USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 43
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be raised for the founding of an industrial school for boys, and later offered the Allyn Hall Building and $40,000 in cash for a library for the Young Men's Insti- tute. but unfortunately the city was not in a position to take advantage of either offer. For many years Timothy M. Allyn was a member of the Unitarian church. He was very liberal in his religious views, but a staunch and practical Christian, and after his death a beautiful memorial was erected to him in the shape of the Allyn Chapel in the Spring Grove Cemetery. He left a lasting influence upon the com- inunity, and a memory which will always be honored. He was married to Susan Pratt, a daughter of Joseph Pratt. To them were born seven children, of whom Robert Allyn, the subject of this sketch, was the youngest. Timothy M. Allyn died in 1882, and Mrs. Allyn survived him about six years.
Robert Allyn was born March 8, 1849, in Hartford, where he made his home dur- ing his entire life. He was educated in Hartford, and after completing his educa- tion turned to the management of his estate. At the time this was left him by his father it was already of great value, consisting principally of valuable real estate properties, and since that time, as a result of both the natural increase of properties incident to the growth of the city, and the skillful management of Mr. Allyn, this value has been greatly added to. About 1889 Mr. Allyn took charge of the management of the Allyn House, which up to then had been under the di- rection of a cousin, the late Robert J. Allyn. He had always taken an interest in the management of the property, but after his cousin's death he superintended the whole matter, although his name was never publicly associated with the man- agement of the hotel. Before his death Mr. Allyn was one of the wealthiest men
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in the community and paid taxes on prop- erty valued at four hundred thousand dol- lars. Mr. Allyn was a very public-spirited man and was interested in many of the movements for the advancement of the community. He was a member of the Republican party and a keen and intelli- gent thinker on political subjects, al- though he never entered actively into the affairs of his city.
Mr. Allyn was married, January 30, 1877, to Alice Belle Main, of Brooklyn, Connecticut, a daughter of Elias H. and Sarah S. (Dorrance) Main, of that place. To them were born two children, who, with their mother, survive Mr. Allyn. They are Robert J. and Dorothy Belle. Robert J. Allyn married Louise Graham ; they live in Hartford and have one daugh- ter, Mary Belle.
WINTHROP, Theodore, Soldier, Author.
Theodore Winthrop was born at New Haven, Connecticut, September 22, 1828, son of Francis Bayard Winthrop, a direct descendant of Governor John Winthrop, of Massachusetts; his mother was Eliza- beth Dwight, daughter of William Walter Woolsey, a New York merchant, niece of Timothy Dwight, the first president of Yale College, and sister of President Theodore Dwight Woolsey, of the same institution.
Theodore Winthrop was fitted for col- lege in his native town, and was gradu- ated from Yale in the class of 1848. In April of that year he was one of the two candidates, equal in merit, for the "Berke- leian Scholarship" at the college, but the lot was cast, and his competitor received the prize. He, however, obtained the "Clark Scholarship," and spent a year in New Haven studying mental and moral science, Greek, German, and history. On
account of his infirm health he sailed for Liverpool, England, in July, 1849, and spent the time until January of 1851 in travel and study in England, and on the continent of Europe. In April of the lat- ter year he entered the office of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in New York City, where he continued until he was transferred to the Panama (Central America) office of the same company in the summer of 1852, remaining there until March of 1853. He then started for San Francisco, California, passing thence in April following to Portland, Oregon. The letters sent to his home during this period exhibit him as a close student of natural scenery, with remarkably comprehensive and vivid powers of description. During his journey he acquired material after- ward employed in the writing of some of his most noted books. He returned over- land to New York, which he reached near the end of the year. He afterward wrote of this portion of his journey: "In all that period when I was so near to nature, the great lessons of the wilderness deep- ened into my heart day by day; the hedges of conventionalism withered away from my horizon; and all the pedantries of scholastic thought perished out of my mind forever." Some of his poems which belong to this period are full of reminis- cences of the plains.
On reaching the east he was solicited to join as a volunteer the Darien expedition, under command of Lieutenant Isaac G. Strain, United States Army, to prospect for a ship-canal across the isthmus, and he was on his way thither at the opening of 1854, returning in the succeeding March. One more trip ended his period of travel and adventure-thereafter, his mind was mainly occupied in using the material he had acquired for the books on which his reputation rests. He entered a law office in New York City, and in the
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summer of 1855 was admitted to the bar. During his vacation in the year 1856 he made speeches for General John C. Fre- mont's presidential candidacy in the State of Maine. Following that, he formed a law partnership with Henry Hitchcock, at St. Louis, Missouri, but his health failing again in 1857, he returned to New York City and remained there, taking an office with his brother and brother-in-law. Meanwhile he was working assiduously upon his novels and sketches, most of which first saw light after his death.
On April 17, 1861, he marched south- ward with his brother, as a member of the Seventh Regiment, National Guard State of New York, to the experiences of the Civil War. He had previously sent the manuscript of his work, "Love and Skates," to James Russell Lowell, then editor of the "Atlantic Monthly," who accepted it with words of kindness and praise. At the request of Mr. Lowell, Winthrop furnished an account of the march of his regiment to Washington, the articles in which it appeared attracting widespread attention. When the Sev- enth Regiment returned to New York from Washington City, Winthrop was not with it, having remained behind as mili- tary secretary to General Benjamin F. Butler at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, with the rank of major. The following June, in a reconnoissance and attack upon Little and Great Bethel, planned by himself and the general commanding, he was shot through the heart, as he sprang upon a log to rally his men, and fell dying into the arms of a Vermont volunteer. This tragic end of his career invested his memory and writings with especial inter- est. A leading publishing house in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, at once proposed and executed the publication of all his works. "Cecil Dreeme" appeared in October, 1861, which described the march to Wash-
ington. This was succeeded by "John Brent" (January, 1862), and "Edwin Brothertoft" (July, 1862). "Canoe and Saddle" appeared in November, 1862, and "Life in the Open Air, and Other Papers" in May, 1863. "Cecil Dreeme" was printed, in the earlier editions, with a sketch of Winthrop's life by his friend, George William Curtis. In 1884 his sister published his "Life and Poems" in New York. Winthrop's books have gone through many editions, and have taken their place in American literature. Of "Cecil Dreeme," Professor John Nichol, of the chair of English Literature in the University of Glasgow, Scotland, has written: "With all its defects of irregu- lar construction, this novel is marked by a more distinct vein of original genius than any American work of fiction known to us, that has appeared since the author's death." The date of Mr. Win- throp's death was June 10, 1861.
PERIT, Pelatiah,
A Commanding Character.
Pelatiah Perit, twentieth president of the New York Chamber of Commerce, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, June 23, 1785. He was the son of John Perit, merchant, and a descendant of one of the earliest ministers of the French Huguenot church in New York. His mother was a daughter of Pelatiah Webster, a graduate of Yale College in 1746, and a merchant in Philadelphia during the latter part of that century. As early as 1776 Mr. Webster printed an essay on the "Evils of an Inflated Currency," and during the organization of the independent govern- ment of this country his counsels were frequently given to the public upon com- mercial and financial questions. Web- ster's "Political Essays" have since been consulted by the principal writers upon the history of American finance.
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At the age of thirteen, Pelatiah Perit entered Yale College, where he was graduated in 1802. He came under strong religious influences while he was a student, and at the close of his course expected to study for the Christian minis- try, but the purpose was given up because of the partial failure of his health. In his nineteenth year he became a clerk in an importing house in Philadelphia, in the interests of which he made several voy- ages to the West Indies and South Amer- ica, and in after years he described the pleasure which he had in escorting Alex- ander von Humboldt about the city of Philadelphia, on the explorer's arrival from Mexico, when he came introduced to the house in which young Perit was en- gaged. In 1809 he removed to New York and formed, with a kinsman, the firm of Perit & Lathrop, but the partnership did not last long, and Mr. Perit entered the house of Goodhue & Company, with which he remained connected until his re- tirement from business. The reputation of this firm is well known. They were engaged in shipping and commercial transactions with merchants in widely distant countries, and were the confiden- tial correspondents of Messrs. Baring Brothers & Company, of London, Messrs. William Ropes & Company, of St. Peters- burg, and many other houses of distinc- tion. The name of Mr. Perit never ap- peared in the title of the firm, but his connection with it was well known, and the part which he had in conducting its wide correspondence kept him interested in the commercial progress of every coun- try, and led to the maintenance of a wide personal acquaintance in different parts of the globe. His business life developed another element of his character-interest in religious and philanthropic enterprises, and particularly in everything which per- tained to the advancement of Christian
missions and the welfare of seamen. A mere enumeration of the unpaid positions to which he was called, and to which he devoted a great deal of time, would show how varied and how consistent were his labors for the good of his fellowmen. At different times he was president of the American Seamen's Friend Society, a trustee of the Sailor's Snug Harbor, and president of the Seamen's Bank for Sav- ings. He was also a director in many of the missionary and benevolent societies to which the Presbyterian church, the church of his lifelong preference, gave its support. For forty years he was an officer of the American Bible Society, either as manager or vice-president.
Mr. Perit held but one political office. In 1857, when the peace of the city of New York was seriously endangered by a contest between the "Municipal" and the "Metropolitan" police, he was ap- pointed a member of the Board of Police Commissioners, where his fairness and good sense were serviceable in the restor- ation of order. After this end was secured he gave up the office. In all the manifes- tations of his character-social, mercan- tile, religious and political-he was con- servative, and was never led away by radical enthusiasm. Dr. Leonard Bacon truly said of him :
Rash and one-sided schemes of reformation were ever offensive to his judgment. Perhaps he was more charmed with the idea of defending and perpetuating and perfecting the good which has descended to us from foregoing ages, than with the idea of finding out what there is in exist- ing institutions that needs to be reformed. Yet his sagacity, his good sense, his intelligent patri- otism, and his love of justice, guarded him against the error of those self-styled conserva- tive men who sacrifice the reality to the name, and become destructive for the sake of a false and foolish consistency. Not long before the presidential election of 1860, there was a time when the immediate danger to the country seemed to be that the votes in the Electoral College might
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be so divided among four candidates as to throw the election into the House of Representatives, which would prolong the agitation from Novem- ber to February, and would give to desperate men an opportunity for desperate measures. Mr. Perit had never been an active politician. But, deeply impressed with what seemed to be the most imminent peril of the country, he did not hesitate to commit himself publicly and unequivo- cally on the question of the hour, and as a con- servative man to urge on conservative men the duty of terminating the agitation by giving their votes and their influence for the only candidate in whose behalf there was a possibility of obtain- ing a majority in the Electoral Colleges. So afterwards, when the long-meditated treason had become overt rebellion, and when the question was whether the national government, without any considerable military force, with its navy care- fully dispersed to remotest seas, with its treasury purposely empty, and its credit at a discount, could make any resistance, he was among the leaders in that movement of merchants and capi- talists which brought forth millions of treasure to restore and confirm the credit of the country.
The influence of the New York Cham- ber of Commerce was very marked during the time of his continuous presidency, and especially in the early years of the Civil War. Mr. Perit was constantly at his post as president of the chamber, and was not infrequently called upon to lend the influence of his name and character to meetings of a more public character. Two social events which occurred during his official term were very noteworthy, and gave him pleasant recollections-the re- ception of the Prince of Wales, then traveling as Baron Renfrew; and the re- ception of the first Japanese Embassy. A few years before his death, Mr. Perit
began to throw off gradually the cares of business and station. He sold his prop- erty at Bloomingdale, just north of the grounds of the New York Orphan Asy- lum, where for many years he had resided, and built a house in New Haven, Connec- ticut, and that place continued to be his home until his death. When he gave up
active pursuits, Mr. Perit determined to devote his leisure to the preparation of a history of American commerce, and he began to collect and arrange the papers requisite for such a work. He solicited from his correspondents their sug- gestions ; he was encouraged to proceed in his plan by a formal resolution of the Chamber; he wrote many pages, but death came before he had made sufficient progress to justify the publication of the chapters he had prepared.
Mr. Perit was twice married; first to Miss Lathrop, and, after her death, to Maria Coit, both of Norwich, Connecticut. He had no children. His widow survived him many years. She was the daughter of Daniel L. Coit, of Norwich, who for a short time in the early part of the century was a merchant in New York, of the firm of Howland & Coit.
Mr. Perit was nearly six feet in height, and well proportioned. His manners were reserved and dignified, and gave him a commanding presence in the public meetings where he was accustomed to preside. His addresses on such occasions were brief and pointed, showing, in the conciseness of their language, the in- fluence of his business habits; showing also, in their clearness and propriety of expression, the influence of the liberal education that he had received in early life. He was a constant reader of the reviews, and to some extent of historical and theological writings ; but he is chiefly to be remembered as a man of affairs, whose mind was inspired by an intelligent and systematic interest in the progress of mankind. He was a patriot who desired that the name and influence of his country should everywhere support the best ideas in religion, in morals, in politics, in diplo- macy and in finance. The Calvinism of his Huguenot ancestry, and the financial scholarship of his grandfather, were ap-
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parent throughout his long career. (See "Dr. Leonard Bachants' Magazine," April, 1864). Mr. Perit died in New Haven, Connecticut, March 8, 1864.
SESSIONS, John Henry, Financier, Man of Affairs.
John Henry Sessions, whose death on April 2, 1902, at Bristol, Connecticut, de- prived that community of one of its foremost business men and most public- spirited citizens, belonged to an old New England family, which had its origin in Wantage, Berkshire, England. Inquiries instituted by the family in America in 1889 at that place resulted in the discovery that the name had entirely disappeared from the county, and, indeed, that there was but one family of Sessions to be found in England. This was resident of Gloucester- shire, the county adjacent to Berkshire, and there was little doubt of the common origin of the two lines. The English Ses- sions were people of prominence in the community, J. Sessions, the head of the family, being in 1889 the mayor of the city of Gloucester, though at the time eighty years of age. The first to bear the name in this country, so far as can be traced, was Alexander Sessions, Seshins or Sutchins, as the name was variously spelled. He seems to have been born about 1645, as in a deposition made in 1669, he states his age as twenty-four years. The place of his birth is not known, however, but the same deposition proves him to have been a resident of Andover, Massachusetts, at the time it was made, and there is a record of his having been admitted as a freeman of that town in 1677. From his time down to the present time the Sessions held a prominent place in the community and maintained the reputation for worth and integrity be- queathed them by their ancestors. The
seventh generation from the original Alexander Sessions was represented by John Humphrey Sessions, one of the most distinguished members of his family and the father of John Henry Sessions, who forms the subject of this sketch. The elder Mr. Sessions was born in Burling- ton, Connecticut, but while still a mere youth came to Bristol, with the industrial development of which his name is most closely identified. His business, after the days of his apprenticeship, was for a time the operation of a turning mill at Polk- ville, a suburb of Bristol, but he later (1870) took over the business of trunk hardware manufacture, left by the death of his brother, Albert J. Sessions, and established the large and successful house, which later came to be known as J. H. Sessions & Son. Besides this large indus- trial enterprise Mr. Sessions, Sr., was identified with well nigh every important movement which took place in Bristol for the community's advancement. He was one of the prime movers in the introduc- tion into the town of many of the public utilities, including the water supply, the electric lighting plant and the first street railway, which came to be known as the Bristol and Plainville Tramway Line.
He was married to Emily Bunnell, also of Burlington, Connecticut, and to them were born three children, as follows: John Henry, the subject of this sketch; Carrie Emily, born December 15, 1854; and William Edwin, born February 18, 1857, and now president of the great Ses- sions Foundry Company at Bristol.
John Henry Sessions, the eldest child of John Humphrey and Emily (Bunnell) Sessions, was born February 26, 1849, in Polkville, Connecticut, while his father was engaged in carrying on his wood turning business in that place. He passed the first twenty years of his life in his native town and there received a liberal
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education in the excellent public schools of the neighboring place, Bristol. In the year 1869 the whole family removed to the center of Bristol, and four years later, Mr. Sessions was taken into partnership by his father in the latter's great trunk hardware business, the firm becoming J. H. Sessions & Son. After his father's death in 1899, Mr. Sessions became the head of the great business which flour- ished greatly under his able management. He shortly after admitted his son, Albert Leslie Sessions, into the firm which re- tained its name of J. H. Sessions & Son. During the presidency of Mr. Sessions, and later under that of his son, the busi- ness has taken its place as one of the most important of the great industries of Bris- tol. Mr. Sessions, as the head of the firm of J. H. Sessions & Son, was a conspicu- ous figure in the industrial and financial world of Bristol, and his business capacity still further enlarged his sphere of influ- ence, and associated him with many im- portant business concerns in that region. The Bristol Water Company, which was organized largely as the result of his father's efforts, on the death of its founder, elected Mr. Sessions president in the elder man's place, an office which he was admirably fitted to fill, having been intimately connected with the affairs of the company from its inception, and served continuously on its board of direc- tors from the first. Another of his father's enterprises with which he was connected was the Bristol National Bank. This in- stitution which has played so important a part in the financial life of Bristol, was founded in 1875 by a group of men of which Mr. Sessions, Sr., was one, and which chose him to head the new concern as president. After his death Mr. John Henry Sessions was elected vice-presi- dent, an office which he held until his death. He was one of the incorporators
of the Bristol Press Publishing Company. He was also a director of the E. N. Welch Manufacturing Company, of Forestville, Connecticut, after its reorganization. This concern was again reorganized after Mr. Sessions' death and became the Sessions Clock Company under the presidency of his brother, William Edwin Sessions.
While Mr. Sessions naturally found muchi of his time taken up with his mani- fold business interests, he was never at a loss for opportunity to aid in every move- ment for the advantage of the community. He was deeply interested in all that con- cerned the welfare of his fellow citizens, and interested in the conduct of public affairs. He was a member of the Repub- lican party, and worked heartily for the policies which that party has always stood for, but he never took an active part in politics as that phrase is understood, and his efforts were purely in the capacity of a private citizen. Though he consistently refused to be nominated for any elective office, a role for which his position in the community and personal popularity would have well fitted him, he did accept his appointment, in 1881, as a member of the Board of Fire Commissioners of Bristol, and held that office until his death, and from 1883 he was secretary of the board.
Mr. Sessions was an ardent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and one who devoted much energy to the work of his congregation, and supported in a ma- terial way the many philanthropies and benevolences in connection therewith. He was a prominent member of the Masonic order. The personal character of Mr. Ses- sions was such as to command respect and admiration from all his associates and a warm and genuine affection on the part of his personal friends. Charitable and tolerant in his judgments of other men he was unbending towards himself, and followed out the strictest code of
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morals and honor. He was one who, not content with a religion of profession, in- fused his beliefs into the daily conduct of his life in all its relations. Not a little did this appear in the ready charity with which he sought to relieve all want that came under his notice and assist worthy effort to bear its proper fruit. But though thus generous he shunned ostentation in- stinctively, and from pure native modesty obeyed the precept to "let not the left hand know what the right doeth." His loss was felt keenly not merely by his im- mediate family and the large circle of his personal friends, which his winning traits of character had drawn about him, but by all his associates, however casual, and, indeed, by the community at large.
Mr. Sessions was married, May 19, 1869, to Maria Francena Woodford, a native of West Avon. Connecticut, where she was born September 8. 1848. a daughter of Ephraim Woodford, of that place. To them was born one son. Albert Leslie Sessions, January 5, 1872, the present head of the business of J. H. Sessions & Son. Three years after Mr. Sessions' death the company was incorporated under the same name with Albert L. Ses- sions president. treasurer and general manager, and with himself, his mother and his wife stockholders and incorpora- tors. Albert L. Sessions was married, February 7, 1894. to Leila Belle Beach. a daughter of Hon. Henry L. Beach, of Bristol. They have been the parents of five children, as follows: Paul Beach, born November 19, 1895; Ruth Juliette, born May 14, 1897: John Henry, born July 12. 1898; and Judith H. and Janet M., twins, born May 21, 1901.
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