USA > Connecticut > Representative citizens of Connecticut, biographical memorial > Part 48
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howard Samuel Collins
and he was also a great lover of flowers of every description, these growing in profusion on his property. In 1871 he became a director of the Collins Company, succeeding his father, and was at the time of his death the oldest member of the board, both in age and point of service. In 1895 he retired from active business. Some time prior to the Civil War his father erected a very fine residence in Collinsville, and about six or seven years after the death of the elder Mr. Collins, Howard S. Collins purchased the old family mansion and resided therein for about twenty years, during which time he and his wife entertained almost continuously, their home being noted for the hospitality dispensed there. They moved from that to the house in Hartford now occupied by Mrs. Collins. For a number of years Mr. Collins was largely interested in ships and shipping, owning several vessels, and in this line of business he was called upon to spend several winters in Florida, his wife accompanying him. Shortly after 1880 he established a summer cottage at Watch Hill, where he spent every summer season, living close to nature. He was very fond of out-door sports and of society, but during the last years of his life he was rendered feeble by ill health, and was forced to spend the most of his time in his library and home.
He was the founder of the library at Collinsville, and was always a student, his memory remaining clear to the time of his death. The last years of his life were as full of sunshine as were the earlier ones, rendered so by his cheerful disposition and congenial surroundings. He was a member of the Congregational church of Collinsville, from which he never withdrew his membership, and was a regular attendant at the Center Congregational Church of Hartford after his removal to that city. In principle he affiliated with the Republican party, with which he usually acted. His home life was ideal, and he had no taste for contests or the excitement of political cam- paign.
Mr. Collins married (first) February 25, 1856, Alice Terry, who left two children: Faith W., now residing in Florida, and Alice, of Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Collins married (second) December 18, 1878, Helen C. Raymond, of Brooklyn, New York. She survives her husband.
Soon after the death of Mr. Collins, Rev. Rockwell Harmon Potter, D. D., pastor of the Center Congregational Church of Hartford, who officiated at his funeral, contributed to the Hartford "Courant," the following tribute to his memory: "The death of Mr. Howard S. Collins has removed one of the survivors of a generation that is fast passing away. There were many who knew him well in other years. Some of them remain to testify to the charm of his presence and the strength of his character. For a long time now his infirmities have kept him a prisoner in his home here or in his simple cottage at Watch Hill. Few of the younger people of the city have had the privilege of knowing him. As one of those to whom this privilege has been granted I should like to bear witness to the true nobility and spiritual strength which was his even in the time of his physical weakness. He traveled widely in his youth and the recollections of many and distant scenes were ever vivid in his mind. He had walked or driven over much of New England and his love of nature preserved the memory of countless scenes among her hills and valleys. He would describe affectionately flowers and
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howard Samuel Collins
birds that he had not seen for forty years. His life was rich in meditation- that gift so rare in these busy times-and his observations upon life were always wise and just, and the truth upon his lips was always spoken in love." The body of Mr. Collins was laid to rest in Collinsville Cemetery, and the bearers at his funeral were the directors of the Collins Company. They presented to Mrs. Collins a set of resolutions lamenting the death of their fellow, which were beautifully bound in leather and suitably inscribed.
Aaron Cossitt Goodman
A ARON COSSITT GOODMAN and his older brother, Edward, a biography of whose son, Richard French Good- man, is given also in this work, were descendants of Richard Goodman, an Englishman by birth, who is recorded as a proprietor in Newtown (now Cambridge), Massachusetts, in 1633, and who went to Hartford, Connecticut, with the first settlers, under the leadership of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, in 1636. Later this first Richard Goodman moved on to Farming- ton, and from there to Hadley, Massachusetts, where he was killed by the Indians in King Philip's War in 1676. His son, Richard Goodman, went back to the neighborhood of Hartford to live, and a considerable number of his descendants remained there. The "Boston Chronicle" of May 2, 1768, describes the burning of Timothy Goodman's home in what is now West Hartford, when a visitor in the house, little Miss Jerusha Ensign, lost her life; and Richard Goodman, a son of Timothy Goodman and grandfather of Aaron Cossitt Goodman, served in the American Revolution in Captain Seymour's company, of Hartford. This Richard Goodman's son, Aaron Goodman, was born in 1773, in the farm house which still stands on what is now Main street, West Hartford, near the brook where the family formerly owned a mill. In 1804 he married Alma Cossitt, daughter of Asa and Mary (Cole) Cossitt, of Granby, Connecticut. When the town of West Hartford was set off from Hartford, he became postmaster, and held that office until his death. The cupboard of cherry wood, twenty-nine inches high and less than a yard wide, which served as post office, is still in existence, and has twelve pigeon holes in one-half of its lower part, the rest of the space being given up to larger compartments and shelves. Its original adequacy for the purpose for which it was intended has never been questioned.
Aaron Cossitt Goodman, son of Aaron and Alma (Cossitt) Goodman, was born April 23, 1822, in a house on the corner of the old Albany turnpike and the main street of West Hartford, where his parents lived their married life. He was their third son, and fifth and youngest child. His childhood was spent in going to the district school and in helping about his father's farm. Four years after his father's death in 1832, when he was fourteen years old, it was necessary for him to go to work, and he became clerk in Sumner's book store in Hartford. In 1841, before he was twenty years old, he went to Philadelphia to take a position with A. S. Barnes & Company, who were establishing a publishing house there with the idea that Phila- delphia, not New York, was to be the mercantile metropolis of the country. Mr. Goodman's engagement with this firm was for two years; but before the expiration of the first year he received an advantageous offer from his former employer, Mr. Sumner, to become associated with him as a partner; he therefore obtained a release from A. S. Barnes & Company, and returned to Hartford as a member of the firm of Sumner & Goodman. In 1848 Mr. Goodman bought out his partner's interest in the store, which he continued
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Aaron Cossitt Goodman
to manage alone until 1852, when he in turn sold out, and went to New York to engage in the wholesale paper business. Mr. Goodman remained in busi- ness in New York for twenty-one years. At the organization of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford in 1851, however, he had become a stockholder, and subsequently he was a director in the company. In 1873 he left New York and returned permanently to Hartford; and two years later, in June, 1875, he was made president of the Phoenix Life, suc- ceeding the Hon. Edson Fessenden. The company prospered under Mr. Goodman's management, and he held the presidency of it a little more than fourteen years, resigning in 1889, and giving up all connection with it a little later, when it underwent an entire reorganization. After retiring from his official connection with the company, Mr. Goodman took up no other active enterprises, feeling a need for rest after his long and close application to business. He lived quietly at home until his death on July 29, 1899.
Mr. Goodman had, in the course of his life, a number of active interests outside of business. He was connected with the old independent fire depart- ment of Hartford, and was for some years a member in the well known Sack and Bucket Company, a part of Hartford's volunteer fire department. He was in the militia, and was captain of the Hartford Light Guard, later serving on the staff of General Frank Bacon with the rank of lieutenant- colonel. He was a member, also, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of St. John's Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. When a young man, he sang in the choirs of St. Francis Xavier and of the Church of the Puri- tans, New York, and was associated with other young men who were inter- ested in music and art, one among whom, Frederick E. Church, lived to make good his fame as an artist. Mr. Goodman belonged to the Protestant Epis- copal church, and after his return to Hartford in 1873 became a member of Trinity Parish, where for years he was on the vestry.
On April 9, 1857, Mr. Goodman married Annie M. Johnston, of New York, a daughter of Robert Rhea and Mary Sears (Hatch) Johnston. Mrs. Goodman survives her husband, and is living in the family home at No. 834 Asylum avenue, Hartford. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Good- man, as follows: Emilie, now Mrs. Richard Wright, of Cambridge, Massa- chusetts; Edward, died in 1872; Annie, who is Mrs. John F. Plumb, of New Milford, Connecticut ; Mary A. ; and Richard Johnston. The last named was born March 23, 1875, in Hartford, and is a graduate of Yale College and of the Yale Law School. He is a member of the law firm of Newberry & Goodman of Hartford; is a manufacturer of automobile parts; has served in the Court of Common Council of Hartford; and is a colonel in the State militia.
Richard French Goodman
B Y FAR THE larger part of the active life of Richard French Goodman was passed in the little town of Newton, New Jersey, which, adopted as his home during his young man- hood, remained the scene of his work until the end of his life; his personal and family associations with his native city, Hartford, Connecticut, continued to be so intimate, however, and his affection for his birthplace was so endur- ing, that it seems appropriate to include an account of his life in this book.
Edward Goodman, the father of Richard French Goodman, was born in what is now West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1805, and was the eldest son of Aaron and Alma (Cossitt) Goodman. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, and practiced law in that city, for many years as a partner of General Nathan Johnson, with whom he had studied. He married Marietta Burritt French, of Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1840, and to them were born five children, the eldest of whom, Richard French, was the only one who lived to attain his majority.
Richard French Goodman was born in Hartford in 1841. His educa- tion was begun in the local public schools; he was graduated from the Harris Military Academy in 1858, and from Trinity College, Hartford, with honor in 1863, when he was presenter of the lemon squeezer on Class Day. In February, 1864, he was appointed acting assistant paymaster in the United States navy, and was stationed at the Brooklyn navy yard. Later he was ordered to the United States steamer, "Nightingale," which then lay in the Gulf of Mexico, but after a cruise of two months returned north. The department complimented him upon the fact that in his first report, then made, his accounts were found to be complete and without error, and in August he was transferred to a more important position, being ordered to join the "Miami," at Hampton Roads, Virginia. This was the first vessel of the navy to ascend the James river, and Paymaster Goodman was sent there to take charge of the storeship of the large fleet that followed, perform- ing that duty until they returned in May, 1868. The cruise being ended, he declined a place among the regular assistants, with the promise of speedy promotion, and resigned at the end of the leave granted for making up his accounts. A short time later he was given leave without date, and received his honorable discharge in 1868.
Mr. Goodman studied law in the Albany Law School, and obtained his law degree there. He was admitted to the Connecticut bar, and began to practice in Hartford with his father, but the work was not congenial, and in 1869 he took advantage of an opportunity to become owner and editor of the "Sussex Register," a small newspaper published in Newton, Sussex county, New Jersey. The "Register" had run down on account of lack of enterprise in the management, but Mr. Goodman succeeded in building it up. He con- tinued to edit the paper until a few years before his death, when, feeling that he was ready to retire, he sold it.
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Richard french Goodman
During all the time that Mr. Goodman spent in Newton, he identified himself heartily with the life of the community. He was a member of the Newton Steamer Company during the first nine years after its organization, and for two years was its foreman. He was connected with Harmony Lodge, No. 8, Free and Accepted Masons; Baldwin Chapter, No. 17, Royal Arch Masons (of which he was secretary for thirty-five years) ; DeMolay Commandery, Knights Templar; and was a noble of Salaam Temple, An- cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He was one of the direc- tors of the Newton Library Association, and a charter member of the New- ton Club. At one time he was treasurer and director of the County Fair Association ; in 1912 he was president of the Newton Board of Trade; and from 1912 to March, 1915, (the month before his death), he was president of the Sussex County Branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He was a member of Company G, Seventh Regiment National Guard New Jersey, from its beginning in 1888, and was soon elected its captain. In 1897 he was promoted to the rank of major in the regiment.
Mr. Goodman belonged to the Captain Walker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and to the order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He was appointed postmaster of Newton by President Mckinley in Octo- ber, 1897, and was reappointed twice by President Roosevelt, serving in all nearly twelve years and a half. To him was due the credit of the establishment of the carrier service in Newton, his recommendation being favorably acted upon by the Postmaster-General in 1901, and the service beginning on October first of that year. During his term the receipts of the post office increased fifty per cent .; two additional New York mails were put on; an early morning mail from New York was secured; and three rural routes were established, taking in a big section of the county about Newton. Mr. Goodman was a member of Christ Church (Episcopal) of Newton. He was a lay reader, and many times held services in the church in the absence of a rector. During the latter part of his life he was senior warden of the church.
Mr. Goodman never married, and family ties brought him back to Hart- ford regularly three or four times a year throughout his life, to his father's and then to his stepmother's home, and later still to the home of his uncle's family. He hardly ever failed to be present at Trinity College Commence- ment, and in June, 1913, was one of the six survivors of the class of '63 who met for their semi-centennial reunion. Mr. Goodman died April 14, 1915, aged seventy-four years. He is survived by four cousins, the children of Aaron Cossitt Goodman, and by one cousin in his mother's family.
THarren TU. Bissell
F PROM 1833 UNTIL 1913 covers a span of eighty years, the period covered by the business enterprise of Captain Wil- liam Bissell, of Civil War service, and his son, Warren W. Bissell. Captain Bissell began business in Litchfield as a painting contractor, taught his son the trade and detail of a contracting business, then when years incapacitated him withdrew. Both were men of high standing, excellent men and scrupulously upright.
Warren W. Bissell was born in the Milton section of Litchfield, Con- necticut, April 15, 1836, died in Litchfield Borough, November 24, 1913, son of Captain William and Amanda J. (Bissell) Bissell. After completing his school years he began learning the trade of painter with his father whose shop was in Litchfield. He worked at his trade as a journeyman for several years. He went into the general store at Milton in the late fifties (probably 1858) and conducted that business about eight years. He then opened a shop at Milton for making sleighs; but in 1873 again took up the painting business at Litchfield with his brother, and from 1888 carried on the painting business by himself until his death in 1913. He continued his residence in Milton at the old homestead until his marriage, and during the earlier half of his life then moved to the borough of Litchfield of which Milton is now a part.
Mr. Bissell was a man of high principle, faithful and conscientious in the performance of every obligation, business, official or private. His long life of seventy-seven years was spent within the limits of Litchfield and no man in that community was more highly esteemed. His friends were many and in St. Michael's Episcopal Church his lifelong membership endeared him to Christian workers. He served his town as tax collector, was a direc- tor of the Litchfield Mutual Fire Insurance Company and interested in many borough activities. He was a Democrat in politics but took little active interest in party affairs. He was devoted to his home and there spent his hours of leisure.
Mr. Bissell married, October 22, 1872, Samantha J. Beach, daughter of Almon and Antoinette (Birge) Beach, of Litchfield. Mrs. Bissell survives her husband, residing at the old home built in 1787 that Mr. Bissell bought with his brother in 1878. She has no children.
A. S. Birrell
George Oliber Simons
I N THE DEATH of George Oliver Simons on September 8, 1912, the city of Hartford, Connecticut, lost one of its most successful merchants and one who, though not a native of the city, had yet spent the major part of his life there, and had become closely identified with its traditions and life.
His parents were David and Lovicia (Wheat) Simons, residents of New York City, and it was there on November 1, 1836, that George Oliver Simons was born. He got but a meagre school- ing in his boyhood, and was bound out as an apprentice to a farmer in New Jersey, while little more than a child. Here he remained but a short time as his mother took him home, and later, when he had reached young manhood, he removed to Connecticut and made his home in Hartford. He was soon able to secure a position in the foundry of Woodruff & Beach, where he stayed for a time until he found a better opening in the great establishment of the Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company. With the Colt people he remained for a number of years, but eventually severed his con- nection with them to take a position with James L. Howard & Company, manufacturers of railroad supplies on a large scale. The terms of his asso- ciation with the last named company were very satisfactory, and he worked for it under a contract, with a number of men under him. But in spite of this Mr. Simons was not entirely satisfied, as he was ambitious to be engaged in an enterprise of his own which he felt confident of his ability to make a suc- cess of. After he had been with the railroad supplies concern for some years, an opportunity arose in a somewhat remarkable way for the gratification of this ambition, which he was not slow to avail himself of.
Mr. Simons had been married toward the close of the year 1862 to Josephine L. Fox, of Hartford, and it was through the instrumentality of his wife that his opportunity came about. It would have been quite impossible for Mr. Simons to have given up his position with the James L. Howard Company in the year 1882, and undertaken a business venture of his own, yet it was perfectly easy for him in the same year to furnish his wife and her brother, Horace P. Fox, with the capital necessary to start a small business in awnings, as they desired to do. This he did, and never was capital better invested. The headquarters of the little trade consisted of one small room at No. 81 Asylum street, but under the skillful management of Mrs. Simons and Mr. Fox and the good advice of Mr. Simons, the little business grew rapidly and soon assumed such proportions as to assure its owners of ulti- mate success. When at length it had quite outgrown its original quarters, Mr. Simons began to take an active part in the conduct of it, giving up his connection with the James L. Howard people, and devoting his whole energy and attention to the promising venture. The first thing that he did was to remove it from No. 81 to No. 23 Asylum street into an excellent store, with plenty of space for expansion. The business was first transacted under the name of G. O. Simons, with Mr. Fox as manager, but later the latter
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was soon after taken into partnership, and the firm became Simons & Fox. The business continued to grow and flourish greatly until at length it be- came necessary to remove to still larger quarters. No. 7 Haynes street was the location chosen and there was established a factory and store of an attractive sort, the business once more resuming its great development. Once more, in 1902, it became necessary to move and the establishment was this time located at No. 240 Asylum street, where it stands to-day. In the year 1908 Mr. Fox died and from that time until his own death Mr. Simons directed the affairs of the concern, the style of the firm becoming George O. Simons, successors to Simons & Fox. During all these years of changing location and name, however, Mrs. Simons still continued to own an interest in the concern, though her name never appeared in connection with it, and at the death of her husband, she became the sole owner of the business. On July 1, 1913, however, she took into partnership two business men of reputa- tion in Hartford, Messrs. William Goltra and Charles D. Melona, retaining, however, the original firm name. Mrs. Simons has from the first shown remarkable business abilities, and has always played an important part in the direction of the affairs of the concern, and between the failure of Mr. Simons' health and his death, as well as after the latter event, up to the time of the formation of the new partnership, managed it alone. Indeed she was a controlling factor in the business and continued to display her great talent in the management until she retired from the business, January 1, 1915. A little while after the beginning of the enterprise in 1882, before the active participation of Mr. Simons in the business, there was added to the trade in awnings, that in interior decorations generally, and the two departments have grown side by side until to-day they possess an enormous market, and various products of the factory are in use from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
While Mr. Simons had a great deal of his time occupied with his busi- ness affairs, he nevertheless was not so much engaged but that he could participate in many other branches of the city's life. He was for many years a member of the old Volunteer Fire Department, which held a splendid record in the safeguarding of the city before the introduction of the present paid organization. He was also a prominent figure in the social and fra- ternal life of Hartford, and a member of the Society of American Mechanics and the Masonic order.
It has already been mentioned that Mr. Simons was married to Joseph- ine L. Fox, of Hartford, and how important a part in his business career was played by that lady. The wedding occurred on Christmas day in the year 1862, Mrs. Simons being the daughter of Horace and Louisa (Fox) Fox, old residents of that city. The Fox family was an old and highly respected Hartford family, and Mrs. Simons was born in Hartford. She was educated at the Old Brown School on Market street, one of the landmarks of old Hart- ford, and has many associations with the traditions of the city.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Simons were Baptists in religious belief, and for many years members of the South Baptist Church. They were earnest workers and generous givers in the cause of their church, aiding materially in the support of its many benevolences. So valuable were his services that
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George Dliver Simons
upon his death a memorial was placed there in honor of his good Christian life.
Mr. Simons was a fine type of citizen and the loss to the community occasioned by his death was a very real one. He combined in very happy proportion the qualities of a practical business man with those of the public- spirited altruist, whose thoughts are with the good of the community. It was by his own efforts that he rose from the humble position of a worker in an iron foundry to that of one of the city's successful merchants, and through all that long and worthy career he never conducted his business so that it was anything but a benefit to all his associates and to the city at large. He was frank and outspoken, a man whose integrity was never called in ques- tion, who could be and was trusted to keep the spirit as well as the letter of every contract and engagement he entered into. He was possessed of true democratic instincts, easy of access to all men and as ready to lend his ear to the humblest as to the proudest and most influential. These qualities gave him a host of admirers and friends from every rank and class in society.
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