USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 34
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JULIUS ATTWOOD, EAST HADDAM: Attorney- at-Law; President National Bank of New Eng- land.
Julius Attwood was born at East Haddam, Feb- ruary 23, 1824, and has resided in that town con- tinuously since his birth, except from the years 1847 to 1854. He was the fifth of the seven living children left by his father, who died in 1829, five of whom are still living. He was educated in the com- mon schools of his native town until he was twelve years of age, after which time he was employed for five years in the coasting trade and in ferrying on tlie Connecticut river. JULIUS ATTWOOD. Not being robust, he served a four-years ap- prenticeship at shoemaking, but did not continue that occupation after attaining his majority. Dur- ing his leisure, while an apprentice, he studied by himself and fitted himself as a teacher, and for seven years he taught in the public and higher schools on Long Island and in Maryland. Return- ing to East Haddam in 1854, he commenced business in a " country store " and continued in trade until 1870, when after a course in reading law, he was duly admitted to the Middlesex county bar, and has followed the profession of law since that time. In 1856 he was elected justice of the peace, which office he has continuously held ever since; and for fourteen years of that time was trial justice of the town; also from 1866 was for nineteen years town clerk and registrar of East Haddam. Elected judge of probate for the district of East Haddam in 1859, he has held that position ever since - for thirty-two years - it being probably a longer con- tinuous period than that held by any other judge in this state now living. In 1873 and 1874 he rep- resented his town in the general assembly, but was defeated afterwards when nominated for the office of senator for the nineteenth senatorial district, by a small plurality, there being a local panic] that
year among the "pound fishermen " along the sound shore. Being again nominated to that office, he declined. In 1866 he served one year as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Con- necticut, and represented that body in the sover- eign grand lodge during 1867 and 1868. For many years he has been connected with the National Bank of New England as a director, and has been its president since 1883. Visiting Europe in 1880, he traveled extensively in France, Italy, Switzer- land, Germany, Holland, Belgium, England, and Scotland. Politically, he has always been con- nected with the whig and republican parties. Though favoring Methodism in his youth, in his riper years he thought he could more honor the memory of its great founder by being received into the older church that John Wesley and his brother Charles never dared to forsake; and for forty-eight years he has been a communicant in the Episcopal church.
Mr. Attwood has twice married; first in 1852 to Sarah A. Gould of Stony Brook, Long Island, who died in 1860, leaving one son, Frederick J. Att- wood, now a resident of Brooklyn, N. Y., who is also married and has four children. Second, in 1862, he married Catharine Palmer of East Had- dam, who is still living and whose only child, Bertha Palmer Attwood, is now a student in the Yale Art School, New Haven.
A. S. BEARDSLEY, PLYMOUTH: Mechanic.
Mr. Beardsley was born in New Fairfield, July 22, 1818, and received a common school and academic education. In 1850 he removed to Texas and engaged in mercan- tile pursuits, becoming the active partner in the firm of Case, Beardsley & Co. He remained there until the death of his father necessitated his return north. For the last twenty-five years he has been in the employ of the Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Company at Thomaston, being en- gaged in the mechanical department. In 1874 he A. S. BEARDSLEY. was elected president of the Plymouth Library As- sociation, which has trebled the number of its vol- umes under his management. Mr. Beardsley held a commission in the old state militia. He is a pro- hibitionist in politics and a member of the Congre- gational church. His wife, who is still living, was Miss Jane Alcott of Waterbury at the time of her marriage. The family includes four sons and three daughters.
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
IRA E. FORBES, HARTFORD: Journalist.
Ira Emory Forbes was born in Coventry, Jan- uary 18, 1843, and received a common school and collegiate education, graduating from Yale in 1870. He enlisted in the Six- teenth Connecticut, July 21, 1862, from the town of Wethersfield, where he was working on a farm at the time for the purpose of earning funds for his college course. He re- mained in the service un- til the close of the war. At the capture of Ply- mouth, N. C., April 20, 1864, he assisted in the execution of plans by I. E. FORBES. which the colors of the regiment were kept from falling into the hands of the rebels, and at the time the battle flags of the state were removed to the corridor in the capitol, September 17, 1879, he was the only one then liv- ing who was entitled to carry the restored regi- mental color from the arsenal to the final resting- place of these priceless memorials. Mr. Forbes was confined in the rebel prisons at Andersonville, Ga., and Florence, S. C., during the summer and fall of 1864. He was paroled at Savannah the last of November, and spent the winter of 1864-5 in the naval academy hospital at Annapolis, Md. In June, 1865, he was discharged at Newberne, N. C., remaining there to engage in the work of the United States sanitary commission. After return- ing home from the war, he spent one year in com- pleting the preparation for Yale, studying at Lyme under William A. Magill, who had been his in- structor in Wethersfield. From the outset the necessary funds for the course were earned by the hardest kind of manual work. During the winter term of senior year, however, Mr. Forbes acted as principal of the Collegiate Institute at Newton, N. J. In 1871-2 he was one of the teachers at Gen. Russell's Military School in New Haven, the year after graduation having been spent in the Yale Theological Seminary. In July, 1872, he entered the employ of the Springfield Union, and re- mained with that paper until October, 1874, when he became the telegraph editor of the Hartford Evening Post. His connection with the Post was discontinued October 1, 1890. Mr. Forbes was the originator of the legislative supplement which the Post has issued since 1875, introducing that feature after coming here from Springfield. He succeeded the late A. S. Hotchkiss as the Hartford corre- spondent of the New York Times, and still retains that appointment. For ten years he was connected with The Etna, the quarterly issued under the
auspices of the Ætna Life, his best literary work appearing in that publication. Mr. Forbes is a member of the Yale College church, Hampden Lodge of Odd Fellows, Springfield, Mass .; the Society of the Army of the Potomac, New York city; the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut; the Union Prisoners' Association; the Veteran Corps of the Governor's Foot Guard, and the Yale Alumni Association of this city. He was a member of the staff of National Commander Warner of the Grand Army, being appointed to the position from Con- necticut. He has also been a member of the execu- tive committee of the Sixteenth Connecticut. He is a republican in politics, but has not failed since he became a voter to deposit his ballot for the can- didates whom he has considered best fitted for pub- lic office. July 18, 1872, he was married to Miss Sarah R. Short of New Haven, who is still living. There are no children in the family. All of his early years were spent in the towns of East Hart- ford and Manchester, and the first school he ever attended was in the old South district in Scotland, now Burnside.
RALPH S. GOODWIN, M.D., THOMASTON.
Dr. R. S. Goodwin was born in Litchfield, July 24, 1839. The early part of his life was largely spent in New York state, he having lived four years in Albany, ten years in Binghamton, and four years in Brooklyn. For the last twenty-two years he has resided in Thom- aston, this state, engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. In addition to the usual training at the local preparatory schools he pursued the course and graduated at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons in New York, thor- oughly fitting himself for R. S. GOODWIN. the medical profession. From 1861 to 1863 he was engaged as teacher of elocution and English language in the New York State Normal School at Albany, and from 1863 to 1865 was a tutor in the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn N. Y. During his residence in Thomas- ton Dr. Goodwin has held various local and state offices, having been acting school visitor and health officer of his town, and being at present a member of the state board of health. He married Miss Jen- nie Edith Irvine, and they have two children, a son and a daughter. In polities he is a republican and in religious matters a Congregationalist. He is also a member of the Order of Odd Fellows, being a Past Grand of the local lodge.
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W. C. RUSSELL, ORANGE.
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William C. Russell was born in Orange, March 13, 1835, and received a public school education. In 1871 he was a member of the general assembly, representing the town of Orange in the house. He has held most of the offices within the gift of the town and is at present a member of the board of selectmen and a justice of the peace. Mr. Russell is a republican in politics. He is engaged in the wholesale meat business and is connected with the Peerless Attachment Co. W. C. RUSSELL. of Tyler City, and with C. C. Andrew & Co. of New Haven. He is a member of the Congregational church and of Annawan Lodge, No. 115, F. and A. M., of West Haven, also of the Sons of Temper- ance order. He has been connected with the state militia. Mr. Russell's family consists of a wife and two daughters. The former was Miss Mary J. Lyon prior to her marriage. The home of Mr. Russell is at Tyler City.
LUCIUS BRIGGS, GLASGO (GRISWOLD): Agent Glasgo Yarn Mills.
Ex-State Senator Lucius Briggs was born in the town of Coventry, R. I, Dec. 21, 1825, and was educated at Smithville Academy in that state. He has been engaged through life in the manufacture of cotton goods, and is the agent and a large owner in the Glasgo Yarn Mills. He is a director in several large corporations and banks, and is one of the most prominent business men in eastern Connecti- cut. Mr. Briggs has been a member of both branches of the general assembly. In 1867 he LUCIUS BRIGGS. represented the town of Thompson in the house, his colleague being Mr. Thomas Tallman. In 1875 he represented the old fourteenth district in the senate, his colleagues in that body including Hons. Caleb B. Bowers of New Haven, Fred. W. Bruggerhoff of Darien, Thomas S. Marlor of Brooklyn, Washington F. Willcox, now member of congress from the second district, and Chauncey Howard of Coventry, subsequently state comptroller. Mr. Briggs was a presidential elector
on the republican ticket in this state when General Grant was elected for the second term. He is a member of the Baptist church. The family to which Mr. Briggs belongs has been a patriotic one, his ancestors on both sides having served in the Revolutionary war. The wife of Mr. Briggs, who was Miss Harriet T. Atwood prior to her marriage, died Sept. 9, 1887. There are two children, the son, C. W. Briggs, residing in New York, and the daughter, Mrs. Floyd Cranska, in Moosup. Ex- Senator Briggs is a citizen of prominence in the state.
G. D. BATES, PUTNAM: President and Treasurer Putnam Cutlery Company.
Colonel Gustavus D. Bates was a member of the general assembly from Putnam in 1887, serving on the republican side of the house. He was elected a delegate to the national republican convention in Chicago which nominated President Harrison, and has been an active and influential participant in political interests in east- ern Connecticut. He is the president of the Put- nam creamery, and of the "Windham County League." He is also the founder of the Putnam Cutlery Company, which manufactures the "Old G. D. BATES. Put " knives, holding the position of president and treasurer. Colonel Bates is also a director in various corporations at Putnam. He was born in Thompson, October, 1840, and received a common school education. He has had an interesting and remarkable history from boyhood until now. His father was a farmer, and went to Grosvenordale when the subject of this sketch was but seven years of age, as " outside " superintendent for the Gros- venordale Company. The boy, rather than ac- knowledge a school teacher's authority, became a mill operative. When his father returned to Thompson he returned also, and worked on the farm until sixteen years of age, when he became a school teacher in Burrillville, R. I., continuing for two terms, the following year teaching for two terms at North Grosvenordale, Conn .; afterward entering a factory store at Grosvenordale. He en- listed in 1862 in the Seventh Rhode Island regi- ment, in which he received seven promotions; and after serving two and a half years returned dis- abled by exposure and wounds. Young Bates's military ardor and patriotism were so intense that he ran away from home to enlist, much to the dis- gust of his father, who, when he bade his son
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
good-by, as with his regiment he started for the front, said to him quite pointedly: " Runaway boys do not generally come out very well." Grasping the paternal hand warmly, the young soldier re- plied: " Father, I'll make a noble exception to your rule!"- which promise he abundantly verified. From 1865 to 1875 he traveled for a Boston house, and when his health gave way returned to Putnam, where he had married Miss Ellen A. Hutchins, daughter of Benjamin F. Hutchins of Thompson. In 1877 he became a commercial traveler from Troy, N. Y., and within a year thereafter went to New York city as manager of a branch house. · Thence he went to Putnam in 1884, forming a con- nection with the " Connecticut Clothing Company." He is at present the outside business manager of Cluett, Coon & Co., linen collars and cuffs. Colonel Bates is a member of the Baptist church, and is regarded with thorough esteem and respect in the community where he resides.
HON. JOHN HURLBURT WHITE, HARTFORD: Attorney-at-Law.
John Hurlburt White was born in the town of Glastonbury, in November, 1833. He received an academical education, and removed to Hartford in 1851, where he read law in the office of the late H. H. Barbour, and was ad- mitted to the bar in March, 1858. He was elected auditor of the city in 1860 on the democratic ticket; continued in that office until 1863, when he was elected judge of pro- bate for the district of Hartford, which position he retained for twenty- three years. Leaving that office in January, 1887, he J. H. WII1TE. resumed the practice of law. He was a commis- sioner of the state of Connecticut to receive the votes of the Connecticut soldiers in the field in the presidential election of 1864. Since 1860 he has been connected with the First company Governor's Foot Guard, as an active and veteran member. For many years he has been a director in the Farmers and Mechanics National Bank of Hartford. He is now the president of the Connecticut probate as- sembly. His religious connections are with the Park church and society of Hartford, of which he has been a member since 1858. He married, in 1860, Miss Jennie M., daughter of George Cooke, Esq., of Litchfield, in this state. They have one son, Henry C. White, an artist of distinction, with whose canvases lovers of art in eastern Connecti-
cut are thoroughly familiar. Judge White is a gen- tleman of many accomplishments, of rare judicial ability, and possesses social qualities which are ap- preciated and enjoyed by a large circle of warm personal friends.
MARO S. CHAPMAN, MANCHESTER: Manufac- turer of Paper and Envelopes.
Mr. Chapman was born at East IIaddam, Feb- ruary 13, 1839, and received a thorough common school education. For three years before the war he was engaged in mer- cantile pursuits at Man- chester, but when the de- mand for troops was made he enlisted, joining Com- pany C of the Twelfth Connecticut. In 1864 he engaged in the envelope business with the Plimp- ton Manufacturing Com- pany of Hartford, and has since continued in that avocation. Since the Plimpton Company re- ceived the government M. S. CHAPMAN. contract, Mr. Chapman has been the superintend- ent of the United States stamped envelope works in Hartford, and in that position has shown great executive ability and decision of character. He is treasurer of the Plimpton Manufacturing Company; president of the Hartford Manilla Company, which has a large and flourishing mill at Burnside, and an extensive business; vice-president and a director in the Mather Electric Company, and president of the Perkins Lamp Company, both of which com- panies are located at Manchester, and doing a prosperous business. He is connected with the City Bank of Hartford as a director, and a member of the Hartford board of trade. He has been commander of Drake Post of the Grand Army at South Manchester for eight years, and still holds that position. For upwards of twenty years he has been connected with the republican town com- mittee at Manchester, and is now its chairman. Mr. Chapman has long been an active and greatly valued member of the republican party, and as such has often been called to serve the party and the state in places of public trust. He represented Manchester in the house of representatives in 1881. serving as chairman on the part of that body of the committee on cities and boroughs, one of the hardest-worked committees of that year. His ser- vices throughout the session were of genuine value to the state, and his influence was universally ac- knowledged by his associates, In the fall of 1884 he received the unanimous nomination of the re- publicans of his district for the senatorship, and
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was elected by a very handsome majority. He was a member of the republican state convention which nominated Hon. Henry B. Harrison for governor, and during the campaign was an able and influen- tial supporter of the republican cause. He is a clear and forcible speaker, presenting his views with great earnestness and conviction, and is an admirable debater.
Mr. Chapman married Miss Lucy W. Wood- bridge, who died in 1869, leaving one daughter who is now the wife of E. S. Ela, editor and pub- lisher of the Manchester Herald. His present wife was Miss Helen C. Robbins of Manchester, by whom he has two daughters. The religious con- nections of the family are with the Center Congre- gational church of that town.
HENRY S. BARBOUR, HARTFORD: Attorney- at-Law.
judiciary committee.
Henry S. Barbour was born at Canton, Conn., August 2, 1822. After the usual preparatory course, he was admitted to the bar at Litchfield in 1849, and began the practice of his profession in Torring- ton, where he resided and practiced law for twenty- one years. There he held the offices of judge of pro- bate, town clerk, and town treasurer over fifteen years, and represented that town in the house of representatives in the years 1850 and 1865; and was senator from the then Fifteenth district in 1870, H. S. BARBOUR. acting as chairman of the He removed to Hartford in 1870 to enter into a law partnership with his brother, Heman H. Barbour, who died in 1875; since which date he has continued to practice law in Hartford. He married Miss Bartholomew of Sheffield, Mass., in 1851. They have two children, a son and a daughter; his son is the Rev. John Humphrey Barbour, a professor in the Berkeley Divinity School in Middletown. Judge Barbour is of Revo- lutionary stock; his father was a son of a soldier of the Revolution. His grandfather, Solomon Humphrey, was a Revolutionary soldier; his great-grandfather, John Brown of Simsbury, was also a Revolutionary soldier, and was a grandson of Peter Brown, who came over in the Mayflower. John Brown, the martyr, was a grandson of the above-mentioned John Brown of Simsbury, making him the second cousin of Mr. Barbour. Sylvester Barbour of Hartford and Edward P. Barbour of An- sonia are brothers of the subject of this biography.
CHARLES H. BABCOCK, STONINGTON: Princi- pal of Public School No. 16.
Mr. Babcock was born in Groton in 1838, and has been engaged in teaching since he was sixteen years of age. He was educated in the seminary at East Greenwich, R. I., preparing him for the pro- fession which has occupied him through life. He was an instructor in the New Jersey schools for a num- ber of years. Mr. Bab- cock has held numerous offices in the town of Stonington, being at pres- ent a member of the boards of education and health, and a justice of C. H. BABCOCK. the peace. He has also been a member of the board of assessors. He is an attendant of the Baptist church, and is connected with the Masonic order, being a member of the lodge in Stonington. In politics he is a republican. Principal Babcock has a wife and three children. The present Mrs. Babcock, who is his second wife, was Miss M. Emma Gardner, of South Kingston, R. I., previous to marriage. The first wife was Miss Abbie Hinck ley, of Stonington.
JOHN O'NEILL, WATERBURY: Lawyer.
Mr. O'Neill was born in Canada Village, in the town of Goshen, November 5, 1841. His parents removed to Waterbury in 1848, in which city he was educated in the pub- lic schools. At the break ing out of the war of the rebellion he enlisted in the First Regiment, Con- necticut Volunteers, par- ticipated in the first bat- tle of Bull Run, and was honorably discharged at the end of his term of ser- vice. The year following he began the study of law in the office of Judge John W. Webster of JOHN O'NEILL. Waterbury, and at the end of a three years course was admitted to the bar and soon after to a partnership with his former instructor. The law firm of Webster & O'Neill has continued ever since. Mr. O'Neill represented Waterbury in the general assembly of 1889, where he was author or chief promoter of much of the tax legislation of that session; notably the investment tax law, the collateral inheritance tax law, and the law relative to the taxation of telegraph and ex-
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
press companies. Mr. O'Neill has held office in Waterbury almost continuously since attaining his majority, having been a justice of the peace for thirty years, assistant city attorney ten years, and prosecuting agent of the county seven years. He is now president of the board of trustees of Bron- son Library, president of the Choral Union, and a member of the secret society of the Knights of Columbus. He is a democrat in politics, and in religious faith a Roman Catholic. He is married and has five children.
DWIGHT NOYES CLARK, WOODBRIDGE: Cat- tle Broker.
The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Bethany in 1829. His father, Mr. Noyes Clark, and his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Abigail Clark, were both descended from the two different family lines of that name, who came early from Milford and settled in the town of Woodbridge, which then included Bethany. On his father's side he traces his ancestry back to Dea- con George Clark, one of the deputies under the old Colonial government, and to Governor Robert Treat, who was governor D. N. CLARK. of the colonies for fifteen years, from 1686 to 1701; also to Rev. Roger Newton, the second pastor of Milford; and Rev. Thomas Hooker, the first pastor of Hartford. With such an honored ancestry, if there is anything in the old adage that " The blood tells," it might be expected that Mr. Clark would become an honored and useful citizen, and the ex- pectation in his case is not a disappointment. He has been interested in church and society, and liv- ing near the Woodbridge line, he has been identi- fied with the Congregational society of Wood- bridge, of which the Rev. S. P. Marvin, the con- tributor of this article, has been settled as pastor for twenty-six years. Mr. Clark has been one of its most liberal supporters, and was one of the com- mittee; gave valuable advice and was liberal with his means for remodeling the church, making it for the time one of the most elegant country churches in all the region.
He has been representative to the general assem- bly, and honored with the gift of every office in his town which he would accept. Politically he is a con- servative democrat. He was in full sympathy with the government and prominent in its aid in the late war. He has always taken a deep interest in
the schools and been ready to contribute liberally for their support and improvement; also to what- ever would promote the culture and refinement of society. He inherited from his grandfather a large and profitable business as a cattle broker. His affable manner, square and liberal dealing have won for him the respect and esteem of his towns- men, and of a large circle of customers who rely upon him for the purchase and sale of cattle; and is known for his extensive business transactions in all the western part of the state, as well as at Albany and Chicago. In addition to his regular business he has frequently been employed in the settlement of entangled estates, working from phil- anthropic rather than mercenary motives, and very often without pay, in order to retain a home for the worthy, and is justly entitled to the epithet " The burden bearer," which has often been applied to him.
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