USA > Connecticut > Representative citizens of Connecticut, biographical memorial > Part 34
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Edward Woodruff Seymour
was Origen Storrs Seymour who, throughout his long life, was intimately associated with the bench and bar of Connecticut. A leader of the bar, he was raised in rank upon the bench until he became chief justice of the Supreme Court of Errors, the highest tribunal in the State, an office that he held until the constitutional age limit, and he was in a large measure the author of Connecticut's modern code practice, adopted by the Legislature in 1879. He was married to Lucy M. Woodruff, of Litchfield, a daughter of Morris and Candace (Catlin) Woodruff, of that town, and it was their eldest child whose career forms the subject matter of this article.
Judge Seymour passed practically his entire life in his native town, but spent a part of his boyhood in Farmington, Connecticut, where he attended the Classical School of Simeon and Edward L. Hart, preparing himself for a collegiate course, and later spent four years at New Haven while a student in Yale University. At the latter institution he was a member of the class of 1853, famous for the many notable men it contained, and graduated in that year with the degree of A. B. There was but one profession possible for the son of Judge Origen Storrs Seymour, and indeed it was the young man's uninfluenced inclination which led him to take up the study of law. This he did in his father's office to such good effect that in 1856 he was admitted to the bar in Litchfield county. He at once began practice in association with his father, and from the outset was successful. The recommendation which the very name he bore constituted was found by all whose litigation he con- ducted to be entirely realized in his own abilities and talents. In 1870 his father was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of Errors in Connecticut and three years later became chief justice. Of course all participation on the part of the elder man in the practice was cut short by this election and his son conducted the work alone. After five years, however, he formed a new part- nership with his younger brother, Morris W. Seymour, the two making their headquarters in Bridgeport where a very large practice was built up. The young man was extremely successful in the cases he handled and was at an early age recognized as one of the leaders of the State bar.
Following in the footsteps of his father and of many of his ancestors, Judge Seymour early turned his attention to politics and the conduct of public affairs. He was chosen judge of probate not long after his appearance in the legal world, and in 1859 he was elected to represent his native town in the State Legislature, serving in that year and the next and again during. the term of 1870-71. In 1882 he was elected a State Senator and was con- tinued in that office until 1886, by a community most grateful for the emi- nent.services received at his hand. Chief Justice Origen S. Seymour died in 1881, and eight years later his son became an associate member of the august body over which he had presided. His powers were displayed to the best advantage in his high office where the highest ideals of justice and mercy and the most incorruptible honor are of such paramount importance to the community. He served but three years therein when death interrupted his brilliant and useful career, while still his powers and faculties were in their very prime. As a member of the Supreme Court of Errors, by his conduct on that high tribunal, Judge Seymour worthily crowned a reputation already most enviable, yet there seems but little doubt that had his life been spared
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him through those maturer years when, as a rule, the chief laurels of the jurist are won, he would have reached even higher dignities and honors. Of his services on this bench Judge Augustus H. Fenn said at the time of his death: "While of his services upon that court, this is neither the time nor place to speak with fullness, it has been the privilege of the writer to know them somewhat thoroughly, and because of such knowledge he can the more truly bear witness of the rare spirit of fidelity to duty, to justice, to law, as a living, pervading and beneficent rule of action, with which, whether upon the bench listening to and weighing the arguments and contentions of counsel, in private study, in the consultation room, or in the written opinions of the court which bear his name, the high duties of that great office were faithfully discharged."
On May 12, 1864, Judge Seymour was united in marriage with Mary Floyd Talmadge, a native of New York City, born May 26, 1831, a daughter of Frederick Augustus and Elizabeth (Canfield) Talmadge, of that place. Mrs. Seymour survives her husband and continues to reside in Litchfield. She is a member of an illustrious New England family which has resided there since about the year 1630, the members of which have played a most conspicuous part in the history of that region. She numbers among her ancestors the renowned Colonel Benjamin Talmadge, of Revolutionary fame, whose exploits against the British were of so notable a character as to receive especial notice from Congress and congratulations from General Washington.
It is of course impossible in an account of this kind to more than most inadequately suggest the character of such a man as Judge Seymour. His characteristics may be suggested separately and illustrated feebly in the bare account of his career, but their combination in one personality and the influence of such personality upon all those with whom it associated must remain impossible. We may pay tribute to his unimpeachable honor, his strength of purpose, his courage of conviction, his general intelligence and enlightenment, his culture and his domestic virtues, all of which were pos- sessed in the highest degree by Judge Seymour, yet the concrete man still eludes us. Yet is this inability shared by all save the pen of genius and the pen, also, of love which, through its emotional insight, partakes of the quali- ties of genius. It is therefore appropriate to close with some quotations from the pens of his dear and intimate associates, who wrote of him at the time of his death with the clear image of their friend before them in mental vision. Of his qualities as a lawyer Henry C. Robinson wrote as follows:
As a lawyer he was thorough, quick in perception, sound in reflection, pleasing and effective in speech. He prepared his cases conscientiously. His knowledge of men, his quick wit, his rare apprehension of humor and humorous things, his abounding good judgment, his intellectual alacrity in emergencies, and his courage in a crisis gave him a fine outfit for practice. He cross-examined a witness always with skill and sometimes with genius. But no temptation to score a point ever led him into the petty tyranny of abusing a witness. He wore the golden rule on his heart and remembered that the man in the witness box was a brother. As a judge, without being hortatory, he warmed his opinions with wholesome morals. Such ethics, for instance, as we find in the opinion of Coupland vs. Housatonic Railroad Company, in the Sixty-first Connecticut, make good reading. His career as a lawyer and judge strengthens our attachment to our profession which he adorned.
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Of him Governor Richard D. Hubbard said in the course of an address:
I think we can all say in very truth and soberness and with nothing of extravagance in eulogy, that we just lost the foremost, undeniably the foremost lawyer, and take for all in all the noblest citizen of our State. If it be too much to say of a son, whose years were almost a score less than those of the father, surely it is not too much to affirm that never did son tread more worthily in the footsteps of an honored parent, and never did untimely death break truer promise than this which has deprived our State of those years of ripened usefulness, which would have made the career of the son as fruitful in honor, and all good, and good to all, as that of the sire. But God knows best, and doubtless what is is for the best. Certainly to him who lies crowned with the beatitude of Christ upon the pure in heart, it is well.
Frank Woodbridge Cheney
T HE DEATH OF Colonel Frank Woodbridge Cheney at his home in South Manchester, Connecticut, May 26, 1909, removed from that community one of the most popular and well beloved figures in its busy life, and from the State of Connecticut one of its most influential and prominent citi- zens. The Cheney family is representative of the fine old New England stock which has played so important a part in shaping the destinies of this youthful nation, its members having for many years made their home in South Manchester and East Hartford. The first of the name to reside in this section was Benjamin Cheney, the great-great- grandfather of Colonel Cheney, a prominent man in the community who did a flourishing business as a wheelwright, joiner and carpenter, besides being the owner of a large and valuable tract of land there. It was not until the time of Charles Cheney, great-grandson of the above and father of Colonel Cheney, that the family removed from South Manchester, and even then it was but a temporary removal, Mr. Cheney returning to take his part in the organization and development of the great Cheney Brothers silk business, and to take part in the early difficulties and discouragements which in the first years of its existence beset what is now one of the greatest industries of the State.
Frank Woodbridge Cheney, the second of the six children born to Charles and Waitstill Dexter (Shaw) Cheney, was born June 5, 1832, at Providence, Rhode Island, but passed only the earliest years in that city, being yet a mere child when his parents removed to Ohio. Upon the farm purchased by Mr. Cheney, Sr., the major part of his boyhood was passed, and it was during this period that he gained the elementary portion of his education. This healthful life and the wholesome pleasures and tasks laid the foundation of Mr. Cheney's strength and endurance which he so greatly needed in the active, busy life which he subsequently led. Before he had grown to manhood, however, his father returned to Providence, and there the youth completed his education, attending for a time the excellent city schools, and later Brown University. He was taken into the Cheney silk concern by his father, and evidently showed ability from the outset, since in 1854 he was already elected a director of the firm, a position to which he had worked from the humble one of punching a dye stick in about four years. The business was at this time undergoing a succession of difficulties, and in 1858 it was felt that it could not meet the competition of some of its rivals, without having a representative in China. Young Mr. Cheney was chosen for this responsible post, and in 1858 started for the east, remaining about three years in China and Japan, purchasing silk. This was but a short time after the ports of the former country had been opened to foreigners, and for some time Mr. Cheney was one of twelve men of the white race in that great empire. The firm which he represented there, however, was greatly bene- fited by his intelligent efforts on its behalf, and from that time forward began
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Frank Woodbridge Cheney
its great development which was in no small measure due to the business genius of Mr. Cheney. The year 1861 saw the return of Mr. Cheney to the United States, and it was while he was in Egypt that he learned of the outbreak of the Civil War. He lost no time in completing his journey, and upon arriving at home at once threw himself heart and soul into recruiting for the Union army. He was one of those most instrumental in organizing the Sixteenth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, of which he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and with which he departed for the front. The Six- teenth Connecticut saw active service from the start, and it was at the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, that Colonel Cheney was shot through the arm while leading his men in a charge. Upon recovering sufficiently to be able to leave the hospital, he was discharged from the service because of his disability caused by the wound.
In the year 1858, at the time of his departure, Mr. Cheney had been made assistant treasurer, and now, upon his return from the war, he entered into the duties more immediately connected with his position. In 1874 his father, who occupied the place of treasurer and secretary of the Cheney Brothers corporation, died, and young Mr. Cheney was elected to these offices in his place. From this time he assumed the general management of the whole huge concern, and to this really enormous task he brought a degree of consummate skill, judgment and tact, which have resulted in greatly increasing the volume of business and redounded to his own great credit and reputation as a business leader. Besides his management of the company, he was also well known in the silk business generally, as one who was active in its interests. He was a prominent figure in the Silk Associ- ation of America, and only a year before his death was placed in a committee with Mr. J. Huber by the association to urge upon Congress a revision of the silk tariff. A man as prominent and influential as Mr. Cheney in one line of business rarely confines himself entirely within the scope of that par- ticular interest, and this was certainly the case with Mr. Cheney, who was identified with many of the largest and most important financial and indus- trial institutions in the State as an officer or director. He was a director of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, the National Fire Insur- ance Company, and the Hartford Steam-boiler Insurance Company. He was also elected a director of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- road Company, on the death of ex-Mayor Leverett Brainard, of Hartford, and this important office gave him much influence in transportation circles throughout that region, and this influence he exerted for the good of his com- munity.
But it was not by any means only in the business world, however large his interests might be within its scope, that Colonel Cheney was active. Although of a most retiring disposition and shrinking from taking public office of any kind, his extreme popularity rendered it inevitable that he should take part in the political world, even though it might be against his will and inclination. He was a strong supporter of the Republican party and its principles, and in 1892 the State organization urged upon him the nomination for Lieutenant-Governor. The year happened to be that of the
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"deadfall" issue, upon which the Democrats were easily victorious, and Colonel Cheney suffered defeat with the rest of his party. Two years later he was nominated by the Republicans for Governor of the State, but the Democratic star had not yet set, and once more he was defeated. He re- marked with a smile when the news was brought him that he had paid for a room at the Allyn House together with a box of cigars and plenty of experience, and that he would now take a bath and wash off the politics. He was not able to entirely rid himself of politics even then, however, for eight years later, while traveling in Europe, he received a cablegram from the people of Manchester asking him to return and act as their representative at the State Constitutional Convention. This he agreed to do, and returned at once from his travels. Colonel Cheney was very prominent in the social world of Hartford and Manchester, and belonged to many prominent clubs and other organizations in that region. He was of course a member of the Connecticut Sixteenth Regiment Association, with which he had served in the Civil War, and so great was his popularity with the members that he was elected president for life thereof. On his seventy-fifth birthday, one year before his death, the survivors of the regiment met at his house and pre- sented Colonel and Mrs. Cheney with a handsome silver loving cup. He was also a member of Drake Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and the Veteran Association of the Hartford City Guard. He was a director of the Hartford Retreat, the Watkinson Farm School, and the American School for the Deaf.
Colonel Cheney was married, November 3, 1863, at Hartford, to Mary Bushnell, of that city, the second daughter of the Rev. Dr. Horace Bush- nell, one of the most distinguished citizens of Hartford, after whom was named the beautiful Bushnell Park in that city. To Colonel and Mrs. Cheney were born twelve children, as follows: Emily, now Mrs. Barrett Learned, of Washington; Charles, who succeeded his father as secretary and treasurer of the Cheney Brothers corporation; Horace Bushnell; John Davenport; Howell; Seth Leslie; Ward, of whom brief mention is made be- low; Austin; Frank Dexter; Dorothy; Marjorie; Ruth, now Mrs. C. A. Goodwin, of Hartford.
The seventh child, Ward Cheney, born May 26, 1876, was a graduate of Yale University, with the class of 1896. At the outbreak of the Spanish War, he volunteered for service and enlisted with Company G, First Regi- ment Connecticut Volunteers. He later received a commission in the regular army, having decided to follow a military career, and being attached to the Fourth United States Infantry, served in this country for a time, and was taken ill with typhoid fever at Fort Sheridan, near Chicago. Upon his recovery he was sent with his regiment to the Philippines, and there met his death, January 7, 1900, in an engagement with insurgent natives at Imus. The young man was only twenty-four years old and very popular both among his fellows in the army and in his home region in Connecticut. His death was universally regretted.
Colonel Cheney was a strong and simple character, typical of New Eng- land, the union of the idealist and the practical man of affairs, valuable in any community where he appears. This combination of characteristics was
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admirably exemplified in his business life. He was known to be entirely practical in the conduct of the great interests that were entrusted to his care, yet merely to win for himself and associates large dividends was by no means his object. It was under him that the plan, now in such universal use in New England, of employers and employees uniting in subscribing to a fund for the benefit of tubercular working men and women originated. Toward the community as a whole he was ever moved to some generous and public- spirited deed, and that in spite of an instinctive shrinking from appearing publicly, and even from social life on its formal side. He was indeed devoted to the society of his friends, and found his chief pleasures in the intimate intercourse of the household and home. His death was a very real loss to all classes in the community.
John hurlbut White
J OHN HURLBUT WHITE, late of Hartford, long probate judge of the Hartford district, was one of those unassuming men whose true worth is best known to their near associates. He was descended from Thomas Hurlbut, a blacksmith, who came with Lion Gardiner to Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1635, and was very seriously wounded in a conflict with the Indians. As early as 1640 he settled in Wethersfield, where he was an original proprietor and prominent in the conduct of public affairs, serving as deputy to the General Court, and was the second largest taxpayer at the time of his death.
John Hurlbut White was born November 23, 1833, in East Glaston- bury, Connecticut, son of Eleazer Sweetland and Alma Holmes (Hurlbut) White. He died January 4, 1912, at Hartford, where he was universally esteemed and respected as an official and a citizen. After receiving an academic education he went to Hartford in 1851, and read law in the office of Hon. Heman H. Barbour. He was admitted to the bar March 12, 1858, and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession, taking an active interest in political affairs, in affiliation with the Democratic party. In 1860 he was elected city auditor of Hartford, on the Democratic ticket, and three years later was elected judge of probate for the district of Hartford, which includes Glastonbury, Windsor Locks, Bloomfield, Rocky Hill, West Hart- ford, Newington and Wethersfield. At the time of his election it also included East Hartford, which was separated in May, 1887. For twenty- three years Judge White continued to administer his office, which he re- signed in January, 1887, to resume the active practice of law. His long term of office demonstrates his popularity with the public, which was greatly attached to him because of his fairness and sympathy with those in trouble. As much of his business was transacted with people who had been recently bereaved, his kindly and sympathetic nature facilitated the discharge of his duty, and made these relations as pleasant as possible under the circum- stances. Judge White was always a student and reader, and he brought to his practice, after resigning the judgeship, a well-trained mind and a ripe experience, and his success was worthily won. During the Civil War he was appointed with Ezra Hall as commissioner to take the votes of Connecticut soldiers in the field in the presidential election of 1864, and the discharge of this trust consumed a period of six weeks. He was one of the organizers of the Capewell Horse-Nail Company, with which he was first associated as counsel and director, later vice-president, and at the time of his death was its president. He was many years director of the Farmers & Mechanics Na- tional Bank, which is now merged with the Hartford National Bank. From 1858 he was continuously a member of the North Congregational Church, which later became the Park Congregational Church. He acted on various committees of the church, and was among its most faithful adherents. Judge White filled various positions of trust and settled many estates, including
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that of Henry Keney, of whose will he was one of the executors. Thencefor- ward, until the time of his death, he was one of the four trustees of Keney Park. For many years he was president of the Probate Assembly of Con- necticut, and for six years was a member of the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration. In 1860 he joined the First Company, Governor's Foot Guard, and later became a member of the Veteran Corps, of which he was at one time president.
He married, June 6, 1860, Jennie M. Cook, daughter of George and Sarah (Woodruff) Cook, of Litchfield, Connecticut. Mrs. White is de- scended from Joseph Wadsworth, who hid the charter in the historic Charter Oak, which incident gave its name to the tree, and is known to every school boy of America. A maternal ancestor, John Woodruff, was with Washington at Valley Forge, and present at the execution of the unfor- tunate Major André. She is the mother of Henry C. White, a well-known artist, now residing in Waterford, Connecticut. He married Grace H. Holbrook, of Hartford, daughter of Caleb M. and Elizabeth (Nelson) Hol- brook, both now deceased. Of this marriage there are two children: I. John Holbrook White, associated with the Travelers' Insurance Company of Hartford; married Eleanor Walker, and has two daughters, Frances Holbrook and Grace Walker. 2. Nelson Cook White, now a student at Pom- fret, Connecticut.
John Smith Gray
J
OHN SMITH GRAY was born in Hartford, September 16, 1816. He was the son of Samuel and Ann (Smith) Gray, and a descendant of Lion Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island. His grandfather was Colonel Ebenezer Gray, of Windham, an officer in the Continental army and one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati.
He began business as a clerk in a wholesale drug store, after which, when about twenty years old, he spent a year in Cuba on the sugar estate of his grandfather, John Smith. Here he acquired some knowl- edge of the Spanish language which enabled him later to carry on an export trade with South America. In his early business life Mr. Gray was a member of the firm of Fales & Gray, manufacturers of railroad cars. Later he was in the hardware firm, originally Leroy & Company, now Tracy, Robinson & Robinson. About the year 1880 he left this business and with his son, John Watkinson Gray, started the Hartford Rubber Works which was later sold out to the Pope Manufacturing Company. He retired from business in 1892 on the death of his son.
On May 9, 1848, Mr. Gray married Mary Watkinson, daughter of Robert and Maria (Champion) Watkinson, born February 23, 1823. They had three children as follows: Ellen Watkinson; John Watkinson, who married Clara Bolter, and Annie, who married the Rev. John Humphrey Barbour.
John Smith Gray was a lifelong and devoted member of the Episcopal church. He grew up in the parish of Christ Church, of which his mother was a member. He was parish clerk from 1843 to 1849 and became junior warden in 1861. In 1863 he moved to the western part of the city, was connected with Trinity Church almost from its foundation and for many years was a member of the vestry. He was habitually at church twice on Sunday, had family prayers daily in his home and grace at table. He was also a regular communicant of the church. John Smith Gray was a Republican in politics. He took no conspicuous part in public life, but was representative of the best type of those Hartford merchants of earlier days whose high moral standards leave a valuable example to posterity.
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