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 6
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HON. JOHN BREWSTER,
DISTRICT NO 10.
HON. JOHN BREWSTER of Ledyard, Republican Senator from the Tenth District, was born at Preston, May 13, 1816, and is sixty-eight years of age. He was educated in the common schools, and has pursued farming as a general occupation. He is now president of the Merchants' National Bank of Norwich, and Vice-President of the Norwich Savings Bank. He was in the Senate of 1860, and the House of 1847, '51, and '78. Among the offices he has held are the following : Captain of Stonington and Groton Rifle Com- pany ; Deputy Sheriff, School Visitor, Selectman and Town Agent, President of the New London
County Agricultural Society, and member of the State Board of Agriculture. He was Vice-Presi- dent of the Groton Centennial Celebration, and was one of the committee to assess damages for the State on the Military camp-ground at Niantic. He has been Clerk of Probate under two judges, and has also held the office of Judge of Probate. In the course of his career he has settled some twenty-five estates, has been on committees to assess damages for and to lay out highways, and has been appointed by the Superior Court to sell lands. He has also acted as guardian, conserva- tor, trustee, etc.
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HON. JOSEPH C. CRANDALL,
DISTRICT NO. 11.
HON. JOSEPH CLARK CRANDALL of Lebanon, Republican Senator from the Eleventh District, was born in South Kingston, R. I., September 2, 1832. For the past twenty years he has resided in Lebanon, and has been identified with the educational and religious interests of the com- munity, occupying, among other positions that of member of the society committee of the Lebanon Baptist Church. For seven years, until 1882, he was a member of the Board of Selectmen, serving for the last five years as First Selectman
and Town Agent. Although tendered a renom- ination, he positively refused to accept. In 1878 he represented Lebanon in the Legislature, and is at present Treasurer of the Town Deposit and School Funds. A Republican in politics, he will act with that party in all matters of principle, not, however, to the extent of sacrificing his own convictions of duty. He was an excellent Chair- man of the Joint Standing Committee on Agri- culture at the session of 1884.
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HON. ROBERT J. WALSH,
DISTRICT NO. 12.
HON. ROBERT JAY WALSH of Greenwich, Repub- lican Senator from the Twelfth District, was born at Lewisboro, N. Y., August 1, 1854, and is therefore thirty years of age. He is a lawyer whose early education was secured by an aca- demic course, private instruction for two years, and a course at the State Normal School. He is now Borough Attorney and Town Counsel, posi- tions he has held the past three years. While achieving his present position he was first a blacksmith and then a school teacher. His tal- ent as a lawyer and his independence of character
have brought him a good legal practice. The vote of his own town shows the estimation in which he is held by his townspeople. He received 271 majority when at the same election the den- ocratic representatives were chosen by a majority of 100. In the Senate he is Chairman of the Committee on Incorporations, one of the most important committees of the Legislature. He discharges the duties of this position with great credit, being very keen for the public weal as well as properly regardful of private interests.
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HON. ASA SMITH,
DISTRICT NO. 13.
HON. ASA SMITH of Norwalk, Democratic Senator from the Thirteenth District, was born in Norwalk, October 23, 1829, and is general manager of the A. E. Smith's Sons Pottery Com- pany. He was elected to the House of 1869, being the first Democratic Representative ever chosen from that town, and was a member of the
Committee on Railroads. He has an academic education, has been Warden of the Borough, and Grand Master of Free Masons in this State, as well as Grand High Priest of the Chapter. He is a Director of the Norwalk Savings Society and the Norwalk Fire Insurance Company.
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MISS EYES
HON. DANIEL N. MORGAN,
DISTRICT NO. 14.
HON. DANIEL N. MORGAN of Bridgeport, Dem- ocratic Senator from the Fourteenth District, was born in Newtown, Conn., August 18, 1844, and educated at the Newtown Academy, Bethel Institute, and in the common schools. He was thoroughly educated to the mercantile pursuit, during the last five years of his minority in his father's store, when he succeeded to the control of the business for one year; subsequently for three years he was of the flourishing firm of Morgan & Booth, retiring in 1869, and removing to Bridgeport, where for more than ten years he was of the firm of Birdsey & Morgan, transacting a large and profitable business in dry goods and carpets, having also during that period probably the largest dress-making establishment in the State, enjoying a choice southern trade. Dur- ing the year 1877 he was connected with the firm
of Morgan, Hopson & Co., wholesale grocers. He was a member of the Common Council of Bridgeport in 1873-4: Mayor of Bridgeport in 1880, a position he still holds, having been re- elected in 1884 by the handsome majority of 420; on the Board of Education in the same town in 1876-77, and for the past twelve years Parish Clerk of Trinity Church. For the last four years he has been a member of the Board of Directors, and of the Executive Committee of the Bridge- port Hospital. He is also at present President of the City National Bank of Bridgeport, and first Vice-President of the Mechanics' and Far- mers' Savings Bank. Mr. Morgan is eminently popular. After the sharpest contest ever waged in his district, he was chosen by a majority of 341. He was elected a member of the House of 1883 by 940 majority-the largest ever given a
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member since the organization of the town. For two years he was Master of Corinthian Lodge, F. and A. M. Mr. Morgan's father-in-law, Hon. Wm. A. Judson, formerly of Huntington, is a . life-long Democrat, and was Senator from the Tenth District in 1852, and a member of the House in 1844, 1848, 1850, and 1854. In 1850 he came within a vote or two of being chosen
Secretary of State, to fill a vacancy, by the Legislature, but was defeated by the Free-soilers. Mr. Morgan's maternal grandfather was Daniel Nash, late of Westport, who was well known locally as an eminent financier. Mr. Morgan's popularity is sufficiently evinced by his vote, and is unexceeded by his reputation for probity and business ability.
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HON. SMITH P. GLOVER,
DISTRICT NO. 15.
HON. SMITH PEEK GLOVER, Republican Sena- tor from the Fifteenth District, is a resident of Newtown, where he was born on August 16, 1837, his present age being forty-seven years. During his life he has been engaged in mercantile pur- suits, and has been very successful. In 1872 he
was elected State Senator from the Eleventh District, in which Newtown was at that time included, and served as Chairman of the Com- mittee on the Sale of Lands. At the session of 1884 he was Chairman of the Committee on Finance and of the Committee on Elections.
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HON. JAMES B. TATEM,
DISTRICT NO. 16.
HON. JAMES B. TATEM of Woodstock Valley, Republican Senator from the Sixteenth District, was born in Phoenix, R. I., April 9, 1836. He has held several town offices, and for the last ten
years has been a Deputy Sheriff, a position he still holds. In the House of 1878 he served quite acceptably on the Judiciary Committee. He is a manufacturer, educated in the common schools.
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HON. THOMAS G. CLARKE,
DISTRICT NO. 17.
HON. THOMAS G. CLARKE of Canterbury, Re- publican Senator from the Seventeenth District, was born at Franklin, and is seventy-four years of age. He was a member of the House in 1883, and was a member of the Committee on Fisheries. In his youth he received an academic education, and when a young man entered upon the study of theology, and graduated from the old East Windsor Theological Seminary, now located in Hartford. He has been connected with the Board of Selectmen of Canterbury, and has also served as Acting School Visitor, being
identified with the educational and religious in- terests of the town. It is interesting to note that Senator Clarke now owns and occupies the old house which, more than fifty years ago, Miss Prudence Crandall kept her celebrated school, and suffered persecution for her friendship toward colored children. Senator Clarke was formerly engaged in pastoral labors, but is now a farmer by occupation. At the session of 1884 he was Chairman of the Committee on Forfeited Rights and New Counties and County Seats.
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HON. WHEELOCK T. BATCHELLER,
DISTRICT NO. 18.
HON. WHEELOCK T. BATCHELLER of West Win- sted, Republican Senator from the Eighteenth District, was born in Manchester, February 18, 1840, and educated in the common schools and the Claverack (N. Y.) Institute. He entered the business of scythe manufacturing, founded by his maternal grandfather, who settled in Winsted in 1817. While thus engaged the Rebellion broke out, and he enlisted in Company F, Second C. V.,-Colonel Terry's regiment-and went to the front as First Lieutenant. He participated in the battle of Bull Run, and upon his return from a three-months' enlistment assisted in organizing the Twenty-eighth C. V., going out as Lien- tenant-Colonel. He commanded the regiment at Port Hudson. He was afterward in the Quarter-
master-General's department of General Sher. man's army, and had charge of important rail- roads in Georgia and North Carolina from John- ston's surrender to the official close of the war. In 1867 he resumed the manufacture of scythes, and in 1879 was elected Representative without solicitation and by a handsome majority. He was House Chairman of the Military Committee. In 1881 he was chosen Comptroller of the State, an office he filled with credit. He was a charter member of Palmer Post G. A. R., and has been Quartermaster of the Department of Connecticut, and an aide on the Department Commander's staff. He is now President of the George Dud- ley & Son Company.
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HON. MILO B. RICHARDSON,
DISTRICT NO. 19.
HON. MILO B. RICHARDSON of Lime Rock, in the town of Salisbury, Democratic Senator from the Nineteenth District, was re-elected Senator at the November election, 1883. At the session of 1882 he was Chairman of the Committee on Sale of Lands, and in 1883 of the Committee on New Towns and Probate Districts. He was also a member of the Committee on Executive Ap- pointments. In 1884 he retained all these posi- tions. He was born at Lime Rock, February 13, 1849, and was educated principally at the Rocky Dell Institute in his native village, under the charge of Mr. J. H. Hurlburt. For a short time also he attended the Edwards Place School at Stockbridge, Mass. Since his twenty-first year he has been engaged in the management of im- portant interests of the Barnum-Richardson Com- pany and other corporations. He is at present a Director and Assistant Treasurer of the former
concern and a Director in many other corpora- tions, engaged in the mining and manufacture of iron in Connectiont and other States. In the spring of 1872, when only twenty-three years of age, he was nominated on the Democratic State ticket for Treasurer, with Richard D. Hubbard. In 1874 he was chosen a Representative from Salisbury by the largest majority ever given in that town. The same year he was appointed an aide on the staff of Governor Charles R. Inger- soll, with the rank of Colonel. Since 1875 he has been an active and influential member of the Democratic State Central Committee. Senator Richardson is a son of Leonard Richardson and grandson of Milo Barnum. The latter was born at Dover, Dutchess County, N. Y., July 16, 1790, and removed to Lime Rock in 1820. In a few years he acquired a liberal property and founded the great house with which his name is
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still connected, the Barnum-Richardson Com- pany. He died May 10, 1860. Leonard Rich- ardson, the father of Senator Richardson, was born at Willsborough, Essex County, N. Y., September 10, 1808. His ancestors emigrated from Scotland to Quebec about 1775, whence they removed to Willsborough. While Leonard was quite young his parents emigrated to Sharon, Conn. In 1825 he engaged as clerk in the store of Milo Barnum, at Lime Rock. April 16, 1832, he married Lucy Ann, daughter of his employer, by whom he had three children, Milo Barnum, James Leonard, and Caroline Barnum. In 1830,
in conjunction with his father-in-law, with whom he had become associated in business, he built a foundry for re-melting pig iron, and in a few years William H., son of Milo Barnum, was taken into the firm. The business prospered greatly, and became the foundation of the great corpora- tion which now controls the entire Salisbury iron interest. Besides the manufacture of pig iron, the house is largely interested in the manufacture of car wheels at Lime Rock, Jersey City, and Chicago, and of cars at Huntington, West Virginia.
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HON. HORACE D. CURTISS,
DISTRICT NO. 20.
HON. HORACE D. CURTISS of Woodbury, Re- publican Senator from the Twentieth District, was born in Woodbury forty-three years ago. He was educated at the common schools and has been first selectman. He has also filled minor offices. He is connected with the woolen manu- facturing concern of Daniel Curtiss & Sons and
with the Tapestry Manufacturing Company. which last named corporation has the reputation of making silk goods as rich and handsome as any that are made on this continent, and more per- fectly woven than those imported. In 1568 and in 1884 he represented Woodbury in the House.
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HON. JOHN ALLEN.
DISTRICT NO. 21.
HON. JOHN ALLEN of Old Saybrook, Republi- can Senator from the Twenty-first District, was born in Meriden, February 6, 1815, the eldest son of Levi Allen, a farmer and prominent citi- zen, and 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 he served a clerkship from the age of fourteen to twenty. In the spring of 1836 he removed to New York and entered the employ of Perkins, Hopkins & White, wholesale dry goods jobbers, having large busi- ness interests with the South. When the firm was reorganized, in 1842, he became a partner with Perkins & Hopkins, afterward Hopkins, Allen & Company. It was with the latter firm that he became widely known. November 10.
1847, he married Mary Ann Phelps, a daughter of the late Hon. Elisha Phelps of Simsbury. He withdrew from mercantile life just before the war and settled at Old Saybrook. In 1863 and 1864 he was chosen Senator from the old Nineteenth District as a Republican and staunch Unionist, and during both years aided the State greatly in sending its quota of men to the front as Chair- man of the Joint Standing Committee on Finance. He was prominent in the tax revision that remains as the basis of our present system. It ineludes his suggestion that railroad property be taxed on what it will sell for. June 17, 1864. he introduced into the Senate the first resolution for a Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery, and in September, 1866, was a delegate from this State to the Philadelphia Convention of loyal Southerners in support of Congress
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against Johnson's defection. He assisted in ar- resting the " peace flag" raising at Saybrook, was one of the fellows of the corporation of Yale College, and a Presidential Elector in the Hayes campaign. In 1867 he was chosen President of the Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville Railroad Com-
pany in the State of Illinois. In 1883 he was elected to the Senate from the Twenty-first Dis- trict and was made Chairman of the Committee on Railroads, a responsibility for which his expe- rience had well qualified him.
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HON. JOSEPH W. ALSOP,
DISTRICT NO. 22.
HON. JOSEPH W. ALSOP of Middletown, Dem- ocratic Senator from the Twenty-second District, entered upon the first half of his third term in the Senate, with this session. He was first elected in 1880, again in 1882, and again last fall. At each of the four sessions at which he has rep- resented 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, 1838, and was educated at the Yale and Columbia Scientific Schools. He also pursued a complete course of medical study, graduating from the Medical Department of the University of New York in 1864. He has served in both Boards of the Middletown Court of Com- mon Council, and was a member of the House from Middletown in 1873, 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 Connecticut Hospital for the Insane at Middletown, 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 Alsop is in- terested in agriculture and stock-breeding, and his learning has been of incalculable vale as Chair- man of the Agricultural Committee, while in other branches of legislation his scholarly attain- ments, knowledge of affairs, and executive ability have won for him the esteem and confidence of his associates. At the last session he was, in ad- dition to his other duties, Chairman of the Com- mittee on Federal Relations, and on Unfinished Business.
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HON. MILO W. PEMBER,
DISTRICT NO. 23.
HON. MILO W. PEMBER of Vernon, Republi- can Senator from the Twenty-third District, is no stranger in the path of legislation, he having been an influential member of the House in 1877, 1880, and 1881. He has been Treasurer of the Vernon Town Deposit Fund, and is a Director of 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, January 16, 1833, and received a com-
mon school education. His early life was passed on a farm, 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. At the last session he was Chairman of the Committee on Humane Institu- tions, before which there were many important measures.
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HON. J. DWIGHT CHAFFEE,
DISTRICT NO. 24.
HON. JOSEPH DWIGHT CHAFFEE is the junior member of the firm of A. S. Chaffee & Son, silk manufacturers, whose mills are located at Mans- field Center and Willimantic, Conn. This firm was established by the senior Chaffee in 1838, at Mansfield Center. Mr. J. D. Chaffee became associated with his father in 1870, and at once became the financial and business director of the concern. A practical manufacturer, familiar with all the details of manufacturing, strictly up- right in his dealings, and very popular with his business associates and towns-people. Under Mr. Chaffee's management the capacity for mannfac- turing has greatly increased; grasping every opportunity to have the latest improved machin- ery in operation that shall enable the firm to put their goods upon the market equal to any manu- facturer of sewing silks in New England. Mr. Chaffee was a member of the House in 1874, and
acquitted himself with credit as Clerk on the Committee of Cities and Boroughs. Mr. Chatfee has never held a Town office, and could not be prevailed upon to accept one, owing to his striet attention to business ; he has, nevertheless, taken great interest in the welfare of the party with which he acts. He has been a staunch Re- publican from boyhood, and always ready to help the party financially and otherwise. It is due Mr. Chaffee to say that he received the largest majority ever given to an elector in his town, and for the first time in the history of the party carried every town in his district for the Repub- lican candidate, receiving the largest majority given to any Senator in his district since the organization of the Republican party; and, with all, he is well qualified to fill the honorable posi- tion to which he has attained.
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HON. WILLIAM E. SIMONDS,
THE SPEAKER.
WILLIAM EDGAR SIMONDS was born at Collins- ville, in the town of Canton, November 24, 1842, and received a thorough education at the Collins- ville High School, the State Normal School at New Britain, and at the Yale Law School, grad- uating from the latter institution in 1865, after returning from the war. He is a member of the Hartford County Bar, and commenced practice here in 1865, achieving at the outset a prominent position as a lawyer. Two years after his ad- mission to the bar he decided on patent law as a specialty, and has pursued it with remarkable success. His practice reaches into many States, and he has been engaged in a number of leading patent law cases during the past ten years. Mr. Simonds is the author of a work on Design Patents, published in New York in 1874, and re- published in London that year. He is also the
author of a Digest of Patent Office Decisions, published in Washington, D. C., in 1880, and of a Manual of Patent Law, published in New York city in 1883. The three works are accepted text books, and highly commended by the best author- ities concerning patent law. The opinion in which he is held by the Yale Law School Faculty was exemplified less than a year ago by his ap- pointment to the Lectureship on Patent Law in that institution. The selection was made on the ground of merit and distinguished services in Mr. Simonds's field of thought. During the current year he will commence his series of lectures at the School. Mr. Simonds was a member of the House of Representatives in 1883, and was Chair- man on the part of that body of the Committee on Railroads. No man at the close of the session possessed more fully the confidence and esteem
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of his associate members. His ability as a de- bater won for him a practical leadership, and his views concerning public interests commanded approval. He is an orator of fine address, his speeches in thought and form being models of excellence. His enlogy of Governor Jewell, de- livered in the House on the occasion of the memorial services at the time of the Governor's death, was a brilliant effort. Mr. Simonds has an honorable war record, having served with gal- lantry in the field. He enlisted as a private in Company A, of the Twenty-fifth Connecticut, commanded by Colonel George P. Bissell of Hart- ford, and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant- Major before the regiment left Hartford. At the battle of Irish Bend, La., April 14, 1863, he was promoted to be Lieutenant of Company I for
bravery on the field. He is connected with the Grand Army, and has been Commander of Nathaniel Lyon Post of this city. Mr. Simonds, in addition to his legal practice, owns and man- ages one of the finest farms in Hartford county. It is located near Collinsville, and is stocked with thoroughbreds ; Mr. Simonds being a special ad- mirer of Alderneys. He was one of the founders of The Farmington Valley Agricultural Corpor- ation, and is Vice-President of the society. Mr. Simonds's election to the House in November at- tracted attention to him immediately as the lead- ing candidate for the Speakership. In fact the position was conceded to him throughout the State at the outset. He is fully qualified for the place, and adorns it by his personal ability, can- dor, and integrity.
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JOHN H. SESSIONS
Of Bristol, is a successful business man, and has made his own way in the world, reaching the position which he now occupies through hard work. He was born at Burlington, March 17, 1828, and received a common school education. When fifteen years of age, he hired out to work on a farm at eight dollars a month, and labored two years in that way. Winters he worked for his board and attended the district school. When seventeen years old he learned wood turning, working for ten dollars a month for the first year, including board. This work was followed for nine years. In 1854 he commenced business for himself, engaging in the manufacture of cabinet
hardware, which, in connection with other indus- tries, he still continues. He is President of the Bristol National Bank, also President of the Bristol Water Company, and of the National Water Wheel Company, member of the Board of Directors of the Waterbury National Bank, Trustee of the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbra- ham, Trustee in the Wesleyan University at Middletown, and member of the Exeentive Com- mittee. In all of these positions he has been an able and conscientious representative of the in- terests involved. In politics Mr. Sessions is a Republican. The present is his first term in the Legislature.
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CHARLES M. JOSLYN
Of Hartford, was born at Tolland, March 26, 1849, and was educated at the Tolland High School and at Monson Academy. He studied law with the firm of Waldo, Hubbard & Hyde, and was admitted to the bar in 1873. During the two years following he was Assistant State At- torney under William Hamersley and was also associated with Hon. George G. Sumner. April 1, 1875, he formed a law partnership with E. H. Hyde, Jr., which has since continued, at No. 11 Central Row, in this city. The firm have estab- lished a good reputation for integrity and ability, and stand high in the estimation of the public.
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