USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 13
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President Clark has found time to obey the call of his fellow-citizens to serve them in an official capacity. In April, 1880, he was elected a member of the Board of Aldermen, and filled that position for two years. He was appointed the aldermanic chairman of the ordinance committee, the mayor holding the chairmanship ex officio, and in this situation he rendered excellent service to his constituents. At the conclusion of his terin in the Board of Alderinen he was appointed a member of the Board of Water Commissioners, and held that position for nine years, rendering some of the most efficient and practical service the commission has ever seen. Financial and other corporations have called for and received a portion of his time and energy. In July, 1875, he was chosen a director in the Travelers' Insurance Company ; in January, 1879, he became a director in the City Bank ; July, 1883, he was made a director in Mechanics' Savings Bank; in June, 1891, he was elected trustee of the Society for Savings, and in January, 1893, trustee of the Holland Trust Company, New York.
Benevolent and charitable institutions have ever found a friend in President Clark. In April, 1880, he was made a member of the corporation of the Hartford Hospital, and in April, 1890, he was elected a director of the Retreat for Insane. He is a valued ineinber of the Connecticut Historical Society, and takes a zealous interest in all its transactions. Before he had attained his majority, he was an enthusiastic member of the original "Wide- Awakes" of 1861, and was an active participant in the doings of that noted organization. His Republicanism in 1893 has as true a ring as in the days of the great presidential cam- paign of 1860. Mr. Clark is a member of the Veteran Corps of the old first company of the Governor's Foot Guard.
His religious affiliations are with the first Baptist Church, of which he has been clerk of the society and member of the society's committee for more than a quarter of a century. Aside from his liberal contribution to the support of the church and its numerous charities, President Clark is an active personal worker in the vineyard of the Lord. The president of
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REPRESENTATIVE MEN
the Atna Insurance Company holds a unique position in the minds of Hartford people, but not alone as thic representative of an immense corporation, is Mr. Clark held in high estccm by the citizens of the capital city. Of all that goes to make up a mnodel eitizen he is an excellent type, and his reputation as a man and as an insurance official stands on equal terms. Having but barely passed the half century mark, President Clark lias yet many years opening out before him in which to make the record of the Ætna grander and more magnificent than that attained by his honored predecessors in the past.
May 13, 1863, Mr. Clark was married to Caroline H., daughter of the late Philemon F. Robbins. Five children blessed this union, but only the three daughters are living, the two sons having died in early youth.
OWARD, JAMES LELAND, ex-lieutenant-governor of Connecticut, was born in Windsor, Vt., the 18th day of January, 1818. His ancestors came from England and originally settled in Massachusetts some time previous to 1650. Benjamin Howard, Jr., was born in Mendon, Mass., the 23d of August, 1713, married Mary Wheaton and died at Jamnaiea, Vt., the 29th of October, 1783. He had eighteen children, sixteen sons and two daughters. Calvin, his son, was born in Mendon in 1762, and married Hannah Wellman. He removed to Jamaica, Vt., in 1780, with his father and six brothers, and died at Gouverneur, N. Y., in 1850. He had twelve children, seven sons and five daughters. Leland, his son, father of James L., was born in Jamaica, Vt., the 13th of October, 1793, and died at Rutland, Vt., the 6th of May, 1870. He was a prominent elergyman of the Baptist church, commeneed preaching when only seventeen years of age, his first settlement being at Windsor, Vt., in June, 1816, and during his ministry of more than 50 years, he was pastor of Baptist churches in Windsor, Vt., Troy, N. Y., Brooklyn, N. Y., Norwich, N. Y., Newport, R. I., Meriden, Conn., Hartford, N. Y., and Rutland, Vt. He was a man of broad and generous character, loved his work as pastor and was greatly beloved and honored by his many parishioners. It was said of him at his death : "Such was Leland Howard ; he has finished his course, he has kept the faith, he has left no stain upon his character or his profession ; he was a good man and just." He was married in June, 1816, to Lucy Mason, daughter of Capt. Isaiah Mason of Ira, Vt., and had eight children, four sons and four daughters.
James Leland, his eldest son, the subject of our sketeh, received a practical business education and entered upon a mereantile life in the city of New York in 1833. At the age of twenty he removed to Hartford, Conn., and in 1841 formed a co-partnership with Edmund Hurlburt under the firin name of "Hurlburt & Howard," for the manufacture and sale of carriage and saddlery hardware, their place of business being next north of the City Hotel on Main street. He eventually purchased Mr. Hurlburt's interest and soon after admitted his brothers to the partnership under the firm name of "James L. Howard & Company." This firm was one of the first in the United States to engage in the manufacture and sale of railroad car furnishings, and to this business the firmn devoted its best energies and resources with marked suecess. In 1846, the firm built their extensive block and factory on Asylum street, where the business is still continued. In 1876, a special charter was granted by the state giving the partners a corporate relation, but retaining the old title of "James L. Howard & Company," and James L. Howard has been president of the corporation since its organization.
James LAtowards
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
Mr. Howard is eminently a man of affairs and the financial and business interests of Hartford have, for the past fifty years, engaged his earnest attention. He was chosen a director in the Phoenix Bank in 1854, and still retains his place on the board. He was one of the corporators of the Travelers' Insurance Company and has been a director from the date of its organization in 1864; also vice-president of the Hartford County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and president of the Hartford City Gas Light Company since 1880; and director in a number of manufacturing companies, where his business ability is recognized and his counsel appreciated. In 1846, Mr. Howard was appointed agent of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, N. J., and his own policy bears the early number of " 1079." It was in his counting room that some of the first conferences were held which resulted in the organization of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford, the leading spirits in the enterprise being Dr. Guy R. Phelps and Elisha B. Pratt, Esq. Active in politics, though never seeking office, Mr. Howard has honored and received honor from inany official positions, acting successively as councilinan, alderinan, park commissioner, for many years a member of the high school committee, and also one of the building com- mittee and treasurer of the funds appropriated for the erection of the present high school building. Originally a Whig, he naturally became a Republican when the party of "free inen, free speech, and free soil," was organized in 1856, and to these principles he lias willingly given an earnest, never wavering support.
In 1886, he was nominated by the Republican State Convention for the office of lieutenant- governor, and the nomination was ratified at the polls. With that courtesy and fairness for which he is everywhere respected, he presided over the deliberations of the Senate with dignity and retired with the esteein of his associates, regardless of party lines. With his religious convictions, Governor Howard entertains no compromise; he is a representative lay- man of the Baptist church, and where duty calls him there he will be found. He was the first president of the Connecticut Baptist Social Union and reelected for several terins; is now president of the board of trustees for the Connecticut Literary Institution of Suffield; was president of the Connecticut Baptist Convention from 1871 to 1876; of the American Baptist Publication Society from 1881 to 1884; of the American Baptist Home Mission Society from 1890 to 1893 ; is president of the Connecticut Baptist Education Society, and one of the board of inanagers of the American Baptist Missionary Union. He is trustee of Brown University at Providence, R. I., of Shaw University at Raleigh, N. C., of Spelman Seminary at Atlanta, Ga., of the Newton Theological Seminary at Newton, Mass., and of the American Baptist Education Society. He united with the First Baptist Church of Hart- ford, in January, 1841, and was chosen a deacon in 1857. His principal religious work has been in the interest of his own denomination, but he is liberal in his judgment of others and helpful in all good works. A pleasing episode in Mr. Howard's life was the remein- brance by his own church in Hartford of his fiftieth anniversary of continued and faithful service, and the expression of heartfelt congratulations by the church and society, that with unabated force and vision he was still at the work which he loved, and with those who loved him. This testimonial was a spontaneous acknowledgment of eminent service in the Master's work, expressed in fitting words by his lifelong friend, Hon. James G. Batterson, and was ordered by a unanimous vote to be engrossed and spread upon the records of the church.
Mr. Howard's family and social life has been one of continuous sunshine. He was married on the first day of June, 1842, to Anna, daughter of Hon. Joseph B. Gilbert, ex-treasurer of the State of Connecticut. They had five children, three of whom are living: Alice, wife of Hon. Edward B. Bennett, postmaster of Hartford; Edith Mason, and Mary Leland. Two have died : Anna, when four years old, and Julia, who married Walter R. Bush of Troy, N. Y., leaving one child, Julia Howard Bush.
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NGERSOLL, CHARLES ROBERTS, LL.D., of New Haven, ex-governor of Connecticut, was born in the city where he now resides, Sept. 16, 1821.
The name of Ingersoll is one of the most notable in Connecticut, and also in other New England states. Members of the family have occupied conspicuous social positions in colonial times as well as in the later history of the state. One of Governor Ingersoll's uncles was judge of the United States District Court of Connecticut, another was an officer in the United States Navy, and another uncle was a distinguished divine in the Protestant Episcopal Church. General Colin M. Ingersoll, his brother, was Representative in Congress from 1850 to 1854, and still another served for many years as an officer in the United States Navy. His great-grandfather, the Rev. Jonathan Ingersoll, was a Congregational minister at Ridgefield, and grandfather, Judge Jonathan Ingersoll, was among the foremost members of the legal profession in his day, and was a man of intrinsic moral worth, and hield many influential public positions. Ralph I. Ingersoll, father of Charles R., was even more prominent than his predecessors. Nominations to the United States Senate and to governorship of the state were declined peremptorily, the resolve to accept 110 political honors which would interfere with the practice of his profession was immovable-save in a single exception. In 1846, President Polk appointed him minister plenipotentiary to the Russian court, without his knowledge or consent, saying in the official letter, "In this instance, at least, the office has sought the man, and not the man the office," and added, "I hope you may accept the highly honorable and responsible station now tendered you." The nominee did accept the post, and for two years rendered great service to the country and honor to the station, as well as himself. He then returned to his profession and practiced it with remarkable vigor and unqualified success for the next twenty years. He married Margaret Von Heuvel of New York, a lady of Dutch ancestry.
Receiving his preliminary education in the public schools of his native city, young Ingersoll entered Yale College, and was graduated near the head of the class of 1840. He inade a brilliant record for himself, but as the "D. K. E.," "Skull and Bones," and other socicties of to-day were not in existence then, his associations were simply with the literary and general social life of his college days. The two following years were spent visiting Europe as a member of the official family of his uncle, Captain Voorhees, commander of the United States frigate "Preble." He wisely improved the opportunity thus afforded for broadening his mind and increasing his stock of knowledge. Returning to New Haven, he entered the Yale Law School, in which he enjoyed the benefit of two years' instruction from Judge Samuel J. Hitchcock, Chief Justice David Daggett, and the Hon. Isaac H. Townsend. Being admitted to the bar in 1845, he associated himself in practice with his distinguished father, and, until the decease of that gentleman thirty years after, sustained the relations of law partner to him. Throughout that lengthy period he was engaged as counsellor in numerous important suits, which were handled in such a masterly manner as to gain for him a wide reputation as a wise, upright, and eminently successful lawyer.
Educated under the immediate eye of his father, and, except the two years spent abroad, always in intimate connection with him, it was but natural that politics should share much of his attention. As the father sought a controlling influence in the state and nation, solely for the purpose of preserving their safety and prosperity, and of conserving and improving their morals, so in the same sense the younger Ingersoll became, and has continued to be, a politician. Public stations have sought his acceptance, although he has never sought them. It has been said of him: "He has declined inore nominations than he has accepted, and refused more offices than lie has filled." In the sessions of 1856-57-58, he represented the town of New Haven in the State Legislature, and occupied influential places on committees, making his cultured power as a speaker felt on the floor. He again served
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
as a representative of New Haven at the State House. A nomination to the State Scnate he declined, but his oratorical power, his tried integrity, and his comprehensive knowledge of legislation, rendered his services invaluable in the lower branch of the legislature. As a member of the National Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1864, which nominated Gen. McClellan for the presidency, Mr. Ingersoll acted on the committee on resolutions. In 1872, he was again chosen as delegate to the National Convention at Baltimore which nominated Horace Greeley, and on this occasion he served as chairman of the Connecticut delegation.
The Democrats of Connecticut first nominated Mr. Ingersoll for governor in 1873, and eminent politicians certainly dictated their choice. The honor was unsought, and he shrank from the responsibilities which it brought, and it required much persuasion before he yielded to the general wish. When the votes were counted it was found that he was elected by a handsome majority, running far ahead of his ticket in his own town and county. Giving the state a clean and judicious administration, he was nominated and elected to the governor- ship a second time the following year, this time receiving a majority of over 7000 votes. His constituents would not consent to be deprived of his services in the gubernatorial chair, and in 1875 his name was again presented for the suffrages of the citizens of the state. At this election he received the highest number of votes ever polled for governor previous to that time. In this year Governor Ingersoll signed the bill which had received a two-thirds vote of each house, providing for and submitting to the people an amendment to the Con- stitution of the state which made an official terin of all state officers and state senators biennial, changed the date of the annual election from April to November, and terminated his own duties as chief magistrate in January, 1877. He had the honor of being numbered with the "Centennial" governors of the several states composing the American Republic in 1876. His wisely directed and persistent energy is largely responsible for the creditable representation of the great manufacturing and other capabilities of Connecticut inade at the International Exhibition held at Philadelphia. Foreseeing the benefit which must accrue from such an enterprise, in his public capacity, he used all his powers to make it a decided success.
At each successive election his competitors were inen of high grade, and worthy repre- sentatives of their party. His first rival for the governorship was Mr. Henry P. Haven of New London. In 1874, it was Hon. Henry B. Harrison, afterwards governor of the state; the following year Mr. Lloyd Greene of Norwich was the candidate, and for his last rival he had Hon. Henry C. Robinson, the popular ex-inayor of Hartford. On his retirement from the gubernatorial chair, Governor Ingersoll carried with him the unfeigned praise and honest admiration of political friends and opponents alike. Said one of the latter: "Very few men could be named for office by that party (the Democratic) in whose success the people of opposing views would so cheerfully acquiesce." In the comparative privacy of unofficial life he indulges his scholarly tastes, and charms all who come in social contact with him by his unaffected courtesy and dignified bearing. Having passed the Biblical limit of three-score years and ten, he is now quietly enjoying the fruits of the labors of his earlier years. A writer in the University Magazine thus pleasantly alludes to himn : "Governor Ingersoll's record in public life is one which most statesmen can only hope for and envy, and it has received the praise of his bitterest political opponents. His career as a legal practitioner in New Haven is such as to make his snow-white head, his military bearing, and his charming personality, a byword throughout the state." Yale's recognition of his eminent services was the conferring of the degree of LL.D. in 1874.
Charles R. Ingersoll was married Dec. 18, 1847, to Virginia, daughter of Adiniral Gregory. The family now consists of four children, one son and three daughters. In the society of his wife and children, Governor Ingersoll has found some of the purest and most ennobling pleasures that fall to the lot of humanity.
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PARKER, CHARLES, of Mcriden, president of the Charles Parker Company, was born Jan. 2, 1809, in Cheshire, Conn. This was also the birth ycar of a galaxy of noted men prominent along different lines of activity. A very partial list would include Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin, president and vice-president respectively, William E. Gladstone, "the Grand Old Man, " Robert C. Winthrop, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Edgar A. Poe, Admiral John A. Dahlgren, Prof. Charles Darwin, and those staunch old abolitionists, Parker Pillsbury, Oliver Jolinson and Stephen S. Foster.
Parker has always been a familiar name in New England. The first of the naine in Connecticut was William Parker, who was one of the early settlers of Hartford and Saybrook. His son John was among the first planters at Wallingford, and, settling about two miles west of the village, gave the name to Parker's Farms. John Parker is recorded as being an active business man and one who did inuch for the advancement of the interests of the settlement - an example his descendants have closely followed. Of his family of ten children Edward was the eighth, and in his group of ten, Joel was the fourth. Of Joel's five children, Stephen was the youngest.
Charles Parker was the son of Stephen and Rebecca (Stone) Parker. At the age of nine years he was placed with a farmer by the name of Porter Cook, with whom he remained until he was fourteen. Farm work, interspersed with a limited amount of time spent in the public schools, occupied his attention until he was eighteen. His first experience in manufacturing was casting buttons for Anson Matthews of Southington. In August, 1828, Mr. Parker came to Meriden and went to work making coffee mills for Patrick Lewis. Just before his twen- tieth birthday he launched out into business on his own account on a capital of seventy dollars, taking a contract from Lewis & Holt for thirteen months to manufacture coffee mills. His shop stood nearly opposite his present fine residence, but little.did the hard working youth realize what the future had in store for him. By industry and economy he acquired eighteen hundred dollars on this contract. Making a co-partnership with Mr. Jared Lewis, they took another contract from Lewis & Holt, which, besides coffee mills, included ladles and skimmers. In January, 1831, he sold out to Mr. Lewis and purchased an acre of ground, on which he built a shop and manufactured coffee mills and waffle irons, going into the market with his own goods. Lewis & Holt failed in November, 1833, and Mr. Parker had the whole field to himself, and vigorously improved the opportunity. The same year he associated with him Edmund Parker, his brother, and Heman White, taking the firm name of Parker & White. They were doing a successful business in Alabama when the hard times of 1837 came upon the country, and the concern lost heavily, an embarrassment from which they did not recover for about six years. They were often advised to fail, but they decided otherwise, and finally paid their entire indebtedness in full. This partnership was dissolved in 1843, and Mr. Parker continued alone.
His business steadily increased, and in 1844 he added largely to his buildings, and put in steam power to take the place of the primitive horse power previously used. Mr. Parker was the first to manufacture plated spoons and forks and to plate hollow ware in Meriden. From time to time he added to the range of his products, until at length he was represented in the market by a great variety of goods. Intuitively he seemed to decide on the articles which would prove salable, and his judgment never erred. The value of a good name has been splendidly exemplified in Mr. Parker's experience. It was not long after he began business that he found the reputation which preceded him aided him materially in extending his sales, and new avenues were constantly being opened up in every market in the land.
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
Besides his factory at Meriden Center, at one time he carried on shops at East and West Meriden, Yalesville and Prattsville. More room was needed, and again and again he was called upon to enlarge his facilities, until the present extensive works have been the outcome.
Until 1877 Mr. Parker carried on the entire business alone, and his hand was kept on every detail of manufacturing. Finding the cares of the great establishment too heavy for his advancing years, and desiring to perpetuate the business he founded, he formed the present corporation of the Charles Parker Company. The capital is $500,000, and the officers are Charles Parker, president; Charles E. Parker, vice-president; Dexter W. Parker, treasurer, and W. H. Lyon, secretary. Though interested in all the business projects as ever, Mr. Parker leaves the active management to his associates, who through long years of connection with him have become as familiar with the conduct of affairs as he is himself. The bare enumeration of the list of articles inade by this firin would make a small pamphlet. The coffee mills which he began to make more than sixty years ago are still manufactured, though they are vastly improved, and are of all sizes and inany designs. To succeed in the face of strong competition is one of the best tests of true success. The United States government was looking for the lamp best adapted for use in the army, and from a mass of specimens, the "Parker" lamp was selected. This order was filled, and again the authorities called for bids for another supply of lamps modelled after the "Parker," and again the Charles Parker Company caine off victorious. Their trade is constantly increasing all over the known world. Even now, it extends to South America, Europe, Australia, the West Indies and other remote points. Wherever the Parker goods are introduced they at once obtain an exclusive foothold. It is the oldest industry in the city, and not only in Meriden, but with the entire trade, ranks with the very highest.
The gun department, which is carried on under the name of Parker Bros. for the purpose of distinguishing it from other branches of their extensive business, was organized during the rebellion of 1861-65, for the purpose of supplying arms for the Union army, and was successfully conducted on those lines until the close of that memorable struggle. After the close of the war the Parker company found themselves in possession of a large amount of machinery and stock adapted to the manufacture of guns, and at first devoted themselves to producing rifles for general use. Soon after they decided to undertake the manufacture of shotguns and took out their first patent in 1866, covering a combination for locking the barrels. New patents covering different devices were added soon after, one in 1872, covering the check-stop in opening barrels, and other important inventions were added in 1876, 1877, 1878 and 1879. In 1887 they patented their well-known hammerless action as now made, and added two other patented improvements in 1889.
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