Evening post annual, 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, 1885, Part 2

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Evening Post Association
Number of Pages: 190


USA > Connecticut > Evening post annual, 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, 1885 > Part 2


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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104


Nicholas Staub of New Milford (Portrait),


139


Eleazur B. Kingsbury of Coventry,


154


Levi Stone of New Milford,


143


Henry E. H. Gilbert of Coventry (Portrait). 121


William J. Ferguson of North Canaan,


143


John Thompson of Ellington.


154


Joseph Selden of Norfolk,


143


Loren A. Waldo of Hebron,


Rufus P. Seymour of Norfolk,


143


George C. Hutchinson of Hebron,


150


Ira N. Bevans of Plymouth,


143


David C. Hooker of Mansfield, 156


156


Erastus D. Goodwin of Salisbury,


144


Lambert W. Cady of Somers,


Andrew J. Spurr of Salisbury (Portrait),


141


Henry M. Gager of Somers,


156


Erastus A. Deming of Sharon,


144


John P. Hawley of Stafford,


157


Edwin P. Parker of Thomaston,


144


Levi M. Reed of Union,


157


Henry I. Jackson of Torrington,


144


Silas W. Newell of Union,


10.


Clarence H. Barber of Torrington,


144


Crossley Fitton of Vernon,


107


Tallmadge Swift of Warren,


144


Charles Phelps of Vernon,


15%


Henry E. Bradley of Washington,


144


James Hoyle of Willington (Portrait),


Philo Wright of Willington,


Charles B. Mattoon of Watertown,


144


Isaac B. Woodruff of Winchester,


145


Henry Gay of Winchester,


145


Benjamin S. Russell of Woodbury,


145


Frank R. Ford of Woodbury,


145


MIDDLESEX COUNTY.


Michael W. Lawton of Middletown,


148


John Carroll of Middletown,


148


George M. Clark of Haddam,


150


John A. Warner of Haddam,


150


George A. Strong of Chatham,


148


Mayo S. Purple of Chatham,


148


-Etna Life. ..


Sylvester W. Clark of Chester,


148


-Phoenix Mutual Life


Asa S. Pelton of Clinton,


149


-Travelers.


Charles P. Sage of Cromwell,


149


..


-Connecticut Mutual Life


Henry G. Newton of Durham,


149


..


-Connecticut Fire.


Irving W. Charter of East Haddam,


149


-Hartford Fire.


John S. Griffin of East Haddam,


149


. .


-Connecticut General Life


Alfred E. Goddard of Essex,


149


-Orient Co.


Washington E. Griswold of Killingworth,


150


..


-Hartford Steam Boiler-


Randolph S. Burr of Killingworth,


150


..


-Hartford Life and Annuity


Cyrus Coe of Middlefield,


150


COMMERCIAL INDEX.


House Furnishings-Win. HI. Post & Co


Furniture-Seidler & May.


Gus Fixtures-Bradley & Hubbard Mfg Co


Hotels-United States Hotel.


Paper-Russell Paper Co.


Engraving-Moss Engraving Co.


Insurance-Etna Insurance Co.


148


-Phoenix Insurance Co.


Henry S. Hartwell of Washington,


144


James B. Reed of Sharon,


144


Henry Lutler of Stafford,


Henry W. Trowbridge of Roxbury,


143


Henry Starkweather of Mansfield,


PANE


PAGE.


TOLLAND COUNTY,


.. -Mutual Life of New York


Curtis C. Atwell of Durham,


-


DIDE


SENATE CHAMBER.


16


15


14


13


12


11


10


9


.


17


Clarke, Canterbury.


18


Batcheller, Winchester.


19 Richardson, Salisbury.


20


Curtiss, Woodbury.


Tatem, Woodstock.


Glover, Newtown.


Morgan, Bridgeport.


Smith, Norwalk.


Walsh. Greenwich.


Crandall, Lebanon.


Brewster, Ledyard.


Stanton, Stonington.


Robertson, New Haven


8


Day, Seymour


Golden, Meriden.


0


Turner, Waterbury,


5


Dunbar, Bristol,


21 Allen, Old Saybrook.


22 Alsop, Middletown.


23 Pember, Vernon.


24


Chaffee, Mansfield.


Cooley, Hartford.


Clerk


Reporters.


Reporters,


Lieut .- Gov LORRIN A. COOKK.


Maltbie, Granby,


Chapman, Manchester


SOFA


REPRESENTATIVES HALL


SOFA


241 239 237 235 233


234 236 238 240


249 247 245 243


1-Colyer of Darien. 2-Allen of Sprague. 3-Lee of Meriden. 4-Freeman of Simsbury. 5-Forbes of New Hartford. 6-Jackson of Torrington. 7-Lufler of Stafford. 8-Moore of Preston. 9-Houston of Enfield. 10-Phelan of Bridgeport. 11-Gay of Farmington. 12-Slade of Bridgeport. 13-Garvan of East Hartford. 14-Williams of New London. 15-Waldo of Killingly. 16-Stillman of Colebrook. 17-Rossiter of Guilford. 18-Capen of Bloomfield. 19-Bronson of Beacon Falls. 20-Husted of Greenwich. 21-Stiles of North Haven. 22-Graham of Orange. 23-Gay of Winchester. 24-Steele of Newington. 25-Emmons of Hartland. 26-Nichols of Fairfield. 27-Starkweather of Mansfield. 28-Morehouse of Wilton. 29-Barnes of Sherman. 30-Price of Norwalk. 31-Lake of Woodstock. 32-Troup of New Haven. 33-Clark of Haddam. 34-Carter of Waterbury. 35-Ford of Woodbury. 36-Brown of Waterbury. 37-Sessions of Bristol. 38-Bristoll of Brookfield. 39-Barber of Torrington. 40-Kennedy of Wallingford. 41-Butler of Oxford. 42-Sullivan of Lisbon. 43-Munson of Hamden. 44-Morse of Litchfield. 45-Barber of Stonington. 46-Warner of Berlin. 47-Platt of Derby. 48-Davoll of Lebanon. 49-Stone of Litchfield. 50-Burleson of Griswold.


51-Mattoon of Watertown. 52-Hutchins of Plainfield. 53-Thompson of Ellington. 54-Greene of Goshen. 55-Arnold of Manchester. 56-Comstock of Montville. 57-Corbin of New Britain. 58-Miles of Milford. 59-Jackson of Derby. 60-Allen of Putnam. 61-Newton of Durham. 62-Joslyn of Hartford. 63-Spencer of Old Saybrook. 64-Stark of New London. 65-Pelton of Clinton. 66-Kinne of Hartford. 67-Converse of Thompson. 68-Wildman of New Fair- 69-Fitton of Vernon. [field. 70-Wakeman of Fairfield. 71-Gridley of Harwinton. 72-Hartwell of Washington. 73-Warner of Haddam. 74-Camp of Newtown. 75-Randall of Killingly. 76-Day of Marlborough. 77- Coe of Middlefield. 78-Wheeler of Trumbull. 79 -- Crofut of Norwalk. 80-Frisbie of Farmington. 81-Wildman of Danbury. 82-Beach of Bristol. 83-Morrison of Windham. 84-Fowler of Guilford. 85-Waldo of Hebron. 86-Griffin of Redding. 87-Stalford of Ridgefield. 88-Griswold of Rocky IIill. 89-Cruttenden of Madison. 90-Hooker of Mansfield. 91-Selden of Norfolk. 92-Goodwin of Salisbury. 98-Mitchell of Norwich. 94-Brown of Groton. 95-Couch of Stonington. 96-Gunn of Milford. 97-Phelps of Vernon. 98-Staub of New Milford. 99-Swift of Warren. 100-Mead of Greenwich.


101-Marvin of Saybrook. 102-Inslee of East Windsor. 103-McManus of New Britain. 104-Lawton of Middletown. 105-Willard of Wethersfield. 106-Kenyon of Sterling. 107-Wright of Willington. 108-Cooganof WindsorLocks. 109-Sage of Cromwell. 110-Robertson of Waterford. 111-Turkington of Morris. 112-Darlin of East Hartford. 113-Bevans of Plymouth. 114-Strong of Chatham. 115-Reed of Union. 116-Sturges of Weston. 117-Hibbard of Woodstock. 118-Fitts of Ashford. 119-Fenton of Windsor. 120-Hawley of Stafford. 121-Curry of Windsor. 122-Nichols of Stratford. 123-Bradley of Tolland. 124-King of Lebanon. 125-Holladay of Suffield. 126-Kingsbury of Coventry. 127-Spencer of Suffield. 128-Keigwin of Windham. 129-Gilbert of Coventry. 130-Wheeler of South Wind- 131-Clark of Chester. [sor. 132-Andrew of Naugatuck. 133-Warren of Eastford. 134-Hoyt of Stamford. 135-Abbe of Enfield. 136-Swartwout of Stamford. 137-Gilmour of Norwich. 138-Pigott of New Haven. 139-Hammond of Putnam. 140-Ferguson of No. Canaan. 141-Mathewson of Plainfield. 142-Loomis of Bolton. 143-Bradley of Washington. 144-White of Groton. 145-Grosvenor of Pomfret. 146-Neale of Southington. 147-Charter of East Haddam. 148-Phelps of Avon. 149-Cary of Canterbury. 150-Houlihan of Newtown.


151-Turner of Glastonbury. 152-Bradley of East Haven. 153-Pratt of Saybrook. 154-Trow bridge of Roxbury. 155-Bullard of Pomfret. 156-Griswold of Glastonbury. 157-Allen of Goshen. 158-Barnes of Burlington. 159-Lathrop of Andover. 160-Newell of Union. 161-Perry of Barkhamsted. 162-Davis of East Lyme. 163-Palmer of Ridgefield. 164-Smith of Scotland. 165-Cady of Somers. 166-Murdock of Thompson. 167-Smith of North Branford. 168-Wheeler of No. Stoning- 169-Ford of Bozrah. [ton.


170-Edgerton of Tolland. 171-Ambler of Bethel. 172-Burnham of Lyme. 173-Goddard of Essex. 174-Cornwall of Portland. 175-Newton of Hampton. 176-Baldwin of Colebrook. 177-Dibble of Westbrook. 178-Buxton of Ashford. 179-Colton of Granby. 180-Deming of Sharon. 181-Griffin of East Haddam. 182-Mills of Westport. 183-Harris of Wethersfield. 184-Davis of Meriden. 185-Mead of New Canaan. 186-Bradley of Canaan. 187-Hubbard of Southington. 188-IIowe of Cheshire. 189-Hoyt of Middlebury. 190-Burr of Killingworth. 191-Satterlee of Ledyard. 192-Gregory of Danbury. 193-Thompson of Bethlehem. 194-Avery of Columbia. 195-Seymour of Norfolk. 196-Wallace of Wallingford. 197-Judd of Seymour. 198-Smith of Kent. 199-Woodruff of Winchester. 200-Spencer of New Hartford.


201-Parker of Thomaston. 202-Wilcox of Simsbury. 203-Chapman of No. Ston'gtn. 204-Cheney of Manchester. 205-Brown of Colchester. 206-Smith of Franklin. 207 -- Morse of Prospect. 208-Hayes of Granby. 209-Platt of Southbury. 210-French of Hartland. 211-Platt of Easton. 212-Mix of West Hartford. 213-Clark of Woodbridge. 214-Shannon of Bridgewater. 215-Purple of Chatham. 216-Reed of Sharon. 217-Bryant of Harwinton. 218-Oldfield of Cornwall. 219-Tuttle of Wolcott. 220-Peck of Old Lyme. 221-Nickerson of Redding. 222-Stone of New Milford. 223-Atwell of Durham. 224-Johnson of Bethany. 225-Tiffany of Barkhamsted. 226 -- Parsons of East Windsor. 227-Russell of Woodbury. 228-Beers of Cornwall. 229-Hutchinson of Hebron. 230-Clark of East Granby. 231-Gager of Somers. 232-Carroll of Middletown. 233-Cox of Brooklyn. 234-Norton of Colchester. 235-Hall of Voluntown. 236-Spurr of Salisbury. 237-Hawley of Huntington. 238-Cornwall of Cheshire. 239-Bennett of Canterbury. 240-Vacant. 241-Hull of Monroe. 242-Benjamin of Preston. 243-Usher of Plainville. 244-Vacant. 245-Griggs of Chaplin. 246-Linsley of Branford. 247 -- Hoyle of Willington. 248-Griswold of Killingworth. 249-Douglass of Salem. Speaker.


SOFA


242 244 246 248


231 229 227 225 223


197 195 1193 191 189 187 185


157 155 |153 151 149 147 145 143 141 139 137


115 | 113 111 109 107 |105 103 101 99


59


31 29 27 25


23


21


22


24 26 28 30 32


2 4 6 8 10


161 |159


117


77 75 73 71 69 67 65


33 35 45 43 41 38 37 35 |33


34 36 38 40 |42 44 46 34 1.36


66 68 70 72 74 76 78


104 |106 108 |110 |112 114|116


18 20


118


160 162


REPORTERS


CLERK


CLERK


REPORTERS


SPEAKER


W. E. SIMONDS, Canton.


221 219 217 215 213


183 181 179 |177175


127 125 123 121 119


120 |122


124 126 128


176 |178 180 182 184


130 132 134 136


90 92


94 96


138


51


7 55 |53


49


47


48 50


86


88


91 89 87


85 83


18.


79


80


82


84


174


214 216 218 220 222


224 226 228 230 232


95 |93


<6 1


52 54 56 5860


61


62


64


12


14


16


140 142 144 146 148 150 152 154 156 158


98


100 102


63


97531


17 15 13 11


61


211 209 207 205 203 201 199


200 202 204 206 208 210 212


SOFA


173 171 |169 167 165 |163


164 166 168 |170 172


135 133 131 129


186 188 190 192 194 196 198


9


HON. HENRY B. HARRISON,


GOVERNOR.


HENRY BALDWIN HARRISON was born at New Haven, September 11, 1821, and is therefore in his 64th 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 1846. He fitted himself for the profession of law and began practice with Lucius G. Peck, a prom- inent 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 2,597, against 1,718 for Charles Atwater, Jr., Democrat. He drafted the personal-liberty bill, and really nulli- fied 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 2


fixed at $5,000 fine and five years in state prison. Perjurers were similarly provided for, and strong provisions were inserted to secure the enforce- ment of the law. Upon the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill he interested himself earn- estly in the slavery question, and associated him- self with the Free-Soil party, with which he continued to act until that party became merged in the Republican organization. In the winter of '55-'56, Mr. Harrison was among the handful of men who organized the Republican party in this State, and became its candidate for Lienten- ant-Governor in the spring of 1856. Gideon Welles of Hartford was the nominee for Gor- ernor. 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


10


the Rebellion was a strong friend of Lincoln's administration, but he could not be prevailed upon to accept office. He continued 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 ground of insanity. To this result his hard work con- tributed, but he never set much store by his triumph. He was methodical and persistent, and to these qualities, rather than to a vague genius, his success is. to be attributed. His reputation as a profound and conscientious law- ver was not made by any one case, but by all his cases. In 1865 he was chosen Representa- tive from New Haven with Eleazer K. Foster, and while his colleague became Speaker he was made House Chairman of two important com- mittees-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 elabor- ate speech in favor of amending the constitution by erasing the word " white," so as to allow colored men to vote. This probably added more to his reputation than anything he had ever done. The prominent and important part he took in the debates pointed him out as the com- ing Republican candidate for Governor. He could have had the nomination in 1866, but friends of General Hawley-just returned from the war-urged the claims of their favorite, and Mr. Harrison, without solicitation, wrote a letter positively 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. Babcock, Democrat, and served with his usual efficiency on the Judiciary Committee. At this session he was also Chairman of the Committee on Con- stitutional 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 Lieutenant-Governor. Owing to sectional dissensions in the party he was defeated, although he polled nearly 40,000 votes. In 1878 he was considered a strong com- promise candidate before the Republican caucus for United States Senator, but the choice finally rested upon O. H. Platt of Meriden.


Mr. Harrison's re-appearance in politics was not until the fall of 1883, when he was nominated as Representative and elected by over 1,100 majority.


As Speaker of the House, for which position he was unanimously singled out as soon as his election was known, he presided with strict impartiality, and for the best interests of the whole commonwealth.


As a public speaker Mr. Harrison holds his audience from first to last with convincing facts and deductions. He has no tricks of rhetoric or of manner, but is soundly argumentative through- out. These qualities place him beside many of the great publicists who have deeply affected the popular will.


11


HON. LORRIN A. COOKE,


LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.


HON. LORRIN A. COOKE of Barkhamsted, was born among the Berkshire hills, in New Marl- boro, Mass., April 6, 1831. His ancestor, Mr. Wheeler, the first settler of that town, brought his wife thither on horseback from Springfield, Mass. His grandfather, Lewis Cooke, was a captain in the State militia before his removal to Chenango County, N. Y., in its early history. He took his son Levi, then but a lad, and brought him up in the roughness of pioneer experience, of which he had enough, and in a few years returned to New Marlboro, satisfied with the West. This Levi, who married Amelia Todd in 1829, became the father of the subject of this sketch on the date above given, - the only child he ever had. He removed to the adjoining town of Norfolk, Conn., in 1837, and to Colebrook in 1843, where, having spent an honorable career as a farmer, citizen, and neighbor, he died, aged 71, after a short and severe illness, in May, 1871, while a member of the House of Representatives. Mrs. Cooke still survives at the age of 83 years. Lorrin A. Cooke was educated in common


schools and at Norfolk Academy. In his early manhood he taught school in the winter and worked on the farm in the summer. He was a successful teacher, and was repeatedly called back to the same school. While thus employed he became acquainted with Matilda E., daughter of Deacon Abner S. Webster of Sandisfield, Mass., whom he married in 1855. He now taught rarely, and in company with his father settled down to a farmer's life on the farm owned by Jonathan Edwards, D. D. (afterward presi- dent of Union College), while he was pastor of the Colebrook church. In intelligent, progress- ive farming he became one of the first in the vicinity, and at an early age was made president of the agricultural society in his part of the county. He was among the foremost in securing for his brother farmers the advantages of a milk train to New York. His political life began in 1856, when at the age of 25 he became a member of the House of Representatives. An enthusi- astie, conscientious young Republican, in those forming days of the party when Knownothingism


12


controlled the State, he held to his convictions and voted for Francis Gillette and against James Dixon for United States Senator until the very last. He was always proud of that action, espe- cially in the Johnsonized, brevet democratic days of Mr. Dixon. He was early made Acting School Visitor, and in 1864 was elected first Selectman, at a time when the burden of recruiting, filling quotas, etc., demanded the best talent the town could furnish. He was re-elected until he left town. Of course such a record as he was making attracted the notice of others than his immediate neighbors, and in 1869 he was urgently invited to become manager of the Eagle Scythe Company at Riverton, in the town of Barkhamsted. He accepted the position, and has remained there until the present time. His management of this trust has been characterized by vigor, industry, and success. The factory had just been rebuilt, a debt had been contracted larger than the cap- ital stock, prices had begun steadily to decline, and competition was increasingly strong. The situation was grave enough to try severely the capacity of a man fresh from the farm, without previous experience in this or any line of manu- facturing. In the face of every obstacle, existing and since following, the company has become solidly established.


Mr. Cooke's first wife died in 1868 without issue. In December, 1870, he married, as a second wife, Josephine E., daughter of Michael Ward, for many years a Riverton manufacturer. Of the three children born to them, only one, a daughter, survives. He became connected with the Congregational church in Colebrook in 1860, and for most of the time until his removal was superintendent of its Sunday-school. In Cole- brook he was, and in Riverton he is, an efficient officer in that church.


Since his removal from Colebrook, Mr. Cooke has been sought for to fill other positions of trust. Living in a town strongly Democratic, his Republican principles have been in the way of his holding public positions therein. Nomi- nated once as Representative, he reduced the minority from fifty in other cases to fifteen in his own. As candidate for Senator in the Fifteenth District in 1875, he was defeated with the whole ticket, receiving, however, a very flattering vote in his own town. In the reconstructed Eight- eenth District he received in 1881 a majority of 328, - twenty-three ahead of the majority in the


previous presidential year, carrying every town except Colebrook. For several years he was postmaster at Riverton.


His senatorial record was so satisfactory that he was again placed in nomination in 1882, and although pitted against an able and strong com- petitor, when almost everything else was wrecked in the political tornado of that year, his majority was 111. His service in the Senate has made him more widely known, and doubtless led to his nomination for the Lieutenant-Governorship. No senator was more generally liked. He did not at first take a prominent part in the proceed- ings of the Senate, but as time wore on his voice was heard as occasion offered, and his sugges- tions were so sound, and so modestly and well- expressed, that attention was attracted to him in such a manner that his election last winter as president pro tem. almost naturally followed. As chairman of the Committee on Education for the three years, on the part of the Senate, he made a first-rate record, performing his duties with an intelligent apprehension of the needs of the State, in such a manner as to call for the highest praise from those well qualified to judge. During the last session he was also chairman of the Com- mittee on Engrossed Bills, a position attracting no attention, but involving a good deal of time and hard work, and qualifications of a high order. He was appointed, on the part of the Senate, a special committee to investigate certain matters in connection with the Storrs Agricul- tural School at Mansfield; also, for a term of three years, one of the trustees of the Girls' Industrial School at Middletown. When it fell to his lot to occupy the chair of the Senate, he performed his duties to the entire and cordial satisfaction of all the members, without distinc- tion of party, so that his nomination to his pres- ent position followed with unusual fitness, pro- viding as it does for the experienced discharge of the duties of the office itself, and a full equip- ment for the possibilities involved therein.


It would be unjust to Mr. Cooke not to note that every public position that he has occupied has come to him unsought. He is a man whom office seeks, not who seeks office. His best and highest enjoyment is with his friends, in his busi- ness, and in his home; but he does not feel at liberty to neglect a call to serve his fellow citizens, and when he accepts the trust, he fills it consci- entiously and with all his abilities.


13


HON. CHARLES A. RUSSELL,


SECRETARY OF STATE.


CHARLES ADDISON RUSSELL of Killingly, was born at Worcester, Mass., March 2, 1852. He received his primary education in the common schools of that city, and prepared for college under the tuition of Rev. Harris R. Greene. He graduated at Yale in the class of 1873, taking high rank as a student, as well as winning popu- larity in his class by his genial manner and his enthusiasm in college sports. After his gradu- ation he immediately devoted himself to news- paper work, and was, up to 1878, actively en- gaged on the Worcester Press as city editor, and was for a short time thereafter connected with the Worcester Spy. Since that time Colonel Russell has been engaged in the business of man- ufacturing at Dayville, in the town of Killingly. as Treasurer of the Sabin L. Sayles Company. woolen mills, incorporated. He is also Treasurer


of the Quinebaug Brick Company of Brooklyn, Conn., and Vice-President and Director of the Clemons Self-Hoisting and Gear Company (the latter having offices in Boston, Jersey City, and Danielsonville). In 1881 he was appointed aide- de-camp on the staff of Governor Bigelow, and was a very popular member of the official guber- natorial family. He served the town of Killingly in the House of Representatives in 1853, and was Chairman of the Committee on Cities and Boroughs on the part of the House. While in the Legislature he distinguished himself by his readiness in debate and skill in disposing of pub- lie business. Colonel Russell is a forcible writer, a polished and graceful speaker, and a young man of exceptional abilities. His political speeches in various portions of the State during the recent campaign were of the most reasonable


14


and convincing character, increasing the intensity of partisan friendships on the part of those already within the ranks of the Republican party, and unquestionably adding new recruits from among the intelligent and thoughtful portion of the opposition.


The accession of Colonel Russell to the secre-


taryship gives assurance that the affairs of this important department of the State Government will be administered with ability, fidelity, and economy during the current executive term, and that the traditional dignities of the office will be becomingly maintained.


15


HON. VALENTINE B. CHAMBERLAIN.


TREASURER.


Judge VALENTINE BURT CHAMBERLAIN of New Britain, was born in Colebrook River, Litchfield county, August 13, 1833, the oldest son of the late Abiram Chamberlain, formerly well-known as a civil engineer of the highest repute. Ilis home-training was of the sturdy New England Christian type. After graduating at the Suffield Literary Institution, where he was a classmate of Hon. William C. Case, he entered Williams Col- lege, and was graduated in 1857. President Garfield was a college-mate and friend, being in the next preceding class.


During his college life his father removed his home to New Britain, where Valentine after graduation entered the law office of the late Seth E. Case and prosecuted his legal studies with such zeal that he was admitted to the bar in 1859. In 1860 he established the New Britain




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