USA > Connecticut > Evening post annual 1884: 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 7
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Hos. JOHN ALLEN.
DISTRICT NO. 21
One of the most conspicuous persons in the Senate is Hox. JonN ALLEN of Okdi Saybrook. He is well known throughout the State, for he has been a prominent figure in business affairs. During the war he devoted himself to the ser- vice of the State, doing in its Legislative halls and for its financial interests what other noble men were doing in the field. In Hartford he is exceptionally well known, a daughter having married Hon. William Hamersley. The eld- est son of Levi Allen, a farmer and promi- nent citizen of Meriden, New Haven County, Conn., he was born at that place on the 6th day of February, 1815, and is a lineal descendant of Deacon Roger Allen, one of the early settlers of New Haven. After receiving a good Academic education he was placed in the store of Major Elisha A. Cowles, in his native town, where, 11
under the several changes in the style of the firm, he served a clerkship from the age of fourteen to twenty. In the spring of 1-36 he removed to New York and entered the employ of Perkins. Hopkins & White, wholesale merchants, then extensively engaged in the dry good jobbing business with the South. He remained with that firm in confidential relations through a period of unusual instability and difficulty in the mercan tile affairs of the country, during which tinde, by active participation in the business, he gained valuable experience in having the foundation of his future prosperity. Upon the reorganization of that firm in 1942, he became interested as a partner with Perkins & Hopkins; and upon a subsequent organization, was of the house of Hopkins, Allen & Co It was, however, as a member of the best muned firm, whoge high ropa
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tation was a fitting tribute to its enterprise, integrity, and success, that he became promi- nently known to the business world.
On the 10th day of November, 1847, he was married to Mary Ann Phelps, daughter of the late Hon. Elisha Phelps of Simsbury, Connecticut.
His intercourse with the people of the South made him familiar with their views and policy in reference to the institution of slavery, and perceiving the growing antagonism between free and slave-labor, which foreshadowed serious dif- fieulty to the country, he resolved to withdraw from mercantile business (then conducted largely upon eredit) and established a residence in the town of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, where his family now resides. Being in active sympathy with the Government of the United States, in its efforts to maintain its integrity and suppress the rebellion, he received an unsought nomina- tion to represent the Nineteenth Senatorial Dis- trict in the State Senate of Connecticut, and was elected thereto in 1863, and again in 1864, and in both years was Chairman of the Joint Stand- ing Committee on Finance, whose labors were of the highest importance in that critical period of public affairs when the State was raising money for the war. The financial measures recommended by that committee and adopted by the legislature not only enabled the State to creditably place its full quota of men in the field, but established a policy in the revision of the tax laws which has met the approval of the people of the State for twenty years and reduced to a minimum amount the public debt. The present equitable method of taxing railroad property, on the basis of what it will sell for, by which the market value of its stock and bonds is made the measure of value of such property for purposes of taxation was suggested by him.
On the 17th day of June, 1864, Mr. Allen introduced into the Connecticut Legislature the first resolution in favor of the abolition of slavery by constitutional amendment, which resolution was as follows :
GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
May Session, 1864.
" WHEREAS : The formidable rebellion now existing against the authority of the United States originated in a conspiracy to subvert our free institutions and establish a separate govern- ment based upon the institution of human slavery ; and whereas such slavery is incompatible with the peace, prosperity, and nnion of all portions of our common country, therefore be it
" Resolved: That our Senators and Representa- tives in Congress be and they are hereby requested to use their efforts to secure the passage by Con- gress of the proposed amendment of the Consti- tution of the United States forever prohibiting human slavery within the limits of the National Union.'
He was one of the delegates from Connecticut to meet a convention of loyal Sontherners at Philadelphia on the third day of September, 1866, called to give expression to the sentiments of the people in support of Congress against the defeetion of Andrew Johnson. He was promi- nent in the movement that arrested the " peace flag " heresy at Saybrook or the raising of any flag not representing all the States of the Union. He was one of the Fellows of the Corporation of Yale College while he was Senator in the year a foresaid, the old law being that the six senior Sen- ators were members ex-officio of that corporation.
In the Hayes presidential campaign of 1876, Mr. Allen was a Republican Presidential Elector in this State.
In 1867 he was elected President of the Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville Railroad Company of the State of Illinois, which position he held in the active administration of the property for many years, during which time that part of its road from the town of Virginia to the city of Jackson- ville was constructed.
In 1883 he was again elected to the State Sen- ate from the Twenty-first District, formerly the Nineteenthi, and was made Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Railroads, a position of no little responsibility, but for which his exper- ience in Railroad affairs eminently qualify him. Mr. Allen is a sterling Republican, but is liberal in his political views concerning non-essentials.
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HON. JOSEPH W. ALSOP.
DISTRICT NO. 22
Hox. Josien W. Aisor of Middletown, Den- ocratie Senator from the Twenty-second District. entered upon the second half of his second term in the Senate with this session. He was first elected in 1850, and again in 1852. At each of these sessions at which he has represented his District, he has been Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, and has served with ability and success. He was born in New York City in August, 1-35, and was educated at the Yale and Columbia Scientific Schools. He also porene a complete course of medical study, graduating from the Medical Department of the University of New York in Fact. Heserved in both Board- of the Middletown Court of Common Council, und was a member of the House from Middle town in 1573, holding the position of Chairman
of the School Fund Committee on the part of that body. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Connectiont Hospital for the Insane at Middletown, and also of the Industrial School for Girls: also of the Russell Library of that city. Trustee and Treasurer of St. Luke's Home, and occupies other local offices of trust and responsibility. Senator Al-op is interested in agriculture and stock breeding, and his he wn ing has been of incalculable value as Chatnon of the Agricultural Committee, while in other branches of legislation his scholars atta moest. knowledge of affairs, and executive abelhas que von for him the esten and complete et Li- associates. He is Chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations, and one 'ninished Business
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HON. MILO W. PEMBER.
DISTRICT NO 23.
HON. MILo W. PEMBER of Vernon, Republi- ean Senator from the Twenty-Third District, is no stranger in the path of legislation, he having been an influential member of the House in 1-77, 1880, and 1881. He has been Treasurer of the Vernon Town Deposit Fund, and is a Director in the Rockville National Bank. In business life he has been very successful, and has built up a large trade in woolen goods. He was born in Ellington, Jannary 16, 1533, and received a com- mon-school education. His early life was passed on a farmi, but since the age of twenty one years he has been a resident of Vernon, his home being in Rockville. Senator Pember is an active and
energetic Republican, and has worked most ethi- ciently in behalf of the interests of the party in Tolland county. The whole-heartedness with which he is accustomed to prosecute all his undertakings renders him a valuable leader or ally in political affairs, and accounts largely for the influence which he everts in legislative de lib erations, His convictions are prompt, earnest, and conscientious, and are adhered to with a tenacity which tolerates no opposition that is not founded on the best of promises of the clearest of evidence. Senator Pember occupies in the pres ent Legislature the important position of Code man of the Committee on Humane Institutions
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Hos. EBENEZER C. DENNIS.
DISTRICT NO. 24
Hos. EBENEZER C. DENNIS of Stafford, Repub- lican Senator from the Twenty-Fourth District, is also serving his second term in the Senate. In 1881, 1882, and last year, he was Chairman of the Committee on Claims, and rendered vah- able service, especially in the Detective Farley. Avon murder claim. He was born at Hardwick, Worcester County, Massachusetts, July 26, 1834, and received a common-school and highschool education. He graduated from the New Salen, Mass., Academy, of which the famous Virgil M. Howard was principal. For a period of twenty years he was engaged in the wholesale hide and leather business, but is now occupied with the grain trade, both wholesale and retail. He has held the office of Assessor at Stafford for a number of
years, and also Chairman of the Board of Select- men. Ile has taken a prominent part in local affairs, and was at one time Warden of the Borough of Stafford, and has been a Director in the Stafford National Bank for several years Since 1556 he has been a Republican, and his character, both in private and public affairs, has made him a valued member of the party. Sena for Dennis was first elected a member of the Senate from the Twentieth District, but mider the new apportionment Stafford was included In the Twenty - Fourth, the District which ke row represents. In the Senate this year hele Chair man of the Committee on Fisheries and of the Committee on Contingent Expenses
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HON. HENRY B. HARRISON.
THE SPEAKER
HENRY BALDWIN HARRISON was born at New Haven, Sept. 11, 1521, and is therefore in his sixty-third year. He studied at John E. Lovell's Lancasterian School in New Haven, and while taking the academic course at Yale, was Mr. . Lovell's assistant. Notwithstanding this double strain he was valedictorian of his class-that of 1516. He fitted himself for the profession of law and began practice with Lacins G. Pork, a prominent Whig. Mr. Harrison was an ardent " Henry Clay Whig." In 1854 he was nomi- nated by the Whigs for Senator in the Fourth District and elected by a vote of 2,599 against 1,715 for Charles Atwater, jr., Democrat. Hle was Chairman of the Committee on Prohibitory Liquor Law, and as such, framed the Maine law, which, although practically inoperative because public opinion did not seem to be behind it, was
so well constructed that it withstood all the legal assaults made upon it on constitutional grounds. He also drafted the Personal Liberty bill, that really nullitied the Fugitive Slave law, which had been so prolific of perjury. By this the penalty for even pretending that a free person was a slave Was fixed at five thousand dollars ting and tove year in State Prison. Perjurer- were Similarly provided for, and strong provisions were hearted to secure the enforcement of the law passage of the Kansas Nebraska bill be interested himself carneth in the slaves question and associated himself with the Free Sed jourty wird which he continued to urt until the party bommen merged in the Republican orgmontan Ie te winter of '30 '56, Mr Human w ney the handful of men who united the Republic party in this State, and became the soufflante por
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Lieutenant-Governor in the spring of 1856. Gideon Welles of Hartford was the nominee for Governor. Mr. Harrison received 6,921 votes. The infant party had no hope of victory that year. Mr. Harrison was an ardent Republican through the struggle just before the civil war, and during the rebellion was a strong friend of Lineoln's administration, but he could be pre- vailed upon to accept no offiee. He eontinned to adhere closely to the law, in which he made a reputation for himself second to no man in the State. He assisted Charles R. Chapman of Hartford in the defense, at New Haven, of the murderer Willard Clark, who was acquitted on the sole gronnd of insanity. To this result his hard work contributed, but he never set much store by his triumph. It was as a business man's lawyer, as counsel for banks and corporations, in the interpretation of wills and the settlement of estates, that he found eongenial oceupation. Ile was methodical and persistent, and to these qualities, rather than to a vagne genins, his snc- cess is to be attributed. His reputation as a pro- found and conscientions lawyer was not made by any one ease, but by all his cases. In 1865 he was chosen Representative from New Haven with Eleazer K. Foster, and while his colleague beeame Speaker he was made House Chairman of two important committees-Railroads and Federal Relations. He prepared and reported a bill having in view low rates of commutation on railroads but it was defeated in the Senate after having passed the House. At the same session he made an elaborate speech in favor of amend- ing the constitution by erasing the word " white," so as to allow colored men to vote. This proba bly added more to his reputation than anything he had ever done. The prominent and impor- tant part he took in the debates pointed him out
as the coming Republican candidate for Governor. He could have had the nomination in 1866, but friends of Gen. Hawley-just returned from the war-urged the claims of their favorite, and Mr. Ilarrison, without solicitation, wrote a letter posi- tively withdrawing in the General's favor. He admitted that a war-stained patriot deserved the preference. In 1873 he was chosen to the House from New Haven with James F. Babeock, Dem- ocrat, and served with his usual efficieney on the Judiciary Committee. At this session he was also Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Convention and reported a bill for the calling of such a convention. He supported the bill in a carefully prepared argument which nobody even attempted to answer ; but the fears of the country members were excited and the House voted the bill down. The next year he was nominated for Governor. John T. Wait was on the ticket as Lientenant-Governor. Owing to sectional dis- sensions in the party he was defeated, although he polled nearly 40,000 votes. In 1878 he was considered a strong compromise candidate before the Republican cancus for United States Senator, but the choice finally rested upon O. H. Platt of Meriden.
Mr. Harrison's re-appearance in polities was not until last fall, when, owing to Democratic strife in New Haven he was nominated as Repre- sentative and elected by about 1,200 majority.
As Speaker of the Honse, for which position he was manimonsly singled out as soon as his election was known, he presides with strict impartiality and for the best interests of the whole commonwealth. Mr. Harrison married a daughter of Judge T. B. Osborne, of Litchfield and New Haven, who was a professor in the Yale Law School, has no children, and enjoys a competency.
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STEPHEN A. HUBBARD
Of Hartford, was born at Sunderland, Mass., AAugust 20, 1827, and received a common and select school education. Governor Charles B. Andrews, now Judge of the Superior Court, was born also at Sunderland. Mr. George Hubbard, an ancestor of Mr. Hubbard, was one of the original settlers of Hartford, and a member of the first General Court. A son of George Hlub- bard, by name John Hubbard, settled with the Rev. Mr. Russell, at Hadley, Mas. One of his descendants was one of the first settlers at Sun- derland. Mr. Hubbard's grandfather, Major Caleb Hubbard, was an old Revolutionary soldier, and was nt Bunker Hill and at the sur- render of Burgoyne. Mr. Hubbard learned the printers' trade at Amherst, Mass., on The Ilimy shire and Franklin Express. After that he worked on The Northampton Courier, The Greentea Ga selle, and alsoon The American Repetto, one of the original Fre Soil papers in Massachusetts In 1550 he went to New York City and remained
there three years, working in The Evening Post printing department, principally in the law book publishing section, and in Snowden's job office in Wall street, attached to The Cowchef and Foperer. In 1533 he returned from New York, and with Thomas M. Clark, started The Winsted Herald. On Mr. Clark's retiring from Be Held, the poet, Mr. E. C. Stallman, now of New York, was received into partnership with Mr. Hubbard. This arrangement continued for a year and half, when Mr. Clark, who, in the me mitime, had been conducting The Bridgeet Land, returned from that chy, and resmed kis partnership with Mr. Hubbard. They rensined in business to rather mail April, 1561, when My Hubbard w .- called to Hartford In General Joseph R Hawley. and placed in charge of the bestges department of The Pening l'es
listed for the three merle' servis, and desired
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telegraphed to Mr. Hubbard : " I have enlisted. Come in and see me." That proved to be the initial step in Mr. Hubbard's long connection with Hartford journalism. The arrangement, which was to last only three months, has con- tinned for twenty-three years. In 1867, when the proprietors of The Press became interested in The Courant, Mr. Hubbard became the managing edit- or of the latter, and has since held that position. One of his associates on The Press was the late Win. Faxon, who was called from his newspaper field to the Assistant Secretaryship of the Navy under Gideon Welles. Mr. Hubbard represented the town of Winchester in the Legislature in 1855. He was also Town Clerk there during that year. Ile took an active part in the Fremont campaign in 1856, and from that time his acquaintance with public men in the State rapidly increased. In 1858 he was a member of the Republican Convention which nominated the late Senator William A. Buckingham for Governor, whose associates on the ticket were Jnlins Catlin for Lientenant-Governor, John Boyd for Secretary of State, Lucins JJ. IIen- dee, now President of the Etna Insurance Co., for Treasurer, and William H. Buell of Clinton, for Comptroller. Since then he has frequently served as a delegate in Republican Conventions, and was a member of the Convention that nomi- nated Charles B. Andrews in 1878, acting as a substitute for the Hon. Henry C. Robinson. He has never sought nor desired political position for himself, but both his inclination and his position as a journalist have led him into activity in politics, as a worker in the ranks, in all the pres- idential, State, and local campaigns of the last twenty-five years. He has been ready to give largely of his time and strength to any cause which enlisted his sympathies, or for the support of men representing the principles in which he believed. His life work has been that of a journalist. He is a director in the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company. During the past summer he spent three months abroad with General Hawley, traveling in Great Britain and on the Continent. For several years Mr. Hubbard was an active member of the Hartford City Guard. and is at present connected with the Veteran Association of that command. As a citizen of Hartford he possesses the fullest confidence of the public.
FITCH L. BISHOP
Of Avon, has been first Selectman of that town for five years, and was a member of the House in 1870. He is a farmer by occupation, and in politics is a Republican. Mr. Bishop was born at Avon, October 5, 1828, and received a com- mon school education.
SAMUEL C. WILCOX
Of Berlin, was born at Berlin, December 11, 1811, and received a common school education. He has been an active business man, having held the positions of President of the Roys & Wilcox Company of Berlin, also of the J. O. Smith Manufacturing Company, and the Berlin Iron Bridge Company, director in the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company, the Plinix National Bank, and the Southington National Bank. But of late he has not been actively engaged in business pursuits, living in retirement. For the last seven years he has held the position of first Selectman in Berlin, and is a Democrat in politics.
HENRY GRAY
Of Bloomfield, was born at Windham in 1825, and graduated from the Medical Department of Dartmouth College in 1847. He was formerly a resident of Eastford, where he held the office of Town Clerk and Treasurer. His medical prac- tice has commanded his attention almost exclu- sively for thirty years. Early in life he was engaged in teaching, and for the past sixteen years he has held the position of Acting School Visitor at Bloomfield. He has also been Super- intendent of the Sunday-school connected with the Congregational church in Bloomfield for twelve years. Dr. Gray's grandfather, Samuel Gray, was Depnty Commissary General under Governor Trumbull; he graduated from Dart- month in the first class ever graduated from that institution. Dr. Gray's father, Thomas Gray, was a lawyer well known in the eastern part of the State, and a graduate of Yale College. In politics he is a Republican, and his election was a Republican gain, the town of Bloomfield hav- ing been Democratic for a number of years.
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LEVERETT BRAINARD
Of Hartford, is one of the leading business men of this city, and is closely identified with its in- dustrial, insurance, and financial institutions. He is the Secretary and Treasurer of The Case, Lock- wood & Brainard Company, the largest printing and publishing house in Connecticut ; President of the Hartford Paper Company, which controls an extensive industry at Poquonoe and Rain- bow ; Director in the .Etna National and State Savings Banks, in the Orient Fire, the . Etua Life and the Connectient General Life Insurance Companies, and also in the Hartford Silver Plate Company. Mr. Brainard's business interests and investments have been located principally in Hartford, his preferences for the most part having been in favor of manufacturing industries. No better business man could have been selected for Representative from the Capital City, and he ably sustains in that capacity the highest aims, purposes, and instincts of the business man.
He has been engaged in active lite here to upwards of thirty years, and ha- impressed kine self in the most favorable manter on the login -- history of the city. He because a re-ile ! Hartford in 1853, when he was die tell the ip-t Secretary of the City fire Insurance Company, For two years before that time he was the tie eral Manager of the Pittsburgh Late summer Company at Pittsburgh, l'a. He remained with the City Fire until he entered into pommiers500 with the old firm of Ore, Lock wood & Bestand Subsequently the firm was thespanned by the tary and Treasurer, a postlite with le
izers of the Hartford Paper Gaggen, which is two mills at l'ognon and Randers, the daily capacity of the works belig si ton of Une bad and colored paper, He les beer the smoothie spirit in the compras for twenty ve
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brother, Albert Brainard, was Treasurer of the Company until his death, which occurred four years ago. Mr. Brainard has represented the Second ward in the Court of Common Couneil, and has always manifested a deep interest in local affairs and the prosperity of the eity. He was formerly an active member of the Governor's Foot Guard, and is at present connected with the veteran corps of that organization. At the November election he led his ticket by 220 votes, his total vote being 3,848. The vote for Senator aggregated 3,628, while that for liis associate on the Representative ticket was 3,520. Ilis vote may be accurately considered the measure of his personal popularity and standing with his con- stituents. Mr. Brainard was born at West- chester, in the town of Colchester, February 13, 1828, and received a substantial common school education there, the public school at Westchester affording special advantages by reason of the Day Fund which belongs to it. Afterwards he pur- sned a course of study at Bacon Academy, pre- paring him for educational work. He engaged in teaching for two years at Colchester and Salem, after which he entered the insurance business. His father was Amazialı Brainard, who twice represented the town of Colchester in the General Assembly. When Mr. Brainard was thirteen years of age, his father died, leaving to him, under his mother's direction, the care of the homestead, on which he spent his early life. From the time he was thirteen years old until now he has been a ceaseless worker, and the splendid business reputation which he has established has been the work of his own brain and hands, the proper record of intelligent industry and enter- prise. Although a new member of the House, his large business experience places liim among the foremost in influence with liis associates.
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