USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 35
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In 1885 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Trinity Col- lege, and the same title was conferred upon him by Yale University. In 1899 Trinity gave him the degree of Doctor of Canon Law, while Wesleyan University later gave him the degree of LL. D.
There were few churches in the diocese in which he had not preached. for prob- ably no other priest in the diocese pos- sessed such knowledge of the church in Connecticut as did he, and few equalled him in his knowledge of the history of his native State. He was often heard in the church in his native town, Old Say- brook, and during the pastorate of the late Rev. Dr. W. G. Andrews, of Guilford, he was frequently heard in Christ Church in that town, where his ancestors once lived. He was one of the speakers there when the town celebrated the two hun- dredth and fiftieth anniversary of its set- tlement in September, 1889. Whenever a Hartford parish observed an anniver-
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sary, he was invariably called upon to give the historical address, his last appear- ance in that capacity there being at the Church of the Good Shepherd last Decem- ber. He gave the historical address at the seventy-fifth anniversary of St. John's parish, and a few years ago he was heard at Christ Church, when that venerable parish observed an anniversary. His mas- tery of historical data, the purity of his English and the charm of his delivery, made him invariably the choice when an address of the sort was called for. For some years Trinity College depended upon him for its necrology and it was he who collected the data and who read the list at Alumni Day.
Dr. Hart was president of the Connec- ticut Historical Society from 1900 to the time of his death. He was vice-president of the Wadsworth Atheneum, and presi- dent of the trustees of the Good Will Club, in which he was always keenly in- terested. From 1873 to 1888 he was sec- retary of the American Philological As- sociation, and was its president in 1892- 93. He was president of the Connecticut Library Association from 1894 to 1896. He was prominent in other societies and organizations, including the American Ori- ental Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, the American Historical Associ- ation, the New Haven Historical Society, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Psi Upsilon fraternity. He was also one of those chosen by his cousin, the late Mrs. Elizabeth Hart Colt, as executors to administer certain be- quests left by her, and for more than thirty years he had been practically a weekly visitor at the Hartford Hospital, where he conducted services.
He was known as a writer, appearing in 1873 as the editor of the "Satires of
Juvenal," and in 1875 he issued the "Sat- ires of Persius," and, shortly after, he published "Bishop Seabury's Communion Office, With Notes." In 1895 he edited "Maclear's Manual For Confirmation and Holy Communion," and in 1901 he wrote the "History of the American Prayer Book," a topic upon which he gave a series of lectures in Christ Church. For fifty years he was a voluntary and irregu- lar contributor to the "Hartford Courant." Among his last labors was that upon the present work, "Encyclopedia of Connecti- cut Biography."
At the annual convention of the Prot- estant Episcopal Church held in St. Paul's Church, New Haven, in 1904, a committee of three clergymen and five laymen was appointed to prepare a memorial on the occasion of the completion of Rev. Dr. Hart's thirtieth year as registrar, and which concluded with the following fer- vent tribute :
He has virtually given his life to Connecticut; and the gift has included a wealth not only of intellectual and moral, but of spiritual power, put forth in priestly ministries such as the best of parish priests might have been thankful to be equal to. And the modest office of registrar, in which he has for almost a generation wrought so untiringly and unselfishly, would seem furnished in him with an instrument far too costly for such uses, were it not that he has wrought so fruitfully as to make uses seem worth the cost.
This is saying much, for though the cost to us is nothing, it may easily have been to him the sacri- fice of laurels, to be green for generations, which he could have won in Christian literature. But he has the consciousness of having served his own generation by the will of God. And we, seek- ing to offer an appreciation not only of his great service, but of his great sacrifice, can take pleasure in the thought that he is still in his intellectual prime, and while continuing, as we desire, the services so valuable to us, may yet accomplish some other work, sure to be invaluable to us because worthy of him; possibly erecting his monument out of the very stones that he has quarried.
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STANTON, Lewis Eliot, Lawyer, Litterateur.
That name alone is sufficient for con- temporaries, representing as it does one of the older members of the Hartford county bar, and one of the oldest practic- ing lawyers in Connecticut. The late Mr. Stanton's long and active professional ca- reer and his enviable record as a political speaker and lecturer, made his name fa- miliar in regions distant from the part of New England with which it is most closely identified.
Thomas Stanton, founder of the Ameri- can branch of the family, was a scion of a house of ancient English origin. He is on record as a magistrate in Boston as early as 1636, and served as Indian inter- preter for Governor Winthrop. During the Pequot War he rendered valuable as- sistance in the same capacity, and special mention is made of his bravery in the battle of Fairfield Swamp, in which he nearly lost his life. At the close of the war he must have returned to Boston, for he appears as one of the magistrates in the trial of John Wainwright, which took place October 3, 1637. In 1639 we find him settled in Hartford, where he was appointed official interpreter for the Gen- eral Court, and it is worthy of note that throughout his life he served on many important occasions as a medium of com- munication between the English and the Indians. Thomas Stanton was widely known as an Indian trader, his operations covering an extensive territory. He was granted a monopoly of trading with the Indians at Pawkatuck, where he built a trading house. About 1651 this enter- prising pioneer removed to Pequot, and seven years later took up his permanent residence at Stonington, or rather at We- quetequock Cove, two and one-half miles east of that town, which was then con- sidered a part of Suffolk county, Massa-
chusetts. Thomas Stanton was the third settler, and in 1658 was appointed one of the managers. He received several grants of land and on May 15, 1651, was elected a deputy magistrate by the General Court. In 1664 he was a commissioner to try small cases, and in 1665 he had authority to hold a semi-annual court at New Lon- don. In 1666 he was reëlected commis- sioner, and overseer-general of the Coas- satuck Indians, a commissioner of appeals in Indian affairs, and was successively re- elected commissioner during the remain- der of his life. In 1666 he was a member of the General Assembly and was regu- larly reëlected until 1674. During King Philip's War Thomas Stanton took an ac- tive part, his sons also participating. On June 3, 1674, he aided in founding the church at Stonington, and his name stands first on its roll of membership.
Thomas Stanton married Ann, born in 1621, in England, daughter of Dr. Thom- as and Dorothy Lord. On June 30, 1652, Dr. Lord was licensed by the General Court to practice in Connecticut, being the first physician to whom this privilege was accorded. The site of the original home of Thomas Stanton at Hartford is now occupied by the factory of the Jewell Belting Company.
On December 2, 1677, this brave soldier, just magistrate and wise interpreter be- tween two races, passed away. His rec- ord forms part of the early annals of New England, and one historian says of him : "Never, perhaps, did the acquisition of a barbarous language give to a man such immediate, widespread and lasting impor- tance. From the year 1636, when he was Winthrop's interpreter with the Nahantic sachem, to 1670, when Uncas visited him with a train of warriors and captains to get him to write his will, his name is con- nected with almost every Indian trans- action on record."
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(II) Joseph, son of Thomas and Ann (Lord) Stanton, was born in 1646, and resided in Stonington. In 1699 he was appointed assistant magistrate to hold court in New London. Later he removed to Charlestown, Rhode Island, where we find him in 1685 affixing his signature to a lease. He was four times married, and his death occurred in 1714.
(III) Daniel, son of Joseph Stanton by his second marriage, was born April I, 1694, and has come down in history as "Captain," probably from the fact that he served with that rank in the colonial forces. He was several times married, and died December 28, 1773.
(IV) John, son of Daniel Stanton, was born in February, 1722, in Charlestown, Rhode Island, and married Dorothy, born in 1724, daughter of Jonathan and Ann (Treat) Richardson. John Stanton died September 1, 1814, in Paris, Oneida coun- ty, New York, long surviving his wife, who passed away in 1790.
(V) Adam, son of John and Dorothy (Richardson) Stanton, was born in 1749, in Westerly, Rhode Island, and in 1775 moved thence to Killingworth, now Clin- ton, Connecticut. He there built a house on the site formerly occupied by the dwelling of Abraham Pierson, the first rector of Yale College. The first business in which Adam Stanton engaged was the making of salt from the water of Long Island Sound. His product was trans- ported by ox teams to Boston, where he sold it for two dollars a bushel. He mar- ried, December 4, 1777, Elizabeth, born May 28, 1754, daughter of the Rev. Sam- uel Treat, of Preston, Connecticut. Mrs. Stanton died May 23, 1805, and her hus- band lived to the age of eighty-five, pass- ing away at Clinton on October 15, 1834.
(VI) John, son of Adam and Elizabeth (Treat) Stanton, was born April 5, 1783, in Clinton, and was a farmer and general
merchant. His political affiliations were with the Whigs, and he was a member of the Baptist church. Mr. Stanton mar- ried, March 29, 1825, Caroline Elizabeth Eliot, who was born March 17, 1796, and was a descendant in the sixth generation of John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians. Mr. and Mrs. Stanton were the parents of three children: Jonathan Adam; Eliza- beth; and Lewis Eliot, mentioned below. Mr. Stanton died September 9, 1864, and the death of his widow occurred May 29, 1866.
(VII) Lewis Eliot Stanton, son of John and Caroline Elizabeth (Eliot) Stan- ton, was born July 19, 1833, and died Au- gust 27, 1916, in Clinton, Connecticut, both birth and death occurring in the Stanton homestead, built in 1789, by his grandfather, Adam Stanton, on the site of Rector Pierson's residence, where the first president of Yale College gave instruc- tion to the first students of that renowned educational institution.
Lewis Eliot Stanton received his early education at the village school of his birthplace, in the schools of Norwich, and later prepared for college at Bacon Acade- my in Colchester. He entered Yale in 1851, and at once applied himself with diligence to his studies, proving an apt and conscientious student, and taking various prizes for ability in debate, and was subsequently graduated with honor in a distinguished class. But his course of study did not end with the four years at the university. After leaving college he returned to his books with determina- tion, having decided to make the law his profession. But while preparing for the bar he accepted the position of teacher at Shaw Academy in East Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained for nearly a year. In July, 1856, his health became impaired and he was forced to relinquish his school, which he did with much regret. But his
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own studies were not interrupted, and a year later, in May, 1857, he entered Yale Law School and received legal instruction under Governor Henry Dutton and Pro- fessor Thomas B. Osborne. Classmates of Mr. Stanton at Yale included Professor Charles F. Johnson, of Trinity College; P. H. Woodward and Theodore Lyman, and the late Major Francis Parsons.
In February, 1859, Mr. Stanton entered the law office of John S. Beach, of New Haven, where he remained until his ad- mission to the bar in April, 1859, not re- turning to his home until November of the same year, and then locating in Nor- wich. Mr. Stanton remained in Norwich until September 9, 1865, being assistant clerk of the Superior Court of New Lon- don county from June, 1863, to July, 1864, and recorder of the city of Norwich from July, 1864, to the time of his departure.
Mr. Stanton came to Hartford in 1865 and formed a law partnership with John C. Day, which was maintained for six years, when the firm was dissolved and Mr. Stanton continued practice in his own name. In 1870 he was appointed assistant to United States Attorney Calvin G. Child, and attended to the federal busi- ness of Hartford county, serving under Attorney Child and Daniel Chadwick. On the death of Mr. Chadwick in 1884, he was appointed United States attorney for the district of Connecticut, his commis- sion, dated December 19, being signed by President Chester A. Arthur. Until April, 1888, he continued in that office, serving the government in all for a period of seventeen years, and being engaged in trying criminal and civil cases for the United States, wherein he gained more than ordinary experience. Since that time Mr. Stanton had devoted his time to civil cases and the law of corporations. He was at one time president of the Hart- ford County Bar Association and for a
considerable period a member of the local council of the American Bar Association.
Mr. Stanton inherited a strong memory and a natural gift for public speaking, and much of his success was due to his facil- ity of expression, coupled with hard work and a remarkable scholarship. During the early years of his practice he was fond of stump speaking and did a great deal of it in eastern Connecticut, making speeches in all campaigns, both State and national, from 1860 to 1870. One of the memorable events of his early career in Norwich was when Abraham Lincoln came there and made his great speech, soon after the famous contest with Doug- las for the Illinois Senatorship. The next morning Mr. Stanton sought a long inter- view, which, to his great delight, Lin- coln gave him. In that conversation the Illinois statesman repeated what he had said in public : "Young man, this country cannot remain half slave and half free. Slavery will be abolished or it will ex- tend over the country." Soon after that Mr. Stanton said on the stump that Abra- ham Lincoln exhibited such undoubted genius that it would not be at all surpris- ing to see him President of the United States. Lincoln was nominated at the next convention.
In politics Mr. Stanton was always a staunch Republican. He never ran for office but once, and had no fondness for it, though taking a great interest in the welfare of his party. In the fall of 1880 he was nominated for the House of Representatives, and was elected and made house chairman of the Judiciary Committee, with his classmate, Lyman D. Brewster, Senate chairman.
In 1871 the Morgan School was estab- lished in Clinton. Afterward the grounds were decorated with statues, and Mr. Stanton was called upon for a speech. His subject was upon the wealth of Con-
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necticut, and he gave facts and statistics at great length, asserting that this won- derful advance was due really to the edu- cation of the people, and that if any State desired to be rich it must first educate the young. The latter remark is significant and characteristic of the man, who was a constant reader and student.
Mr. Stanton was a member of the Cen- ter church and deeply interested in its prosperity. He had delivered many lec- tures upon literary and historical subjects and was altogether a man of unusual gifts and peculiar sagacity. His personal character, and the eminence he won in his profession, placed him in the front rank of the men worth knowing, and he was esteemed and honored as a man of of strict integrity and sterling scholar- ship.
Mr. Stanton, being without family, had lived in bachelor quarters practically all his life in Hartford. For several years he occupied an apartment in the Hartford Fire building and more recently had lived in the Goodwin building, corner Asylum and Haynes streets. The house in which he died in Clinton is ancestral property and was, until Mr. Stanton's ownership, immediately preceding owned and occu- pied by John Stanton, his brother, de- ceased. In its fittings and furnishings it is a museum of early New England life and has been visited by thousands of lovers of the colonial and antique. Mr. Stanton took great pride in it and em- ployed a family to live in it and care for it the year 'round. He spent much of his time summers there and at Watch Hill. The house is on the site of Rector Pier- son's school, claimed to have been the inspiration for the founding of Yale Col- lege, and some of the timbers of the school help form the frame of the Stan- ton homestead. It was built in 1789 by Adam Stanton, grandfather of Lewis E. Stanton.
Mr. Stanton's law office in Hartford had for many years been on the second floor of the building on State street (No. 16) for nearly three-quarters of a century occupied in part by the Geers, printers and city directory publishers. He had not engaged in active practice of the law for two or three years. Mr. Stanton leaves no near relatives.
BOLANDE, Frank W., Journalist, Artist.
"An institution that should always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight dem- agogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sym- pathy with the poor, always remain de- voted to the public welfare, never be satis- fied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty"-the ideal, expressing the best and highest in the field of journalism, of the late Joseph Pulitzer, founder of "The World" and one of the greatest journalists the age has produced.
New England has just lost one of the greatest and most honored of her journal- ists, the late Frank Wesley Bolande, edi- tor of the "Post," the Bridgeport "Tele- gram," the Bridgeport "Standard" and the "Sunday Post," and one of the fairest, most unprejudiced, capable and gifted men of the newspaper world of New Eng- land. A man who literally sacrificed his life to the work which he loved. "We must draw a circle about ourselves, and outside this circle we must keep every partisan and special pleader. We can thus support what is right and good, and condemn what is bad and wrong ; we can champion whatever is for the best inter- ests of the city without committing our-
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selves to any party or persons, so that we shall be always free to point out a mis- take or condemn a bad action, * "the editorial policy and principle of Mr. Bo- lande, identical with the great ideal which heads this tribute to his memory, the only ideal which can express the true mis- sion of journalism !
The arms of the Bolande family are as follows: Azure, three birdbolts or. Crest : Out of a ducal coronet or, an arm from the elbow, holding a bunch of three arrows in bend sinister, all proper.
Frank Wesley Bolande was born in Plymouth, Connecticut, on March 28, 1865, the son of Wesley F. and Angeline Bolande, both of whom were members of prominent and long established New England families. In 1872, at the age of seven years, he came to Bridgeport, Con- necticut, with his father and mother, and entered the old Barnum school where he received his early education and formed childhood friendships which last- ed throughout his life. He later attended the Bridgeport High School, but left be- fore the completion of his course to take up the study of architecture in the office of the late Henry A. Lambert. He was talented artistically, and forged ahead rapidly in his work in this line, giving much attention to sketching. He also gave much of his time to the study of the fine arts, music and literature, merely for the love, not thinking yet to make any one of them his life work. Mr. Bolande remained for scarcely three years at archi- tecture, quitting the office of Mr. Lam- bert to give his entire attention to literary work. At this time he was making steady contributions to the Bridgeport "Post."
The "Post," the paper of which Mr. Bo- lande later became chief executive and editor, was founded in 1883, by George W. Hills, the first newspaper in Bridge- port of independent policy and also the
first penny sheet. His first connection with it was solely in the capacity of an intermittent contributor, during the early days of the great paper's struggle for existence on a policy never before at- tempted in the city, and which did not in the beginning meet with sympathy in the conservative cities of New England. Shortly after leaving Mr. Lambert, Mr. Bolande entered the employ of the Bridge- port "Farmer," and while working for this publication received an offer from Mr. Hill, of the "Post." The two con- sidered the possibility of publishing in Bridgeport a new morning newspaper, but found the idea impractical at the time and the proposition was abandoned. Mr. Bolande then entered the employ of the New Haven "Palladium," and was as- signed to the work of developing support for the newspaper in the city of Bridge- port. From this position he went on the Bridgeport "Post," known then as the "Evening Post," this was in 1885. From this position he went to Meriden, Con- necticut, to assume the post of former Congressman Thomas L. Reilly, on the Meriden "Republican," who had just re- signed. After a period spent in Meriden, he returned to Bridgeport, and took a position as reporter on the "Standard," then under the control of men who later became figures of importance and influ- ence in the history of Connecticut, among them John D. Candee, editor of the paper, and Alexander Wheeler, its business man- ager. During his connection with the "Standard" this time, Mr. Bolande did much of its cartoon work, which brought him notice through the city, and in which he showed evidence of an originality, depth of judgment, and freshness, which are invaluable factors in journalistic work. He was city editor of the "Stand- ard" in 1890. It was these things which brought forcibly to the mind of George
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W. Hills, of the then comparatively in- significant "Post," the value of a man of Mr. Bolande's type to his publication. Shortly afterward the Post Publishing Company was formed by Mr. Hills, in partnership with Mr. Bolande and Mr. Robert N. Blakeslee, and at the same time was initiated 'a period of phenomenal growth for the "Post," during which it became the greatest newspaper of Bridge- port, and assumed its place among the well-known sheets of New England. The continued prosperity of the "Post" was remarkable, and it gradually received strong public support. It was later de- cided to start a morning daily, and the Bridgeport "Telegram" was established, proving an immediate success, and soon gaining control of its only rival in the morning field, "The Bridgeport Union." The partnership between Mr. Hills and his associates ended in the year 1905, when the "Post" remained in control of Messrs. Bolande and Blakeslee, Mr. Hills assuming charge of the Bridgeport "Tele- gram." The need for a Sunday publica- tion was answered in 1911, when the "Sunday Post" made its initial appear- ance and scored a great success.
Upon the retirement in 1914 of Mr. Blakeslee, Mr. Bolande became associated with Kenneth W. McNeil, and Archibald McNeil, Jr., who had purchased the "Tele- gram" from Mr. Hills. The "Post," "Tele- gram" and "Sunday Post" were then once again united. In 1915 the combination of the greatest newspaper of the city was consummated, when the Post Publishing Company secured a controlling interest in the "Bridgeport Standard," and Mr. Bo- lande became editor of the four principal publications of the city.
Freedom from entangling alliances, fair- ness, independence, championship of the rights and interests of the city and of the people, the presentation of news on a fair
unbiased basis-these were the principles on which the papers were governed, and on which Mr. Bolande reared a lasting monument to himself.
Among the most important of the causes which Mr. Bolande championed in the interests of the public are the harbor lines fight, the car-barn location, the vari- ous public improvements, the new high school, and improved civic government in all departments. In many cases the "Post" was strongly opposed in its efforts, but in no case was it swerved by any of the influences brought strongly to bear upon it from the issue for which it had declared. His latest efforts were directed toward securing a commission form of government as a means to give the people a more business-like conduct of their affairs. In this he had the support of most of the thinking minds of the city of Bridgeport. His work in the line of pub- lic affairs was not confined to local issues, however. He came to the front forcibly again and again in great State questions, and will long be remembered for the part he played individually and through the columns of the "Post" in bringing about the public utilities commission legisla- tion. As a member of the executive board of the State Business Men's Association, Mr. Bolande was active in support of the measures ; and at a time when the major- ity of the papers of the State maintained a discreet silence on the subject or treat- ed ineffectually, the "Post" exerted a powerful influence in its behalf. Mr. Bo- lande more recently supported the great home rule law for cities which was passed at the last session of the Legislature, and also through the "Post" urged taxation reform, one of the greatest achievements of the last Legislature. Public affairs, however, were not his sole interest. He gave freely of his time, attention and sup- port to other worthy causes. He cham-
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