USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 34
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were living ; fifty-seven grandchildren, of whom forty-one were living ; and fifty-six great-grandchildren. Children: Samuel Hart, Lois, Jonathan, Rasselsas, Agnes, Marcus, Israel, William Lewis, Seth, Nel- son, John Viets, Lucy Susanne, Harriet Atwood, Lurena.
(VI) William Lewis Whitney, son of Samuel Platt and Lois (Buttles) Whit- ney, was born in East Granville, Massa- chusetts, June 17, 1809, died at South- wick, Massachusetts, in November, 1835. and was buried in Granby, Connecticut. He married, in Granby, in 1832, Emme- line Holcombe, born in 1814, in South- wick, Massachusetts, daughter of Elijah and Betsy (lves) Holcombe, of South- wick. They were the parents of William Iliram Whitney, of further mention. Emmeline Holcombe was half-sister of Amasa Holcombe, scientist, and inventor of the telescope, who was born at North Granby, Connecticut, June 18, 1787, the son of Elijah Holcombe, 2d., and Lucy, daughter of Silas Holcombe, of Simsbury, Connecticut. He was a descendant in the sixth generation from Thomas Holcombe, who settled in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1630, and in the fifth generation from Mary Bliss Holcombe and Nathaniel Hol- combe, of Springfield, Massachusetts. He supplemented his common school educa- tion by a course in reading scientific sub- jects, and took private pupils to instruct in mathematics, civil engineering, survey- ing and astronomy. He finally made a telescope to assist him in teaching the subject of astronomy, and was told by Professor Benjamin Stilliman, of Yale, to continue their manufacture. This he did for several years, selling numbers of them in Europe and America. He had no com- petition for twenty years in the manu- facture of reflecting telescopes, and in recognition of his skill as a scientist was awarded the Scott Medal by Philadelphia
in 1825 ; a silver medal from the Franklin Institute in 1838, and a gold medal by the New York American Institute in 1839; in 1840 a diploma from the same society. He made the first daguerrotype photo- graph in this country from his instru- ments. Williams College gave him the degree of Master of Arts in 1837. He was a Methodist preacher for thirty years ; was a justice of the peace thirty-two years; three years in the State Legislature. He died at Southwick, Massachusetts, Feb- ruary 27, 1873.
(VII) William Hiram Whitney, son of William Lewis and Emmeline (Hol- combe) Whitney, was born in South- wick, Massachusetts, April 2, 1834, and died July 1, 1916. He was an exception- ally well educated man, and represented the publishing house of Cowperthwait & Company in New York State for many years. Mr. Whitney was keenly inter- ested in educational subjects and became an authority. In fact, the Whitney home in Enfield, and also in Brooklyn, New York, became the rendezvous of many brilliant men who constantly sought the opinion of their host on educational ques- tions. He married Rosina Bostock, born in Nottingham, England, December 21, 1840. Four daughters and two sons were born: Anna, September 2, 1862; Ed- mund Carelton, February 23, 1868, died April 29, 1871; William Hiram, Jr., of further mention ; Mabel, October 1, 1873; Amy, October 28, 1878; Edith, October 4, 1885.
(VIII) William Hiram (2) Whitney, son of William Hiram (1) and Rosina (Bostock) Whitney, personifies to a re- markable degree the most striking char- acteristics of the Whitneys. Born in En- field, Connecticut, October 4, 1869, he early showed great delight in working on the land. The many things connected with his boyhood work, which the aver-
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age boy would consider hardships, were to him opportunities for getting closer to nature and the land. From time im- memorial, the Whitneys have been lovers of land, tillers of fields and raisers of flocks and herds. Throughout his broad and varied career, with its pronounced commercial success, William Hiram (2) Whitney has been imbued with this in- nate Whitney love of the land.
He was educated in the public schools and Connecticut Literary Institute, en- tering the employ of Leach, Shewell & Sanborn, New York publishers, on the completion of his studies, and subse- quently going with Cowperthwait & Company, also publishers. Seeking a more active life, at the age of twenty, he went West, locating at Castle Rock, Colorado, thirty-three miles south of Denver, where he devoted two years to the lumber business under the firm name of Holcomb & Whitney, whence he re- turned to the East and immediately en- tered the paint business, working his way up from the bottom with the King Paint Manufacturing Company of Brooklyn, New York, to the position of superin- tendent. With seven years experience, and after mastering the manufacturing and selling of paint, he organized the Colonial Works, Inc., Brooklyn, New York, and established numerous famous brands of paint, selling practically in all of the world's markets. The success of Colo- nial Works, Inc., has been notable, due in large measure to Mr. Whitney's rugged perseverance, resourcefulness and determination to produce only quality products. Colonial Works, Inc., alone might well be an enviable monument to mark any man's career.
On October 16, 1895, at Enfield, Con- necticut, William Hiram (2) Whitney married Mary Harriet Pryor, daughter of George and Charlotte Elizabeth Abbe
Pryor, of Enfield, the Pryors being an old Enfield family. There are three daugh- ters: Anna Kincaid, Elizabeth Abbe, and Mary Elizabeth.
Notwithstanding an exceptionally ac- tive business life, and with many inter- ests constantly before him, William Hiram (2) Whitney has given much of himself and means to the development and maintenance of the beautiful family estate, Enfield Farms, at Enfield, Con- necticut. He has also devoted a great deal of time especially to the constructive breeding of the Duroc-Jersey hog. Mr. Whitney's objective in breeding has been to raise the standard of the Duroc-Jersey and make its merits known universally.
As a distinct contribution to the Whit- ney family history, and in keeping with its finest traditions, there is perhaps nothing which is more genuinely typical of those traditions and nothing more likely to be of definite and lasting benefit to thousands of Americans than William Hiram Whitney's wholehearted interest in "flocks and herds." All has been done without thought of profit, no ulterior mo- tive has prompted the development of Enfield Farms, and only a native love of "flocks and herds" could possibly steel a man to give years and the best of him- self to making it easier for others to suc- ceed in, constructive breeding.
Mr. Whitney is also prominently identi- fied with numerous clubs and civic organ- izations, working for the betterment of conditions and interested in welfare movements. Twice he has been elected president of the Eastern Duroc-Jersey Association, and also served as president of the Commerce Club. He was one of the founders of the Green Point National Bank of Brooklyn, and is one of its direc- tors. Mr. Whitney is also interested in the following: Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Manufacturers' Association
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of the United States, Travel Club, Ameri- can Exporters' Association, National Paint and Varnish Association, Brook- lyn Charities, director of Brooklyn Young Men's Christian Association, Editorial, One of Three Men Neighborhood Work.
It is always gratifying to any man, after spending his time and giving freely of his means to better local conditions and institutions, to have a great metro- politan newspaper comment editorially on his efforts. Mr. Whitney received such recognition from the New York "Mail" in the form of a voluntary edi- torial tribute mentioning him as one of the three men who had most unselfishly aided Brooklyn's institutions and given most of themselves to improve conditions to a marked degree. Such civic work has been an inspiring part of Mr. Whitney's interesting and many-sided career, and remains to-day in enduring form stamped on Brooklyn's institutions.
HURD, Alonzo L., Physician, Public Official.
The late Dr. Alonzo L. Hurd, of Som- ers, Connecticut, was not only a leader in his profession, but a citizen of the first ranks, for he rendered a service during his career which any State might well feel proud of. Bringing to the study of his profession a general and classical edu- cation of unusual breadth and thorough- ness, Dr. Alonzo L. Hurd, during his medical course, acquitted himself with honor in his classes, and gave promise of a career of usefulness in his profession that the passing years and especially the more than a quarter of a century that he passed in Somers, Connecticut, amply fulfilled. He was known in his town and throughout the vicinity not less as a public-spirited, progressive citizen than as a physician of talent and ability. He
was well known in Somers, and his death was a great loss to the coinmunity and all those who knew him.
Dr. Hurd's father was Jacob Edward Hurd, who was born in Sanford, Maine, in 1831, and died in 1918, in Somers, Con- necticut. He was a farmer of Maine, and a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the Fourth Battery of Maine Heavy Artillery throughout that conflict. He married Phoebe Samanthe Blake, who was born in Brownfield, Maine, about 1836, daughter of Benjamin Edward and Elmira (Rogers) Blake, a member of an old New England family. Vilruveus Hurd, grandfather of Dr. Hurd, was born at Oak Hill, now Sanford, Maine, was a ship carpenter at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and married Patience Wood- worth, born at Dover, New Hampshire. Vilruveus Hurd was a son of Jacob Hurd. born in England, the immigrant ancestor of the line herein traced.
Alonzo L. Hurd was born in Brown- field, Maine, August 20, 1858, and there attended the public schools, graduating from the high school in the class of 1878. Immediately entering the University of Maine, he was graduated in the class of 1882 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. During 1885 and 1886 he was a student in the University of New York, subsequently continuing his studies in the University of Vermont, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine from that institution in 1891. For a time Dr. Hurd was engaged in special work in the hos- pitals for the insane of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and he was also asso- ciated with Dr. Wentworth, of Lowell, Massachusetts, for a short time. He established in practice in Somers in 1891, and in that place continued his profes- sional work among a clientele in whose affection and regard he had become firmly fixed during the years of his pro-
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fessional administrations until his death, November 9, 1919. Although his prac- tice was for the most part of a general medical nature, Dr. Hurd performed nu- merous operations during this time, and he was frequently called upon for such assistance by fellow practitioners of the section. He was health officer of Som- ers, and during the period of military activity served as a member of the Medi- cal Examining Board of his district. Dr. Hurd was a member of the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, the Ancient Order of United Work- men, and was a communicant of the Con- gregational church. In politics a sup- porter of the Republican party.
Dr. Alonzo L. Hurd married, in Al- bany, New York, September 5, 1892, Belle A. Archer, born January 22, 1864, in Agawam, Massachusetts, daughter of Andrew and Jane (Wilson) Archer. Dr. Alonzo L. and Belle A. (Archer) Hurd were the parents of one son, Archer Lewis, born May 6, 1901, a graduate of Somers grammar and Enfield high schools, now attending Wesleyan Uni- versity. Mrs. Hurd survives her hus- band and retains the family residence in Somers.
BATTERSON, James Goodwin,
Father of Accident Insurance in America.
While the fame of Mr. Batterson prin- cipally rests upon the founding in Amer- ica of accident insurance, his life work covered other fields which brought honor to himself and benefit to many. He was an artist whose creations are among the finest monuments and edifices in the coun- try ; a lover of science whose researches. extended from the earth to the starry heavens; a litterateur who wrote with classic elegance; and a prime factor in community and political life.
Mr. Batterson was born in the old town of Wintonbury (now Bloomfield) Con- necticut, February 23, 1823, and died in Hartford, September 18, 1901. His Amer- ican progenitor, James Batterson, came from the North of Ireland with the early Scotch Presbyterian immigration. George, son of the immigrant, settled in Fair- field county, Connecticut, and married Mary Oysterbanks, of Welsh ancestry. Their son George (2) served in both the army and navy during the entire period of the Revolutionary War. He married Mary Seeley, and they were the parents of Simeon Seeley Batterson, a pioneer in the building stone industry, and who mar- ried Melissa Roberts.
James Goodwin Batterson, son of Sim- eon Seeley and Melissa (Roberts) Bat- terson, passed his boyhood in Litchfield county, where he attended the ordinary schools, and laid the foundations of a re- markably vigorous constitution. As a youth he was noted for his feats of strength and leadership among his fel- lows. He fitted for college in Western Academy, but being without means for further education, he set out from home to become self-supporting. Traveling mostly afoot, he reached Ithaca, and ap- plying for employment in a printing of- fice, obtained it through his ability to translate a Latin sentence which had per- plexed the proprietor. While here at work, he devoted his evenings and spare hours to study. Returning home, he took employment in his father's stone-cutting shop, but determined to avail himself of the first opportunity for a learned career. This soon led him to the office of Origen S. Seymour (afterward Chief Justice of of the State), and he was making rapid progress with his law studies when a change in family circumstances obliged him to return home to the assistance of his father. While greatly disappointed in
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the abandonnent of the profession he had chosen, he resolutely met the necessities of the case, and accomplislied a success- ful development and expansion of his father's business, which he soon removed to Hartford. There he enlarged its scope from cemetery and foundation work to contracting building on a large scale, be- ginning with the State Savings Bank and the marble front Phenix National Bank. In 1857 he was awarded the contract for the General Worth equestrian monument in New York City. In 1875 he incor- porated as the New England Granite Works, with $250,000 capital, operating quarries at Canaan, Connecticut ; and also in Rhode Island and New Hampshire. He not only installed the best known me- chanical devices, but he invented a lathe for cutting and polishing stone columns, such work theretofore being only done by hand. He gave his personal attention to the work on the great granite pillars for the State Capitol at Albany, New York. Scarcely an important city or cemetery in the country is without Bat- terson granite work. The company con- structed the National Soldiers' Monument at Gettysburg; the Alexander Hamilton statue in Central Park, New York City ; the West Point monument of General Thayer, founder of the Military Acad- emy ; the Antietam battlefield monument ; the monument at Galveston, Texas, to the memory of those who fell in the Texas revolution ; the General Halleck monument at San Francisco; and the General Wood monument at Troy, New York, the latter a sixty-foot shaft weigh- ing nearly a hundred tons. Among the Company's great buildings are : The Con- necticut Mutual Life Insurance, Hart- ford; the Equitable and the Masonic Temple, New York; the Mutual Life, Philadelphia ; the City Hall, Providence ; and the thirty-story Park Row building,
New York. The finest, however, is the Congressional Library in Washington City, exquisitely fashioned of gray Con- cord granite. Another of the famous Bat- terson buildings is the Capitol at Hart- ford, costing nearly two million dollars. In 1860 Mr. Batterson established marble works in New York City, and from which have come the interiors of many of the notable buildings of the metropolis, as well as of various large cities.
Mr. Batterson's business career, as out- lined above, gave him less fame, however, than did his recognition as the founder of accident insurance in America. While visiting England, he became acquainted with the accident insurance beginnings in that country, and upon his return he se- cured a charter for railroad accident insurance, having it amended the next year to cover all classes of accidents, and again in 1866 to include all forms of life insurance. This was the origin of the famous "Travelers." There was keen op- position, but the Batterson interests acquired or outlived all rivals. The first premium received by the "Travelers" was two cents, for insuring a Hartford banker from the post office to his home, and from this small beginning has grown a business with assets of over seventy million dol- lars, a capital stock of two and a half mil- lions, and writing single policies in hun- dreds of thousands.
His principal business, however, did not bound either the interests or the capabili- ties of Mr. Batterson. He delved into the law, and learned how to maintain his rights and how to avoid litigation. He studied geology under J. G. Percival, the Connecticut poet-geologist, for whom he acted as guide in the first geological sur- vey of the State; and in 1858-59, in com- pany with the eminent Brunel, he visited and studied the stone formations, pyra- mids and tombs, along the valley of the
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Nile, and similarly in the Mediterranean basin. His interest in and knowledge con- cerning Egypt made him an honorary secretary of the Egypt Exploration Fund, and also gave him distinction as a leading authority on Egyptology. He was also diligent in astronomical observations. In art and literature he was an enthusiast. He acquired a rare collection of paintings and works of sculpture. He was an ad- mirer of and familiar with the classical languages, and was one of the founders of the Greek Club of New York City . He col- lected one of the largest and best private libraries in the State, and particularly rich in Americana. He was a careful and indus- trious writer, especially upon subjects of sociological importance, such as taxation, and the relations of capital and labor. In 1896 he wrote an important work on "Gold and Silver," which was particularly timely, and was recognized as a first au- thority by the sound money parties. He published translations from the "Iliad" in blank verse; an elaborate work, "Crea- tion" (the title subsequently changed to "The Beginning") ; and a number of poems of varied subject and range, in- cluding "Lauda Sion," translated from the Latin of St. Thomas Aquinas. He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Yale and Williams colleges, and from Brown University. In religion he was a Baptist. His business and social relationship were varied. He was a direc- tor of the Hartford National Bank and of Case, Lockwood & Brainerd Company ; vice-president of the Wadsworth Athen- æum; a trustee of Brown University ; a member of the Colonial Club; the Con- necticut Society, Sons of the American Revolution ; the American Statistical As- sociation : the Society of Biblical Litera- ture and Exegesis; the Hartford Scien- tific Society ; the New England Society of New York; the American Association for
the Advancement of Science; the Yale Alumni Association ; the Hartford Board of Trade; and the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Mr. Batterson was for many years a political factor in the State, always gov- erning his conduct by loftiest principles. He aided in the organization of the Re- publican party, and held to it loyally to the last. During the Civil War he was a mighty supporter of the Union cause, and of its great leader, Lincoln. He had op- portunities of and desire for military dis- tinction, but turned them aside for sake of the usefulness he could be in civic con- cerns at that critical time. Throughout the entire war he was chairman of the Republican State Central Committee of Connecticut, and chairman of the war committee. He exerted himself to the utmost to keep the State in the Republi- can column, and to provide its various quotas for military service, and succeeded to such a degree that the State contrib- uted more men to the army than was re- quired of her. He was a tower of strength especially in the various elections, which were at various times saved through his tact and determination, and resulting in the choice or retention of congressmen and governors who were devoted to the Union cause. He spent much time and money in relief work for soldiers and their families. In public gatherings his power- ful voice, persuasive manner, ready wit and cogent reasoning, made him a mag- netic speaker, and he was a gifted presid- ing officer. The fact that he resolutely declined to accept all offices, elective or appointive, tended greatly to the enlarge- ment and maintenance of his great politi- cal influence.
Mr. Batterson married, June 2, 1852, Eunice E. Goodwin, born April 6, 1827, died January 16, 1897, daughter of Jona- than Goodwin. Children: Clara Jean-
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nette, born January 17, 1855, died May 16, 1868 : Mary Elizabeth, became the wife of Dr. Charles C. Beach, of Hartford ; and James Goodwin Batterson, Jr., connected with Travelers' Insurance Company.
PEARNE, Wesley Ulysses, City Judge, Useful Citizen.
In the death of Judge Pearne, which occurred at his home in Middletown, July, 1917, that city lost one of its most useful and public-spirited citizens, whose serv- ices have been many and in various ca- pacities. Judge Pearne was born April 1, 1851, in New York City, and was de- scended from a family which originated at Rochester Bridge, in the district of Lon- don. The family was identified with the Episcopal church.
The first known was Francis Pearne, who was the father of Rev. William Na- thaniel Pearne, a native of England. About 1820 he came to this country, set- tled first in New York City, and was em- ployed as a bookkeeper by the Blackball Line of Clipper Ships. In 1825 he removed to New York Mills, Oneida county. New York, where extensive cot- ton mills are located, and was there as- sociated with the mills in a clerical capac- ity. While a resident there, he became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Hannah Hall, who was born in London, a daughter of Thomas Hall, several of whose sons set- tled in the United States. Their eldest son, William Hall Pearne, was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and presiding elder at Memphis, Tennessee, during the reconstruction days, and for some time superintendent of police and instrumental in stamping out gambling in that city. During the Civil War he was a member of the Christian Committee. An- other son, Thomas H. Pearne, Methodist
minister, was a pioneer of Oregon, a dele- gate from that State to the Republican National Convention in 1864, at which Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the second term as president. He was also connected with the Christian Commis- sion, and after the war was editor of "The Whig" at Knoxville, Tennessee ; was sub- sequently United States consul at Kings- ton, Jamaica. He was author of the book known as "Sixty-one Years of Itinerant Christian Life in Church and State."
Benjamin Marshall Pearne, son of Rev. William Nathaniel and Hannah (Hall) Pearne, was born June 22, 1826. He was a carriage maker by trade, and for some time held a government position in the United States navy yard at Brooklyn. He married Emily Ann Swathel, born in August, 1826, in New York City, daugh- ter of William and Sarah Shipman (Clark) Swathel. William Swathel re- sided for a time at Middletown, Connec-
ticut. Sarah Shipman Clark was the daughter of Jared Clark, and grand- daughter of Colonel Edward Shipman, of Chester, Connecticut. He was captain of a Saybrook company in the Revolution, the Sixth Company, Colonel Charles West's regiment (Seventh). Under the same colonel in the Nineteenth Regiment of the Continental army, he participated in the battles of White Plains and Prince- ton, was major of the regiment in 1779, and colonel of the First Battalion under General David Waterbury in 1781. He was descended from Edward Shipman, who sailed from Hull, England, in 1639, and located in Saybrook, Connecticut, in the records of which town his name ap- pears as Shipton. He was admitted free- man in October, 1667, and died September 15, 1697.
Wesley Ulysses Pearne, son of Benja- min Marshall and Emily Ann (Swathel) Pearne, was reared in New York City and
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in Central New York. His education was supplied by the Academy at Oxford and the State Normal School at Cortland, New York, from which he graduated in June, 1870, and immediately thereafter entered the Wesleyan University at Mid- dletown, Connecticut, from which he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1874. Immediately, he began the study of law in the office of Hon. Samuel L. Warner, of Middletown, and in 1879 was admitted to the bar. He opened an office in the Bank building in Middletown and engaged in the practice of law. In April, 1879, he was made clerk of the Middle- town City Court, in which office he con- tinued until April, 1895, when he was ap- pointed judge of that court and filled this position with conspicuous ability to the time of his death, which occurred very suddenly. He went about the perform- ance of his usual duties and retired in apparent good health, but died before morning. Judge Pearne was very active in many affairs in Middletown, being a member of the Common Council from 1880 to 1883, and in 1901 represented the town in the General Assembly, acting as house chairman of the Committee on Cor- porations. In 1905, he was again Repre- sentative and was house chairman of the Committee on Railroads. In 1880, he was elected a member of the Board of Educa- tion of the Middletown City School Dis- trict, and with the exception of four years, from 1882 to 1886, continued in that body until 1907, and during the entire period was secretary of the board. In 1893 until his death, he was county health officer, and for thirty-one years was organist of the First Congregational Church of Mid- dletown. His religious views were very liberal, and he was much devoted to mu- sic. On January 12, 1875, he enlisted as a private in Company H, Second Regi- ment, Connecticut National Guard, and gave twenty-three years of service in the
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