USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 2
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287
Platt, David, West Haven, .
319
Newton, C. B., Stafford Springs,
261
Platt, Orville H., Meriden, .
49
Nichols, C. N., Andover,
308
Plumb, D. W., Shelton,
280
Nichols, James, Hartford, .
20
Pomeroy, Charles B., Willimantic,
3II
Nichols, Stephen, Bridgeport,
194
Porter, John Addison, Pomfret, .
226 229 79 354
Northrop, B. G., Clinton,
132
Potter, Lester L., Hartford, Pratt, Ambrose, Chester,
166
Northrop, D. W., Middletown,
342
Pratt, Francis A., Hartford,
34
Noyes, Benjamin, New Haven,
314
Pratt, Lewellyn, Norwich,
30
Noyes, F. B., Stonington,
329
Prentice, Amos W., Norwich,
IS
Preston, E. V., Hartford,
III
O'Neill, John, Waterbury,
I90
Preston, Miles B., Hartford,
I21
Osborn, N. G., New Haven,
202
Prescott, William H., Rockville, .
124
Osborn, Orlando C., Oxford,
288
Prior, Charles Edward, Jewett City,
61
Osborne, C. E., Monroe,
92
Prior, Israel, Stamford,
341
Pulsifer, N. T., Manchester,
316
Page, Charles, North Branford,
318
Page, J. D., Harwinton,
170
Quick, A. J., South Coventry, 301
35
. .
313 GO3
Nickerson, L. J., Cornwall, .
205
Porter, Noah, New Haven, .
Noble, Thomas K., Norwalk,
60
Post, William H., Hartford,
363
Potter, Giles, New Haven,
340
North, Joseph Howard, Goshen, . Northend, Charles, New Britain, 195 00: 29
143
Mygatt, A. B., New Milford,
217
Pierpont, Joseph, North Haven, . Pike, R. G., Middletown, Pike, William C., Sterling,
164
Near, John N., Bridgeport, .
83
Pine, J. E., Winsted,
326
Nelson, Robert W., Hartford,
220
Phelps, Clinton, East Granby,
159
Philips, J. M., Andover,
317
Morse, Nelson, North Woodstock,
205
Pierce, John, Southbury,
309 II2 61 25 205 234 303 234
213
20; 1 5 224 201 55 262 137 192 139 24I 47 321 53 300
McLane, W. W., New Haven, McLean, George P., Simsbury,
Page 91 365 122
Merriman, E. A., Meriden,. Merrow, J. B., Mansfield, Merwin, Samuel E., New Haven, Messenger, F. M., Thompson, Miller, Charles A., Meriden,
201
328
327 66
Patterson, B. C., Torrington,
Mitchell, David M., Southbury, Mix, Frank W., New Britain,
76
Perkins, Joshua, Danielsonville, .
357
Morgan, James T., Winsted, Morris, Jonathan F., Hartford, .
302
290
Pickett, J. A., New Britain,
Munson, L. I., Waterbury, .
71
:
. I 250
Palmer, William F., Scotland, 336
14
INDEX.
1
Read, David M., Bridgeport,
91
Stagg, Henry P., Stratford, 336
Reade, H. L., Jewett City, .
77
Stanley, William M., East Hartford, . 360
Redway, George M., Hartford,
271 Stanton, Avery A., Sterling,
Richards, A. T., Hartford, .
277
Stanton, George Dallas, Stonington, 331
372
Robbins, S. W., Wethersfield,
333
36 Steele, E. J., Torrington,
220
21 Steele, Thomas S., Hartford,
28I
Rogers, William, Hartford, .
90
Stevens, E. C., Norfolk,
35I
Rood, David A., Hartford, .
96
Stevens, Frederick S., Bridgeport,
86
Root, G. Wells, Hartford, .
I71
80 Stevenson, William H., Bridgeport, Stickney, John N., Rockville, 230
88
Rudd, William B., Lakeville,
2II
329
Russegue, H. E., Hartford,
25
Stone, George M., Hartford,
320
Russell, Charles A., Killingly,
I44
Storrs, Augustus, Mansfield,
218
Russell, T. W., Hartford, .
54
Street, F. F., East Hartford, Strong, David, Winsted,
340
Sturtevant, C. P., Norwich,
355
Sage, Rufus B., Cromwell, .
107
Sanger, Marvin H., Canterbury, .
239
Scanlan, John E., Hartford,
210
Scott, L. F., Bethlehem,
I33
Taft, George E., Unionville, 35I
Taintor, Henry E., Hartford,
II5
Taintor, James U., Hartford,
289
Seward, S. H., Putnam,
369 208
Thomas, Aaron, Thomaston, 372
Thompson, Charles E., Hartford,
332
Sheldon, H. S., Suffield,
286
Thompson, Curtis, Bridgeport, .
IOI
Shepard, James, New Britain,
90
Thompson, E. W., New Britain,
232
Shove, Henry E., Warren,
245
Thomson, James M., Hartford,
243
Sibley, P. B., Brooklyn,
370
Thurber, Thomas J., Putnam Heights,
23I
Simonds, William E., Hartford, Simpson, Samuel, Wallingford, Skelly, M. F., Woodbury,
52
Todd, William S., Ridgefield,
352
Skilton, D. W. C., Hartford,
274
Torrance, David, Derby,
325
Towne, Henry R., Stamford,
219
Turner, S. W., Chester,
I3I
Tuttle, Byron, Plymouth,
344
Smith, Edward J., Hartford,
250
Twitchell, Homer, Naugatuck, 245
Ulrich, George, Hartford, . 253
Smith, Martin H., Suffield, .
37I
Smith, Prentice O., Franklin,
322
Smith, Robert R., New Hartford,
98
Smith, Sidney K., Naugatuck,
340
Wadsworth, W. M., Farmington, 359
Wait, John T., Norwich,
23
Spaulding, Alva W., Hartford,
237
Waldo, George C., Bridgeport,
22I
Wales, Henry N., Willimantic,
100
Spencer, C. M., Windsor, Spencer, Daniel C., Old Saybrook, Sperry, Aner, Hartford,
334 84
Walkeley, Stephen, Southington, Wallace, Robert, Wallingford,
199
327
Wanzer, Homer L., New Fairfield,
201
365 Warner, Alexander, Pomfret,
38
257 Warner, George R., Hartford, 206
83 Warner, H. A., New Haven, 93
II2
Richards, F. H., Hartford, .
45
Stanton, R. P., Norwich, Staub, Nicholas, New Milford,
254
Robertson, A. Heaton, New Haven, . Robinson, H. C., Hartford, .
Root, J. G., Hartford, .
292
Rouse, George W., Voluntown,
365
Stiles, Norman C., Middletown, . Stillson, Charles H., Ansonia,
248
Russell, William C., Orange,
I88
Sucher, Theodore H., New Haven, 240 Sumner, E. G., Mansfield, . 347
Selden, Joseph, Norfolk, 14I
Semple, Alexander, Broad Brook, Sevin, N. Douglass, Norwich,
102
Taintor, Ralph S., Colchester, 361
Terrill, M. W., Middlefield,
223
Seymour, Morris W., Bridgeport, Sharpe, W. C., Seymour,
357
Tillinghast, George F., Canterbury, Todd, F. Hayden, North Haven,
352
Skinner, William C., Hartford, Smith, Andrew T., Hartford, Smith, Charles B., Hartford, Smith, C. H., Naugatuck, .
273
290
227
Tuttle, Dwight W., East Haven, 233
Smith, James D., Stamford,
338
Smith, Julius B., Burlington,
345
Vance, Robert J., New Britain, 308
Smith, Washington, Canterbury,
316
356
315
Sperry, Lewis, East Windsor Hill, Sprague, William B., Andover, Squire, W. L., New Haven,
St. John, S. Y., New Canaan,
Page
Page
15I
216
208
29
223
INDEX.
15
Page
Page
Warren, Charles O., Eastford,
Wilcox, Aug. C., New Haven, 209
260
Wildman, II. H., New Fairfield, Wile, W. C., Danbury,
89 Wilkinson, Edmund, Greenwich,
278 Willcox, Washington F., Chester, I24 Williams, Francis, Chaplin, . I26 Williams, Street, Wallingford,
343 225 204 255 371
West, Samuel F., Columbia, Wheeler, Joseph K., Hartford, White, Cyrus, Rockville,
284
Winslow, Horace, Simsbury,
Wood, John H., Thomaston,
Wood, John P., Brooklyn,
White, Edgar D., Andover,
I28
Woodward, I. B., Thomaston, Woodward, P. H., Hartford,
White, Henry M., Torrington,
197
Woodward, W. W., Danielsonville,
White, Horace, Manchester,
II3
Wooster, Wm. B., Ansonia,
202
White, John H., Hartford, .
189
Worden, Lewis, Danielsonville, .
101
White, Walter P., Putnam, .
372
Whiting, Charles B., Hartford,
244
Yeomans, M. P., Andover, .
260
Whitman, H. A., Hartford,
238
Yergason, E. S., Hartford, .
105
Whitney, Amos, Hartford, .
York, S. A., New Haven, .
203
35I 29 223 372 332 10I 232 243 23I
342 625 219 131 344 233 245 253 305 359 23 221 100 315 601 201 3 200
1I2
254 220 56 230 349 320 216 248 340 355 240
Warren, Tracey B., Bridgeport, . Watrous, Wm. H., Hartford, Watson, Thomas, Winsted, . Watson, Thos. L., Bridgeport, Weaver, Thos. S., Hartford, Webb, Frank F., Windham, Webster, Chauncey B., Waterbury Webster, John C., Hartford,
364 I02 263
Williams, S. P., Plainville, .
Wilson, J. C., Stonington,
Wessells, H. W., Litchfield,
Wilson, N. A., Harwinton, .
Wessells, L. W., Litchfield,
174
Winch, J. W., Union, .
351 200 118 201 215 213 360
3II
358
White, Edwin S., Hartford,
216
I20
225 36,2 316 I35
373
ILLUSTRATED POPULAR BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
HON. MORGAN G. BULKELEY, HARTFORD: Governor of Connecticut.
Morgan G. Bulkeley was born in East Haddam, in this state, December 26, IS37, and removed to Hartford in 1846, where he obtained his education at the Center District and High schools. His Ameri- can ancestor, Rev. Peter Bulkeley, emigrated from England in 1634, settled in Massachusetts, and af- ter a life of much useful- ness died in 1659. His son, the Rev. Gershom Bulke- ley, prominent in Connec- ticut colonial history, mar- ried the daughter of Presi- dent Chauncey of Har- vard College ; and their M. G. BULKELEY. son, the Rev. John Bulke- ley, became the first minister of Colchester in this state. His grandson Eliphalet was father of John Charles of Colchester, and grandfather of Eliphalet A., whose career is too well known to the older residents of Connecticut to require much presenta- tion here. He became a lawyer, interested himself in politics and finance, was the first president of the Ætna Life Insurance Company of Hartford, assisted in the organization of the republican party of this state, and was its first speaker of the house of representatives. Among his sons was Morgan G., the subject of this biography.
Governor Bulkeley began his business career as bundle-boy in a mercantile house in Brooklyn, N. Y., in IS52. He quickly advanced by merit to be salesman, confidential clerk, and finally partner. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion he went to the front as a private in the Thirteenth New York Regiment, and served during the MeClellan Penin- sula campaign under General Mansfield, at Suffolk, Va. After his father's death in IS72, he located permanently in Hartford, the better to supervise his enlarged financial interests. He was the prime factor in the organization of the United States
Bank, and became its first president. When the presidency of the Ætna Life Insurance Company became vacant by the retirement of Thomas O. Enders, he transferred his abilities to that position; and the unexampled success which has followed his management of that company's affairs is another tribute to his rare perception and managerial skill.
Mr. Bulkeley inherited his father's love of politics, and naturally became a participant as well as an interested observer in local political affairs. Hav- ing made municipal problems a matter of conscien- tious study, he became councilman, alderman, and finally for eight years mayor of Hartford. During his incumbency of this office he exercised a watch- ful care over income and expenditure, advocating such measures, irrespectively of partizan considera- tions, as would advance the interests of the muni- cipality. He was liberal with his private means for the amelioration of the distressed and the com- fort and pleasure of the working classes within the city; and it is probable that he distributed in this way every year more than his salary as mayor.
Developing as he did while mayor of Hartford such rare executive ability in civil affairs, it was not singular that Mr. Bulkeley's friends should urge his availability as a candidate for gubernatorial honors. Following this conviction his name was presented before the republican state convention in the fall of ISS6; but the movement in favor of Mr. Lounsbury had acquired such momentum that in the interest of harmony Mr. Bulkeley authorized the withdrawal of his name as a candidate, and ardently joined in support of his rival through the succeeding campaign. In August, ISSs, at the next state convention of the party, Mr. Bulkeley was nominated for governor by acclamation, and on the following January, 1889, he was inaugurated and took his seat at the capitol. The vigorous administration which followed was characteristic of the man, and will long be remembered as among the most notable within the history of the common- wealth.
At the state election in November. 1890, the first gubernational election under the new secret ballot
(17)
2
18
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
law, results were declared which were not accepted as conclusive by the State officials to whom the election statistics are returnable under the statute, or by the house of representatives. The legislature failing to settle the question of gubernatorial suc- cession by the recognition of a claimant or other- wise as provided by law, it became Governor Bulke- ley's duty, under the constitution, to continue to exercise the functions of that office, which he has done and will doubtless continue to do until his suc- cessor " shall be duly qualified."
AMOS W. PRENTICE, NORWICH: Merchant.
Amos W. Prentice of Norwich was born in Gris- wold, Dec. 20, 1816, and received a common school education, preparing him for a successful business and public career. Most of his life has been spent in the city of Norwich, where he has conducted a mercantile business in one place for fifty-seven years. He now holds the presidency of the Nor- wich Savings Society, with one exception the largest savings institu- tion in Connecticut. He has also been a director A. W. PRENTICE. in a number of corpora- tions and for half a cen- tury has been a prominent manager of financial and industrial interests in the community where he resides. In 1854 he represented the old eighth senatorial district in the senate, his colleagues in- cluding James Dixon of Hartford, subsequently United States Senator, Gov. Henry B. Harrison of New Haven, Colonel William H. H. Comstock of New London, the late Gov. Wm. T. Minor of Stam- ford, and John Boyd of Winsted. In 1859 he was elected mayor of Norwich and in 1877 he repre- sented that town in the legislature. The associates of Mr. Prentice in the house that year included the late Lieut .- Gov. Gallup of Plainfield, H. R. Hayden of East Hartford, Eugene S. Boss of Willimantic, Internal Revenue Collector John I. Hutchinson, Ex-Mayor Wallace A. Miles of Meriden, Lucius G. Goodrich of Simsbury, brother of the bank com- missioner, Lynde Harrison of New Haven, and Winthrop M. Wadsworth of Farmington. Ex- Comptroller Chauncey Howard and Henry M. Cleveland were also members that year. Mr. Prentice was on the republican side and exerted an important influence during the session. May 18, 1840, he married Miss Hannah E. Parker, whose death occurred Dec. 24, 1887. Two daugh- ters, Mrs. John Willard and Mrs. A. H. Chase, are
living. Mr. Prentice is a deacon of the Broadway Congregational Church and is regarded with the utmost esteem in the city where he resides.
JAMES GOODWIN BATTERSON, HARTFORD : President Travelers Insurance Company, and a leading builder and building-stone contractor.
Hon. Jas. G. Batterson was born in Bloomfield Feb. 23, 1823, of stocks which have furnished some of the ablest and most versatile business and pro- fessional men of Connec- ticut. His mother was sister to Major James Goodwin, long president of the Connecticut Mu- tual Life Insurance Com- pany. His father having established a building- stone business in Litch- field, Conn., he lived there through his boyhood, and was given the ordinary education of the acad- J. G. BATTERSON. emy, where he fitted for college, but did not enter. He gained from his father's business a living inter- est in and knowledge of geology and the qualities of different stones and minerals, which has been a large element in his business success. After leaving school, he went as an apprentice into the publishing and printing house of Mack, Andrus & Woodruff, in Ithaca, N. Y., and served out his time; then returned home and studied law in the office of the noted Judge Seymour. His health, however, rendered a life of confined study imprac- ticable, and he went into business- first with his father, and subsequently (in 1845) independently in the same line, as importer of and dealer in granite and marble, and later removing the headquarters of the business to Hartford. His business has grown into one of the largest in the United States, owning large granite quarries in Westerly, R. I., and using their products in carrying out important contracts for public and private building; among others the magnificent Connecticut Capitol build- ing, the Connecticut Mutual building at Hart- ford, and the Mutual Life and Equitable Life In- surance Companies' buildings and the Vanderbilt residence, New York. He was the first in this country to use machinery for polishing granite, and has devised many other improvements in his busi- ness. He is master of every subsidiary detail of his business and a practical architect and builder of fine taste, as well as expert in mechanical de- tails.
Mr. Batterson in 1863 had been on one of his various tours through Europe and the East, which
19
BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
have made him one of the best informed men of the generation on oriental geography, history, poli- tics, and social life; and returning from Italy, where he had given acute attention to marbles and architecture, passed through England, where the success of the Railway Passengers' Assurance Company, founded a few years before, had demon- strated that accident insurance was practicable - a fact much shadowed by the failures of previous petty attempts in England. Grasping at once the possibilities of the new business, and as a Hartford man feeling the instinctive local capacity for success in the insurance field, he induced a number of other eapitalists and active business men to join with him in starting an accident company; $300,000 was paid in as capital, and a charter obtained the same year for insuring against accidents of travel alone. But it was not till the next year, when the charter was amended to allow it to insure against accidents of all kinds, that much business was done. Very few but the promoters expected it to live any length of time, and when in a year or so it became evident that it was to be one of the great business successes of the age, this sudden growth and pros- perity came near being more ruinous than its first difficulties; for it inspired such a belief that the ac- cident business was the sure road to wealth that, in the " boom " which followed, a swarm of new companies were organized, and most of the great railroads ejected the Travelers and started accident organizations of their own. A new corporation, the Railway Passengers' Assurance Company, composed of representatives from all the leading accident companies, was formed in the winter of 1866 to consolidate the railway " ticket " business under one management; five years later every one of the others was dead, and the Travelers, as the sole legatee, turned the company into the ticket de- partment of its own organization. Its superiority of brains, money, and incredibly hard work and economy, had enabled it to remain the solitary sur- vivor. Meanwhile, in 1866, it had added a reg- ular life-insurance department, which in the last few years has taken sudden and enormous strides that have placed it among the foremost of New England companies.
Mr. Batterson is a man whom a robust physical frame, and a still more robust, assimilative, and flexible intellect, enable to accomplish an amount and variety of work which fills the ordinary man with wonder and despair. One of his most valuable intellectual qualities is the faculty of in- stant adjustment to any new piece of work -one of the rarest and most precious of faculties; to him, five minutes' time are good for five minutes' ac- complishment whenever taken. He is a formidable debater, a capable actuary, a thorough student of economics, and even a poet.
The amount of solid reading he does would alone tax severely the energies of most men; he keeps abreast of the highest thought of the age, and knows what its leaders are thinking and saying on every subject. He has a large library, of the high- est quality in selection. His judgment in art is delicate and just, and his fine collection of pictures covers a remarkable range of schools and subjects. Altogether, few men live a more symmetrical life of business and thought, assimilation and produe- tion; and in his combination of vigor and delicacy of mind, of solid judgment and nice taste of ap- preciation alike of the profoundest thought and the subtlest graces of style, he has few equals.
He might easily have attained high political honors, but he has never coveted them, though his help and advice are eagerly sought and valued. He is, of course, an influential member of several societies for the advancement of learning; holds the degree of M.A. both from Yale and from Williams Colleges (the former given at the sugges- tion of the late Dr. Bushnell); and the educational interests of Hartford (whose noted High School he built) are indebted to him for powerful service and upbuilding.
JEREMIAH M. ALLEN, HARTFORD : President Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company.
Jeremiah M. Allen was born in the town of En- field, May 18, 1833, and was educated at the West- field Academy in Massachusetts, preparing him for the profession of a me- chanical engineer. After finishing his studies, he devoted himself to teach- ing for four years, spend- ing what time he was able to win from that pursuit in special lines of research and investiga- tion. In 1865, when only 32 years of age, he be- came the general agent and adjuster of the Mer- chants Insurance Com- pany of Hartford. Sub- J. M. ALLEN. sequently he was appointed to a similar position by the Security Fire Insurance Company of New York and engaged in the business with characteris- tic earnestness and energy. But the insurance field in which Mr. Allen was to become a pioneer and the most successful of managers, had not at that time commanded more than a cursory exam- ination from American underwriters. The work of personal preparation in his case, however, had been continued with the utmost fidelity, and when the time arrived for him to engage in the enter-
20
AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR
prise that has occupied his maturest thought and energy, he was amply fitted for the task. Mr. Allen was an accomplished scientist when he became the president of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company in 1867. This company, which has become one of the prominent insurance organizations in New England, was incorporated June 30, 1866, the cash capital being $100,000. The late Enoch C. Roberts of this city was its first president, and retained the posi- tion until the beginning of 1867, when Mr. Allen was elected to the presidency, and the company commenced the career of prosperity that has won the admiration of underwriters everywhere. When he first entered the field there might have been reasonable doubts concerning the success of the enterprise. It was new and untried in this country. The ablest talent in special lines was needed for the inauguration even of the first business of the company. In President Allen the man needed most of all for originality and leadership was found, and the work of his life has been one of gratifying success. The history of the great organization of which he is the president is the history of his own business career. Mr. Allen is the president also of the Hartford Board of Trade- an organization that has exercised im- portant influence in business and manufacturing centers in the capital city. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Society for Savings, di- rector in the Security Company, the Connecticut River Banking Company, and the Orient Insurance Company, and one of the trustees of the Hartford Theological Seminary. He is also associate execu- tor and trustee of the large estates left by Messrs. John S. Welles and Newton Case, the two estates aggregating upwards of $1,500,000. These facts indicate more successfully than columns of writing would the position which President Allen holds in a community in which fiduciary trusts are be- stowed only upon men of the highest personal in- tegrity and honor. To be thus honored in the city of Hartford is the proudest attainment to be reached in a business life. President Allen was one of the organizers of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church, and is a member of the Connecticut Con- gregational Club. In personal thought, aim, and life he is one of the most admirable exponents of New England Congregationalism. His scientific attainments have been already indicated in this sketch. The concrete proofs of his scientific knowledge will appear from the fact that he has been for a number of years one of the non-resident lecturers at Sibley College, Cornell University, member of the American Association of Mechani- cal Engineers, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a mem- ber of the American Historical Association at
Washington, D. C., the American Academy of Po- litical and Social Science at Philadelphia, and a life member of the Connecticut Historical Society at Hartford. In politics President Allen is a Repub- lican. He has been a member of the court of common council in Hartford, and of the board of water commissioners. For ten years he was ac- tively identified with the management of the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in this city, and is a gentleman of the broadest public spirit. The wife of President Allen was Miss Griswold, daughter of Hermon C. Griswold of El- lington, and the family includes two children.
HON. JAMES NICHOLS, HARTFORD: President National Fire Insurance Company.
President James Nichols was born in Newtown, Dec. 25, 1830, and was educated for the bar. In 1854 he commenced the practice of his profession in Thompsonville, but re- moved to Hartford with- in a few months, and was appointed assistant clerk of the Hartford county superior court. In 1861 he was elected judge of probate in the Hartford district, which embraced the towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, Windsor Locks, East Hartford, and Glastonbury. The office was one of great im- JAMES NICHOLS. portance and required exceptional ability for the discharge of its duties. Judge Nichols won the admiration of all parties on account of the success- ful way in which the judicial work of the office was performed. In 1867 he became the adjuster and special agent of the Merchants' Insurance Company of Hartford, and was rapidly promoted by the board of directors. From the outset he manifested especial adaptability for the insurance business. At the time of the great Chicago fire in 1871 Judge Nichols was the secretary of the Merchants and a manager of recognized standing in the insurance community. The Merchants company was not able to recover from the unprecedented disaster at Chi- cago, and surrendered its charter. The National Fire Insurance Company, which had been incorpo- rated in May, 1869, organized in 1871 with the late Mark Howard as president and Judge Nichols as secretary. When President Howard died four years ago, he was succeeded by the Judge, the lat- ter's ability as an insurance manager entitling him to that promotion. The National has made decided
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