History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 6

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 6

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).

Henry Roberts was but a few months old when his parents returned from New York to take up their abode upon a farm at South Windsor, Connecticut, where he spent the first twelve years of his life, there acquiring his elementary education in the public schools near his home. He next entered the high school at Hartford and was graduated in 1873. He further pursued his studies by a classical course at Yale

HON. HENRY ROBERTS

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

University and was graduated in 1877 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Real- izing the value of legal training even in a business career, he completed a course in the Yale Law School, which conferred upon him the LL. B. degree in 1879.

Thus thoroughly trained for the duties and responsibilities which were to de- volve upon him, Mr. Roberts became associated with the Hartford Woven Wire Mat- tress Company, of which his father was then president. The same thoroughness that marked his course during his scholastic period was seen in his service in the business world. He made it his purpose to thoroughly acquaint himself with every phase of mattress manufacture as well as the different phases of administrative direction connected with the business. In 1884 he was elected secretary of the cor- poration, of which his brother George was then president, having succeeded to that office on the death of the father in 1878. After two years in the position of secre- tary Henry Roberts became the president and was the directing head of the corpo- ration until 1907, making the Woven Wire Mattress Company one of the strongest and most prosperous manufacturing enterprises of the state. He likewise became associated with other important business interests and is a director of the Phoenix National Bank, the Hartford Trust Company, the State Savings Bank of Hartford, the Hartford Electric Light Company and the Farmington River Power Company.

Mr. Roberts' political activity has ever vied in importance and scope with his business. He inherited a love of republican ideals and through home training early came to a realization of the duties and responsibilities as well as the privileges of citizenship. The first office that he ever filled was that of alderman from the sixth ward of Hartford and during his two years' service he acted as chairman of the ways and means committee, giving to the city valuable service in that connection. In November, 1898, he was elected to the state legislature and the following year was named chairman of the finance committee. In this larger field of activity he demonstrated to the state, as he had done to the city, his ability and fitness for office and his devotion to the high ideals of public service. It was natural that still more important public work should be entrusted to him and he was elected to the state senate. During his term of office he served as chairman of the senate appropria- tions committee and from the position of lawmaker he passed to that of a state executive. On the ticket which made Abiram Chamberlain governor of Connecticut, Mr. Roberts was chosen lieutenant governor, by virtue of which office he presided over the senate sessions and won the highest endorsement of the public. At the close of his term a leading journal of the state said: "The cordial esteem of twenty- four leading men of the state is something an unworthy man never gets. The cor- dial esteem of all who know him cannot be enjoyed by any man not of high class, morally and intellectually. Lieutenant-Governor Roberts has won a high place in the regard and affections of the people of Connecticut and in our opinion no senate was ever presided over more successfully than the one of 1903 over which the favorite son of Hartford wielded the gavel." So firmly had Mr. Roberts become entrenched in public regard that it was natural that he should become the standard bearer of his party for the office of governor, and such was the high opinion enter- tained for him as a public official that his vote was largely in excess of the combined vote of three rival candidates in the nominating convention. He also won a hand- some majority at the polls and was inaugurated as Connecticut's chief executive January 4, 1905. His record met every expectation of the people who had so strongly supported him. Fairness, efficiency, dignity and honor characterized him in the discharge of the important duties which devolved upon him and he gave to Con- necticut an administration which will go down in history as one of the best the state has ever enjoyed. He brought to his problems the sound judgment that had come from long experience in the business world, combined with an understanding of the needs and the opportunities of the state, and at all times he showed remarkable tact in meeting and handling men and situations. He retired from office as he had entered it-with the confidence and regard of all-and resumed the duties of private citizenship, again becoming a factor in the control of important business affairs.

On the 5th of October, 1881, Governor Roberts was married to Miss Carrie E. Smith, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, a daughter of Isaac W. Smith, and they had a family of three children-John Taylor, Francis Thatcher and Edward Constant, but have lost their second son.

Back of every phase of a man's activity is the belief or non-belief in a power that governs the universe, and the high principles which have actuated Mr. Roberts

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

have found their inception in his faith as a member of the Center Congregational church. At all times he has been quick to extend his aid to uphold the high ideals of life and to advance those fields of service which contribute to character building. He has therefore done excellent work as a trustee of the Slater Industrial School at Winton, North Carolina, and as trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association School at Springfield, Massachusetts. He has ever been a champion of the cause of education and he has ever manifested loyalty to the Society of Colonial Wars and the Sons of the Revolution, in both of which organizations he has membership. His college days brought him into active association with the Psi Upsilon, Sigma Epsi- lon and Theta Psi. He has found recreation and interest in his connection with the Country, Golf and Republican clubs of Hartford and the University Club of New York city. The entire life record of Henry Roberts has been an open book which all might read. In every respect it has measured up to high standards of manhood and citizenship and his work has been a contributing factor to the highest and best interests of community and commonwealth.

WILLIAM WALDO HYDE

Though much has been written concerning the cause of success and the methods of its attainment, final analysis brings one to the conclusion that industry, intelli- gently applied, is the only basis for continued advancement. There is no calling in which progress depends so entirely upon individual effort and ability as in the legal profession, and that William Waldo Hyde ranked with the eminent leaders of the Connecticut bar was proof of his highly developed powers and the studious habits which he maintained throughout his professional career. He never deviated from a course which he believed to be right and few men have such a high sense of professional honor and dignity as did William Waldo Hyde. He was born in Tolland, Connecticut, on the 25th of March, 1854, his parents being Alvan Pinney and Frances Elizabeth (Waldo) Hyde. He was descended from William Hyde, a native of England, who became one of the founders of both Hartford and of Norwich, Connecticut, and ranked with the men of wealth and prominence of his day. His only son, Samuel Hyde, born in 1637, became one of the leading residents of Norwich West Farms. He married Jane Lee and died in 1677, at which time his son, Thomas Hyde, was but five years of age, he having been born in July, 1672, while his life span covered the intervening years to April 9, 1755. He married Mary Backus and their son, Captain Jacob Hyde, who was born January 20, 1703, married Hannah Kingsbury and they became parents of Ephraim Hyde, who was born April 23, 1734. Nathaniel Hyde, son of Ephraim and Martha (Giddings) Hyde, was born at Stafford, Connecticut, March 7, 1757, and was an iron founder. He married Sarah Strong and their son Alvan became the father's successor in business, being engaged for many years in iron manufacturing in Stafford. To him and his wife, Sarah Pinney, was born a son, Alvan Pinney Hyde, who on the 12th of September, 1849, married Frances Elizabeth Waldo, daughter of Judge Loren P. Waldo, of whom William Waldo Hyde afterward became a law partner.

The ancestry of the Waldo family in America traces back to Cornelius Waldo, of whom mention is made in records of Salem, Massachusetts, bearing date July 6, 1647. His wife, Hannah, was a daughter of John Cogswell, who sailed from his native England on the ship "Angel Gabriel." John Waldo, son of Cornelius and Hannah Waldo, was a soldier in King Philip's War and married Rebecca Adams. Their son, Edward Waldo, led a busy life as teacher, farmer, deacon in his church, deputy and lieutenant. About 1714 he built a house in that part of Windham, now Scotland, that is yet occupied by one of his descendants. He married Thankful Dim- mock and their son, Edward Waldo, married Abigail Elderkin, by whom he had a son, Zachariah, who was a soldier from Canterbury in the Revolutionary war. The first wife of Zachariah Waldo was Elizabeth Wright and their son, Ebenezer Waldo, who was born in Canterbury, died in Tolland, Connecticut. To him and his wife, Cynthia Parish, was born a son, Loren Pinckney Waldo, on February 2, 1802. He became a distinguished lawyer, served in congress, was judge of the superior court of Connecticut, was a recognized leader of the democratic party in his state, and died in 1881. He had married Frances Elizabeth Eldridge, whose grandfather Charles El-

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

dridge, was severely wounded in the massacre at Fort Griswold. Her grandfather in the maternal line, Captain Elijah Avery, was killed in that massacre. Frances Elizabeth Waldo, daughter of Loren Pinckney and Frances Elizabeth (Eldridge) Waldo, became Mrs. Alvan Pinney Hyde on the 12th of September, 1849.

William Waldo Hyde, born of this marriage at Tolland, March 25, 1854, there spent the first ten years of his life and then accompanied his parents to Hartford, where his father became a member of the well known law firm of Waldo, Hubbard & Hyde as the associate of Governor Richard D. Hubbard and Judge Loren P. Waldo. Completing a high school course by graduation with the class of 1872, William W. Hyde then entered Yale and gained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1876 as a member of a class distinguished by the prominence to which many of its members attained. Whether inherited tendency, environment or natural predilection had most to do with his choice of a life work it is perhaps impossible to determine, but at all events it was wisely made, for in the field of law he rendered valuable service to the com- monwealth. His preparatory reading, covering two years, was done under the direc- tion of his father and for a year he was a student in the Boston University Law School, being admitted to the Connecticut bar in Hartford in 1878. He then became a law clerk in the office of Waldo, Hubbard & Hyde and following the death of Judge Waldo, in 1881, the firm was reorganized under the name of Hubbard, Hyde & Gross, the partners being Governor Hubbard, Alvan P. Hyde and Charles E. Gross, while later William Waldo Hyde and Frank E. Hyde were admitted to the firm. On the death of Governor Hubbard the firm style of Hyde, Gross & Hyde was assumed and following the demise of Alvan P. Hyde, Charles E. Gross and William Waldo Hyde were joined by Arthur L. Shipman under the firm name of Gross, Hyde & Shipman. The next change in the partnership led to the admission of Charles Welles Gross and Alvan Waldo Hyde, sons of the two senior partners. The practice of William Waldo Hyde was ever of a most important character, as recorded in the reports of the state and federal courts, and frequently brought him before the supreme courts of both his state and the United States. He was regarded as the equal of the fore- most members of the bar not only in Connecticut but in other sections of the east, and for a quarter of a century he served as general counsel of the board of water commissioners and was instrumental in securing the passage of the special act of the general assembly legalizing the acquisition of the Nepaug property. He served as corporation counsel from April, 1910, until May, 1912, and in March, 1914, Mayor Cheney appointed him to the city charter revision committee to present the revised charter to the general assembly in 1915. In October, 1915, before the supreme court, he argued the case of the Hartford board of water commissioners against property owners, on defendants' appeal from a decision by Judge Cass of the superior court. Mr. Hyde was also appointed with four others to take over the Connecticut Company as trustees and rendered valuable aid to that board. With the passing years his practice became more and more notable because of its important character and its far-reaching scope and effect and he measured up to the highest requirements thereof, few men having as intimate and comprehensive a knowledge of legal principles as did Mr. Hyde. His activities outside the strict path of his profession, too, were largely of benefit to his fellowmen. He served on the board of school visitors, as acting school visitor and as superintendent of schools during the period from 1885 until 1891 and was largely instrumental in advancing the educational standards and broad- ening the opportunities afforded in the Hartford schools. He served on the board of street commissioners from 1888 until 1891 and again from 1897 until 1899 and dur- ing three years was president of the board. He was also a member of the board of health in 1895 and 1896. When the democratic party made him its mayoralty candidate in 1892 he carried the election by a vote of four thousand, six hundred and seven, giving him a majority of about eight hundred over the republican nominee, and Hartford has had few mayors whose term of office has been characterized by such efficiency and thorough public spirit.

In his home Mr. Hyde was ever genial, courteous and hospitable and he found his greatest happiness in ministering to the welfare of his family. He was married December 1, 1877, to a high school classmate, Helen Eliza Watson, daughter of George W. Watson, of Hartford, and they became parents of a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Alvan Waldo, the latter mentioned elsewhere in this work.

Masonry had no more exemplary representative than Mr. Hyde, who was affili- ated with both York and Scottish Rite bodies as a member of St. John's Lodge, F.

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

& A. M .; Pythagoras Chapter, R. A. M .; Wolcott Council, R. & S. M .; Washington Commandery, K. T .; and the various branches of the Consistory and was likewise a Noble of Sphinx Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also had membership relations with the Society of Mayflower Descendants, with the Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch of the Connecticut Society, Sons of the American Revolution, and the Society of Colonial Wars in Connecticut. He rendered appreciated service to the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane as a trustee. He belonged to the South Congregational church and his entire life was spent in harmony with his professions. Along strictly social lines he was connected with the Hartford, Hartford Golf and Country Clubs, the University Club of New York, the Yale Club of New York, the Graduates Club of New Haven and the Nayasset Club of Springfield, Massachusetts. There was in his make-up a love of harmless fun, an appreciation of wit and humor that made him a delightful companion, and yet he lacked none of those qualities of tact and sympathy which made his companionship so valuable when the trials and sorrows of life pressed heavily upon his friends. So keen was his intellect, so potent his ability, so strong his public spirit and so faithful his friendship that one might say of him:

"He was a man; take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again."

JOHN BUTLER TALCOTT

Death often removes from our midst those whom it seems that we can ill afford to lose, but the life of John Butler Talcott had come to rich fruition inasmuch as he had accomplished great things in the business world, leading not only to the attain- ment of notable personal success but also to the promotion of business growth, progress and prosperity in Connecticut. A firm purpose, guided by keen intelligence, made him a citizen of great worth to his community and New Britain long numbered him among her most honored representatives. He was born at Enfield, Connecticut, Sep- tember 14, 1824, his parents being Seth and Charlotte (Stout) Butler Talcott, while his ancestral line was traced back to John Talcott, who came from England in 1636 and built the first frame house in the city of Hartford. He was a prominent member of the Hartford colony, by which he was frequently sent to England as its business representative. In the ancestral records also appears the name of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, who was the first minister of the Hartford colony, and Thomas Hart Hooker, who served with the Revolutionary army about Boston. In 1828 Seth Talcott removed with his family from Enfield to West Hartford, so that his son, John Butler, became a pupil in the public schools there, and though ill health precluded his indulgence in the sports and activities which occupied the attention of other children, he found great pleasure in books and this love of literature developed with the passing years. He attended the Hartford grammar school and in 1846 was graduated from Yale College, receiving the honor of being chosen salutatorian of his class. His alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts and when he had completed his classical course he became a law student in the office and under the direction of Francis Fellowes, a distinguished representative of the Hartford bar. During his last year in college and while pursuing his law studies he engaged in teaching, thus partially meeting his expenses, and he also served as a clerk in the probate court and as a tutor in Middlebury College of Vermont for a year. He won admission to the bar in 1848 but continued his studies while acting as tutor in Yale College for a three- year period, expecting soon to engage in active practice. Circumstances, however, changed the course of his life and in 1851 he went to New Britain, where in associa- tion with S. J. North and others he began the manufacture of knit goods. Other partners managed the hook and eye business of the company. After a time the knitting department of the business of North & Stanley was merged into the New Britain Knitting Company, of which Mr. Talcott became treasurer and general man- ager, continuing to fill the office for fourteen years and taking active part in the successful conduct of the business, which reflected his sound judgment and keen dis- crimination. In 1868 he became one of the organizers of the American Hosiery Com-

JOHN B. TALCOTT

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

pany and for many years thereafter served as secretary and treasurer, while later he became president of the company, which conducted one of the most extensive and important enterprises of this character in America. His ability was so well recog- nized that his cooperation was sought in other fields and he became one of the directors of the P. & F. Corbin Hardware Company, also of the Connecticut General Life Insur- ance Company and of the New Britain Savings Bank. Upon the death of the Hon. Valentine B. Chamberlin, the Mechanics National Bank elected him to the presidency, enabling him to become an increasingly useful factor in the financial circles of Con- necticut. He was also one of the incorporators of the New Britain Institute and served as its president for some years. This organization was among the first to provide an absolutely free reading room and also an ample library at which a nominal charge was made for books. He donated twenty-five thousand dollars, known as the Talcott Art Fund, to this institution to be used for the purchase of oil paintings for the art room. He ever held to high ideals and supported those interests which tend to promote the cultural progress of a community. He gave generous assistance to philanthropic and benevolent causes and to the church and he manifested an unfalter- ing spirit of patriotism in his service in public office. In 1876 he was chosen a member of the common council of New Britain and filled the office of alderman from 1877 until 1879, while twice he was elected mayor of the city as the candidate of both parties, and to the administration of the office he brought sound judgment and the same substantial qualities which gained for him success in the business world.

On September 14th, 1848, Mr. Talcott married Jane Croswell Goodwin of West Hartford, daughter of Thomas O. Goodwin and Mahala (Mix) Goodwin. Her father was a descendent of Ozias Goodwin, one of the early settlers of Hartford before 1640; also of Rev. Stephen Stone, who was associated as teacher with Rev. Thomas Hooker, the preacher, at the First church in Hartford. Of the four children born of the mar- riage of Mr. and Mrs. Talcott, Samuel Hooker died in infancy. Ella Jeannie and John Croswell died in the early twenties in 1877. Mrs. Talcott died in 1878.

On March 18, 1880 Mr. Talcott married Fannie Hall Hazen, daughter of Rev. James Alexander Hazen and Fannie Lucinda (Grant) Hazen. The children of this marriage are Florence Hazen, wife of Walter Ewing Hope of New York, and Helen Hooker, wife of Philip Bartholomew Stanley of New Britain. The family circle was again broken by the hand of death when on the 21st of February, 1905, John B. Talcott passed away, leaving to his family the priceless heritage of an honored name by reason of the outstanding success he had attained in business, by the important part which he played in the public life of the community and his unfaltering support of those interests which make for intellectual, civic and moral development. Mrs. Talcott died on January 16, 1922.

George Sherman Talcott, son of John Butler and Jane Croswell (Goodwin) Tal- cott, was born in New Britain, July 27, 1869, and there he obtained his education in the public and high schools until he entered Yale University, being graduated in 1891 from the academic department. He started out in the business world with the Amer- ican Hosiery Company of New Britain, of which his father was president, and remained in that connection from 1891 until 1917, being still one of the directors of the company. He acted as secretary and treasurer from 1905 until 1917. Varied activities in connection with the religious and philanthropic work of New Britain had engaged his attention. At the beginning of the World War he was local Red Cross Secretary. In the winter of 1918-19 he served with the Y. M. C. A. in France.

He married, on June 9, 1897, May Churchill, daughter of Frederick Hosea Churchill, 1848-1881, and Annie Louise (Smith) Churchill, 1849-1927, who was descended from Stephen Hart, who came from Braintree, England, served in colonial wars, was deputy to the General Court, first deacon of the church in Farmington. Frederick Hosea Churchill, Yale 1870, S., after practising law for which he had prepared at Harvard Law School, becoming interested in the practical application of electrical science organized in New Britain a company whose business was later removed to Lynn, Mass., to be merged eventually with the General Electric Company.

Of the four daughters of G. S. and May Talcott, Cynthia and Iolanda died in childhood. The surviving children are Lucy and Theodora.

May Churchill Talcott died September 13, 1919.

Mr. Talcott married, on May 29th, 1924, Elizabeth Van Duzer Norton, daughter

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

of John Norton, 1833-1919 of Kensington, Connecticut and Jean (Ford) Norton. Since 1920 he has made his home in Hartford and through the intervening period of eight years has dealt in investments. He is a trustee of the New Britain Trust Company.

ARTHUR POMEROY DAY

Arthur Pomeroy Day, chairman of the board of trustees of the Hartford-Con- necticut Trust Company, with which institution he has been continuously connected for more than three decades, is one of Hartford's honored native sons, leading fin- anciers and business men and influential citizens. He was here born on the 6th of November, 1868, a son of Thomas M. and Ellen (Pomeroy) Day and a representa- tive of one of Hartford's pioneer families. The father long figured prominently in journalistic circles as editor of the Hartford Daily Courant.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 6

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