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 5
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Handen, and the Episcopal Academy, Cheshire. Later he spent two years in a journey around the world, visiting Asia, Africa, and Europe. He is actively engaged in business, being a director in the Winchester Arms Company, Meriden Britan- nia Company, Mitchell, Vance & Co., the Trades- men's Bank, New Haven, etc.' He is, moreover. interested as a stockholder in many of the prom- inent manufacturing enterprises throughout this State, among them the Cheshire Brass Company. Benedict & Burnham Co., the Waterbury Clock Company, Waterbury, R. Wallace & Sons, Wal- lingford, the Meriden Cutlery Company, Wilcox & White Organ Company, Meriden, and the Bridgeport Brass Company. He is always ready to assist in promoting new industries that meet his approval, and his practical knowledge of business and intelligent interest in scientific in-
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ventions connected with industrial progress, causes his counsel to be sought and valued by inventors. Mr. Mitchell represented the town of East Haven in the Legislature of 1878, his per- sonal popularity being attested by the fact that, though the town usually gives a Republican majority, he carried it for the Democrats. In the following year he was nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for the Senatorial District, and though failing of an election, re- ceived more than a party vote in a majority of the towns. In private life Mr. Mitchell is a general favorite, a staunch friend, and a good neighbor. He is a generous patron of art, a buyer and reader of good books, and a skilled horticulturist. His collection of hot-house plants,
and especially of ferns, is one of the finest in the State. He is a member of the vestry of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, New Haven, and takes an active part in the support and management of the religious and benevolent institutions of the city and State. By family training and inherit- ance, as well as by his own deliberate choice, a Democrat, Mr. Mitchell is nevertheless entirely free from offensive partisanship. He not only accepts, but heartily believes in political progress, and has always the courage to stand by his convictions.
Mr. Mitchell's first term in Congress expired on the 3d of March, 1885 ; he was reelected last Fall by a increased vote.
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HON. JOHN TURNER WAIT,
CONGRESSMAN, THIRD DISTRICT.
HON. JOHN TURNER WAIT of Norwich, was born at New London, August 27, 1811. He received a mercantile training in early life, but, giving up that pursuit, prepared for college at Bacon Academy, Colchester, and entered Trinity College in the fall of 1832, where he remained for two years, prosecuting that course of studies which he deemed best adapted to qualify him for the profession of law. He studied law at first with Hon. L. F. S. Foster of Norwich, and sub- sequently with Hon. Jabez W. Huntington, and was admitted to the Bar in the fall of 1836. He at once commenced practice in Norwich, and has since resided there.
Mr. Wait is connected by blood with many of the oldest and leading families in Eastern Con- necticut. On his father's side he is associated with the Griswolds and Marvins of Lyme, while on his mother's side he is a lineal descendant of
William Hyde and Thomas Tracy, two of the thirty-five colonists who settled at Norwich in 1659. His family has given many prominent members to the legal profession. His father was long one of the leading lawyers at the bar of New London county, and for several years a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a presi- dential elector in 1793, and cast his vote for Washington. He was also one of the commis- sioners appointed by the General Assembly to dispose of the western lands and establish the present school fund. Mr. Wait's father repre- sented the town of New London for nineteen sessions in the General Assembly, and was sev- eral times one of the candidates for Congress of the old Republican party during the administra- tion of Mr. Jefferson. Henry M. Wait, the father of the present Chief-Justice of the United States, and cousin of the subject of this sketch.
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was also a leading lawyer of New London county, and for a number of years held the position of Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of the State.
Mr. Wait's maternal grandfather was Dr. Philip Turner, in his day a celebrated surgeon. At the early age of nineteen he was appointed assistant-surgeon of a provincial regiment under General Amherst, and served through the French war. In 1777 Congress elected him Surgeon- General of the Eastern Department, which station he filled with great ability till near the close of the war of the Revolution. In 1800 he removed to New York, where he continued in the practice of his profession till he was placed as physician in charge of the troops stationed at the fortifica- tions in the harbor of that city. This office he held until his death in 1815.
Congressman Wait was State's Attorney for New London county in 1842-44, and also from 1846 till 1854. Since the organization of the Bar Association in that county, in 1874, he has been its President, and for a large number of years has been closely identified with most mat- ters of legal interest in tliat section of the State. His law practice has been extensive and profita- ble, his commanding influence at the Bar insur- ing him all the business that can possibly be attended to. For the twenty-five years prior to entering Congress he had been engaged in nearly all the important cases, civil and criminal, that have co.ne before the New London county courts. He has not in this respect been confined to his immediate locality, for his marked ability has been recognized throughout the State, and his services sought in important causes in other counties, and also before the Federal courts. Mr. Wait is an eminent jurist, and unquestiona- bly is one of the ablest advocates in Connecticut.
Before the war Mr. Wait was a Democrat in politics, and was nominated by his party for Lieutenant-Governor for four consecutive years from 1854, receiving each year the highest vote of any candidate on the ticket. In 1860 he advo- cated the election of Stephen A. Douglas as President. At the outbreak of the war in 1860 he became a strong Union man.
His son, Lieutenant Marvin Wait, of the Eighth Connecticut regiment, served with distinguished courage on the field. In the gallant charge of that command at Antietam he fell mortally wounded.
In 1864 Mr. Wait was one of the electors-at- large for Connecticut on the Lincoln-Johnson Presidential ticket. He was a member of the State Senate from the Eighth District during the years 1865 and 1866, the last year serving as President pro tempore of that body. In 1867 he was elected a member of the House of Represen- tatives from Norwich, and was nominated for Speaker by acclamation. Probably no gentle- man, as presiding officer of the House, was ever more thoroughly esteemed for "the ability, urbanity, and impartiality with which he dis- charged the duties of the chair." He was again elected to that body in 1871 and in 1873. In the session of 1871 he won unqualified praise for the speech which he delivered in support of the joint resolution declaring Marshall Jewell elected Governor of Connecticut.
In 1874 he was the Republican candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, receiving the highest vote on that ticket. Subsequently he was elected to the Forty-fourth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. H. H. Starkweather, and was reelected to the Forty-fifth, the Forty- sixth, the Forty-seventh, the Forty-eighth, and the Forty-ninth Congresses.
As a member of Congress Mr. Wait has cared for the interests of his constituents with untiring vigilance and zeal. The extensive industries which give employment to thousands of citizens in the two eastern counties of the State have had in him an intelligent and watchful guardian. As the advocate and friend of home industries he lias steadily opposed in Congress every attempt to impair or weaken the laws under which Con- necticut manufacturing and mechanical interests have sprung up and prospered, and has given his support to every measure calculated to advance the commercial and agricultural prospects of the State.
During his nine years of service at Washing- ton he has been invariably attentive to the demands made upon his time and consideration by his constituents in matters affecting their private interests. Courteous and frank toward all who have approached him, he has allied men to him by the strongest personal ties, and is universally popular throughout his district and the State.
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HON. EDWARD WOODRUFF SEYMOUR.
CONGRESSMAN, FOURTH DISTRICT.
HON. EDWARD WOODRUFF SEYMOUR was born in Litchfield, August 30, 1832. He comes of a family which from the first settlement of this State has been intimately connected with its government. Since 1740, at eighty-three sessions of the General Assembly, in one or the other of its branches, the names of some of his immediate ancestors appear as members. He was graduated at Yale College in the year 1853, and immedi- ately thereafter began the study of the law with his father, the late Chief-Justice in this State. At that time Judge Seymour was in Congress, and his son acted as his private secretary for two years while pursuing his studies ; thus early and thoroughly becoming acquainted with all the duties of a member of Congress. In 1856 he was admitted to the bar, and practiced law in his native town until 1875. He at once secured a
large practice, and gained an enviable reputation both with the public and among his brethren at the bar. As an advocate in the trial of jury causes he is particularly successful; as a cross- examiner of witnesses he has few superiors in the State. He was elected a Representative in the General Assembly in the years 1859, 1860, 1870. and 1871, and a State Senator in 1876. He has acted as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and as such has rendered valuable services in shaping the laws of the State. In 1875 he moved his law business to Bridgeport, where he still continues it in partnership with his brother Morris W. Seymour. Since his removal to Bridgeport he has constantly been engaged in extensively conducting litigation, and is one of the leaders of the Fairfield County Bar. His in- elinations lead him more toward the practice of
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his profession than toward political life. By birth, education, and connection, Mr. Seymour is a thorough Democrat, but permits no party ties to bind his convictions of duty. He is a believer in the principle of civil service reform, and is
pledged to its support. Mr. Seymour entered upon his second term with the assembling of the Forty-ninth Congress, his first term having expired on the 3d of March, 1885.
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HON. FRANCIS B. COOLEY,
DISTRICT NO. 1.
HON. FRANCIS BUELL COOLEY of Hartford, Re- publican Senator from the First District, is a prominent citizen of the Capital City. He was born in Granville, Mass., in 1823, and is in his sixty-second year. He was educated at the pub- lic schools, and when a young man engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1847 he went to Chi- cago, Ill., when that city was in its infancy, and established the first dry goods commission house that existed there. He remained in Chicago for a period of seventeen years, and was senior part- ner of the firm of Cooley, Farwell & Co., one of the largest commission houses in the United States. The firm is still continued under the name of J. V. Farwell & Co. In 1865, having
amassed a handsome fortune, Mr. Cooley removed to Hartford, and has since lived in this city, his home being a fine residence, surrounded by ex- tensive grounds, on Farmington avenue. He is largely interested in banking and financial institu- tions, being President of the National Exchange Bank, a Director in the _Etna Insurance Com- pany, and a Trustee of the Society for Savings on Pratt street. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Retreat for the Insane, and a Trustee of Hartford Theological Seminary. In the Senate last year he was a very efficient Chairman of the Committee on Insurance, and of the Committee on State Library.
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HON. MARO S. CHAPMAN,
DISTRICT NO. 2.
MARO S. CHAPMAN of Manchester, Republican Senator from the Second District, was a member of the House during the session of 1881, serving as chairman on the part of that body of the Committee on Cities and Boroughs, one of the hardest worked committees of that year. He re- ceived the unanimous nomination of the Republi- cans of his District for the Senatorship, and was elected by a very handsome majority. He was a member of the Republican State Conven- tion which nominated Hon. Henry B. Harrison for Governor, and during the campaign was an able and influential supporter of the Republican cause. He is a clear and forcible speaker, pre- senting his views with great earnestness and con- viction, and is an admirable debater. His ser- vices in the House of 1881 were of genuine value to the State, and his influence was universally
acknowledged by his associates. Senator Chap- man was born at East Haddam, February 13. 1839, and received a thorough common school education. For three years before the war he was engaged in mercantile pursuits at Manches- ter, but when the demand for troops was made he enlisted, joining Company C of the Twelfth Connecticut. In 1864 he engaged in the envel- ope business with the Plimpton Manufacturing Company of Hartford, and his since continued in that avocation. Since the Plimpton Company received the Government contract, Mr. Chapman has been the Superintendent of the United States Stamped Envelope Works in Hartford, and in that position has shown great executive ability and decision of character. He is Vice-President of the Plimpton Manufacturing Company, and is also President of the Hartford Manilla Com-
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pany, which has a large and flourishing mill at Burnside, and an extensive business. Mr. Chap- man has been twice elected Commander of Drake Post of the Grand Army at South Manchester. For upwards of fifteen years he has been con-
nected with the Republican Town Committee at Manchester, occupying the Chairmanship for four. He is a valued member of the Republican party in this section of the State.
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HON. THEODORE M. MALTBIE,
DISTRICT NO. 3.
HON. THEODORE M. MALTBIE of Granby, Re- publican Senator from the Third District, was elected by a handsome majority over his Demo- cratic competitor at the November election, 1883. He was born in New York city, April 29, 1842, and is a lawyer of skill and ability, being a part- ner in the well-known firm of Case, Maltbie & Bryant, of Hartford. He has had three years' experience in the Legislature, having been a member of the House for the years 1870, 1874, and 1878. For a number of years he acted as Deputy Insurance Commissioner, which office he
resigned in 1878. Senator Maltbie is an affable and courteous gentleman, and his knowledge of law and experience in matters of legislation proved of value during the last session, and even more valuable during the present one. He was Chairman of the Committee on Corpora- tions, which always has a large amount of im- portant business to transact, and also Chairman of the Committee on Joint Rules. He is very clear in his explanations, and had something to say on nearly all the important questions arising last year.
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HON. EDWARD B. DUNBAR,
DISTRICT NO. 4.
HON. EDWARD B. DUNBAR of Bristol, Demo- cratic Senator from the Fourth District, was born in Bristol, November 1, 1842, and is now forty- two years of age. He received a common school education at home, and finished his studies at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., on the completion of which, in the spring of 1860, he went to New York and engaged in the manufac- ture of hoop skirts. After remaining there five years he returned to his native place, where he has since been engaged in the manufacture of clock springs and small springs, under the firm name of Dunbar Brothers. He has been Grand
Juror, Assessor, and is now, as he has been for the last twelve years, Registrar of Voters. He is also Chairman of the Board of Fire Commis- sioners, a position he has held for the past five years, and has been one of the directors of the Bristol National Bank since it was established. He was a Representative in 1869 and 1851. His father, the late Edward L. Dunbar, was in former years a prominent manufacturer at Bristol, and was elected Representative in 1862. He estab- lished the business now carried on by his three sons. Another of his sons, William A. Dunbar. represented the town in the Legislature in 1879.
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HON. EDWARD T. TURNER,
DISTRICT NO. 5.
HON. EDWARD T. TURNER of Waterbury, Re- publican Senator from the Fifth District, was born in Northfield, a part of the town of Litch- field, in 1835. He received a common school education, and at an early age was apprenticed to a shoemaker, an occupation which he ceased to follow after his apprenticeship had been con- pleted, he dividing his time between farming and working in the factory. At the age of twenty- four he went to Plainville to enter a country store, and it was there that those habits of busi- ness became fixed which have since distinguished him as a merchant. The field in Plainville prov- ing too limited, he moved to Waterbury in 1863 -twenty-two years ago-and embarked in the dry goods business, which from that time has been one of the most influential factors in the city's growth. For over twenty years the house of
E. T. Turner has stood second to none in the busy Naugatuck valley, and indeed has rivaled that of any similar house in the State. The cause of this must be found in his indomitable perse- verance, eternal watchfulness, hard labor, fair dealing, quick sympathies, and his readiness to take hold of anything legitimate which gave promise of profit, growth, and progress. These traits have followed Mr. Turner from small be- ginnings until at forty-nine he can look upon a competence secured, and a business so systemized and established that it can be safely entrusted to the younger man he recently made a partner, and can almost be left to run itself. It goes without saying that so crowded a life had little room in it for the furtherance of political ambitions. Nor yet could such a man stand by wholly uninter- ested in the part of politics which affects the city
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itself. So Mr. Turner, always a Republican, on account of his popularity has been chosen for years to lead the forlorn hope in the hopeless Democratic Fourth Ward, of course only to be as frequently knocked down. For years also he has served as a member of the Board of Fire Commissioners and of the Board of Compensa- tion, and was for one term elected a Councilman. It was fitting then that such a man should be nominated for Senator for the Fifth District- which, by common consent, is like his own Fourth Ward, hopelessly Democratic. This
nomination came to him when he was thinking of throwing his business into other hands, and taking his much-needed and hard-earned rest. With his accustomed vigor he went into the can- vass, and was easily elected by a handsome majority-a just tribute to his character and pop- ularity. Mr. Turner is largely interested in Waterbury real estate, is a Director in its Manu- facturers' National Bank, and connected with many enterprises involving the growth of Water- bury. He was Chairman of the Committee on Banks at the session of 1884.
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HON. WILLIAM H. GOLDEN,
DISTRICT NO. 6.
HON. WILLIAM H. GOLDEN, Jr., of Meriden, Democratic Senator from the Sixth District, was born in Meriden December 6, 1845, and is there- . fore thirty-nine years of age. He was educated in the common schools, and is in the employ of the Meriden Britannia Company as a mechanic. He was a member of the House last year, serving on the Committee on Forfeited Rights. Senator
Golden is very popular in Meriden and through- out his district. All his acts in the Senate, and all his votes, have been in the interest of the people. He is chairman of the Woman Suffrage Committee and the Committee on Manual and Roll. The Senator was a charter member of Company I, Second Regiment, C. N. G.
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HON. EDMUND DAY,
DISTRICT NO. 7.
HON. EDMUND DAY, Republican Senator, from the Seventh District, was born in West Spring- field, Mass., December 12, 1831. He remained on his father's farm there until the fall of 1851, attending incidentally the common schools and the Westfield Academy. Then he entered the Scientific Department of Yale College for the purpose of pursuing a course of study. But his father and brothers having established a business in Seymour, Conn., he left it at their request to become associated with them. The business was the manufacture of hard rubber goods, and the cleaning and preparation of the different varieties of East India gums for the use of other manu- facturers, under a patent of his brother, A. G. Day. A very large part of these gums used in this country for a period of years passed through their hands. Mr. Day has continued in the man-
ufacturing business ever since he started in it, and has been very successful. He is also interested in other manufactories and corporations in this and other States. It was Senator Day's brother who invented the process of making hard rubber flexible, an improvement without which the Goodyear patent would have been worth very little. His legal right to this invention was dis- puted tenacionsly in the courts for a series of years, but the litigation was finally decided in his favor. The Senator has always taken a deep in- terest in politics. He was a warm friend of the Lincoln and Buckingham administrations, and contributed liberally to the support of the war. He has been a delegate to most of the important conventions of his party in the State, and although frequently urged to accept public offices, has repeatedly declined. In 1874 he ac-
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cepted a nomination as Representative from Seymour, which for years had been a Democratic town, and was elected by a majority of fifty-two. In 1873 the Democratic majority was thirty-two. In the canvass in the fall of 1883, when the Seventh District and the Senate were in doubt, he was selected as one of the few men capable of carrying the district, in which, in 1881, Senator Gunn was chosen by 192 majority. After urgent solicitation by leading Republicans he consented, but even then with reluctance, to accept the
nomination. That the confidence of his friends was not misplaced was shown by his election by 672 majority. Senator Day, at the session of 1884, was Chairman of the Committee on Manu- factures, a position for which he was peculiarly qualified, and a member of the Committee on Contingent Expenses. For many years he rep- resented the old Fifth District on the Republican State Central Committee, including the time of the Grant campaigns.
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MOSS-ENSE
HON. A. HEATON ROBERTSON,
DISTRICT NO. 8. .
HON. A. HEATON ROBERTSON of New Haven, Democratic Senator from the Eighth District, has for several years been prominent in politics. He comes of one of the old families of New Haven, where he was born, September 25, 1850. In 1872, he graduated from Yale College, and in 1874, from Columbia Law School. He was an aide upon Governor Ingersoll's staff, in 1873, '74, '75, and '76. From 1877 to 1881, he was an Alderman from the Sixth Ward of New Haven. For a time he was at the head of the important lamp department. In 1880 he was the junior,
and in 1882 the senior Representative from New Haven, in the Legislature. In 1880 he was a member of the Committee on Railroads, on Con- tested Elections, and in 1882 of the Committee on Judiciary, and the Governor Buckingham Statue. He is a director of the Young Men's Institute, the New Haven Co-operative Savings Fund and Loan Association, the Oppenheim Manufacturing Company, and of the Automatic Safety Boiler and Engine Company. Senator Robertson is an Attorney and Councilor-at-law. of the firm of Wright, Robertson & Hotchkiss.
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MOSSJENGLI
HON. STILES T. STANTON,
DISTRICT NO. 9.
HON. STILES TRUMBULL STANTON of Stonington, Republican Senator from the Ninth District, is a brilliant and versatile journalist, his reputation for graceful, humorous writings extending con- siderably beyond local circles. Both before and since his retirement from the newspaper field his career has been one of uninterrupted success, and he came to the Senate with a most flattering en- dorsement from his constituency, as shown by the large majority which he received at the Novem- ber election. Senator Stanton is a native of Stonington, and a member of one of its oldest and most respected families. He was prepared for, but did not enter, Yale College, at the Collegiate Institute of New Haven, and soon after gradua- tion became a journalist. From 1875 to 1878 he was on the brigade staff, Connecticut National Guard. In the campaign of 1880 he acted as
Secretary of the Republican State Central Com- mittee, and was an alternate delegate to the National Republican Convention at Chicago in that year. He was also Executive Secretary to Governor Charles B. Andrews, and has held numerous local and social offices. In 1881 and 1882 he was a member of the House, and made a brilliant record. In the fall of 1882 he was the Republican candidate for Secretary of State, and polled a large vote. Senator Stanton is one of the best known men in Connecticut, and through- out the State he is very popular. During the last presidential campaign he had charge of the speakers in this State, assigning them to their different fields. At the last session of the Senate he was Chairman of the Committee on Military. and a member of the Committee on Executive Nominations.
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