USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 29
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official connection therewith for a great number of years. He now holds the office of justice of the peace, and is otherwise more or less active in the public affairs of his town.
SYLVESTER BARBOUR, HARTFORD: Lawyer.
Mr. Barbour was born in Canton, this state, Jan. 20, 1831, the son of a farmer of moderate means, one of a family of nine children, all of whom lived until the youngest was forty years old; themother being a sis- ter of Rev. Dr. Heman Humphrey, for many years president of Amherst Col- lege, and first cousin of John Brown. He spent his childhood and youth partly at hard work on the rugged farm of his father, and partly in the district school. He spent the subsequent portion of his minority in like work in summer, at school in SYLVESTER BARBOUR. autumn-first in the Connecticut Literary Insti- tute in Suffield, and afterwards in Williston Senti- nary, East Hampton, Mass., taking a classical course, and teaching district schools in winter, to obtain means for pursuing his education. The next four years of his life were spent partly on the farm, partly at the seminary, partly in teaching select schools and academies, and partly in the study of law in the office of his brother, the late Judge Heman H. Barbour of Hartford, and in the Poughkeepsie Law School; and he was admitted to the bar in Hartford in July, 1856, having the honor of being examined and recommended for admis- sion by the late Governor Richard 1). Hubbard. In November of that year, the day after casting his first presidential vote (for John C. Fremont), he removed to Iowa, practicing in Osage, Mitchell county, until 1860, when he returned to Connecti- cut, practicing for a year in New Hartford, fourteen years in Ansonia, and since that time in Hartford.
While practicing in Ansonia he held many offices, such as secretary and treasurer of the Water Com- pany, Opera House Company, Savings Bank (all of which corporations he assisted in forming), town clerk, registrar of births, deaths, and marriages, chairman of school and Congregational society committees, school visitor, and judge of probate for the district of Derby.
Politically he acted with the republicans until 1872, when he joined the liberal party, and sup- ported Horace Greeley for president, and has since that time acted with the democratic party.
While in New Hartford he was president of the
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Wide Awake Club, and in Ansonia, during the dark days of the civil war, was a member and offi- cer of the Union Loyal League.
In 1860 he married the daughter of Hon. J. F. Collin, ex-member of Congress, of Hillsdale, New York, and she is still living, with a son and daugh- ter, the latter being a member of the senior class in the classical department of Smith College, North- ampton, Mass., with which she graduates in June, 189I.
HENRY P. HITCHCOCK, HARTFORD: Merchant Tailor.
Mr. Hitchcock was born in Hartford, June I, 1837, the event of his birth occurring in the his- torical mansion (now demolished), corner of High and Walnut streets, for several years occupied by Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney. During his infancy his father's family moved to Hitchcockville in the town of Barkhamsted, and six or seven years later to Farmington, where his boyhood was chiefly spent, and where he at- tended the public schools and Deacon Hart's cele- brated institute at Farm- H. P. HITCHCOCK. ington, which graduated in its day a great many pupils who have since become distinguished in the various walks of life. After the death of his father in 1852, the young man returned to Hartford, and, being obliged to abandon all thought of further educational ad- vantages, turned his attention toward the means of obtaining a livelihood. Noticing in the Hartford Courant one morning, in startling type, the head- line, " Boy wanted," he applied as directed to N. J. Brocket & Co's gents furnishing store, No. 10 State street. The vacant position was a subordinate one, but he took it and gave to the firm his best efforts, with such satisfaction and success that he was ad- vanced step by step and continued with the house for ten years, finally resigning to accept a position with Kelsey & Carpenter, to become one year later a partner under the firm name of Kelsey, Carpenter & Hitchcock. In 1863 Mr. Carpenter retired and . under the style of Kelsey & Hitchcock the remain- ing partners continued the business on the corner of Main and Pearl streets for nineteen years. Sub- sequently, after a brief period of entire freedom from business, he established himself on the identi- cal spot where he learned the trade in 1852, and is now conducting a flourishing business there.
Mr. Hitchcock has been active in social and po- litical, as well as business life, during the many
years of his residence in Hartford. As a young re- publican he was one of the original " Wide Awakes " of Hartford, the parent company of that important organization which doubtless accom- plished the election of Abraham Lincoln to the pres- idency. He has repeatedly occupied positions of honor as the candidate of the republican party, having been in the city council once from the fourth ward and four times from the first ward, and on the board of aldermen two years from the first. He is a member of the Veteran Association Hartford City Guards, and has been for thirteen years its secretary ; quartermaster of the Veteran City Guard, a member of the Sons of the Revolution, second vice-president of the Young Men's Republi- can Club, a member of the Hartford Board of Trade, the Hartford Historical Society, and the Connecticut Congregational Club. He is a mem- ber of the Pearl Street Congregational church, and has sustained that relation since 1858.
Mr. Hitchcock was married, May 23, 1865, to Miss Charlotte F. Hunt of North Coventry. Their pleasant home is at 119 Trumbull street.
SIDNEY DRAKE, HARTFORD: Book Publisher and Binder.
The subject of this sketch, whose active life be- gan in Hartford sixty-five years ago, is a native of Windsor in this state, where he was born May 8,
ISII. According to the old English genealogists, the Drake family is one of great antiquity and of Saxon origin. In the land and naval service of Great Britain, in the professions and in commerce, it has furnished numerous rep- resentatives of great emi- nence. Among its many distinguished branches, the family which early held its seat at Ashe was ever prominent; and from SIDNEY DRAKE. this branch most of the Drakes of Massachusetts and Connecticut are descended. John Drake of Ashe, in Devon county, married Christian Billet in 1360. From him in the ninth generation sprang John Drake of Wiscomb, the emigrant who came to Boston in 1630, and to Connecticut before 1639, set- tling at Windsor. Sidney Drake is of the seventh generation from John, the emigrant. His father, David Drake, was an extensive farmer and brick maker of Windsor, ranking high for ability and judgment.
The early life of Sidney Drake was chiefly spent in the public schools of Windsor_and_on his father's
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farm. At the age of sixteen he came to Hartford to learn the trade of book-binding with D. F. Rob- inson & Co. In 1841 he became a partner with J. Seymour Brown, and with several changes of part- ners has carried on the trade on his own account for over fifty years. The establishment has always borne a high reputation for the excellence of its work, as may be inferred from the fact that among its early patrons were such noted publishers as Phillips & Sampson of Boston, G. & C. Merriam of Spring- field, and Pratt, Oakley & Co. of New York; while its more recent customers have been such as are very particular in regard to the quality of their bindings. During the palmy days of book publish- ing in Hartford, Drake & Parsons bound millions of books from the home press, and millions more for publishers in other parts of New England and New York - their list of such customers numbering seventy different houses.
Mr. Drake's connection with the book-publishing business has been, however, a very important fea- ture of his active business life. In 1861, being urged thereto by Mr. Drake, a purchase was made by Walter S. Williams in connection with the firm of Drake & Parsons, of the interest of Joseph Kellogg in the then existing publishing house of Hurlbut & Kellogg; and thereupon was formed the partner- ship of Hurlbut, Williams & Co., for continuing the publishing business. This proved to be the " tide in their affairs which led on to fortune." The war of the rebellion breaking out soon after, in 1862 the first volume of Headley's " History of the Rebel- lion " was published by this firm, and the sales in a short time ran up to 150,000 copies. The impulse given by this first successful issue of war literature led to the rise in this city of several different pub- lishing concerns, the aggregate publications of which, in addition to their own, flooded with work for several years the printing office of Williams & Wiley and the bookbindery of Drake & Parsons. The firm of Hurlbut, Williams & Co., with some changes of partners, continued, doing a very suc- cessful business, till 1865, when it was organized as a joint stock company under the name of the Amer- ican Publishing Company, in which Mr. Drake has always been a director; and he was largely influen- tial in the early history of the business in procuring such books for publication as have had the largest sale. This company has been one of the most successful and widely-known subscription publishing houses in the country, and distinguished for making large sales of many of its publications. Among these may be mentioned " Headley's His- tory of the Great Rebellion," Richardson's " Field, Dungeon, and Escape" and " Beyond the Missis- sippi," and Mark Twain's " Innocents Abroad."
Mr. Drake was one of the original organizers of the republican party in Hartford, and has retained
his connection therewith until the present time. In religious faith he is a Congregationalist, worship- ing at the Asylum Avenue Congregational church. In August, 1842, he married Miss Catherine Brown of Bloomfield; she died May 4, 1889, in her eighti- eth year; there are no children.
Mr. Drake through a long career has borne an honorable and spotless name, not more for the fidelity of his work than the integrity of his deal- ings.
REV. FRANKLIN COUNTRYMAN, NORTH
BRANFORD: Pastor of the Congregational Chureh.
Rev. Franklin Countryman is a graduate of Yale College and the theological seminary eonnected with that institution, completing his collegiate course in 1870. He was born in New Haven, Sept. 23, 1849, his parents being Nicholas and Louisa Countryman of that city. He is a brother of Chief Clerk Wm. A. Country- man of the Bureau of La bor Statistics in this state, and is a man of felicitous culture and training. His first pastorate was at Prospect, where he was settled in 1874, remaining REV. F. COUNTRYMAN. for three years. In 1880 he was settled at Georgetown and remained there for two years. The call to the North Branford church was accepted in 1882 and the last eight years have been spent in that pastorate. Mr. Country- man has been the chairman and is at present the secretary of the North Branford school board and is president of the Guilford Christian Union. He is the representative of the New Haven East Consoci- ation in the state committee on fellowship and work, and is an earnest and influential co-laborer with the clergy of his locality in advancing the interests of the church. Two of his sermons have been printed: one on "Christian Service proportioned to Ability," and a sermon preached in memoriam Colonel George Rose of North Branford. He has also prepared an article for a History of New Haven County to be published in the autumn. As a collegian at Yale his life was one of the sincerest fidelity to truth, the group of men in his class with whom he maintained the happiest of relationships including the Rev. E. G. Selden of Springfield, Mass., the Rev. James G. K. Mc- Clure and the Rev. Roderick Terry of New York. the Rev. John S. Chandler of missionary distinc- tion, the Rev. Edward Sackett Hume, also of the foreign mission field, the Rev. Lewis W. Hicks. who has occupied prominent pulpits in Vermont
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and this state, and the Rev. Henry L. Hutch- ins of Kensington. A finer group of men cannot be produced by any of Yale's noted classes. The Yale associates and friends of Mr. Countryman hold him in the highest esteem. He belongs to the grange in his town and is a member of the Connec- ticut Society of the Sons of the Revolution. The first wife of Mr. Countryman, who was Miss Mary I. Pickett, daughter of Judge Picket of New Haven, died in 1877. The second wife was Miss Ella S. Butricks of New Haven, who is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Countryman have one child living, now eight years of age. He has of late acted with the prohibition party.
FERDINAND GILDERSLEEVE, PORTLAND: Merchant, Postmaster, President Freestone Sav- ings Bank.
Ferdinand Gildersleeve, the fourth child of Syl- vester and Emily Shepard Gildersleeve, was born on the twentieth day of August, 1840, in that part of the town of Portland now called Gildersleeve. He attended the district school in his native village till nearly twelve, and was for the three follow- ing years at boarding school. He then, in 1855, at the age of fifteen, en- tered his father's store, and, soon after becoming twenty-one, was admitted to membership in the firm F. GILDERSLEEVE. of S. Gildersleeve & Sons, ship-builders and mer- chants. He is now, and has been, continuously connected and identified with all the branches of the business since first entering it.
The establishment of the post-office at Gilder- sleeve in May, 1872, was largely the result of his efforts. He was the first postmaster, and continues to hold the office.
In 1879 he succeeded his father as president of The First National Bank of Portland, and held the office for two years; is now a director in the same bank and in The Middlesex Quarry Company; president of The Freestone Savings Bank, a vestry- man in Trinity Episcopal Parish, a member of the town board of education, and for many years has been a notary public. In January, 1890, he suc- ceeded his brother Henry as president of The Mid- dletown Ferry Company, and is still occupying that position; he is also a director of The Portland Water Company. He has been on various commit- tees on enterprises and improvements in the townand vicinity, and trustee for school and other funds. He was an active member and supporter of the
well-known Portland Lyceum, and takes a deep interest in it now that it has again begun to hold meetings. He highly values and appreciates the advantages of a debating society, and finds his ex- perience in the lyceum has been of incalculable benefit in many ways. He spent six months in 1864 traveling in Europe, visiting many of the places of interest in Great Britain and on the Continent, and has made various trips to many of the important cities and places in the United States and Canada.
Mr. Gildersleeve married, on the 29th of October, 1879, Adelaide Edna, born March 12, 1845, daugh- ter of William R. and Mary A. Smith of Portland, by whom he had one child, William, born Septem- ber 23, 1880. She died Sept. 28, 1880. On the 12th of September, 1883, he married Harriet Elizabeth, born Jan. 8, 1860, of Hartford, eldest daughter of Ralph and Sarah A. Northam, for- merly of Portland. They have two children, Sarah, born Sept. 28, 1885, and Richard, born Oct. 27, 1889.
GEORGE S. ANDREWS, SOUTH GLASTONBURY: Farmer and Miller.
Mr. Andrews was born in South Glastonbury, March 30, 1819, and was educated in the common schools of the town and the Glastonbury academy. In 1852 Mr. Andrews vis- ited London under con- tract with the late Sam- uel Colt of Hartford for four years to stock fire- arms for the allied armies in the Crimean war. After his return home he en- gaged in farming in South Glastonbury. He also opened a feldspar and flint quarry in the place and built a mill for grind- ing the product to be used G. S. ANDREWS. for porcelain and china ware. The enterprise is one of extensive possibili- ties and will increase in value hereafter. Mr. An- drews is a democrat in politics and has twice repre- sented his town in the general assembly, being a member for the consecutive years of 1876 and 1877. He has served a number of terms on the board of selectmen and has held other local offices. He is connected with the Episcopal church. Formerly he resided in Hartford. His life has been spent chiefly in farming and mechanical pursuits. The wife of Mr. Andrews was Miss Louisa H. Killam prior to marriage, and is still living. There are three child- ren in the family.
[Mr. Andrews died at his home in South Glas- tonbury, April 8, 1891, after the above sketch had been prepared .- En.]
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EBENEZER D. BASSETT, NEW HAVEN: Ex- Minister to Hayti.
Ebenezer D. Bassett was born at Litchfield, Conn., on Oct. 16, 1833. His father was a mulatto, and his mother a pure Indian of the Pequot tribe. He attended the Birming- ham Academy, and early distinguished himself as a mathematician by solv- ing problems in the dif- ferential and integral cal- culus with as much ease as an ordinary scholar would perform examples in arithmetic. After fin- ishing the course of study at this academy, he at- tended the State Normal School at New Britain, E. D. BASSETT. from which he was grad- uated in 1853. During the two years following his graduation he taught successfully the Whiting Street Grammar School in New Haven. At this time he availed himself of the privilege of continu- ing the study of the classics and higher mathe- matics under professors at Yale College.
In 1855 he married Miss Eliza Park of New Haven, and moved to Philadelphia, Pa., where he accepted the principalship of the Institute for Col- ored Youth, a school founded by the Orthodox Society of Friends for the purpose of giving a liberal education to colored youth, and preparing them to become efficient teachers. At this institu- tion he taught the advanced classes in Latin, Greek, and the higher mathematics, and devoted himself to the education of his race. Here he exhibited marked ability as an instructor and disciplinarian. He possessed the rare quality of inspiring his pupils with an earnest desire to excel in whatever they undertook, and he therefore cultivated to a high degree the power of patient investigation and ap- plication. Mr. Bassett's scholarly ability awakened in his pupils a desire to emulate him. About this time the institute used to be visited by interested persons from all parts of the United States and even from the old world, and, as they listened to the translations of Homer, of Virgil, and of Horace, and as they saw the facility with which difficult problems in mathematics were demonstrated and solved, they would exclaim, " This is wonderful!" And this expression was not exaggerated when we consider that these results were achieved during the dark and apparently hopeless days of slavery. Through the untiring efforts of Mr. Bassett this school was made to rank with the best institutions in the country. The proficiency of his classes be- came a standing argument against the injustice which could keep in the darkness of ignorance
minds capable of such attainments. So much was the cause of freedom advanced and its possibilities worked out in the quiet of the school-room.
At the beginning of President Grant's adminis- tration, it was decided by the republican leaders at Washington that colored men of acknowledged abil- ity should receive positions in both home and foreign service. Mr. Bassett was the first candidate selected unanimously by the prominent men of his own race, and supported by distinguished persons in all parts of the Union for a diplomatic appoint- ment. In President Grant's first list of nomina- tions Mr. Bassett's name was sent for the mission to Hayti, and the nomination was promptly con- firmed by the senate. This appointment made Mr. Bassett the first colored man to represent our coun- try abroad. Mr. Frederick Douglass spoke of it as " a significant event, the triumph of a cause - the first small wire stretched over a chasm separating two races."
After receiving from his countrymen many ova- tions and considerate attentions, Mr. Bassett sailed for Hayti in June, 1869. When he reached Port- au-Prince he was received with every evidence of regard and satisfaction by the Haytian government and people. Hayti was unfortunately at this time in the midst of a bitter civil strife. Mr. Bassett found himself surrounded at once by factions and intrigues, and yet, in the discharge of his duties, he won and maintained the confidence and respect of our government at Washington, by whom he was highly commended for his heroic conduct dur- ing the Salnave revolution.
Mr. Bassett's experience at this time in a country where the right of asylum had a particular force and significance, brought to him afterwards an in- vitation from the Kent Club of the Yale Law School, to lecture before its members on the sub- ject. The New Haven Palladium, at this time, in speaking of this lecture said: " Mr. Bassett, hav- ing been our ambassador at Port-au-Prince, was peculiarly qualified for the masterly handling of ' The Right of Asylum.' The lecture was listened to by a highly intelligent and appreciative audience, among whom were many who are prominent in law circles. Those who attended had the pleasure of hearing an able and scholarly disquisition on the subject."
Mr. Bassett so won the confidence of the Haytian people by his nine years residence among them. that he was appointed by President Salomon in ISSo to be Haytian consul at New York. He faith- fully discharged the duties of this office until the end of President Salomon's administration in De- cember, ISSS.
Mr. Bassett's ripe scholarship and high attain- ments make him distinguished among scholars. His thorough study of the classics and of the
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French language shows itself in the style of his writing, which is finished and accurate. He is unassuming and cordial in his manners, thus mak- ing his social intercourse pleasant and agreeable. He could hardly fail to have an honorable position in the community at his present home, New Haven, where he is known as one of its scholarly, public- spirited and influential citizens. On many occasions he enjoys extended courtesies from New Haven's city fathers. In all the relations of life he is em- phatically a good man - not passively good, but actively worthy and earnest.
HON. ROBERT GORDON PIKE, MIDDLETOWN: Lawyer.
Robert G. Pike comes of an honored and worthy ancestry, being a lineal descendant of John Pike, Esq., a Puritan, who came over in 1632, and settled in Salisbury, N. H., with his two sons; of whom one was Major Robert Pike, commander of all the Massachusetts forces east of the Merrimac dur- ing the Indian wars of his time, and for a period of fifty years and more was a prominent and in- fluential officer of the col- ony. The poet Whittier says " he was one of the wisest and worthiest of R. G. PIKE. the early settlers of that region. He was by all odds the most remarkable personage of the place and time." He protested eloquently against all laws punishing witches and Quakers, and especially contended against clerical usurpation. Of the seventh generation from this honored ancestor, in a direct line, which is marked by clergymen and magistrates, came the subject of this sketch.
Robert G. Pike was born in Newburyport, Mass., April 14, 1822; was graduated at Harvard Univer- sity in 1843; was then private secretary to Hon. Caleb Cushing in Washington, D. C .; subsequently studied law with Hon. Seth P. Staples; and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He practiced law in New York city until 1859, when important business duties in Connecticut led him to give up a lucrative practice and move to Middletown, Conn., where he still resides. August 3, 1852, he married Ellen M., daughter of Silas and Mary Miles Brainerd of Portland, Conn. By her he had six children, now living, three sons and three daughters.
Mr. Pike is a man of strong intellect, scholarly tastes, and a wide range of information. He is a fine writer and speaker, and is always instructive and entertaining. He is an accomplished lawyer
and wise counsellor. He counts among his clients many of the most prominent and wealthy families of Middletown and vicinity. Although a modest and retiring man, he has long been a prominent and highly-respected citizen, discharging with signal success the many official duties which have been imposed upon him. He has been judge of the city court, alderman, president of the board of educa- tion, eighteen or more years, president of the Rus- sell Library from its organization, and senior war- den of the Holy Trinity parish about twenty years. In all that pertains to the public schools he has ever manifested an active interest. It was largely through his influence that the new Central School building and the new Johnson school building were erected, and he was chairman of the building com- mittee. He was also chairman of the building com- mittee when the beautiful church building of Holy Trinity was erected. Mr. Pike also has held im- portant state offices. He was state fish commis- sioner for twenty years, and chairman of the shell- fish commission from its organization. He has done much toward increasing fish-food in the state. As chairman of the shell-fish board, he did much to bring the oyster industry under proper laws and regulations, - to the lasting benefit not only of the oyster cultivators, but also of the state. His popu- larity with the oystermen was such that when, in 1889, he resigned his office on the board, over three hundred leading oystermen petitioned him not to resign. All the shell-fish reports were prepared by him, and they present a fund of valuable informa- tion on the subject of oyster cultivation. In estab- lishing the boundary line between Rhode Island and Connecticut in 1887 he was unanimously elected by the commissioners of the two states chairman of the joint commission, and lie discharged the duties of the office to the great acceptance of all. His ripe experience and full legal knowledge made him a valuable member of the commission. The commissioners' report to the legislature, prepared by him in 1889, is full of valuable historical infor- mation upon the disputed boundary line, and shows wide research and learning. He took an active part in reviving the Air Line Railroad enterprise and securing its bridge charter; and when the work on the road stopped for want of means, he rendered efficient aid as counsel of the company in soliciting and procuring town help for its completion, and preparing the final construction contracts. Mr. Pike has taken no very active part in politics. He has been nominated twice for mayor; but, being a strong temperance advocate, he was defeated by the pro-liquor votes. In politics he is a republican, with intermittent mugwump tendencies. He is a member of the Episcopal church, and is distin- guished for his uniform courtesy, kindness, and benevolence.
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