USA > Connecticut > Evening post annual 1882: biographical sketches (with portraits) of the state officers, representatives in Congress, governor's staff, and senators and members of the General Assembly of the state of Connecticut > Part 10
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EBENEZER FRANCIS FOSTER
Of Redding, was a member of the House in 1871, and has filled a number of local offices, including that of County Commissioner for three years. He is a millwright, and also follows farming, and is now Marshal of the County Agricultural society. In politics he is a Democrat. He was born at Ridgefield, and received a common school educa- tion. He is now fifty-five years of age.
EDWARD JESUP COUCH
Of Ridgefield, was born in Redding, July 17, 1828, and received his education in the common schools
of the town. Soon after reaching his majority he went South and resided there for a number of years, returning while still a young man and fol- lowing the business of hatting and agriculture. He is one of the Directors of the Ridgefield Sav- ings Bank. He has not held public office until the present session, and was elected, with his col- league, by the largest majority that was ever given in his town for Representatives. In poli- tics he is a Republican.
LEWIS ELLIOTT SMITH
Of Ridgefield, is a teacher by calling and has served eight years as a member of the town Board of Education. He has held a number of minor offices and been several times elected justice of the peace but did not qualify. This is his first term in the Legislature. He was born in the town he now represents, February 24, 1847, and attended public and private schools there, receiv- ing also private instruction. Politically he is a decided Republican.
ALLAN WALLACE PAIGE
Of Sherman, was born there February 28, 1854, and fitted for Yale at Russell's military school and the Hopkins grammar school in New Haven. He did not enter college, but after teaching for two years, and being connected for some time with the Springfield Republican, took up the study of law in the office of Hon. D. B. Booth of Dan- bury. He filled an appointment in the House in 1878, was messenger of the Senate in 1880 and candidate for the assistant clerkship in 1881 with the unanimous support of his county. In 1879 he entered the Yale law school, graduating in 1881 in the same class with Mr. Clinton Spencer and Mr. Charles P. Woodbury. In poli- tics Mr. Paige is a Republican.
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EDWIN LEWIS SCOFIELD
Is a young lawyer very well and favorably known in Stamford where he has been borough attorney and town counsel. He spent a single year with the Senior class at Columbia College Law School, and was admitted to the bar of Fairfield county immediately after completing his twenty-first
year. He is a strong Republican and at the last election was chosen first Representative in a democratie town by the largest majority, with a single exception, ever given to any representa- tive from the place.
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WILLIAM WRIGHT GILLESPIE
Of Stamford, has not previously held any politi- cal office, but proves a very useful member of the present House. He belongs to the sturdy Scotch-Irish stock-a race which has made its impress on the world's progress, and especially upon the commercial and political history of this country. He was born in Ireland, October 16, 1839, and on the death of his father, a distin guished teacher and writer, and a poet of some celebrity on his native heath, emigrated to Can- ada. While still a mere youth he removed to New York city, and here he remained till the fall of 1860, working at his chosen profession-that of a printer-in some of the largest offices of the city. In December of that year he was called to Stamford to become foreman in The Adeveate office. In 1867 he entered into partnership with the late Wm. S. Campbell, then proprietor of the paper, and after that gentleman's denth, which occurred the same year, beenme editor and chief proprietor of The Advocate, which position he has since retained. His education was liberal,
both his father and mother being teachers. Mr. Gillespie has given much attention to scientific and mechanical subjects, and a few years since entered the lecture field with great success Wherever he has appeared as a lecturer, he has been fortunate enough to enlist the closest atten- tion of his auditors, and receive such manifesta- tions of approval and appreciation on the part of those whom he addressed as must have been most gratifying and pleasing to hun His lee tures are given chiefly for the benefit of worthy objects-mechanie institutes, free reading mons. young men's Christian associations, and churches -in all of which he takes a lively interest. Mi Gillespie was elected a member of the present House by a majority of over one handfed, and that duct, considering Stanford a Democratle town, it is necessary only to state to show his personal popularity using a people with when he has associated for upwards of a quarter of a century
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ANSON H. BLAKEMAN
Of Stratford, is a farmer, fifty years of age, and has occupied the positions of Selectman, Town Auditor, and member of the Board of Relief, holding the latter office now. He was born at Stratford, May 23, 1831, and received his educa- tion in the common schools of the town in which he has since resided. Mr. Blakeman is a Repub- lican. He has always been active in politics, has been a member of the Republican Town Commit- tee for twenty years, and often Chairman of the same.
ELLIOTT P. NICHOLS
Of Trumbull, was born there June 27, 1823, and received his education in the common schools. He has filled the offices of Selectman, Assessor, and member of the Board of Relief. He has usu- ally been engaged in the manufacture of car- riages, being employed fifteen years in this busi- ness by Nichols, Peck & Co., and three years member of the firm of Nichols & Co., in the same business. He was also engaged for twelve years in the making of saddle-trees, and has
spent five years in raising fruit and vegetables. Politically he is a Democrat.
GREGORY THOMAS OSBORNE
Of Weston, was born at Weston, February 14. 1820, and educated in the common schools of the town. He is a farmer by occupation, and has served the town as Selectman and member of the Board of Relief, retaining the former office at the present time. Has for twenty-five years been engaged in buying and selling cattle. Is now engaged in selling agricultural implements. His political associations are with the Democratic party.
JOHN W. HURLBUTT
Of Westport, was a member of the House in 1880, and has not filled many of the usual minor offices, though he is now Assessor in his town. He is a drygoods merchant, and in politics acts with the Democratic party. He was born in New York, October 16, 1821, and received his education in a private school.
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JAMES T. HUBBELL
Of Wilton, was born at Norwalk, March 17. 1855, and educated at Wilton Academy. He has filled a number of local offices, including those of Constable, School Visitor, and Deputy Registrar of Voters, and is now Acting School
Visitor. He is a student at law in the office of General William Randall Smith, and in politics is a Democrat and adherent of the party on na- tional and State issues, but not a blind partisan.
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HENRY M. CLEVELAND
Of Brooklyn, first entered the Legislature in 1867, serving during that year as Chairman of the Committee on Education. In 1877 he was again chosen to represent Brooklyn, and was assigned to the Committees on Insurance, Con- tingent Expenses of the General Assembly, Final Adjournment (of all which he was Chairman), Federal Relations, and Judicial and County Ex- penses. His experience in public affairs has been considerable, outside of the Legislature. In 1868 he was elected a member of the State Board of Education, and afterwards was ap- pointed agent to enforce the law providing for the attendance at school of children employed in mills and factories. He served on the board the full term of four years. While a member of the House of 1877 Mr. Cleveland, the late Judge O. S. Seymour, and Hon. D. P. Nichols were appointed a special commission to examine the condition of life insurance companies. He also served upon a special commission on State Ex- penditures, his associates being the late Hon. L. F. S. Foster, Senator Joseph R. Hawley, ex- Governor Marshall Jewell, and Hons. Nathaniel Wheeler and A. N. Baldwin. Mr. Cleveland is a native of Hampton, and is in his fifty-fifth year. He has been engaged in mercantile business in this State and in New York City for many years, his partner in the metropolis being the late Mayor George Opdyke. Mr. Cleveland is a Re- publican.
DANFORTH O. LOMBARD
Of Ashford, Colonel Dean's associate, is a suc- cessful manufacturer of lumber and dealer in fertilizers and agricultural tools, and is well known to the business community of this and other States. His war record embraces three years and two months of service, first as musi- cian of Company D, Twenty-first Regiment Connecticut troops, then as First Lieutenant in the One Hundred and Twenty-first United States Colored Infantry, and later as Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Provost Marshal and Acting Quartermaster at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, under General Brisbin. Mr. Lombard has been Judge of Probate for the Ashford District and Notary Public during the past two years. He was edu-
cated at the East Greenwich Seminary, is a na- tive of Ashford, and was forty-three years of age on the 6th day of last June. He has always been a Republican.
MARVIN H. SANGER
Of Canterbury, has been before the public in one and another official capacity since 1857, and at a still carlier date filled important local offices with the same fidelity that characterized his ad- ministration of trusts conferred by the State. In the year named he was chosen to represent Can- terbury in the Legislature, and again in 1860. In 1873 he was elected Secretary of State, and was re-clected to that office in each of the three succeeding years, and left it with a record for executive ability and wise and prudent manage- ment. He is a representative Democrat of the progressive type, and is influential in the coun- cils of his party in something more than a local sense. Born in Brooklyn, on April 12, 1827, he is not yet fifty-five years of age, and is engaged in merchandising and farming. In 1852 he was elected Town Clerk and Treasurer of Canter- bury, and held the former office continuously until 1864, and still holds the latter, together with those of Judge of Probate and Justice of the Peace.
FRANCIS S. BENNETT
Of Canterbury, enters the Legislature for the first time. He was elected by Democrats, is a native of Canterbury, and was thirty-six years of age on the 28th day of January. He has been actively engaged during the last fifteen years as carpenter, house-joiner, and mill-wright.
ERASTUS M. LOOMIS
Of Chaplin, belongs to the great farming frater- nity, of which Windham County furnishes very good specimens this year, and is, moreover, a Republican. He was born in Andover, and was fifty-seven years old on the 29th day of October.
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CHARLES L. DEAN
Of Ashford, has the honor of being the third member of his family to serve in the State Leg- islature, the only instance, it is believed, of such snecession in the history of the town. His grandfather, Leonard Dean, represented Ashford in the House in 1833, his father, the late Hon. John S. Dean, in 1850 and 1859, and also the Fourteenth Senatorial District in 1877 and 1-78, and Col. Dean himself represented the town in 1881. In the latter session Col. Dean served on the important Committee on Railroads. His ex- perience in public affairs began when he was twenty-one years old, he having at that age been appointed Postmaster of Westford, an office he held twelve years. In 1869 he was appointed a Commissioner for Windham County, und he was continued in that trust nutil 1876. Upon the election of Governor Andrews he commissioned
Col. Dean as a member of his staff. He is a native of Ashford, and will become thirty -eight years of age on the 29th day of next May. Pur- ing the eight years ending in 1978 he was en- graged in the manufacture of gliss in Ashford. located in Boston in 1971, and since 1974 has been the senior member of the firm of Dem, Foster & Co., glass manufacturers, Boston Ie is regarded in mercantile circles, both in that city and throughout this state, as an alle end successful business man whose career is full of promise. He is a director of the Staford Na tional Bank, of Stafford Springs, and is propp- mently identified with the industries and progress of the town he represents He has always taken un netive interest in the Republican party, pod occupies it prominent and intent al position with his party m no thơm Windheim Conals
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SIMEON A. WHEATON
Of Eastford, who is fifty-two years of age, has been in mercantile business since he was twenty years old, and he is also extensively engaged in farming. He was born in Thompson on March 28, 1829, and was educated in the common schools and Woodstock Academy. He was onc of the Commissioners for Windham County, has hield several local offices, and is Agent of the Town Deposit Fund and member of the School Board. He is a Democrat.
DANIEL M. DEMING
Of Hampton, farmer and dealer in timber and lumber, is one of the Board of Relief of Hamp- ton, and has been one of its Selectmen. He was born in Wethersfield on August 15, 1820. He is a Republican.
ASAHEL J. WRIGHT
Of Killingly, has since 1875 been a teacher in the public schools of the town, but for some years before that date he was engaged in the jewelry business in Southington, in this State. Foster, R. I., is his birthplace, and he became twenty- seven years of age on the 29th day of last Sep- tember. He was educated at Proctor Academy, Andover, N. H. He is a Republican.
JAMES N. TUCKER,
Who is associated with Mr. Wright in the repre- sentation of Killingly, is a native of that place. He has been Registrar of Voters for a number of years, and Justice of the Peace, Assessor, and member of the Board of Relief. Hc is a farmer and a Republican. His age is thirty-three years.
HAVILAH M. PRIOR
Of Plainfield, has lived in the town he represents more than fifty years, having removed thercto from Bozrah, his native town, when two years old. He has just passed his fifty-second birth- day. He learned the trade of machinist, but has devoted the greater part of his life to farming. He studied at the common and select schools in youth. He has long been a Republican, and has acted with that party in the Legislature.
HENRY F. NEWTON
Of Plainfield, who is in the House for the first time, is a veteran of Company K, Twenty- first Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. He is a farmer and a Republican, and was born in Gris- wold on October 17, 1838, and is in his forty- fourth year.
THOMAS O. ELLIOTT
Of Pomfret, was also a member of the Legislature of 1881, and is therefore somewhat experienced in legislation. During the war he served as a private in Company K, Seventh Connecticut Volunteers. His age is thirty-nine years, and he is a native of Thompson. He has filled several local offices, is a farmer and a Republican.
FREDERICK HYDE
Of Pomfret, who announces himself as Demo- cratic in politics but independent in action, com- pleted his fifty-fifth year on the 15th day of December. He removed from Canterbury, his native town, to Madison County, N. Y., in 1863, and thence in 1866 to New York city, where for ten years he held an important trust in connec- tion with the Gold Exchange Bank. In the spring of 1879 he retired to Pomfret, and has since lived there, giving attention to some extent to farming pursuits. He has held many minor offices in his native town.
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THOMAS JONES THURBER.
Representative from Putnam, a lineal descendant of Gov. Jones of Rhode Island, was born in 1831. received a high-school education, and came from Providence in 1846 with his father's family to reside at North Killingly Hill, which place has since been incorporated within the limits of Put- nam, and is now known as Putuam Heights. After spending here six years and attaining his majority in 1852, he returned to Providence and entered the New England agency of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. His principals were the most systematic merchants, and rigidly ex- acting in their requirements of mercantile details He served them four years, und considers his subsequent business success due to the thorough training he there experienced. His next enguge- ment was as agent for Edward Harris, woolen manufacturer of Woonsocket, whom he repre- sented in New York for thirteen years, the last three years of which term he was allowed nul
interest in the business. The selling of one's awn goods was considered a doubtful experiment until this new departure of Mr. Harris from n commission house to the distribution of his large account through his own ngent proved a success under Mr. Thurber's management, and though his connneucement in 1-56 was suddenly followed by the panie of 1-57, his losses were less than one-half per cent. Mr. Thurber's next under- taking in the same line was for four years with Gardner, Brewer & Co's New York house, al from there to A. T. Stewart & Co's, where he And charge of the several domestic woolen mills owned by this concern. While in the employ of the latter firm it became apparent to Mr. T. that he was carrying too heavy a load, so, by advice of his physician, he followed ont a long cherished plan by retiring to the old home on the Heights in 1876, for recuperation, leaving his two sons in New York in the same line of business In the
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few years since clapsed Mr. Thurber has regained his health, found opportunity to develop plans for the good of others, filled minor town offices, and devoted himself to such scientific studies as in- terested him. He has ever been a student and lover of fine arts, and though disclaiming it as a profession, but indulging in it purely as a recre- ation, his creditable work in oil painting meets
with ready purchasers. In politics Mr. Thurber is a Republican, besides favoring all the promi- nent reforms of the age. A friend to education and a disciple of temperance, he is satisfied with no half-way measures for the promotion of these causes. Of a retiring disposition, lie is of course best appreciated by those who know him socially and intimately.
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LUCIUS HI. FULLER
Of Putnam, was a member of the House of 1881, serving with marked ability and prominence on the Committees on Banks and on Capitol Furni- ture and Grounds, having been clerk of the last- named committee. He is a native of Tolland, being a son of llon. Lucius S. Fuller-for two terms Senator from the Twentieth District-and will become thirty-three years of age on the last day of next Angust. He has been engaged in the business of fire insurance since he was eighteen years of age, and has lived in Putnam during the
last fourteen years. lle has held various local offices, including that of Warden of the Putnam Fire District, and is Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of that place: he also has been elected to the office of Justice of the Peace. Ile received a common-school and academic ednea- tion. In politics he is a staunch Republican, and recognized the present session as a prominent member. He has been assigned to the chairman ship, this session, of the very important Com- mittee on Fisheries
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MARTIN LUTHER BARSTOW.
Representative from the old and quiet town of Scotland, is one of its Selectmen also. He has been a Republican since the organization of the party, and acts with it in matters pertaining to legislation. He has held pretty much all the im-
portant local offices in his town, and is universally esteemed as a public-spirited and honorable citi- ze11. He is a farmer, and is also interested in mechanical pursuits. He was born in Willington on April 6. 1833.
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SILAS A. WAITE
Of Sterling, Republican, served faithfully as a private in the Twenty-sixth Connecticut Volun- teers during the late war. While charging with his regiment upon the fortifications at Port Hud- son, on Sunday morning, June 14, 1862, he was severely wounded. Mr. Waite was born in New- port, R. I., and is 42 years old. He has been engaged in the lumber business during the past two years, and is one of the Selectmen of Ster- ling.
EDWIN T. WHITE
Of Thompson, is another of the farmers who form a majority in this as in preceding Houses. He reached his forty-eighth birthday on the 18th of January, and is a native of Shrewsbury, Vermont. He has been Constable and is Assessor of Thomp- son. He votes with the Republicans.
WILLIAM HAMILTON ARNOLD,
Mr. White's associate, lives in that part of Thompson knowi as North Grosvenordale, and from 1867 to 1877 was postmaster of the place. He has been engaged in mercantile business as clerk and proprietor since his seventeenth ycar, and is now owner of a general store in Grosven- ordale. His age is thirty-four years, and he was born in West Woodstock. He is a Republican.
SAMUEL BINGHAM,
A native and lifelong citizen of Windham, and sixty-three years of age, is in the Legislature
for the third time this session. He was a mem- ber of the House in 1863 and again in 1881, serv- ing as chairman of the Committee on Banks in the first named year, and on the Committee on Finances in the latter year. Mr. Bingham is one of the oldest bank cashiers in the State, having served in that capacity in the Windham National Bank nearly forty-one years. In 1852 he was a presidential elector, and during the late war was commissioner of the board of enrollment of the Third Congressional district. He is a Republi- can.
HENRY MILTON BRADFORD
Of Woodstock, is a son of the late Dr. Milton Bradford, a name well known and held in esteem in Woodstock and the neighboring towns. Henry M. was educated at the high school of Woodstock, his native town, and at Phillips academy, Ando- ver, Mass. He is an Assessor and has been a Registrar of Voters. Born on November 7, 1846, he is in his thirty-sixth year. He is a farmer and a Republican.
ZENAS MARCY,
The second representative of Woodstock, was elected Justice of the Peace thirty years ago and has since continuously held that office. He is a farmer and acts with the Republicans, but reserves the right to vote for reforms of the day which may not be incorporated into the princi- ples of the party. He cast his first vote for Gov. Foote, the first Whig governor of the State. He was born in Woodstock, on December 24, 1812, and is but little more than sixty-nine years old. He was an original Republican.
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JOHN M. HALL
Of Windham, the Speaker of the present House, is an exceptionally brilliant and able young law- yer, and his elevation to the speakership is a deserved compliment to his talents and a recog- nition of valuable party service. His legislative experience covers a wider field, perhaps, than that of any other man of his age in the State, the present being his fifth term in the House, the preceding terms having been in the years 1870. 1871, 1872, and 1881. During these sessions he was a member of the Committees on Fisheries, Contested Elections, Constitutional Amendments, Railroads (of all which he was Chairman), Judi- ciary (twice), Establishment of Senatorial Dis- friet, and, in 1871, of the joint select committee which canvassed the vote for governor and other State officers, in view of alleged election frands at New Haven, and upon the strength of whose report the General Assembly declared the llon. Marshal Jewell Governor of the State. Mr. Hall is a native of the borough of Willimantic, und
was forty years of age in October. After graduat- ing from Williston Seminary. East Hampton. Mass .. in 1862, he entered Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1866. Immediately after leaving college he began the study of law, entering for that purpose a prominent law office in New York city, and at the same time taking the regular course at the Columbia Law School. In 1868 he was admitted to the Bars of New York city and Connectient, and in the spring of 1869 began the practice of his profession in Wil- limantic. where he has since resided. He is a member of the State Bar Association, and one of the Executive Committee of that organization. In his own town Mr. Hall has been Registrar of Voters, Acting School Visitor, Justice of the Pence, and Clerk of the Court of Probate He was a Corporation and has been a Director of the Pane Savings Bank of Willimantic, and is active in promoting the progress and interests of the borough His first vote was cast for Abraham
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Lincoln, and he has since been one of the most active of Republicans, giving the party at all times the cordial support of his voice and pen. In 1876 he was a Delegate to the National Repub- lican Convention at Cincinnati, and in the last national campaign he organized and was Presi- dent of the Garfield and Arthur Club of Willi- mantic.
WILLIS J. BEACH
Of Litchfield, is a graduate of the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons at New York, and is a prac- ticing physician in the town which he represents. For the past ten years he has held the office of Town Clerk, and is a prominent citizen of the place. Dr. Beach was born at Litchfield, Feb- ruary 9, 1844, and has always resided there. He is a member of the Democratic party, and is popu- lar with all classes. The present is his first term in the Legislature.
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