USA > Connecticut > Representative citizens of Connecticut, biographical memorial > Part 38
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Richard Holmes Gay
the touch of culture and the cosmopolitan outlook which culture brings. He shared in the enlightenment which has brought the world through science in this age, but not in the skepticism which seems to have been its usual accompaniment. His religious life was a very real experience for him, and he threw himself heart and soul into the cause of the church of which he was a member, never grudging time, money or effort spent in its behalf. The prominent position which he occupied in the congregation of the Fourth Church of Hartford was repeated in the Farmington congregation, where he held the office of deacon for twenty-five years and was senior deacon at the time of his death. He possessed the domestic virtues in large measure, and found great happiness in the wholesome intercourse of the family, and proved himself a devoted husband and loving father. His friends also found him true to his professions, and even the most casual associate felt warmed to him because of his friendly bearing and outspoken, candid manner. It will be appropriate to let one of them speak for him, one who knew him as well as any outside of the members of his own household, and who is peculiarly fitted to know whereof he speaks. The Rev. Mr. J. G. Johnson, pastor of the Farmington Church, said of him in an address delivered at the time of his death, and quoted in a Hartford paper : "It was a privilege to know him, to have the benefit of his kind and loving disposition ; there was never a blot on his fine character and if there was a man without sin, he was that man. All who knew him mourn his death."
WHilliam Gray
T HE INVENTIVE GENIUS of New Englanders has played no small part in the wonderful material advancement made by human society during the last half century. There is scarcely a department of life in which inventors of this part of the world have not labored with the most striking results, and in vast numbers they have led the world. It entirely eludes the imagination what the state of affairs would be today had they not labored and wrought, for invention leads to invention so that without many of the wonderful devices whole systems of collateral and dependent inventions would have failed of their very being and we should at the present time possess a far less complete mastery over the forces of nature than, as a matter of fact, we do enjoy today. It is very fitting, therefore, that we should not miss any opportunity of honoring the names of these clever men who have toiled for our benefit, or of acknowledging our debt of gratitude by commemorating their names to the best of our ability. It is of one of these versatile geniuses that it is the business of this brief sketch all inadequately to treat, William Gray with a number of valuable inventions to his credit, whose death in the city of Hartford on January 25, 1903, deprived that city of one of its leading citizens.
William Gray was born December 17, 1850, at Tariffville, Connecticut, a son of Neil and Mary (Simpson) Gray, well known residents of that place. He passed but a few years in the town of his birth, the business of his father, which was that of bridge builder, necessitating a change of residence, and the whole family removed to Boston while he was still a mere lad. He attended the schools of the city, and upon completing his studies secured a position in a large drug establishment. It was his father's intention that he should learn this business, but as time went on he discovered that his heart was not in it at all, that he could awaken no interest in the matter, and he very wisely decided to abandon it and try his hand at something else. Instead of opposing, his father fully concurred in this determination, and the more so, as the young man exhibited marked signs of the inventive pro- clivity that afterwards distinguished him. His next position was more after his heart and was indeed the very place where his abilities had the best opportunity to display themselves. It was a machine shop in which he was located and he quickly demonstrated his value to his new employers, both by the skill and dexterity of his manual work and his ingenuity in over- coming difficulties. He did not remain a great while in this employ, how- ever, for shortly afterwards he received an offer from the great Colt Manu- facturing Company to take a position in the arms factory and this he at once accepted. He worked as a polisher for some time until he became an expert in that line, and some time subsequently received a still better offer from the Pratt & Whitney Machine Company to take charge of the polishing depart- ment. Here he remained for a period of fifteen or sixteen years and during that period developed many of the inventions with which his name is asso-
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ciated. One of the earliest of these, a simple matter, was the means never- theless of making him a very handsome pecuniary return. This was the sand-handle baseball bat, a device to prevent that instrument from slipping in the hands of its wielder and which he patented and sold to the great sporting goods establishment of Spaulding in Chicago. Another thing devised by him along the same line was the inflatable chest guard for catchers in that game, and this has since come into practically universal use and brought in handsome returns to Mr. Gray. The first of these articles was worn in a baseball game in the city of Hartford and its inventor had the satisfaction of witnessing the first demonstration of its good qualities. More in line with his own immediate occupation was what has been called the Gray belt shifter, for rapidly changing the direction and character in steam and electric power transferred by belting. This very clever arrange- ment he sold to his own employers, the Pratt & Whitney people. Perhaps the most successful of all Mr. Gray's inventions, however, was the telephone pay station for public booths, a device which greatly increased the receipts of the telephone company, especially in rural districts, and meant a very com- fortable fortune for Mr. Gray. It soon became possible for him to retire from more active business on the income derived from these and other inventions and devote himself entirely to the inventive work that he loved above all other things. Unfortunately, at the same time his health began to fail, and after a period of several years of progressively increasing invalidism, he finally yielded to the advance of his trouble, his death occurring when he was but fifty-two years of age.
Mr. Gray was a man of wide interests and sympathies and strong social instincts and played a prominent part in the general life of the community of which he was a member. He was always attracted by military matters and when a very young man joined the militia of his State, enlisting in Company G, First Regiment Connecticut National Guard, known at that time as the Buckingham Rifles, Captain Joseph H. Barnum. He was after- wards transferred to Company H, Hartford Light Guard, in which body he rose to the rank of lieutenant. Besides these associations, he was also prominently connected with the Hartford Lodge, No. 19, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Gray was twice married and his second wife, who was Louise Bubser, of Hartford, and to whom he was united August 21, 1879, survives him and is still a resident of Hartford. Four children also survive him, as follows: Elizabeth E., now Mrs. I .. S. Caswell, of New York City; Wil- helmina Louise, now the wife of F. F. Spencer, of West Hartford, and the mother of one child, Frederick F., born February 28, 1914; Raymond N., and Mabel A., at home.
Mr. Gray possessed that quiet, self-possessed and thoughtful air that we instinctively associate with the scientist and inventor and which is usually the indication of a strong personality and character. But while he thus bore the marks of the thinker about him, he was also, as a matter of fact, an alert business man, a man of the world, a man of affairs, as those who dealt with him were quick to learn. The basis of his character, as it
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must be of all really worthy character, was an essential honesty of stand- point that directed and controlled his whole career, making of it some- thing that might well be held up as an example to the youth of the com- munity. Practical and alert in business matters as he was, he never forgot the rights and interests of others in following his own, and an appeal to him from one in need always drew a ready and generous response. Nor were his relations in the midst of his family and personal friends less praiseworthy than these more general ones, and as a father and husband his conduct was as commendable as it was as a citizen and a man.
Sylvester Clark Dunham
[ JPON FOUNDATIONS, strong and true, laid by the founder, James G. Batterson, his successor, Sylvester Clark Dunham, carried to completion that business so magnificent in its proportions, so far reaching in its philanthropy, known to the world as The Travelers' Insurance Company of Hart- ford. He came to the Travelers' in 1885 when that com- pany's growing business made it advisable to have a lawyer as member of the home office force, and as general counsel carried the com- pany through many periods of attack from vicious legislation and litigation. He became a member of the board of directors, January 27, 1897, vice- president, January 1, 1899, his election in accordance with his selection by President Batterson as his logical successor. Mr. Batterson died September 5, 1901, and on October 14, following, Mr. Dunham was elected president.
He was a remarkably able man, had a real genius for organization, and the faculty of retaining and strengthening the respect and affection of the army of associates and helpers of which he was officially the head. Fairness was an element of his character and he was immovable in maintaining the reign of justice and fair play in the great company which prospered so marvelously under his leadership. He had made his own way to eminence by diligence, industry, fidelity and scrupulous integrity, and when these qualities were found in another, they always received recognition from him. His broad mind permitted a benevolent view of mankind and his life is a lesson of enlightened citizenship worthy of study and emulation.
He sprang from honored ancestry traced through eighteen generations to Rychard Dunham, of record in Devonshire, England, in 1294. John Dunham, of the eleventh recorded generation, was the founder of the family in America. He was born in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, in 1589. Scrooby was the birthplace of Elder William Brewster, another of the Pilgrim Fathers, and it was at Scrooby that the Pilgrim church was organized. The religious persecution that drove the Pilgrims to America also caused, it is claimed by the family historian, John Dunham to change his name tempor- arily and that he is the John Goodman who came over in the "Mayflower" and signed the "compact." A son John (2) born in Leyden, Holland, about 1620, was succeeded by John (3), he by a son Ebenezer, whose son Ebenezer (2) was the father of Jonathan Dunham, a captain in the Revolutionary army. Ralph, son of Captain Jonathan Dunham, was the father of Jonathan Lyman Dunham, born at Mansfield, Tolland county, Connecticut, Novem- ber 15, 1814, died February 25, 1886, who married, June 9, 1844, Abigail Hunt Eldridge. She was the daughter of Elijah Eldridge and traced her ancestry to Elder William Brewster and to John Hopkins of the "May- flower" Company. Jonathan Lyman Dunham had two sons, Edwin Lyman, and Sylvester Clark Dunham, whose recent death brought sorrow to the entire city of Hartford.
From so distinguished an ancestry came Sylvester Clark Dunham, born
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in Mansfield, Connecticut, April 24, 1846, died at his home, No. 830 Prospect avenue, Hartford, after a very short illness, October 26, 1915. His parents moved to Portage, Ohio, in 1857, and there he resided until 1865 when he returned to Connecticut. Those eight years were spent in acquiring an education in farming and in teaching school. He was ambitious and willing, endured the sacrifices necessary to compass a year at Mount Union College. This with his public school and academy study was his institutional train- ing, his education being largely through self study, literary society member- ship and a wide course of reading of the best authors, Dickens and Shake- speare especially furnishing him pleasure and benefit. He taught from 1863 until 1865, then returned to his native State, entered the State Normal School at New Britain, whence he was graduated at the head of the class of 1867.
After graduation he combined journalistic work with the study of law, became editor of the "New Britain Record," was clerk of the city and police court for three years also prosecuting legal study in the office of Charles E. Mitchell, of New Britain. In 1871 he was admitted to the Hartford county bar, located in the city of Hartford, formed an association with Henry C. Robinson, with whose office he was allied until 1883. In 1882 and 1883 he was city attorney, and after completing his term returned to New Britain where for one year he was secretary of the P. & F. Corbin Company. His interest in the Corbin industries and their successor, the American Hard- ware Company, did not terminate with his resignation as secretary, but continued all his life being at the time of his death a director of the last named. During these years Mr. Dunham had acquired high reputation as a lawyer, being particularly successful in cases requiring research and deep study to unravel their intricacies. He had grown with the years, and when in 1885 the Travelers' Insurance Company of Hartford, found it advisable to add a legal department to their growing business, President Batterson selected Mr. Dunham for the position of general counsel. He was officially appointed at a directors meeting held November 2, 1885, and at once re- moved his residence from New Britain to Hartford, that city being his home ever afterwards.
As general counsel for the Travelers' he acquired intimate and con- fidential knowledge of the company's affairs and was adviser concerning contract forms, how litigation could be avoided and conducting it when necessary. His work took him to almost every State in the Union and to Mexico, his most important case being the widely discussed Colorado litiga- tion. The Travelers' had invested largely in irrigation projects in the San Juan and other valleys of Colorado in 1885, and later became involved in litigation through the operations of the Colorado Loan and Trust Company that threatened serious loss. Suit was brought against the Travelers' for more than $1,000,000 and was pending when Mr. Dunham became general counsel for the company. He gave the case practically his entire time and during its life of seven years, made twenty-seven trips to Colorado, a State at that time unscrupulous in its treatment of eastern capital. It was believed at the time that the Travelers' would lose heavily and its "dry ditches" in Colorado were spoken of in derision by rival companies. But in the end Mr. Dunham brought the case to successful issue, recovering complete title to
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70,000 acres arable land in Colorado, the irrigating canals carrying water to them and a judgment for $90,000. Other companies shared in this victory and Mr. Dunham was appointed secretary-treasurer of the holding com- panies formed to hold titles to the lands, the Travelers' being the principal stockholder in those companies.
Such service, combined with his intimate acquaintance with financial interests, insurance law, history and general policy of the Travelers', logic- ally rendered his connection with the directorate of the company desirable. He was elected director, January 27, 1897, vice-president, January 11, 1899, president, October 14, 1901.
Up to this point Mr. Dunham's service to the Travelers' had been as a subordinate, although given the freest exercise of his own judgment, and supreme authority in the legal department. He was now at the head of a great institution, in command of an army of subordinates, officials and pri- vates, the interests of thousands of policy holders to be conserved, assets of $33.000,000 to be safeguarded, and an aggressive policy to be continued for the acquisition of new business. As he had met every situation in life so he met this, squarely, bravely, wisely and honorably. He became a great insurance leader, familiar with every difficult problem of the business, and was sought in counsel far and near. He shared the burdens that fell upon his associates, who served him willingly with respect, affection and effi- ciency. He held true to the strictest principles of integrity, possessed a clear perception of what was good, what was true, what was honest, with strength and courage to live and act accordingly. He was always courteous and kind, sympathetic, patient and forebearing; careful to see that fair treatment was accorded every one with whom he came in contact. He was a worthy successor to the founder and president, Mr. Batterson, and by training well qualified to lead and direct the Travelers' fortunes. Poise and amiability were strong elements of his character and to his pleasing personality, added the virtues that made him a prince among men ; a great financier, controlling at his death a company whose assets of $33,000.000 had grown during his fourteen years of administration to $100,000,000.
While his business crown will ever be his management of the Travelers' he had other important connections in the manufacturing and financial world. He was an ex-president of American Board of Casualty and Surety Underwriters, a leading member of the association of Life Insurance Presi- dents, president of the Travelers' Bank and Trust Company, vice-president of the National Exchange Bank of Hartford, and a director of the Metro- politan Bank and American Surety Company, both of New York City, the United Gas and Electric Corporation, the American Hardware Company of New Britain, the Glastonbury Knitting Company of Glastonbury, the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company, the Hartford City Gas Light Company, Colts Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, the Underwood Type- writer Company, and the First Reinsurance Company of Connecticut.
Outside the realm of business Mr. Dunham was well known. his genial social nature leading into various clubs while his patriotic ancestry opened wide the doors of the societies basing their membership upon Colonial resi- dence or Revolutionary service. In 1903-1904 he lectured at Yale Univer-
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sity, a series of special lectures on the science of insurance, appearing also in book form. He served his city as water commissioner from 1893 to 1895 inclusive, and in 1910-191I was a member of the board of finance. In religious faith he was a Congregationalist, and in political affiliation a Republican. His societies were the Society of Mayflower Descendants, the Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth branch of the Connecticut Society, Sons of the Revolution, the Order of Founders and Patriots. His clubs were the Hart- ford Golf, Farmington Country, Twentieth Century, of which he was an ex-president, and the Union League, the latter of New York City.
Mr. Dunham married, October 18, 1877, Mary Mercy, daughter of Dr. James H. Austin, of Bristol, who survives him with one son, Donald Austin Dunham, a graduate of Yale, class of "03," now assistant secretary of the Travelers' Insurance Company. He married Edna J. Halstead, of New York City, and has two children, Sylvia W. and Donald Austin, Jr.
Jacob Lyman Breene
L OYALTY, COURAGE, GENTLENESS and an abiding sense of justice and duty are the qualities which, perhaps above all others, we should pick out as forming the keystone of Colonel Jacob Lyman Greene's character, a character that for many years exerted a wholesome and uplifting influence upon the community that was fortunate enough to count him as a member and upon the development of one of the greatest of American enterprises-life insurance. The careers of many men are easy of treatment by the chronicler for the reason that their labors have been directed in one particular channel, towards one prime objective which may at once be singled out as the essential matter of their lives about which all other circumstances may be grouped, by which they be measured. In the case of Colonel Greene, however, so great was his versatility, so numerous the spheres of activity in which he distinguished himself, that it would perhaps be difficult to accord any one of them the place of paramount importance and significance in his life.
Jacob Lyman Greene was a native of Maine, where, in the picturesque town of Waterford, he was born August 9, 1837. He was a son of Captain Jacob H. and Sarah W. (Frye) Greene, both members of well known New England families, the mother being a descendant of Major-General Joseph Frye of the Revolutionary army, who distinguished himself in that momen- tous struggle, serving under General Washington. In the son's character there was a large measure of both his parents, as we find them described, their strong and somewhat contrasted qualities being mutually modified in him. The father, a man of somewhat stern nature originally, the result of generations of puritan ancestors, had himself been trained in that atmos- phere, and bequeathed his son a strong will and deep religious convictions which never left him. From his mother, who was a most gracious and lovable personality, the softer traits of character came, modifying some- what the uncompromising type of his beliefs, though, in so far as those of a religious nature were concerned, they were rather deepened than otherwise by his maternal inheritance. The parents were in very moderate circum- stances and made many sacrifices for their children's welfare, and these in return denied themselves much for their elders. Their life was spent on the elder Mr. Greene's farm, a property situated among the highlands of that part of the State, where, if the work was hard, the life was healthy. Certain it is that the growing lad thrived in his environment, mentally and phy- sically, and grew rapidly to a strong and wholesome manhood. The life led by our farmers has often been thought poor and meagre, their children to- day are seeking the cities as a relief from hard work and loneliness, yet it would be difficult to show any training to-day, however great modern im- provements may appear, that has given to the world so large a body of well trained men, mentally as well as physically, men of self control and resource, men capable of turning their hands and brains to anything, from following
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the plow to commanding an army or presiding over the destinies of a nation. Such was the early discipline of Colonel Greene nor were its characteristic effects tardy in showing themselves. He early developed a strong ambition to succeed in life and it became his first great object to secure such an educa- tion as would place him with no handicap against him in the race for this goal. His first schooling was necessarily in the rather primitive local schools, but here his purpose and determination stood him in good stead so that he gained more than the average pupil from the inadequate courses and eventually prepared himself for college. It had been his intention for some time past to take up the law as a profession and with this end in view he attended the law department of the University of Michigan and was later admitted to the bar. It was not the will of fate, however, that he should devote himself to this profession, in which his versatile talents would doubt- less have caused him to shine, nor, indeed, to any peaceful occupation for some years to come. The dreadful cloud of civil strife had long been gather- ing and now culminated in that great war which threatened the integrity of the beloved Union and did in fact rock it to the foundations. The young man did not hesitate as to his duty, but enlisted in Company G, Seventh Regiment of Michigan Infantry with the rank of first lieutenant. This was on August 22, 1861, he having not even taken the time to return to his home before his departure for the front. He was honorably discharged January 28, 1862. On July 14, 1863, he again entered the service with the commission of captain in the Sixth Michigan Cavalry Regiment, but he was not mustered in at that time. On September 4th of the same year he served as assistant adjutant-general. He was taken prisoner and held for a time in Libby Prison and several other places, but was finally paroled toward the latter part of the year 1864. He served in a number of campaigns, both as assist- ant adjutant-general and in the line and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, March 13, 1865, "for distinguished gallantry at the battle of Trevilian Sta- tion, Virginia, and faithful and meritorious services during the war." He served with General Custer from September 4th. He also served as chief-of- staff to Major-General George A. Custer during the latter's campaign in Louisiana and Texas. Mustered out and finally discharged from the service March 20, 1866, at the close of the war, Colonel Greene's distinguished serv- ices to his country were brought to an end and another phase in his life was about to begin.
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