USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 10
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At nineteen he was chosen captain of the Sixth infantry company, Eighteenth regiment of Connec- ticut militia. After serving three years and having no taste or ambition for military matters he re- signed the captaincy of the company.
Having followed mercantile business in the then " far west " for a number of years, he returned to Lisbon, then, after a few years, he came to Daniel- sonville, where he has followed a successful and remunerative practice of dentistry for more than thirty years.
In religion he is a Unitarian, and in politics he can say. of himself, "I am a democrat." He has taken an active interest in local matters and politi- cal questions. He was clerk and treasurer of the borough of Danielsonville six years ('57 to '63); was warden of the borough three years ('83 to '86); was registrar of voters in the town of Killingly three years ('69 to '72); was a member of the board of education three years ('77 to '80); and is now and has been for many years past a town auditor. He was a delegate to the Union National Convention in Philadelphia in 1866, and a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention at Chicago in 1884, which nominated President Cleveland, and was by his fellow delegates chosen a vice-president of that convention. Dr. Perkins has long been a recognized and trusted leader of the democratic party in his town, and is well known in Windham county as an efficient organizer and worker in the democratic ranks. He has twice ('83 and '88) re- ceived the nomination for state senator in the Six- teenth senatorial district. Unfortunately for him and the democratic party he is in a town and a sen- atorial district dominated by adverse political con- ditions, otherwise his well-known abilities would have done his party able service in a broader field than his town limits. As a writer and speaker Dr. Perkins is direct and effective and is worthy of and has the confidence of his party.
HON. JOHN WHITTLESEY MARVIN, SAY- BROOK: Insurance and Investments.
John W. Marvin was born, the youngest son of Deacon John Marvin, in Lyme, January 13, 1824. He came of excellent stock, being a lineal de- scendant of Captain Rey- nold Marvin, justly re- nowned in the history of the town. Up to his thir- teenth year the family lived in Lyme; then it re- moved to Deep River (Saybrook). There the subject of this sketch has since lived. The town has found him a capable and efficient officer. He has been town clerk, a J. W. MARVIN. member of the board of relief, justice of the peace, and has held various other elective offices. In 1871 and 1872 he represented Saybrook in the legisla- ture, and both years served upon the leading com- mittee - the judiciary. Among his associates were some of the ablest minds that have found their way recently to membership in the house - Messrs. Waite, Ingersoll, Treat, Eaton, and Seymour. In 1871 he was also a member of the committee on constitutional amendments. During the past sev- eral years he has been engaged in the general in- surance business, and latterly has added to it a western loan and farm mortgage agency. His ex- cellent judgment and sterling integrity have raised him to financial positions of prominence. He is now a director in a national bank and savings bank and in an insurance company. In the fall of 1885 he was elected by his party - the republi- cans-as senator from the twenty first district. As a legislator, his practical knowledge of public
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and general affairs greatly facilitated the dis- charge of senatorial duties, and he easily took rank among the ablest and most active of his colleagues.
RUFUS STARR PICKETT, NEW HAVEN : At- torney-at-Law, Judge of the City Court.
Judge Pickett, a resident of New Haven since 1854, is a descendant of the sixth generation of an English ancestor who emigrated from Dover, Eng- land, and settled at Mil- ford, in this state. He was born at Ridgefield, Feb. 28, 1829, studied in the common schools, and prepared for college at Hugh Banks' academy, in his native town.
On account of the fail- ing health of his father, Rufus H. Pickett, Rufus S. was, when eighteen years of age, compelled to relinquish study, and de- RUFUS S. PICKETT. vote himself to the man- agement of his father's business, which he con- tinued for six years, when he removed to New Haven, and for seven and a half years worked at building and repairing locomotives for the New York & New Haven Railroad, when it was a sin- gle track road, doing its business with twenty- four engines only.
In the Lincoln campaign of 1860 Mr. Pickett, then, as now, an ardent republican, was encour- aged to take an active part, by his friend and former schoolmate, Cyrus Northrop, then a professor in Yale college, now president of the University of Minnesota. He answered some of the numerous calls for speakers in New Haven and adjoining towns, speaking in company with Professor North- rop, Hon. N. D. Sperry, John Woodruff, M.C., and others. After the Lincoln administration came into power, and the late James F. Babcock was ap- pointed collector of the port of New Haven, he ap- pointed Mr. Pickett an inspector of customs, which office, and that of weigher and gauger, he held for several years; and while in these offices, and per- forming his duties faithfully, resumed study, en- tered the Yale Law School, took the Jewell prize as essayist at the close of the first year, graduated with fair honors in 1873, and entered upon the gen- eral practice of law. In 1877 he was appointed city attorney, being continued in that office six years; in 1885 was appointed assistant judge, and in 1887 judge of the city court of New Haven. Judge Pickett heard some of the early boycott cases, and prepared opinions on them, which had a
wide circulation in the country, and which have been substantially confirmed by the higher courts of several states.
Judge Pickett is married, and has four children. His religious connections are with the Congrega- tionalists, and he is a "Son of the Revolution " through his maternal ancestry. .
WATSON J. MILLER, SHELTON : President and General Manager Derby Silver Company.
Watson J. Miller was born in Middletown, Conn., November 23, 1849. His early education was ae- quired in the public schools, including the Middle- town high school and Chase's institute of that city. This was supple- mented by a business course at a commercial college in New Haven, from which he went into business in Middletown, in March, 1868, engaging in the manufacture of sil- ver plated ware. He re- mained there until 1873, when he removed to New York, where he continued W. J. MILLER. in the same branch of business for six years. From New York he went to Shelton, Conn., in 1878, and when the Derby Silver Company was re-organized, Mr. Miller was made its secretary and treasurer, and general manager, having been already on the board of directors. Ten years later he was elected president of the com- pany, still being continued in the general manage- ment, both which positions he continues to occupy at the present time. He is also president of the South End Land Company, and of the Shelton Loan and Savings Institution, and is largely inter- ested in real estate in the borough of Shelton. He is recognized as one of the ablest business men in the Naugatuck valley ; is thoroughly public-spir- ited, a wise and discreet counsellor, and actively in- terested in the welfare and progress of the commu- nity of which he is so important a factor.
Mr. Miller was married October 13, 1874, to Miss Susie J. Waite, only daughter of Alonzo Waite. Esq., of Chicopee, Mass. He is an attendant at the Protestant Episcopal church, but not a member ; and cheerfully aids in the material support of all religious organizations and charities. He is also a member of several mutual benefit societies. He was one of the first promoters of the enterprise which resulted in the organization of the Shelton board of trade, of which he is now a member and
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director. He has always kept out of politics, though often urged to become the candidate of his party for both borough and town offices, preferring to devote his attention to business and accomplish what he could for the benefit of his townsmen in the capacity of a private citizen, rather than as a public office-holder.
Mr. Miller is a practical philanthropist. He has helped many of the workingmen of his borough to build houses of their own, and to save something for a rainy day. He is strongly in favor of the sav- ings system among laboring men, and was second in the state to get a special charter for a savings and loan institution to furnish aid to workingmen and mechanics in providing homes for their families. He also favors the co-operative principle in business, to the extent of admitting as stockholders in his own company those who have been faithful as workmen and have accumulated something for investment, even though the amount be small. It is a settled principle with him to promote those who are de- serving, and give every man a chance to rise in the world. As a consequence, the Derby Silver Com- pany is a prosperous institution, the management is popular, and Mr. Miller has the satisfaction of seeing his faithful workmen share in the general prosperity.
JULIUS A. HART, BEACON FALLS: Station agent N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R.
Julius A. Hart was born at Hubbardton, Vt., April 4, 1846, being the son of a farmer of moderate means, and was educated in the common school. He remained on the farm until he reached the age of nineteen, when he re- moved to Nashua, N. H., and engaged in mercan- tile pursuits. July 1, 1867, he accepted the position of head clerk in the coun- try store of C. W. Elkins & Co. at Beacon Falls. He was appointed station agent in that place, Dec. 21, 1868, and has since re- J. A. HART. tained the position. He is also the agent for the Adams Express Co. and the manager of the West- ern Union Telegraph Co. at Beacon Falls. Mr. Hart has held the offices of town clerk, treasurer, and collector. He is a republican in politics, a member of the Methodist church, an influential Christian worker, and a member of Centennial Lodge, No. 100, I. O. O. F. of Naugatuck. His wife was Miss Sarah A. Mitchell prior to marriage. The family includes three children.
REV. THOMAS K. NOBLE, NORWALK: Pastor First Congregational Church.
Rev. Thomas Kimball Noble was born in Nor- way, Me., Jan. 19, 1832, and was educated at Bow- doin College and Bangor Theological Seminary. After the completion of his studies he was elected master of the High School in Augusta and remained there for five years, pre- paring students for Yale, Harvard, and other New England colleges. Dur- ing the war he was in charge for seven months of the Christian Commis- sion at the Army of the Potomac headquar- ters, the hospital in con- nection with the work T. K. NOBLE. being designed for the accommodation of 15,000 pa- tients. Subsequently he accepted the chaplaincy of Gen. Charles Howard's old regiment. By order of the Secretary of War he was detached from this position and assigned to duty on the staff of Gen. Scott, Department of the South, occupying the po- sition for eighteen months. He was then trans- ferred to the staff of Gen. Jeff. C. Davis with head- quarters at Louisville, Ky., where he remained for two years, when he was again transferred to the staff of Gen. Burbank, who was Gen. Davis's suc- cessor. This position he retained for one year, when he accepted a call to the Jennings Avenue Congregational church in Cleveland, O. The pas- torate of this church was occupied for three years and a half. During that period an embarrassing debt on the church was extinguished and the mem- bership trebled. In 1872, having declined a call to the Winthrop church in Boston, which possessed a membership in excess of 600, Mr. Noble accepted the pastorate of Plymouth church in San Fran- cisco, where he remained for fourteen years. Dur- ing this time a beautiful church edifice was con- structed and the church membership increased by 700 or more. Impaired health compelled him to resign the pastorate in San Francisco in 1886, and he traveled extensively through England and the Continent, visiting France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, during the suc- ceeding months. On his return he supplied the pulpit of the Eastern Presbyterian church in Wash- ington, D. C., for more than two years. The mem- bership of the church was doubled and the congre- gation trebled during this period. Declining a call to the pastorate of the church permanently, he re- moved north and accepted the pastoral office of the First Congregational church in Norwalk, one of the oldest organizations in the state and the mother
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of eight surrounding churches. During his pas- torate of the San Francisco church he was one of the lecturers in the Pacific Theological Seminary, and for seven years was the department chaplain of the Grand Army in California and Nevada. He is still a member of Lincoln Post of San Francisco. He is also a member of the Clerical Union Club and of the Aldine Club, both of New York city. His wife, who is still living, is a sister of Professor Bradbury of Cambridge, Mass. He has two daughters, both of whom are residing in San Fran- cisco. In politics Mr. Noble is a republican.
DAVID BENJAMIN LOCKWOOD, BRIDGE- PORT : Attorney-at-Law.
David B. Loekwood was born in Weston, Conn., January 7, 1827. He prepared for college at Staples' Academy in Easton, and graduated from Wesleyan University in 1849. He studied law with the late Judge Sid- ney B. Beardsley, and `was admitted to practice in 1851. After practicing in Bridgeport for several years, lie removed to New York city, where he con- tinued his profession until the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, when he returned to Bridgeport and enlisted in the Second D. B. LOCKWOOD. Connecticut Light Bat- tery, where he served for three years. At the close of the war he returned to Bridgeport, and resumed the practice of his profession. He has held the office of city clerk of Bridgeport, was for three years judge of the city court, and was elected a member of the house of representatives in 1875 and in 1883. He held the office of eity attorney in 1880 and 1885. From 1882 to 1887 he was one of the trustees of Wesleyan University. He is one of the original incorporators of the Mechanics and Farmers' Savings Bank. He is one of the original board of directors of the Bridgeport Public Library, and was largely instrumental in changing it from a private to a public institution. He drew the pub- lic act providing for county law library associa- tions, and gave the initial movement to the Fair- field county law library, which is now by far the most important county law library in the state. He has closely followed the practice of the law, and is senior member of the firm of Lockwood & Beers, which has been in existence for twenty years, and has a large and successful practice. Mr. Lockwood first married Caroline A. Redfield in 1856, who died in 1865, leaving a daughter and son.
In 1868 he married Lydia Ellen Nelson, who is still living, and by whom he had two daughters and a son. Politically, Mr. Lockwood is a democrat. His religious connections are with the Methodist Episcopal church. IIc is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Seaside Club of Bridgeport.
CHARLES EDWARD PRIOR, JEWETT CITY: Secretary and Treasurer Jewett City Savings Bank.
Mr. Prior was born at Moosup, Conn., Jan. 24, 1856. When he was four years old his parents moved to Jewett City, where he has since resided. He received his edueation in the common schools of the town of Griswold. At the age of seventeen he secured a situation in the office of the N. & W. R. R. Co., in Norwich, where he remained one year. In 1875 he entered the employ of the Ashland Cotton Company, and soon became bookkeeper and paymaster for that flourishing corporation. CHAS. EDW. PRIOR. In 1883 he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Jewett City Savings Bank. Two years later he became a member of the corporation, and after four years of service he was elected a director. The bank under his care has become a widely-known institution, and its greatly increased usefulness is owing in no small degree to his acknowledged ability in the manage- ment of its affairs. During his administration a large premium account has been nearly annihilated, and the surplus account has been quadrupled.
Mr. Prior has taken a lively interest in musical matters for many years. He became organist of the Congregational church in Jewett City when but fourteen years of age, and resigned eight years later to serve the Baptist church in the same capacity. In 1883 he brought out his first volume of Sunday-sehool songs, entitled " Spicy Breezes," and in 1890 his second book, "Sparkling and Bright," was given to the public. His compositions are now in great demand, as their appearance in nearly all of our Sunday-school and Gospel praise books testifies. Mr. Prior is an honorary member of the Worcester County Musical Associa- tion of Worcester, Mass., and takes an active inter- est in its affairs. He is a member of the Jewett City Baptist church, which body lie serves as choir- leader and organist, and has been president of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor since its organization. He is past master of Mount
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Vernon Lodge, No. 75, A. F. and A. M., and has advanced in masonry to the degree of Knight Tem- plar, being a member of Columbian Commandery, No. 4, K. T., of Norwich, Conn. Mr. Prior married Miss Mary E. Campbell, and has onc son, Charles Edwin Prior.
MARVIN KNOWLTON, WILLIMANTIC: Lumber Manufacturer.
Marvin Knowlton is to-day best known in Con- necticut as the leader of the prohibition party, and he is gratefully remembered in Canada as among the foremost in Good Templar work and in efforts for temperance legislation during the de- cade of 1870-80. The best years and best efforts of his life have been de- voted to the temperance and prohibition cause.
Born in Ashford, in old Windham county, in 1837, he came of a heroic line, in whose veins the fires of MARVIN KNOWLTON. patriotism and self-sacri- fice had burned since colonial days. His father, of the same name, fought in the war of 1812. Lieutenant Daniel Knowlton, the famous scout of French and Indian war, was his grandfather. He is a grand-nephew, also, of Col. Thomas Knowlton of revolutionary fame, the close friend and adviser of Washington, who fell at Harlem Heights; and a cousin of Gen- eral Nathaniel Lyon, the beloved son of Connecti- cut who fell at Wilson's Creek in 1861.
The obligations of home kept young Marvin in Ashford until his thirtieth year, and when he was only nineteen the management of the farm devolved upon him. In 1868, just after his father's death, he removed to the city of London, Ontario, in Canada, and engaged in the wholesale lumber busi- ness with a brother-in-law. Two years later he purchased the whole business and developed it to large proportions.
In 1870 he began to take an active interest in the temperance work. He joined the Good Templars, and at once became prominent in the order. He entered the field as lecturer and organizer, was largely instrumental in increasing the membership from 12,000 to 35,000, and was successively elected to the positions of grand counsellor and grand chief of the order for Ontario and Quebec; his grand lodge at that time being the largest on the conti- nent, and the third largest in the world. He was delegate to the international grand lodge in the conventions of 1875 and 1876, at Bloomington, Ill., and Louisville, Ky., respectively, being chairman
of the Canada delegation in the latter body. Dur- ing these years he developed great power as a tem- perance orator. His experience led him to appre- ciate the insufficiency of moral suasion work alone. Hence he became one of the foremost advocates of the so-called Duncan bill, a county local-option measure which was championed by the temperance men of all parties, under the auspices of the Canada Temperance Alliance, in 1875. This agitation cul- minated in 1878 in what is known as the Canada Temperance Act or the Scott Act; and Mr. Knowl- ton was among the foremost of those who were active and influential in securing the passage of this measure. Mr. Knowlton thus became a tower of strength to the temperance cause in Canada. He was identified with the reform wing of the liberal party and was strongly urged to accept various public positions, but he preferred to attend to his own business and to pursue the temperance work in his own way. In 1883 he decided to return to his native state and county, and in 1884 he en- gaged in the lumber business with the firm of E. A. Buck & Co. of Willimantic (where he is now), as manufacturers and wholesale jobbers in native hard woods for railway and domestic uses. Firmly convinced by his Canadian experience that moral suasion and legal suasion must be supplemented by public officers and organization in sympathy there- with, Mr. Knowlton promptly identified himself with the national prohibition party in this country, and he has, with characteristie self-sacrifice, given to the movement an abundance of his substance, energy, and political wisdom, to the signal advantage of the cause. As a prominent lecturer and political adviser in the Forbes campaign in 1886; as the chosen representative sent by Connecticut friends of prohibition to assist in the campaign for the amendment in Michigan in 1887; as field manager in the Fisk and Camp campaign in 1888; as chair- man of the special amendment committee in 1889; and as state organizer in 1890, he has been gener- ally recognized as the leader of the prohibition movement in Connecticut; while the party has risen from a spasmodic agitation to a steady, per- manent place, with a growing political issue.
Mr. Knowlton is a single man and a member of the Masonic order. He also retains connection with the order of Good Templars in this country. He is a man of strong personal popularity, of marked power and magnetism as a public speaker, a sagacious politician in the best sense, and always keenly alive to the whole political situation. He is a thorough and determined champion of the cause of " the home against the saloon," and believes in the speedy coming of a new party of the people, which shall faithfully preserve the democratic prin- ciple of equality in the public regulation and administration of wholesome industries, while
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
bringing the full power of government to bear against the forces of rum, monopoly, and corrup- tion.
GEORGE N. MORSE, MERIDEN: Ex-State Sen- ator.
George Newton Morse was born in Meriden, Oct. 16, 1853. He is a descendant of John Morse, born 1604, who was one of the seven Puritans of that name who emigrated from England to America in 1635, settled at New Haven, and was one of the founders of Walling- ford in 1670, and was a deputy and commissioner to the general court for fourteen years, dying in 1707 at the age of 103. On his maternal side Mr. Morse is a descendant of Rev. Samuel Hall of Cheshire, born 1695, died 1776, who married Annie G. N. MORSE. Law, daughter of Gov. Jonathan Law and grand- daughter of Gov. Wm. Brenton of Rhode Island.
After the usual training in the common schools, Mr. Morse attended, when sixteen years of age, the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield in 1869- 70. For several years he was correspondent of the New York Mirror and the Turf, Field, and Farm. He has been at one time or another in various mercantile pursuits. In 1872 he was a member of Charter Oak Hose Company in the old volunteer fire department. In 1882 he moved to Kansas City but returned to Meriden the follow- ing year. Was married in 1877 to Mary A., daugh- ter of John C. Byxbee, by whom he has had two children: John B., born 1880, and Ida L., born 1882. He has been a prominent figure in local and state politics. At the state convention held in Hartford in May, ISSS, to choose delegates to the democratic national convention, he was chairman of his town's delegation. He was a delegate to the state convention held in September of the same year at New Haven, presenting the name of Hon. Carlos French for governor in the county caucus, and Hon. E. B. Manning to the convention for electoral delegate. The latter was nominated and elected. Mr. Morse was nominated for state senator in 1888 and was elected by a plurality of 353. In the presidential campaign of ISSS, he organized and was president of the Cleveland demo- cratic club of Meriden. In the state senate he was chairman of the manufactures and woman's suf- frage committees ; introduced and advocated the passage of the cigarette bill, which is now the law. The most notable speeches which he delivered in
that body were those on ballot reform, the West- port ballot box contest, olcomargarine, and the Storrs School appropriation. He was the author of the famous Parnell resolutions, which were finally passed by the general assembly after a bitter con- test. He organized and is the secretary of the Senate Club of 1889-90. He was chairman of the town delegation to the state convention held in Hartford in September, 1890, and at this conven- tion was a candidate for the office of secretary of state. He is a member of St. Andrews Episcopal Church, an officer in the state Democratie Club, trustee of the Royal Arcanum, a member of the I. O. Odd Fellows, O. U. American Mechanics, Golden Eagles, I. O. Red Men, Political Equality Club, and Sons of the American Revolution.
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