History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 2

Author: Burpee, Charles W. (Charles Winslow), b. 1859
Publication date: 1928
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1390

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III > Part 2

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On June 27, 1901, in Poughkeepsie, New York, Mr. Shipman married Miss Melvina Van Kleeck and they now have a family of three children: Nathalie, born December 17, 1902; Arthur Leffingwell, Jr., born July 4, 1906, now a student at Yale; and Mary Caroline, born December 23, 1910. The hospitality of their home on Asylum avenue makes it a favorite resort for their many friends.

Mr. Shipman's activity in the field of politics attests his deep interest in matters of public moment. He has always voted with the republican party and on its ticket was elected a member of the common council from the fourth ward in 1892; in 1895 he was made a member of the high school committee and in 1904 was appointed to the position of corporation counsel by Mayor Henney, serving a second term by appoint- ment of Mayor Louis R. Cheney in 1910. His club connections are many, including membership in the Hartford Club, the Hartford Golf Club, the Graduates Club of New Haven, the University Club of New York, and the University Club and the Twilight Club of Hartford, also patriotic societies. In hours of leisure he turns to hunting and fishing for recreation and finds great enjoyment in these sports and in out-of-door life in general. What with the volumes he has inherited and those which he has added,

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he has one of the choicest private libraries in the state, and his intimates say that he can quote offhand from any one of the books. Such belief may be based on the fact that he has written many articles, not a few of which have been published in leading journals, chiefly on historical subjects and with relation to political economics, colonial days and the constitution. He shares with Mrs. Shipman a fondness for the drama, of which they have given gratifying evidence by devoting a portion of a building on their grounds for the use of members of the Drama League of Hartford. In the affairs of the South Congregational church he has furnished earnest cooperation and counsel. In the progress of the Wadsworth Athenaeum, the Connecticut Historical Society and the Hartford Public Library he has been a zealous and sometimes radical promoter; his familiarity with Connecticut's history, his native discernment and power of dis- crimination, together with aesthetic taste, have made him a valuable member of the State Commission of Sculpture, which has charge of the decoration and statuary at the capitol. Force of character and of expression and a rugged physique are among the family characteristics he has made his own.

CHARLES C. GOODRICH

Charles C. Goodrich, who passed from life in Hartford, December 28, 1921, when seventy-six years of age, was widely known for his skill as an organizer, this enabling him to coordinate seemingly diverse interests into a harmonious whole that produced desired results. At all times obstacles and difficulties in his path seemed to serve as an impetus for renewed effort on his part and in the course of years he came to prominence in business circles as the vice president of the Hartford & New York Transportation Company, efficiently managing steamboat lines and river shipping.

Connecticut numbered him among her native sons, he being born in Wethers- field, July 30, 1845, his parents being Joshua and Mary A. (Wells) Goodrich. In the acquirement of his education he attended the South Grammar School of Hartford and afterward became a student in Williston Seminary of East Hampton, Massa- chusetts. His early business experience came to him in his native city and later he was for a time in Portland, Connecticut, whence he went to New York as representa- tive of a fertilizer company. While there he became interested in freight transporta- tion, entering the employ of M. H. Brazos, then one of the largest vessel owners of the east, for whom he supervised his freighting interests on Long Island Sound. Mr. Brazos had the agency for several tugs plying on the Connecticut river. Mr. Goodrich, recognizing that there was a lack of efficient and economical management of this business, came to Hartford to make adjustments and soon recognized the fact that it would be advisable to form a joint stock company, for hitherto various persons had been interested in the different tugs to a greater or less degree. After considerable effort and diplomacy he obtained prices upon the respective tugs, for which seventy-seven thousand dollars was paid. Then it was-in May, 1877, that the Hartford & New York Transportation Company was organized with a capital of one hundred and twelve thousand dollars, Mr. Goodrich being chosen secretary and agent, with Ezra H. Williams as president and Charles I. Hills as treasurer. From that time forward Mr. Goodrich was continuously associated with the Hartford & New York Transportation Company, which in the first five years of its existence was engaged solely in the freight and towing business. In 1896 the company added the twin-screw propeller "Hartford" to their fleet and in 1898 another boat, the "Middle- town." A year later, during the Spanish-American war, the "Hartford" was sold to the United States government for a hospital ship, but the company built another boat also named "Hartford" and operated its two steamers on a daily run between Hart- ford and New York. For almost a half century Mr. Goodrich devoted his attention to the study of marine commerce, particularly as to the problems arising along the Sound and the Connecticut river, and it was said that he could pilot a boat with as great dexterity as any man in his employ. In 1880 the Hartford & New York Trans- portation Company purchased a ship yard and marine railway at Dutch Point and there built many barger and tugs. In time the fleet of the company numbered more than fifty coastwise vessels and steamers, embracing the latest designs in marine construction. In 1906 the company through sale turned over its interests to the New

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Haven road, with Mr. Goodrich continuing as vice president and general manager. After some years he resigned the office of general manager but retained the vice presidency. During the early days of the company it was said of him: "He was as active in physical tasks and as busy as any of the company's employes. He worked shoulder to shoulder with the men and inspired them by his aggressiveness and determination." He was a strong executive, a capable organizer, a man of sound judgment and broad vision, and his opinions in matters that related to the company's growth, development and success were seldom, if ever, at fault in the slightest degree. Aside from his connection with the Hartford & New York Transportation Company he became president of the Maine Steamship Company, operating boats between New York and Portland, Maine, its entire stock being owned by the first named corporation. He was also a director of the Middletown Coal Company, one of the most prosperous corporations of its kind in the state.

In 1875 Mr. Goodrich was united in marriage to Miss Beulah Murray, of Madison, a daughter of Calvin Murray, who was a shipbuilder of Guilford, Connecticut, where Mrs. Goodrich was born, she being one of a family of four children. By her marriage she became the mother of one son, Raymond M. Goodrich, who was born April 10, 1879, and married Zulema Conger. Raymond M. Goodrich has two daughters and a son: Genevieve G., Elizabeth and Charles C. For a number of years Raymond M. Goodrich was associated with his father in business but is now president of the F. R. & R. M. Goodrich Tobacco Company, Inc. He is also a director of the Middle- town Coal Company and is interested in various other business enterprises. He holds membership in the Hartford Golf Club.

Charles C. Goodrich was an ardent sportsman and made many hunting and fishing trips, especially to Newfoundland. At one time he belonged to the Hartford Board of Trade and took great interest in the work of improving the Connecticut river, the knowledge that he had acquired through his transportation interests proving of great public benefit in that connection. He was interested in everything that had to do with the advancement and welfare of Hartford and his public-spirited citizen- ship was manifest in many tangible ways. As a business man his record was one of notable progress. His constantly expanding powers and his utilization of every opportunity brought him steadily to the front until he ranked with the leading rep- resentatives of transportation interests in New England.

HON. MORGAN GARDNER BULKELEY

When on the 7th of November, 1921, Hon. Morgan Gardner Bulkeley passed from the scene of earthly activities there was concluded a most important chapter in the annals of Connecticut. He had passed the eighty-third milestone on life's journey and his entire career was one of useful service, signal honor and successful achieve- ment. No history of the state would be complete without extended reference to Mr. Bulkeley and what he accomplished, for he was one of the most eminent of her native sons, contributing largely to her material development and as largely shaping public thought and action. He was born at East Haddam, Connecticut, December 26, 1837, and he came of a line of ancestors honorable and distinguished, including Baron Robert de Buclough, who lived during the reign of King John of England. The family was established in the new world in early colonial days by Rev. Peter Bulke- ley, descended from the baron in the ninth generation and a fellow of St. John's College of Cambridge, England. He was a minister of the gospel, a non-conformist who arrived in Massachusetts in 1634 and became one of the founders of the church of Concord, of which he was the first pastor. He died March 7, 1659. By his second wife, Grace Chetwood, he had four children, including Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, who was born in 1636 and was graduated from Harvard in 1655. Four years later Gershom married Sarah Chauncey, daughter of President Chauncey, of Harvard. She died in 1669. In 1661 Rev. Gershom Bulkeley became the second minister of the church at New London, Connecticut, and in 1667 was installed pastor of the church in Wethersfield, where he remainedd for ten years. Thereafter he engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery and in 1675 was appointed by the general court as surgeon of the army raised for defense against Indian attack. Removing to Glas- tonbury, he became an extensive landowner there and died at Wethersfield in 1713.

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He was regarded as an eminent representative of both the ministry and the medical science. His six children were Catherine, Dorothy, Charles, Peter, Edward and John.

The last named was graduated from Harvard College in 1699, studied divinity and was ordained as a minister of the church in Colchester, Connecticut, in 1703. He married Patience, daughter of John and Sarah Prentice, in 1701, and they had twelve children. Hon. John Bulkeley of this family was born April 19, 1705, and after completing a course at Yale College in 1725 studied law and became an eminent member of the profession. In 1753 he was elected an assistant and for a period of ten years was probate judge and also filled other important offices. In 1738 he married Mary Gardner, who died in 1750, and in 1751 Abigail Hastings became his wife. The children of his first marriage were Lydia, Mary, John, Mary, (the second of the name) Eliphalet, Lucy and Charles.

Eliphalet Bulkeley, born August 8, 1746, married in 1767 Anna Bulkeley, of New London, and their children were Lydia A., Mary A., John C., Patience, Jonathan, Pettis, Eliphalet, Sarah, Fanny, Orlando and Julia. John Charles Bulkeley, born August 8, 1772, married Sally Taintor in 1798 and they had three sons: Charles E., John T. and Eliphalet Adams. The last named was born in Colchester, Connecticut, January 20, 1803, was graduated from Yale College in 1824 and became a law student in the office of William P. Williams, of Lebanon, Connecticut. About 1830 he removed to East Haddam, where he engaged in law practice and was also president of the East Haddam Bank. He practiced law with Judge Henry Perkins as senior partner in the firm of Bulkeley & Perkins and later became the first president of the Con- necticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, of which he was one of the organizers. In 1850 he organized and became president of the Aetna Life Insurance Company and so continued until his death, being also largely interested in the Aetna subsidiary corporations and in banking. He was likewise a director in the Willimantic Linen Company and other important business enterprises. He became a prominent figure in his community, represented his town in the state legislature and was twice a member of the senate. In 1847 he became a resident of Hartford, where he served as school fund commissioner and also filled other offices of honor and trust. He was likewise associated with many prominent business interests and became a man of wealth. He exerted marked influence for good upon the life of the community in many ways. He was president of the Pearl Street Ecclesiastical Society and he gave his cooperation to every project for intellectual and moral progress. In 1857 Hartford elected him to the general assembly and he was chosen speaker of the house by the Union republicans, having at the dissolution of the whig party become a stanch advocate of the new republican party. He had a remarkable memory, seldom forgetting a face or name, and this stood him in good stead in many in- stances. He married March 31, 1830, Lydia S. Morgan, of Colchester, and died in Hartford, February 13, 1872, while his wife passed away August 9, 1895. They were parents of six children.

The third in order of birth, Morgan Gardner Bulkeley, was in his ninth year when the family home was established in Hartford, where he attended the public schools until 1851, when at the age of fourteen years he began working for the Aetna Company, sweeping out the office for a dollar a week. Later he served as bundle boy in a mercantile establishment in Brooklyn, New York, and for seven years he was associated with the dry goods house of H. P. Morgan & Company as salesman, confidential clerk and finally as partner. All business and personal considerations, however, were put aside when the country became involved in civil war and as a private he went to the front with the Thirteenth New York Volunteer Infantry in the Army of the Potomac. His military record was in harmony with his entire life, being characterized by the utmost fidelity to duty. He returned to his business connec- tions in Brooklyn but in 1872, following his father's demise, again became a resident of Hartford that he might supervise the financial interests of the family. After seven years he succeeded Thomas O. Enders in the presidency of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, and save for that brief seven-year period Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley and Morgan G. Bulkeley continuously occupied the presidency of the corpo- ration from its founding until the latter's death. When he assumed the presidency the company was capitalized for seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and something of the marvelous growth of the corporation under his direction is indi- cated in the fact that by 1904 the capital had been increased to two million dollars, with equal development along all lines. He instituted many most progressive meas-

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ures and his well devised plans were promptly executed. The term captain of indus- try has become familiar in the parlance of the present. Morgan G. Bulkeley might well be called a captain of finance, for he marshaled his forces with the precision of a military commander. No detail was too unimportant to be overlooked and at the same time every project was given its relative place in the well devised plans of the organization. Opportunity to Mr. Bulkeley was ever a call to action and upon the broad basis of business integrity, enterprise, diligence and honor he built one of the most notable superstructures known to the insurance and financial world.

To have accomplished this alone would have entitled him to lasting fame, but Morgan G. Bulkeley became equally eminent as a leader in the public life of his state. He was interested in politics from early youth and in young manhood served as coun- cilman and as alderman of Hartford. In 1880 he was elected mayor and gave to the city a most businesslike and efficient administration through a period of eight years, instituting and promoting many important municipal projects, while he disbursed more than his salary in providing pleasure or comfort for the city's poor. His may- oralty service made his known throughout the state and in 1888 he was nominated in the republican convention by acclamation for governor and was elected by a handsome majority, although in that year the democratic presidental electors were successful. Concerning the political history of that period a contemporary writer has said: "Following the custom a new ticket was presented in 1890. The only person on either side having a clear majority over all was the democratic candidate for comptroller. The election of the remainder of the state officers was thrown into the general as- sembly. As the two houses belonged to opposite parties there arose under the pro- visions of our constitution a deadlock. Accordingly, Governor Bulkeley and his asso- ciates, with the exception of the comptroller, held over for two years. During the period the legislation remained in abeyance. No appropriations were voted for the maintenance of the institutions of the state or for meeting the imperative require- ments of the treasury. At this crisis the Aetna Life Insurance Company, through its president, Governor Bulkeley, volunteered to furnish all the money needed to meet every legitimate bill. Instructions were issued in regard to the method of making disbursements and keeping the accounts. The next general assembly by public act repaid the company in full without disallowance of an item.

"Having twice thrown the votes pledged to him in the general assembly, to secure the reelection of General Hawley to the United States senate, in the fall of 1904 Governor Bulkeley, on the withdrawal of General Hawley, entered the field with the view of holding his strength to the end. In nominations, and later in the election, attention was centered on the senatorship, all other issues being for the moment submerged. When the caucus met the following January, Governor Bulkeley had about two-thirds of the votes, and the action of the caucus was ratified in the general assembly. In executive ability no man in the United States senate will excel the new member from Connecticut. Corporate abuses have provoked a dangerous disposition to assail the bad and good indiscriminately. The friends of Senator Bulkeley believe that he will penetrate to the marrow of questions affecting the busi- ness of the country, and prove a bulwark against injustice to legitimate interests."

The long record of his public service was one of exceptional honor. He handled with notable tact and skill the complex problems of government when he was at the head of the state and his administration was characterized by reform, improvement and notable achievement. Another important public work which he accomplished was the completion and dedication of the great Hartford bridge across the Connecticut river. The old bridge having burned in 1895, he was chosen president of the board of bridge commissioners in 1897 and labored untiringly until the completion of the new structure in 1908, when three days in October were devoted to its dedication, made memorable through historical pageant, patriotic jubilee and other forms of public rejoicing. On the 3d of December following a great meeting was held in the Parsons theatre to do honor to Mr. Bulkeley in recognition of the service that he had rendered his fellowmen, on which occasion a magnificent silver service of one hundred and fifty-six pieces was presented to him amid the felicitations of all pres- ent. Not only did his public spirit find expression in untiring effort for the building of the great bridge but also in the development of the broad boulevard and the park on the east side. He was likewise president of the State Commission to erect the State Library and of the Town Commission having in charge the building of the Soldiers' Memorial arch in Bushnell park. It was through the efforts of Mr. Bulkeley

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and others that one hundred acres of a peninsula at the mouth of the Connecticut river were developed into a separate borough known as Fenwick, which has become one of Connecticut's most delightful summer places.

With the patriotic societies and organizations Mr. Bulkeley was closely associated, having membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Foreign Wars, the Society of Mayflower Descendants, Society of Colonial Wars, Society of the War of 1812, Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. He was ever a faithful follower of the teachings of Masonry and his religious belief was indicated in his close and helpful connection with the Congregational church. He belonged to the Hartford Club and other social organiza- tions and those who met him in the field of social activity found him ever courteous, genial and kindly.

Nowhere was his true nature more manifest than in his own home, where as a devoted husband and father he found his greatest happiness in ministering to those at his own fireside. On the 11th of February, 1885, Mr. Bulkeley married Fannie Briggs, daughter of James and Caroline A. Houghton of San Francisco, California. Three children were born to them: Morgan Gardner, Elinor Houghton and Houghton. The married life of Mr. and Mrs. Bulkeley covered a period of thirty-six years ere he passed away. More than six years have since come and gone, but the name of Morgan G. Bulkeley can never be effaced from the records of Connecticut. There is no phase of the state's growth, development and progress with which he was not connected, either actively or through influence, and so far-reaching and beneficial were his labors that few names have been placed so high on the roll of Connecticut's eminent citizens as is that of Morgan Gardner Bulkeley.

ROBERT L. COATES

Robert L. Coates, attorney at law, has been a member of the Hartford bar since January, 1921, and in the practice of his profession he has acquired the reputation of being an able lawyer.

Mr. Coates was born in New Britain, Connecticut, on January 24, 1898, a son of George W. and Margaret Keating Coates, both natives of Connecticut, his father having been born in Union City, and his mother in Southington.

His preparatory education was received in the public schools of New Britain, where he was graduated from the grammar school in 1912 and from the high school in 1916. He then matriculated at the Albany Law School, Union University, at Albany, New York, for the study of law and was graduated from that University in 1920, with the degree of LL. B. Immediately following his graduation from law school he entered the law office of the late Hon. Lewis Sperry, who had formerly, with the Hon. George P. McLean, now the senior United States senator from Con- necticut, composed the old firm of Sperry & McLean. Intimate, daily intercourse with such a man as Lewis Sperry, who was one of the most eminent and able lawyers in this country, and who had served with great distinction on the banking committee of congress, while a member of that body for two terms, could not but give noble ideas of life to any youth coming under his influence, and here young Coates could see exemplified each day the highest requirements in the study of law-which study, of necessity, must be continuous-and its most honorable application when practiced as a profession. Mr. Coates was admitted to the bar at Hartford, in January, 1921, and entered upon active practice with Mr. Sperry, which continued until Mr. Sperry's death in 1922.

He then went to New York city, where he became associated with the law firm of Evarts, Choate, Sherman & Leon, of 60 Wall street, an internationally known firm, and was admitted to the New York bar. Later he became associated with the law firm of Baldwin, Hutchins & Todd, of 120 Broadway, the senior member of this firm, Mr. Roger Sherman Baldwin, being a descendant of Roger Sherman, one of the Connecticut signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a cousin of the late Governor Simeon E. Baldwin, of Connecticut.

In September, 1926, Mr. Coates returned to Hartford, where he has since prac- ticed, with offices at 125 Trumbull street. His extensive and varied experience and his thorough preliminary preparation have developed his powers until he now has a

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History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 2

Author: Burpee, Charles W. (Charles Winslow), b. 1859 Publication date: 1928 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1390

Author: Burpee, Charles W. (Charles Winslow), b. 1859
Publication date: 1928
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1390