USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 40
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Mr. Rockwell was always strongly at- tracted to a business life, for which he is singularly well equipped. His alertness, ambition, and ability to concentrate upon his work have made him a master of de- tail. Upon leaving the South, in 1888, Mr. Rockwell came to Connecticut, locat- ing in Bristol. He was the founder of the New Departure Manufacturing Company, which had its beginning in 1889, and which was incorporated in 1890. At the start, a short stretch of bench room, a handful of men including officers, all in overalls, constituted the New Departure plant. Its progress and growth were rapid, and under the able and judicious
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management of Mr. Rockwell, who held the office of president, a large quantity of material was produced. Steadily through- out the years the growth continued, and although Mr. Rockwell has severed his connection with the corporation in order to devote his entire time to other of his business interests, the men and officials who worked with him in the early days recall his efforts and untiring interest in the furthering of that growth.
Mr. Rockwell is thoroughly in touch with modern requirements. He is a man of the hour, and possesses the skill and ability to meet the demands of the pres- ent time. Hence, as the president of the Marlin-Rockwell Corporation, of which he was the founder, with headquarters at New Haven, Connecticut, Mr. Rockwell has, through his mechanical genius and executive ability, contributed to its suc- cess. The Marlin-Rockwell Corporation operates thirteen different plants, employ- ing fifteen thousand hands, and therefore ranks among the leading industries of that section of the State. In that critical time in the history of our country, when a dollar to back our fighting forces easily meant more than two dollars in six months hence, Bristol did her part nobly, and the officers and employees of the Marlin-Rockwell Corporation subscribed more than two and a half million dollars to the Fourth Liberty Loan, having also subscribed more than four millions to former loans, and Mr. Rockwell, person- ally, bought two hundred thousand dol- lars' worth of bonds. Great credit is due all participants, for they made sacrifices of a nature hitherto unknown, and every dollar loaned the government in her hour of need helped to bring the war to a close.
Despite the heavy demands upon his time, Mr. Rockwell has found time to de- vote to the furthering of those movements which tend to enhance the general wel-
fare. He has been several times chosen to fill offices of trust, and is officially con- nected with several financial and indus- trial corporations, acting as president of the Bristol Brass Company, and of the American Silver Company of Bristol, Connecticut. He is a Republican in po- litical principle, and was the choice of his constituents as their representative in the Connecticut Legislature in 1907 and 1909. He holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Franklin Lodge, No. 56, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons; Knights of Pythias; the Country Club of Farmington; Middle- town Yacht Club; Highland Country Club; Fishers Island Sportsman's Club ; St. Margaret Salmon Club ; Union League Club of New York, and Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia.
Mr. Rockwell was twice married; De- cember 24, 1898, he married Nettie E. Williams, born December 24, 1865, daugh- ter of Kilborn and Martha Williams. Children of first wife: Bernice L., born August 18, 1886; Lea W., born August 16, 1888; and Hugh, born April 16, 1890.
McCURDY, Charles Johnson, Jurist, Legislator, Diplomatist.
This eminent jurist was born in Lyme, Connecticut, December 7, 1797. After re- ceiving a public education he fitted him- self for college and entered Yale College, where he graduated in 1817. He then studied law with Judge Zephaniah Swift, and was admitted in 1819 to the bar at New London, Connecticut. He rapidly gained prominence in his profession, and entering into the political life of the State he was elected Representative to the State Legislature, serving during the sessions of 1827-29, 1833-34, 1838, 1840-41 and 1844. He was Speaker of the House for three sessions, and was a State Senator in 1832. Judge McCurdy held the office of
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Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut in 1847 and 1848. He was appointed United States Charge d' Affaires to Vienna, Aus- tria, by President Fillmore in 1850, and was succeeded by F. M. Foote in 1852.
Returning to his native State from his foreign diplomatic office, he renewed the practice of law at New London, Connec- ticut, and in 1856 was appointed a judge of the Superior Court, and subsequently advanced to the Supreme Bench, serving until 1867. He was the author of the law in Connecticut allowing principals in criminal suits to testify in their own behalf.
Judge McCurdy was an active member of the Peace Conference at Washington, District of Columbia, in February, 1861. The degree of Doctor of Laws was con- ferred on him by Yale College in 1868. He was the last survivor of his class, the oldest living Yale graduate in 1890, and was lecturer on life insurance at that in- stitution from 1873 to 1875. His death occurred at Lyme, Connecticut, June 8, 1891.
NILES, John Milton, Journalist, Public Official.
John Milton Niles, famous as a jour- nalist and politician in the stormy days of the Jackson administration, was born in Windsor, Connecticut, August 27. 1787, and died in Hartford, Connecticut, May 31. 1856. He was a son of Moses and Naomi (Marshall) Niles, and a grandson of Benjamin and Lucy (Sill) Niles. His father was a native of Groton, Connecti- cut, and removed to Windsor prior to the Revolutionary War.
John Milton Niles attended the com- mon school in his native place but, moved by ambition and a determination to rise. he studied law under John Sargent. How- ever, his activities were not concentrated,
and he was not admitted to the bar until he was thirty years of age. He entered upon practice in Hartford, but, discerning many years of effort before him until he could attain sufficient distinction in the legal profession to satisfy him, he re- turned to journalism, and there found his true vocation. In the very year of his admission to the bar he founded the Hart- ford "Times," and with the aid of strong men whom he called to his aid, he soon made the paper a recognized power in the New England States, enjoying for the time a phenomenal circulation. Mean- time he had taken an active personal in- terest in politics. In 1821 he was elected an associate judge of the County Court, an office which he held until 1829; in 1826 was a Representative in the General Assembly; and in 1827 was a candidate for the State Senate, but was defeated.
He became a national character in 1828, when he gave an influential support to the presidential candidacy of General An- drew Jackson. In recognition of the val- uable support "The Times" had given him, very soon after his inauguration, President Jackson appointed its editor, Major B. II. Norton, postmaster at Hart- ford. This greatly incensed Mr. Niles who, as founder and publisher of the paper, claimed the credit for its support of General Jackson, to whom he person- ally appealed, with the result that Norton was dismissed from the post-office, and Niles appointed in his stead. Norton, however, was somewhat appeased with an appointment in the Boston Custom House. On the death of United States Senator Nathan Smith in 1836, Niles was chosen to fill out his unexpired term, ex- piring March 3. 1839. In 1840 President Van Buren appointed him Postmaster- General in succession to Amos Kendall, deceased, an office in which he continued less than a year, retiring March 3. 1841, at
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the close of the Van Buren administra- tion. He was the Democratic candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 1839 and 1840, and was again a United States Sen- ator, 1843-49. In 1851 he made a tour of Eu- rope, and on his return abandoned politics, devoting himself to agriculture and horti- culture, and to his books. He amassed a comfortable fortune, which at his death he dispensed with judicious benevolence. His largest bequest was one of $70,000 in trust to the city of Hartford, directing that the income therefrom should be be- stowed upon the worthy poor. He ac- cumulated a valuable library which he left to the Connecticut Historical Society. He was the author of a number of volumes : "The Independent Whig," 1816; "Ga- zetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island," 1819; "History of the Revolution in Mex- ico and South America, with a View of Texas," 1829; "The Civil Office," 1840; "Loss of the Brig Commerce upon the West Coast of Africa," 1842.
Mr. Niles married (first) June 7, 1824, Sarah Howe, daughter of William Robin- son, and widow of Lewis Howe. She died November 23, 1842. He married (sec- ond) November 26, 1845, Jane H. Pratt, of Columbia county, New York, who died several years before him, in September, 1850.
PIMM, Alfred Bladon,
Business Man.
Possessed of a strong determination to achieve his aims and that quality of good judgment and business acumen necessary to the man who would make a success of his chosen calling, Alfred B. Pimm, of the corporation Blake Brothers & Pimm, dealers in commercial paper, although comparatively a young man, has attained an enviable position among the younger business men of the city of Hartford. Mr.
Pimm was born September 5, 1875, in the town of Newington, Connecticut, son of Ebenezer and Anne (Bladon) Pimm. The name of Pimm is a very old one and is found as far back as 1250, at which time it was located in Somersetshire, England, and was originally spelled Pym.
Ebenezer Pimm, father of Alfred B. Pimm, was born in Birmingham, Eng- land, in 1840, and was a son of William Pimm. His educational opportunities were limited, but availing himself of every opportunity he acquired a knowledge of the carpenter's trade, and at the age of eighteen years went to South Africa, where he followed this occupation for the succeeding three years. Returning to England, he remained a short time before sailing for America. On arriving in this country, he first located in Detroit, Michi- gan, where he was at work at his trade until 1869. In the latter year he came to Hartford, and in a small way engaged in business on his own account as a contrac- tor. He continued in this manner for some years, meeting with success in his undertaking and making a reputation as a high class workman. Mr. Pimm is now retired from active business cares, enjoy- ing a well deserved rest. He married, just before coming to this country, Anne Bladon, daughter of James Bladon, na- tives of Birmingham, where James Bla- don was long engaged in the business of glass manufacturing. The Bladon family is one of the oldest in Birmingham. Mr. and Mrs. Pimm were the parents of seven children, five of whom grew to maturity. They are: Lillian, wife of Charles Yea- ger ; Annie, married Lynde May; Effie Frances ; William; and Alfred Bladon, of extended mention below. Mr. and Mrs. Pimm are regular attendants of the New- ington Congregational Church, active in its good works and contributors to its support.
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The elementary education of Alfred B. Pimm was secured in the schools of New- ington until he reached the age of eleven years. The ensuing three years he spent as a student in the Hartford schools, and immediately upon his graduation he en- tered the employ of Stedman & Redfield (dealers in commercial paper) in the ca- pacity of a stenographer. He was in the office of that firin for a dozen years and had acquired a wide and extensive knowl- edge of business transactions. In order that he might gain an insight into all its phases, he spent some time as a salesman on the road in the interests of that firm. Mr. Pimm was in the employ of the above named firm for over a quarter of a cen- tury, to be exact, twenty-six years, and in those years he had worked faithfully and diligently, learning every detail of the business and equipping himself to realize his ambition to be at the head of his own business. Mr. Pimm retired from his po- sition in 1917, at which time he was hold- ing the office of credit man of the firm, sufficient indication of the ability he pos- sesses and of the value he was to his employers. The same year, Mr. Pimm organized the corporation of which he is now the acting head in this city (Hart- ford), and the business is conducted under the name of Blake Bros. & Pimm. He is a member of several of the progres- sive organizations of the city, among them: The Rotary Club, City Club, Se- quin Golf Club and Hartford Automobile Club. Mr. Pimm is a veteran of the Span- ish War in which he served as a member of Company K, First Connecticut Volun- teer Infantry, and by virtue of this service holds membership in the Spanish War Veterans' Association of Hartford.
Mr. Pimm married Norma Frances, daughter of Norman Eaton, of Hartford. Mr. and Mrs. Pimm are the parents of
five children : Phyllis, Alfred Bladon, Jr., Constance, Norma, and Rhoda Pimm.
Of a very domestic nature, Mr. Pimm does not seek many outside interests, ex- cept those of a nature affording recreation from business such as golf, of which sport he is an ardent devotee. Mr. Pimm is fond of travel and has visited all of the princi- pal cities of his own country and has also been abroad several times. In this man- ner he has acquired a broad knowledge on miany matters of interest, and can speak interestingly about many scenes visited in his journeyings. As would naturally be expected of a man of Mr. Pimm's pro- gressiveness, he takes interest in civic affairs, although he is not a seeker for any preferment in office. He is willing to aid insofar as he is able in the furtherance of those movements tended to enhance the general welfare, but desires to do so quietly and without any display. His greatest pleasure and relaxation is found within his family circle, and in reading, especially books of travel.
GILMAN, Daniel Coit, First President of Johns Hopkins University.
The American ancestor of Daniel Coit Gilman was Edward Gilman, who was a son of Edward Gilman, who was a son of Edward Gilman, from the parish of Cas- low. England. The latter married. June 12, 1550, Rose Rysse. Edward Gilman, the American immigrant, was the second son of this marriage, and was one of a party of one hundred and thirty-three men, women and children that Rev. Rob- ert Peck, of Hingham, England, led from their native country to America. The ocean voyage was made in the ship "Dili- gent," of Ipswich, England, commanded by Captain John Martin, and amongst those who composed the pilgrim band
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were Edward Gilman with his wife, who was Mary (Clark) Gilman, with their three sons, two daughters, and three ser- vants.
Edward Gilman, the immigrant, settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, where he was admitted a freeman, December 13, 1638; three years later a grant of land eight miles square, then called Seekonk, now Rehoboth, was granted to Edward Gilman and others by the Plymouth Col- ony. His name does not appear in the records of Seekonk after 1646, but the fol- lowing year it is recorded at Ipswich, Massachusetts. His sons, Edward and John, subsequently removed to Dover, New Hampshire, and from the latter of these the subject of this narrative was de- scended. John Gilman was one of the first counsellors under the provincial charter, a judge, and Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. From this sterling New England ancestry there was born at Norwich, Connecticut, July 6, 1831, Daniel Coit Gilman, son of William C. and Eliza (Coit) Gilman.
The boyhood days of Daniel Coit Gil- man were spent in his native town, at- tending the common school. His prepa- ration for his collegiate course was ob- tained in New York City. Later he be- came a student at Yale College, graduat- ing in 1852. He then devoted two years to observation and study in Europe, dur- ing which period he was first attached to the United States Legation in St. Peters- burg, Russia ; subsequently he became a student under Ritter and Trendelenburg in Berlin, and then a commissioner to the French Exhibition in 1855. Returning home that year, he became successively librarian of Yale College, Professor of Physical and Political Geography in the Sheffield Scientific School, trustee of the Winchester Observatory, and visitor of the Yale School of Fine Arts. While con-
nected with Yale College, he was for a short time city superintendent of schools in New Haven, and subsequently secre- tary of the State Board of Education.
It was in 1872 that he accepted the office of president of the University of California, to which he was originally called two years previous. He became the first president of that institution, and was instrumental in securing from capi- talists large gifts, notably the Francis Lieber Library, also $50,000 from Michael Reese; the Agassiz chair of oriental lan- guages; the Mills chair of philosophy ; $100,000 for a law college ; a gymnasium ; and he assisted in securing the Lick Observatory. The university prospered under his administration, and he remained as president until 1875, when he was called to Baltimore, Maryland, to become the first president of the Johns Hopkins University. This institution, which has trained a large number of professors, in- vestigators and lecturers, soon under his management took first rank among Amer- ica's scientific and literary schools of learning.
President Gilman was called upon in 1889 to aid in the organization of an allied institution, the Johns Hopkins Hos- pital, of which he was made a director. He was one of the original trustees of the John F. Slater fund for the education of the freedmen, and was for some time sec- retary and subsequently president of the board of trustees of the fund; also he filled the office of vice-president of the Peabody Education Fund. He resigned as president of Johns Hopkins University in 1901, and was made president emeritus, and the same year became president of the Carnegie Institution, Washington, D. C., a position he filled for three years. In the meantime he had become editor-in- chief of "The New International Cyclo- pædis," and also president of the National
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Civic Service Reform Association. Pres- ident Gilman held many and various po- sitions in scientific, literary and civic asso- ciations. lle was a corresponding mem- ber of the British Association, and the Massachusetts Historical Society; an officer of the Public Instruction of France ; president of the American Oriental So- ciety, 1893-1906; president of the Ameri- can Social Science Association ; counse- lor and vice-president of the Archeologi- cal Institute of America ; president of the Association of Colleges in the Middle States. He also was one of the board of visitors of the United States Military and Naval Academies ; a member of the com- mittee of awards at the Atlanta Exposi- tion in 1895 ; a commissioner on the boun- dary line between Venezuela and British Guiana, 1896-97; a member of the com- mittee to draft a new charter for the city of Baltimore, in 1897; also a member of the Board of School Commissioners for that city, in 1900; and a trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation. On his gradu- ation from Yale he received the degree of A. M., and in 1876 he was honored by Harvard University conferring upon him the degree of LL. D. He also received the latter degree from St. John's College in 1876; from Columbia University in 1887; from Yale University in 1889; from the University of North Carolina in 1889; from Princeton University in 1896: from the University of Toronto in 1903; from the University of Wisconsin in 1904; from Clark University in 1905 ; and from William and Mary College in 1906.
Both theoretically and practically, President Gilman was much inter- ested in physical, historical and political science. He published a large number of reviews, reports and educational papers appearing from time to time in such peri- odicals as "North American Review," "Cyclopedia of Political Science," etc. He
was eloquent as a speaker, making note- worthy addresses before the American Social Science Association at meetings held in Baltimore and Boston, upon the benefits that the university confers upon society in general. No less notable was his eloquent address at the opening of Sibley College at Cornell University, and at the opening of Adalbert College at Cleveland, Ohio. Besides his strictly edu- cational writings, he was the author of the bi-centennial discourse at Norwich, Connecticut, published privately in 1850; an inaugural address published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 1876; "Life of James Monroe," Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1883, and a second edition in 1898; "University Problems," Century Com- pany, 1888; "An Introduction to DeToc- queville's Democracy in America ;" "Life of James D. Dana, Geologist," Harper Bros., 1899; "Science and Letters in Yale," 1901 ; "Launching of a Univer- sity," Dodd, Mead & Company, 1906.
President Gilman's first marriage was celebrated in 1861, to Mary, daughter of T. Ketcham; she died in 1869. His sec- ond marriage took place in 1877, to Eliz- abeth Dwight, daughter of John M. Woolsey, librarian and secretary of the Sheffield Scientific School, and Professor of Physical and Political Geography, Yale University. President Gilman died at Norwich, Connecticut, October 15, 1908.
BREWSTER, Chauncey Bunce,
Protestant Episcopal Prelate.
Chauncey Bunce Brewster, a lineal de- scendant of Elder William Brewster, of Scrooby, England, the spiritual head of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth in America, was born at Windham, Connec- ticut, September 5, 1848. He was the son of Rev. Joseph Brewster, who at the time of the birth of the son was rector of the
Conn-7-19
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parish at Windham, and was afterward rector of parishes at New Haven, Connec- ticut, and Brooklyn, New York. Through his mother, Sarah J. (Bunce) Brewster, Bishop Brewster is descended from two of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut.
The early education of young Brewster was received in the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, Connecticut, and he entered Yale College as a freshman in the class which graduated in 1868. He maintained high scholastic rank in both school and college, taking many prizes in English composition and in debate, and was unanimously elected class orator. He was for a year after his graduation a post- graduate student, and the next year a tutor in Greek and Latin at his alma mater. He then studied theology in the Berkeley Divinity School at Middletown, Connecticut. After being ordained a dea- con in 1872, he served as assistant rector of St. Andrew's Church, Meriden, Connec- ticut. The following year he was or- dained priest, and entered upon the rec- torship of Christ Church, Rye, New York, where he remained until 1881. In that year he removed to Detroit, Michigan, to become rector of Christ Church in that city, and while there represented the Dio- cese of Michigan as clerical deputy in the General Convention of 1883. He was rector of Grace Church, Baltimore, Mary- land, from 1885 to 1888, when he became rector of Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, New York. While he was the parochial head, a parish house was purchased out of the offerings of the people. He repre- sented the Diocese of Long Island in the General Convention of 1892, also in that of 1895, and served the diocese on the standing committee.
He was consecrated as bishop-coadju- tor to Bishop Williams, of Connecticut, October 28, 1897, and upon whose death, February 7, 1899, he succeeded as bishop
of the diocese. He thus became the fifth Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Connec- ticut, and the one hundred and eighty- third in the succession of the American episcopate. During his ministry Bishop Brewster, in addition to his active duties, has been a frequent writer on philosophi- cal and religious topics. His publications are : "The Key of Life," 1894; "Aspects of Revelation," 1901 ; "The Catholic Ideal of the Church," 1905; "The Kingdom of God and American Life," 1912. In addi- tion, he has contributed articles on similar subjects to the "Andover Review," and to various other periodicals of like character. His sermons are distinguished by literary grace, and breadth and grasp of the un- derlying principles of theology. An agreeable speaker "on occasion," espe- cially at academic gatherings, both as a clerygman and man he is respected and beloved for his abilities and the unaf- fected simplicity of his nature. He is independent in politics, and is largely concerned with sociological problems. Though a scholar, his interest goes far beyond the world of books-to the hu- manity to whose service his life is dedi- cated. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Trinity Col- lege in 1897, by Yale University in 1898, and by Wesleyan College in 1903.
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