USA > Connecticut > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 12
USA > Rhode Island > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 12
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Luther Holley was enriched by five other sons, who distinguished themselves in different walks of public life. Of these, Myron Holley became a citizen of Canandaigua, N. Y., a zealous advocate for the construction of the Erie Canal,
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an able writer in the exposition of its advantages and the defense of its claims, one of the canal Commissioners, and an excellent superintendent of the work of construction. Horace Holley was born at Salisbury in 1781, graduated at Yale College, with distinguished honors, in 1803, became a renowned preacher in Boston, Mass., where he ministered for ten years to a constantly enlarging church and society. In 1818 he accepted the second of two urgent invitations to assume the presidency of Transylvania University, at Lexington, Kentucky; and died of yellow fever on the high sea, in 1827, while on his way to visit family friends in Connecticut. Edward O. Holley resided for many years in the city of Hudson, N. Y., and served for several successive terms as sheriff of Columbia County. Newman led an active business life in Salisbury, and frequently represented the town in the General Assembly. Orville graduated from Yale, and also from Harvard College, practiced law in the city of New York, and subsequently edited a review in the same metropolis. For several years after that he was the editor of the Troy Sentinel, and was then appointed Surveyor-General of the State of New York.
John M., father of Alexander H. Holley, prosecuted the iron business, in succession to his father, for several years; and in 1815 contracted a copartnership with John C. Coffing, under the style and title of Holley & Coffing, which continued until the decease of the senior member of the firm in 1847. Before the death of Mr. Holley, with the occasional association of other gentlemen, himself and Mr. Coffing had extended their manufacturing enterprise into other portions of Litchfield County, and also into Berkshire County, Mass., with such vigor and success that it had become the largest of its class in all that region.
John M. Holley was married in the year 1800, to Sally, youngest daughter of Joshua Porter of Salisbury. John M. Holley, Jr., the eldest son of this union, was born at Salisbury in 1802, graduated at Yale in 1822, married a daughter of General Joseph Kirkland of Utica, practised law in Wayne County, N. Y., represented his district in the General Assembly of the State for two sessions, was elected to Congress in 1847, and died during the session of that body in 1848. George W., the third son-Alexander H. being the second-entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, remained there two years, but did not graduate, because his deafness incapacitated him for bearing his part in the military exercises of the school. He is now a resident in the village of Niagara, has represented his district in the State Legislature, and is the author of several valuable works on the history and geology of Niagara Falls. In 1832 he was married to the eldest daughter . of Chief Justice Samuel Church.
The maternal grandfather of Alexander H. Holley-Colonel Joshua Porter- was born in Lebanon, Conn., graduated at Yale in 1754, settled in Salisbury soon
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afterward, and resided there until the close of his long life, in 1825, at the age of ninety-five. No man was ever so well and continuously known in the Legislature of Connecticut as he; for he served in that assembly as the representative of his town no less than fifty-eight times. He was also the incumbent of sundry minor local offices in town and county for many years. His sons, Augustus and Peter B., settled in Western New York early in the present century. The former was an efficient pioneer, purchased large tracts of land in the vicinity of Niagara River, and settled in the village of Niagara, of which he was one of the earliest inhabitants. He also represented his district for several terms in the General Assembly. Peter B., the younger son of Col. Joshua Porter, graduated at Yale College, practised law in Canandaigua for some years, moved to the frontier, was elected to Congress in 1809 and 1811, and was again elected soon after the war of 1812. During part of the administration of President John Quincy Adams, he held the post of Secretary of War. He also acted as American commissioner in the settlement of the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions subsequent to the war of 1812. In that second struggle with the mother country he served as major-general of volunteers, and participated in several engagements on the frontier, in association with Generals Scott and Brown.
Governor A. H. Holley has spent the whole of his business life in his native town, in whose mining, manufacturing, commercial, and social affairs he has been a prime factor. In 1844 he established one of the earliest manufactories of pocket cutlery in this country. It has attained an excellent reputation for the superiority of its products, has been enlarged from time to time, and is still in successful operation. In May, 1854, Mr. Holley was elected Lieutenant-Governor of the State on the same ticket with Henry Dutton, of New Haven, as Governor. His political affiliations have uniformly been with the exponents and supporters of free institutions. His address to the Senate of Connecticut, at the close of its session in 1854, attests the deep interest he felt in our national destiny, and his anxiety to preserve the territory of Kansas, which was then applying for a State Government, for the exclusive occu- pancy of free citizens. In 1857 he was elected Governor, with A. A. Burnham as Lieutenant-Governor, and in that year recommended biennial sessions of the Legis- lature ; a recommendation which was adopted by the General Assembly of 1878, but not approved by the people in the October election of 1879. While incum- bent of the chief magistracy of his commonwealth, he met the Governors of other States at Richmond, Va., to which they had been invited to take part in the ceremony of unveiling Crawford's statue of Washington. On that occasion, at the corporation dinner given by the city, he patriotically rebuked Congressman Barnett of Virginia for giving utterance to the narrow sentiment that no other State had
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a right to claim a title in the name and fame of George Washington; and was approvingly sustained by the members of the Washington family, and also by many others. In 1857, during the ceremony of unveiling the statue of Gencral Warren at Bunker Hill, Boston, Mass., Governor Holley delivered an address containing an earnest appeal for the preservation of the Union of the States, which was warmly indorsed by a speech from Senator James Mason of Virginia-the Mason who, in connection with like-minded associates, so zealously labored to destroy the Union within three years from that very time.
The carly political associations of Governor Holley were with the Whig party. In 1844 he was a delegate to the convention that nominated Henry Clay for the Presidency, and was also a delegate at large from the State of Connceticut to the convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency in 1860. When the long incubated scheme of rebellion was hatched at Fort Sumter, in 1861, and freedom rang the tocsin in every New England town, hc was among the prompt- cst and most earnest in resistance to the monster which threatened to destroy the national life, and all the human political hopes that grew out of the sublime American attempt to demonstrate the fcasibility and value of popular self-government. Years of watching and weary waiting followed recourse to arms, but confident expectancy was rewarded at length by the consolidation of that Union for which he had pleaded so cloquently at Richmond and on Bunker Hill.
Governor Hollcy has not, at any time, confincd himself exclusively to his private business, but has illustrated a most helpful interest in all current public improvements. He contributed and procured funds for the construction of the Housatonic Railroad, and assisted in the extension of the Harlem Railroad from Dover to Chatham, N. Y. In financial circles he has also been active and influ- ential. Hc assisted in cstablishing the Iron Bank at Falls Village, Conn., was one of the directors for twelve years, and for two years was president of that institution. In 1869-70 he took an active part in the organization and management of the Connecticut Western Railroad, and has been a director of the corporation from the date of its formation. Hc has made himself somewhat familiar with the physical aspcets, as well as with the business and political lifc, of his native land; has madc occasional tours in Europe; and now-in retirement from most of the duties in which he has been so stirring and potent-resides in his beautiful home at Lakeville, surrounded by the comforts and luxurics of life, enjoying the respeet of his fellow- citizens, and waiting in green and healthful old age for the summons that comcs to all the world's best toilers with weleomc and blessing.
Governor Holley was married in October, 1831, to Janc M., daughter of Eras- tus Lyman, of Goshen, Conn., by whom he had one son, Alcxander Lyman Holley,
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of New York, who graduated at Brown University, has published several scientific works, and in 1878 received the degree of LL.D. from his Alma Mater. He intro- duced the art of making Bessemer steel into the United States. Mrs. Holley, his mother, died in September, 1832, and in September, 1835, Mr. Holley married Marcia Coffing, daughter of John C. Coffing, his father's partner. Several children were the fruit of this union, but only two of them arrived at mature age. Of thesc, John Coffing Holley, graduated with honor at Yale in 1859, marricd a daughter of George W. Stirling, of Poughkeepsie, paid some attention to business, but, owing to his feeble physical condition, was unable to do much, except to write occasion- ally for the public press. He travelled, more or less, in pursuit of health, and finally embarked on a sea voyage for San Francisco, where he died in 1865. Marcia C., the second child, is the wife of William B. Rudd, of Lakeville. Mrs. Marcia C. Holley died in March, 1854 ; and in November, 1856, Mr. Holley was married the third time, to Sarah C., daughter of Thomas Day, who was Secretary of State of Connecticut for twenty-five years, by annual election.
B IGELOW, HOBART BALDWIN, of New Haven, Governor of Connecti- cut. Born in the adjoining town of North Haven in 1834. His father, Levi L. Bigelow, is a native and resident of the same town. His mother, née Belinda Pierpont, is the daughter of John Pierpont, who was born in Connecticut, and was by occupation a farmer. The Pierpont and Bigelow familics have made honorable records, both in the Old World and the New, by their marked energy, enterprise, and genius ; and have illustrated the best qualities of modern civilization in all the varied departments of human activity. During the boyhood of H. B. Bigelow, business reverses overtook his father, who was then a manufacturer of chain pumps in Berkshire County, Mass., and threw the son, at the age of sixteen, upon his own resources. Native endowments, strengthened and disciplined by such culture as neighboring country schools had afforded, were then called into thoughtful and positive exercise. Like many eminently successful men, his youthful imagi- nation had often dwelt upon the city as the theatre best fitted for the display of his powers, and the field that was most likely to yield the richest harvest in repay- ment of busy toil. To the city he went, and found employment with the New Haven Manufacturing Company. Two years afterward, at the age of nineteen, he
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entered the establishment of Ives & Smith, founders and machinists, and, from the lowly position assumed at his first coming, aseended by suceessive stages to the management, and ultimately to the proprietorship of the factory.
With immense foree of character, modified by praetieal experience and enlarged aequaintanee with the world, Mr. Bigelow now found himself at the beginning of the road leading to assured eompetenee and corresponding social distinetion. The opportunity was present, and he seized and utilized it. Others sought business associations with him, and among them Mr. Henry Bushnell, inventor of the eom- pressed air motor. Together they contracted with the National Government, in 1861, for the supply of "gun parts" for 300,000 Springfield rifles. Nearly three years were required to fulfil the contraet, during which Mr. Bigelow gave employ- ment to about two hundred men. When the war closed, the demand for his man- ufaetured produets inereased, and enforced the removal of his works from the old locality to Grapevine Point, where they are now situated. The superior quality and workmanship of the boilers there fabrieated, and the remarkable excellenee of the engines there eonstrueted, are as well known in St. Johns, N. B., in Califor- nia, and in the West Indies, to which they are exported, as in New Haven and its vieinity. In 1864, he began the manufacture of quartz-crushers for the mining distriets of the West, and conducted a large business therein, until the depression of the mining interests, simultaneously with those of the financial affairs of the country, oceasioned sueh diminution in the demand that he relinquished further production. Remarkably sueeessful as a manufacturer, Mr. Bigelow is no less efficient in fiseal matters. With them also he is largely identified, and particularly in the Merehants' National Bank, of which he is a director.
The municipal honors received by Mr. Bigelow are only commensurate with the ability and worth of such a eitizen to the community. Soon after he began business on his own account, the popular estimation of his qualities was revealed in his election to the Common Council, and subsequently to the Board of Alder- men. A year of public service in each body was all that could be spared by the exactions of business; and he continued in private life until early in the present decade, when he was appointed a member of the Board of Supervisors by the Common Couneil, and held that position for five years. In 1874, he consented to serve as member of the Board of Fire Commissioners for a term of three years, under appointment of Mayor Lewis, but refused further serviee on the termination of that period. In 1875, he was elected a member of the lower house of the State Legislature, by the Republicans of New Haven, and while there aequired further popularity by his talents and address, and additional reputation by his action on important committees, and especially in that on Banks. On the 3d of December,
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1878, he was elected to the mayoralty of New Haven, by a majority of 2387 over W. R. Shelton, Esq., the opposing candidate. This election was a gratifying testimonial to his intellectual, moral, and social value ; effected as it was, not entirely by the political party with which he is affiliated, but by citizens of all shades of political opinion. The wise and liberal character of past action, consistent as it had been with shrewdness and prudence, was justly regarded as a sufficient guarantee for the sound diserction and enlightened policy of future administration, and as prophetic of the wider spheres of public usefulness to which, if life were spared, he would not improbably be ealled.
Mr. Bigelow was one of the delegates from Connecticut to the National Repub- lican Convention held at Chicago in 1880, and contributed largely to the ensuing triumph of his political compatriots at the polls. He was also elceted in the same year to the chief magistracy of his State, which office he now efficiently and worthily fills.
Governor Bigelow was married on the 6th of May, 1857, to Elcanor, daughter of the late Philo Lewis, of New Haven.
INGERSOLL, CHARLES ROBERTS, LL.D., of New Haven, cx-Governor of Connecticut. Born in New Haven, September 16th, 1821. His father, the Hon. Ralph I. Ingersoll, was one of the leading men of the State, and was equally prominent in legal and in political circles. His mother, née Margaret Van den Heuvel, of New York, was a woman of rare excellence. The Ingersoll fam- ily is one of the most notable in Connecticut, and also in other States. Its members have occupied conspicuous social positions in colonial as well as in federal times. " One of Mr. Ingersoll's uncles," says the Souvenir of the Centennial Exhibition, " was Judge of the United States District Court of Connecticut, and another was an officer in the United States Navy. His brother, General Colin M. Ingersoll, was representative to Congress from the New Haven District from 1850 to 1854; another brother is a distinguished divine in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and another served for many years as an officer in the United States Navy."
Governor Ingersoll received his early education in his native city, and at the age of fifteen entered Yale College, from which he graduated four years afterward. Next, he visited Europe as a member of the official family of Captain Voorhes, who was his uncle, and also commander of the United States frigate Preble, which was blown to pieces, in 1863, while in the harbor of Pensacola, by the explosion of
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her powder magazine. At the end of two years, during which he remained abroad, he returned to New Haven and entered the Yale Law School, in which he enjoyed the benefit of two years' instruction from Judge Samuel J. Hitchcock, Chief Justice David Daggett, and the Hon. Isaac H. Townsend. Admitted to the bar in 1845, hc associated himself in practice with his distinguished father in the same year, and for the thirty years following, until the decease of that gentleman, sustained the relation of law-partner to him. In that lengthcned period he was engaged as counsellor in numerous important suits, whose progress and issue gained for him an excellent reputation as a learned, upright, able, and successful lawyer.
Brought up under the eye of his father, and-with the exception of his term of foreign travel -- always in intimate connection with him, the subject of politics naturally sharcd much of his attention. With the science of government, the elder Ingersoll, who had studied deeply and widely while in Congress, and also while minister to Russia, was intimately acquainted. In his party relations, he sought controlling influence in the State and nation solely for the purpose of preserving their peace, safety, and prosperity ; of augmenting their strength and resources; of protecting their citizens in the enjoyment of natural and constitutional rights, and of conserving and improving their morals. In the same sense, and with the same ends in view, the younger Ingersoll became, and has continued to be, a politician. Mere contrivance, artifice, or struggle for official advancement is as alien to his nature as it is to the true character of political science. Public posts have sought his incum- bency, although he has never sought them. " He has declined more nominations than he has accepted, and refused more offices than he has filled." He representcd the town of New Haven in the lower house of the State Legislature throughout the sessions of 1856-7-8, occupicd influential places on committees, and made his cul- turcd power as a speaker felt on the floor. In 1864 he was a member of the
National Democratic Convention at Chicago, which nominated General McClellan for the Presidency, and acted in the Committee on Rcsolutions. In 1866 and 1871 he also served as representative of New Haven in the State Legislature. Thorough and comprehensive knowledge of legislation, oratorical power, unsullied honor, and tried integrity commended him to the confidence of his constituents, who sought his services as State Senator. His aversion to public distinctions induced him to refuse a nomination, which because of his powerful influence was tantamount to an clection. In 1872 he was again chosen as delegate to the National Convention at Baltimore which nominated Greeley and Brown for the chief national magisterial offices, and acted as chairman of the Connecticut delegation.
Mr. Ingersoll was first nominated by the Democrats of Connecticut for the office of Governor in 1873. Eminent fitness dictated the choice. He did not
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desire the honor, and shrank from the responsibilities associated with it. Much persuasion induced him to consent to the general wish. In the election he ran far ahead of his ticket in his own town and county. His administration proved to be so sensible and judicious that he was consecutively chosen again for a second, third, and fourth term. Political opponents were warm in his praise, and one of them truthfully affirmed that " Very few men could be named for the office by that party [the Democratic] in whose success the people of opposing views would so cheer- fully acquiesce." The whole number of votes cast for Governor on April 5th, 1875, was 100,983 ; of which Mr. Ingersoll received 53,752, and his competitor, Mr. Greene, 44,272. It was the largest number of votes for Governor ever polled in Connecti- cut. In that year Governor Ingersoll signed the bill which had received a two thirds vote of each house, providing for, and submitting to the people an amendment to the Constitution of the State, which made the official term of all State offieers and State Senators biennial, ehanged the date of the annual elections from April to November, and terminated his own official duties as chief magistrate in January, 1877.
In 1876 he had the honor of being numbered with the "Centennial " Governors of the several States composing the American Republic. The very creditable repre- sentation of the great manufacturing and other capabilities of Connecticut, made at the International Exhibition, held in Philadelphia, was largely due to his wise and persistent energy. He foresaw the benefit that must accrue from sueh an enterprise, and in his public capacity did what he could to make it a decided and gratifying success.
On his retirement from the gubernatorial chair Governor Ingersoll carried with him the honest admiration and unfeigned praise of political friends and opponents alike. In the comparative privacy of unofficial life he indulges scholarly tastes, and charms all who come in social contaet with him by his unaffected courtesy and graceful, dignificd bearing. His wife was a daughter of the late Admiral Gregory, and in her society, and that of their children, Governor Ingersoll has found some of the purest and most ennobling pleasures that fall to the lot of humanity.
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OPPIN, WILLIAM WARNER, ex-Governor of Rhode Island, son of Benjamin and Esther Phillips (Warner) Hoppin, was born in Providence, September 1st, 1807. He graduated at Yale College in the class of 1828. Among his classmates were President F. A. P. Barnard, of Columbia College, New York City ; Judge William Strong, of the United States Supreme Court, and Hon. John Van Buren. Mr. Hoppin studied law at the Law School of Yale College, under the tuition of Judge Daggett and Professor Hiteheoek, and was admitted to the bar in 1830. He has filled various important offices, both in Providence and in the State. He was chosen sucecssor of Governor Philip Allen, and was in office from 1854 to 1858, when he resigned. He married, June 8th, 1832, Frances. A. F., daughter of Titus Street, of New Haven, and only sister of Augustus Russell Street, the munificent benefactor of Yale College and founder of the Yale School of Art. Two sons are now living-Frederick S., a lawyer, of Providence, and W. W. Hoppin, Jr., a lawyer, of New York. He is a hereditary member of the Society of Cincinnati.
The above sketch furnished by himself.
URNSIDE, AMBROSE EVERETT, United States Senator from Rhode Island. Born May 23d, 1824, at Liberty, Indiana. After preliminary eduea- tion in that State, young Burnside received appointment to a eadetship in the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he remained from July ist, 1843, to July Ist, 1847, when he was graduated and promoted in the army to brevet second lieutenant, in the Second Artillery, July Ist, 1847. He afterward served in the war with Mexico, 1847-8, in the engagements near and at the city of Mexico. His commission as second lieutenant, in the Second Artillery, was dated July ist, 1847.
Lieutenant Burnside was next stationed in garrison at Fort Adams, Rhode Island, in 1848-9; then performed frontier duty at Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1849-50. There he was wounded in a skirmish with the Jaearillo Apache Indians, on the 23d of August, 1849. In 1850-51 in garrison at Jefferson Barraeks, Missouri, from which he was called to serve with the Mexican Boundary Commission, from April, 1851, to March 16th, 1852. On December 12th, 1851, he was promoted to a first lieutenaney in the Third Artillery, and was again stationed in garrison at Fort Adams, R. 1., 1852-3. In the latter year, October 2d, he resigned his commission,
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