USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 15
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Oct. 6, 1859, Elias C. Benedict was married to Sarah, daughter of Lucius Hart of New York. Four children have been born to them- Frederick Hart, who is associated with his father in business, Martha, now Mrs. Ramsay Turnbull, Helen Ripley and Louise Adele.
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AVIS, CHARLES HENRY STANLEY, was born in Goshen, Conn., March 2, 1840. He is the seventh in lineal descent from Dolor Davis, one of tlic original settlers of Barnstable, Mass., in 1634. His father, Dr. Timothy Fisher Davis, was a practitioner of medicine in Litchfield, Plymouth and Meriden, removing to the latter place in 1849, and where he died in 1870.
The early education of the subject of this sketch was obtained in the public schools of Meriden, where he was prepared for college, and under a private tutor pursued the studies of the freshinan and sophomore classes, and was prepared to enter the junior class when his plans were broken up, and he went to New York to live. Always having a predilection towards the study of medicine, he entered the office of Dr. William Baker of New York, and soon after matriculated in the medical department of the New York University, pursuing the full course. After receiving his diploma he pursued a post-graduate course and received a certificate of honor, signed by Drs. Valentine Mott, John W. Draver, Alfred Post and the rest of the faculty, in testimony of having passed one of the best examinations. After taking a course in the medical department of the University of Maryland, and a special course at the Harvard Medical school, he returned to Meriden and succeeded his father in the practice of his pro- fession. After five years lie went abroad for travel and study, and, after visiting Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Scotland and Ireland, he followed for several months the practice in the hospitals of London and Paris. Upon his return to Meriden, he very soon built up a large and lucrative practice, extending to the surrounding towns.
Dr. Davis was one of the founders of the Meriden City Medical Society, and was its secretary for several years. He became a member also of the New Haven County Medical Society and the Connecticut State Medical Society. In 1887, the late Lemuel J. Curtis donated some $300,000 for a Home for Old Ladies and Orphan Children, and Dr. Davis was appointed attending physician, and he has had the medical charge of the Home ever since. He has been a large contributor to the medical press. Among fifty or more articles con- tributed to medical journals and enumerated in the catalogue of the library of the surgeon- general at Washington, are "Report of one hundred and thirty cases of Diphtheria; " " Five cases of Puerperal Eclampsia ; " "Hereditary Influence ; " "Morbus Coxarius, Report of two cases ; " " Marriages of Consanguinity ; " "Clergymen's Sore Throat ; " " Infirmities of Genius ; " "Genius vs. Eccentricity and Insanity ; " " Is Consumption contagious ? " etc. He has attended at the birth of some six hundred children, but owing to his many duties he has been obliged to give up obstetric practice. Dr. Davis is examining physician for the Pennsylvania Mutual Life Insurance Company, the New York Life, United States Life, Mas- sachusetts Mutual, Equitable, New Jersey Mutual, Knights of Honor, Chosen Friends, New England Order of Protection, Golden Circle, A. O. U. W. and O. U. A. M., and during the past twenty-five years he has examined over one thousand applicants.
While greatly in love with his profession, which for many years has occupied his time from twelve to fourteen hours a day, Dr. Davis has found time to take up other pursuits which have been a source of pleasure and relaxation from the severe duties of his profession. When Mr. Davis first went to New York, he entered into partnership with Mr. Charles H. Thomas, a well-known philologist and translator, and opened a book-store for the sale of works particularly in the Oriental and classical languages, they being at that time the only firm making a specialty of philological works. Their store was also the headquarters for the sale of the works of Thomas Lake Harris, and other New Church writers. In a back room in this store the American Philological Society was organized, with Rev. Dr. Nathan Brown (formerly missionary to Assam, and who translated the Bible into Assamese, and afterwards
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missionary to Japan) as president, Rev. William U. Scott (afterwards missionary to Burmah) as vice-president, and Dr. Davis as corresponding secretary. Dr. Davis at this time, under Dr. Brown, took up the study of Hebrew and Syriac, which in after years he followed with Arabic, Assyrian, Ancient Egyptian, as well as the modern languages. He began at this time to form a library which at the present time contains some six thousand volumes.
At sixteen Dr. Davis began to contribute to the press. In his eighteenth year he con- tributed a column article every week for a year to the New York Chronicle. At this time he began to gather material for a history of Wallingford and Meriden ; and in 1870 he published this history, containing nearly one thousand pages, and tracing out some sixty genealogies of the early settlers. It is one of the largest and mnost complete of the New England local histories. Two thousand copies were printed, and every copy was sold. For four years Dr. Davis edited for the American Bookseller, the "Index to Periodical Literature," carefully indexing each month, under appropriate heads, the contents of some one hundred and thirty American and foreign periodicals.
While following the practice of Morrell Mackenzie in London, and Fournier in Paris, Dr. Davis became mnuch interested in the study of the throat, and the result was a work on " The Voice as a Musical Instrument," which was published by Oliver Ditson & Company, and has had a very large sale. Dr. Davis has been greatly interested in the education and management of backward and feeble-minded children. While abroad he visited the Institute des Enfants Arriérés at Gentilly, near Paris, the Scottish National Institution for Imbeciles at Larbert, Sterlingshire, Scotland, the Royal Albert Asylumn at Lancaster, and other like institutions. He has written largely for the press on the subject, and several of his articles were translated into Spanish and were published in El Reportorio Medico. Some of these articles were incorporated in a work entitled "On the Classification, Training and Education of the Feeble Minded, Imbecile and Idiotic." It is Dr. Davis's purpose to enlarge this work and publish another edition, as there has been a large demand for it.
One of the founders of the Meriden Scientific Association, Dr. Davis has for twelve years been the secretary and director of the department of ethnology and archaeology, and has edited the four volumes of its transactions. To these volumes he has contributed articles on the "Cycocarpus Gracilis ; " " The Discovery of America before Columbus ; " "A List of the Forest Trees and Slirubs found growing in Meriden," etc., and has read numerous papers on scientific subjects before the association. As the association exchanges with some four hun- dred home and foreign scientific societies, the duties of secretary have been no sinecure, and he has personally attended to all of the exchanges and correspondence, beside attending to his own correspondence, which averages from twenty-five to fifty letters a week.
For many years Dr. Davis has been interested in Oriental philology and archaeology. In . 1888, he published the first number of Biblia, a monthly journal devoted to Oriental research in archæology, epigraphy, ethnology, geography, history, languages, literature, religion, etc. It is also the organ of the Egypt and Palestine Exploration Funds. This journal has a large circulation in this country, and has subscribers in Great Britain, France, Germany, India, Japan, Egypt, Syria and New Zealand; also in the Hawaiian Islands. Dr. Davis has edited this journal for six years and has been a large contributor to its pages. In the first volume he published the Hebrew text of Genesis, for which he made a literal, interlinear translation. In connection with Rev. Dr. Camden M. Cobeen of Ann Arbor, Mich., Dr. Davis has written "A History of Ancient Egypt in the Light of Modern Discoveries," with an introduction by Rev. William C. Winslow, D. D., LL. D. This magnificent work, the finest ever published on the subject by private enterprise, is a large folio of some four hundred pages, and with one thousand illustrations. Nearly the whole of the first edition was subscribed for at twelve
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dollars before the work went to press. In 1894, Dr. Davis published an edition of the Ancient Egyptian " Book of the Dead." This unique work reproduces the seventy-nine plates of the Great Turin Papyrus, and the twenty plates of the Louvre Papyrus, with a complete translation of the 167 chapters. To this work Dr. Davis contributed an introduction, and chapters on " The Religious Beliefs of Primitive Peoples," " 'The Religion of Ancient Egypt," "Animal Worship i11 Ancient Egypt," "The Egyptian Pantheon," and "The Symbolisin of the Book of tlie Dead." Dr. Davis also autographed for this work M. Lieblin's valuable Index Alphabetique, whieli was photo-engraved. He has nearly completed a work entitled " The Pharaohs and their Times, or Egypt in her Magnificence and Grandeur," giving an account of the land and the people ; the tombs, temples and palaces ; the manner and customs, arts and sciences, par- ticularly during the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first dynasties, when Egypt had arrived at the height of her imagnificence and prosperity.
For a number of years Dr. Davis has been engaged in his magnum opus, an Egyptian- English and English-Egyptian Dietionary, which will contain some 12,000 definitions.
Notwithstanding his many duties, Dr. Davis keeps abreast with the times in all depart- ments of literature, receiving every month some fifty periodicals from France, Germany, Great Britain and this country, devoted to science, medicine, literature and art. He is one of the honorary secretaries of the Egypt Exploration Fund, and was one of the advisory council of the World's Fair Auxiliary, in the department of philology and Egyptology. To this department he contributed a lengthy paper on the religion of Ancient Egypt.
While not practically interested in polities except in the interest of good government, Dr. Davis was elected to represent Meriden in the General Assembly of 1873, and was the first Democratic representative that Meriden had sent in twenty years. At this session he served as chairman of the committee on education. He was elected again in 1885, and served as clerk of the same committee, and was sent a third time in 1886, when he served on com- inittees on insurance and on constitutional amendment. In 1885, he was nominated for judge of probate for the Meriden district, but declined. In 1886, he received the nomination for state senator for the sixth senatorial district, but lost his election by thirty-two votes, although in Meriden he ran two hundred ahead of the opposing candidate. In 1886, he was elected mayor of the city by a large majority, the first Democratic mayor since the city was incor- porated, in 1867. One of the local papers said : "His inaugural address showed that he was 10 novice in municipal government, and his administration has been characterized by ability, fidelity and impartiality." In1 1887, he was reelected mayor, and although nominated again in 1888, he declined the nomination, as he considered that he had devoted sufficient time to municipal affairs. During his administration he called a publie meeting to organize a Board of Trade, and was unanimously elected the president of the board. He also, in connection with Messrs. Webb and Burgess, organized three building and loan associations, and was presi- dent of the first two and a trustee of the third. To assist and build up these associations, Dr. Davis edited and published for a year a monthly journal of sixteen quarto pages devoted to building and loan societies, writing nearly all of the contents of each number. After nearly one thousand members had been obtained for the associations, the journal ceased publication, as it had accomplished its object.
In 1872, Dr. Davis was elected a member of the Meriden school board and has served in that capacity for twenty-two years. For five years he was the acting school visitor, visiting somne sixty schools twice every three months. For a number of years he has been chairman of the board. His annual reports showed a thorough knowledge of educational methods. When the high school was organized in 1882, Dr. Davis was elected a member of the com- inittee and has held the position since and is chairman of the committee. In 1889, he delivered
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a course of twelve afternoon lectures before the senior class, giving a critical and analytical history of English literature from Chaucer to the present day. The lectures proved so inter- esting that they were attended by an audience of over three hundred ladies, several of the local clergy and others. Dr. Davis also delivered other afternoon lectures at the high school on "Troubadours and Their Times," "Scandinavian Literature," and "The Influence of French and Italian Literature on early English Literature."
In 1891, the Legislature appointed Dr. Davis a trustee of the State Reforin School, now the Connecticut School for Boys. He is secretary of the board and on its most important cominittees. In 1893, seeing the necessity of a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, Dr. Davis prepared a petition which he caused to be circulated, and in two weeks some one hundred and forty names were signed, and the Meriden Humane Society was organized and afterwards incorporated. With the exception of the prosecuting officer the society is officered entirely by women.
Dr. Davis is fond of society and greatly enjoys a game of chess. He has been for a number of years a member of the Home Club. He is also a member and corresponding member of some thirty societies, among which are the American Oriental Society, American Philological Society, Society of Biblical Archaeology of London, Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Associate of the Victoria Institute and Philosophical Society of Great Britain, International Society of Orientalists, Société d'Anthropologie of Paris, American Association for the Advancement of Science," etc., including also some ten historical societies.
For twenty-five years Dr. Davis has been a member of the Masonic order, having taken the degrees in chapter, council and commandery of the York rite, including the Knights of Malta; and in the Scottish rite, the Lodge of Perfection ; Council of the Princes of Jerusalem ; Chapter of Rose Croix, H. R. D. M. ; and Consistory of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret ; in all, thirty-two degrees above the Knights Templars. He is also a noble of the Mystic Shrine. Besides being a member for twenty-five years of the Odd Fellows, he is a member of the Encampment, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Ancient Order of Foresters, Ancient Order of Shepherds, Knights of Pythias, Knights of Honor, Royal Arcanum, Order of Chosen Friends, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Past Warden of the New England Order of Protection, and is a member of numerous other benevolent and protective associations.
B
ULKELEY, WILLIAM HENRY, ex-lieutenant governor of Connecticut, and president of the Kellogg & Bulkeley Company, was born in East Haddam, Conn., March 2, 1840.
The genealogy of the Bulkeley family can be traced back in direct line to Robert Bulkeley, Esq., one of the English barons in the time of King John, in the thirteenth century. The name was originally spelled Buclough, and many of the title took a prominent part in the early history of Great Britain. From Baron Robert, in the tenth generation, the Rev. Peter Bulkeley, born in Bedfordshire in 1583, was the first of the name to emigrate to this country. He settled in Massachusetts in 1634, and was a man of considerable mark, being the purchaser of land from the Indians, and the founder of the town of Concord, in which he built the first house and of which he became the first minister. His son, Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, married a daughter of President Chauncey of Harvard College, and occupied no small place in the colonial days of Connecticut. He was
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a many sided man, and even in the nineteenth century would have gained an excellent reputation for himself. Tlich followed Reverend Jolin, almost equal to his father, who was the first minister of Colchester in this state. The second Jolin in the family linc was a judge, and is known in thic annals of his time as the Honorable John. His son, John Charles Bulkelcy, was the father of Eliphalet A. Bulkeley, a man of wide experience, who did mnuch for the upbuilding of Hartford. One of the organizers of the company, lic was chosen first president of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, later hc was clected president of the Ætna Life Insurance Company and filled that position for twenty-two years, leaving the company at his death in 1872 on a solid and substantial basis. He married Lydia S., daughter of Avery Morgan, and of the six children, William H. was the fourth.
When the subject of this sketch had reached the age of seven years, tlc family residence was transferred to Hartford, and he has since, with the exception of ten years, made that city his home. Young Bulkeley's education was obtained in the district and high schools of Hartford, those popular educators, T. W. T. Curtis and F. F. Barrows being his principal instructors. Leaving school before graduation, with an admirable record for application and scholarship, he entered the old and leading dry goods establishment of Thatcher, Goodrich & Stillman. After a short experience here, he sought for a place to broaden his knowledge of business affairs, and in March, 1857 he went to Brooklyn, N. Y., and secured a position with H. P. Morgan & Company, who were engaged in the same line of trade. Deciding to enter mercantile life for himself, he opened a dry goods store on Fulton street, Brooklyn, in 1861. This was conducted successfully for six years and showed the possibilities of the future inerchant.
In 1867, Mr. Bulkeley returned to Hartford and has since been a resident of the capital city. He at once organized the Kellogg & Bulkeley Company, to carry on the lithographing business, and was chosen president of the company, an office which he has filled to the present time.
For some time he served as vice-president of the Atna Life Insurance Company, of which his father was president for so many years, and of which his honored brother, Gov. Morgan G. Bulkeley, is now the head. He still retains a place on the board of directors. As director and other official, Mr. Bulkeley is connected with a number of banking, insurance and business corporations of Hartford. Among them are: The United States Bank, which he organized, the American National Bank, the Orient Fire Insurance Company and several of the manufacturing companies of the city and vicinity.
His love for the intricacies of the dry goods business, gained by a dozen years' experience in early life was still strong, and in 1878 Mr. Bulkeley purchased the "Bee Hive," a famous Hartford establishment. For the past sixteen years this has been the chief secular object of his attention, and he has managed its numerous departments with exceptional success. The business tact and executive ability required to successfully conduct a large retail estab- lishment are similar to those which are demanded in the building up of a manufacturing industry, and he would have been equally prosperous in any department of business to which he chose to devote himself. In the spring of 1894, he disposed of his interest.
Being one of the first to respond to the call for troops after the attack upon Fort Sumter, Mr. Bulkeley has a creditable war record. As a member of the Brooklyn City Guard, G Company, Thirteenth Regiment, New York National Guards, he went to the front with his command April 19, 1861. The organization was in service four months. In 1862 he organized Company G of the Fifty-Sixth Regiment, New York National Guards, and was elected captain. Through the Pennsylvania crisis of 1863, he was in Gen. "Baldy " Smith's
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division, and with it passed through all the dangers of that campaign. During the New York draft riots his regiment was ordered home, and the exigencies of the situation being ended, the regiment was disbanded, its term of service having expired.
In municipal and state politics Mr. Bulkeley has been both honored and burdened with official positions. For five years lie was a member of the common council board of Hartford, serving one year as vice-president and a similar terin as president of that body. At the expiration of membership in the council his constituents still desired to retain him in their service. He was made a member of the board of street commissioners, and by successive appointments filled that position for several years. Putting some of the same zeal and energy into the work which characterize his business relations, Mr. Bulkeley proved one of the inost efficient members the board has ever had. During the administra- tion of Gov. C. B. Andrews, he served as commissary general of the state of Connecticut.
At the Republican state convention in the fall of 1880, his friends brought forward his name for the nomination as lieutenant-governor, and their choice was made unanimous. This selection received triumphant ratification at the polls, and General Bulkeley served with credit as the colleague of Gov. H. B. Bigelow during the years 1881-82. As the
presiding officer of the Senate, le won and received the approval of that body, irrespective of party affiliations, for his fairness in ruling and his uniform courtesy during the sessions.
When the Republican convention assembled in the fall of 1882, General Bulkeley's was the only name mentioned prominently for the nomination for gubernatorial honors, and he was placed at the head of the ticket by acclamation. The nomination inade an exceedingly favorable impression on the state at large, and the campaign opened auspiciously.
Speaking of General Bulkeley, the Hartford Post said: "Our candidate for governor is now so well known throughout the state, that there is no occasion for any extended biographical notice. General Bulkeley has made a model lieutenant-governor, and has gained in popularity every day since his election, two years ago. A clear headed man of business affairs, an enterprising citizen largely interested in matters affecting local and state prosperity, socially mnost agreeable. and pleasant in manners, he possesses qualifications for the candidacy of an uncommon order."
In an article on the same subject, the New York Times had the following compli- mentary allusion to the candidate : "As a prominent business man of Hartford, an able and honest political leader, a citizen of high grade, and thoroughly deserving the distinction he has attained. The popular principle that should govern promotions seems to have had weight with the convention, and the lieutenant-governor who has discharged his duties acceptably to his fellow citizens is likely to be the governor of Connecticut."
The year 1882 will be remembered as one which was decidedly unpropitious for Republican candidates. It was the year in which Grover Cleveland received his phenomenal majority of nearly 200,000 in New York, and General Butler was elected governor of Massachusetts. On the face of the returns, Thomas M. Waller, General Bulkeley's Democratic competitor, had a majority of some 8,000 votes, but these included what were known as the "famous black ballots," cast in New Haven. The legality of the ballots was tested, and by the courts they were declared invalid in a plainly worded decision. The legislature was Republican in both branches, and after the verdict of the court had been promulgated, had any partisan action been taken, it will be readily seen that most un- pleasant complications would have ensued. General Bulkeley was equal to the occasion, and solved the Gordian knot of difficulty in a characteristic manner. In an open letter to the public, he renounced all possible claim to the governorship, and the letter was in every way worthy of the man.
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HARTFORD, Dec. 30, 1882.
CHARLES J. COLE, Chairman Republican State Committee,
Dear Sir : My attention has been called to the various communications which have appeared in the public prints, relating to the "black ballots," so called; I desire to say for myself that under no circum- stances-no matter what doubts may exist in regard to the legal elcetion of Gov. Waller-I cannot and have not for one moment entertained the idea that it would be possible for me to hold the office of governor under the existing circumstances, no matter what the general assembly may do or deelare; and any action they take, must be with the knowledge that in no event will I serve or take the position, which I believe it was the intent of the electors to give to another.
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