USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 8
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also presented him with an elegant silver goblet, with this inscription:
PRESENTED BY THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTORS of
THE NEW YORK & NEW HAVEN RAILROAD COMPANY to JOHN H. LEEDS. " Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined."
Annexed is a copy of the letter from the com- pany accompanying the present, together with young Leeds' reply:
STAMFORD, August 15, 184). My Dear Young Friend :
The president and directors of the New York & New Haven Railroad Company, by a unanimous resolution, have assigned to me the pleasing task of presenting to you the accompanying cup, as a slight testimonial of their ap- probation of your manly conduct in preventing a collision of their trains.
May the impulse which prompted you then continue to animate you, cheered with the pleasant recollection of having done unto others as you would they should do unto you. Your Friend,
H. J. SANFORD, Director. To MASTER JOHN H. LEEDS.
[REPLY. ] DARIEN, August 17, 1849. Mr. H. J. Sanford :
SIR, - I acknowledge with feelings of gratitude and pleasure the receipt of the very handsome present from the New York & New Haven Railroad Company through your hands, but beg to disclaim any merit for an act which the impulse of the moment prompted and duty urged me to do.
Probably the lives of some of my fellow creatures were saved through my humble endeavors, and the conscious- ness of that is sufficient reward.
Yours very respectfully,
JOHN HARRIS LEEDS.
The railroad company did not lose sight of the lad, for three years after he removed to New Haven and went into their serviee to learn to be a meehan- ieal and constructing engineer, beginning as an ap- prentice and going up through all departments. At one period he ran an engine on the road. He remained in their employ until 1860. At that date he engaged with the Stamford Manufacturing Com- pany as their superintendent and consulting engi- neer, taking charge of the mineral branch of their business, they being the oldest and largest manu- facturers of chemieal and dyeing extraets in the United States. He has continued with them to the present time.
Mr. Leeds ever has been, and now is, an exeeed- ingly busy man. He has largely served the public in many and varied eapaeities, and how worthily is shown by the testimonials bestowed upon him by his associates. The positions he has held have been such that, while of invaluable serviee to the community, they have been generally with no recompense save in the consciousness of well-doing. He was alderman in 1863-64, and was assistant judge of the city court for two years, this office being then selected by law from the board of al- dermen. During the construction of the Derby
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railroad, which occupied two years, he was its city director. He was for many years a member of the volunteer fire department. In 1862, when the de- partment was reorganized, he was one of the first fire commissioners under the new régime, and was president of that board for about fifteen years. Steam fire-engines, fire-alarm telegraphs, and paid firemen were introduced under his presidency. One of the new steam fire-engines, by order of the board, was named in his honor " John H. Leeds." When the imposing firemen's monument in Ever- green cemetery was dedicated he was appointed orator of the day. He was for several years presi- dent of the board of steam engines and boilers; chairman of the fire and water departments of the city for two years; and represented the city in making contracts for water supply. In 1875, owing to increased business duties and the claims of the Stamford Manufacturing Company which required his services abroad, he withdrew from all public offices. Upon this the city passed and presented highly complimentary resolutions signifying their sense of his eminent services. These were ordered to be engrossed and presented in a permanent framed memorial. The fire department also pre- sented a magnificent and costly badge, a miniature steam fire-engine, and fire apparatus, with the city coat-of-arms highly embellished with diamonds and rubies. Rarely has any citizen on his withdrawal from public service been so honored. In 1879-80 he was sent to the legislature as the city's first rep- resentative. His colleague, Colonel Dexter R. Wright, was chosen speaker of the house. It was the first legislature that met in the new state house. He was one of the committee on railroads, and one of the peculiarly important committee on the construction of the dome of the state house. Mr. Lecds was state director of the Wethersfield penitentiary for six years, from 1879 to 1885. He is now a director of the Yale National Bank, the New Haven Savings Bank, the New Haven Water Company, and a managing director of the Stamford Manufacturing Company, in whose business he has passed most of his time for years in Europe and the Orient. Mr. Leeds' first trip to Europe was in 1876, when he opened a barytes mine"on the south coast of Ireland. Since then his time has been mostly spent in matters of a commercial and pro- ductive nature that are found only in the Orient, where he obtained many of the supplies of crude materials, such as dyes, drugs, and chemicals that are used by the Stamford Manufacturing Company. He is a most extensive traveler, the nature of his business requiring him to go to rarely visited places and among half-civilized and rude people. Besides every country of Europe, he has visited Asia Minor, Syria, Northern Egypt, nearly every island of the Grecian Archipelago, all the cities of the
seven churches of Asia, as well as Tarsus, Antioch, Aleppo, and the whole of Palestine. In the two years, 1884-85, he traveled over 80,000 miles by steamship, railway, horse, canal, and on foot. His business transactions have been with all the tribes of the Orient, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Bul- garians, Koords, Bedouins, Arabs, and Egyptians. His experiences have impressed him with the con- viction that, as a body, they are commercially and politically dishonest, and morally corrupt; while re- ligious fanaticism is the controlling element of their lives. Mr. Leeds was married January 27, 1858, to Miss Frances A. Hine of Milford.
Physically, he is one of the largest and most powerful of men. He stands 6 ft. 11/2 in., has heavy broad shoulders, a chest measurement of 46 inches, and weighs 250 pounds, but not accom- panied with extraneous flesh. His health is vigor- ous, and his constitution is one capable of long-sus- tained and continuous labor. He is of a serious turn of mind, and, being full of business, has little time for the lighter conversation and frivolities of life. This record shows that he has had a wide ac- quaintance with men, and a useful and honorable career, working with and upon those material forces that move civilization on its ascending path- way.
S. T. HOLBROOK, NORWICH: Judge of Probate. Judge Supply T. Holbrook of the probate court, Norwich district, is a gentleman of superior legal attainments and has held numerous offices of trust and responsibility. He has been the judge of the court of common pleas, and is regarded with marked esteem by the New London county bar. In politics Judge Hol- brook is a republican. He is connected with the Second Congregational church at Norwich and is thoroughly interested in the religious and educa- tional standing of the S. T. HOLBROOK. community. Judge Hol- brook has been married twice. His first wife was Sarah E. Shepard. The surviving one was Miss Carrie Stark before marriage. There are five children in the family, two sons and three daugh- ters. The subject of this sketch was born at Rox- bury, Mass., Sept. 7, 1822, and received a common school education in that state. His classical train- ing was from private tutors. His life has been spent in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In this state he has resided in Hartford, New London, and Norwich. He was formerly a professor of music.
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
HON. PHINEAS C. LOUNSBURY, RIDGEFIELD
Ex-Governor of Connecticut ; President Mer- chants' Exchange National Bank of New York eity.
P. C. Lounsbury is a native of the town where he still resides; he was born in 1840. His father was a farmer, and like most farmers' sons he worked on the farm during the years of boyhood and early manhood. He found time, however, to acquire a thorough academic edu- cation in the sehools of learning in his native state. He then went to New York city where he secured a position as clerk in a shoe store, and in time familiarized him- self with all departments of the business. Having P. C. LOUNSBURY. laid the foundations for a successful commercial career he began, upon at- taining his majority, the manufacture of shoes with his brother in New Haven under the firm name of Lounsbury Brothers. The business was afterward removed to South Norwalk, and carried on under the firm name of Lounsbury, Matthewson & Co. When the civil war broke out he enlisted as a pri- vate in the Seventeenth Connecticut Regiment, but after four months' active service was compelled by severe sickness to return, being honorably dis- charged and recommended for a pension, which he would not accept.
Mr. Lounsbury represented Ridgefield in the Connecticut house of representatives in 1874, and occupied a leading position throughout the session. He was a prominent factor in state politics for the succeeding decade, and his name was before the republican state convention in 1884, unsuccess- fully, however, as a candidate for the chief execu- tive office. In 1886 he was the only prominent candidate for that position before the convention, and received the nomination for governor by an overwhelming majority on the first ballot. His in- cumbency of the office of chief magistrate during the succeeding two years gave signal satisfaction to his constituents and the state. He maintained the position with becoming dignity, performed its duties ably and well, and achieved distinction among the many conspicuous citizens who have ad- ministered the affairs of the commonwealth.
Ex-Governor Lounsbury is a life-long and con- sistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which his liberal views and enlightened senti- ments have always been duly recognized; and he now occupies an honored relation to her foremost schools,- notably to Wesleyan University at Mid-
dletown in this state, of which institution he has long been a trustee. His business connections are largely in New York, and he has for some years been president of the Merchants Exchange Na- tional Bank of that city, which under his control has become one of the most solid and prosperous of the banking houses of the metropolis.
HON. ORVILLE H. PLATT, MERIDEN : United States Senator.
Orville H. Platt was born in the town of Wash- ington, Litchfield county, in this state, on July 19. 1827. He was a son of Daniel G. Platt, a farmer, and worked upon his fath- er's farm until he was twenty years of age. His education was received in the common sehools and in the academy of Frede- rick W. Gunn, of wide reputation in later years as the principal of " The Gunnery," so called, in the town of Washington, an institution of learning which became justly cel- ebrated. Mr. Platt stud- ied law in the office of O. II. PLATT. Hon. Gideon H. Hollister, Litchfield, the well known historian of Connecticut, now deceased, and was admitted to the bar in Litchfield in 1849. Subsequently he secured admission to the Pennsyl- vania bar in Towando, Bradford county, and spent six months in the office of Hon. Ulysses Mercur, now judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. He returned to Connecticut in 1851, and located in Meriden as a practitioner of law, and has since made that city his home. In 1855-6, he was clerk of the Connecticut senate and was elected secre- tary of state in 1857. In 1861-2, he was a member of the senate, and in 1864 and 1869 was elected to the house,- the last year serving as its speaker. . In all these positions he displayed exceptional qualifications and showed a special aptitude for legislative business. In 1877, he was chosen state attorney for New Haven county, and held that place till elected in 1879 to the United States sen- ate to succeed Hon. William H. Barnum. He was unanimously re-elected at the expiration of his first term, in 1885, and again at the close of his second term in I891.
Senator Platt is a pleasant speaker and a good debater -always clear and concise, wasting very few words for the sake of oratorical effect. As a lawyer he has had for many years a high standing at the bar, and has made a specialty of patent cases, thoughi doing a general law practice. All
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his life he has been a promoter of Christian and philanthropic enterprises, actively working for the best good of society through the organized chan- nels of religion and temperance, while by his own example assisting every good cause. His career has been in all respects useful and honorable.
AARON C. GOODMAN, HARTFORD.
Mr. Goodman is a native of West Hartford, where he was born April 23, 1822. After the usual custom of New England village boys, he had his experience of wrestling with the district school, and at the age of thirteen years left that institution to try his hand at clerk- ing in a Hartford book- store. After some years of such employment he went to Philadelphia, in 1841, to enter the service of A. S. Barnes & Co., the noted publishers, - who had established them- A. C. GOODMAN. selves in the Quaker City, under the impression that Philadelphia, and not New York, was destined to become the mercantile metropolis of this country. Mr. Goodman engaged with this firm for two years ; but before the expiration of the first year, he received an advantageous proposal from his for- mer employer in Hartford to return and become associated with him in the capacity of partner. Looking upon the proposition with favor, he ob- tained a release from Messrs. Barnes & Co., at the expiration of his first year, and on the first of April, 1842, he came back to Hartford and com- pleted the proposed connection with his old em- ployer, taking an equal interest with him in the business, which was thereafter conducted under the firm name of Sumner & Goodman. After being together six years, Mr. Goodman bought his part- ner's interest in the store, which he continued to manage alone until 1852, when he in turn sold out and went to New York to engage in the paper trade. He was in business in New York twenty- one years. At the organization of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, in Hartford, in 1851, Mr. Goodman became a stockholder, and subsequently a director in the company. He closed his business in New York and returned per- manently to Hartford in 1873. Two years later, in June, 1875, he was made president of the Phœ- nix Life, succeeding in that office the Hon. Edson Fessenden. He held the presidency of this com- pany a little more than fourteen years, resign- ing in 1889. Since retiring from his official con-
nection with the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, Mr. Goodman has embarked in no other active enterprises, feeling that his health had been somewhat impaired by long and close application to business, and that he needed rest. He is not inclined to make any changes which will increase his business cares or anxieties, and feels that he has probably performed his full share of the active duties of an ordinary lifetime.
Mr. Goodman is a member of Trinity church, Hartford, and has long been connected with the masonic fraternity.
GEORGE W. DAINS, EAST LITCHFIELD: Paper Manufacturer.
Mr. Dains was born in Litchfield, February II, 1844. He attended the common schools of the town, and in 1861, at age of seventeen, enlisted in the New York Fourth Cavalry regiment, from which he was discharged in the spring of 1862 on account of disability from sickness. In the fall of 1862 he enlisted in Com- pany K, Twenty-Third regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, and served until the expiration of his term of enlistment; after- wards enlisting in the Third Connecticut Light Battery, and serving until G. W. DAINS. the close of the war. He worked at farming two years or more, then entered and graduated from Eastman's National Business College at Poughkeep- sie, N. Y., after which he was cashier for the mer- cantile house of Benedict, Merriman & Co. of Waterbury, during which time he was married to Miss Mary A. Page, daughter of John D. Page, of the firm of Page & Keeney, paper manufacturers of East Litchfield. October 1, 1871, he bought Mr. Keeney's interest in the mill, and commenced the business in company with Mr. Page, under the firm name of Page & Dains, which firm is still carrying on the business at the old stand.
Mr. Dains has had three children, two of whom - one son and one daughter - are living. He has held the offices of justice of the peace, school visi- tor, town auditor, and registrar of voters. At present he holds the office of county auditor for Litchfield county and also that of commissioner of the superior court. He was brought up a demo- crat, and went into the army as a democrat, but came out an uncompromising republican. While his post-office address is East Litchfield, his resi- dence is on the Harwinton side of the Naugatuck
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
river, which divides the two towns of Harwinton and Litchfield. He has twice represented the town of Harwinton in the legislature, first in 1877 and again 1889, when he served as house chairman of the joint standing committee on claims. At the November election in 1890 he was elected to the state senate from the eighteenth district, and was with the minority in that body during the peculiar proceedings which characterized the remarkable session of 1891. He has been engaged in local politics for many years and chairman of the repub- lican town committee for the past thirteen years. He is a member and past commander of L. W. Steele Post, G. A. R., of Torrington; also belongs to the orders of Royal Arcanum and Knights of Honor, in which last-named order he is grand assistant dictator. In his religious faith and con- nections Mr. Dains is a Congregationalist.
HON. SAMUEL E. MERWIN, NEW HAVEN : Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut.
Samuel E. Merwin was born in the town of Brookfield, Fairfield county, Conn., August 31, 1831. His education was that afforded by the dis- trict school of that day, supplemented by a year's instruction in a school of higher grade in the adjoin- ing town of Newtown. In his sixteenth year he removed to New Haven with his father, where he spent one year in school before beginning his busi- ness life. After serving as clerk for two or three years he associated him- self with his father, whose S. E. MERWIN. name he bears, under the firm name of S. E. Merwin & Son, and continued in this relation until 1889. Outside of his very active and successful business life General Merwin has been identified with a variety of important pub- lic and private trusts. For two years he served his city as commissioner of police, and for nine years was an active and efficient member of the board of education. In 1872 he represented the fourth senatorial district in the legislature, being elected by a majority of 500 in a district heavily democratic. He has also been a candidate of the republicans for mayor of his city, and member of congress from the second district, his great popu- larity in both cases nearly resulting in overcoming large democratic majorities. His great admiration and friendship for the soldiers led to his appoint- ment as chairman of the committee to build the soldiers' monument erected by the town of New
Haven, and it is largely due to his untiring zeal and energy that a most beautiful tribute has been dedicated to their memory.
General Merwin is at present the president of the Connecticut Hospital Society, trustee of the Orphan Asylum, and president of the New Haven Savings Bank - the largest savings institution in New Haven. The various positions show the esteem in which he is held by his associates, and show also his charitable nature, as they are all a drain upon his time and pocket, without any pecuniary compensation. He is almost daily the counsellor and advisor of widows and orphans, and has been called frequently during the past twenty years by the business men of his city to settle various estates, including those of insurance companies, banks, manufacturers, and merchants; and in these important trusts, often complicated, he has ever won the esteem and thanks of the creditors for faithful and energetic settlements.
In military circles General Merwin has been more conspicuous even than in civil life. During the war he was in command of the New Haven Grays, sub- sequently he became lieutenant-colonel and colonel of the second regiment, and later was adjutant- general under Governor Jewell for three years. Probably no man in Connecticut, not in actual ser- vice, was more efficient during the civil war than General Merwin. In response to a call from Gov- ernor Buckingham, the Grays under his command volunteered to go to Gettysburg. During the draft riots in New York his company remained under arms for thirty days, in hourly expectation of being called upon to aid in averting that appal- ling danger. Guarding conscripts, burying with appropriate honors many officers and soldiers who had fallen in battle or died in hospitals, and receiv- ing with proper military display the returning vet- erans of the war, became a part of his official duties while in command of the regiment. His last military service was to direct in the capture of a party of prize fighters and their associates at Charles Island opposite Milford. By his judicious management the whole party were taken to New Haven and turned over to the civil authorities. The prompt and efficient action at that time has since saved our state from scenes of such brutal char- acter.
General Merwin was chosen lieutenant-governor of Connecticut for two years, on the state ticket with Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley at its head, by the legislature of 1889. In the fall of 1890 lie was nominated by the republicans for governor, but failed of an election by the people at the polls in November. On the assembling of the legislature in January, IS91, a series of entanglements arose and no legal election or inauguration of state offi- cers was accomplished by that body -except in
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the case of the comptroller, who was declared to have been elected by the people. Lieut .- Governor Merwin is therefore, at the present writing, acting lieutenant-governor of the commonwealth, and, under the constitution will remain such until his successor shall be duly chosen and qualified.
General Merwin's name, in all the various walks of life, whether civil or military, public or private, has been synonymous with honor, integrity, and energy. He has done his duty at all times to the satisfaction of his fellow-citizens.
CHAUNCEY G. JOHNSON, MERIDEN: Real Es- tate.
Chauncey G. Johnson, who is engaged in the real estate business in Meriden, with a large and successful patronage, was born at Johnstown, Ohio, Aug. 15, 1845, and at four years of age removed with his parents to Durham, Conn., where he was ed- ucated in the common schools. Both of his pa- rents died before he was thirteen years of age. In 1861 at the age of sixteen he removed from Durham to Meriden and has grown up with the city, being identified with its best C. G. JOHNSON. interests. He is an ac- tive member of the Con- gregational church and the Young Men's Christian Association. In 1884 he commenced the building up of a successful fire insurance business, but in 1889 disposed of his interest to the Meriden Fire In- surance Co. Since then he has devoted his time entirely to real estate interests. During the win- ter of 1888 he took a three months' trip through the principal cities of the south and to California, and on the return trip visited the principal western cities with a view of gaining a thorough knowledge of real estate. Flattering offers were made him while in California and also in Denver to locate there in real estate interests, but having built up a successful business in Meriden he concluded to re- main there where he was well known and possessed the confidence and patronage of the people. He also has the management of several large estates, giving his personal attention to the business in all its details. Mr. Johnson is a republican in poli- tics. He was one of the first letter carriers in Meriden. He is connected with a number of clubs and associations and is a popular gentleman. His wife, who was Miss Lucy M. Lee prior to her mar- riage, died in October, 1889. Only one daughter remains in the family.
SAMUEL SIMPSON, WALLINGFORD : President the Simpson, Hall & Miller Company, and the Simpson Nickel Silver Company.
Samuel Simpson, one of the best-known manu- facturers in the state, was born in Wallingford, April 7, 1814, and received a thorough common- school education. In Jan- uary, 1835, he engaged in the manufacturing busi- ness, and has since con- tinued in that line of ac- tivity, building up an ex- tensive industry in. bri- tannia, nickel, silver, and electro silver-plated ware. He is the president of the Simpson, Hall & Miller Company, and of the Simpson Nickel Silver Company. He is also the president of the National SAMUEL SIMPSON. and Savings banks, occupying this position in each since its establishment. Mr. Simpson is a promi- nent democrat and has held important positions within the gift of his party. In 1880 he was a dele- gate to the national democratic convention at Cin- cinnati, and has represented the town of Walling- ford in the legislature during the sessions of 1846, 1859, 1865, and 1879. He has been the nominee of his party on various occasions for the state senate, and has held the offices of justice of the peace, selectman, assessor, member of the board of relief, and warden of the borough. When he first ran for state senator, he was on the ticket with Samuel Ingraham for governor, and Samuel Arnold for con- gress. As the New Haven Register of that day expressed it: " We have three Sams on our ticket." Only one Sam, however, was elected - Arnold of Haddam. In the legislature Mr. Simpson exer- cised a wide influence and was invariably instru- mental in promoting the best interests of the state. His business interests and associations have ex- tended beyond Wallingford. From 1840 until 1850 he was engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York city under the firm name of Simpson & Benham, his place of business being on Pearl street. He was one of the original stockholders of the First National Bank in Meriden in 1863, subscribing to one-tenth of the stock. He has been a director since the organization of the bank, Joel H. Guy being the president. Mr. Simpson married Miss Martha DeEtte Benham of Cheshire, July 6, 1835. She is still living. Of a family of six children only one survives. Mr. Simpson is a member of St. Paul's church in Wallingford, and holds the office of senior warden, having been the incumbent of the position since 1857. He began his career as a citi- zen of the state by sustaining the administration of
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