History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 9

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 9

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On the 25th of December, 1882, Mr. Rice was married to Miss Anna C. Hoag- land, a daughter of Joshua and Harriet (Babcock) Hoagland, of Auburn, New York. They have one daughter, Edna, now Mrs. V. R. Leavitt, mentioned elsewhere in this work. The family home is in West Hartford and Mr. Rice is a valued member of the Hartford Club, of which he has served as president, the Farmington

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

Country Club, the Wampanoag Golf Club and the Hartford Golf Club. Fraternally he is associated with the Masonic order. His political allegiance is given to the republican party. Along scientific lines having to do with his chosen field of labor he has association with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Weights and Measures and the Franklin Institute of Philadel- phia. What he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of the talents with which nature endowed him and also indicates the wise use of his time and opportuni- ties. From a humble place in the business world he has climbed steadily upward through his own strength and initiative until today he is justly accounted one of America's captains of industry.

JOHN MARSHALL HOLCOMBE

Quiet in manner, progressive in thought, firm in decision-these were the attributes of John Marshall Holcombe, a resident during the seventy-seven years of his life of Hartford, Connecticut, and born June 8, 1848, in the same house on Lord's Hill in which he died. He was the son of James Huggins and Emily Merrill (John- son) Holcombe.

After attending the Hartford public schools and graduating from the Hartford public high school in 1865, he took his college course at Yale, where he was graduated with the class of 1869.

Returning to Hartford, he entered the employ of the Connecticut Mutual Life Company, where he remained two years, and then became the first actuary of the recently organized Connecticut Insurance Department.

In 1874 he began the business connection, which lasted throughout his life, by accepting the position of assistant secretary of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company. In a year he was promoted to the secretaryship, which office he held until 1889. At this time the Phoenix Mutual went through the process, since become common but then rare, of changing from a stock to a mutual basis of operation. Mr. Holcombe took a leading part in this difficult adjustment and, as a result, became vice president of the company. In 1904, his administration as president began and continued until 1924, when, at the completion of fifty years service with the company, he resigned the presidency and was elected to the newly created office of chairman of the board of directors. The half century had seen his company increase its assets over ninefold, its policyholders from seventeen thousand to one hundred and fifty- seven thousand and its insurance in force from twenty-three million dollars to three hundred and forty million dollars. An officer of an essentially conservative type of business, he was nevertheless uniformly progressive in spirit and throughout his life continued to cultivate an attitude of mind ordinarily possessed only by much younger men.

In the business affairs of his city, he took a constantly broadening part with advancing years, and in the banking field he early took a place by being one of the founders of the Fidelity Trust Company and subsequently its president, as well as serving on the board of directors. His membership on the board continued after the Fidelity Company became amalgamated with two other banks under the name of the United States Security Trust Company.

His national bank connection was a place on the directorate of the Phoenix National Bank. As president and director of the Mechanics Savings Bank, he was identified with one of the strongest and most progressive institutions of its kind in the community. His relationship to insurance other than life insurance came through his membership on the board of directors of the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company and the National Surety Company of New York. Allied in the field of finance to his banking connections was his position as treasurer of the Hartford Retreat for the Insane. Lastly, he served the manufacturing business through being a director of the Peck, Stow and Wilcox Company of Southington, Connecticut.

In civic affairs, he early took a prominent part, beginning with his election to the board of aldermen and later his election to the presidency of that board. He was one of the organizers of the city health department and served for many years as health commissioner, during which time he was largely instrumental in securing for the city its system of intercepting sewers. He was also on the board of finance, and for many years was a member of the city plan commission. When the project

JOHN M. HOLCOMBE

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

to reclaim a large tract of land from the flood waters of the Connecticut river was first discussed, Mr. Holcombe saw in it large possibilities of future value to the city and became chairman of the meadows development commission.

He was one of the first lecturers in the insurance course at Yale, itself one of the earliest efforts to teach insurance in an American university. His interest in Yale affairs continued throughout his life, and he was one of the presidents of the Yale Alumni Association in Hartford. He was twice the recipient of honorary degrees-the first, that of Master of Arts from Yale University in 1909; the second, that of Doctor of Laws from Trinity College in 1920. On the former occasion, the orator of the day, introduced him to President Hadley of Yale with these words, evidence of the place he had won as a life insurance executive:

"In the enormous activities of modern life insurance, one of the most complex and difficult subjects to master, Mr. Holcombe has achieved eminence; he possesses that optimism which is the philosophical basis of his vocation; he has added reputa- tion to a city which with less than one hundred thousand inhabitants has never hesitated to insure the entire world. And lastly, in a field of work that has been peculiarly subject to attack from the moral reformers' standpoint, Mr. Holcombe has been true to the name he bears, the name of the greatest judge in American History-John Marshall."

Mr. Holcombe was a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Society of the War of 1812. His clubs included the Hartford Club, the Hartford Golf Club, the Tourilli Fish and Game Club of Quebec, and the University Club of New York. He was a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of America, and had served as president of the Insurance Institute and the Municipal Art Society, both of Hartford.

Early in his business life he married, on January 29, 1873, Emily Seymour Goodwin of Brooklyn, New York, and fifty years later their golden wedding was observed in the house where Mr. Holcombe was born. Mrs. Holcombe's unusual capacity for organization placed her in the foremost ranks of numerous activities for many years. She was an organizer of the Ruth Wyllys Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which she later served as regent, and in which capacity she was instrumental in the widening of Gold street and the restoration of the Ancient Burying Ground, where lie buried the founders of Hartford. She was also a charter member of the Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames, and later served as president. In that office she had much to do with the successful campaign to save the old State House from destruction.

Mrs. Holcombe represented her state on the National Board of Lady Managers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904, and furthermore was a member of the State Commission at that fair and subsequently at the Jamestown Exposition in 1907.

But these opportunities for public service did not prevent her from being an active and vigorous partner of Mr. Holcombe in all his business and civic affairs.

A life of close companionship, happiness and helpfulness lasted throughout their fifty years together, and she was a constant inspiration to her family by her unusual force and vivid personality. Because of her work in restoring the Ancient Burying Ground, the board of aldermen passed a resolution permitting two burials there, and in consequence the bodies of both Mr. and Mrs. Holcombe lie among the many early settlers of the city. Mrs. Holcombe passed away March 28, 1923, and Mr. Holcombe followed on June 15, 1926.

To Mr. and Mrs. Holcombe, three children were born-Harold Goodwin of Hart- ford, Emily Marguerite, who died February 6, 1926, and John Marshall, Jr., of Hartford.

The monument which both Mr. and Mrs. Holcombe left is the life of service; lives which made their city and state richer by what each accomplished.

EDWARD MANSFIELD DEXTER

Edward Mansfield Dexter, who was an outstanding figure in the commercial life of Hartford as a wholesale flour merchant, filling the offices of president and treas- urer of E. G. Whittelsey & Company, Inc., died in Hartford on the 19th of March, 1923, when in the fifty-ninth year of his age. He was born at Orange, Massa-

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

chusetts, October 2, 1864, his parents being Samuel Stillman and Maria C. (Dewey) Dexter, and he was a descendant in the eighth generation of Thomas Dexter, who came to America from England in 1629.

At the usual age Edward M. Dexter entered the public schools and won the valedictorian honors of his class when graduated from the high school of Orange in 1882. For a time he assisted his father in his work as a civil engineer and then spent two and one-half years in the employ of the New Home Sewing Machine Company, after which he entered the dry goods store of M. E. Cowan, by whom he was employed as a carpet salesman for a year. In 1885 he removed to Black River, New York, and during the period of his residence there he filled the office of village clerk and took a most active part in politics as a loyal supporter of the republican party. At the time of William Mckinley's first election to the presidency Mr. Dexter was president of the Republican Club. His business association there, covering a period of thirteen years, was that of manager and bookkeeper for the H. C. Dexter Chair Company. In 1897 he became a resident of Hartford, Connecticut, and took charge of the office of E. G. Whittelsey & Company, wholesale dealers in flour, butter, cheese, etc. He discharged the duties of bookkeeper for a time, but gradually his responsibilities were increased, and when the business was incorporated he was elected president and treasurer. Under his intelligent guidance the business of the house was constantly extended, the firm developing a trade that covered a wide territory. Mr. Dexter was also secretary of the Southern New England Grocers Association and was helpfully interested in the general activities of the wholesale provision trade. At one time he was president of the Hartford Business Men's Association and he was an active member of the Hartford Chamber of Commerce. In fact he did every- thing in his power to promote commercial interests in this section of the country and his labors were far-reaching and resultant.

On the 18th of July, 1888, Mr. Dexter was married to Miss N. Gertrude Boyce, of Orange, Massachusetts, a daughter of Alaric and Armanda (Whitney) Boyce. They had one son, Raymond H. Dexter, now of the bonding department of the Hart- ford Accident & Indemnity Company. He married Margaret Hester Wyper and has four sons-Raymond H., Jr., William Brice, Richard Whitney and Edward Wright, who are twelve, nine, seven and five years of age, respectively. The family resides at Rockyhill, Connecticut. Mrs. N. Gertrude (Boyce) Dexter is prominent in the Eastern Star, in which she filled the office of Electa for two years and was chaplain for one year. Mr. Dexter was an active member of the Fourth Congregational church, in the work of which he took a prominent part, serving as deason, as trustee and as vice president of its large choir. He was also chairman of the house com- mittee of the Village Street Mission and he was a member of the Congregational Club of Connecticut. Throughout his entire life he was loyal to every responsibility and faithful to every obligation that devolved upon him. He had the entire confidence of his business associates and he enjoyed as well the warm regard of those with whom he was connected through membership relations. He belonged to the Sons of the American Revolution, the Hartford Get Together Club and the Masonic fra- ternity, having membership in St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M .; Pythagoras Chapter, R. A. M .; Wolcott Council, R. & S. M .; Washington Commandery, K. T .; and the Hartford Chapter of the Eastern Star. Because of his upright life and his many sterling traits of character he enjoyed in unqualified measure the good will, con- fidence and high regard of all who knew him and his influence and his example remain as a force for good among those with whom he came in contact.

JAMES LEE LOOMIS

For a period of nineteen years James Lee Loomis has been a representative of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford and his course has been marked by that steady advancement which has brought him eventually to the presid- ency of this strong corporation. His knowledge of the law, his executive power, his keen insight and broad vision have all featured in the growing success of the institu- tion of which he is now the head. A native son of Connecticut, he was born in Granby, November 3, 1878, and is a son of Chester Peck and Eliza (Harger) Loomis, who were prominent residents of Granby. His father passed away in Florida, March 30,

JAMES L. LOOMIS

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

1914. The son enjoyed excellent educational opportunities, attending the New York Military Academy at Cornwall, New York, and continuing his studies in Yale Uni- versity, where he gained the A. B. degree in 1901. . He afterward devoted two years to study in the Yale Law School and while thus engaged was one of the editors of the Yale Law Journal. On leaving college he came to Hartford to take charge of the collection department of the Hartford Business Men's Association but continued his law reading and in 1905 was admitted to the bar, his knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence standing him in good stead throughout his entire business career. In 1905 he began practicing with the well known firm of Bill & Tuttle and was so engaged until 1906, after which he practiced independently until 1909. On the 1st of April of the latter year he came to the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company as assistant secretary and with the thoroughness which has ever characterized him in every undertaking he started to familiarize himself with all the different phases of the business and to master the basic principles upon which the company is founded and which constitute a strong element in its growth and success. On the 22nd of Novem- ber, 1918, he was elected vice president and after eight years spent as second execu- tive officer was chosen president at the annual election of the company on the 26th of March, 1926. He has thus reached the topmost pinnacle in connection with the man- agement and direction of a mammoth corporation which constitutes a very strong feature in the business growth, stability and progress of the state. His constantly expanding powers have also been in demand in other connections and he is now a trustee and the vice president of the Loomis Institute at Windsor, Connecticut, is a director of the Phoenix Insurance Company, of the First National Bank, the Bankers Trust Company, the Hartford County Mutual Fire Insurance Company and the Sims- bury Bank & Trust Company. He is likewise a trustee of the Society for Savings and in all business affairs he shows keen discrimination, readily detecting that which is vital in business management and never faltering in carrying out his plans, which have as their basis broad experience and sound judgment.

In June, 1906, Mr. Loomis was married to Miss Helen Bruce, a daughter of Orlando and Jane (Dibble) Bruce, of Westfield, Massachusetts, and their children are: Jane Bruce, born July 24, 1908; James Lee, Jr., born May 23, 1911; Chester Harger, January 7, 1914; and Bruce, November 2, 1920.

Mr. Loomis belongs to the Hartford, Hartford Golf, Farmington Country, Uni- versity and Republican clubs.

ETHEL FRANCES DONAGHUE

Ethel Frances Donaghue, attorney at law with offices at 525 Main street in Hartford, bears the distinction of being one of two women who are members of the bar of this city. Already she has made gratifying progress in a profession in which advancement depends entirely upon individual effort and ability. She was born in Hartford, July 6, 1896, and is a daughter of Patrick and Catharine (Weldon) Donaghue, the former a native of Ireland, while the latter was born in Manchester, Connecticut. They became residents of Hartford about 1860 and the father was for many years a well known merchant here. He died in 1910 and is still survived by his widow. They were the parents of a son, T. Weldon Donaghue, who served in the navy during the World war and is now engaged in the real estate business in Hartford.

The daughter, Ethel Frances Donaghue, attended the high school, from which she was graduated with the class of 1913, and then entered Vassar College, com- pleting her course in 1917, at which time the Bachelor of Arts degree was conferred upon her. Determining to become a member of the bar, she matriculated in the University of Pennsylvania and won her LL. B. degree at graduation with the class of 1920. She was also awarded the Morris Pembroke prize. For a year thereafter she acted as special assistant to the attorney-general at Washington, D. C., and then went to New York city, where the J. S. D. degree was conferred upon her in 1922. The following year she was admitted to practice at the New York bar and there followed the profession for three years, gaining valuable experience as her practice increased in volume and importance. In 1926 she was admitted to the Connecticut bar and also in the same year was admitted to practice before the United States

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

supreme court. It was also in that year that she sailed around the world on board the Carinthia.

Miss Donaghue is now devoting the greater part of her time to that branch of law which has to do with real estate and wills, having offices in the Donaghue building, which was erected by her brother. A clear thinker and logical reasoner, she readily applies her comprehensive knowledge of law to the points which are featured in the legal interests entrusted to her care, and her ready understanding of the nature of a case enables her to make correct application of legal principles. She is a member of the New York County Lawyers Association and the American Bar Association. She now has a clientele of considerable proportions and is making rapid progress in her chosen life work.

CARL F. STURHAHN

Carl F. Sturhahn, president of the Rossia Insurance Company of America and therefore well known in insurance circles not only in Hartford but in the country, was born in Hanover, Germany, January 25, 1871, and was in London, England, from 1889 to 1901. He dates his residence on this side of the Atlantic from the latter year, and from 1901 until 1903 was in New York. Since making his initial step in the business world his course has been marked by a steady progress that has brought him to a prominent place among the insurance officials of the east. Thoroughly acquainting himself with the various phases of the business, developing his ability through the exercise of effort, gaining knowledge and power through experience, he long since became competent to cope successfully with the intricate and complex problems which feature in insurance management and control. Step by step he has advanced until he is now at the head of large interests as president and director of the Rossia Insurance Company of America, as vice president and director of the Fire Reasurrance Company of New York, as chairman of the board of directors of the Lincoln Fire Insurance Company of New York, as chairman of the board of directors of The First Reinsurance Company of Hartford, and as president and director of the Globe Underwriters Exchange, Inc., of Hartford. He is likewise an outstanding figure in banking circles of the east, being a representative of the directorate of the Bank of Manhattan Company of New York, a director of the Phoenix State Bank and Trust Company of Hartford, and also as a director of the British Colonial Fire Insurance Company of Montreal, Canada.

Mr. Sturhahn was married September 3, 1902, to Maie Nunes Corvaldo, and they have two sons: Herbert Carl, a Yale graduate; and George Marshall, who is attending Colby University.

HIRAM PERCY MAXIM

There are few inventions which have awakened as widespread interest as the Maxim silencer, resulting from the inventive genius, comprehensive study and experi- ence of Hiram Percy Maxim, now president of the Maxim Silencer Company, which was organized in 1910. While the line of manufacture has changed somewhat since that time, the steady development and growth of the business has continued, owing to the efforts of its founder and promoter. Mr. Maxim was born in Brooklyn, New York, September 2, 1869, and is a son of Sir Hiram Stevens and Jane (Budden) Maxim, of that city. He pursued a public and high school education there and afterward entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he was graduated with the class of 1886 on the completion of the mechanical arts course. His accomplishments have brought to him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science, conferred by Colgate University at Hamilton, New York, in 1924. His initial experi- ence in the business world came in 1886, when he entered the employ of the Sun Electric Company of Woburn, Massachusetts, as an engineer, remaining with that concern for one year. He then became engineer in the incandescent lighting depart- ment of the Fort Wayne-Jennie Electric Company at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he also remained for a year. Later he was associated with the incandescent light

(Photograph by Moffet)

CARL F. STURHAHN

HARTFORD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT

department of the W. S. Hill Electric Company of Boston as an engineer for a period of two years and subsequently spent an equal period as engineer with the Thomson Electric Welding Company of Lynn, Massachusetts. Each change which he made brought him larger experience and wider opportunities which he quickly utilized, constantly adding to his knowledge and efficiency and developing his innate powers. On leaving the Lynn plant he became superintendent of the American Projectile Company, a subsidiary of the Thomson Electric Company, with which he remained until 1895, when he accepted the position of engineer of the motor vehicle department of the Pope Manufacturing Company of Hartford, remaining with that concern through its various changes, resulting eventually in the organization of the Electric Vehicle Company of Hartford, of which he became chief engineer. This corporation brought out the Columbia electric automobile and the Columbia gasoline automobile, and Mr. Maxim was continuously associated with the business until 1901, when he entered an enlarged field of service and usefulness by becoming chief engineer of the vehicle motor department of the Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Company in Pittsburgh, being assigned to the vehicle motor department. There he continued until 1903, when he returned to the Electric Vehicle Company in Hartford as chief engineer, so remaining until 1907. In the meantime he was carrying on research work and experimentation that resulted in his invention of the Maxim silencer for firearms, which he patented and developed, organizing the Maxim Silencer Company in 1910, since which time he has continued as its president. The manufacture of the firearms silencer was discontinued in 1925, due to the large demand for industrial silencers, which are being used for gas and Diesel engines, air compressors and for the suppression of all sorts of industrial noise. These silencers, too, were perfected by Mr. Maxim and are coming into wide general use in the industrial world.

On the 21st of December, 1898, was observed the marriage of Hiram P. Maxim and Miss Josephine Hamilton, a daughter of William T. and Clara (Jeanness) Ham- ilton, of Hagerstown, Maryland, the former having recently served as governor of that state. Their children are two in number. The son, Hiram Hamilton, born May 16, 1900, was graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a mechanical engineer with the class of 1922 and is now chief engineer for the Maxim Silencer Company. Percy, born July 4, 1906, is the wife of John G. Lee, of Amity- ville, New York, and they have one child, John Maxim Lee, born April 5, 1927. Mr. and Mrs. Maxim are widely and favorably known in Hartford's leading social circles and his activity in public affairs has also brought him into prominence, so that aside from his inventions his name is widely known throughout the country. He is today serving as municipal aviation commissioner of the city of Hartford, is president of the American Radio Relay League, president of the Amateur Cinema League of New York and of the International Amateur Radio Union. Along professional lines he has connection with the Society of Automotive Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Radio Engineers, the American Chemical Society and the Engineers Club of Hartford, of which he is a past president. He is also connected with the Engineers Club of New York city and further participates in the social activities of his adopted city through his membership in the Hartford Club and the Hartford Yacht Club. His contribution to the world of invention has made him an outstanding figure among Connecticut's notable men.

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History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 9

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