USA > Connecticut > Men of mark in Connecticut; ideals of American life told in biographies and autobiographies of eminent living Americans > Part 24
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It was at the beginning of the second term of the academic year 1869-70, that Yale claimed him for her own. He came humbly, as a tutor in English in the Sheffield Scientific School. One year later he was advanced to the full professorship, the position he still holds, together with that of librarian of the school-the beloved dean of the Yale literary teachers, an authority throughout the land. And when we say "authority," we mean it in its broadest, most popular sense, an authority whom the masses can laud. For it is he who has had the courage to stand up and say, against the "Six Oracles": "Until the time comes when our language approaches the phonetic excellence of the Italian, Spanish, or German, no small share of our time will be spent in the profitable and exciting occupation of con- sulting dictionaries, or the equally profitable and exciting discussion of the pronunciation of particular words and in airing our opinions and delivering our decisions upon points about which one thoroughly educated man is as good an authority as another and nobody is an authority at all."
The professor has given his time to his pupils and to the friends who revel in his companionship, lecturing abroad now and then, contributing occasional essays to the periodicals and publishing a few books, but books that will live. The first of these books was an edition of Chaucer's "Parlement of Foules," followed by his "His- tory of the English Language," a precious guide to students, published in 1879, with a revised edition in 1894. In 1882, after long research, he published, in the American Men of Letters series, "The Life of
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James Fenimore Cooper," which is almost as fascinating as one of the "Leather Stocking Tales." Then came his "Studies in Chaucer," in three volumes, most helpful in the class room and in the library. In 1901 and 1903 respectively, he gave us "Shakespeare as a Dramatist" and "Shakespeare and Voltaire," in a series entitled "Shakespearean Wars," and there is now in the press the third volume of this series, entitled "The Text of Shakespeare," "The Standard of Pronunciation in English" appeared in 1904, to be variously received by staid critics and to be applauded by the people more and more as the days go by. His latest work is an appreciative sketch of the life of his warm friend and earnest admirer, Charles Dudley Warner, which introduces the new and complete edition of Mr. Warner's works. There was much in common-some things in particular-between these two stalwarts of Connecticut, and one of the things in particular was their love of strong, vigorous English, not hidebound, clear, graceful, refreshing, and illuminating. Rules could confine neither; their goal was the intellect of the reader, and they never failed to reach it, each in his own untrammeled way. Another thing in particular was their love of archaeology, for archæe- ology's sake, without pedantry. The homes of both of them were rich in the trophies of their researches, and many of Mr. Warner's hap- piest days were those when Professor Lounsbury was with him at his Hartford residence, looking over and talking over his collections. Both, too, had deep veins of humor, so that their conversation would keep a listener bubbling over with merriment. They appeared like "boys together" and undoubtedly appearances did not belie them. It was eminently fitting that the professor should be chosen Mr. Warner's literary executor.
Official recognition of the professor's genius was given by Yale in 1892, when his Alma Mater awarded him the degree of LL.D. Harvard conferred like honor the following year. Lafayette College gave the degree of L.H.D. in 1895, which example was followed by Princeton in 1896.
When the professor went to Boston in 1905 for a course of lec- tures on "The Transition Period in English Literature from the Georgian Era to the Elizabethan," at Lowell Institute, the literary editor of the Boston Transcript, in the course of a long, analytical article said: "He is a big, broad-gauged man, marked by absence
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of cant and petty pedantry." Burton J. Hendricks in the Critic says of him: "The intellectual world knows Professor Lounsbury as one of the rarest scholars of this generation; as a man who has under- stood the mother tongue and its history, and who has written upon it with a clearness and a pungency in every way worthy of the subject. The professor, also like his author (Chaucer), has a keen sense of controversy. It is owing to this that his learning is a great delight to him, for it enables him to shatter more than one far-fetched theory and to prick no end of cheap pedantic bubbles."
As might be concluded from these comments, the professor is, above all, a man. He commands the love as well as the reverence of his pupils as no mere scholar could. He leads in the study of the ancient, always remaining young himself. If anyone would question whether his years lie lightly upon him, he has only to meet him on the tennis court and learn there quickly that "cut serve," "Lawford stroke," and the like stand high in his splendid vocabulary.
SAMUEL HART
H ART, SAMUEL, D.D., D.C.L., vice-dean and professor of doetrinal theology and prayer book at Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Connecticut, secretary of the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church, historiographer of that Church, registrar of the Diocese of Connecticut, president of the Connecticut Historical Society, and one of the most able and prominent clergy- men, authors, scholars, and teachers of the day, was born in Say- brook, Middlesex County, Connecticut, on June 4th, 1845. He is descended from Stephen Hart who came from England to Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, about 1635 and later settled in Hartford and Farmington. Dr. Hart's ancestry also numbers such distinguished names as Captain Thomas Hart, Lieutenant William Pratt, John Clark, Anthony Hawkins, Giles Hamlin, Richard Seymour, all of Connecticut, and Gen. Robert Sedgwick, Gov. John Leverett, - Francis Willoughby, and Simon Lynde, of Massachusetts. Dr. Hart's father was Henry Hart, a farmer and bank cashier, who was justice of peace and judge of probate, and his mother was Mary A. (Witter) Hart, from whom he received the best kind of influence.
Spending his youth on a farm in a country village the boy, Samuel Hart, had plenty of work to do, helping his father on the farm, and plenty of satisfaction for the physical ambition of a strong constitution. He read eagerly and extensively, at first preferring books of travel, then showing an interest in mathematics, and still later pursuing broad and general courses of reading. His college pre- paratory work was done at the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire and was followed by a course at Trinity College leading to the B.A. degree which he received there in 1865. The ministry was his self-chosen vocation and upon the completion of his academic course he entered Berkeley Divinity School in Middletown, where he was graduated in 1869, receiving the same year his Master's degree at Trinity. During the last year of his course at Berkeley he was a tutor in Trinity Col- lege. He became a deacon in 1869 and was ordained priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1870.
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Soon after his ordination Dr. Hart became assistant professor of mathematics at Trinity and three years later, in 1873, he became professor of that subject. From 1883 to 1899 he was professor of Latin at Trinity, resigning his chair in 1899 to become vice-dean and professor of theology at Berkeley Divinity School. Meanwhile, in 1885, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity and the degree of Doctor of Canon Law in 1899. Still later, in 1902, Yale conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D. From 1873 to 1888 Dr. Hart was secretary of the American Philological Associa- tion and he was president of that association in 1892-3. Since 1900 he has been president of the Connecticut Historical Society; from 1894 to 1896 he was president of the Connecticut Library Association, and he has been senator of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity since 1892. His offices in the Episcopal Church have been as numerous and distinguished as his scholarly offices. Since 1874 he has been regis- trar of the Diocese of Connecticut, since 1886 he has been custodian of the Standard Prayer Book of the Protestant Episcopal Church, since 1892 he has been secretary of the House of Bishops, and since 1898 he has been historiographer of the Church. Among the societies of which Doctor Hart is a member are the American Oriental Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, the American Historical Asso- ciation, the New Haven Historical Society, the Society of Colonial Wars, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Psi Upsilon college fraternity.
Doctor Hart's writings are as distinguished as his more active services to the intellectual and religious world. In 1873 he was the editor of "Satires of Juvenal" and in 1875 of the "Satires of Persius," and at about the same time he published "Bishop Seabury's Com- mnnion Office, With Notes." "Maclear's Manual for Confirmation and Holy Communion" was brought out under his editorship in 1895 and the "History of the American Prayer Book" in Frere's Proctor in 1901. He is also the compiler of "Short Daily Prayers for Families," published in 1902, and he has been a frequent and eminent contributor to many of the best magazines. In all his works, whether lecture, commentary, sermon, spcech, criticism, or devotional litera- ture, Doctor Hart shows himself a keen and brilliant thinker, a care- ful, graceful writer, an ardent and consistent Churchman, a sound theologian, a thorough scholar, a devout Christian, and a leader and teacher of men.
WALTER CAMP
C AMP, WALTER, president of the New Haven Clock Company, one of the largest of Connecticut's manufacturing plants, is also well known to college men and others as one of Yale's best athletic coaches and writers, and as a man who is as true an exponent of the Yale spirit and sportsmanship as of the literary culture of that university. Nicholas Camp of Nansing, Essex County, England, came over with Saltonstall in 1630 and settled at Watertown, Mas- sachusetts. After some four generations the family settled at Durham, Connecticut, where Leverett Lee Camp, father of Walter, was born. Mr. Walter Camp was born in New Britain, Hartford County, Con- necticut, April 7th, 1859, the son of Ellen Cornwell and Leverett Lee Camp, a teacher and publisher, and a man of rare generosity, tact, and sympathy, and above all gifted with great ability in imparting knowledge to others. Among Mr. Camp's earlier ancestors were Theophilus Eaton, an early governor of New Haven Colony, and William Camp and Charles Cornwell, who took part in the Civil War.
The boy, Walter Camp, was a lean, wiry, and enduring youth devoted to reading and athletics. As a child he read voraciously every available book, and as a college man he read with equal zest and became familiar with the best literature. Books relating to wars had a special charm for him in his boyhood days. He lived in the country until he was old enough to be sent away to school, when he attended the Hopkins Grammar School and prepared for Yale Col- lege. Entering without conditions he made the first division and secured both junior and senior appointments. He took his A.B. degree in 1880 and then entered the Yale Medical School, but after passing all but two subjects for a doctor's degree went into business, owing to the death of the surgeon with whom he had intended beginning his professional career. The desire to more quickly earn his own living determined this step and he entered the factory of the Manhattan Watch Company of Monroe Street, New York. From this he entered the New York offices of the New Haven Clock Company and steadily advanced through the selling end to the
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export department and thence to a position as assistant treasurer at New Haven. Upon the death of the president he was chosen presi- dent and treasurer.
The strong literary influence of his home life and his keen and active interest in athletics in school and college became naturally the dominant forces in Mr. Camp's career, and a harmony of these interests has resulted in his widely read literature on athletic sub- jects. Mr. Camp's books are valuable not only for their accurate technical knowledge that makes the sports intelligible to outsiders, and gives to athletics the authentic instructions of a successful coach, but they are also valuable because they instill principles of fair play, pluck, and honest persistence. Mr. Camp has also collaborated with others. The best known of Mr. Camp's individual works are his "Book of College Sports," "American Football," "Football Facts and Figures," and his articles written in his editorial capacity in Collier's, the Century, Outing, Library for Young People, the Yale Magazine, and many other periodicals to which he has been a con- stant and popular contributor. Of the books written in collaboration the widest read are "Yale, Her Campus and Athletics," "Drives and Puts," and "Football."
Aside from his work as Yale's athletic adviser, and as an author, Mr. Camp is prominently identified with the manufacturing interests of the New Haven Clock Company, being president, treasurer, and general manager. He is also a director in Peck Brothers, manufac- turers of brass goods. He is a member of the Yale University Council, secretary and treasurer of Hopkins Grammar School, and sports editor of several leading magazines.
Fraternally Mr. Camp is a member of D.K.E., Skull and Bones, the University Club of New York, the Graduates Club, the New Haven Country Club, and the Pine Orchard Country Club. In politics he is a Republican, in religion an Episcopalian. Mr. Camp was married, June 30th, 1888, to Alice Graham Sumner, sister of Prof. William Graham Sumner, and has two children: Walter Camp, Jr., born February 12th, 1891, and Janet Camp, born July 26th, 1897.
Mr. Camp says : "The best traits for a young man to cultivate are fairness and pertinacity." By fairness he means the "strictest honesty, integrity, and toleration," and by pertinacity he means the "consistent following up of whatever one undertakes."
ROYAL M. BASSETT
B ASSETT, ROYAL M. of Derby, former State senator and prominent in the Connecticut business world, was born in Derby, on October 22nd, 1828, and died there May 25th, 1905. He was a member of the Bassett family which has long been influ- ential in southern Connecticut and which traces its lineage back two hundred and fifty years to John Bassett of England, who came to New Haven about 1643, where he held the office of "town drummer." Several generations of Bassetts have been born in Derby, where they were prominently associated with the growth of the city. Mr. Bas- sett's father, Sheldon Bassett, held the office of town clerk and was a prominent Odd Fellow, having held the highest office in the State within the gift of that fraternity, and organized its first lodge in Derby. His mother was a niece of Commodore Isaac Hull.
Young Mr. Bassett was the second of his father's seven children. After attending the public schools of his city he spent one year at the Brainard Academy at Haddam and two years at the Stiles and Truman Academy at New Haven. His father destined him for business pursuits and time has demonstrated the soundness of the paternal judgment. From youth and through his long career Mr. Bassett manifested commercial genius. He began his business career as secretary of the Birmingham Iron Foundry and on the death of his father he became its president. He had in addition extensive business interests in various parts of the country. He was one of the incor- porators of the Housatonic Water Company and of the Derby Gas Company. With business foresight of the wants of the Pacific rail- ways he built and operated large rolling mills at Laramie, Wyoming, and at Topeka, Kansas. He was connected with several railroad enterprises in the West and at one time he was president of the Utah Northern Railroad. From 1870 he was a director of the Naugatuck Railroad Company.
Mr. Bassett's political affiliation was with the Democratic party. In 1876 he was a State senator from the fifth district, and was for
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three years warden of the borough of Birmingham. He was interested in the cause of popular education and was for twenty years chairman of the Derby school board. He was a Freemason and a member of King Hiram Lodge of Derby.
In 1858 Mr. Bassett married Frances J. Stratton, who died in 1876. Of his three children only one, a son, Sheldon H. Bassett of St. Louis, is now living. The son has inherited the father's ability and by striet attention to business has built up a reputation of which his family is justly proud.
The story of Mr. Bassett's life shows how, after receiving from his father a thorough education and a good start in business, he continued and increased the prosperity of his family and of those connected with him in business. His long career was one of constant success. Those who knew him best declare that Mr. Bassett was a public spirited citizen, a devoted father, a true friend, and an upright man.
CHARLES ETHAN BILLINGS
B ILLINGS, CHARLES ETHAN, a prominent manufacturer and inventor of Hartford, Connecticut, was born in Weathers- field, Windsor County, Vermont, December 5th, 1835. He is the son of Ethan Ferdinand Billings and Clarissa Marsh. The family originally came from England. Mr. Billings' first known ancestor was Richard Billings, who was granted six acres of land in the division of the river in 1640, at Hartford. He signed a contract with Governor Webster to settle Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1659, where he resided till his death. His only son, Samuel, lived in that part of Hadley called Hatfield, and died in 1678, leaving a son also called Samuel, who left four sons, all born in Hatfield. The last of these, Joseph Billings, born in 1700, was reported in the "His- tory of Northfield, Massachusetts," as a member of a company organ- ized to fight the Indians. He died in 1783, leaving a son, Joseph Bill- ings, Jr., who, with his uncles and other men to the number of seventy, petitioned Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire for a grant of land. In 1763, these men were granted, under George III., a royal charter of some 23,000 acres of land on Lake Champlain, to be incorporated into the town of Swanton. Rufus Billings, son of this Joseph Billings, Jr., was the grandfather of Charles E. Billings, and his son, Ethan Ferdinand Billings, already mentioned as Mr. Billings' father, was born in Windsor, Vermont, in 1807, and died in 1848.
During boyhood Mr. Billings helped his father at his trade-that of a blacksmith-and attended the common schools of Windsor. It was his ambition to become a mechanical engineer, and he read all the books possible on that subject. The example of his mother was espe- cially strong on his character. The active work of his career com- menced when, as a very young man, he entered the factory of the Rob- bins & Lawrence Company of Windsor, Vermont. Here he remained, serving an apprenticeship of three years, and working as a journeyman for one year longer. From 1856 to 1861 he was employed as a die- sinker and tool maker at Colt's Armory, and from 1861 to 1865 as a
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contractor on army revolvers with E. Remington & Sons, Utica, New York.
At the close of the Civil War he returned to Hartford, and was superintendent of the Weed Sewing Machine Company from 1865 to 1868. In 1869, with Mr. C. M. Spencer, he organized the Billings & Spencer Company of Hartford, making a specialty of drop forgings, which art (for an art it certainly is) was then in its infancy, and has, through the energy and ability of Mr. Billings, been brought to its present high standing. The company is the leading concern of the kind in the United States, and its products are sold and favorably known all over the world. At the time the company was organized the process of drop forging was crude, and the products imperfect and unsatisfactory, and within narrow limits. Mr. Billings made many improvements and secured valuable patents on drop hammers, and at the present time the company has seventy-five drops in operation, and is turning out forgings so perfect that many of them require no fur- ther finishing. Forgings weighing from a fraction of an ounce to over one hundred pounds are made with equal precision and facility. Over three hundred men are employed at their shops located on Broad, Lawrence, and Russ Streets, Hartford. Mr. Billings also has a large farm and a summer residence at Dividend, Connecticut, and a fine water power, with shops for the manufacture of hammers and other tools. He has taken out a number of important patents, among them commutator bars for dynamo-electric machines, breech-loading firearm, drill chuck, shuttles for sewing machine, expanding bit, ratchet drill, wrenches, hand vise, knurling tool, sewing machines, and many others.
Mr. Billings is well known in Masonic circles, having attained the 33rd degree, and is past grand commander of the Knights Tem- plar, a member of the American Protective Tariff League of New York, of the Home Market Club of Boston, and the Hartford Club. On October 2nd, 1895, he was elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and is now "Honorary Member in per- petuity," and a member of the "Honorable Council" of that society. In politics Mr. Billings is a Republican, having voted that ticket without change since his majority. He has served the city as council- man, and was alderman of the third ward for four years, and president of the fire commissioners for twelve years, always working for the best
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interests of the city. He finds his recreation out of doors in hunting and fishing and is a most enthusiastic sportsman.
Mr. Billings was married to Frances M. Heywood of Windsor, Vermont, January 5th, 1857. She died in 1872. They had three chil- dren : Charles H., Fred C., and Harry E., only one of whom, Fred C., is living, and he is vice-president and superintendent of the Billings & Spencer Company. On September 9th, 1874, Mr. Billings married his present wife, who was Miss Evelina C. Holt of Hartford. They have two children : Mary E., wife of Wm. B. Green of New York, and Lucius H. of Hartford. A gentleman of genial disposition, chari- table and honorable, Mr. Billings is honored and esteemed by his fellow citizens in the city where he has so deservedly prospered, and in which he occupies so high a position.
WATSON JOHN MILLER
M ILLER, COL. WATSON JOHN, president of the Derby Sil- ver Company and prominent in the military, political, and financial affairs of his state, was born in Middletown, Con- necticut, November 23rd, 1849. His father was Watrous Ives Miller, a farmer and manufacturer, and a man endowed with all the qualities that make a successful business man. Through his father Colonel Miller is descended from Thomas Miller, who came from England to America in 1630, and from Governor Benjamin Miller. Lieutenant Ichabod Miller is another of his paternal ancestors. Colonel Miller's inother was Lucretia Prout Miller and on her side he is descended from Timothy Prout, who came from England to Boston in 1640, and from Gen. Joseph Spencer, Major General of the Connecticut troops.
Passing his youth partly in the country and partly in the city, Colonel Miller had opportunity to develop the many interests that were his as a boy. He showed especial fondness for books, inventions, and all athletic sports. He spent a good deal of the time, outside of school hours, at work on the farm, and values the lessons of industry and the foundation of health which this work gave, beyond any other early influences upon his life. He read a great deal and in such a broad and general way that no favorite authors were cultivated, but he has always found ready reference histories and topical reading most helpful. He was educated at the Middletown High School, the Chase Institute, and the New Haven Business College, after which his father gave him the choice of an academic course at Yale or an opening in business and he chose the latter, beginning his work in Middletown in March, 1868, in the silver-plated ware business. . In 1874 he went to New York where he was connected with the Webster Manufacturing Company for five years, at the expiration of which he was made secretary and treasurer and general manager of the Derby Silver Company, then being reorganized. He has since become president and general manager of the company with the entire control of the business. In connection with the silver ware
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business he has invented many designs and mechanical devices which he has had patented from time to time. He is also president of the South End Land Company, president of the Shelton Building and Loan Association, president of the Shelton Savings Bank and of the Riverside Cemetery Association. He is a director in the Derby Building and Lumber Company, the Home Trust Company, the Derby and Shelton Board of Trade, in the organization of which he was one of the chief promoters, in the Shelton Public Library, in the Birmingham National Bank, and in the International Silver Company and has extensive real estate interests in Shelton.
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