USA > Connecticut > Representative citizens of Connecticut, biographical memorial > Part 39
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In the troublous times immediately succeeding the termination of hos- tilities Colonel Greene returned to the north and at first made his home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where his elder brother, Dr. William Warren Greene was at that time living. This gentleman was prominently connected with the Berkshire Life Insurance Company besides being one of the leading physicians of the city. At the instance of his brother Colonel Greene entered the employ of this concern, where he very soon rendered himself of so much value that he attracted the notice of the heads of the company. He was soon recalled from his agency to the principal office of the company and there made assistant secretary. In the capacity as secretary he gave a great deal of time to the study of his subject and soon became a recognized authority thereon, many articles from his pen appearing on the various
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Jacob Lyman Greene
departments of insurance and actuarial problems. He would doubtless have risen higher in the Berkshire Company had not these articles attracted the attention of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford, and brought him an offer of the assistant secretaryship of that large con- cern. This Colonel Greene accepted and removed to the Connecticut city in June, 1870, where, indeed, he was to spend the remainder of his life. The following year he was elected secretary, and in 1878 became president, hold- ing the latter office until the time of his death. It was characteristic of Colonel Greene that having once taken up this new work, he gave to it the best that was in him so that its problems became the most interesting to him and its demands the most imperative next to those which he acknowl- edged as a Christian and a citizen. His ideals as expressed in the policy of the great company over whose affairs he presided, were very high and might well stand as models today. It was a firm conviction of his that the insur- ance company existed for the sole purpose of insuring its policy holders, with no ulterior purposes whatsoever, that its obligations were exclusively to these and stopped short with the paying of losses, and furthermore that the principle of mutuality should alone operate in its control. These purely disinterested notions were not by any means uncombatted and he met some strong opponents in the insurance world, but they have one by one disap- peared while the principles enunciated by Colonel Greene have been accepted as standard in insurance circles all the world over, however far the practice may sometimes depart from them. He wrote many articles on the subject and his yearly reports to his company are looked upon as models of their kind. He was naturally looked up to as one of the leading citizens of Hart- ford and his judgment so highly prized that it was consulted by all sorts of people in every manner of contingency.
The pen of Colonel Greene was a rarely powerful one and was always devoted, in the language of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Brewster, "to high and gen- erous purposes." He was a man of profound knowledge of financial prin- ciples and more than once exerted himself in the defence of what he believed sound business policies. One of these occasions was during the agitation over the silver question, when he opposed with all his might the proposition to make that metal a standard of currency value on a par with gold. "Bi- metallism, or the Double Standard," "Our Currency Problems," "The Silver Question," and "What is 'A Sound Currency'?" are among the articles written by him on this subject and which, in the form of reprints. were cir- culated in all parts of the country and proved among the most effective refutations of the popular financial heresy of the time. Aside from such valuable service as this in the cause he believed in Colonel Greene did not take an active part in politics and refused all offers of public office. The deeply religious nature of Colonel Greene has already been hinted at. He was a lifelong member of the Episcopal church and was "the representative layman" in the conventions held in the Diocese of Connecticut. The number of institutions industrial, financial, educational, scientific, of which he was a member was very large, and so conscientious was he that he neglected none of them but fulfilled his obligations to all with completeness. Among these should especially be mentioned the venerable Trinity College of Hartford
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Jacob Lpman Greene
of which he was secretary of the board of trustees, and in the service of which he devoted a great amount of time and effort.
The death of Colonel Greene, which occurred on March 29, 1905, in his sixty-eighth year, was the occasion of a remarkable demonstration on the part of the community with which he had been so long and intimately identi- fied. The whole city seemed to unite in an expression of mingled praise and grief ; the institutions of which he had been a member passed resolutions, the prominent citizens all gave public testimony of their regard and affection, and the press of the State joined in the universal chorus, with an unanimity rarely shown, but which the character of its subject rendered only fitting. During his life Colonel Greene had always held his pen ready to honor the memories of worthy fellow citizens and to champion those to whom he felt less than due honor had been given, as his delightful booklet on General William B. Franklin so admirably illustrates, and it was most appropriate that his own memory should have been similarly honored. It will be a fitting close for this brief sketch, to quote from a few of the more important of these memorials, which illustrate as nothing else can the regard which the com- munity felt for its departed member. From the long memorial resolutions adopted by the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, Colonel Greene's home company, as it were, the following is typical:
The best asset in a community is its strong men, men of honor, of integrity and courage, of loyalty to Church and State, men who stand for righteousness, for charity to their fellows and interest in their welfare, for fair play in society, in civic affairs, in poli- tics, and who abhor subterfuges and chicanery and self-seeking.
These are the men of real moral worth, usually unconscious of the influence they carry with them, who give character to a city at home and abroad, and whose conspic- uous virtues and abilities make them mighty forces amid the general multitude. No one who knew him, here or elsewhere, questions that among these men of power stood Colonel Greene. All men accord him that distinction.
From the vestry of Trinity Church came a tribute of which the follow- ing is a part :
In all our deliberations his wise counsel and sane leadership followed the lines of lofty principle and never for a moment swerved either to the right hand or to the left. His clear spiritual vision carried him straight to the heart of every problem, and eventually led to its proper solution.
With these strong qualities went a sympathy of mind and a broad compassion, which embraced not only those nearest to him, but all others who had a claim upon his help. It is not for us to measure the benefactions of a man who did not permit his left hand to know what his right hand was doing, and yet we cannot forbear to say how much his benevolent spirit and generous help enriched not only this parish, but bene- fitted countless enterprises as well as individuals who turned to him for aid.
The tribute of his close personal friend, Bishop Brewster, has already been most briefly quoted, the following being a longer excerpt:
* Over and above these relations I shall always think of him as the brave soldier who carried the cavalryman's dash into everything he did, the man sagacious and able in matters of finance and of executive administration, the public-spirited citizen, the writer and orator, always devoting voice and pen to high and generous purposes, the warm-hearted and open-handed friend of his brother men, the high-minded Christian gentleman. * *
* God has taught us much through this brave soldier-saint, this modern example of chivalrous knighthood, this illustration of citizenship in the kingdom of God and of the church's royal priesthood.
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Jacob Lyman Greene
It is impressive to consider these whole-hearted tributes and many others of the same character from men and institutions standing them- selves so high in popular esteem, but perhaps the most convincing evidence of all of the man's sterling virtues and unwavering honor is to be found in his own words, written under what must have been a bitter temptation to do otherwise, as quoted in the sermon of the Rev. Mr. Twichell, preached shortly after the other's death. The whole extract follows:
During the prolonged suspension of the exchange of prisoners in the Civil War, occasioned by the refusal of the Confederate government to exchange negro soldiers of the Union that had fallen into its hands, a proposal was made by the authorities of that government to the whole body of Union prisoners of all ranks to send a delegation of their number, under parole to Washington to induce, if possible, the United States gov- ernment to consent to the resumption of exchange, but of white men only.
At that time Colonel Greene, then a captain, and for several weary months a pris- oner, was confined at Macon, Georgia. Some of his fellow captives, in their misery, despairing of deliverance, were disposed to accept the proposal and set about taking measures accordingly. But there were others, young cavalry Captain Greene among them, who were of a different view. Which view he, on behalf of those who shared it with him, expressed in a paper to be signed by them, addressed to President Lincoln and Secretary of State Stanton, in which they said (I give his own words from an account of the affair furnished me in writing, some years since for use in a Memorial Day address) that, while it was their earnest desire to serve in the field rather than lie and die in inaction, they recognized the necessity that the government should keep equal faith with all who served under its flag ; that its faith and honor were more than all else and were pledged to these colored men ; and they did not desire the government to break that faith for their benefit; rather would they take their evil fortune with what patience they might and bide the event.
Such was Jacob L. Greene in his youth, and such he was to the end of his days. He counted not the cost of any fidelity. Whatsover things were true, honest, just, pure, of good report, he loved. They entered into the ideal of the manhood to which he aspired.
John Watkinson Bray
TT IS WONDERFUL how an idea, apparently most simple, will often change the whole course of a great industry-nay, create new ones not dreamed of before, and profoundly modify many of the circumstances of our daily life. We shall find, however, if we stop to think of it that such seem- ingly simple thoughts are by no means the most apt to occur to our minds, that simple is by no means synonymous with ease, that, as a matter of fact, the simple things of life are the most profound and the most baffling. The story of how a simple invention wrought the great changes hinted at above is contained in the record of the life and career of John Watkinson Gray, of Hartford, Connecticut, whose untimely death in that city on June 1, 1892, deprived the community of a most striking figure and himself of some of the fairest fruits of his well earned success.
John Watkinson Gray was a native of Hartford, born there March 19, 1851. of the splendid stock by whose courage and industry, enterprise and intelligence the present great prosperity of the New England States has been built up. The Gray family is one of a small group of families that have made Hartford their home since its founding in 1636 by the Rev. Thomas Hooker. It was one of that doughty clergyman's scarcely less doughty fol- lowers who founded the family in this country, Ebenezer Gray, from whom our subject is descended in the seventh generation. Another of his dis- tinguished ancestors was Colonel Ebenezer Gray, who behaved himself with distinction as an officer in the war for freedom. Mr. Gray's father, John Smith Gray, was a prominent citizen of Hartford, connected as a silent partner with the large hardware house of Tracy & Tarbox. His wife was a Miss Mary Watkinson, born in Hartford, a daughter of Robert Watkinson, a native of England.
The childhood of Mr. Gray was passed in the usual pursuits of that age and principally in obtaining an education in the excellent public schools of his native city. Graduating from the high school where he had prepared himself for a college course, he matriculated in the year 1868 at Trinity Col- lege and there won considerable renown as a scholar. Graduating with the class of 1872 he at once found employment in the hardware establishment of his father's partners, Tracy & Tarbox, and there gained a large experience with business principles and methods that was invaluable to him in after years. He remained but a year with this concern, however, and his next experience was in 1874 when he bought out the Goodyear rubber establish- ment and engaged in that business on his own account. He started a factory for the manufacture of the goods he dealt in, but at first, most wisely, did all on a small scale until he became acquainted with his market and had gotten all the detail working accurately. Rubber goods for use in all kinds of mechanical devices were his specialty, and the cleverness and ingenuity of some of these soon directed his own original mind to the problem of these uses. His first invention was an epoch making one. It was nothing more
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John adatkinson Grap
or less than the solid rubber tire for the wheels of vehicles. His first applica- tion of this simple but revolutionary device was to the wheels of bicycles, but its splendid results there at once suggested to his fertile mind its appli- cation elsewhere. The advantages of the rubber tire do not need to be urged, in fact, so obvious are they that even then, in spite of the human habit of looking askance at the unfamiliar, not much persuasion was required. Quickly the business grew to gigantic proportions and Mr. Gray found himself on the fair road to immense wealth. But even this was not all. Mr. Gray had been already manufacturing several kinds of rubber tubing, some of the machinery for the manufacture of which was his own invention. His thoughts were directed to this tubing and its uses at about the time his tires were beginning to win their great recognition and out of the combination arose first the idea of the cushion and then of the pneumatic tire. Against the latter his friends and associates were strongly arrayed, urging him to give up the idea of its manufacture, their idea being that it was likely to involve him in losses which would negative the results of his former success. But strong in his faith in so sterling a device, he disregarded these warnings with results which almost instantly justified his judgment. He had already the contract to supply the great Pope Manufacturing Company with all the tires used in the manufacture of their various forms of vehicles, and now this progressive concern adopted the pneumatic tire idea with avidity. Mr. Gray began to witness his products traveling to all parts of the earth and was already regarded as one of the wealthiest and most successful of Connecticut merchants when his death came at the age of only forty-one years. Had his life been spared there is little doubt that he would have been one of the best known figures in the business world as well as one of the richest men in the country for his patent soon became of inestimable value and from his one business grew up one of the great industries of the United States. Indeed, in one sense, it was his invention that made the automobile a practical possibility, a change in transportation methods rising therefrom which it would be difficult to overestimate. After his death Mrs. Gray sold the business to the Pope Manufacturing Company and it now forms the tire department of that concern.
A man who, like Mr. Gray, becomes involved in some great movement is apt to find that the demands it makes upon his time, energies and atten- tion are of so imperative a nature that other claims have in a measure to be neglected. Its sweep and momentum are so great that it carries one along with it, sometimes even against one's will. In the last particular, it is true, this was not the case with Mr. Gray. He was quite wrapped up in his work and the problems that it involved, problems that his inventive genius found particularly appealing, but the rest of the proposition applies to him as to others in his position and he found but little time for other matters. There was always one thing, however, for which he made the opportunity and that was the matter of his religion. His religious instincts and beliefs were strong and he took an active part in church matters. He was a lifelong member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford and did much to support its work and the many philanthropic movements in connection therewith. Of an ex- tremely attractive presence and manner, Mr. Gray was also a great favorite
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John daatkinson Gray
in the social circles in which he moved and his ability as a musician made him doubly in demand, but the time that he could give to these pastimes was at best limited. It was the same in politics. Strongly interested in the polit- ical issues of the day and a staunch supporter of the Republican party, he was quite unable to enter the local activities of his party, far less to run for office as his talents so well fitted him.
Mr. Gray was married, on April 8, 1875, to Clara M. Bolter, of Hartford, a daughter of James and Mary (Bartholomew) Bolter, her father being one of the best known financiers in the State. On both sides of the house she is descended from distinguished families, and in one line traces her ancestry back to the time of William the Conqueror in England. To Mr. and Mrs. Gray were born three children: Robert Watkinson, Mary Bartholomew and Clara. Robert Watkinson Gray is a graduate of Trinity College of the class of 1898. To him has descended his father's inventive ability and he has already distinguished himself by bringing out that useful and ingenious device, the "universal joint" and the Gray marine engine. Mary Bartholo- mew Gray is now the wife of Professor Walter Boughton Pitkin, of Columbia University, and resides in Dover, New Jersey. Clara Gray is now Mrs. William Gildersleeve, of Gildersleeve, Connecticut.
James Bolter
A COLLECTION OF the lives of the great industrial leaders, merchants and financiers of Hartford, Connecticut, of the past generation would make one of the most important chapters in the history of American business and would cer- tainly form one of the most cogent arguments for those stricter business ideals of the past, displaying, as it would, the splendid successes, the great and permanent qualities of the institutions founded securely upon these principles as on a rock. The scrupulousness, the punctilliousness in every point of honor habitual in those days have grown slightly out of fashion to-day, when the motto is that busi- ness is business and we smile in rather a tolerant mood for those who profess consideration for their competitors or even for their patrons, yet the day scarcely passes that some crash in the business world does not point the moral that the old standards were the best, and that what they may have lacked in speed they more than made up in safety. We might search far indeed with- out finding a better example of these fine old men of business who, placing their honor before their success, insured the latter, than James Bolter, for twenty-five years the honored head of the Hartford National Bank, whose death in Hartford on September 6, 1900, deprived that city of one of its most distinguished citizens, and the New England financial world of one of its leading figures.
James Bolter was the fourth and youngest child of William and Nancy (Pomeroy) Bolter, of Northampton, Massachusetts, where his father was engaged in carriage making most of his life. He had originally come from Norfolkshire, England, in early youth and settled in Northampton, where he lived and died. On his mother's side of the house Mr. Bolter was descended from very illustrious stock, the family tracing its descent back through the Pomeroys of Devonshire to the time of William the Conqueror. Nor was it only in the mother country that the name has gained lustre, for Pomeroys have distinguished themselves in this country, in the Colonial and Revolu- tionary periods as well as in more modern times. In the possession of its members to-day there are old letters, handed down as heirlooms, of the greatest possible value and interest from those old days when the winning of the continent was but just begun. From General Seth Pomeroy there is a collection of letters describing the French and Indian War in which he was engaged and one of them describing to Lieutenant Daniel Pomeroy's widow the death of her husband in an engagement of that time.
James Bolter was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, June 27, 1815, and passed the years of his childhood and youth there. He obtained his education in the local public schools, and shortly after completing his studies went west. On this occasion he spent a couple of years in St. Louis, Mis- souri. He returned east and in 1832 came to Hartford, Connecticut, where he secured a position as a clerk in the grocery store of C. H. Northam. After a short period in this establishment, he went once more to St. Louis, remain-
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James Bolter
ing about a year this time. Conditions were rather uncertain in the western city at that period and Mr. Bolter lost nearly every cent he had in the world, returning almost penniless to Hartford. Here he formed a partner- ship with Ellery Hills in the wholesale grocery business, an association which continued four years under the style of Hills & Bolter. In the year 1843 his former employer, C. H. Northam, offered Mr. Bolter a partnership in his large and well established business and this he accepted, the firm be- coming C. H. Northam & Company. During the next seventeen years he remained in this connection, gaining business experience and a reputation as a clear-headed merchant that extended throughout the community. His ability was thus brought to the notice of prominent men generally and in January, 1860, he was offered the position of cashier in the Hartford Bank which he at once accepted. This was the beginning of his long and notable career as banker and financier, the foundation upon which the larger part of his fame rests. He entered heart and soul into the new work and from that time, during a period of nearly fifty years, labored unceasingly in the interests of the institution. In the year 1874 he was elected president of the bank which flourished greatly under his able management for more than a quarter of a century and was known as one of the most important factors in the financial world of New England. The career of this great bank was a phenomenal one and deserves a brief review in this place. The Hartford Bank was founded in the year 1792 and is now the oldest institution of the kind in the city. The men who organized it were among the leading and most capable financiers of the period and included John Caldwell among their number who became its first president. From that time during the one hundred and eight years of its existence until the death of Mr. Bolter in 1900, it had but seven presidents, all of whom were men of parts whose policies and methods spelled success for the bank. In the year 1865 it was nationalized and became the Hartford National Bank, and one of the first steps undertaken by Mr. Bolter upon taking the office of president was the entire remodelling of the banking rooms and their reconstruction upon a much larger scale and the most modern principles. This had the effect of turning them into one of the handsomest and most perfectly equipped offices in the State as was appropriate to the foremost position it held there. Al- though the fifth bank established in the United States and consequently one of the oldest in existence to-day, it has always remained a most progressive institution and to this day continues to lead the way in the adoption of the best modern banking methods, and it stands to-day as a type of the most substantial and secure financial house, one that represents the true ideal of a bank as a safeguard for the savings of all men, not primarily as a means of enriching a few. The splendid traditions of so long a period Mr. Bolter fully sympathized with, and it was one of his greatest prides that he lived up to them in every sense and that under his direction the bank still further increased its prestige and its usefulness in the community. His own asso- ciation with it had antedated his appointment as cashier, as in 1852 he had been made a director, so that for forty-eight years he had had a voice in the direction of its affairs.
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