence in Hartford has been attended by
much earnest and conscientious effort in behalf of
the city and its institutions, his home-public-spirit
being one of Mr. Root's strongest traits. There
can be no doubt of his essential usefulness as a
citizen, or of the well-earned and well-deserved
confidence which is reposed in him by his towns-
men and all who have the pleasure of his acquaint-
ance.
J. H. BLAKEMAN, Stratford: Farmer and
Stock Breeder.
James Henry Blakeman enlisted in the Seven-
teenth Conn. Vols. July 29, 1862, and served three
vears in the field, being a member of Company D.
He was severely wounded
on Barlow's Knoll during
the first day at Gettys-
burg, and was taken pris-
oner by the confederate
forces. Subsequentl}- he
was recaptured and re-
moved to a place of secu-
rity within the I'nion
lines. He is the master
of Housatonic Grange,
No. 79, of the Patrons of
Husbandry', and is one of
the best known stock
breeders in his section of
the state, paying especial attention to Holsteins.
He is also engaged in general farming and the
raising of small fruits. He was formerly associated
with his brother, M. A. Blakeman, in dock and
bridge building, but withdrew from the business
after a couple of years. He has held numerous
local offices, including constable, deputy sheriff in
Fairfield countv, tax collector, town auditor, notary
J. H. BLAKEMAN.
1/2
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
public, justice of the peace, and member of the
school district committee. He is connected with the
Congregationalist society in Stratford. His wife,
who was Miss Amelia Janette Burr, is a daughter
of the late Deacon Isaac Burr of Monroe. The mar-
riage occurred in 1SG6. There are two children in the
family. Mr. Blakeman is a republican in politics.
He was born at Stratford, November 20, 1S41, and
received a common school education.
GEORGE DUNH.^M.
GEORGE DUNHAM, Unionville: Inventor and
^lanufacturer.
George Dunham was born at Southington, April
7, 1830. His early life, up to the age of twenty-
one, was spent in hard work upon his father's farm,
with the exception of a
few months' schooling
each year until he was
eighteen, when he finished
with one term at Lewis
Academy in Southington.
As soon as he became of
age he went to work at
Miller's Bolt Works in
T^ Southington, heading
bolts by hand for about a
year and a half (this was
before any machines for
heading were invented).
He then worked for about
two years at East Berlin and Southington on Tin-
man's machines. After that he was employed by
the Miller Bolt Works to make tools for threading
bolts and nuts. He worked at this business, hav-
ing charge of the finishing department in addition
a part of the time, until 1S59, except in dull times,
when, the factory being closed, he turned to farm-
ing and such outdoor work as could be had. In
February, 1859, he went to Unionville as superin-
tendent of Langdon's Bolt Works. In something
more than a year from that time Mr. Langdon died,
when, in connection with Mr. A. S. Upson, he pur-
chased the business. He made improvements upon
nearly all the machinery then used, many of these
improvements being still in use. In 1S65 he in-
vented what is now called the Dimham forged nut
machine, which was highly successful, and up to
this time has not been superseded for this class of
work, either here or in England. Having at this
time no knowledge of drafting, this machine was
built without drawings, the inventor carrying all
the details in his head. Since then he has invented
a number of machines, mostly automatic, for cheap-
ening the product by doing several different things
in one operation. Included among them is a ma-
chine for making brass tips for pocket rules; also
for making brass rolls for rule joints, a bolt-header,
a paper-bag machine, a hot-working quadruple nut
machine, a cold-press nut machine which makes a
nut complete from the bar cold, and one for finish-
ing nuts cold, a mechanical motion, and several
others of simpler construction. He has been in-
terested in nearly all the new business enterprises
of the village, a director in most of them, president
of some, and secretary and treasurer of others.
He is now manager of the Dunham Nut Machine
Company. He has held a number of offices within
the gift of the town, including that of selectman
for several years and justice of the peace since 1S7S.
He held the office of clerk and treasurer of the
LTnionville Ecclesiastical Society for more than
twenty years, and is a member and deacon of the
Congregational church. In politics he is a strong
republican. Mr. Dunham is a man of decided
energy and determination, great perseverance and
thoroughness in his work, and of strict integrity,
quiet and self-possessed in manner. He takes great
interest in the growing of fruit, of which he has a
large variety; and his chief recreation in summer
is in pruning and caring for it.
Mr. Dunham married Miss Isabella Bradley of
Meriden in 1853, who died in 1856, leaving one
daughter. In 1S61 he married Miss Mary J. John-
son of Unionville, his present wife. Three sons
are the result of this marriage.
OLCOTT B. COLTON, Hartford: Junior Part-
ner Smith, Bourn & Company.
Councilman Colton of the second ward in this
city was born at Longmeadow, Mass., January 16,
1850, and was educated in the Massachusetts pub-
lic schools. His first
business experience was
with the Medlicott Com-
pany of Windsor Locks,
where he remained for
three j-ears. At the close
of that period he became
a clerk in the office of the
Hartford Steam Boiler
Inspection and Insurance
Company. In 1S71 he
accepted the position of
bookkeeper with Smith,
Bourn & Company of this
city, one of the largest
concerns in the country engaged in the man-
ufacture of harnesses, riding saddles, and sad-
dlery goods. Subsequently he became a sales-
man for the firm, and on January i, 1885, he was
admitted to the junior partnership. The factor}' is
located at the corner of Capitol avenue and Sigour-
ney street in this city. It employs 200 hands. The
principal depot for the distribution of its goods is
O. K. COLTON.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
'73
in New York city. The New England market is
supplied from the firm's stt)re, No. 334 Asylum
street in this city. Mr. Colton is a republican in
politics and represents the second ward in the
cotirt of common council. He is a member of the
Asylum Hill Congregational church, and is the su-
perintendent of the Glenwood Union Sunday-
school. His wife, who is living, was ]\Iiss Helen
C. Coomes. The family includes three children.
Mr. Colton is regarded as one of 'the most success-
ful young business men in the city.
HON. LYMAN S. CATLIN, Bridgeport: Treas-
urer and Secretarj'' Mechanics and Farmers Sav-
ings Bank.
Lyman Sheldon Catlin was born at Harwinton,
Litchfield count}'. Conn., Jan. 21, 1S40, and edu-
cated in the common schools and academy of that
town. He remained in
Harwinton through his
minority, and in 1S62 en-
listed as a private in the
Nineteenth Connecticut
Infantry Company. He
remained for two years
in this regiment, and, at
the end of that time was
commissioned as first
lieutenant in the Thir-
teenth United States Ar-
tillery (colored) Regiment.
While with the colored
troops Lieutenant Catlin
was in an engagement on the Cumberland River in
Southwestern Kentucky, in which the entire com-
mand was captured by Forrest's Cavalry. The
officers connected with the colored troops were
ordered hung, but they escaped by means of a
gunboat. In 1S65 this command was mustered
out and its first lieutenant was commissioned by
Secretary Stanton as lieutenant in the Fifth United
States Cavalry. He served with this command in
Arkansas until 1S66, when the Union army was
mustered out. Since the war Mr. Catlin has passed
most of the time in Bridgeport, his only absence
being between 1870 and 1S73. Early in 1S70 he
settled in Alabama as the agent of a Chicago in-
surance company, but was driven out by the Klu
Klux in a few months. The same company then
sent him to Kansas, where he remained until 1873,
when he returned to Bridgeport and organized the
Mechanics and Farmers Savings Bank of that city,
and has since been its chief executive officer. He
has filled various offices for the town of Stratford,
and was elected to represent the town in the gen-
eral assemblies of 18S1 and 1SS3. The first year he
served on the house committee on school funds and
L. s. c.vruN.
in 1SS3 he was house chairman of the committee on
banks. In iSSS he was elected senator from the
Thirteenth District, and in the session of '89 was
chairman of the joint committee on banks, and the
committee on further accommodation for the in-
sane. His career was one of prominence and use-
fulness in both branches of the legislature. Mr.
Catlin was married in 1S71 to Miss Helen J. Lewis
of Stratford, and they have four children — two
sons and two daughters. He is an earnest repub-
lican, and an influential factor, locally and state-
wise, in the councils of his party. He is a member
of the military order of the Loyal Legion, of the
Grand Army, and the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. Mr. Catlin is a thorough and successful
business man and a valued citizen.
J. E. ANDREWS.
JOHN E. ANDREWS, Mt. Cakmei. Center (Ham-
den): Real Estate and Insurance.
John Edward Andrews was born in Cheshire,
November 17, 1831, and received a common school
education. His father was a farmer in that place,
and the son at the age of
twenty bought his time
and spent the succeeding
seven years in an axle
factory. At the e.xpira-
tion of that period he en-
gaged in mercantile pur-
suits, real estate, insur-
ance, and building. He
was one of the influential
men in the community m
building up Mount Car-
mel Center and in secur-
ing the post-office for the
place. He was connected
for two years with C. A. Burleigh in the flour, feed,
and coal business, and afterwards with the firm of
J. E. Andrews & Son for seven years at Mount Car-
mel. For a period of four years he held the
office of first selectman and town agent, being
elected in a strong democratic town, although
being himself a republican in politics. During his
administration a public hall was erected at a cost of
815,000. He was one of the charter members and
first master of Hamden grange, and is an influen-
tial member of the Congregational church, being
connected with the finance committee of the eccle-
siastical society. Mr. Andrews has been married
twice. His first wife was Miss Celia Kinney of
Litchfield. The son by this marriage, George L.
Andrews, is the postmaster at Mount Carmel Cen-
ter and has been the chairman of the republican
town committee. The second wife was Miss Han-
nah E. Norton of Bristol. She is still living. Mr.
Andrews is at present a justice of the peace and
assistant postmaster.
174
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
JUDGE WILLIAM B. GLOVER, Fairfield: At-
torney-at-La\v.
William B. Glover, the son of Samuel and Emily
H. (Brown) Glover, was born at Philadelphia,
Pa., April 7, 1S57.
W. B. GLOVER.
He received his early educa-
tion at the Fairfield Acad-
emy, and prepared for
college at General Rus-
sell's Military Institute at
New Haven. At the age
of seventeen he entered
Yale University , and grad-
uated in the class of 187S,
receiving the degree of
B.A. He then entered
the law department of
Columbia College, New-
York, and pursuing the
course there, graduated
in 1880 with the degree
of LL.B., and was at once admitted to full prac-
tice as a lawyer in the courts of the state of New
York. For a short time he continued in business in
New York city, and then applied, and was in 1881
admitted, to practice in the courts of the state of
Connecticut, since when his advancement and suc-
cess in his profession have been rapid and flatter-
ing. He has been engaged in much important
litigation in the courts of Fairfield county, notable
among which has been the bitterly-fought contest
between the town of Fairfield and the New York,
New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, involv-
ing the question of payment of the cost of separat-
ing the grades of railroad and highway at cross-
ings. The success of the town of Fairfield, which
he represented in that litigation, has more than
anything else had the practical effect of settling a
question which had been the subject of widespread
dispute and ill-feeling for a long time.
In November, 1SS2, he was elected judge of the
probate court for the district of Fairfield, and has
received successive re-elections to that office to the
present time. Judge Glover has introduced many
reforms and improvements in the administration of
that court, and the Fairfield probate office is to-day
known as one of the model offices of the state. His
opinion in matters of probate law and practice is
often sought by probate judges throughout the
state, and is at all times cheerfully and carefully
given. In 1884 he was appointed one of the state
commission formed to revise and codify the probate
laws of the state. Among his associates on that
commission were Judge Luzon B. Morris of New
Haven and Judge A. H. Fenn of Winsted. The
report of the commission was adopted by the legis-
lature in 1885, and forms the basis of the present
probate law of the state. He has three times rep-
resented the town of Fairfield in the legislature —
in the sessions of 1S83, 1884, and 1S89. In the
legislature he has always taken a leading and
honorable position, and has become one of the well-
known public men of the state. In the long and
difficult session of i88g he occupied the responsible
position of chairman of the judiciary committee,
and was the acknowledged leader of the house.
During the session he was unanimously elected
speaker jz^rt? teDipore, and when in the chair pre-
sided over the house with marked ability and stic-
cess. In politics he has always been a republican.
In 1884 he married Miss Helen Wardwell of New
York city, a great-granddaughter of Judge Jona-
than Sturges of Fairfield, who was a member of
the first congress of the United States, and for many
years a judge of the superior court of this state.
He has two sons.
Judge Glover is a member and junior warden of
St. Paul's Episcopal church in Fairfield, and pos-
sesses in a very high degree the confidence and
esteem of all classes in the community in which he
lives. His judgment and counsel are greatly re-
spected, and many private trusts are given into his
care and control. Among the young men of the
state there are few who give so much promise of a
useful and brilliant career.
LEVERETTE W. WESSELLS, Litchfield:
Merchant.
Mr. Wessells was born in the ancient town of
Litchfield, in this state, July 28, 1819. He spent a
few years with his colleagues in the important
work of mastering the
rudiments of the English
language in the district
school, and finished his
educational accomplish-
ments at the academv.
Mr. Wessells began his
political life at an early
age, being elected to his
first office, that of deputy
sheriff of Litchfield coun-
ty, in 1845, in which capac-
ity he served until 1S54,
when he was elected
sheriff, a position he held
until 1866. He was postmaster of Litchfield from
1850 to 1854. In the war he served with distinction
as colonel of the Nineteenth Regiment, Connecti-
cut Volunteers, from July 28, 1862, to September 15,
1863, having command of Second Brigade de-
fences of Washington, south of the Potomac,
from March, 1863, until the latter date, also
the date of his resignation. He was made
provost-marshal of the fourth district Januarj^'g,
1864, and held that position until the close of the
L. W. W"ESSELLS.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
175
war. In 1S66 he entered mercantile life, and has
pursued his avocation in this direction since. In
iS7<j he was elected to the house, serving on the
railroad committee, and the same year was ap-
pointed quartermaster-general. In 1S77 he was
again chosen to represent Litchfield in the general
assembly, when he was house chairman of the com-
mittee on military affairs. At present he is a mem-
ber of the state l^oard of charities, and its auditor.
j^Uit^!
E. B. DILLINGHAM.
EDMUND B. DILLINGHAM, Hartiukd: Ad-
vertising and Real Estate Agent.
E. B. Dilhngham was born in West Bridgewater,
Mass., Sept. 30, 1S36. His residence there was of
e.xceedingly brief duration, and from infancy until
1S67 he lived continuously
in Fall River, Mass. His
education was acquired
in the grammar school of
the last-named city and
in the academy at My-
rickville, Mass. After
leaving school he engaged
in mercantile business as
a clerk until 1S61, and
from that time imtill 1S66
was employed in clerical
duties connected with the
city of Fall River, and in
the office of provost-mar-
shal of the I St Congressional District of Massachu-
setts, being assistant marshal and enrolling officer
during a considerable portion of that period, and
having charge of the enlisting of men in the military
service under the several calls made upon his city.
From 1862 to 1S65 he was United States special
agent, with headquarters at Fall River. After
leaving the government employ he went to Rock-
ville, in this state, and became superintendent of
the Rose Silk Company, remaining there until 1S70,
when he removed to Hartford, and established
" Dillingham's Newspaper Advertising Agency,"
being the pioneer in that business in Connecticut.
His agency in Hartford is among the oldest repre-
sentatives of that business in the country, and sus-
tains a reputation among the best, having the com-
plete confidence of advertisers and publishers
everywhere. In 1877 he was elected a member of
the state executive committee of the Young Men's
Christian Association of Connecticut, which position
he still retains. In this capacity he has attended
every international convention of the Y. M. C. A.
since 1S79. He was D. L. Moody's chief usher
diu4ng that distinguished evangelist's labors in
Hartford in the winter of 187S-79. As a member
of the Hartford Y. ^I. C. A., he is on the board of
trustees for the proposed new building of the asso-
ciation .soon to be erected on their lot, corner of
Pearl and Ff)rd streets, which was given for that
purpose by the late General Hillycr at the solicita-
tion of Mr. Dillingham. He is a member of the
Connecticut Congregational Club, chaplain of the
.Hartford county jail since 1879, and member of the
City Mission board for several years. He has
acted as temporary supply for the pulpit of nearly
every country church within a radius of twenty
miles from Hartford, never accepting remunei'ation
for services thus rendered. He was chosen coun-
cilman for the Seventh ward in Hartford in 1887,
and re-elected for three successive terms, repre-
senting the republicans, of which party he has been
an active member since its organization. His re-
ligious connections are with the Windsor Avenue
Congregational church, in the prosperity of which
organization he has been an important factor.
Mr. Dilhngham was married in i860 to Miss
Josephine A. Potter, daughter of the late Henry
Potter of Fall River, and they have two children,
Charles B. and Mabel B., the former of whom has
been on the reportorial staff of one of the Hartford
city dailies, was later cit)^ editor of a paper in
Spokane Falls, Washington, and has recently been
made private secretary to the Hon. Watson C.
Squire, United States senator from that new north-
western state.
JOHN AVERY, Lebanon: Farmer.
John Avery was born in Preston, Nov. g, 1S06,
and received a common school education. He is a
farmer by avocation and has resided in the town
where he now lives since
1823. He was a member
of the general assembly
from Lebanon in 1S64 and
has held other important
offices. He has been the
treasurer of the Baptist
church in Lebanon since
1S46 and is a member of
the board of deacons. For
65 years he has been a
total abstainer from the
use of intoxicating liq-
uors, and has been at the
head of a temperance so-
ciety for a considerable period. He has been a
prominent Sunday-school worker, superintendent,
and has been on the committee of the church for
most of the time during the past fifty years. He
has also held the office of justice of the peace. His
father was Colonel David Avery 'of Preston, who
was in the revolutionary war. His mother was
Hannah Avery, daughter of John Averj'- of Preston.
Mr. Avery is the only one now living of a family of
ten children. The first wife of Mr. Avery, whose
JOHN AVERV.
\y6
maiden name was Clarissa M. Stiles, died in iS6o.
The second wife was I\Iiss Almira A. Corey, who is
still living. He has two children living. One
daughter died in 1854. In politics Mr. Avery is a
republican.
FRANK CHESTER FOWLER, Moonus: Propri-
etor Oak Grove Stock Farm.
Mr. Fowler was born in Moodus, December 26,
1859, and has spent most of his life there, except
during his extensive travels over the South and
West. He was educated
at the common schools of
his native town, and since
h i s youth has been en-
gaged in the manufacture
or sale of proprietary
medicines, and in the
breeding of blooded
horses. He is proprietor
of a large stock farm, and
has a business which in all
departments amounts to
$300,000 a year. Mr. Fow-
ler married Miss E. H.
Thompson, and they have
two children. In politics he is an earnest republi-
can, IS a member of the organizations of Free Ma-
sons and Odd Fellows, and actively interested in
local pubhc affairs. He is an energetic, stirring
business man, and as such has achieved remarkable
success in life for one of his years.
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
F. C. FOWLER.
HENRY N. CLEMONS, Danielsonville: Cash-
ier First National Bank of Killingly.
Henry N. demons was born in Granby in
1S24, third son (of nine sons and three daughters)
of Allen and Catherine (Stillman) Clemons, on the
manor farm of his grand-
father, Ferdinand Clem-
ons (originally of one
thousand acres), pur-
chased and settled by his
great-grandfather when
the town was a part of
Simsbury. He was edu-
cated at home, in the dis-
trict school, the Granby
Academy, the Suffield
Literary Institute, and the
Williston Seminary, Mass.
He commenced teaching
at the age of sixteen, and
taught in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode
Island, and was for a while a clerk in the office of
the school fund commissioner. In 1849 he began
railroading with a surveying corps on the Canal
H. N. CLEMONS.
railroad in" Farmington; became station agent
there; and, on the extension of the road to Collins-
ville, first agent at the last-named place, it being
then the terminus of the main line. He was also
assistant postmaster there. In 1852 he became
ticket agent of the Providence & Worcester Rail-
road at the Providence office. In 1855 he entered
the Arcade Bank of Providence, and in 1856 was
elected teller of the Merchants Bank of the same
city, which was the exchange bank for the state of
Rhode Island under the Suffolk system of state
banks. While residing in Providence Mr. Clemons
was a member of the Richmond Street Congrega-
tional church, was a while their clerk and treasurer,
and chairman of the music committee; was secre-
tary of the Mendelssohn Choral LTnion; was on
city's committees, and a state secretarj-of apolitical
party for two years. In 1853 he originated and co-
organized the Providence Young Men's Christian
Association, and was their corresponding secre-
tary. During the war of the rebellion, though
exempt by the examining surgeon, was a member
of the home guard. He was elected justice of the
peace in the city of Providence, and held for years
a commission as notary public for Rhode Island.
In June, 1864, Mr. Clemons was elected cashier of
the First National Bank of Killingly, at Danielson-
ville; arranged its organization and commenced its
banking business, and has held the office continu-
ously to the present time. In January of this year
the bank paid its fiftieth dividend, having paid to
its stockholders in dividends $236,500 on a capital
of $110,000. In July, 1S64, he organized the
Windham County Savings Bank of Danielsonville;
was its treasurer and a trustee, holding the office
some eleven j-ears, in which time the deposits
reached more than $1,250,000. In 1S67 he arranged
and superintended the erection of its present bank
building and vaults. In 1876 he organized the
Mvisic Hall Company, was elected its treasurer and
a director, which offices he now holds; and, as a
member of its building committee, arranged the
rooms and vault for the First National Bank in its
block, which the bank now occupies. In 1866 he
was elected clerk and treasurer of School District
No. I, and continued on its union with District No.
2, when the High school building was erected,
holding the treasurer's office eighteen years. He
held the treasurer's office of the Congregational
church thirteen years.
Mr. Clemons has been twice married: in 1848 to
Miss Mary E. Spalding of Killingly, who died in
1869, leaving two children, a daughter, now a
widow, Mrs. Emily A. Merriam, and a son, Ferdi-
nand S., now in the Merchants National Bank, St.
Paul, Minn.; in 1S71 married his present wife,
Miss Mary L. Collyer, only child of Samuel C. and
Mary (Tabor) Collyer of Pawtucket, R. I. Mr.
BIOGRAPHV OF CONNECTICUT.
177
demons was a whig when made a voter, was a
delegate to the whig convention at New Haven in
1S52, became a republican on the organization of
the party, has held his allegiance thoroughly as a
temperance republican and a firm protectionist; is
now all of these and a nationalist republican. Mr.
Clemons has been borough treasurer and held other
minor offices, and has held a notary public's com-
mission more than twentv-five vears.
E. B. BENNETT.
EDWARD B. BENNETT, H.-vrtkord: Lawyer.
Edward Brown Bennett, son of William Bennett,
a well-to-do farmer of Hampton, Windham County,
Conn., was born in that town, April 12, 1842. He
remained at home un-
til about eighteen years
of age, working on the
farm summers and at-
tending school or teaching
during the winter months.
In 1S60 he entered Willis-
ton Seminary at East-
hampton, Mass., graduat-
ing therefrom in 1S62. In
the fall of the same year
he entered Yale College,
and was graduated from
that institution in 1866.
At college he was active
in athletic sports, and was on the Yale University
crew in the years 1S64., '65, '66. In 1 866 and '67,
after leaving college, he taught school; and at the
,same time studied law with the- Hon. C. F. Cleve-
land of Hampton. He completed his law studies
with Hon. Frankhn ChamberUn of Hartford, being-
more than a year in his office ; was admitted to the
bar of Windham County in January, 1S6S, and be-
gan practice at Hampton. In April of the same
j-ear he was elected a representative from the town
of Hampton to the general assembly. In the fall of
1S6S he opened a law office in the city of Hartford,,
and soon after formed a partnership with Henry E.
Burton which continued for three or four years.
Since the dissolution of this partnership he has
maintained his legal practice uninterruptedly until
the present, unassociated. He was chosen assist-
ant clerk of the Connecticut House of Representa-
tives in 1869, clerk of the house in 1870, and clerk of
the senate in 1871. In July, 1S71, he was appointed
by Judge H. B. Freeman clerk of the police court
of Hartford, which office he retained for three
years. In 1873 he was elected a member of the
common council of that city, servnng one term. In
April, 1878, he was elected judge of the Hartford
City Court, and continued to hold the office by suc-
sessive re-elections until April, 1891. Judge Ben-
nett was married in 1877, to Miss Alice Howard,
daughter of Hon. James L. Howard of Hartford.
There are no children in the family. Judge Ben-
nett's religirms connections are with the Asylum
Hill Congregational church. In politics he has
always been a re]niblican; has served on the state
central conmiittee, and was its secretary for several
years. He is respected as an upright citizen, who
has conscientiously and ably performed the public
duties which have devolved upon him in whatever
position of trust or responsibility he has been
placed.
In the latter part of May of the present year,
after the preparation of the foregoing sketch. Judge
Bennett was appointed postmaster of Hartford, to
succeed Major J. C. Kinney, deceased.
WILLIAM FRANCIS ANDROSS, E.\st Hart-
ford: Secretary Connecticut State Agricultural
Society.
William F. Andross, born at East Hartford,
Conn., June 21, 1850, has passed his entire life in
that and the adjoining town of South Windsor. He
received his education in
various public and private
schools, and was married
September 21, 1874, to
Irene E. Bidwell of Man-
chester, by whom he has
three children, two sons
and one daughter, few
men being more fortu-
nate in their domestic re-
lations. As a business
man, Mr. Andross has
been engaged in market
gardening, tobacco grow-
ing, and at present as a
commercial traveler m the fertilizer and chemical
line, representing the well-known house of H. J.
Baker & Brother of New York. For the past ten
years he has been actively connected with the com-
mercial fertilizer trade, acting at different times
for the Bowker Fertilizer Company, the Bradley
Fertilizer Company, the Soluble Pacific Guano
Company, and is also at present agent for the
Brockway Carriage Company of Homer, N. Y.,
and the Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Com-
pany. While not specially active in politics, he
is a decided republican, and has held various town
offices.
Mr. Andross is perhaps best known throughout
the state as secretary of the Connecticut State
Agricultural Society, to which position he has just
been unanimously elected for a fifth term, and has
filled its difficult and onerous duties with remarka-
ble ability and success. He is also a vice-president
of the Tolland County Agricultural Society, a di-
W. E. .ANDROSS.
12
178
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
rector in the New England Tobacco Growers' Asso-
ciation, the Patrons Mutual Fire Insurance Com-
pany, the Hartford County Agricultural, and the
Hartford County Horticultural societies. He took
an active interest in the Order of Patrons of Hus-
bandry, and was a charter member and first secre-
tary of South Windsor Grange, No. 28, and was for
two years a member of the State Grange executive
committee, having the trading arrangements of the
order in hand; was also a charter member of Cres-
cent Lodge, I. O. O. F., of East Hartford.
Mr. Andross has also been an extensive contribu-
tor to the agricultural and local press, his thorough
familiarity with tobacco growing in the Connecticut
valley giving his articles a more than ordinary
value.
C. M. HULBROOK.
C. M. HOLBROOK, Hartford : Boot and Shoe
Manufacturer.
Caleb Metcalf Holbrook was born in ^lilford,
Mass., in 1S22, and was educated at Shelburne
Falls in that state. At the age of twenty-two he
removed to Hartford and
from here to Cincinnati,
Ohio. The gold excite-
ment of 1849 led him to
the Pacific slope and he
wears to this day a heavy
gold ring which wiis made
from the first gold fomid
by him in the mines of
California. The voyage
to California was made
by way of Cape Horn . In
passing the latter a gale
was encotmtered that
lasted thirteen days,
sweeping the vessel 400 miles out of its course.
The trip from New York to San Francisco lasted
207 days. From the Golden Gate to Sacramento
the trip was made in an open boat. Mr. Holbrook
was fourteen months in the mines. The ship on
which the voyage to California was made was the
Hen7-y Lee. Mr. Holbrook was absent about
three years. Since 1852 he has been engaged in
the leather business, mainly in the manufacture of
boots and shoes. The original firm was Htmt &
Holbrook. Subsequently it became Hunt, Hol-
brook & Barber, remaining under that name until
the death of Mr. Barber in 1879. Since that time
it has been known under the original name. Mr.
Holbrook has been a director in the Travelers In-
surance Company for twenty-five years and is one
of the best-known business men in the cit}'. He is
a republican in politics and has served three years
in the common council board. He is a member of
the First Baptist church. His family consists of a
wife and two daughters. The former was Miss
Anna E. Nelson prior to her marriage. Mr. Hol-
brook resides at No. 340 Farmington avenue, own-
ing and occupying one of the pleasantest residences
in that part of the city.
J. L. P.ARliOUK.
JOSEPH L. BARBOUR, Hartford: Attorney-
at-Law.
Joseph L. Barbour was born in Barkhamsted,
Litchfield county, December 18, 1846, and was edu-
cated in the Hartford High school and Williston
Seminary at East Hamp-
ton, Mass. He is a son
of the late Judge Barbour
of Hartford, a gentleman
of eminent philanthropy,
and has spent the most of
his life in the city of
Hartford. In 1864
Mr. Barbour was obliged
to give up his plans for a
college course, and en-
gaged in teaching. This
avocation was pursued for
two years. In 1S67 Mr.
Barbour commenced a
successful career of journalism in this city, and was
associated for seven years with the Hartford Even-
ing Post. He retired from that paper in 1S74, and
has since devoted his attention to the law. Mr.
Barbour is one of the ablest jury lawyers in the
county, and has a large and steadily increasing
practice. He is a republican in politics, and has
held a number of important and responsible posi-
tions within the gift of his party. He was clerk of
the common council board in this city for four
years, and has held the house and senate clerkships,
jjroving himself a man of unusual competence in
these offices. Mr. Barbour's work in connection
with the house and senate journals was of the
highest order. For eight years he was elected
prosecuting attorney by the court of common coun-
cil here, and discharged the duties of that office
with marked success. Mr. Barbour has been as-
signed to no place of public service in which he has
not shown exceptional tact and ability. His best
political service has been rendered on the stump
through successive presidential campaigns. There
is not a republican speaker in the state who can
surpass Mr. Barbour as a campaigner. His repu-
tation is not limited to Connecticut. In New York
and New Jersey he has been one of the most popu-
lar favorites. In other fields his oratorical efi^orts
have been equally brilliant. Mr. Barbom-'s Memo-
rial Day orations have been models of eloquent
and fascinating eulogy. He was a member of the
Connecticut National Guard for six years, and is a
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
179
member of the Veteran Association of the Hart-
ford City Guard. He is also a member of St.
John's Lodge, F. and A. M., of this city, and of
Charter Oak Lodge, I. O. O. F. His church rela-
tit)nships are with Rev. Dr. Parker's, where he is a
regular attendant. Mr. Barbour's family consists
of a wife and three children, the former being a
daughter of Assistant Postmaster Oliver Woodhouse
of the Hartford post-office. A daughter of Mr.
Barbour is now a student at Vassar College.
L. T. KRISBIE.
LEMUEL T. FRISBIE, IIaktkord: Merchant
and Manufacturer.
Mr. Frisbie is a native of " Wintonbury," a
parish of Old Windsor, the name of which is now
obsolete, the parish limits being included in the
present town of Bloom-
lield. Wintonbury was
so called because its terri-
tory comprised sections of
the three towns of ll'/nA-
sor, Farming/£^«, and
Simsbury, the orthogra-
phy of the word being in-
tended to express the com-
position of the parish.
Mr. Frisbie 's first Ameri-
can ancestor, his grand-
father on his mother's
side, was Thomas Taylor,
who came to America
from England about 1770, settled in Connecticut,
and became a very successful farmer. He was of
royal lineage, in direct descent from a reigning
English sovereign through a member of his famih'
who forfeited titles and estate by contracting a
marriage outside the royal line. The subject of
this sketch was born February 7, 1S24. He was the
son of a farmer, and was trained in all the habits
of economy, industry, and thrift which character-
ized the New England farmer of that period. He
attended the district school, and graduated from
the Connecticut Literary Institution at Suffield in
1842. He thus remained at the old homestead in
Bloomfield until eighteen years of age, going
thence to Windsor tor two yeai's, to Hartford for
four years, to West Hartford for two years, then
back to Windsor, where for the fourteen years
from I S 50 to 1S64 he was engaged in agricultural
pursuits and in the meat business. Since 1864 he
has been engaged in merchandizing and manufac-
turing in Hartford, taking up his residence here in
1874-
Mr. Frisbie was married in 184S to ^liss Caroline
E. GiUett, daughter of Oliver S. Gillett of Wind-
sor. Her ancestors were among the first settlers of
Hartford, coming from Roxbury, Mass., with one
of the three colonies which settled respectively in
Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford. Mr. and
]Mrs. Frisbie have had four children — two daugh-
ters died in childhood. A son and daughter remain.
The former, Charles G. Frisbie, who is associated
with his father in business, married Miss Belle S.
Welles of Hartford, and has three children; the
daughter, ElhiT., married George H. WooUey of
Hartford, and has four children.
Mr. L. T. Frisbie was a member of the common
council of Hartford for four years, from 1878 to
1882 inclusive. He is a member of the Asylum
Avenue Congregational church, and chairman of
the society's committee. In politics he is, and has
been since the organization of the party, a stalwart
republican. He is active and influential in clnnxh
affairs, a prominent and useful citizen, and has a
foremost place among the prosperous business men
of Hartford.
OKKIN CH.VI'MAN.
HON. ORRIN CHAP^IAN, North Stonington:
Farmer.
Orrin Chapman of North Stonington, son of Elias
and Eunice (Miner) Chapman, was born in the town
of his past and present residence, July 6, 1834.
His ediication was ob-
tained in the common
school. The son of a
farmer, Mr. Chapman
was bred to the calling of
agriculture, which he has
successfully followed. In
1S55 he married Miss
Jane D. Smith. Their
family numbers two sons
and two daughters. The
elder son, Elias O. Chap-
man, is noe of the enter-
prising young business
men of Meriden. In pol-
itics Mr. Chapman is a republican.
ability has been recognized by his fellow-towns-
men in the bestowal of many of the offices within
their gift. He has been a member of the board of
selectmen five years, three years as first selectman,
in which capacity he served his constituency faith-
fully and well, and by his kindly efforts in behalf
of the wards of the town won not only the grati-
tude of these unfortunates, but the commendation
of all humane persons familiar with his policy. He
was a member of the house of representatives in
1878, and again in 1882. Mr. Chapman's church
connection is with the Third Baptist church of
Noi'th Stonington, which, since 1887, re-elected an-
nuallv, he has served as clerk and treasurer. With
fidelity, fearlessness, honor, and justice as his
watchwords, he belongs to that class of citizens
which, collectively, are the strength and the security
of the commonwealth.
His superior
i8o
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
DANIEL KIEFER, Waterbury: Die Sinker.
Daniel Kiefer was born in Germany, December
15, 1S41, and received a thorough pubHc school
training. At the age of twelve years he came to
New York and after-
wards established h i m-
self in business in the city
of Waterbury. The war
of 1 86 1 awakened in him
an enthusiastic patriotism
and his services were
freely given for the pro-
tection of his adopted
country. Daniel Kiefer
is one of the best-known
Grand Army men in the
state, and has held im-
portant positions in the
Connecticut department.
He is a member of Continental Lodge, F. and A.
M., of Waterbury, an organization that can boast
the membership of such men as ex-Congressman
Stephen W. Kellogg, Judge George H. Cowell,
Colonel John B. Doherty, and Major Lucien F.
Burpee of the Second regiment. He is also con-
nected with the Odd Fellows and Ccjncordia Sing-
ing Society of Waterbury. He has held the presi-
dencv of the board of councilmen in Waterbury,
and the office of police commissioner. His wife,
who is still living, was Miss Elizabeth C. Moser be-
fore marriage. There are no children. Mr. Kiefer
is a republican in politics. His business is that of
a die sinker.
DANIEL KIEFER.
JOSEPH B. BANNING, Deep River (Saykrook):
Judge of Probate.
Judge Banning is a native of the town and vil-
lage where he now resides; he was born December
16, 1840, the only son of Arba H. and Hannah M.
Banning. He was edu-
cated in the public schools
of his native t o w n ,
learned the trade of shoe
making, and was con-
nected as junior partner
with the firm of A. H.
Banning & Son, until the
death of his father in
18S0, since which time he
has conducted the busi-
ness alone. At the age
of twenty-two he mar-
ried Miss Ansolette A.
Smith, daughter of
Esq., of Deep River. Mr. Ban-
ning's father was judge of probate for the district
of Saybrook for a period of sixteen years, up to the
time of his decease. Mr. J. B. Banning was chosen
J. K. BANNING
Charles D. Smith,
as his successor, and has thus held the judgeship
since 1880. He is a member of the Connecticut
Probate Assembly, and has been its secretary and
treasurer since the death of Judge West of Rock-
ville. He is also a justice of the peace for the town
of Saybrook.
Mr. Banning has been in the boot and shoe trade
all his life. In 1S86 he erected the building on
Main Street, Deep River, which he now occupies
both as store and residence. He is a member of
the Congregational church, an undoubted republi-
can, and a member of Webb Lodge, I. O. O. F.,
of Deep River.
ISRAEL HOLMES.
ISRAEL HOLMES, Waterbury: Banker.
Israel Holmes, eldest son of Samuel J. Holmes,
was born in Waterbury, August 10, 1823. He re-
ceived a common school and academic education,
and at the age of nine-
teen entered the employ
of the Benedict & Burn-
ham Manufacturing Com-
pany as clerk in their gen-
eral store in that place,
remaining in their em-
ploy about twelve years,
during the time becoming
a stockholder in the con-
cern. He was twice elect-
ed town clerk of Water-
bury. In the spring of
1859 he went to Liverpool,
England, to represent
various manufacturing companies, remaining there
twelve years, returning to his native town in 1871.
His residence there included the period covered by
the late war of the rebellion in this country. From
the time that Mason and vSlidell were taken from an
English ship to the time of the assassination of Abra-
ham Lincoln the life of a Northern man in England
was anything but agreeable. In every public place,
on the street, in railway cars, in fact everywhere, one
heard the North denounced in iinmeasured terms.
Mr. Holmes narrowly escaped a personal encounter
on more than one occasion, and is glad to believe
that, though he did not bear arms, he was able to
be of some service to his country.
In 1874 Mr. Holmes entered into partnership
with Guernsey S. Parsons, to succeed Brown
& Parsons; and, under the firm name of Holmes
& Parsons, the connection still continues. Mr.
Holmes has been a successful Inisiness man,
and is a director in several of the leading
manufacturing firms in AVaterbury and vicinity.
In politics he is a republican, and as such
represented his native town in the legislature of
1879.
BIOGRArilV OF CONNECTICUT.
l8l
Superin-
in 1S42.
a noted
T. I). CKOTHEKS.
T. D. CROTHERS, M.I)., H.xkti-okd
tendent Walnut Lodije Hospital.
Tliomas Davison Crothers was born in West
Charlton, Saratoga comity, New York.
His father was a direct descendant of
family of surgeons who
have been prominent in
Edinburgh for over a cen-
tury as teachers in the
university of that city.
His mother came from
the Holmes family of
Stonington, Conn., very
prominent in the revolu-
tionary war : and later they
settled in Saratoga coun-
ty, New York. The sub-
ject of this sketch was
brought up on the farm,
and prepared for college
at Fort Edward Seminary, New York. The ex-
citement of the war caused him to give up a college
course and enter direct upon the stud}^ of medi-
cine. After a course of lectures at the medical
college at Albany, N. Y., he entered the Ira Harris
U. S. Military Hospital as medical cadet. In 1865
he graduated from the Albany Medical College,
and continued his studies at the Long Island Col-
lege until the next year, when he entered upon the
practice of medicine at West Galway, Fulton
county, N. Y. In 1S70 he removed to Albany, and
later became connected with the college as assistant
to the chair of the practice of medicine and lecturer
on hygiene, and instructor in phj^sical diagnosis.
In 1S75 he was appointed assistant physician to the
New York State Inebriate Asylum at Bingham-
ton. In 1S7S he resigned to become the superin-
tendent of Walnut Hill Asylum at Hartford, Conn.
Two years later the Asylum Association was sus-
pended on account of the failure of the legislature
to assist them in building.
A year later Dr. Crothers organized the Walnut
Lodge Hospital, a private corporation for the medi-
cal treatment of alcohol and opium inebriates, over
which he has had active charge up to the present
time. In 1S75 Dr. Crothers married ilrs. Risedorf
of Albany, N. Y. In 1S76 the American Associa-
tion for the Study and Cure of Inebriety issued a
quarterly journal devoted to the medical study of
inebriety, and Dr. Crothers was unanimously
elected editor, a position which he has held up to
the present time. He was also elected secretary of
this association, and has been ever since continued
in that positi(Mi.
In 1887 Dr. Crothers was one of the American
delegates to the London international congress for
the study of inebriety. This congress was attended
by delegates from all parts of the world, and was
the lirst great gathering of .scientific men for the
])uri)i)se of discussing the drink evil. The English
St)ciety for the Study of Inebriety gave Dr.
Crothers a reception and dinner before the congress
Oldened, which attracted much attention at the
time. F'or many years Dr. Crothers has been a
voluminous writer and lecturer on different phases
of inebriety, and his views have been the subject
of much interest and contrf)versy. In 1S8S he gave
a course of lectures on inebriety before the students
of the Albany Medical College, and in 18S9 re-
peated it before the medical students of the Uni-
versity of Yermont at Burlington. Dr. Crothers is
a member of many scientific societies both at home
and abroad, and is frequently invited to present
his views in both papers and lectures before
them. These views, which he carries out practi-
cally in his hospital, are that " inebriety is a dis-
ease, and curable as other diseases are." Like all
other jpioneers. Dr. Crothers has a large circle of
ardent admirers among scientific men, as well as
bitter detractors. His conduct of The Jourjial of
Inch7-iety, pubhshed by The Case, Lockwood &
Brainard Company of this city, has given it a na-
tional reputation among the scientific periodi-
cals of the day, and his private hospital has at-
tracted widespread attention and patients from all
over the country. Dr. Crothers is still a young
man, and has the promise of great prominence in
the future in scientific circles, if his energy and
health continue.
GEORGE H. JENNINGS, M.D.. Jkwett City:
Physician and Surgeon.
Dr. George Herman Jennings was born in Pres-
ton in this state, March 20, 1S50. He fitted for col-
lege at the Norwich Academy, in 1S72 pursued a
a course of study in the
College of Physicians and
Surgeons in New York
city, and in 1S75 gradu-
ated from the Long Is-
land College Hospital,
Brooklyn, New York.
Soon after graduation he
removed to Jewett City
and commenced the prac-
tice of medicine, in which
he has been engaged to
the present time. He
was married to Miss
Annie Greenwood of Bos-
ton, Mass., and they have five children. Dr. Jen-
nings is deeply interested in educational affairs,
and since 1SS4 has been committee of the Jewett
City schools. He is connected with the Methodist
church, and in politics is a republican. He is a
member of the masonic fraternity, and president of
the Agassiz Association of Jewett Cit}-.
■|
C. II. JENNINGS.
l82
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
C. H. S. DAVIS.
CHARLES H. S. DAVIS, Meriden: Physician.
Dr. Charles Henry Stanley Davis of Meriden,
who held the office of mayor in that city during the
years of 1887 and 1888, was born in Goshen, Litch-
field County, March 2,
1S40, being the seventh in
descent from Dolor Davis,
one of the original settlers
of Barnstable, Mass.,
1634. The father of ex-
Mayor Davis, Dr. T. F.
Davis, removed to Meri-
den in 1849, when the
subject of this sketch was
a lad of nine years. Dr.
Davis had been a success-
ful practitioner at Litch-
field and Plymouth. He
died at Meriden in 1870.
Prior to the war ex-Mayor Davis, being twenty
years of age at the time, removed to New York,
and, with Charles H. Thomas, a well-known trans-
lator from the German and French, and an oriental
scholar, opened a bookstore, deahng principally in
philological works and New Church publications.
In a back room in this bookstore the American
Philological Society was started by the Rev. Dr.
Nathan Brown, who translated the Bible into
Assamese, and is now a missionary in Japan.
Rev. William U. Scott, now a missionary in Bur-
mah. Rev. F. Janes, and others, were members of
this society, and Dr. Davis was corresponding-
secretary for several years. He soon, however,
sold out his interest in the bookstore, began the
study of medicine under Dr. William T. Baker, and
entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical vSchool.
After a course at Bellevue, Dr. Davis entered the
medical department of the New York University,
and when he graduated received not only his
diploma but a certificate of honor signed by Dr.
Valentine Mott, Dr. John W. Draper, and the rest
of the faculty, in testimonj- of his having passed
one of the best examinations, and having pursued
a fuller course of study than is usually followed by
medical students. After graduating. Dr. Davis
attended a course of lectures at the University of
Maryland, and another at the Harvard Medical
School. Thus qualified by study and hospital
practice he returned to Meriden as a physician in
1865, succeeded his father in the business and soon
built up a large and lucrative practice. In 1S72 he
went abroad for travel and study, remained eight
months, visiting England, Ireland, vScotland, Wales,
France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Dr.
Davis is one of the honorary secretaries for the
United States of the Egypt Exploration Fund, and
is the editor of Biblia, an archaeological journal,
devoted to Egyptology, Assyriology, and archaeo-
logical research in oriental lands. He is also a
member of the New Haven Medical Society, Con-
necticut State Medical Society, the Societe
if Anthropologie of Paris, and the society of Bib-
lical Archaeology of London; honorary member of
the Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Buffalo,
Chicago, and Minnesota Historical Societies, New
England Historico-Genealogical, American Ethno-
logical, and American Philological societies. He
was one of the founders of the Meriden Scientific
Association, has always been director of its section
of archaeology and ethnology, from the first its
recording and corresponding secretarj', and editor
of its four volumes of Transactions. In 1870 he
published a history of Wallingford and Meriden, a
work of a thousand pages, requiring much labor,
especially in its genealogies of old Wallingford and
Meriden families. For four years he edited, for
the American News Compau}-, the " Index to Lit-
erature," a work which required the careful exam-
ination every month of some one hundred and
thirty periodicals. He found time also to write a
work f)n "The Voice as a Musical Instrument,"
published by Oliver Ditson, the distinguished musi-
cal publisher of Boston, which has had a very large
sale; also a work " On Classification, Training,
and Education of the Feeble-minded, Imbecile, and
Idiotic," which has become authority on the sub-
ject. He also edited the first volume of the Boston
Medical Register, and has contributed largely to
the literary, medical, and scientific journals. Sev-
eral of his articles on the education of feeble-
minded children were translated into the Spani.sh
language, and published in El Repertorio Medico.
The catalogue of the library of the surgeon-general
at Washington enumerates over twentj' articles
contributed by him to the medical press. He has
a reading knowledge of the modern languages, and
has studied Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Assyrian, and
the Ancient Egyptian languages.
He has been a member of the school board in
Meriden for eighteen years, occupying the chair-
manship for six. He has been one of the High
vSchool committee since its organization, and was
for five years acting school visitor. In 1873 he was
elected a member of the legislature from IVIeriden,
being the first democrat whom that town had sent
to the general assembly in twenty years. The
doctor served as chairman of the committee on leg-
islation. He was returned to the house in 1SS5
and was again on the education committee. In
1886 he was a member of the committees on insu-
rance and constitutional amendment. In 1885 he
was nominated as judge of probate for the Meriden
district, but declined. In 1886 he received the
nomination for state senator for the Sixth sena-
torial district, but, although supported by the dem-
ocratic and labor parties, lost his election by thirty-
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
183
two votes, although in Meriden he ran two hund-
red ahead of the repubHcan candidate. He was
elected mayor by the united labtir and democratic
parties and was the first democratic mayor that the
city of Meriden ever had. His administration was
successful, and he was re-elecled in 1S88. Dr.
Davis is one of the trustees of the State Reform
School. He is a member of St. Elmo Commandery,
Knights Templar, of Meriden ; has attained
the thirty-second degree in masonry, and is a mem-
ber of Pj'ramid Temple, Ancient Order of Nobles
of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a prominent Odd
Fellow and Knight of Pythias. As a citizen, mem-
ber of society, and publicist, Dr. Davis is held in
the highest esteem in the city of Meriden.
c. s. D.winsoN.
CHARLES S. DAVIDSON, H-vrti-oki): Superin-
tendent Hartford Division, New York. New
Haven & Hartford Railroad.
C. S. Davidson was born in East Haven, Novem-
ber 9, 1S29, and educated at the Lancasterian
school in New Haven, under the management of
John E. Lovell, a distin-
guished educator of that
period. ^Vhen he left the
school in 1S45, he ranked
as second in scholarship,
recei^-ing in certification
of that fact a silver medal,
which is still retained by
him as one of the pleas-
antest souvenirs of his
boyhood. After leaving
school he remained with
his father two years, and
then went to work in a
silver and brass plating
establishment in New Haven. In 1S4S he removed
to Springfield, Mass., and learned the machinist
trade, on the completion of which he came to Hart-
ford, and entered the employ of the railroad com-
pan\' with which he has been connected ever since,
ascending through the various grades of mechanic,
engineer, conductor, supervisor of construction,
assistant superintendent, and finally, superintend-
ent of the important Hartford Division of that
great line. There is not a railroad manager in New
England who possesses more fully than Superin-
tendent Davidson the confidence of the public, and
for the best of reasons. He has had abundant and
varied experience in all departments of practical
railroading, managing wth consummate judgment
and skill the most difficult situations; he is a man
of absolute fidelity, and of courage which amounts
to heroism. Those who know most of his experi-
ences for the past thirty-odd years understand the
secret of the regard which the public and the rail-
road company have for him, and the confidence they
repose in him for every emergency.
During the administration of Mayor Sumner, Mr.
Davidson was appointed a member of the Hartford
board of fire commissioners, and rendered invalu-
able service to the city in this capacity. He was
recently appointed l)y Mayor Dwight as a member
of the board of street commissioners, the wisdom of
which appointment is universally conceded. He is
a director in the Dime Savings Bank, and h<jlds
other minor positions of trust. He has never been
an active ptilitician, but no man in the city has
done more to promote the interests of good govern-
ment. In every position in life he has been the
representative of the highest type of citizenship.
Mr. Davidson is a prominent representative of
the Masonic fraternity, being advanced to the
thirty-second degree. He is eminent commander
of Washington Commandery, No. i, K. T.; mem-
ber of Pyramid Temple; Knights of Honor; Order
Red Men; Veteran Association Governor's Foot
Guards; honorary member City Guards, Franklin
Gun Club, etc. He is in politics an independent
democrat; in religious matters his connections are
with the Park Ecclesiastical society of Hartford.
Mr. Davidson was married quite early in life to
Miss Catherine A. Bartholomew. They have had
three children, but one of whom is living — a son
— William B. Davidson, a book-keeper in the
United States Bank of Hartford.
WATSON H. BLISS, Hartkuru: Contractor and
Builder.
Watson H. Bliss was born at Chelsea, Vt., Feb-
ruary 28, 1842, and was educated in the public
schools and at the academy in East Hartford, where
most of his early life was
spent. He learned the
trade of a house carpen-
ter, and in 1869 estab-
lished himself in business
in Hartford, where he
has for years been ac-
tivelv engaged in the
building line, being the
architect and builder of
many of the best resi-
dences in this city. Dur-
ing the war he was con-
nected with the Hartford
Light Guard, and enlisted
in the Twenty-Fifth regiment from that organiza-
tion. He has been elected to and served several
years with distinction in both branches of the Hart-
ford city government, l)eing in 1885 a member of
the ways and means committee and rendering ex-
cellent service in that capacity. He is an active
w. H. BI.ISS.
1 84
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
and influential member of Washington Command-
ery, Knights Templars, having served as comman-
der in 1881 and 1SS4, and is also a member of
Robert O. Tyler Post of the Grand Army. He is
married and has a family, one of his sons being
at present engaged in business with him.
E. H. HUBBARD.
ELIJAH H. HUBBARD, Middletown :
Elijah Hedding Hiibbard is a prominent and suc-
cessful business manager in Middletown, being a
director of the Middletown National Bank, the
Middl e t o w n Savings
Bank, the Shaler & Hall
Quarry Co. , the Ferry Co. ,
and the Gas Co. in that
city. He has spent most
of his life in Middletown,
where he has been exten-
sively engaged in market-
ing business. He is a
democrat in politics and
has held various town offi-
ces, including that of
selectman. Mr. Hubbard
was born in Agawam,
Mass., Nov. 13, 1810, and
received a common school education. His wife,
whose maiden name was Mary J. Badger, died
Nov. 15, 1S47, leaving three children, all of whom
are living. Mr. Hubbard's life has been devoted
to business in which he has met with deserved
success.
FREDERICK F. BARROWS, Hartford: Public
School Teacher.
Frederick Freeman Barrows, principal of the
Brown school, Hartford, and one of the best known
educators in New England, was born in Mansfield,
.September 4, 1821. He
received a common school,
select school, and academi-
cal education, and has fol-
lowed the profession of
teaching since the winter
of 1S39, although he did
not enter upon it as a de-
termined life-work until
1843. His early life was
that of a farmer in his
native town. He taught
school winters from the
time he was eighteen
j-ears of age, teaching-
two terms in Springfield. He taught in Willi-
mantic for six years, and his record in equipping
young men especially for a life work was so
marked that attention was attracted to him in
Hartford and in Norwich, both of which cities were
F. F. HARKDWS.
in competition for his services in 1850. He was
finally engaged as principal of the First school dis-
trict in Hartford, a position which he has held for
forty-one 3'ears; being the longest continual term
of service of anj^ school teacher in the state. His
work in Hartford has been of the greatest value to
the public of his district, which is in that part of
the city known as the Fifth and Sixth wards, and
has a large element of foreign population. He was
the inspiring agency in the construction of the
fine Brown school building named after Flavins A.
Brown, who was chairman of the school committee
for many years, and in close sympathy with the
eff^orts of Mr. Barrows for the establishment of a
first-class school for the masses. Mr. Barrows out-
lined to him what he desired, and, the district ap-
proving of his plans, the building was erected;
which at the time of its construction was without
doubt the finest school edifice in the state. Within
a few years past the main building has been en-
larged bv the addition of a kindergarten depart-
ment, which is carried on under the most approved
modern system after Froebel, the founder of that
style of teaching the young. Mr. Bari-ovvs's school
numbers between 1,500 and 1,700 pupils, and re-
quires a trained corps of thirty-five teachers
and .special instructors in German, penmanship,
drawing, and singing to carry on the work.
At a celebration of the fortieth anniversary of
Mr. Barrows's connection with the school a
portrait of him was presented to the school by
his many friends, and some souvenirs of the
occasion were given to him. Hon. M. J. Dooley^
then United States bank commissioner, a graduate
of the school, made the address of presentation,
and most fittingly characterized the school when he
said: " Mr. Barrows's genius has here reared an
institution which is for the Protestant and Catholic,
the Jew and Gentile, absolutely without a rival."
Mr. Barrows has frequently been called upon to
address teachers' conventions and educational
gatherings upon his methods of teaching, and
especially upon his mode of instruction in numbers,
in which he has a wonderful talent amounting to
genius. Graduates of the Brown school may be
found in all parts of the country, and they uni-
formly testify to the healthful influence and whole-
some results of his training. He has been a rigid
disciplinarian, but tempers his school government
with the rarest judgment and tact. It has been an
every-day spectacle at the Brown school to see Mr.
Barrows near the gateway, and hundreds of little
children grasping him by the hand to say, ' ' Good
day, Mr. Barrows," as school closes. He knows
children intuitively, and has had wonderful siiccess
in bringing forth from what seemed unpromising
minds excellent citizens and intelligent men in all
the walks of life. In 1882 his friends sent him
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
185
to Europe on a tour for recreation, a kindness
which he greatly appreciated. Mr. Barrows has
been prominently identiried with the Park Con-
gregational church in Hartford. He has never
taken any active part in political life, but has
been in sympathy with the republican party
from its foundation. His wife was Harriet Harris
of Willimantic, and he has five children living.
Volumes might be written, full of instances con-
nected with liis teaching, in which his acute knowl-
edge of human nature and his power of " reading"
persons have been most remarkable. He is as
much an institution of Hartford and Connecticut as
is the school system itself, and his life work has
been more than ordinarily successful in that it has
tended to the uplifting and betterment espcciallv of
the children of the poor of his city.
r«S
C. W. BEARDSLKY.
CHARLES WILLIAM BEARDSLEY, Mii.foru:
Seedsman and Stock Breeder.
Charles \V. Beardsley, son of Charles Beardsley,
was born in Stratford, Conn., May 27, 1829, and in
the year 1844 he removed with his father's family
to Milford. He is de-
scended from \V i 1 1 i a m
Beardsley, one of the first
settlers of the town of
Stratford, from whom he
takes the name ^Villiam;
and from the Beach fam-
ily through his great-
grandmother Sarah,
daughter of Israel Beach,
2d, of Stratford. His
mother was Sarah, daugh-
ter of Hezekiah Baldwin
of ]\Iilford, a descendant
of one of the first settlers
of that town; and he regards his success in life as
very largely the result of the early training and
Christian advice of this mother. The first American
ancestor above alluded to, William Beardsley, came
from England in 1635, in the ship Planter, com-
manded by Captain Travice. He was then onlv
thirty years of age, but had a wife and three chil-
dren, all of whom accompanied him hither. He
came from Stratford-on-Avon (the birthplace of
William Shakespeare), and was made a freeman in
^Massachusetts, but afterwards, in 1639, settled in
the Connecticut township, to which the family gave
the name of Stratford, in honor of the English town
from which they had emigrated. The town of
Avon, X. Y., was also named by descendants of
William Beardsley who settled there, in honor of
the old river in England. William Beardsley was
a deputy for Stratford in 1645, and for seven years
thereafter, and was a man of much prominence in
early colonial times. He died in 1660, at the age
of fifty-si.\, leaving three children. The succession
in the line of the subject of this sketch was through
Joseph Beardsley, the youngest son. The genera-
tions from Joseph were John, Andrew, Henry,
William Henry, and Charles, — the latter being the
father (jf Charles W. Beardsley, the present subject.
Charles W. is the oldest of a family of eight chil-
dren, the brothers and sisters being the following,
all of whom are now living, and residents of Mil-
ford, except as otherwise stated: Abigail, now the
wife of Charles R. Baldwin of Milford; Alvira;
Hezekiah, an extensive contractor and builder in
Milford; (ieorge, now residing in New Haven;
Theodore, a prominent builder, of Springfield,
Mass.; Sarah J., wife of Edward Clark of Milford;
and Frederick, the youngest.
Mr. Charles W. Beardsley was educated in the
common and select schools of his native town, and
commenced learning the shoe business at the age of
fifteen, which he followed for eighteen years, when,
his health partially faiHng by close confinement
in his work, he engaged in the produce bu.siness,
importing the same from Montreal, Canada; and
continued this business twelve years. He then
bought one of the best farms in the town of ililford,
and is engaged in the seed business for Peter
Henderson & Company of New York city. ]\Ir.
Beardsley has bred some of the finest Jersey cattle
that have appeared in America, and for which
he has obtained large prices. He has held the
offices of town agent and first selectman for twelve
successive years, and was one of the directors of the
Milford Savings Bank. He is a niember of the
Odd Fellows lodge in Milford, has been a member
of the fire department for twenty-two years, and a
member of the second company Governor's Foot
Guards (organized 1775) under Governor Bucking-
ham. He was elected a member of the house of
representatives of Connecticut in 1889, for two
years, and served on the railroad committee; and
was commissioner on the Washington bridge. He
gave a full history of the old bridge, and when
the bill came before the hoiise to have the struc-
ture made a free bridge, supported by New Haven
and Fairfield counties, he made a strong argument
in favor of the free bridge system, — and the bill
was passed. He was re-elected a member of the
house of representatives for the j-cars 1 89 1-92, and
is again a member of the railroad committee.
Mr. Beardsley joined the First Church of Christ
at Milford in the year 1850, and is esteemed in his
native town and in the town where he resides, and
wherever known, as an honorable and upright citi-
zen. He married Sarah, daughter of Elnathan
Baldwin of Milford, in 1850, and has the following
children: Dewitt Clinton Beardsley, who married
Jliss Martha P. Avery of Stratford, and has three
1 86
AN ILLUvSTRATED POPULAR
children, Medorah H., Maud C, and Stanley A.
Beardsley; Sarah Etta Beardsley, who married
Charles Clark of Milford, and had two children,
George W. and Elwood R. Clark; and Charles
Frederick Beardsley, the youngest, who resides at
home, and is in company with his father in the seed
business. The Beardsley family is a quite numer-
ous one in Connecticut, and in all its branches has
maintained the honorable reputation transmitted
through succeeding generations from William
Beardsley the venerated ancestor.
JULIUS ATTWOOD.
JULIUS ATTWOOD, East Haddam: Attorney-
at-Law; President National Bank of New Eng-
land.
Julius Attwood was born at East Haddam, Feb-
ruary 23, 1824, and has resided in that town con-
tinuously since his birth, except from the years
1S47 to 1S54. He was the
fifth of the seven living
children left by his father,
who died in 1S29, five of
whom are still living. He
was educated in the com-
mon schools of his native
town until he was twelve
years of age, after which
time he was employed for
five years in the coasting
trade and in ferrying on
the Connecticut river.
Not being robust, he
served a four-years ap-
prenticeship at shoemaking, but did not continue
that occupation after attaining his majority. Dur-
ing his leisure, while an apprentice, he studied by
himself and fitted himself as a teacher, and for
seven years he taught in the public and higher
schools on Long Island and in Maryland. Return-
ing to East Haddam in 1854, he commenced business
in a " country store " and continued in trade until
1870, when after a course in reading law, he was
duly admitted to the Middlesex county bar, and
has followed the profession of law since that time.
In 1856 he was elected justice of the peace, which
office he has continuously held ever since; and for
fourteen years of that time was trial justice of the
town; also from 1866 was for nineteen years town
clerk and registrar of East Haddam. Elected
judge of probate for the district of East Haddam
in 1859, he has held that position ever since — for
thirty-two years — it being probably a longer con-
tinuous period than that held by any other judge
in this state now living. In 1873 and 1874 he rep-
resented his town in the general assembly, but was
defeated afterwards when nominated for the office
of senator for the nineteenth senatorial district, by
a small plurality, there being a local f panic] that
year among the "pound fishermen" along the
sound shore. Being again nominated to that office,
he declined. In 1S66 he served one year as Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Con-
necticut, and represented that body in the sover-
eign grand lodge during 1867 and 1868. For many
years he has been connected with the National
Bank of New England as a director, and has been
its president since 18S3. Visiting Europe in 18S0,
he traveled extensively in France, Ital}', Switzer-
land, Germany, Holland, Belgium, England, and
Scotland. Politically, he has always been con-
nected with the whig and republican parties.
Though favoring Methodism in his youth, in his
riper years he thought he could more honor the
memory of its great founder by being received into
the older church that John Wesley and his brother
Charles never dared to forsake; and for forty-eight
years he has been a communicant in the Episcopal
church.
Mr. Attwood has twice married; first in 1852 to
Sarah A. Gould of Stony Brook, Long Island, who
died in i860, leaving one son, Frederick J. Att-
wood, now a resident of Brooklyn, N. Y., who is
also married and has four children. Second, in
1862, he married Catharine Palmer of East Had-
dam, who is still living and whose only child.
Bertha Palmer Attwood, is now a student in the
Yale Art vSchool, New Haven.
A. S. BEARDSLEY, Plymouth: Mechanic.
Mr. Beardsley was born in New Fairfield, July
22, 18 18, and received a common school and
academic education. In 1S50 he removed to Texas
and engaged in mercan-
tile pursuits, becoming
the active partner in the
firm of Case, Beardsley
& Co. He remained
there until the death of
his father necessitated his
return north. For the
last twenty-five years he
has been in the employ of
the Plume & Atwood
Manufacturing Company
at Thomaston, being en-
gaged in the mechanical
department. In 1S74 he
was elected president of the Plymouth Library As-
sociation, which has trebled the number of its vol-
umes under his management. Mr. Beardsley held a
commission in the old state mihtia. He is a pro-
hibitionist in politics and a member of the Congre-
gational church. His wife, who is still living, was
Miss Jane Alcott of Waterbury at the time of her
marriage. The family includes four sons and three
daughters.
A. S. BEARDSLEY.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONxXECTICUT.
187
I. E. 10 RISES.
IRA E. FORHKS, Hartford: Journalist.
Ira Emory Forbes was born in Coventry, Jan-
uary iS, 1S43, and received a common school and
collegiate education, graduating from Yale in 1S70.
He enlisted in the Six-
teenth Connecticut, July
21, iS62,from the town of
Wethersfield, where he
was working (^n a farm at
the time for the purpose
of earning funds for his
college covu\se. He re-
mained in the service un-
til the close of the war.
At the capture of Ply-
mouth, N. C, April 20,
1864, he assisted in the
execution of plans bv
which the colors of the
regiment were kept from falling into the hands of
the rebels, and at the time the battle flags of the
state were removed to the corridor in the capitol,
September 17, 1879, he was the only one then liv-
ing who was entitled to carry the restored regi-
mental color from the arsenal to the final resting-
place of these priceless memorials. Mr. Forbes
was confined in the rebel prisons at Andersonville,
Ga.,and Florence, S. C, during the summer and
fall of 1S64. He was paroled at Savannah the last
of November, and spent the winter of 1864-5 in the
naval academy hospital at Annapolis, Md. In
June, 1S65, he was discharged at Newberne, N. C,
remaining there to engage in the work of the
United States sanitary commission. After return-
ing home from the war, he spent one year in com-
pleting the preparation for Yale, studying at Lyme
under William A. ]Magill, who had been his in-
structor in Wethersfield. From the outset the
necessary funds for the course were earned by the
hardest kind of manual work. During the winter
term of senior year, however, Mr. Forbes acted as
principal of the Collegiate Institute at Newton, N.
J. In 1S71-2 he was one of the teachers at Gen.-
Russell's Military School in New Haven, the year
after graduation having been spent in the Yale
Theological Seminary. In July, 1S72, he entered
the employ of the Springfield Union, and re-
mained with that paper until October, 1874, when
he became the telegraph editor oi the Hartford
Ei'ening Post. His connection with the Post was
discontinued October i, iSgo. Mr. Forbes was the
originator of the legislative supplement which the
Post has issued since 1875, introdiicing that feature
after coming here from Springfield. He succeeded
the late A. S. Hotchkiss as the Hartford corre-
spondent of the New York Times, and still retains
that appointment. For ten years he was connected
with The .Etna, the quarterly issued under the
auspices of the Aitna Life, his best literary work
ajipearing in that publication. Mr. Forbes is a
member of the Yale College church, Hampden
Lodge of Odd Fellows, Springfield, Mass.; the
vSociety of the Army of the Potomac, New York
city; the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut; the
L'nion Prisoners' Association; the \'eteran Corps
of the Governoi-'s Foot Guard, and the Yale Alumni
Association of this city. He was a member of the
staft" of National Commander Warner of the Grand
Army, being appointed to the position from Con-
necticut. He has also been a member of the execu-
tive committee of the Sixteenth Connecticut. He
is a republican in politics, but has not failed since
he became a voter to deposit his ballot for the can-
didates whom he has considered best fitted for pub-
lic ofiice. July 18, 1872, he was married to Miss
Sarah R. Short of New Haven, who is still living.
There are no children in the family. All of his
early years were spent in the towns of East Hart-
ford and Manchester, and the first school he ever
attended was in the old South district in Scotland,
now Burnside.
RALPH S. GOODWIN, M.D., Thomaston.
Dr. R. S. Goodwin was born in Litchfield, July
24, 1839. The earl}- part of his life was largely
spent in New York state, he having lived four
years in Albany, ten years
in Bingham ton, and four
years in Brooklyn. For
the last twenty-two years
he has resided in Thom-
aston, this state, engaged
in the practice of his pro-
fession. In addition to
the usual training at the
local preparatory schools
he i^ursued the course and
graduated at the College
of Physicians and Sur-
geons in New York, thor-
oughly fitting himself for
the medical profession. From 1861 to 1S63 he was
engaged as teacher of elocution and English
language in the New York State Normal School at
Albany, and from 1863 to 1865 was a tutor in the
Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute,
Brooklyn N. Y. During his residence in Thomas-
ton Dr. Goodwin has held various local and state
offices, having been acting school visitor and health
officer of his town, and being at present a member
of the state board of health. He married Miss Jen-
nie Edith Irvine, and they_have two children, a son
and a daughter. In politics he is a republican and
in religious matters a Congregation alist. He is
also a member of the Order of Odd Fellows, being
a Past Grand of the local lodge.
R. S. (;o(iI)WIN.
i88
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
W. C. RUSSELL, Orange.
William C. Russell was born in Orange, ]\Iarch
13. 1835, and received a public school education.
In 1871 he was a member of the general assembly,
representing the town of
Orange in the house. He
has held most of the
offices within the gift of
the town and is at present
a member of the board of
selectmen and a justice of
W. C. RUSSELL.
the peace. Mr. Russell is
a republican in politics.
He is engaged in the
wholesale meat business
and is connected with the
Peerless Attachment Co.
of Tyler City, and with C.
C. Andrew & Co. of New
He is a member of the Congregational
church and of Annawan Lodge, No. 115, F. and
A. M., of West Haven, also of the Sons of Temper-
ance order. He has been connected with the state
militia. Mr. Russell's family consists of a wife
and two daughters. The former was Miss Mary
J. Lvon prior to her marriage. The home of Mr.
Russell is at Tyler City.
Haven.
LUCIUS BRIGGS, Glasgo (Griswold): Agent
Glasgo Yarn Mills.
Ex-State Senator Lucius Briggs was born in the
town of Coventry, R. I., Dec. 21, 1825, and was
educated at Smithville Academy in that state. He
has been engaged through
life in the manufacture of
cotton goods, and is the
agent and a large owner
in the Glasgo Yarn Mills.
He is a director in several
large corporations and
banks, and is one of the
most prominent business
men in eastern Connecti-
cut. Mr. Briggs haf; been
a member of both
branches of the general
assembly. In 1867 he
represented the town of
Thf)mpson in the house, his colleague being 'Sir.
Thomas Tallman. In 1875 he represented the old
fourteenth district in the senate, his colleagues in
that body including Hons. Caleb B. Bowers of New
Haven, Fred. W. Bruggerhoff of Darien, Thomas
S. Marlor of Brooklyn, Washington F. Willcox, now
member of congress from the second district, and
Chauncey Howard of Coventry, subsequently state
comptroller. Mr. Briggs was a presidential elector
LUCIUS BRIGGS.
on the republican ticket in this state when General
Grant was elected for the second term. He is a
member of the Baptist church. The family to
which Mr. Briggs belongs has been a patriotic one,
his ancestors on both sides having served in the
Revolutionary war. The wife of Mr. Briggs, who
was Miss Harriet T. Atwood prior to her marriage,
died .Sept. 9, 1887. There are two children, the
son, C. W. Briggs, residing in New York, and the
daughter, Mrs. Floyd Cranska, in Moosup. Ex-
Senator Briggs is a citizen of prominence in the
state.
G. D. BATES, Putnam; President and Treasurer
Putnam Cutlery Company.
Colonel Gustavus D. Bates was a member of the
general assembly from Putnam in 18S7, serving
on the republican side of the house. He was elected
a delegate to the national
republican convention in
Chicago which nominated
President Harrison, and
has been an active and
influential participant in
political interests in east-
ern Connecticut. He is
the president of the Put-
nam creamery, and of the
"Windham County
League." He is also the
founder of the Putnam
Cutlery Company, which
manufactures the " Old
knives, holding the position of president and
treasiu^er. Colonel Bates is also a director in
various corporations at Putnam. He was born in
Thompson, October, 1840, and received a common
school education. He has had an interesting and
remarkable history from boyhood until now. His
father was a farmer, and went to Grosvenordale
when the subject of this sketch was but seven years
of age, as " outside" superintendent for the Gros-
venordale Company. The boy, rather than ac-
knowledge a school teacher's authority, became a
mill operative. When his father returned to
Thompson he returned also, and worked on the
farm until sixteen years of age, when he became a
school teacher in Burrillville, R. I., continuing for
two terms, the following year teaching for two
terms at North Grosvenordale, Conn. ; afterward
entering a factory store at Grosvenordale. He en-
listed in 1S62 in the Seventh Rhode Island regi-
ment, in which he received seven promotions; and
after serving two and a half years returned dis-
abled by exposure and wounds. Young Bates's
military ardor and patriotism were so intense that
he ran away from home to enlist, much to the dis-
gust of his father, who, when he bade his son
G. P. KATES.
Puf
BlUGRAl'lIV OF C().\XI-:CT1CUT.
189
good-by, as with his regiment he started for the
front, said to him quite pointedly: " Runaway boys
do not generally come out very well." (irasping
the paternal hand warmly, the young soldier re-
plied; " Father, I'll make a noble exception to your
rule!" — which promise he abundantly verihed.
From 1865 to 1875 he traveled for a Boston house,
and when his health gave way returned to Putnam,
where he had married Miss Ellen A. Hutchins,
daughter of Benjamin F. Hutchins of Thomps(;n.
In 1S77 he became a commercial traveler from
Troy, X. Y., and within a year thereafter went to
New York city as manager of a branch house.
Thence he went to Putnam in 1884, forming a con-
nection with the " Connecticut Clothing Company."
He is at present the outside business manager
of Cluett, Coon \- Co., linen collars and cuffs.
Colonel Bates is a member of the Baptist church,
and is regarded with thorough esteem and respect
in the communitv where he resides.
HON. JOHN HURLBTRT WHITE, Hartford:
Attorney-at-Law.
John Hurlburt ^Vhite was born in the town of
Glastonbury, in November, 1833. He received an
acadeinical education, and removed to Hartford in
1S51, where he read law
in the office of the late H.
H. Barbour, and was ad-
mitted to the bar in
]\Iarch, 1S5S. He was
elected auditor of the city
in 1S60 on the democratic
ticket; continued in that
ofhce until 1863, when he
was elected judge of pro-
bate for the district of
Hartford, which position
he retained for twenty-
three years. Leaving that
office in January, 1887, he
resumed the practice of law.
sioner of the state of Connecticut to receive the
votes of the Connecticut soldiers in the field in the
presidential election of 1864. Since 1S60 he has
been connected with the First company Governor's
Foot Guard, as an active and veteran member. For
many years he has been a director in the Farmers
and Mechanics National Bank of Hartford. He is
now the president of the Connecticut probate as-
.sembly. His religious connections are with the
Park church and society of Hartford, of which he
has been a member since 1S5S. He married, in
i860, Miss Jennie M., daughter of George Cooke,
Esq., of Litchfield, in this state. They have one
son, Henry C. ^Vhite, an artist of distinction, with
whose canvases lovers of art in eastern Connecti-
j. 11. winiE.
He was a commis-
M. S. CH.\r.M.\N.
cut are thoroughly familiar. Judge White is a gen-
tleman of many accomplishments, of rare judicial
ability, and possesses social qualities which are ap-
preciated and enjoyed by a large circle of warm
personal friends.
MARO S. CHAPMAN, Manchestkk: Manufac-
turer of Pajx'r and I->nveIopes.
Mr. Chapman was born at East Iladdam, Feb-
ruary 13, 1S39, and received a thorough common
school education. For three years before the war
he was engaged in mer-
cantile pursuits at Man-
chester, but when the de-
mand for troops was made
he enlisted, joining Com-
pany C of the Twelfth
Connecticut. In 1S64 he
engaged in the envelope
business with the Plimp-
ton Manufacturing Com-
pany of Hartford, and has
since continued in that
avocation. Since the
Plimpton Company re-
ceived the government
contract, Mr. Chapman has been the superintend-
ent of the United States stamped envelope works
in Hartford, and in that position has shown great
executive ability and decision of character. He is
treasurer of the Plimpton Manufacturing Company;
president of the Hartford Manilla Company, which
has a large and flourishing mill at Burnside, and
an extensive business; vice-president and a director
in the ^Mather Electric Company, and president of
the Perkins Lamp Company, both of which com-
panies are locatetl at Manchester, and doing a
prosperous business. He is connected with the
City Rank of Hartford as a director, and a member
of the Hartford board of trade. He has been
commander of Drake Post of the Grand Army at
vSouth ^Manchester for eight years, and still holds
that position. For upwards of twenty years he
has been connected with the republican town com-
mittee at Manchester, and is now its chairman.
Mr. Chapman has long been an active and greatly
valued member of the republican party, and as
such has often been called to serve the party and
the state in places of public trust. He represented
Manchester in the house of representatives in 1881,
serving as chairman on the part of that body of
the committee on cities and boroughs, one of the
hardest-worked committees of that year. His ser-
vices throughout the session were of genuine value
to the state, and his influence was universally ac-
knowledged by his associates. In the fall of 1884
he received the unanimous nomination of the re-
publicans of his district for the senatorship, and
I go
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
was elected bj^ a very handsome majority. He was
a member of the repubHcan state convention which
nominated Hon. Henry B. Harrison for governor,
and during the campaign was an able and influen-
tial supporter of the republican cause. He is a
clear and forcible speaker, presenting his views
with great earnestness and conviction, and is an
admirable debater.
Mr. Chapman married Miss Lucy W. Wood-
bridge, who died in iS6g, leaving one daughter
who is now the wife of E. S. Ela, editor and pub-
lisher of the Maiichestcr Herald. His present
wife was Miss Helen C. Robbins of Manchester, by
whom he has two daughters. The religious con-
nections of the family are with the Center Congre-
gational chinxh of that town.
?v?*^
H. S. KARKOIK.
HENRY S. BARBOUR, Hartford: Attorney-
at-Law.
Henry S. Barbour was born at Canton, Conn.,
August 2, 1822. After the usual preparatory course,
he was admitted to the bar at Litchfield in 1849,
and began the practice of
his profession in Torring-
ton, where he resided and
practiced law for twenty-
one years. There he held
the offices of judge of pro-
bate, town clerk, and town
treasurer over fifteen
years, and represented
that town in the house of
representatives in the
years 1850 and 1865; and
was senator from the then
Fifteenth district in 1870,
acting as chairman of the
judiciary committee. He removed to Hartford in
1 870 to enter into a law partnership with his brother,
Heman H. Barbour, who died in 1S75; since which
date he has continued to practice law in Hartford.
He married Miss Bartholomew of Sheffield, Mass.,
in 1851. They have two children, a son and a
daughter; his son is the Rev. John Humphrey
Barbour, a professor in the Berkeley Divinity
School in Middletown. Judge Barbour is of Revo-
lutionary stock; his father was a son of a soldier
of the Revolution. His grandfather, Solomon
Humphrey, was a Revoluti(jnary soldier; his
great-grandfather, John Brown of Simsbury, was
also a Revolutionary soldier, and was a grandson
of Peter Brown, who came over in the Mayflower.
John Brown, the martyr, was a grandson of the
above-mentioned John Brown of Simsbury, making
hmi the second cousin of Mr. Barbour. Sylvester
Barl)ourof Hartford and Edward P. Barbour of An-
sonia are brothers of the subject of this biography.
CHARLES H. BABCOCK, Stonington: Princi-
pal of Public School No. 16.
Mr. Babcock was born in Groton in 183S, and has
been engaged in teaching since he was sixteen
years of age. He was educated in the seminary at
East Greenwich, R. L,
preparing him for the pro-
fession which has occupied
him through life. He was
an instructor in the New
Jersey schools for a num-
ber of years. Mr. Bab-
cock has held numerous
offices in the town of
Stonington, being at pres-
ent a member of the
boards of education and
health, and a justice of
the peace. He has also
been a member of the
He is an attendant of the
Baptist church, and is connected with the Masonic
order, being a member of the lodge in Stonington.
In politics he is a republican. Principal Babcock
has a wife and three children. The present Mrs.
Babcock, who is his second wife, was Miss M. Emma
Gardner, of South Kingston, R. I., previous to
marriage. The first wife was Miss Abbie Hinck
ley, of Stonington.
C. H. BABCOCK.
board of assessors.
JOHN O'NEILL, Waterbury: Lawyer.
Mr. O'Neill was born in Canada Village, in the
town of Goshen, November 5, 1841. His parents
removed to Waterbury in 1S4S, in which city he
was educated in the pub-
lic schools. At the break
ing out of the war of the
rebellion he enlisted in
the First Regiment, Con-
necticut Volunteers, par-
ticipated in the first bat-
tle of Bull Run, and was
honorably discharged at
the end of his term of ser-
vice. The year following
he began the study of
law in the office of Judge
John W. Webster of
Waterbury, and at the
end of a three years course was admitted to the
bar and soon after to a partnership with his former
instructor. The law firm of Webster & O'Neill has
continued ever since. Mr. O'Neill represented
Waterbur}- in the general assembly of 18S9, where
he was author or chief promoter of much of the tax
legislation of that session ; notabl}^ the investment
tax law, the collateral inheritance tax law, and the
law relative to the taxation of telegraph and ex-
JOHN O NEIl.L.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
191
press companies. Mr. O'Neill has held office in
Waterbiu-y almost c ontinuously since attaining his
majority, having been a justice of the peace for
thirty years, assistant city ultdrncy ten years, and
prosecuting agent of the county seveli years. He
is now president of the board of trustees of Hron-
son Library, president of the Choral Union, and a
member of the secret society of the Knights of
Columbus. He is a democrat in politics, and in
religious faith a Roman Catholic. He is married
and has five children.
DAVIGHT NOYES CLARK, \V..oi)1!I<iuge: Cat-
tle Broker.
The subject of this sketch was born in the town
of Bethany in 1829. His father, Jlr. Noyes Clark,
and his mother, whose maiden name was ]\Iary
Abigail Clark, were l>oth
descended from the two
different family lines of
that name, who came
early from Milford and
settled in the town of
Woodbridge, which then
included Bethany. On
his father's side he traces
his ancestry back to Dea-
con George Clark, one of
the deputies under the
old Colonial government,
and to Governor Robert
Treat, who was governor
of the colonies for fifteen years, from 1686 to 1701;
also to Rev. Roger Newton, the second pastor of
Milford; and Rev. Thomas Hooker, the first pastor
of Hartford. "With such an honored ancestry, if
there is anything in the old adage that " The blood
tells," it might be expected that Mr. Clark would
become an honored and useful citizen, and the ex-
pectation in his case is not a disappointment. He
has been interested in church and society, and liv-
ing near the \Voodbridge line, he has been identi-
fied with the Congregational society of Wood-
bridge, of which the Rev. S. P. Marvin, the con-
tributor of this article, has been settled as pastor
for twenty-six years. Mr. Clark has been one of
its most liberal stipporters, and was one of the com-
mittee; gave valuable advice and was liberal with
his means for remodeling the church, making- it for
the time one of the most elegant country churches
in all the region.
He has been representative to the general assem-
bly, and honored with the gift of every office in his
town which he would accept. Politically he is a con-
servative democrat. He was in full sympathy with
the government and prominent in its aid in the
late war. He has always taken a deep interest in
I). \. CL.^RK.
the schools and been ready to contribute liberally
for their support and improvement; also to what-
ever would promote the culture and refinement of
society. He inherited from his grandfather a large
and profitable business as a cattle broker. His
affable manner, square and liberal dealing have
won for him the respect and esteem of his towns-
men, and of a large circle of customers who rely
upon him for the purchase and sale of cattle; and
is known for his extensive business transactions in
all the western part of the state, as well as at
Albany and Chicago. In addition to his regular
business he has frequently been employed in the
settlement of entangled estates, working from phil-
anthropic ratlicr than mercenary motives, and very
often without pay, in fjrder to retain a home for the
worthy, and is justly entitled to the epithet " The
burden bearer," which has often been applied to
him.
]\Ir. Clark married Miss Althea, daughter of
Hon. J. W. Bradley, a staunch republican, senator
and judge of probate; also holding the first offices
of the town for years in the strongly democratic
tf)wn of Bethany. They have one child, a son, Mr.
N. D. Clark, who has distinguished himself as a
scholar in the scientific department of Yale Univer-
sity.
JAMES D. McGAUGHEY, M.D., W.vi.li.ngi.orij:
Dr. McGaughey was born in Greeneville, East
Tennessee, August 6, 1S4S, and is now in his fort}--
thirdyear. His paternal ancestors weie of Scotch
Irish descent, Presbyte-
rians, and emigrated early
to America. His great-
grandfather was born in
Pennsylvania, and was a
member of (leneral Mar-
ion's independent brig-
ade, being with him dur-
ing the Revolutionary
War, in his campaigns in
the Carolinas. He was
also territorial sheriff'
under John vSevier before
the territory became a
state, and served under
Sevier after he became the first governor of Ten-
nessee. Dr. McGaughey's grandfather and father
were born in Tennessee. The former served
several times i.i the Tennessee state legislature,
being a member at the time of the bitter fight over
the removal of the capital from Murfreesboro to
Nashville. His father was a merchant, doing a
large business, but lost almost everything during
the war, being an uncompromising unionist. The
doctor's maternal grandfather, George Burkhardt,
was of German descent, and emigrated to Sullivan
J. n. .MCGAUGHEY.
192
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
county, East Tennessee, from Frederick City, Mary-
land. He built the first paper mill, and made the
first sheet of paper manufactured in the state of
Tennessee, the little antiquated village where the
mill stood, four miles east of Bristol, being called
Pajjerville to this day. His wife was of English
descent, making the subject of this sketch a com-
pound of Scotch, Irish, English, and German ances-
try. Dr. McGaughey was educated at Greene-
ville College, until it was destroyed by the invading
armies, after which his education was completed
under private tutors. He commenced the study i>{
medicine in 1866, and graduated from the Jefiierson
Medical College, Philadelphia, in March, 1870. He
practiced two years in East Tennessee, when, hav-
ing married a granddaughter of Deacon Lyman
Cannon of Wallingford, this state, by whom he has
since had five children, three now living, he re-
moved from Tennessee, coming to Wallingford,
where he has since resided, and where he has
built up a large and lucrative practice. The Doc-
tor served in the lower house of the state legisla-
ture in iSSo, taking part in the debate on a final
settlement of the boundary line between Connecti-
cut and New York, which had been in dispute for
over a hundred years. He is a member of the New
Haven County Medical Society, and of the Connec-
ticut State Medical Society. He holds the appoint-
ment of ' ' medical examiner '" for Wallingford
under the newcoronors' law, is the post surgeon for
the examination of subjects for military exemption
from taxes, and was registrar of vital statistics of
the town for eight successive years.
JERE D. EGGLESTON, Mekiden: Physician and
Surgeon.
Dr. Eggleston was born in Long Meadow, 2ilass.,
October 28, 1853, and was educated at Williams
College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons
of New York city. His
professional life has been
spent principally at Wind-
sor Locks and Meriden,
eleven years in all having
been spent in the city.
He has been a member of
the board of aldermen
and city physician, and is
a republican in politics.
Dr. Eggleston is a man of
great personal energy,
and attained his education
by his own exertions,
first earning money for
the purpose o:i a farm, and afterwards by teaching
school. His father was Jere D. Eggleston, who
died when the subject of this sketch was in infancy.
The death of Dr. Eggleston 's mother followed while
he was still a youth, leaving him dependent upon him-
self. He is a son-in-law of the Hon. Thomas Duncan
of Windsor. He married the oldest daughter of
that gentleman. Miss Libbie Duncan, in 1881.
There have been four children as the result of the
union, three of whom are now living. Dr. Eggles-
ton is a member of Meridian Lodge, No. 77, F. and
A. M. of Meriden, and of the order of Odd Fellows.
W. J. LEAVENWORTH.
J. I). KGGLESrON.
WALTER J. LEAVENWORTH, W.^llin(;kord:
Treasurer R. Wallace & Sons Manufacturing
Company.
Colonel Leavenworth is a native of the town of
Roxbury, Conn. He was born February 20, 1845.
Since finishing his education at the public schools
of Wallingford, to which
place the family removed
in 1853, he has followed
manufacturing, having
started out as entry clerk
with Hall, Elton & Co. of
that place, in 1862. He
afterwards became secre-
tary of the corporation,
retaining the position un-
til 1877, when he was
elected treasurer a n d
general manager of the
R. Wallace & Sons Manu-
facturing Company.
From his first connection in this official capacity
with the company, its business has trebled and is
still increasing rapidly. He has been called by his
fellow-citizens to occuj^y various public positions,
including that of burgess of the borough of Wal-
lingford for four years, chairman of the board of
water commissioners for the same period, and he is
now president of the Wallingford board of trade.
Additionally to his business relations above speci-
fied, he is the president and a director of the Wal-
lingford Gas Light Company, director in the First
National Bank, and has membership with the
Arcanum Club of Wallingford, and the Ouinnipiac
Club, and Republican League of New Haven.
His religious connections are with the First Congre-
gational church, and his political faith is that of the
republican party. Colonel Leavenworth has a
military record covering nearly twenty years. He
enlisted as a private in Company K, Second Regi-
ment, Connecticut National Guard, Seistember 15,
1S71; was appointed first sergeant on the 19th of
the same month, and prennoted successively to
second lieutenant, December 14, 1871; to first lieu-
tenant, August 25, 1S73; and to captain, January
29, 1S74; resigning January 17, 1877. He was
again appointed to the captaincy of the same com-
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
193
pany, November 11, 18S0, and again resigned June
16, 1SS2. July 26, 1882, he was elected lieutenant-
colonel of the Second Regiment; and on the i6th
of Februar}', 1885, was promoted to be its colonel.
This position he retained for several, years, resign-
ing from the command on the 22d of June, 1SS9.
He was esteemed as an efficient officer and a strict
disciplinarian.
Colonel Leavenworth was married to iliss Net-
tie A. Wallace of Wallingford, daughter of Robert
"Wallace, Esq., and the\- have had four children,
three of whom are now living. It ma}' be said that
he has, during his business career, identified him-
self prominently witli every proper interest of his
town, in the line of public improvements; and has
earned the reputation which attaches to him, of be-
ing an honorable and useful citizen.
I ';
C. C. COMMERKORD.
CHARLES C. COMMERFORD, Waterijurv:
Ex-Postmaster.
Charles C. Commerford has been a well-known
figure in democratic politics in the state for a num-
ber of years. He was born in New York city,
June 2, T 833, and received
an English and classical
education in the schools
of the metropolis. He
Avas engaged in mercan-
tile pursuits in New York
until 1864, when he re-
moved to Waterbury and
•entered the employ of the
Great Brook Woolen Mill
Company. There he be-
came an active participant
in politics, and was
elected to offices of trust
and responsibility, includ-
ing that of assessor and member of the Center
School district committee. His administration of
the school district interests won for him great
credit in the city. He was also deputy chief of the
original state labor bureau in 1S78. He was ap-
pointed postmaster by President Cleveland, assum-
ing the duties of the office March 14, 1SS6, and re-
tained the position until the appointment of Colonel
John B. Doherty by President Harrison. Mr.
Commerford has been connected with journalism
and is familiar with newspaper men throughout
the state. He is a gentleman of interesting per-
sonality. His father, John Commerford of New
York city, was prominently identified with political
interests in the metropolis, and was a candidate for
congress on the republican ticket in 1S60. Many of
the older leaders in social and business life are the
personal friends of the subject of this sketch. His
wife, who was a New York lady, was Miss Eliza-
beth Hamilton, daughter of Alexander Hamilton,
and a descendant of the great New York leader of
that name, wh(we statesmanship was of so nuich
value in the first decade of the republic. The
family includes two sons and one daughter. Mr.
Commerford is connected with the Episcopal
church, and has been a member of the Masonic
order for thirtj'-two years. He is a Cleveland dem-
ocrat and is thoroughly in sympathy with the inter-
ests and principles of his party.
.'■'^■'ji-.-i
.M-^-^r^
CROSSLEV FITTON.
CROSSLEY FITTON, Rockvii.i.e: Agent Rock
Manufacturing Company.
Mr. Fitton was born in Oldham, Laticashire,
England, December 19, 1839, and was brought to
the United States by his parents when he was but
three years of age. His
father settled at Woon-
socket, R. I., where he
was engaged in the woolen
manufactory of Edward
Harris. The subject of
this sketch was educated
at Lenox Academy, in
Berkshire, Mass., and be-
came a woolen manufac-
turer, as was his father
before him. Twenty-six
years ago he came to
Rockville, and for twenty-
four years he has been
the agent of the Rock Manufacturing Company,
being the oldest in continuous service of all who
have held official connection with the manufactur-
ing establishments of Rockville. As a woolen
manufacturer he ranks among the most able in
New England, and during his connection with the
Rock Company it has enjoyed continued success
and prosperity under his management. The mills
have been enlarged, the most improved machinery
obtained, the force increased, and woolen goods
manufactured equal to any produced in the coun-
try. Mr. Fitton was always a hard worker, and
often the first man at the mill in the morning and
the last to leave at night.
In public opinion Mr. Fitton occupies an influen-
tial place. In 1SS5 he represented the town of
\'ernon in the general assembly, serving on the
republican side. He was an active associate on
the building committee which recently erected the
beautiful L^nion Church on the corner of L^nion
street, in the heart of the city. He is identified
with Fayette Lodge, F. and A. M., of Rockville,
and with the Court Hearts of Oak of Foresters.
He has been president and director of the Rockville
Water Power Company, a director in the Rockville
Railroad Companj', the RockAnlle Aqueduct Com-
13
194
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
pany, and the Rockville Gas Light Company. He
has always taken a lively interest in the Rockville
fire department, and was largely instrumental in
securing the first steam fire engine, which was
named in his honor. Mr. Fitton married Miss
Carrie R. Tarbell of Chester, Vt. , and they have
three children, one daughter, Mrs. P. B. Leonard,
and two sons, George and James Fitton. He
ranks among the eminentlj- successful manufac-
turers and business men of the city and state.
Being but fifty-two years of age, he is still in the
prime of life; and, as a man of great public spirit,
Rockville looks to his future career as certain to be
one of much usefulness and honor.
[Mr. Fitton died at his home in Rockville April
29, 1S91, after the above sketch had been prepared.
—Ed.]
HON. STEPHEN NICHOLS, Bridgeport:
Farmer.
Hon. Stephen Nichols, son of William and Hul-
dah Nichols, was born September 16, 1804, in
Trumbull, Fairfield county, Connecticut. He is of
the eighth generation
from Sergeant Francis
Nichols, of London, Eng-
land, who with his family
removed to America and
settled in Stratford,
Conn., in 1639. His
great-grandfather, The-
(iphilus Nichols, who was
one of the early settlers
of Fairfield county, died
in 1774. His grandfather,
Philip Nichols, was a man
of much influence in pub-
lic affairs, and a magis-
He was a large landholder;
dealt extensively in live
stock, many of which he imported to the West
Indies, together with produce of various kinds.
He owned several vessels which were engaged in
the West India trade. William Nichols, the father
oi Stephen, was a farmer by occupation. He was
a member of the Episcopal church, and two of his
sisters married Episcopal clergymen. He was
twice married ; eight children were born of the
first marriage, and seven by the second. vStephen
Nichols was one of the latter. When he was thir-
teen years old, having attended the public schools
and acquired a respectable education, he was
obliged on account of the death of his mother to
seek a home for himself, which he did by going to
Bridgeport where he had a married sister, with
whom he made his home. He worked by the
month for farmers for several years, and then
learned the boot and shoe trade, which business he
STEPHEN NICHOLS.
trate for many years.
owned several slaves
followed for about twenty years. His old love of
the farm returning, he gradually turned his atten-
tion again to agricultural pursuits, for which he
forsook trade and in which he has since been en-
gaged. Mr. Nichols was a whig before the organ-
ization of the republican party, but since that time
has been an ardent and active republican. As
such he was elected to represent the town of
Bridgeport in the general assembly of 1S7S, being
the colleague of Hon. P. T. Barnum, and serving
on the cities and boroughs committee. Mr. Nichols
voted in 1824 for John Ouincy Adams, and has
voted at every presidential election since. He voted
for William Henry Harrison in 1840, was present
at the succeeding inauguration ceremonies, and
within thirty days thereafter attended his funeral.
He has filled various public offices in the town and
city of Bridgeport, having been justice of the
peace, selectman, assessor, member of the common
council of the city and of the town board of relief.
Mr. Nichols is a member of the North Congrega-
tional church of Bridgeport, and a liberal supporter
of its ordinances. Not long ago he made a cash
donation of $5,000 to the Olivet church, and more
recently has still further shown his generosity by a
gift to the same church of valuable real estate on
which a new church edifice will be erected and pro-
vision made for a parsonage. The Bridgeport
Staiuiaj'd, which alluded to the first donation in
very complimentary terms, afterward made the
following reference to Mr. Nichols' later gift :
' ' Two very important warrantee deeds were ex-
ecuted yesterday by Attorney J. J. Rose, by which
Stephen Nichols, Esq., makes another sjjlendid gift
to the Olivet Congregational church. By these
deeds Mr. Nichols conveys the Hall propert}- entire,
which he recently purchased for $10,000, to the
church, to be theirs forever, to be used in carrying
forward their work. The first deed comprises a
strip of land twenty feet wide adjoining the church
property, thereby making ample provision for the
location of the new church. The second deed com-
prises the remaining part of the Hall property, in-
cluding the house, the income of which is to be ap-
plied to the general expenses of the church, pro-
vision being made, however, by which the pastor
will receive his rent free, thus virtually increasing
his salary. The property is conveyed free from all
incumbrance, making the total gift of Mr. Nichols
$15,000. Olivet church is now in possession of one
of the finest properties in the city."
The liberality of Mr. Nichols in all matters pro-
motive of moral and religiotis advancement, is pro-
verbial, and his gifts seem to aft'ord him real satis-
faction. He insists that this last bestowment was
one of the proudest acts of his life. He is not now
in public office, and the only membership he claims,
aside from church membership, is with the repub-
lican partv and the Sons of the American Revolu-
tion.
Mr. Nichols was married, March 4, 1829, to Eme-
line Beardsley, daughter of Aaron Beardslej- of
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
Bridgeport. She died of pneumonia, December 13,
1S90, after a very brief illness. She is spoken of as
a loving and devoted wife, a kind neighbor, and a
most estimable lady. Of their two children, one
died in childhood ; the other, Stephen Marcus
Nichols, served in the war of the rebellion as first
lieutenant of Company B, Twenty-third Connecti-
cut regiment, under General Banks, and died July
29, 1S70.
Mr. Nichols resides in the same house to which
he took his young bride in May, 1S29, and where
he has Hved for sixty-two years. During all this
time he has not been absent from the old home
more than a dozen nights altogether. It has been
the scene of the joys and sorrows of his wedded
life, and it is not strange that his attachments to it
are now very strong. It is in the vicinity of the
home of his ancestors for centuries. Ten genera-
tions in a continuous line have been born, lived,
died, and been buried within two or three miles, at
most, of the spot where his homestead stands; and
there, as the last of his family, he expects to re-
main until called to join the majority. Mr. Nichols
has had a very sad and singular experience of be-
reavement. The death of his only son in 1870 was
a severe blow, and left his hopes for a continuous
posterity centered in Wilbur E. Nichols, an only
grandson. Last December, as above stated, Mr.
Nichols' wife was prostrated by a fatal illness. On
the first day of last March Wilbur E. Nichols, aged
twenty-six, was stricken with apoplexy while at-
tending the service in St. John's church, and was
conveyed to his home where he died a few hours
later. The circumstances were particularly dis-
tressing. He had been in poor health for some
time, and was intending to go to Florida the day
following that on which he died. He was a young
man greatly esteemed and beloved, and his loss
was mourned by a wide circle of acquaintances.
On the 13th day of the same month, an infant son
of Mr. and Mrs. Swan B. Brewster, and a great-
grandson of Hon. Stephen Nichols, died suddenly,
a victim of diphtheria. And on the 22d, nine days
later, Mrs. Brewster, the child's mother, and the
gi-andchild and only remaining representative of
Mr. Nichols' family, followed her infant to the
grave, having been attacked with the same terrible
and fatal disease. Mrs. Brewster was a young
woman of amiable disposition and with many esti-
mable qualities. She was prostrated with grief by
the loss of her infant son, and was thus doubtless
an easier prey to her disease. She was devotedly
attached to the child, as were the entire family.
He was a bright and interesting boy, the pet and
pride and hope of his great-grandfather, who
looked upon him as the instrumentality through
whom Providence intended to transmit to posterity
his blood, if not his name. [The illustration at the
195
head of this sketch is engraved from a photograph
which shows the child in the arms of his great-
grandfather, the Hon. Mr. Nichols, the subject of
this biography.]
Although now eighty-seven years of age, Mr.
Nichols is still in the enjoyment of perfect health,
with erect form, ruddy complexion, and faculties
unimpaired. He looks like a vigorous man of sev-
enty, and gives good promise of becoming a cen-
tenarian. His life has been an eventful one, and
within his memory he has a fund of personal rem-
iniscences which constitute him a most agreeable
and entertaining companion. He is justly es-
teemed and venerated by his townsmen, and is to
all his acquaintances not only a lively and interest-
ing relic of a former generation, but a good repre-
sentative of the best element of the present day.
ALBERT P. MARSH, New BRrr.^ix: House
Decorator.
A. P. Marsh, the prosperous and youthful pro-
prietor of a well-known paint and house decorating
establishment in New Britain, was born in Bir-
mingham, England, July
I, 1S67. When he was
eighteen months old his
parents emigrated to this
country, and afterwards
resided in Boston, Provi-
dence, New York, Brook-
lyn, finally settling in New
Britain in 1S73. From
early life, or since he be-
came eight years of age,
Mr. Marsh has been com-
pelled to rely upon his
own exertions and re-
sources. He managed
to attend school a portion of several years, though
compelled to work between school hours to main-
tain himself. At the age of thirteen he forsook
school, and commenced life in the shop, later learn-
ing the painters' trade in all its several branches,
becoming practically proficient in each. When but
nineteen years old he began business for himself,
without capital or influential friends, and in the
face of quite formidable obstacles. His obliging
manners and evident knowledge of his business
soon brought him patrons, however, and assured
the prosperity which has almost from the first at-
tended his efforts, and which has given his estab-
lishment a prominent place among the best in his
Hne. In 1S90 he erected a fine residence on Green-
wood street, which was a significant undertaking
for a young unmarried man to engage in. Mr.
Marsh deals quite considerably in real estate, and
in the prosecution of his business employs a large
A. V. MARSH.
196
force of skilled workmen. He possesses traits of
character Avhich make him popular among those
over whom he exercises authority, and which at-
tract patrons to his place of business. Being thus
"wise in his day and generation," he is likely to
become a man of wealth and influence in the city
of his adoption.
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
A. F. NASON.
A. F. NASON, Hartford: Superintendent of
Agencies, .^tna Life Insurance Company.
Almond Francis Nason, son of Rufus Nason. was
born in WaterviUe, Me., December 14, 1S41. He
fitted for WaterviUe College (now Colby Univer-
sity), but, preferring mer-
cantile pursuits, went to
Boston in 1859, and en-
gaged as bookkeeper.
During the war he was a
regular correspondent for
the WaterviUe Mail
and Portland Daily
Press. In 1S62 he made
a trip as sutler on the
United States steamer
Rhode Island, Admiral
Trenchard commander,
from Boston to all the
blockaded ports of the
southern confederacy as far as the Rio Grande and
return, arriving at New Orleans in October, while
General Butler was in possession of the city. On
his return to Boston he married, and re-engaged as
bookkeeper. On August i, 1864, he began his first
engagement in life inst:rance as assistant general
agent of the New York Life Insurance Company
at its Boston branch office. At the conclu-
sion of that engagement in 1867, he formed a co-
partnership with L. A. Lyon, under the firm name
of Lyon & Nason, as state agents for Massachu-
setts of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Com-
pany of Newark, N. J. Their agency became the
largest in Boston, and the leading one of the com-
pany. In 1870 Great Britain was added to their
management, and his partner visited that country
to establish agencies. (This was the only foreign
business ever done by that company.) In 1872 Mr.
Lyon disposed of his interest to S. M. Loveridge,
the firm thereafter being Nason & Loveridge. In
January, 1875, Mr. Nason retired from the agency
with a competency. That year he organized, in
connection with his former partner, Mr. Lyon, the
Shawmut Insurance Company, with the largest
cash capital of any fire insurance company in Bos-
ton ($500,000), and was its first vice-president. The
financial panic, beginning in 1S75, so reduced real
estate values that he lost heavily. In 1877 he or-
ganized the Locke Regulator Company, and was
its president. In 1S79 he disposed of his interest
to Mr. Nelson Curtis, — whose name the company
now bears, — and came to Hartford to accept the
position of adjuster for the iEtna Life Insurance
Company. In 1S82 he was appointed superintend-
ent of agencies of that company, the position now
held by him.
Mr. Nason has always been an ardent repub-
lican, having served as delegate to gubernatorial and
senatorial conventions in Massachusetts. He is
vice-president of the First Unitarian Congrega-
tional Society of Hartford. He was for ten years
on the standing committee of the famous old HoUis
Street church in Boston, and was a delegate to the
national convention of the Unitarians in Saratoga
(1873) and Philadelphia (1890). He was appointed
a justice of the peace by Governor Rice, and re-
appointed by Governor Washburn, for two terms
of seven years each. During the past twelve years
he has traveled very extensively and almost con-
stantly over the United States and the Dominion of
Canada, in connection with the responsible duties
of his position with the old and well-known com-
pany with which he has so long been associated.
Mr. Nason was united (1862) in marriage to Miss
Grace E. Blanchard of Boston, who died in 1880,
leaving two children, a son and daughter. He is a
member of the Masonic fraternity. His experience
in life insurance has been wide and successful, and
he is esteemed an adept in the department of
which he is an active manager.
E. W. DEWEY, North Granby: Judge of Pro-
bate.
Edward W^atson Dewey was born in North
Granby, October 29, 1857, and was educated at
Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Mass. In 1SS9
he represented the town
of Granby in the general
assembly, serving on the
republican side of the
house. He is the judge
of probate in the Granby
district, and has held other
responsible offices, includ-
ing that of justice of the
peace. Judge Dewey has
also been engaged in mer-
cantile pursuits; has held
the chairmanship of the
'republican town commit-
tee, and is the Worshipful
Master of St. Mark's Lodge, No. 91, F. and A. M.,
of Granby. He is connected with the UniversaUst
church, and is one of the most thoroughly esteemed
residents of the town of Granby. Judge Dewey is
without a family.
E. W. DEWEY
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
197
Middletown, in
DANIEL J. DONAHOE, Middletuw n; Attorney-
at-Law.
Daniel J. Donahoc is a native of Brimlield,
Mass., born February 27, 1S53. He finished his
education at Wesleyan University
1S72, studied law for
three years, and was ad-
mitted to the bar in June,
1S75. He engaged in the
practice of his profession
at Meriden three years,
then located in Middle-
town, where he has since
been in continuous prac-
tice. He married Mar-
garet Burns, who died in
April, iSSS, leaving two
young children, daiagh-
ters. Mr. Donahoe is a
member of the Catholic
church, and of the democratic party. He holds
the associate judgeship of the Middletown city
court, is a member of the city board of education,
and president of the town board of health. He
stands well as a lawyer before the bar of Middlesex
County, is an earnest and conscientious advocate,
and a gentleman of fine literarj' accomplishments.
He is author of " Idyls of Israel, and other poems,"
published in 18SS, and "A Tent by the Lake, and
other poems," i8Sg. Both volvimes have had a fair
sale, and have been well received by the public.
I). J. DONAHOE.
HENRY M. WHITE, Torrington: Editor " Tor-
rington Register."
Henry M. White, member of the general assem-
bly from Torrington for the current term, is the
editor of the Torringtoti Register, which has
for years been a leading
county paper in Western
Connectictit. Mr. White
has been at the head of
the paper for nine years.
In 1SS9 he founded the
Daily Register, which
has a handsome clientage
in the fiourishing bor-
ough of Torrington and
the adjacent localities.
Mr. White was born at
Elba, N. Y., and was edu-
cated at the Shelburne
Falls Academy, Mass. He
was formerly engaged in the manufacture of hard-
ware, occupying the positions of foreman and sales-
man. He has resided in Shelburne Falls and
Northampton, Mass., and in New York. Mr.
White is connected with the Congregational church
II. M. WHITE.
at Torrington, and is the secretary of the Y. M. C.
A. in that place. He was the superintendent of
the Sunday-school at Northampton. He is the
president of the Mercantile Co-operative Bank, and
is a member of the Knights of Honor. His wife, who
is living, was Miss Minnie A. Cole prior to her
marriage. There are no children.
BULKLEV EDWARDS.
BULKLEY EDWARDS, Crumwei.i. ; President
Cromwell Savings Bank.
I\Ir. Edwards is a descendant of Churchill Ed-
wards, who came from England many generations
ago and settled in Wethersfield in this state, since
which his descendants
have mostly made their
homes in the Connecticut
valley. Bulkley Edwards
was born in Cromwell,
May 29, 18 II, and during
the forescore years of his
life has maintained a con-
tinuous residence in the
identical house where he
was born. His education-
al training was at the dis-
trict and high school of
Cromwell. He was reared
in the hotel and farm life
which his father led until his death in 1836, and
which he then took up and has since followed. He
has three times married; his first wife dying in 1854
and the second in 1863; he married last Mrs. Corne-
ha Wilcox of Wethersfield, December 28, 1S87. Of
the four children who have been born to him,
neither is nf)w living. Additionally to his hotel busi-
ness, Mr. Edwards is something of a farmer, own-
ing and improving a considerable tract bordering
on the Connecticut River. Flis farm has been cut
in two twice by the locating across it of the \'alley
and the Cromwell railroads, and though estimated
to have been thus damaged to the extent of $1,500,
he regards the railroads as of more practical benefit
than damage to his property. Mr. Edwards is pres-
ident of the Cromwell Savings Bank, which posi-
tion he has occupied for twelve years. He has been
first selectman a number of terms, county commis-
sioner four years, member of the board of assessors
and board of relief, and has held various minor
local offices; until at his present age he feels that he
has performed his part of the public service, and
has declined further public honors or burdens. Mr.
Edwards was reared a Jackson democrat. When
he became of age and was made an elector, he re-
calls that his father told him to vote as he thought
best, but always to put his ballot down right side
up. As a democrat he has for five different terms
198
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
represented Cromwell in the legislature, and he has
never given his associates or constituents reason to
think that he was ashamed of his politics. He is an
attendant at the Baptist church of his native town,
in the support of which he is a liberal contributor.
J. A. CRILLY.
JOHN A. CRILLY, Hartkord: Ex-Alderman
Fourth Ward.
John A. Crillv was born at Pike River, in the
province of Quebec, April 22, 1847, and received a
common school education, preparing him for an
active and successful busi-
ness career. He removed
to Hartford in 1862, and
has since been a resident
of the city. He has been
connected with the Hart-
ford & Wethersfield Horse
Railroad Company most
of the time since his re-
moval to Hartford, and
has been in charge of
important and responsible
interests on the line for a
number of years. Mr.
Crilly is one of the most
trusted men in the management of the company,
and much of its success is due to his administration
and influence. He has been a member of the court
of common council in this city since 1S77, when he
Avas first elected a member of the council board
from the Fourth ward, receiving a total of 627
votes. He served in that board for six consecutive
years, acquiring special familiarity with municipal
interests. In 1SS3 he was advanced to the board
of aldermen , receiving a larger vote for that office
than the one polled when he was first elected coun-
cilman. Mr. Crilly has served eight years consecu-
tively in the upper board, making a period of four-
teen years of active identification with the municipal
government. No one in local public life has been
longer associated with the city's interests, and it
can be said with the utmost candor and honesty
that he has been a faithful and unfaltering advocate
of local progress. The different municipal depart-
ments owe a great deal to his watchfulness and
supervision. From the beginning of his career he
has been an intelligent observer of the effect of
city legislation, and where improvements have been
needed, he has promptly and efficiently co-operated
in their inauguration. For a number of years he has
held the chairmanship of the committee on amuse-
ments, a place of decided importance, considering
the fact that the chairman must be constantly on
the alert against the admission of undesirable
plays and companies for entertainments in the city.
The matter of regulating playbills and placards
placed in public resorts is left mainly to the decision
of the chairman of the committee. Ex-Alderman
Crilly is a prominent Mason, being a member of
St. John's Lodge, Pythagoras Chapter, Wolcott
Council, and Washington Commandery, Knights
Templar. He is one of the oldest members and
past grand of Hartford Lodge, I. O. O. F.; member
of Crescent Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and of the
Hartford order of Elks. One year ago he was
elected a member of the board of selectmen of
Hartford, having previously served one term by
appointment. He has been a member of the Fourth
ward republican committee for ten years, and is
also an active and influential member of the town
committee. In addition to the work that has de-
manded his attention in connection with the horse
railroad company, he has dealt extensively in real
estate, and is a member of the board of directors
of the Glastonbury Horse Railroad Company. Mr.
Crilly is an attendant at the South Park Methodist
church in this city. He has a wife and one son,
John A. Crilly, Jr. Two daughters have died.
Mrs. Crilly was Miss Louisa A. Smith of Wethers-
field prior to her marriage. As a citizen and busi-
ness man Mr. Crillv has manifested the deepest
interest in Hartford, and his success in various
fields of activity has been thoroughly merited.
FRANK W. MIX, New Britain: Superintendent
Corbin Cabinet Lock Company.
Major Frank W. Mix was born in Terryville,
February 17, 1834. He attended the village school
until he was sixteen, when he went into the factory
with his father. What is
now the Eagle Lock Com-
pany in Terryville was
then Lewis & Gaylord.
Here he learned the art
of die-making and press-
ing, and obtained a gen-
eral idea of machine work.
At the age of twenty he
left home, going to Water-
bury to perfect himself as
a machinist and tool-
maker. At the end of six
months he accepted a call
from New Haven to take
chai-ge of the die and press work of the New Haven
Clock Company, where he remained a year. Still
having a desire to become a perfect tool-maker, he
secured a position with what is now the Winchester
Arms Company, then run by Smith & Wesson, as
a tool-maker, remaining there until the concern
failed in 1S57. While in New Haven Major Mix
became actively interested in musical matters, hav-
ing charge of the choir and playing the organ in
/ //^
F. W. MIX.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
199
one of the churches. Here he was also married in
1856. After the failure of the pistol company,
Major Mix went into the sewing-machine business
with his father-in-law, R. B. Fuller, locating in
Mansfield, afterwards in Norwich, continuing until
1S60, when they sold out, the Major going to the
Sharps' Ritle factory in Hartford. In the spring
of 1 86 1, his health being impaired, he remov^ed to
Michigan, where, September i, 1861, he enlisted in
the Third Michigan cavalry, with which he served
for eleven months, when he was appointed a cap-
tain of the famous Fourth Michigan cavalry. While
with the Third he took part in the capture of New
Madrid and Island No. 10, and the battles of
Corinth, Inka, and Boonville, Miss. He joined the
Fourth cavalrj- at Mumfordsville, Ky. , and was pro-
moted to be major for gallantry at the battle of
Stone River. While he was in command of the
regiment it took part in eighty-four general engage-
ments, not to mention scores of lesser events.
These included Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Mis.sion
Ridge, and most of the important actions of the
w'estern army up to the siege of Atlanta. He was
severely wounded at Lovejoy's Station in August,
1864, on account of which he received an honorable
discharge in the following November. He lost two
horses in action, and was repeatedly named by
corps and brigade commanders for gallantry,
promptness, and the skillful manner in which he
handled his regiment in tight places. On two dif-
ferent occasions the brigade commander attributed
the success of his brigade ' ' to the brilliancy and
tenacity of the fighting of the Fourth Michigan,
tinder the command of Major Frank W. Mix." It
was this regiment that at the close of the war cap-
tured Jeft'erson Davis.
During the last twenty-five years ]\Iajor Mix has
resided in this state, engaged in the manufacture,
as well as the invention, of locks. During that
time he has probably taken out niore patents on
cabinet and trunk locks than an)' man in the coun-
try. In 1870 he brought out a padlock, known as
the Mix lock, which the government adopted for
mail bags, and which was manufactured by the
Eagle Lock Company, where Major ^lix was em-
ploved as superintendent for ten years. Since that
time he has resided in New Britain as superintend-
ent of the Corbin Cabinet Lock Company, in which
position he has made a notable success, as is at-
tested by the flourishing condition of the business
at the i^resent time. He is also half owner in the
Park drug store in New Britain, which ranks among
the first in the city and state. He has a wife, who
before her marriage was Miss Mary J. Fuller, and
three children, a son and two daughters, his only
son being a superintendent of the government lock
repair shop in Washington. The Major is always
a republican in politics, is connected with the First
Congregational church, is a member of the Masonic
fraternity, of the O. U. A. M., the Grand Army,
the New Britain Club, the Army and Navy Club,
and the Putnam Phalanx. He is a useful and re-
spected citizen, and occupies, with his family, an
honorable position in the community.
GEORGE FLINT, Thomi'son: Judge of Probate.
George Flint was born at Oxford, Mass., Oct. 17,
1832, and received a common school education in
the town in which he now resides, all but six mf)nths
of his life having been
spent in that community.
He has been the judge of
probate in the Thompson
district for nineteen years,
member of the board of
relief for twenty-four, and
registrar of voters for four
years. He has also held
the office of selectman,
and in every position <
which he has occupied he
has faithfully represented
the public interest. His
general avocation has
been that of a farmer. He has been a republican
in politics since 1856. Judge Flint is a lineal de-
scendant, on the paternal side, of Thomas Flint,
who came from Wales to Salem, Mass., about 1642;
on the maternal side, of John Cary, who came to
Plymouth in 1635. His wife, who died Nov. 6, 1889,
was Miss Gertrude I. Dowling. One son survives.
GEORGE FLINT.
ROBERT WALLACE, W.vllingforu: President
R. Wallace & Sons Manufacturing Companj'.
Robert Wallace, the creator and founder of the
great silver and plated-ware manufactory which
bears his name, was born in Prospect, Conn., No-
vember 13, 1815. In his
youth he had the advan-
tages which the common
schools of his day afford-
ed, and with a fair educa-
tion went out into the
world to seek his fortune.
He was under brief en-
gagements at Watertown,
Cheshire, and North Ha-
ven, but many years ago
gravitated to Walling-
ford, where he established,
at first in a small way, the
industry which, under his
fostering care and management, has since become
one of the most prosperous of its kind in the state.
He has literally spent his life in it, devoting his
ROBERT W.'VI.LACE.
200
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
time, his thought, and his energies to it, to the ex-
ckision of all public service, and largel}^ of active
participation in the ordinary enjoyments of social
life. His history is practically the history of his
company and its business, with which he has always
been intimately identified. Mr. Wallace was mar-
ried many years ago to Jliss Louisa ^Sloulthrop, now
deceased. They have had nine children, eight of
whom are still living. His political affiliations are
with the republican party.
REV. H. WINSI.OW.
REV. HORACE WINvSLOW, A.M., Weatogue,
(Simsbury): Congregational Clergyman.
Rev. Horace Winslow is a lineal descendant of
Kenelm Winslow(brother of Governor Edward), who
first settled at Marshfield, Mass., the homestead re-
maining in the family for
four generations. Horace
was born in Enfield,
Mass., May i8, 1S14.
When he was about two
years of age, his father
removed to Pittsford,
Western New York. Lat-
er, he was employed as
clerk in a bookstore in
Rochester, which city was
\ I his home until he was set-
tied in the ministry. He
was married May 8, 1850,
to Miss Charlotte H. Pet-
tibone of Simsbury, Conn. Three daughters have
been born to them, two of whom are now living.
He was educated at Hamilton College, from which
he received the degree of A.M., and at Auburn
Theological Seminary, and the Union Theological
Seminary in New York city. He was ordained and
installed pastor of the Presbyterian church of New
Windsor, N. Y., in the spring of 1842. In 1843 he
became pastor of the Second Presbyterian church
in Lansingburg. In 1845 he was settled as pastor
of the Congregational church of Rockville, Conn.
In 1852 he resigned and accepted a call from the
First Congregational church of New Britain. In
January, 1858, he was installed pastor of the Con-
gregational church of Great Barrington, Mass.
Having been appointed Chaplain of the 5th regi-
ment of Connecticut Volunteers, in February, 1862,
he at once resigned his charge and joined the army.
Late in the year, in consequence of ill health, being
unable to follow the regiment, he resigned and re-
turned to his home. In 1S63 he became pastor of
the Congregational church of Binghamton, N. Y.
After five years of service there, he resigned and
returned to Connecticut. For a few months he was
in the service of the American Missionary Associa-
tion, and also of the South chiu'ch of Woodbury,
from which he had received a call, but finally de-
clined it and accepted one from the Congregational
church of Willimantic, where he was settled in
1S69. In 1876, while driving in a severe thunder
storm, he was struck by lightning, thrown from the
carriage, and taken up insensible. After recovering
consciousness, he was for a time in a very critical
condition. His people gave him a vacation for six
months, after which he resumed work. Finally,,
after a service of a little more than twelve years,
his health not being firm, he resigned his charge,,
and located at Weatogue, Simsbury, where he now
resides. AVith this change his health improved,
and in a short time he resumed his work in the pul-
pit, and has continued to the present time, supply-
ing in Providence, R. I., for two years, in Litch-
field, Hartford, and for nine months in his former
church in Great Barrington, Mass. ; also about three
years in Simsbury.
Mr. Winslow has ever been an earnest worker in
the interests and prosperity of the communities in
which he has lived, in the elevation of the schools,
and in village improvements. The two parks at
Rockville are the outcome of his labors. The one
in front of his church (as it then stood), was graded,,
enclosed, and, with the help of young men, set out
with trees by him. Talcott park was a conception
of his. He secured from the owners of the land a
refusal of it for one month, for two thousand dol-
lars. Before the time expired, the money was
raised by subscription, the amount secured by a very
large and generous gift (nearly one-half the amount)
from Judge Phineas Talcott. While the spiritual
interests of the people have been Mr. Winslow's
first consideration, he has been conspicuous in re-
newing old church edifices and building new ones,
securing in this work architectural excellence, con-
venience, and ventilation. His first settlement
witnessed a change in the church edifice. The year
following his advent in Rockville, twenty-five feet
were added to the church building, with other im-
provements. Later on, a colony went out and
formed a second church. Then a chapel with par-
lors was erected for the old church. W^hen he re-
moved to New Britain he led the people to erect a
new house of worship, with the conveniences of
chapel, parlors, and an audience-room seating
twelve hundred people. A like work he accom-
plished at Great Barrington, Mass., and at Willi-
mantic. In these new churches acoustic properties
and means of ventilation were complete. He had
especial care that the house should be adapted to its
use; that the church edifice should have architectu-
ral excellence, the audience-room be adapted to
speaking and hearing, and in all these particulars
he had perfect success. In this work, also, in most
cases, he had the chief business of raising money.
In Willimantic, where the church building cost
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
201
forty-seven thousand dollars, more than half of the
amount was raised throui^h his personal efforts. In
this business of remodeling and building anew
he created no burden of debt upon the society, and
when a small amount was left, it was from the
choice of the society. In Willimantic, when the
final debt was twelve thousand dollars, and recog-
nized as an embarrassment to the societj', he took
the matter up and raised the whole amount. In
this building of new churches, the society was
lifted into greater independence, and the eliurch
into a new spiritual life. Mr. Winslow has been an
active worker in the temperance cause, and his Cold
Water Army of three hundred children at Rockville
became quite famous. Being an earnest advo-
cate of human rights, he was an anti-slavery man,
and at the outbreak of the rebellion an ardent de-
fender of the Union. In the conflict of thought at
the approach of the war. and since, he has given,
on occasions of special interest, many discourses
and addresses, which have been published. Mr.
Winslow's life has been one of great usefulness to
church and state, and he is united by the strongest
ties of friendship with large numbers of the best
men of the present and past generation.
HOMER L. WANZER, New Faikheld: Farmer.
Homer L. Wanzer was born in New Fairfield,
March 3, 1S50, being the son of Willis H. and
Sarah A. Wanzer, and a descendant of Abraham
Wanzer, who emigrated
to America from Hesse
Castle, Germany, and be-
came a lieutenant in the
French war in America.
At the age of sixteen the
subject of this sketch at-
tended a boarding-school
in Oswego village. His
studies were completed in
1870 at the Chappaqua
Mountain Institute in
Westchester county, New
York In 1S78 he married
Miss Mary Alice Gid-
dings, daughter of James A. Giddings, Jr. Mrs.
Wanzer died within a few years, leaving one daugh-
ter. Miss Grace Wanzer. The subject of this
sketch is a farmer by avocation. He has held the
presidency of the Housatonic Agricultural Society
two years, and has been a member of the board of
directors and president of the New Milford Agri-
cultural Association. He is a democrat in politics,
and has been a member of the board of selectmen
in New Fairfield since 1884. He is also the presi-
dent of the town board of health, and is actively
associated with local interests and affairs.
H. L. WANZER.
He was jirominently
E. A. MERRIMAN, Mkriden: Attorney-at-Law.
Judge Emerson A. Merriman has represented
Meriden in the legislature during two sessions,
serving in 1880 and 1881.
identified with the legis-
lation of both years, being
connected with important
committees each year.
He is a republican in
politics. For thirteen
vears he was judge of the
probate court in Meriden,
serving the people of that
city with marked accept-
ance and success. Both
as judge and member of
the legislature he was
governed by the strictest
personal honor, and his
public career has deserved and received the most
gratifying approval. He is a member of Meriden
Lodge, No. 77, F. and A. M., of Meriden. Judge
Merriman was born at Westfield, Mass., August 3,
1842, and was educated at Suffield, in this state,
being a graduate of the Literary Institute in that
place, and in the law department of the University
of Michigan. His wife was Miss Frances E. John-
son before marriage. There are no children in the
family. Judge Memman is a member of the New
Haven county bar, and one of the leading attor-
nevs in Meriden.
E. A. MEKKl.MAN.
JOHN P. WOOD, Brooklv.n; Cashier Windham
Count}' National Bank.
John Palmer Wood was born in Scotland, ^lay
30, 1S33, and received a thorough common school
education, preparing him for a successful business
career. He was a repub-
lican in politics until 1884.
Since that time he has
been connected with the
democratic party. He re-
mained on the farm in
Scotland until he was
eighteen years of age,
when he became interest-
ed in a mercantile life.
From 1864 until 1S70 he
was in the United States
treasury office in Wash-
ington. He then removed
to Lynn, Mass., where he
remained until 1876. Since the latter year he has
been connected with the position which he now
holds in the bank. He was elected judge of the
Brooklyn probate district in 1890, and is now the
judge of the court. Judge Wood is connected with
J. r. WOOD.
202
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
the Unitarian church. His wife, who is yet Hving,
was Miss Sarah J. Kimball, daughter of Jacob Kim-
ball, prior to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Wood
have had six children, three of Avhom are liv-
ing. The family occupy a prominent place in the
community where they reside, and Judge Wood is
a leading citizen of eastern Connecticut. He is a
member of Moriah Lodge, No. 15, F. and A. M.,
of Danielsonville, one of the oldest Masonic lodges
in the state.
N. G. OSBORN.
NORRIS G. OSBORN, New Haven: Editor
" The New Haven Register."
Norris G. 0.sborn was born in New Haven, Conn.,
April 17, 1858, and his native place has always
been his home. He was educated in the private
schools of that city, and
in Yale College, from
which institution he grad-
uated with the class of
18S0. In 18S6 his ahiia
mater conferred u p o n
him an honorarj- degree
of master of arts. In 1SS4
he became chief editor of
The New Haven Regis-
ter, and has had the en-
tire management of the
paper since that time.
Mr. Osborn served as
senior aid, with the rank
of colonel, to Governor Waller, during his adminis-
tration, from 1882 to 1884. He is a member of
many social organizations, chief of which are the
Free Masons and the Sons of the American Revo-
lution. He married, in iSSi, Miss Kate Gardiner
of New York city, and they have three children.
Colonel Osborn's conduct of The Register since
he has been its editor has been as notable in its
way as was that of his father, Minot A. Osborn,
who practically founded the paper, and won for it
a wide circulation throughout Connecticut. He
has developed and broadened the scope of the
paper, so as to keep in touch with the most en-
lightened and progressive journalistic spirit of the
age. While he has always defended the sound
principles of Jeffersonian democracy, he has shown
that the true journalist seeks to mould, and not
follow slavishly, public opinion. He has not hesi-
tated to use his influence against prevailing ten-
dencies in his party which he deemed unwise, and
has always had the courage of his convictions.
The Register was an earnest advocate of tariff
reform some time before the action of President
Cleveland made it the leading issue of his party.
It has also been an admirable newspaper — enter-
prising and thorough in its gathering and exposition
of news, both in the local and national field. As
dramatic critic of the paper Mr. Osborn has shown
himself a thorough and scholarly student of the
drama, and displayed the insight of a keen and
fearless critic.
In the councils also of the democratic party Mr.
Osborn has maintained the family name and proved
the worthy son of a worthy sire. Always a patriot
more than a partisan, he has opposed tactics that,
while they might secure a temporary or question-
able advantage, sacrificed equity and justice. Mr.
Osborn's winsome nature has won for him a large
circle of friends, many of whom are found among
his political opponents. A capital story-teller, with
a cheery, responsive nature, and sterling spirit of
good-fellowship, he is always a welcome comrade
in anv social circle.
W. B. WOOSTER.
WILLIAM BURR WOOSTER, Ansonia: At-
torney-at-Law.
Colonel William B. Wooster represented the
state with honor and distinction in the field during
the war, and is deserving of the highest recognition
on account of his services.
He was the lieutenant-
colonel of the Twentieth
Regiment, under Colonel
Ross of the regular army,
and won a brevet colo-
nelcy for. meritorious con-
duct. When the first
colored regiment in Con-
necticut, the Twenty-
ninth, was organized in
1864, Lieutenant-Colonel
Wooster was selected by
Governor Buckingham as
its commander. The reg-
iment was mustered into the service at New
Haven, March 8, 1864, Colonel Wooster four daj'-s
afterwards assuming the control. A few days be-
fore the organization left for the front it was pre-
sented with a set of colors by the colored women of
New Haven, Fred Douglass making the presenta-
tion address. March 20th it left New Haven,
under Colonel Wooster, for the front, and won the
proudest of records in the field. Its behavior at
the capture of Fort Harrison was especially com-
mended. It was also particularly mentioned for
gallantry on the Darby-town road, and at Chapin
Farm, before Richmond. When the confederate
capital succumbed, the Twenty-ninth was the first
infantry to gain access to the city. Colonel
Wooster's associate officers in the regiment in-
cluded Lieutenant-Colonel David Torrance, now of
the supreme court of errors; the late Rev. Edward
W. Bacon, son of Dr. Bacon of New Haven; and
Captain George H. Goodwin of the Travelers In-
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
203
surance Company. After remaining at Richmond
for a few days after the capture of the city the
Twenty-ninth was transferred to Texas, reaching
Brazos de Santiago in July, 1S65. Thence the
command marched to Brownsville, where it re-
mained until ordered home in November. The
organization was paid off and mustered out in
Hartford, Nov. 25, 1S65. Colonel Wooster re-
turned to his home in Derby and resumed the prac-
tice of law. He is a prominent member of the
Grand Army, the Army and Navy Club of Connec-
ticut, the Sf)ciety of the Army of the Potomac, and
of the Connecticut Union Prisoners' Association.
He was honored with the position of assistant
marshal on the staff of General Joseph R. Hawley
Battle Flag Day, Sept. 17, 1S79, ^^i occasion of un-
surpassed military interest in the history of Con-
necticut. But it is not for the service alone which
Colonel Wooster rendered during the war that he
is to be held in honor by his fellow-citizens of the
state. Prior to the war he had won place and dis-
tinction in the public service. In 185S he was a
member of the house of representatives from the
town of Derby, his associates in that body includ-
ing the late Governor R. D. Hubbard of Hartford,
Governor Charles R. IngersoU and the Hon. Hiram
Camp of New Haven, ex-Congressman Augustus
Brandegee of New London, Robbins Battellof Nor-
folk, A. H. Bjnngton of The Norxualk Gazette,
who subsequentl)- proved himself one of the most
brilliant of war correspondents; A. A. Burnham of
"Windham, who occupied the position of speaker;
the Hon. A. P. Hj^de of Hartford, and the Hon.
Hezekiah S. Sheldon of Suffield. In 1S59 he rep-
resented the old Fifth Senatorial District in the
senate, his colleagues in that body mcluding Judge
Dwight ^Y. Pardee of Hartford, Judge James
Phelps, and the Hon. Hiram Willey of East Had-
dam. In 1861, the initial year of the war, Colonel
Wooster was again a member of the house. Ex-
Congressman Brandegee was elected to the speaker-
ship, while on the floor were such men as the late
Colonel Henry C. Deming of Hartford, Thomas
H. Seymour, who had been governor of the state
and minister at St. Petersburg; Abijah Catlin, the
late Green Kendrick of Waterbury, and Carnot O.
Spencer of the school-fund office. The legislative
career of Colonel Wooster reflected honor on the
state. In politics he has been a republican from
the outset, and the honesty and uprightness of his
political views have been exemplified in every step
of his career. He believed in abolition, and led his
troops with the idea uppermost in mind that the
war would result in the extinction of slaverj'. But
it required great moral courage not less than
loyalty to one's convictions, to assume the leader-
ship of a regimeht of colored men even in 1S64.
All honor is due to Colonel Wooster for the frank-
ness and manliness of his course. He was born in
Oxford, Aug. 22, 1S21, and received a common
school and academic education, pursuing the latter
course at the South Britain Academy. He grad-
uated from the Yale Law School in 1846, being a
classmate of Tilton E. Doolittle of New Haven.
He is at present a member of the law firm of
Wooster, Williams & Gager. He has traveled ex-
tensively, spending upwards of three years in
Europe. His wife, who is still living, was Miss Jay
A. Wallace. There are no children in the family.
Colonel Wooster was formerly paymaster-general
of the state, and is one of the worthiest citizens of
Connecticut.
S. A. YORK.
HON. SAMUEL A. YORK, New Haven: Attor-
ney-at-Law.
Samuel A. York was born in North Stonington,
May 25, 1839, and was educated in the Connecticut
Literary Institute at Suffield, and at Yale College,
graduating from the uni-
versity in the class of
1863. The members of
his class included Pro-
fessor William G. Sum-
ner, William C. Whitney,
secretary of the navy
under President Cleve-
land ; General E r a s t u s
Blakeslee of the first Con-
necticut Cavalry, now a
prominent divine in Mas-
sachusetts; and the Rev.
Dr. Leander T. Chamber-
lain. The class was a
brilliant one and its representatives have been distin-
guished throughout the country. Judge York grad-
uated from the Albany Law School in 1864 and
practiced in Michigan for three years. He then re-
turned to Connecticut and was elected clerk of the
house of representatives in 1873, which was con-
trolled by the democrats, ex-United States Senator
Eaton of Hartford being speaker. In 1874 he was
elected clerk of the senate. From 1867 to 1874 he
occupied an editorial position on the Ne-at Hai'en
Register, the manager and proprietor of the jjaper,
the late Minot A. Osborn, being his father-in-law.
He became judge of probate in the New Haven
district July 4, 1S76, and retained the position until
Jan. I, 1887, when he became the mayor of the
city, occupying that office for two years. Judge
York is a leading democrat in New Haven county,
and is a gentleman of high social prominence. His
career as judge of one of the most important pro-
bate courts in the state was characterized by the
highest sense of honor. He is universally honored
in the city where he resides.
204
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
BURTON HAMILTON MATTOON, Water-
town: Merchant.
B. H. Mattoon is a native of Watertown, Litch-
field county, Conn., and has hved there from in-
fancy until the present time. He was born Octo-
ber 15, 1 8 50. When he
^^^^*„^ became of age, with a
^ •*. thorough education ob-
f '^ffl tained at the Watertown
' "^^ '*" Academy and Stamford
Seminary, he embarked
in mercantile business in
his native town, opening
the store there in 1S71,
which he still owns and
manages. In 1875 he
married ]\Iiss Estella Min-
erva Scott; their family
includes six children,
three sons and three
daughters. He is a member and vestryman of the
Episcopal church, and a Mason of high degree.
As a republican he has held the offices of town
clerk and treasurer for a number of years, also clerk
of the Center School district, of Watertown. He is
now town clerk and treasurer, as well as registrar
of births, marriages, and deaths.
B. H. MATTOON.
GEORGE B. EDMONDS, Bridgeport: Optician.
George B. Edmonds, collector of customs at
Bridgeport, was born in Torrington, June 30, 1838,
and was educated in the public schools of South-
bridge, Mass., his people
removing from Connec-
ticut when he was but a
child. He established
himself in business in
Bridgeport in 1S7S, as a
manufacturer and dealer
in optical goods. Prior to
that period he had resided
in Lowell, Mass., Paw-
tucket, R. I., and at Phil-
adelphia. Collector Ed-
monds is an enthusiastic
republican, and was in-
strumental in organizing
the Bridgeport republican club. He has been on
its executive committee for five years, and is a
recognized leader. In 1SS6 he was elected a member
of the council board from the first ward, and a
member of the board of aldermen in 1887. He was
appointed collector by President Harrison, April 15,
1890, the term being for four years. His first year
in the office has been eminently satisfactory, the
duties of the place being discharged with the
utmost fidelity. He is a member of the order of
G. B. EDMONDS.
Odd Fellows in Bridgeport, and is a man of excep-
tional popularity in that city. His family consists
of a wife and two daughters. The former was
Miss Mary Hopper of Winsted, prior to her mar-
riage. The first vote of Collector Edmonds was
cast for President Lincoln.
S. p. WILLL\MS.
S. P. WILLIAMS, Plainville : Principal of the
Graded and High School.
Schuyler P. Williams is one of the most success-
ful public school instructors in this state. He is
the president of the Connecticut State Teachers'
Association, and an in-
fluential member of the
State Council of Educa-
tion. Seventeen years ago
he was appointed principal
of the Plainville Graded
and High School, and has
succeeded in making it
one of the model schools
of the country. When he
assumed the duties of the
principalship the school
had no regular course of
study, or high school
grade, and only five
teachers. Now the corps of instructors has been
advanced to eight, and a high school grade, with a
complete course of study, established. A class is
graduated each year. Formerly the pupils pre-
ferred to go elsewhere and complete their studies.
Under the management of Mr. Williams the town
now possesses a high school whose graduates have
very creditably entered Wellesley and other colleges.
In 1 888 the subject of this sketch was off^ered the prin-
cipalship of the Meriden High School, but declined
the position, preferring to remain at the head of the
institution in which the best work of his life has
been performed. Mr. Williams prepared for col-
lege at the Hudson River Institute, a military
school at Claverack, and became a colonel of bat-
talion in the military department. He entered
Yale in 1869, graduating in 1873. His classmates
included Judge Samuel O. Prentice of the superior
court, Alderman Atwood Collins of this city. Prin-
cipal A. B. Morrill of the State Normal School at
Willimantic, Frank B. Tarbell, Gardiner Greene,
Jr., and S. T. Dutton, formerly superintendent of
the New Haven schools. His family removed to
Southington when he was nine years of age, and
his home was in that town during his collegiate
career. After graduation he taught for one year
in the select school conducted at Granby by Rev.
T. D. ^lurphy, and in 1S75 was called to the posi-
tion which he has since occupied. He is an in-
fluential member of the Plainville Congregational
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
205
church, and has held the chairmanship for several
years of the society's committee. He was also
superintendent of the Sunday-school for five years.
During the current year he declined a unanimous
re-election to the superintendency of the school,
being compelled to adopt this course on account of
increasing duties in other directions. Mr. Williams
is a member of Friendship Lodge, No. 33, F. and
A. M., of Southington. His family consists of a
wife and daughter, the former being Miss Josephine
E. Woodruff of Southingtt)n prior to her marriage.
The daughter is Miss Martlia J. Williams. In
politics Principal Williams is a rejiuhlican. He is
secretary and treasurer of the Plainville Cemetery
Water Company, and as a citizen of the town is
held in the highest esteem.
NELSON MORSE, North Woodstock; Farmer.
Nelson Morse was born in East Woodstock, May
3, iSiS, being now in the seventy-third year of his
age. He is a descendant in the eighth generation
from Anthony Morse, who
emigrated to this country
from England and settled
in Newbury, Mass., in
1635. To this same line
belonged also Jedediah
Morse, author of the well-
known Morse Geography,
and Samuel F. B. Morse,
inventor of the telegraph.
Nelson Morse lived at
home on his father's farm
until he was seventeen
years of age, when he
left the farm and learned
the trade of blacksmithing and general carriage
ironwork. He followed the business of country-
smithing several years, manufactured carriages and
wagons in company with L. M. Dean, in 1840 and
1S41, and for a short time afterwards alone. He
■changed his business later to that of carriage spring
making, which he carried on until 1S66 when he re-
turned to farming, in which occupation he has since
been engaged. His early education was such as
the common schools of his native town afforded,
and his entire life has for the most part been spent
in North Woodstock. Mr. Morse is at present liv-
ing with his third wife, who before her marriage
was Miss Lucia A. Bass; his first wife, Pamelia
Lyon, and his second, Jane Carey, both being de-
ceased. There are three children living, Sidney
Nelson, who graduated at Yale L^niversity in the
class of 1S90, Anna Clift, and Henry Waldo. He is
a republican in pohtics, and has held the offices of
justice of the peace, selectman, county commis-
sioner, and representative in the state legislature.
In religious matters Mr. Morse is a Congregation-
alist, and a member of the Third Ecclesiastical
society of North Woodstock.
NELSON MORSE.
L. J. NICKERSON, Coknw.m.i.: Attorney-at-Law.
Leonard J. Nickerson was born at Cornwall, Oc-
tober 23, 1S57. After leaving the Alger Institute,
in Cornwall, where he acquired his education, he
taught school for several
years and studied 1 a w
with Hon. A. D. Warner,
t ii e n of Cornwall. He
was admitted to the bar
April 22, 1879, a few
months after becoming
twenty-one years of age.
He entered at once into
the, practice of his profes-
sion in Cornwall, and was
admitted to practice in the
United States courts in
April, 1S82. From that
time on he has devf)ted
his time almost exclusively to his legal business
]\Ir. Nickerson is a republican, and as such has
been called to fill various public offices. He repre-
sented Cornwall in the state legislature in 1SS3, and
drafted the temperance law which was passed by the
general assembly of that year. He was secretary
of the Cornwall board of education for nine years,
and has held other positions of public trust.
L. J. NICKERSON.
COMFORT S. BURLINGAME, C.vntkriurv :
Agent Brooklyn Creamery.
Comfort Starr Burlingame has been a member of
the general assembly through three sessions, his
first term occurring in 1879. He was returned for
the consecutive sessions
of 18S7 and 1889. His
colleagues from Windham
county in 1879 were ex-
Speaker E. H. Bugbee of
KiUingly, Clark E. Bar-
rows of Eastford, at pres-
ent deputy United vStates
marshal for eastern Con-
necticut, Randolph H.
Chandler of Thompson,
Charles P. Grosvenor of
Pomfret, William C. Jill-
son and John L. Hunter
of Windham, and Colonel
Wm. I']. Hyde of Killingly, who served as aid-de-
camp on the staff of Gov. Henry B. Harri.son.
Windham county has not often been represented
by a finer group of men. Mr. Burlingame was ap-
^»<F«i A \ '
C. S. lURI.INi;.\ME.
206
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
pointed on the committee on manufactures, at the
head of which was Congressman Frederick Miles,
then a state senator from Litchfield county. His
services have been of a valuable character in the
legislature. In politics he is a democrat. He has
for fourteen years been school visitor in his
town, and is connected with the Unitarian
church. He is the agent of the Brooklyn Cream-
ery and a director of the Windham County Na-
tional Bank and Insurance Company. He is also
associated with the Grange. He was born at Canter-
bury, Jan. 5, 1S53, and received a common school
education. Formerly he was engaged in teaching.
Most of his hfe has been spent in Canterbury. He
is unmarried.
G. R. WARNER.
REV. GEORGE RUS&ELL WARNER, Hart-
ford : Rector St. Thomas Episcopal Church.
The subject of this sketch was born at Ellington,
Conn., March 22, 1838, and is a son of Dan War-
ner and Mary E. (Chaffee) Warner. He was
reared on his father's
farm, a portion of which
had been in the Warner
family for two genera-
tions.
His great-grandfather
on his mother's side was a
soldier in the war of the
American Revolution; he
enlisted in Colonel Meigs'
regiment, and took part
in the capture of Stony
Point, where he was
wounded. His grand-
father was in the United
States service in the Florida war. Like all farmer
boys of his time, Mr. Warner received his primary
education in the district school, and at the age of
seventeen entered the Ellington High School, which
for many years was celebrated as a college prepara-
tory. Later on he began teaching in his native
town, continuing his studies with the view of enter-
ing college. In 1858, he married Miss Sarah M.
Hyde, and, as the fruit of that union, there are
living three sons and three daughters. In 1862, he
enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Connecticut
Volunteers, serving the full time of the regiment,
and was regularly mustered out in August, 1863.
Returning to his native town, he resumed teaching,
and finally took charge of the ElUngton High
School, where he remained until 1S71, when he was
called to the charge of the CoUinsville High School
at CoUinsville, Conn., and, after nearly three years
service, severed his connection to accept an appoint-
ment from the American Missionary Association,
as an instructor in Tougaloo University, in the state
of Mississippi. In 1S75, he was ordained a Congre-
gational minister, occasionally supplying the pulpit
in his native town and elsewhere. The same ye ar
he was elected principal of the graded and high
school at West Stratford (now East Bridgeport),
and continued in charge six ^-ears. While located
at West Stratford, he entered the Protestant Epis-
copal church, and, in addition to his duties as
teacher, became assistant to Rev. N. S. Richard-
son, D.D., rector of St. Paul's Church at Bridge-
port. In iSSo he was ordained deacon, and in
October, 1S81, was called to vSt. Peter's parish in
the town of Monroe, Conn., and there ordained
priest in 1SS2. After nearly three years service he
was called to the charge of St. Albans' church at
Danielsonville, Conn. After five years of remark-
ably successful work, by which St. Albans' was
greatly strengthened and built up, he was elected
rector of St. Thomas' parish, Hartford, Conn.,
where he now resides. His ministrations have
been abundantly successful here. During the first
two years of his rectorship, one hundred and twelve
members were added to the church, of whom eighty
were confirmed, and thirty-two were received by
letters of transfer.
During his ministerial life he has been actively
identified with the cause of education. Before leav-
ing his native town he served three years as chair-
man of the school board, and school visitor, and
while rector in Danielsonville he was elected chair-
man of the board of education, and served as
special visitor of the high school.
Being of a social and generous nature, he natur-
ally has sought and found companionship within
the lines of the Masfinic brotherhood, where
he has won the friendshi^J and confidence of
the craft wherever he is known. He was made
a Mason in Faj-ette Lodge, No. 69, at Rock-
ville soon after his return from the war, and
while located at Danielsonville transferred his
membership to ]\Ioriah Lodge, No. 15, and since
has affiliated with St. John's Lodge, No. 4, at
Hartford. He also became a member of Warren
Chapter, No. 12, and ^Montgomery Council, No. 2,
at Danielsonville, and in these bodies held some of
the most important offices. He has also served
several terms as grand chaplain of the Grand Lodge
of Connecticut. March 27, 1S91, he was knighted
in Washington Commandery, No. i. Knights Tem-
plar at Hartford. These fraternities he holds in
high esteem, for here he has found much to assist
in strengthening the better elements of his nature
and stimulating the mind to more active service in
the cause of humanity and in the service of the
Divine Master. There are richly blended in Mr.
Warner's composition the elements of a character
that fit him for successful labor in his profession,
possessing, as he does, abundant zeal and tact, a
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT,
207
kind, ijenial, and compassionate spirit, with ear-
nestness in causes that he may espouse, that inspires
confidence and reaches the great heart of humanity.
In fact he /nu-s among men, striving by his teach-
ing and example to lift humanity to a higher and
better sphere, depending,
".Xot by the helplessness of men —
Hut by the strens-th that God supplies,
And sends in mercy from the skies."
ilr. ^\'urner is also a member of Charter Oak
Lodge, No. 2. I. O. O. F., Robert O. Tyler Post,
No. 50, G. A. R., the Army and Navy Club of
Connecticut, and the Connecticut Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution.
J. K. w.
M. ],AMiERS.
GEORCxE M. LANDERS, New Bkiiain,: Vice-
President " Landers, Frary & Clark."
George M. Landers, .son of Capt. Marcellus Lan-
ders, and grandson of Capt. Asahel Landers (the
latter having served for two years in the Revolution-
ary war, and having been
with Gen. Wayne at the
capture of Stonj- Point),
was born at Lenox, Mass. ,
February 22, 1S13.
In Camp's History of
New Britain we find the
following sketch : "In
1S20 he came to Hartford
with his father, who for
several years was a teach-
er in that city. He r e -
mained in Hartford until
his father's death in 1S24,
when he returned to Len-
ox to live with his grandfather. He came to New
Britain at sixteen years of age and learned the car-
penter's trade, but speedily engaged in manufac-
turing, and in due time incorporated his business,
which corporation now exists under the style of
Landers, Frary & Clark, of which he was president
until he retired from active bu.siness in 1870. He
is still a director and the vice-president of this com-
pany, and a director and the president of the New
Britain Gas Company. He was for many years a
director of the New Britain National Bank, resign-
ing to accept his appointment as bank commis-
sioner. He was one of the incorporators of the
New Britain Bank, of the gas company, the New-
Britain and Middletown Railroad, and the New
Britain Institute, all of which received special char-
ters from the general assembh-. He has for many
years been a director in the New York & New Eng-
land Railroad Company. He has been identified
with most of the important measures of progress in
the town and citv of New Britain since their incor-
poration. He was one of the water commissioners
when water was introduced into the borough, and
was one of the original members of the board of
sewer commissioners, remaining in office until the
principal trunk sewers were constructed. He
served for several years on the school committee.
He has several times been elected to the general
assembly as a democrat, being a member of the
house of representatives in 1S51, 1S67, and 1S74,
and of the senate in 1S53, 1S69, and 1S73. At this
time Hartford, West Hartford, Wethersfield, Rocky
Hill, Berlin, New Britain, and Southington were
included in the first senatorial district. Mr. Lan-
ders was chairman of the committee that changed
the original plans for the state capitol to those of
the present building. He was elected to congress
in 1S74, and again in 1S76, being a member of the
forty-fourth and forty-fifth congresses. He has
twice been appointed state bank commissioner, was
chairman of the committee having charge of the
erection of the normal school building, and has
been called to other offices, in all of which he has
done much to advance the interests of New Britain
and of the state."
ALBERT H. BOND, Hartford: Life Insurance.
A. H. Bond, who for more than a score of years
has represented the Massachusetts Mutual Life In-
surance Company of Springfield, as its Connecticut
general agent, was born in
Wilmington, ]\Iass., Oct.
14, 1S34. At the age of
nine his father's fam-
ily moved to Colchester in
this state, and three years
later to .Springfield, at
which t w o last-named
places, and at Andover,
Mass., his education was
acquired. Returning to
Wilmington he was en-
gaged for a number of
years with his father in the
wholesale cracker busi-
ness; and in 1S65 he entered life insurance, which has
since engi-ossed his attention. He spent three years
in Springfield in life insurance, representing a New
York company, and in 1S6S settled in Hartford,
where he established an office and has maintained
the general agency since to the present time. In
1S64 he was married to Miss Mary A. Walker of
Wakefield, Mass. They have one daughter. Miss
]Marion Walker Bond, a graduate of the Hartford
public high .school in the class of '85.
Mr. Bond is an ardent republican, having been
a member of that party since its formation. Though
positi\e in his convictions and earnest in his sup-
A. H. BOND.
208
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
port of the principles and candidates of his party,
he has declined to accept political office of any kind,
giving his entire attention to business and the ordi-
nary duties of private life. He is an attendant at
the Park church.
COL. WILLIAM C. SKINNER, Hartford: Aid-
de-Camp on staff of Gov. Morgan G. Bulkelej',
1SS9-90.
William C. Skinner was born in Malone, N. Y.,
January 26, 1855. He has resided in Hartford since
1S72. in which year he entered Trinity College,
graduating in 1876. The
two winters following he
attended lectures at the
Albany Law School. In
1879 he became a mem-
ber of the extensive wool
firm of Dwight, Skin-
ner & Co., Hartford,
which connection he still
retains. He is a very
popular and able busi-
ness man. Colonel Skin-
ner is a director in sev-
eral of the life and lire
W. C. SKINNER.
msurance companies,
financial institutions, and minor corporations of
Hartford. His wife, a lady of many accomplish-
ments, is the daughter of Mr. Ebenezer Roberts,
one of Hartford's most esteemed citizens.
Among the young business men of the capital
city there is none who gives promise of a more
useful or brilliant career than the subject of this
sketch.
BYRON LOOMIS, Suffield:
Mr. Loomis was born in Suffield, May 2. 183 1, in
which town his entire life has been spent. His
early mental training was received in the public
schools, from which he
passed to the Connecticut
Literary Institute of Suf-
field, where his education
was completed. At the
age of twenty-three he
married Miss Elizabeth
B. Cowles, daughter of
the late Stephen Cowles,
Esq., of Suffield, who
has borne him four chil-
dren, of whom three still
survive — one son and
two daughters. Mr. Loo-
mis has been president of
the First National Bank of Suffield, sustaining that
relation for several years; he was also president of
the Suffield Savings Bank for a similar period. He
was chosen a director of the Hartford & Connecti-
cut Western Railroad Company at the first meeting
of the stockholders of the corporation, continuing
such until the re-organization of the company in
1878. He is a member of the Suffield Congrega-
tional church, of which he was treasurer and socie-
ty's committee for some years. Among the local
offices which he has held the most important are
those of selectman and town treasurer. He has led
a life of great activity and usefulness, and has been
connected with various enterprises which have
called for the exercise of mature judgment and ex-
ecutive sagacity. As member of various building
committees he has aided in the planning and erec-
tion of many of the public edifices of Suffield, and
has thus aided by word and work in beautifying
and practically benefiting his native town. Mr.
Loomis is held in high esteem by his fellow-towns-
men as an upright and honorable gentleman and a
useful citizen.
KVRON LOOMIS.
HON. MORRIS WOODRUFF SEYMOUR,
Bridgeport: Attorney-at-Law.
Morris W. Seymour, son of the late Hon. Origen
S. Seymour of Litchfield, was born in that town, Oc-
tober 6, 1842. Graduating from Yale College in the
class of 1866, he acquired
a thorough legal educa-
tion at the Columbia Law
School of New York, and
be^^an the practice of the
legal profession at Bridge-
port in the fall of 1868, in
which city he has since
resided. In 1S70 he was
elected assistant judge of
the Bridgeport city court,
and was also appointed
that year on the staff of
Governor James E. Eng-
lish, with the rank of
colonel. The following year he was chosen city
clerk of Bridgeport, and in 1872 and 1873 held the
offices of city attorney and corporation counsel.
He was appointed a L^nited States commissioner in
1 87 1, and held the position until his resignation in
[880, to accept the office of state senator, to which
he was chosen in the fall election of that year. He
served with distinguished credit in the upper house
through the sessions of 1881 and 1882, being chair-
man of two important joint committees, and a mem-
ber of the senate committee on contested elections.
In every public position to which Mr. Seymour has
been called to serve his city or the state he has dis-
charged its duties with marked ability and a con-
scientious regard for the interests of his constituents
and the commonwealth.
In his legal practice Mr. Seymour is in partner-
M. W. SEYMOUR.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
209
ship with Howard H. Kna]:)p, under the firm name
of Seymour li- Knapp, takinj;- rank among the lead-
ing- law firms of Bridgeport. Personally he has a
great love for his profession, in which he has
always been an earnest and persistent worker. He
is the author of the present method of pardoning
and commuting the sentence of prisoners in this
state, — a system that has been commended as the
best in the country by people who have investigated
the subject, and which has in substance been copied
by other states. His practice is such that he is quite
actively engaged in the United States courts, in
patent and admiralty causes; and such time as he
can command from the business activities of his
profession is fuUy occupied in those diversions
which attend his position as a law lecturer at Yale
University, a director in the Connecticut Industrial
School for Girls, and in the exacting duties of do-
mestic and social life.
^Ir. Seymour is a gentleman of many pleasing
accomplishments, an able and honorable lawyer,
and a patriotic citizen. As such he possesses the
esteem of a large circle of associates and personal
friends.
DeWITT C. BRADLEY, Weston: Manufac-
turer of Edge Tools.
Representative DeWitt C. Bradley, who was
elected to the general assembly for the third con-
secutive term by the republicans of Weston, in
November, 1S90, is en-
gaged in the manufactur-
ing business, being con-
nected with the firm of
G. W. Bradlej-'s Sons.
This company has an
established reputation for
edge tools, and carries on
a prosperous and exten-
sive business. The sub-
ject of this sketch was
born in AYeston, Dec. 26,
1846, and received a com-
mon school and academic
education. He spent two
3'ears in the regular army.
ley is a member of Temple Lodge, No. 65, F. and
A, M., of Westport, Clinton Commandery, No. 3,
Knights Templar, and Washington Chapter, No. 24,
R. A. M., of Norwalk. His wife was Miss Emma J.
Sherwood prior to marriage. There are no children in
the family. Mr. Bradley has added extensively to
his circle of friends and acquaintances during the
three sessions in which he has been in the legisla-
ture. He was first elected in 1SS6, making his first
appearance as a member in the capitol in 1SS7.
His three terms have been marked with able and
conscientious service as a legislator.
14
D. W. C. liRADLEY.
Representative Brad-
CHARLES O. WARREN, Eastford: Town Clerk
and Treasurer.
Charles Orville Warren was born in A'ernon, July
7, 1 85 1, and was educated in the common schools,
and the Franklin academy at Somerville, Mass. In
1S85 he was a member ui
the hfjuse of representa-
tives from Eastford, serv-
ing on the republican side
during the session. For
the past three years he has
been the secretary and
treasurer of the Eastford
creamery coqooration, and
chairman for eight years
of the republican town
committee. As a business
and public man he is
highly esteemed in the
community where he re-
sides. He is a member of
of South Woodstock, and has been advanced in the
order to the Royal Arch degrees. Mr. Warren is
an attendant of the Congregational church. His
wife, who is still living, was iliss Mary Lyon Sum-
ner, daughter of Increase I. Sumner of Illinois.
There are two children — William Sumner and S.
Florence Warren.
C. O. WARREN.
Putnam Lodge, No. 46
JAMES HENRY BEARD, Shelton.
J. H. Beard was born in that portion of the town
of Huntington known as the Long Hill District,
January 16, 1839. He received a common school
and academic education,
being chiefly engaged
during his minority upon
his father's farm. Since
becoming of age most of
his time has been spent in
manufacturing and mer-
cantile pursuits in his na-
tive town, where he has
always resided. He has
dealt quite largely in real
estate, has been engaged
in the manufacture of
fancy wood brackets, and
during 186S he erected
and occupied as a grocery the first store in the
village of Shelton. He has been honored by his
native town with most of the positions of
pubHc trust within their power to bestow, having
served them as constable, selectman, member
of the board of relief, registrar of electors, town
agent, justice of the peace, and town auditor,
covering a period of about a quarter of a century.
He represented the town in the general assembly in
J. H. HEARD.
210
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
1883, and is now a burgess of the Borough of Shel-
ton. His religious connections are with the Con-
gregational church of Birmingham, and his political
affiliations are with the democratic party. He was
married, October 6, 186S, to Miss Emily EHzabeth
Hurd of Monroe, who died January 28, 1888, leav-
ing one child, a daughter, Helen Willard Beard.
He was married to his present wife. Miss Margaret
Elizabeth Blue, of the city of Defiance, Ohio,
September 9, 1889.
-->.
E. SCANI.AN.
JOHN E. SCANLAN, Hartford: Editor "The
Connecticut Catholic," and Lawyer.
Probably no young man in the state, during the
past few years, has been more active and influen-
tial in the democratic party than John E. Scanlan
of Hartford. He is famil-
iar with the best methods
of honest political work,
is acquainted with the
leading men of both of
the great political par-
ties, and enjoys the re-
spect and confidence of
them all.
Mr. Scanlan was repre-
sentative from Hartford
in the legislatures of 1886
and 1887 — the last of the
annual sessions and the
first of the biennial terms.
Both years he was on the important committee of
incorporations, and also chairman respectively of
forfeited rights and woman suffrage. He was
prominent in forwarding reformatory legislation,
and in advocating the rights of the workingman.
The high esteem in which he was held by his col-
leagues was manifested on many occasions. Every
report made by him each year was adopted by the
republican majority. The young legislator was
elected county auditor by the Hartford county sen-
ators and representatives, and the legislature also
elected him state auditor each year. He thus served
the county four terms and the state three years,
owing to the recent change in the constitution of
the state. He was appointed clerk during the or-
ganization of the house of '86. He has been grand
juror and justice of the peace several years, and a
member of the board of school visitors since No-
vember, 1886.
The subject of this sketch was born of Irish par-
ents, in Simsbury, Hartford county, this state. May
22, 1858, during a mixttn-e of weather of hail, rain,
and snow. He was educated in the district school
there; in St. Peter's parochial school, Hartford; St.
Charles College, EUicott City, Md. ; and Niagara
University, Suspension Bridge, N. Y., from which
last-named institution he graduated in 1877. He
has lived in Hartford since 1869, when his parents
moved there. Immediately after graduation he
began to study law in the office of Hyde & Joslyn,
and was admitted to the Hartford county bar three
years later. After practicing his profession for a
time, he became connected with his brother, M. P.,
in the publication of TJic Conjicctictct Catholic,
and has been editor of that able and influential pa-
per since November, 1882.
In society affairs Mr. Scanlan has been promi-
nent. He was grand knight of Green Cross Coun-
cil, Knights of Columbus, two years, and has been a
member of the board of government of the order, and
attended all the conventions for the past six years.
He was president of the 2d division, Ancient Order
of Hibernians, two terms, and has been county del-
egate since May, 1888. He was a delegate to the
national convention of this order, held in Hartford
in May, 1890, and was chairman of the local gen-
eral committees of arrangement and entertainment.
He was a delegate from the Connecticut Weekly
Press Association to the National Editorial Associ-
ation conventions in Boston, June 24-27, 1890, and
in St. Paul, July 14-17, 1S91. He is a member of
the Catholic Press Association of the United States.
He was one of the three delegates, appointed by
Bishop McMahon, who represented this state in the
first Catholic congress of America, held in Balti-
more, November 11 and 12, 1SS9. Mr. Scanlan is
intensely American, and believes the government
of the United States is the best in existence. He is
glad to feel that our system of popular government
is a beacon-light of freedom and liberty to all the
nations of the world.
HON. EDWARD BUTLER DUNBAR, Bristol:
State Senator; Manufacturer.
Edward B. Dunbar was born in Bristol, Novem-
ber I, 1S42. He received a common school educa-
tion at home, and finished his studies at Williston
Seminary, East Hamp-
^'^Sl^^ ton, Mass., on the com-
pletion of which, in the
spring of i860, he went
to New York cit}-, and
engaged in the manufac-
ture of hoop skirts. After
remaining there five years
he returned to his native
place, where he has since
been engaged in the man-
ufacture of clock springs
and small springs, under
the firm name of Dunbar
Brothers. Mr. Dunbar
early took great interest in politics, and has been
an active worker in the democratic party since he
became a voter. He has been grand juror, and is
E. B. DUNBAR.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
211
now, as he has been continuously, for the last
eighteen years, registrar of voters; has been on
democratic town committee for the past twenty
years, and chairman for the last six years. He is
chairman of the board of fire commissioners, a
position he has held for the last eight years,
always taking great interest in the fire department
and its efficiency. He is chairman of the High
School committee, and has been since the institu-
tion was first established; and is a member of the
third school district committee. He has always
been a strong friend of educational interests, as his
course in town meetings and his speeches in public
meetings will testify. He has been a director in
the Bristol National Bank since it was established
in 1875; is at present a director in the Bristol Sav-
ings Bank; is vice-president of the Bristol board of
trade; and was president of the Young Men's Chris-
tian Association four years, ending in October,
1890. Mr. Dunbar's legislative experience consists
of two terms as member of the house, and two
terms in the senate; having been first elected to
the house in i86g, and again in 1881; and to the
senate in 18S4, and re-elected in 1886; on both of
these occasions running more than one hundred
ahead of the state ticket, in his own town. In
fact, he has never yet been defeated when placed
before the people for their suffrages. His legisla-
tive record gave great satisfaction to his constitu-
ents. Possessed of warm sympathy for working
men, he looked well to their interests. He was one
of the most earnest advocates of the weekly pay-
ment law, and inaugurated the system in his own
factor}' before the law was passed. In 1890 his
name was mentioned with others as a possible can-
didate for congressional honors, but he peremptori-
ly refused its use by his friends, as his private
business requires all his time. Mr. Dunbar is a
member of the Congregational church of Bristol,
and has been chairman of the society's committee
at different times; is also a member of the Bristol
Club, a social organization.
Mr. Dunbar was married in 1875 to Alice, daugh-
ter of Mr. Watson Giddings, carriage maker, of
Bristol. They have one daughter. Marguerite,
eleven years old; and one son, Edward Giddings,
two years old. His father, the late Edward L.
Dunbar, was in former years a prominent manu-
facturer of Bristol, and was elected representative
in 1862. He established the business now carried
on by the subject of this sketch and an older
brother, Winthrop W. Dunbar. A younger
brother, William A. Dunbar, represented the town
in the legislature in 1879; he retired from the firm
of Dunbar Brothers, April i, 1890. Mr. Dunbar
and his family are living in the house built half a
century ago, and occupied for a time by the late
Chauncy Jerome, the famous clock-maker. Three
W. K. RLDD.
years ago he had it remodeled, inside and out; and
one of the pleasant spots in it is the library, in
which are some eight hundred volumes of books
which he has been collecting since his school days,
and where he welcomes his friends.
WILLIAM B. RUDD, L.akeville (S.\lishurv) :
Secretary and Treasurer Holley Manufacturing
Company.
General Rudd is one of the best-known business
men in Litchfield county. He was born in Fredo-
nia, N. Y., August 17, 1S38. His paternal grand-
father was Major Nathan-
iel Rudd of Vergennes,
Vt. ; his grandmother a
sister of Judge Hopkins
of Hopkinton, N. Y., for
many years prominent in
the politics of the states
of New York and V e r-
mont. His father. Rev.
George R. Rudd, was ed-
ucated at Hamilton C0I-'
lege, was graduated in
the class of 1S23, prepared
for the ministry at the
Auburn Theological Sem-
inary, was ordained and installed by the presbytery
of Cayuga over the Presbyterian church of Scipio,
in January, 1S27; in October of the same year mar-
ried Miss Frances Beardslee of Aiiburn, a lady of
far more than ordinarj' literary and social attrac-
tions. Rev. Mr. Rudd was a close student, a man
of fine intellect, cultivation, and refinement. His
son, William B., removed to Lyons, N. Y., with his
parents, sister and brothers, in 1S50. He received
a common school education until sixteen, when he
began his business life, first with his brother, Ed-
ward P. Rudd, of the firm of Rudd & Carleton,
book publishers, New York city, later continuing in
the same business in Lyons, N. Y., acting also for
several years as agent for the American Express
Company. He entered the army in the fall of 1861,
in the Ninety-eighth N. Y. regiment, serving in the
Peninsula campaign ; in the spring of 1865 was ap-
pointed adjutant of the 107th regiment, National
Guard, state of New York; was manned in June,
1S65, to Maria C. Holley, daughter of ex-Gov. A.
H. Holley of Lakeville, Conn., and became con-
nected with the "Holley Manufacturing Co." of
Lakeville, on removing to that place in the spring
of 1866; from the first has been its secretary, still
holding that position, as well as treasurer and gen-
eral manager, and is one of the directors and larg-
est stockholders. He has been a republican since
the formation of the party (his first Presidential
vote being cast for Abraham Lincoln), and more or
2[2
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
less connected with and interested in politics for
many years; was a member of the state central
committee for ten years; a district delegate to the
Cincinnati convention in 1876, and a member of the
Chicago convention in iSSS. He was on Governor
Bigelow's staff in 1S81-S2, as aid-de-camp, with the
rank of colonel; and was appointed by Governor
Bulkeley, in 1S89, to the office of quartermaster-
general of the state, holding the position more than
the full term of two years, by reason of a disagree-
ment in the matter of a successor to Governor Bulk-
eley at the end of his official term. He is treasurer
of Hematite Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, at Lake-
ville, and has been a member of the Masonic fra-
ternity since 1S64. He is also a member and past
commander of Orren H. Knight Post, G. A. R.,
of Lakeville.
General Rudd has four children. His only daugh-
ter, Fanny, is now Mrs. Martin Cantine, her hus-
band being a paper manufacturer of Saugerties,
N. Y. Alexander Holley Rudd. the oldest son,
married Miss Oliver of Brooklyn, N. Y., and is con-
nected with the Pennsylvania Railroad, with head-
quarters in Philadelphia, his residence being Media,
Pa. ; they have a son, nearly two years old, at present
the only grandchild of General Rudd. The second
son, Malcolm Day Rudd, fourteen years of age, is
now engaged on a genealogical history of the Rudd
famil^^ He has a great love for such researches,
as well as for antiques and relics. His room shows
a goodly number and variety of curiosities of
his own collecting. The General's youngest son,
Charles Edward Rudd, is a bov of ten.
CAPT. RUSSELL FROST, South Norwalk :
Lawyer.
Russell Frost is a New Yorker by birth, his na-
tive place being Delhi, the county seat of Delaware
county. He is of English descent and Connecticut
stock on both sides. His
mother's maiden name
was Mary Griswold, and
she was connected with
the Connecticut Gris-
wolds, of whom Matthew
and Roger were among
the earlier governors of
this state. He is a great-
great-grandson of Gen-
eral John IMead of Horse-
neck, now Greenwich,
who was colonel of the
Ninth Connecticut Infan-
try and general in com-
mand of the Third Connecticut Brigade in the Revo-
lutionary war, serving under General Washington
in the Connecticut and New York campaigns, and
RUSSELL FROST.
being a personal friend and military comrade of
General Israel Putnam. His paternal ancestors
came to Connecticut about 1650, his great grand-
father, John Frost, moving to Vermont after the
war of the Revolution, and his grandfather, Russell
Frost, settling in New York in 1800.
At the age of fifteen. Captain Frost was a stu-
dent at the Delaware Academy in Delhi, fitting to
enter college. He was induced by the president of
the Delaware National Bank of that place to enter
the employ of the bank, where he remained three
years, being bookkeeper, teller, and acting-cashier.
He then spent a year in his father's employ in the
hardware business, but during this year his college
hopes and ambitions, which had been slumbering,
again asserted themselves, and so strongly that he
gave up business and resumed his preparatory
studies. At the academy again, and also under
the instructions of private tutors, he fitted for col-
lege. He entered Yale in 1S73, and graduated
among the honor men of his class in 1877. Choos-
ing the law for his profession, he was assistant to
the district attorney for Delaware county at Delhi
for two years, and conducted a prosperous private
practice at that place for three years. He was
then offered a position under the United States
government to investigate and aid LTnited States
district attorneys in the prosecution of criminal
offenses against the pension laws, forgery, perjury,
false personation, and other frauds. His head-
quarters were for most of the time at Cincinnati,
Ohio, although his work took him, at times, through
Kentuckjs Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and Mis-
souri, where he investigated the conduct of many
prominent physicians, lawyers, ex-army officers,
some of very high rank, as well as public officers,
whose connection with pension cases had been sus-
picious or criminal. He was instrumental in put-
ting behind prison bars a number of men who had
been distinguished in their respective states, be-
sides several notorious criminals, and many others
of less prominence.
After serving in this capacity for three years.
Captain Frost resigned his position to resume the
private practice of his profession. He chose South
Norwalk as a promising field, opening an office
there in 18S5. He made no mistake in his choice,
for his business has been active and prosperous,
entirely absorbing his time and attention. Soon
after going to South Norwalk, he was elected cap-
tain of Company D of the Fourth Regiment, Con-
necticut National Guard. He had seen no previous
military service, l3ut he took up the study of tactics
and regulations with energy, and became an effi-
cient commandant and good disciplinarian. He
raised the military standard of his command to
such a degree that for three successive years it has
stood at the head of the Fourth Regiment in figure
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
213
of merit for drills and service. He is a republican
in politics, strong in his convictions, but public
office never had for him as strong allurements as
his profession offered, and, while often i:rged, he
has always refused to be a candidate for office,
although active in the interest of others. Captain
Frost is a Free INIason, and a member of the Delta
Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, which he joined at Yale.
He is also a member oi the University Club of the
city of New York, and of the Connecticut Society
of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is
^•^ce-president of the First National Bank of South
Norwalk, and is connected with the Congregational
church of that place. As a speaker on special
literary and patriotic occasions he has been in
much demand.
T. A. LAKE.
THOMAS A. LAKE, Rockviuk: Secretary and
Treasurer Hartford Lumber Company.
Thomas A. Lake is a native of Woodstock in this
state, where he was born June 3, 1S4S. His early
years were spent in acquiring the rudiments of an
education in the district
schools of his native town.
When the war of the re-
bellion broke out his
patriotic ardor overcame
his educational inclina-
tions, and at the age of
fourteen he ran away
from home and joined the
Eighteenth Connecticut
regiment in Baltimore, on
its way to the front, in
the capacity of waiter for
the company officers of
company G. He remained
with the regiment through its trying experiences up
to the time of the battle of Winchester, Va. , in
June, 1S63, when he was captured with others by
the Confederate forces June 15. During the excite-
ment after the surrender he made his escape into
the swamp just beyond the lines, and six days
later, after a wearisome and hazardous tramp, came
out at a point over the Pennsylvania border. He
received from Major Matthewson a certificate stat-
ing that he was not an enlisted man, and com-
menced his homeward journey without means for
obtaining transportation. He was put off the trains,
which he boarded as a deadhead, at nearly every
station between Harrisburg, Pa., and Putnam,
Conn., the latter place being his objective point by
railnuid and but a few miles from his home. After
the regiment was " exchanged," the same autumn,
he returned to it and formally enlisted, and served
until the close of the war. As soon as possible
thereafter he engaged in business and continued
with varying fortunes in Woonsocket, R. I., Worces-
ter, Mass., and for a time in Stromsburg, Neb. He
married in Woodstock, Miss Martha A. Cocking,
by whom he has three children. During his resi-
dence in Woodstock he represented that town for a
single term in the legislature in 1S85. He removed
to Rockville in 1SS7, and at various times has held
the positions of state auditor, member of the state
board of agriculture, and secretary of the Tolland
County Agricultural Society, the last two of which
positions he still holds. His business is that of a
lumber merchant, being secretary and treasurer of
the Hartford Lumber Company of Hartford, and
proprietor of the Lumber Yard at Rockville. His
neglect to avail himself in his youth of the facilities
offered for acquiring a liberal education has led
him to provide carefully for the thorough education
of his children. His son is in Harvard College, the
elder daughter is at Wellesley College and the
younger is about to enter Mount Holyoke semi-
nary. Mr. Lake is in the pnme of life, a thor-
oughly energetic man, and devoting earnest atten-
tion to his business, in which he has accomplished
most satisfactory results. It is his intention to
associate his son with him in it as soon as the young
man shall graduate from college.
P. H. WOODWARD, Hartford.
P. Henry Woodward, eldest son of Ashbel Wood-
ward, M.D., and Emeline (Bicknell) Woodward,
was born in Franklin, Conn., March 19, 1833. His
father, a distinguished
physician, was perhaps
even better known as an
antiquarian and genealo-
gist in matters pertaining
to New England. The
son inherited thoughtful
and studious habits from
a long line of cleijical an-
cestors; a sturdy integ-
rity from Puritan stock on
both sides; and a natural
cheerfulness of disposi-
tion, which has been of
unusiial service to him in
his years of dealing with his fellow-men. Begin-
ning as do most youths of New England whose
parents have the pecuniary ability, he graduated
from Yale College in 1S55, and afterward studied
law at Harvard. Although he never engaged in
active practice, his legal training sharpened and
polished a mind naturally subtle and acute, and
probably did much to fit him for those peculiar
duties which in later life devolved upon him.
Mr. Woodward's tastes are literary and schol-
arly, and the field of joiirnalism was one espe-
cially congenial. From 1S62 to 1S65 he was the
editor of the Ha7-tford Courani, remaining in
p. H. WOODWARD.
214
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
that position till the end of the war. At that time
nothing in the disorganized south stood more in
need of reconstruction than the post-office service;
and, during Johnson's administration, Mr. Wood-
ward, as special agent of the post-office depart-
ment, bent all his faculties to the reorganiza-
tion of that most important branch. He estab-
lished, on suitable lines, railway post-offices for the
distribution of through mails; and, at the end of
four years, the South had a far more complete and
perfect mail service than ever before. He was
then employed for several }-ears largeh- in impor-
ant cases where it was the object of the govern-
ment to discover, not to suppress or ignore, facts.
In 1S73 he was called from the south to New York
city to conduct the investigations which led in the
post-office to the overthrow of the old regime, and
the incoming of Thomas L. James, afterward post-
master-general. In 1S74 he was made chief of the
corps of post-office inspectors, which he at once re-
oi'ganized on a plan that has never since been
materially modified, and which he raised by sift-
ings and promotions for merit, to such a state of
efficiency that other departments of the govern-
ment repeatedly called upon him for aid in import-
ant cases. Relieved from service in the closing
days of Grant's second administration, at the time
Bristow and Jewell left the cabinet, one of the
early acts of the Garfield administration was by
telegraph to invite him to return to conduct the
investigation of the Star Route robberies. The
puljlic have not forgotten the gigantic scale on
which those frauds were planned and executed, or
the overwhelming evidence of the guilt of cer-
tain officials and contractors. It was due to Mr.
Woodward's trained mind, and his capacity for
managing his subordinates, that these villainies
were unearthed. He had charge of collecting and
arranging the evidence, and, in Jiis testimony be-
fore the congressional investigating committee,
Attorney-General Brewster, the prosecuting attor-
ney for the government, declared in the most em-
phatic way, that it would have been impossible to
properly prepare the cases without the invaluable
aid of Mr. Woodward. The words of Mr. Brewster,
as given on page SS5 of the printed report, will bear
quoting; " When I first went into the case," says
General Brewster, " I did not know Mr. Woodward.
He was a stranger to me. After the case went on
he was necessarily detailed and handed over to the
department of justice. He was at the elbow of Mr.
Bliss all the while, and at Mr. Merrick's elbow
whenever he was needed. I do not think there was
a fact in the case they did not acquire from him.
When I prepared the short argument I made in the
first case — the investigation and preparation in-
dicated by this file of notes I have shown you —
when I prepared that argument, I consulted a
great deal with Mr. Woodward. I had learned his
value. I think without Mr. Woodward these cases
never could have been instituted. I think he was,
to use one word, invaluable. He is a man of re-
markable intelligence; he is a man of great purity
of character; he is an educated gentleman. In all
mj- life, in an experience of over forty-six years of
legal practice, I never have met with a man who
could assist a lawyer better than Mr. Woodward.
He understood his subject thoroughly. He under-
stood all the bearings and relations of each point
he submitted, and he would instruct himself- in the
law bearing upon it, by conference with counsel.
He was the most valuable assistant I ever had, and
I believe to him mainly is owing the fine prepara-
tion that was made in these cases, the complete and
thorough preparation. The government, I think,
is in debt to Mr. Woodward for his intelligence, in-
dustry, and integrity. I have learned to admire
and respect him very much." Conviction in the
District of Columbia was impossible, but morally
the case was an overwhelming success.
With the close of the Star Route cases ended
Mr. Woodward's connection with the government.
Since that time he has resided with his family in
Hartford. His keen intellect is never weary
in exploring some fresh domain, whether of
finance, science, or literature. His antiquarian
bent has caused him to take delight in genealogical
pursuits, and he has prepared various monographs
on historical and other subjects. Some of
the experiences in the secret service of him-
self and others he embodied in a book called
"Guarding the Mails," which contains many
spirited and stirring sketches of western and
southern life. Much of his Uterary work has been
journalistic, and necessarily fugitive; but it is all
distinguished by that peculiar clarity and luminos-
ity of style which betokens definiteness of thought.
In 1 888 Mr. Woodward was elected secretary of the
Hartford board of trade, and the following year
prepared a handbook of the city, which is a model
of its kind. The duties of his position do not deter
him, as they have not deterred him for many years,
from assisting with his legal, business, and finan-
cial knowledge the many friends who are contin-
ually applying to him for advice. Such is the
reflex action on character of a life of altruism and
true beneficence, that once more is exemplified the
truth of Shakespeare's words, " It blesseth him that
gives and him that takes."
Mr. Woodward married, September 11, 1867,
Mary, daughter of Charles Smith of South Wind-
ham, Conn., one of the successful leaders in the
great industrial movement which began about 1820,
and to which Connecticut is largely indebted for her
prosperity and wealth. He has two children, a
daughter and a son.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
215
ISRAEL B. WOODWARD, Thomaston: Presi-
dent Thomaston Savinj^s Bank.
The subject of this sketch was born at Water-
town, March 12, 1814, and received a common
school and academic educati(.)n. With the excep-
tion of two years in the
west his hfe has been
spent in his native town
and at Thomaston. He
has been married twice.
There is one child living,
Mr. Woodward has held
the offices of justice of
the peace, gi-and juror,
selectman, assessor, and
member of the board of
relief, represented Thom-
aston in the legislature
in the session of 1S79,
and now holds the office
of town agent. He is a member of the Congre-
gational church, and is a republican in pohtics.
Mr. Woodward is living in retirement, having with-
drawn from active business pursuits. He was for-
merly a leather manufacturer. Years ago he was
connected with the state militia. He has been
honored with public trust in man)- wavs, and is
highh' esteemed as a citizen of the town where the
most of his life has been spent.
I. H. WOODWARD.
RICHARD JORDAN GATLING, Hartford:
President Gatling Gun Company.
R. J. Gatling, whose name is perhaps more
widety known than that of any other living Ameri-
can in connection with modern war enginery, as
the inventor of the cele-
brated revolving battery
g^n which bears his name,
was born in Hertford
county, North Carolina,
September 12, iSiS. His
father was a substantial,
industrious farmer, who
taught his children the
necessity of labor and
economy as the surest
road to fortune. He re-
ceived his primary educa-
tion at such schools as
were near his home, and
when nineteen years of age taught school for a
short time. At twenty he engaged in merchandis-
ing for several years, and during this time he in-
vented the propelling wheel now used in ocean
steamers, but was preceded bj' Ericsson a few
weeks in appHcation for a patent. In 1S44 he
R. J. GATLING.
moved to St. Louis, Mo., and having invented
a seed-sowing machine for sowing wheat and
other small grains, engaged extensively for
.some time in their manufacture and sale. He
was the first man to introduce this class of
farm implements into the northwestern states.
While engaged in this business, and during a trip
by water from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, he was
taken with small-pox and came very near dying —
the vessel on which he was making the trip being
frozen up in the ice for thirteen days, and having
no physician on board. This experience induced
him to take up the study of medicine, which he did
for several years, attending courses of lectures at
various colleges, acquiring a thorough knowledge
of the medical science, and the title of "doctor,"
although he had no intention of undertaking medi-
cal practice. In 1S49 he invented a method of
transmitting power from one locality to another,
through the medium of compressed air in pipes ;
other inventions following, previous to 1861, about
which latter date, early in the war of the rebellion,
he conceived the idea of making a machine gun
which would, to a great extent, supersede the
necessity of large armies. He made his first
revolving batterj- gun in the city of Indianajjolis,
Ind., and in the .spring of 1S62 he fired it, in its
then imperfect state, at the rate of over three
hundred shots per minute, in the presence of many
arm}' officers and citizens. In the fall of the same
year he had a battery of six of his guns made in
Cincinnati, Ohio, and later twelve more — which
were afterwards used by General Butler in repelling
rebel attacks near Richmond, Ya. In 1S65 he
made additional improvements in the weapon.
Thorough tests of it were made at the Frankfort
Arsenal in Philadelphia, and subsequently at
Washington and Fortress Monroe, which proved so
satisfactory as to induce Secretar}' Stanton and
General Dyer, chief of ordnance, to adojDt the
arm into the service ; and in 1866 an order was
given for one hundred of the guns of various
calibres. They were made at Colt's Armory
in Hartford, and delivered in 1S67. .Since
their adoption by the United States Government,
Russia, Turkey, Hungarj-, Egypt, and England
have adopted the Gatling gun, which are still made
bj' the Gatling Gun Company at the Armory Build-
ing of the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing
Company in Hartford, which city Dr. Gatling has
for many years made his home. The inventor of
this pioneer in the line of revolving battery guns has
devoted twenty-five ^-ears of his life to the continual
improvement and final perfection of his invention,
and has spent considerable time abroad testing his
gun before nearly all the crowned heads of Europe.
His name and fame as the inventor of something
absolutely unique and revolutionary in modern
2l6
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
warfare will be preserved and perpetuated in the
world's history.
Dr. Gatling was married in 1S54 to ]\Iiss Sanders,
the youngest daughter of Dr. John H. Sanders, a
prominent practitioner of medicine in Indianapolis,
Indiana. He has one daughter and two sons. He
is a member of the Hartford Club, and a republican
in politics — being president of the "Harrison
Veterans of 1840," an organization existing in
Hartford, whose membership is indicated by its
name. He is also president of the American
Association of Inventors and Manufacturers of the
United States.
MICHAEL F. SKELLY, Woodbury.
:Mr. Skelly is a native of Ireland; was born Sep-
tember 6, 1837, in the village of Carrobeg Skelly,
parish of Cashel, Longford county. Came to this
country in 1853, and to
Woodbury in 1854, where
he found a home in the
family of the late Joseph
F. Walker, and from him
learned the blacksmith
trade. After six years in
the service of Mr. Walker
he established a business
of his own , which he per-
sonally conducted in the
same locality for thirty-
one consecutive years.
He received some educa-
tion in the national school
in Ireland, and in the common school in Woodbury.
Since his residence in Woodbury he has for ten
years occupied the office of registrar of voters ; was
for three years a grand juror; is now and has been
for twelve years a justice of the peace; for the last
eight years has acted as a trial justice; for eighteen
years a member of the democratic town committee ;
is a member of the twentieth district senatorial
committee, and for several years its chairman. He
was one of the corporators of the Woodbury Sav-
ings Bank, has been one of the directors since its
organization, and is now a loan agent for the bank.
He is a member of the Catholic Total Abstinence
Union of Connecticut, and was for three years
treasurer of that organization. Is a member of the
National Catholic Total Abstinence Union of Amer-
ica, and was a delegate to the national convention
held at New Haven, August, 1885. He hates all
prevalent vices of the day, but especially the vice
of intemperance. He is a member of the board of
school visitors, and takes great interest in the edu-
cation of the youth of his adopted town. He takes
a lively, active part in all that concerns the welfare
of his town. Although Mr. Skelly has always been
a fearless and outspoken democrat, and was elected
M. F. SKELLY.
to the legislature as the candidate of that party in
1886, he has the satisfaction of knowing that his
election was aided by his fellow-citizens and neigh-
bors, regardless of party lines; and durmg his leg-
islative experience he did not forget that he was in
the house the representative of the citizens of Wood-
bury, and not of any party in the exclusive and of-
fensive sense. During the session he proved him-
self to be an energetic, faithful, and influential
member, never absent from his duties, and giving
satisfaction to his constituency of all parties. He
was a candidate for state senator in the fall of 1888,
and now occupies the position of assistant superin-
tendent of the state capitol and grounds at Hart-
ford, to which he was appointed the present year.
Mr. Skelly furnishes an excellent example of what
a boy, born abroad and coming to this country
without money or acquaintances, can do, by the
exercise of the virtues of industry, temperance, and
a laudable ambition, under the benign influence of
our free institutions. He has furnished an exam-
ple worthy of emulation by the youth of this coun-
try, and especially by those of his own nationality.
EDWARD S. WHITE, Hartford: Attorney-at-
Law.
Judge Edward S. White, of the firm of Chamber-
hn, AVhite & Mills, was born in Granby, Hamp-
shire county, Mass., March 12, 1848, and was edu-
cated at Wilbraham acad-
emy and Yale College,
graduating from the uni-
versity in the class of
1870. During the first
year after graduation he
taught in General Rus-
sell's Military School in
New Haven, being in
charge of the classical de-
partment. He studied
law with the firm of
Chamberlin & Hall in
this city, and was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1S73.
One year afterwards he was made a member of the
firm, the name being changed to Chamberlin, Hall
& White. This designation was retained until the
death of Mr. Hall, who was a leading lawyer, in
1S77, when the name of Chamberlin & White was
adopted. In 1883 a new change was effected by
the admission of Hiram R. Mills, who has since re-
mained in the firm. It is one of the ablest legal
concerns in this locality, and has an extensive
practice. Judge White has been an indefatigable
worker through life, and has won an enviable posi-
tion in this community. He has manifested genu-
ine interest in the city's educational progress, and
E. S. WHITE.
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
217
has served on the Hartford High School commit-
tee, and the district comnTittee of the Washington
district. He was also a member of the High
School building committee, serving in that capacity
with Messrs. James G. Batterson and James L.
Howard, and the Rev. Drs. George L. Walker and
E. P. Parker. In 1SS3 he was elected associate
judge of the Hartford police court, and retained
the positit)n until July, 1S89. He is the secretary
and treasurer of the Overman Wheel Company,
and its legal adviser. Judge White is a member
of the South Congregational church, and a gentle-
man of the most exemplary character. He has
been mamed twice. His first wife was Miss Alice
E. Smith of Granby, Mass., the marriage occurring
Aug. 13, 1S74. February 11, 1SS3, Mrs. White's
death took place in this city. The second marriage
was celebrated Oct. 28, 1885, the bride being Miss
S. Adelaide iMoody of Belchertown, Mass. Her
death also occurred in this city, the date being Feb.
13, 1890. There are three children by the first and
one by the second wnfe. The oldest daughter,
Miss Ruth Dickinson White, is a student at the
Hartford High School. Both of the Judge's wives
were ladies of collegiate education, being graduates
of Mount Holyoke Seminary. The first graduated
in 1869 and the second in 1S71. Both were re-
garded with the sincerest affection and esteem in
this city. As a lawyer and citizen Judge White is
an honored representative of the city.
ANDREW B. MYGATT, New Milford: Banker.
A. B. M\-gatt, son of the late Eli ^lygatt, was
born in New Milford, October 31, 1S20, and has
always resided there. He has one .son, Henry S.
Mygatt, cashier of the
First National Bank of
New Milford, and two
daughters who reside in
Bridgeport. He received
an academical education
and prepared for college,
but was unable to enter
on account of trouble with
his eyes. He engaged in
mercantile business in
1840, at the age of twenty,
and pursued it with suc-
cess until 1 85 5, when he
retired owing to ill health.
In 1878 he was chosen president of the First Na-
tional Bank of New Milford, which position he still
holds. He has always been a public-spirited and
progressive citizen, and identified with most of the
imprc^'ements and enterprises that have been
undertaken for the benefit of the town. He laid
out several new streets and built numerous houses,
li. MV(;.\TT.
and is still a large owner of real estate in New Mil-
ford.
In politics Mr. Mygatt was originally a whig,
casting his first presidential vote for Henry Clay in
1S44. Since the formation of the republican pa.ty,
he has always been one of its ardent svipporters.
He has been much in public life. He was a mem-
ber of the state senate in i860 and 1861, the latter
year being president pro ton. of that body. In
1S65 he represented New Milford in the house of
representatives. From 1861 to 1864 he was state
Ixvnk commissioner, and in 1S65 he was appointed
national bank examiner for Connecticut and Rhode
Island, and served in that office with distinguished
ability for twenty-two years, resigning in 1SS7. in
the second year of President Cleveland's adminis-
tration, and retiring with the cordial commenda-
tions of his superior officers, though of a different
political party.
}ilr. Mygatt was married June 7, 1S43, to ^liss
Caroline Canfield, daughter of Colonel Samuel Can-
field.
a descendant of John
WILLIAM N. CLEVELAND, Anuovek: Farmer.
William Nelson Cleveland was born in the town
of Bozrah, April 16, 1S19, and received a district
school education. He is
Cleveland of Brooklyn,
Conn., the early home of
many of the family. The
first wife of the subject of
this sketch, Pamelia S.
Standish, was of the
seventh generation from
Captain Miles Standish.
Mr. Cleveland was first
married when he reached
theageof22. The result
of this union was five
children, William Chaun-
cey, Henry Franklin,
Eliza M., Fannie F., and
Hattie S. Cleveland. The two sons enlisted in the
war, William uniting with the Tenth and Henry
with the Eighteenth Connecticut. The latter re-
turned from the field, broken in health, and died
within a brief period. The remaining son is in the
employ of the government at Washington, D. C.
The wife of Mr. Cleveland died May 17, 18S6.
His second marriage occurred JIarch 9, 18S7, the
bride being Miss Esther D. Phillips of Andover,
sister of the Rev. James M. Phillips. The maiden
name of ]\Ir. Cleveland's mother was Mary Cong-
don, daughter of Daniel Congdon of Warwick, R. I.
She died at Preston City, March 14, 1S37. :\Ir.
Cleveland's father died at Bozrahville, April 10, 1838.
Mr. Cleveland has resided in the towns of Gris-
wold, Norwich, Colchester, and Windham, and is
W. N. CLEVEL.\NI).
2l8
AX ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
Avell known in those localities. He came to
Andover, his pi'esent residence, October 6, 1S41.
He has spent most of his life in blacksmithing,
farming, and mercantile business. He was one of
the first republicans in Andover, and has held a
number of town offices. He is a member of the
Methodist church.
AUGUSTUS STORRS.
AUGUSTUS STORRS, .Brookian, N. Y., and
Mansfield: A Retired New York Merchant.
Augustus Storrs, second son and second child of
Royal and Eunice 
