USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 4
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LEONARD A. DICKINSON, HARTFORD: Insur- ance Agent.
General Dickinson, as the subject of this sketch is familiarly known, was born in New Haven, No- vember 5, 1826. Both his parents died when he was quite young, and he was obliged to earn his living from the early age of nine years, being thus de- prived of the means of obtaining a more liberal education than a few months each year as the district school afforded. He has always evinced a great fondness for mili- tary affairs, and for fif- teen years following 1846 L. A. DICKINSON. he was a member or offi- cer in various military or- ganizations in his native city, and in Hartford after taking up his residence here. In October, 1861, he enlisted as private in the 12th regiment, Connecti- cut Volunteers, for active service in the war of the rebellion. He was commissioned captain of Company C November 20, was mustered into ser- vice the first of the following January, and partici- pated in all the engagements in which his regiment took a part. In 1864 he was assigned to duty as assistant acting adjutant-general of the second brigade, first division, of the 19th army corps, and in that capacity took part in Sheridan's Shenan- doah Valley campaign, until mustered out of ser- vice November 21, 1864. He was then commis- sioned as major of the Twelfth regiment, but de- clined the appointment. Since his discharge from service in the army he has made Hartford his home, and has been honored with many positions of trust. He was quartermaster three years on Governor Jewell's staff; postmaster of Hartford four years under President Garfield; has been a member of the Connecticut Soldiers' Hospital Board since 1886; and is a trustee of " Fitch's Home for the Soldier." He has held the local agency of the Ætna Insurance Company of Hartford since 1869, in discharge of the duties of which position he is now principally engaged. He was made a free mason in New Haven in 1856. His affiliations in Hartford are with St. John's Lodge, No. 4, in which he has held various offices; with Pythagoras Chapter, No. 17, Royal Arch Masons, of which he was for five years the secretary; with Wolcott Council, No. 1, Royal and Select Masters; and with Washington Com- mandery, No. I, Knights Templars. He has re- ceived from the Grand Lodge the appointments of grand junior steward and grand marshal, and the electoral offices of grand senior deacon and grand junior warden. He is an active member of St.
Thomas' Episcopal Church of Hartford, and for several years has been the senior warden of that parish.
General Dickinson traces his genealogical descent in an unbroken line from the time of Edward the First of England, in 1272, and in America from Josiah Dickinson, who landed in Boston in 1630. Several of his later ancestors were officers in the revolutionary war, it thus appearing that the mili- tary tastes of the subject of this sketch are clearly a matter of inheritance. He is a gentleman of the highest honor and probity, a firm friend, a kind neighbor, and an upright and useful citizen.
HON. JAMES A. HOVEY, NORWICH: Ex-Judge Superior Court.
Ex-Judge James A. Hovey of Norwich, who was on the superior court bench in this state from November 13, 1876, until April 29, 1885, and chair- man of the commission appointed to revise the public statutes in 1885, holding the latter position from June 1, 1885, until January, 1888, is one of the ablest jurists which Connecticut has had, and the numerous public hon- ors which have been ex- tended to him have been deserved on account of the character of his pub- 1 J. A. HOVEY. lic services. The work of Judge Hovey on the re- vised statutes of 1887 was invaluable. His was the mature mind and experience of the commission and his advice and counsel were in constant demand while the revision was in progress. He was assignee in bankruptcy for New London county under the act of 1841, executive secretary 1842 and 1843 under Governor Chauncey F. Cleveland of Hampton, member of the board of aldermen in Norwich from 1849 until 1853, judge of the New London county court from 1850 until 1854, member of the general assembly in 1859 and in 1886, and mayor of Norwich from 1870 until 1871. His colleagues in the house in 1859 included the Hon. Augustus Brandegee of New London, the Hon. Jeremiah Halsey of Norwich, Colonel W. H. H. Comstock of New London, the late Colonel Henry C. Deming of Hartford, Judge Edward W. Sey- mour, now of the supreme court, the late O. H. Perry of Fairfield, speaker of the house, A. H. Byington of Norwalk, who attained high distinction as a war correspondent, and the late Daniel Chad- wick of Lyme. In the senate were the Hons. Dwight W. Pardee of Hartford and James Phelps
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of Essex, who have occupied high positions on the bench and in public life. Judge Hovey has been a democrat from the outset and is one of the most honored members of his party in Connecticut. He has been vice-president and trustce of the Chelsea Savings Bank, and trustee of the Norwich Savings Society. He was president of the Uncas bank and the Uncas National Bank of Norwich from 1852 until 1872. The wife of Judge Hovey, who was Miss Lavinia J. Barber, is dead and the only son is also dead. The judge was born at Hampton April 29, 1815, and was educated in the common and private schools of his time. He chose the law as a profession and has met with eminent success. From 1830 until 1842 he was connected with the state militia. His life has been spent in the towns of Hampton, Windham, and Norwich.
HON. A. P. HYDE, HARTFORD: Attorney-at-Law.
Hon. Alvan Pinney Hyde was born in Stafford, March 10, 1825, being the son of Alvan and Sarah Pinney Hyde. His grandfather, Nathaniel Hyde, and father, were success- ful iron manufacturers at Stafford. The subject of this sketch was prepared for college at Munson Academy and graduated from Yale with honor in 1845. He studied law in the office of the late Hon. Loren P. Waldo of this city, but at that time a distinguished lawyer in Tolland, and at the Yale Law School, being ad- A. P. HYDE. mitted to the bar at Tol- land in 1847. He remained in Stafford until 1849, when he married Miss Frances Elizabeth Waldo, daughter of Judge Waldo, with whom he had studied his profession, and removed to Tolland. He remained there until 1864, being associated in practice with his father-in-law, who was one of the leading lawyers of the state. Judge Waldo came to this city with Mr. Hyde. In 1867 the firm was changed, becoming Waldo, Hubbard & Hyde, the late Governor R. D. Hubbard joining as a mem- ber. Mr. Charles E. Gross was admitted to the firm in 1877. Four years afterwards Judge Waldo died here and the firm assumed the name of Hub- bard, Hyde & Gross. William Waldo Hyde and Frank Eldridge Hyde, sons of Mr. Hyde, were ad- mitted to the copartnership. Both of the new partners were Yale graduates. In fact all the members of the firm at that time and since were distinguished Yalensians. In ISS4 the death of Gov. Hubbard involved a new change in the firm
name which was then made and has since remained Hyde, Gross & Hyde. The senior member is one of the ablest lawyers in Connecticut, his standing at the bar being one of marked distinction and honor. His forensic ability is not less brilliant than his legal, and his eloquence is universally admired. Mr. Hyde was a member of the general assembly in 1854, 1858, and 1862, representing the town of Tolland in the house. He is a democrat in politics and one of the ablest representatives of his party in the state. He is a past grand master of the Connecticut Grand Lodge of Masons, occupy- ing the position of grand master for two terms from May 15, 1862. He was made a Mason in 1858, becoming a member of Uriel Lodge No. 24, which is located at Merrow Station in Tolland county. His administration was eminently suc- cessful. Mr. Hyde is one of the most prominent members of the Yale Alumni Association in this city. He has traveled extensively in Europe and has visited all sections of the United States, in- cluding a trip to Alaska. He is a gentleman of broad culture and intelligence and one of the most gifted men in Connecticut. His home is on Charter Oak Place, the grounds including the spot where the famous Charter Oak stood for centuries. The historic associations of the place are reverently pre- served, Mr. Hyde being one of the most ardent of patriots as well as the most fascinating of orators.
B. R. ALLEN, HARTFORD: Insurance Agent, Stock and Bond Broker.
Bennet Rowland Allen was born in Enfield, May 17, 1838, and was educated at E. Hall's classical school in Ellington, Wm. C. Goldthwait's in Long- meadow, Mass., and at the Connecticut State Normal School in New Britain. He became a teacher in the Ellington school, which was one of the leading classical schools in Hartford coun- ty in its day. Subsequently he engaged in manufac- turing business at Wind- sor Locks, remaining there from 1861 until IS6S. A portion of the time he was the manager of the Med- B. R. A11 EN. licott mill, which was occupied through the war in making knit goods for the soldiers' use. Afterwards he became a member of the firm of C. H. Dexter & Sons, Mr. Dexter, the founder of the company. being Mr. Allen's father-in-law, and engaged in the manufacture of manilla papers. In ISós he re- moved to Hartford and became the local manager
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of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, the Royal Insurance Company of England, and of the Pennsylvania Insurance Company of Philadelphia. In addition to the management of the local trans- actions of these companies, Mr. Allen is engaged in the business of a stock and bond broker. He is held in the highest esteem in business centres in this city, and is deserving in every way of the uni- versal confidence felt in his ability. He is promi- nently associated with Masonic interests, being a knight templar; is a member, also, of the Connec- ticut Society Sons of the American Revolution. Mr. Allen is a republican, politically, but has paid no attention to public office, having resolutely re- frained through life from seeking public position. During the war he voluntarily sent a substitute into the service, and was thoroughly interested in the success of the Union cause. The business in which he was engaged at the time as manager of the Medlicott company made it of great importance that his services should be retained here. Mr. Allen is an active and influential member of the Asylum Hill Congregational church. His family consists of a wife and son. The former was Miss Annie Pier- son Dexter of Windsor Locks prior to her marriage. The son occupies a responsible position in the Soci- ety for Savings on Pratt street.
HENRY S. MARLOR, BROOKLYN : Banker.
Mr. Marlor was born in England in 1835, and came to this country in 1840 with his parents, set- tling in New York city. After spending six years in attendance at public school No. II in that city, at the age of eleven years he began to learn the trade of gold watch-case making with E. L. Pres- ton of Brooklyn, Conn. In 1862 he spent three months in active military service as a member of the Twenty-second New York Regiment. Later he entered the Metropoli- tan National Bank of New H. S. MARLO R. York city, remaining in that institution for ten years. He afterward be- came a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and was elected its vice-president. He retired from active business in 1868, but has retained his mem- bership in the Exchange. Since 1869 he has re- sided chiefly in Brooklyn, Conn., but is accus- tomed to spend his winters, with his family, in New York city, where he owns and maintains a handsome residence on Lenox Hill, at No. 18 East Seventy-eighth Street. He is a gentleman of
means and culture, who from humble beginnings has risen by the force of his own exertions to a position which he has a right to enjoy, and of which he may well be proud.
Mr. Marlor is a democrat in politics, a member of the Baptist Church, of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. His wife's maiden name was Har- riet J. Van Brunt, and she is a descendant of one of the old Long Island families.
FREDERICK ST. JOHN LOCKWOOD, NOR- WALK : President Fairfield County National Bank.
Frederick St. John Lockwood of Norwalk was born in that city Aug. 23, 1825, and graduated from Yale College in 1849, his classmates including President Timothy Dwight of the university, ex-Congressman Augus- tus Brandegee of New London, and ex-President W. D. Bishop of the Con- solidated road. During the war he was on the staffs of Major-Generals King and Russell, and discharged his official duties with marked com- petency and gallantry. F. ST. J. LOCKWOOD. At the close of the war he returned to Norwalk, and represented that city as a republican in the legislatures of 1865 and 1866. In 1872 he was also a member of the house, the legislature of that year containing many of the ablest men in the state. Prominent on the list were ex-Governor James E. English, T. M. Waller, Judge V. B. Chamberlain of New Britain, ex-Speaker William C. Case, Judges Torrance of the Supreme and John M. Hall of the Superior Courts, Colonel John A. Tibbits, and Railroad Commissioner George M. Woodruff. Mr. Lockwood acquitted himself with decided credit during the session. From 1859 until 1862 he was bank commissioner. He is at present at the head of the Danbury & Norwalk Railroad Com- pany, and is also engaged in banking and manu- facturing interests. He has been the president of the Fairfield County National Bank, the office ex- tending from 1868 to January, 1890. He has been the president of the railroad company since 1882. He is a past worshipful master of St. John's Lodge, No. 6, of Norwalk, and is a member of the Norwalk Club. His family consists of a wife and three children, the former being Miss Carrie Ayres at the time of her marriage. The children are Eliz- abeth, born July 30, 1868 ; Frederick Ayres, born
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November 18, 1870 ; and Julia Belden, born June 30, 1881. Mr. Lockwood is a member of the Con- gregational church, and is held in high esteem in the city of Norwalk.
PROF. W. A. ANTHONY, MANCHESTER: Electri- cian.
The subject of this sketch was born November 17, 1835, at Coventry, Rhode Island. He attended the village school, where he began at an early age the study of algebra and geometry. He also read all the books on science to be found in the school li- brary, and obtained con- siderable experience with machinery and tools in his father's mill. At the age of 15 he went to the Friends' Boarding School in Providence, where he pursued his favorite stud- ies in mathematics and science, and for a time as- sisted in the preparation W. A. ANTHONY. of experiments for the lectures on chemistry and physics. Completing his preparations for college at the academy at East Greenwich, he entered Brown University in 1854, but under the compulsion of his deepening interest in mathematical and scientific studies he left Brown to enter the Scientific School at Yale, where he graduated in 1856.
After graduating, Prof. Anthony became the principal of a graded school. He then taught sci- ence in an academy, then physics and chemistry at Antioch College, then physics at the Iowa State Agricultural College, and in 1872 he was called to Cornell University to take charge of the department of physics. He remained there till 1887, and left behind him an imprint that the work of Cornell in his special field will long bear. His interest was specially strong in electricity and optics, and he de- vised a great number of experiments to illustrate his instruction. Even in the academy, in 1863-66, his students in physics were required to perform experiments for themselves. This was the begin- ning of his physical laboratory instruction, which he tried to improve upon and extend as long as he had to do with students, and to prepare for their careers the physicists and engineers of the next generation.
It is interesting to note that in 1874, after trying in vain to procure a Gramme machine from Europe, as a piece of laboratory apparatus, he designed and constructed one for the university laboratory him- self. This machine was exhibited at the Philadel- phia centennial exhibition in1 1876. It is still in use
and doing good service in the physical laboratory at Cornell.
In 1881, appreciating with clear foresight the im- portant place that electrical applications were to take in the near future, Professor Anthony set on foot a movement looking to the establishment at Cornell of a special course of study for the training of electrical engineers. This plan met with great opposition at first, but was finally successful, and the course is now one of the best attended in the university.
In 1887, desiring relief in a change of occupation, Prof. Anthony resigned the appointment he had held with so much credit to himself and so much honor to Cornell, and assumed the duties of electri- cian for the Mather Electric Company of Manches- ter, in this State, in which capacity he has since continued, devoting himself to the improvement of the apparatus and the extension of the affairs of the company.
WILLIAM EDGAR SIMONDS, HARTFORD: At- torney-at-Law.
William Edgar Simonds was born at Collinsville, in the town of Canton, Hartford county, Connecti- cut, November 24, 1842. He was educated at the graded and high schools in Collinsville, graduated at the State Normal School in New Britain in 1860, and taught school until 1862. August 14, 1862, he enlisted in Com- pany A of the Twenty- fifth Connecticut Volun- teers, as a private, and was soon promoted to be sergeant-major. At the battle of Irish Bend, Louisiana, April 14, 1863, he was promoted to be W. E. SIMONDS. lieutenant of Company I for gallantry in the field, and was discharged from the service, August 26, 1863, by reason of the expiration of his teri1. He then entered Yale Law School and there graduated in 1865. Since that date he has practiced law in Hartford. He is the author of books on patent law as follows> " Design Patents," " Digest of Patent Office Decisions," " Summary of Patent Law," and " Digest of Patent Cases." Since 1884 he has filled the lectureship on patent law at Yale Law School. 111 1890 Yale University gave him the honorary degree of A.M. Mr. Simonds was a inember of the Connecticut house of representa- tives in 1883 and chairman of the committee on railroads. He was speaker of the Connecticut house in 1885. He has been a trustee of the Storrs Agricultural School of Connecticut since 1886. In
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1888 he was elected to congress from the first dis- trict of Connecticut. He signalized his service in the fifty-first congress by his successful efforts in connection with international copyright. A bill looking to that end had been decisively defeated in the house when Mr. Simonds drew and introduced another bill and secured for it, after repeated con- tests, a victory quite as decisive as its former de- feat, which bill subsequently became a law, it being the first international copyright act of the United States, a measure which had been con- tended for ever since Henry Clay began the agita- tion of the subject a half century before.
His record in congress has been one of great activity and intense loyalty to the interests of his constituents and the state. The services which he has been able to render will be borne in mind by his party, who, no less than the entire district, have been placed under lasting obligation to him for the conscientious and honorable work he has per- formed while an incumbent of this important office.
HON. DAVID GREENSLIT, HAMPTON.
David Greenslit was born at Hampton, June 2, 1817. After graduating from the public schools of his native town, he spent a year or two in teaching and in mercantile business in the city of Norwich, af- ter which he paid his attention exclusively to farming until 1844, since which date his time has been occupied almost con- tinuously in official duties. May 26, 1840, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Searls, daughter of John Searls of Brooklyn, settling in DAVID GREENSLIT. Hampton, where he has since principally resided. He held the offices of sheriff and deputy sheriff for Windham county for sixteen years. In 1866 he was elected state senator, serving as chairman of the State Prison committee. During his term in the senate he lost his only child, a beautiful young lady of twenty-two years, by which sad blow he was almost completely prostrated. In 1878 he rep- resented Hampton in the lower house, where he was again appointed chairman of the State Prison committee. Mr. Greenslit has held the office of president of the Windham County Mutual Fire In- surance Company for about twelve years, and is the adjuster of all the company's losses. He is a director in the Windham County National Bank, also in the Dime Savings Bank of Willimantic. He
has held various town offices, having been acting school visitor, agent of the town deposit fund, and first selectman, for terms varying from ten to forty years. He was in the provost-marshal's office in Norwich during two years of the war of the rebel- lion, and acted for the government as general re- cruiting officer for Windham county. During the last thirty years he has been extensively engaged in the settlement of estates, many of which have involved large responsibilities and required the ex- ercise of soundest judgment. Mr. Greenslit has given much attention to the law, not professionally, but in order to prepare himself for the requirements of his duties and to enable him to act promptly and intelligently on the many occasions when legal counsel might not be at ready command. His ad- vice in business is thus often sought and highly valued. Politically Mr. Greenslit is an ardent re- publican, and has been more or less active in state and local politics ever since the formation of that party. He served on the state central committee for a long succession of years. Whatever the wel- fare of his town or the state has called for, politi- cally, socially, educationally, or morally, he has heartily and earnestly undertaken ; and very rarely has he enlisted in an undertaking which was not carried to a triumphant success. Mr. Greenslit's life has been one of great activity and usefulness, and his circle of intimate acquaintances and friends extends to all borders of the state.
REV. LEWELLYN PRATT, D.D., NORWICH : Pastor Broadway Congregational Church.
The subject of this sketch was born in Saybrook (now Essex), in this state, August 8, 1832. In his youth he was a pupil at Essex and Durham Acade- mies, and was afterward graduated a Williams College. He was ordained to the ministry by the Philadelphia Presbytery in 1864. For several years he was professor in the National Deaf-Mute Col- lege of Washington, D.C., and of Knox College, Galesburg, Ill., preaching more or less while serv- ing as professor; for some time at the New York Avenue Presbyte- LEWELLYN PRATT. rian Church of Washington, and for two years at the second Presbyterian Church of Galesburg. In 1870 the Congregational Church of North Adams called him to its pastorate, where he labored with marked success, until Williams 'College, his alma
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mater, invited him to the professorship of rhetoric. Thence, in 18So, he was called to the chair of prac- tical theology in the Hartford Theological Seminary, where he remained until the spring of 1888, resign- ing to accept the pastorate of the Broadway Con- gregational Church of Norwich, Conn., where he continues to labor with great acceptance. Not inappropriately he might still carry the title of " Professor of Practical Theology," for in all de- partments of church work he is eminently practical, not only finding time to attend to the many duties of his own church and various calls for occasional sermons and addresses, but also co-operates, or rather leads, in many movements of reform, being identified with the charities and reforms of his own city and state, rendering valuable service by his wisdom and tact, and exercising in them all a thorough catholicity of spirit. The church over which he is pastor, through its commanding in- fluence, contributes to his strength; it being not only the largest Protestant church of Norwich, but in a sense the representative church of that half of Connecticut lying east of the river.
The secret of Professor Pratt's success as an edu- cator and preacher lies not in the predominance of one talent, but rather in a rare and happy combi- nation of gifts. A commanding presence, genial disposition, thoroughness and tact, yet withal a be- coming modesty, unite to form in him a well- rounded man. As an educator, his broad and accurate knowledge led the students to have confi- dence in him, while his genial bearing gave them confidence in themselves. If possible, he was even more to the students outside than within the class- room, a friend and counsellor to whom they naturally came with their troubles. Not unnatu- rally many of these former pupils continue to turn to him for counsel, while the institutions with which he has been connected have shown their apprecia- tion of his talents - Williams College, by conferring upon him the degree of D.D. in 1877, and later by electing him a trustee; and Hartford Theological Seminary, by electing him to the same office. The latter of these he continues to fill. As a preacher, he masters his subject, covers thoroughly all the ground, gets at and gives the kernel. The analysis is correct, delivery easy and forceful, the voice clear and resonant, and the manner full of earnest- ness. His delightful social accomplishments, too, are an important auxiliary to his professional suc- cess; as the influences which attend companionship with the cultured and refined are conceded to be among the most fascinating and powerful that can be exerted.
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