USA > Connecticut > Men of mark in Connecticut; ideals of American life told in biographies and autobiographies of eminent living Americans > Part 25
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Notwithstanding his extensive business interests Colonel Miller has rendered many public services, military and political. He was aide-de-camp on Governor Coffin's staff and on Governor McLean's staff and quartermaster general on Governor Chamberlain's staff. In politics he is a Republican and is now serving in the state legisla- ture, being elected from the town of Huntington in 1904 for 1905 and 1906. He is deeply interested in the social problems of the day and has been particularly zealous in promoting a savings system for laboring men and in bringing about their uplift and welfare in many ways.
Colonel Miller has been as active in church work and in fra- ternal orders as he has in business and public service. He is a member of the Episcopal Church and a vestryman in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Shelton. His fraternal connections are with Hiram Lodge No. 12 F. and A. M., Derby; the New Haven Com- mandery No. 2; the Lafayette Consistory S. P. of R. S., of Bridge- port, Connecticut; Pyramid Temple A. A. O. M. S., Bridgeport, Connecticut ; Derby Lodge No. 571, and the order of Elks. He is an ardent devotee of exercise and physical culture, walking from five to eight miles a day, and riding horseback whenever possible. In October, 1874, Colonel Miller was married to Susie Jane Waite, of Chicopee, Massachusetts. They have had no children.
There are three things which Colonel Miller advocates for those who would succeed in life and he gives them in the order of their rela- tive importance from his point of view : "Absolute integrity, good judg- ment, and perseverance," and he adds, "a high standard of education, provided it does not make a man feel above the requirements of business no matter what they may be so long as they are honest."
JOHN ROBERT MONTGOMERY
M ONTGOMERY, JOHN ROBERT, was born in Great Barring- ton, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, February 24th, 1845. The family is of Scotch origin, the American branch of it being founded at Salisbury, Connecticut, early in the history of this country. His father, John Milton Montgomery, was a farmer, and later a railroad man.
He attended, whenever possible, the district schools of the county, and later the Drury Academy at North Adams, Massachusetts.
At the age of sixteen Mr. Montgomery began the active work of life as an operative in a cotton mill at Great Barrington. Six years later his ability and faithfulness made him superintendent of this mill; and in four more years he was proprietor of a cotton mill at Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Since 1890 Mr. Montgomery has been president of the J. R. Montgomery Cotton Manufacturing Company of Windsor Locks. He is respected by his fellow citizens for his integrity and fidelity. He believes that "the way for a young man to succeed is by having some definite object in life and sticking to it."
Mr. Montgomery is a Republican and has never voted any other ticket. He finds his recreation in out-of-door exercises and in reading, caring most for the books of fiction and poetry. He has been married twice, the first time on May 28th, 1867, to L. Maria Holden, and the second, on September 23rd, 1880, to Frances Wills Meeks. Four children have been born to him, none of whom are living.
WILLIAM HENRY CHAPMAN
C HAPMAN, WILLIAM HENRY, was born April 8th, 1819, in East Haddam, Middlesex County, Connecticut, a little town that has produced several other distinguished men. He traces his ancestry from Robert Chapman, a native of Hull, England, who emigrated to America in 1635, and was one of the first settlers of Saybrook, Connecticut, and prominent in the subsequent affairs of that colony. Another ancestor, Sir John Chapman, was at one time Lord Mayor of London.
Mr. Chapman's father was Daniel Shailer Chapman, a manufac- turer and farmer, a man conspicuous for his integrity, sobriety, and industry, the last quality being especially admirable because he suf- fered great disadvantage from the amputation of a limb. He married Ann Palmer, a woman who was remarkable for her calmness and dignity, and for the firmness of her religious convictions. She ruled her household by love, and it is the influence of her splendid character that Mr. Chapman considers more lasting and important than all the other influences of his early life combined.
Like many of Connecticut's ablest sons, Mr. Chapman spent his youth in the country. As a boy be was normally healthy, but not vigorous. He was passionately fond of reading and inclined to seek seclusion to gratify this taste. The favorite book of his youth was "Good's Book of Nature." From the biographies of men of business, he gained the greatest help for his own needs and problems. He keenly enjoyed all historical literature. He received his education at the public and private schools of his native town and at the Bacon Academy, Colchester, Connecticut.
In 1837 Mr. Chapman began his carcer as a business man, as clerk in a dry goods store in New London. His own preference dictated a mercantile career, and the approval of his parents rested upon his choice. He continued in the dry goods business in New Lon- don for eighteen years. Since then he has filled many important offices. For thirty-five years, from 1858, Mr. Chapman was president of the
MMH. (Papman)
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Union Bank of New London (chartered 1792), and for thirty-eight years, from 1866, he has been president of the Savings Bank of New London, and is still in office. During the Civil War he was town treas- urer of New London. For three years he was president of the school board of that city. Since 1875 he has been a deacon in the Second Congregational Church of New London. He has been treasurer of many organizations. For nine years he was a director of the Mission- ary Society of Connecticut. Mr. Chapman has always been identified with the Republican party in politics. He is an active member of the Congregational Church.
In September, 1843, Mr. Chapman was married to Sarah W. Hutchins of East Haddam. She died in June, 1851, leaving one child, Mary S. Chapman, born April, 1846, who is now a member of his family. Mr. Chapman's second marriage was in September, 1856, to Ellen Tyler of East Haddam, who is now living; and, with the daughter above mentioned, contributes greatly to the comfort and happiness of Mr. Chapman in his advanced age.
Through his ecclesiastical, educational, and financial interests, Mr. Chapman has rendered threefold service to the city; not only in service, but in substantial generosity has he benefited New London. By a gift of two hundred thousand dollars he has founded the Manual Training and Industrial School of New London, an institution greatly needed, and one that will always be a great blessing and a practical benefit to the city.
At the ripe age of eighty-five, Mr. Chapman still fills capably several important positions in the business and ecclesiastical world. He is esteemed as an able banker, a good citizen, and a Christian gentleman. He has given to New London two most worthy and valu- able gifts : a splendid institution and the example of a noble character. In his life, "Young America" may study the value of a clean, simple, industrious life, a life of unselfish service and loyalty to "things that are good."
EDWIN KNOX MITCHELL
M ITCHELL, EDWIN KNOX, M.A., D.D., professor of Græco-Roman and Eastern Church History at the Hartford Theological Seminary, author, preacher, and educator, was born in Locke, Knox County, Ohio, December 23rd, 1853. His grandfather, Captain Sylvanus Mitchell, was a member of a colony organized in Granville, Massachusetts, which emigrated west and settled in Granville, Ohio. Captain Mitchell was an officer in the War of 1812 and was a descendant of Moses and Eleanor (Black) Mitchell who came from Glasgow, Scotland, and settled in Blandford, Massachusetts, in 1727. Edwin Mitchell is the son of Spencer Mitchell, a farmer and a man of marked integrity and good judg- ment, and of Harriet Newell (Howard) Mitchell, whom he calls "a woman of mark" and whose influence was the strongest and best exerted upon his life and character.
Vigorous, athletic, and studious, Edwin Mitchell made the most of every opportunity in his youth. He lived on his father's large farm and learned to do all kinds of farm work, to operate all kinds of agricultural machinery, and became familiar with the life, habits, and care of horses, cattle, sheep and poultry. The farm was two hundred and fifty acres in extent and at seventeen years of age he undertook its management. He was eager to learn and was especially interested in mathematics and history. He prepared for college while managing the farm by attending the country school and by private study at home. He entered Marietta College and was graduated with the B.A. degree in 1878 and received his M.A. degree at the same institution in 1881. He then entered Union Theological Seminary, New York, where he was graduated in 1884. This course was followed by two years of travel and study in Europe at the universities of Berlin, Giessen and Göttingen. He began work before completing his education by teaching Latin and mathematics in the Columbus, Ohio, High School from 1879-1881.
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In 1886, after his return from Europe, Mr. Mitchell became pastor of the Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine, Florida, and remained in that pastorate until 1890, when he again went abroad for further study at the University of Berlin, going later to Rome and the Orient. He returned to America and in 1892 was called to the chair of Græco-Roman and Eastern Church His- tory in the Hartford Theological Seminary and he still holds that chair. In 1896 he received the degree of D.D. from his Alma Mater, Marietta College. In 1894 he published his "Introduction to the Life and Character of Jesus Christ According to St. Paul." He has been a frequent contributor to magazines and to "World's Best Literature," and is also the author of "Creeds and Canons." He is a trustee of Marietta College, a member of the American Historical Society, the American Oriental Society, the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, the Hartford Archæological Society, the Connecticut His- torieal Society, the Religious Education Association, the Hartford Federation of Churches, the Municipal Art Society, the Hartford Club, the Hartford and Saratoga Golf Clubs, the Hartford Charity Organization Society, and the Twentieth Century Club, of which he was president in 1903-4. In political views he is a Republican. Golf is his favorite recreation and he is an enthusiastic and con- stant devotee of that game. In January, 1887, he married Hetty Marquand Enos of Brooklyn, New York, and three children, all now living, have been born of this marriage.
Edwin Knox Mitchell is a man of many active and fruitful interests, religious, public, educational, and charitable, as his mem- bership in so many and varied organizations shows. He has succeeded in many lines of work and is still so vigorous, enthusiastic, and am- bitious that greater things will undoubtedly come from his mind and pen. The secret of his manifold successes is revealed in his own words to others who would make their mark. He says: "Preserve physical vigor. Be not over-anxious about to-morrow. Do your work thoroughly and enthusiastically and promotion will come. Aim high, work hard, never be discouraged but always keep alert to new things. Gain and keep the confidence of a widening circle of friends. Be a Christian gentleman in all relations in life."
ARTHUR LOUIS GOODRICH
G OODRICH, GENERAL ARTHUR LOUIS, treasurer of the Hartford Courant, is a lineal descendant of John Goodrich who was born near Bury St. Edmunds, County Suffolk, Eng- land, and, coming to this country November 10th, 1643, was one of the early settlers of the historic old town of Wethersfield, Connecti- cut. His grandfather, Ichabod Goodrich, a leading farmer and citi- zen of Rocky Hill, Connecticut, served in the Revolutionary War and was in the Continental Army under Washington at the siege of Yorktown. His father was James Goodrich of Hartford, a car- penter by trade, and his mother was Jennette Goodrich, whose wise and gentle precepts had deep influence on her sons.
The general was born in Hartford, May 16th, 1849, and has always lived in the Capitol City. From his youth he has been strong, robust, cheerful, with a keen appreciation of the good things of life, yet faithful to the uttermost detail in business. Asked as to the special lines of reading which he found most helpful in fitting him for his work in life, he replied with characteristic humor: " 'Neces- sity' was the most helpful adjunct to several Sunday school libraries to which I had access."
He studied in the common schools of Hartford and at the Hart- ford Public High School. His choice was a business career, so he accepted an opening in the store of Lee, Sisson & Company, whole- sale druggists of Hartford, predecessors of the present firm of T. Sisson & Company. Soon he had an opportunity to go with the Hart- ford Courant Company, in the capacity of clerk in the business department. That was March 13th, 1871. Here he applied so faithfully what he believed should be the first principle of a young man ambitious to succeed-to do what he is given to do-that he won advancement, and when in 1892 the position of treasurer became vacant, he was chosen to fill it. That was fourteen years ago and the great success during this period, financially as well as otherwise, of this the oldest newspaper by continuous publication in America,
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ig due in no small measure to his zeal and fidelity and to his skill in business management. He, Charles Hopkins Clark, and Frank S. Carey comprise the officers of the company since the deaths of his brother, William H. Goodrich, Charles Dudley Warner, and Senator Joseph R. Hawley. In addition, the general is auditor of the Dime Savings Bank of Hartford.
He began his career in the Connecticut National Guard as a private in Battery D, Light Artillery, First Infantry, in 1866, the year after the reorganization of the enrolled militia. In 1875 he was appointed sergeant major of the First Infantry, and captain and adju- tant November 21st, 1876. He was chosen major June 26th, 1878, after having been out of the service only three weeks. This position he held until December 2nd, 1882, when he resigned, but only to be called back again on December 13th. Two years later, on November 20th, 1884, he was appointed lieutenant colonel. His zeal and enthusiasm did much for the regiment. When Henry B. Harrison was chosen governor in 1885, he appointed Lieutenant colonel Good- rich quartermaster general on his staff. At the end of the governor's term, in 1887, the general went on the retired list. Since then his advice has often been sought in matters of military legislation and in regimental and brigade affairs. For four years he was a member of the State Arsenal and Armory Commission.
He holds membership in the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, in the Connecticut Historical Society, in the Lounsbury Staff Association, and in the Governor's Staff Asso- ciation of Connecticut and is historian of the last named organization. He is a staunch Republican in politics, but never has aspired to elective office. A Congregationalist by creed, he is a member of the First Church of Christ in Hartford-the "Center" Church-and also is a member of the Congregational Club of Connecticut.
He married Miss Emma C. Root of Westfield, Massachusetts, on September 11th, 1871. They have a most charming and hospitable home at No. 75 Farmington Avenue.
JAMES SAMUEL ELTON
E LTON, JAMES SAMUEL, manufacturer and banker of Water- bury, Connecticut, who was born there November 7th, 1838, is the son of John Prince Elton, a man as well known for his prominence in the industrial and banking affairs of his generation as his son is in the same affairs of to-day. John Prince Elton was organizer and president of the Waterbury Brass Company, the Water- bury Bank and many other enterprises, incorporator of the Plank Road Company, and several times a member of the General Assembly. He was a man of generous sympathies, great cordiality, active public spirit, and a zealous churchman. His father, Dr. Samuel Elton, Mr. James S. Elton's grandfather, was a physician in Watertown for over sixty years. Tracing the Elton genealogy still further we come to John Elton, who came from Bristol, England, and was one of the early settlers of Middletown, Connecticut. Mr. Elton's mother was Olive Margaret Hall Elton and her moral and spiritual influence was one of the strongest ever brought to bear upon his character.
Delicate health and lack of application combined to keep James S. Elton from being a thorough student in his youth, and his education, consisting of courses at Everest's school at Hamden and Russell's Military Academy at New Haven, terminated when he was sixteen years old. After leaving school he took the first position open to him, which was in the packing department of the American Pin Company in Waterbury. After a brief apprenticeship in that com- pany he became connected with the Waterbury Brass Company, of which his father was president. His father's death in 1864 im- pressed him with the serious importance of following a business career, and he began to strive, as his father had striven, to win success in business. His rise was rapid and in 1874 he became presi- dent of the Waterbury Brass Company, and still holds that office and the great responsibility it entails.
As president of the Waterbury National Bank Mr. Elton has taken an interest in banking second only to his interest in manu-
James J . Eltor.
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facturing. He is also a director in the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, in the American Brass Company, the Coe Brass Manufacturing Company, the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company, the New England Watch Company, the Oakville Company, and in the St. Margaret's Diocesan School. He is a very generous and active member of the Episcopal Church, and in his church life as well as in business he follows his father's example in letter and spirit. He is an officer in St. John's Church and the managing trustee of the Hall "Church Home" fund and a benevolent and sym- pathetic helper of all good causes. He is a director of the Water- bury Hospital and the Silas Bronson Library in addition to his other positions. In politics he is a Republican, and served his party as State senator in 1882-1883.
Socially Mr. Elton is a member of the Waterbury Club, of which he was made president in 1893 and served two years. He has no fraternal or Masonic ties. His most enjoyable out-of-door recreation is driving. In 1863, at the beginning of his business career, Mr. Elton married Charlotte Augusta Steele, who died in 1899. One son, John Prince, survives her and he is now treasurer of the American Brass Company, the Waterbury Brass Company, and an alumnus of Trinity College, also ex-mayor of Waterbury.
Although Mr. Elton modestly says that his life has been too uneventful to attract attention, his career has been full of achieve- ment, and his conduct as a business man, as a citizen, and as a Christian is a fruitful example to others. Though he admits that there have been no definite failures in his life he feels that he has not accomplished as much as he ought to have done. He says with wisdom born of experience: "Spend no time seeking positions. Let the office seek you. All I ever had came to me unsought." But when he adds, "and some of them have been poorly filled." he meets with a contradiction as hearty as it is general, for he holds many important positions with recognized capability and merit.
FRANK LEWIS BIGELOW
B IGELOW, FRANK LEWIS, president of The Bigelow Com- pany of New Haven, Connecticut, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, September 21st, 1862. His father, Hobart B. Bigelow, born in North Haven, Connecticut, May 16th, 1834, died in New Haven, Connecticut, October 12th, 1891, was instructed in the public schools and the academy of his native town and in 1851 removed to New Haven where he was apprenticed to the trade of a machinist in the shops of Ives & Smith. His skill and industry passed him rapidly from apprentice to journeyman and to foreman of the shop of which he eventually became proprietor. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he, in company with Henry Bushnell, the inventor, took a contract for supplying the gun parts for 300,000 Springfield rifles, on which contract he employed a force of 200 men for three years. He removed his works to Grapevine Point in 1867, in order to have additional facilities to carry on his increased business, which became known as The Bigelow Company, founders and manufacturers of boilers and machinery. The Common Council of New Haven appointed him a member of the Board of Supervisors in 1872, and the mayor of New Haven appointed him a member of the board of Fire Commissioners in 1874. The next year he was & representative in the State Legislature and in 1878 he was elected by the Republican party mayor of New Haven and in 1880 governor of the State of Connecticut. As mayor he planned and carried out the extensive park system of the city of New Haven and the much needed harbor improvements. Hobart B. Bigelow married Eleanor, daughter of Philo and Eleanor (Swift) Lewis of New Haven, and their son, Frank Lewis Bigelow, was brought up in the city of New Haven, where he was prepared for college at the Hopking Grammar School.
He was graduated at the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale Univer- sity, Ph.B., 1881, and on his graduation he served as an aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Bigelow. He entered the engine department
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of the H. B. Bigelow Works as an apprentice in 1881. This course was recommended by his father and was also his own choice. He served a two years' apprenticeship, when he was made secretary of the Bigelow Company, serving as such 1883-91. On the death of his father in 1891 he was elected president of the corporation. He is also a director in the Merchants' National Bank of New Haven.
His club affiliations extend to the University Club of New York City and the Graduates, Quinnipiack, and Country clubs of New Haven. He is also a member of the Berzelius Society of the Shef- field Scientific School of Yale University. His recreation in his younger days was found in riding and driving horses, but on the introduction of golf and automobiling he took up both these forms of outdoor sport. His political home is in the Republican party and his church home with the Congregational denomination.
WILLIAM PERRY CURTISS
C URTISS, WILLIAM PERRY, banker, was born in Branford, New Haven County, Connecticut, September 11th, 1871. His father was Joseph Curtiss, a son of Cyrenius and Christia (Beardsley) Curtiss and a descendant from William Curtiss who came from Nazing, England, to Stratford, Connecticut Colony, in the early part of the seventeenth century. Joseph Curtiss was a carpenter and he married Jane, daughter of Archibald and Mary (Frisbie) 'Tyler of Branford.
When sixteen years of age William Perry Curtiss left school to take a position as clerk and office boy in the National Tradesman's Bank of New Haven, beginning his banking experience in October, 1887, the opportunity coming to him apparently by chance. Here his real education began, and hard grinding work day after day, with but little encouragement and small chance of promotion, taught him fortitude and perseverance under adverse conditions. His best help at this time came from his daily contact with business men. For ten years his position was that of a clerk and in January, 1897, he was sent to the bookkeeper's desk, where he remained for five years. In January, 1902, he became assistant to the cashier and remained in that position up to April, 1903, when he accepted the position of vice-president and treasurer of the New Haven Trust Company, after sixteen years of service with one institution.
Mr. Curtiss has served the State of Connecticut as a citizen sol- dier since 1894, when he enlisted in Company F, Second Connecticut Militia, familiarly known as the New Haven Grays. He received promotion to second lieutenant in November, 1898; to first lieutenant in 1901, and was retired after a continuous service of nine years in June, 1903. Mr. Curtiss was still unmarried in 1906.
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JACOB LYMAN GREENE
G REENE, JACOB LYMAN, was born on the ninth day of Au- gust, A.D., 1837, in the town of Waterford and the State of Maine. His parents, Captain Jacob Holt Greene and Sarah Walker Frye, were both of noble lineage, for in their veins pulsed the blood of the Greenes, the Fryes, the Holts, the Abbots, the Poors, the Trumbulls, the Kilburns, and the Gordons, some of whom are more or less distinguished for various virtues and gallant services in the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars.
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