USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 2
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Between the pursuits of the teacher and of the practical lawyer a natural alliance is manifest. The first often proves to be an admirable preparation for the second. Both aim to effect decisive action, through instruction and conviction. Superiority in the school augurs superiority in the forum. Mr. Averill prepared for the practice of law by diligent and thorough study in the office of the late Chief Justice Church, who was then a resident of Salisbury. Admitted to the bar of Litchfield County in 1837, he began professional business in his native town, and commanded the respect and confidence of its citizens from the outset. Various public offices of trust and responsibility were successfully and satisfactorily filled. In1 1843 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives, in which he served on several important committees, including that of claims, of which he was chairman.
He removed to Danbury in 1849, where he resided in full practice of the duties of his chosen profession until the time of his death. For the years 1851 and 1852, he served as judge of probate for the district of Danbury. In the spring of 1862, and annually thereafter for four successive elections, he was elected lieutenant-governor of the state on the same ticket with that excellent war governor, William A. Buckingham. Together they rendered most efficient service to the state and country until the close of the Rebellion.
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At his own residence he was the first to raise the Stars and Stripes on the arrival of the tidings that the nation's flag had been subjected to insult and outrage at Fort Sumter. Throughout the whole of the momentons struggle which ensued he powerfully aided, by personal influence and patriotic liberality, in the gigantic work of preserving the Union. He presided at many public meetings, and by word and deed in various ways encouraged military enlist- inc11ts into the service of the United States. He presented a beautiful standard of colors to the company of volunteers raised in Danbury, which assumed the name of the "Averill Guards." In 1868 he was again elected to the Legislature, and served as chairman of the judiciary committee.
Mr. Averill was a director in the Danbury National Bank, and of the Savings Bank of Danbury for many years. He has also acted as director and treasurer of the Danbury Mutual Fire Insurance Company since its organization, in 1851. In educational, as in fiscal affairs of the town and state, he has always exhibited the deepest interest, and for thirteen years sustained the office and performned the duties of trustee of the State Normal School.
Roger Averill was twice married. First to Maria D. White of Danbury. By this marriage he had four children : Arthur H., John C., Harriet E., and Minnie W. His second wife was Miss Mary A. Perry of Southport, Conn.
OUGLAS, BENJAMIN, of Middletown, ex-lieutenant governor of Connecticut and president of the W. & B. Douglas Company, was born at Northford, Conn., April 3, 1816.
The pedigree of the Douglas family can be traced backwards for more than two hundred years to the first American immigrant ancestor. Back again from that ancestor, this branch of the family in common with others has certain historical knowl- edge of its forefathers up to a period when authentic history is confused with the inists of tradition. The Douglas family presents marked hereditary traits. Vigorous, persistent, warlike and masterful, always, especially bold and aggressive when belligerent in defense of their rights-loyal and faithful unto death in season of warfare; in the times of peace their energies are devoted with equal force to overcoming the difficulties of politics, theology, law, medicine and mechanics. The Douglases of Middletown have achieved a preeminence in the field of hydraulics, that reminds the observer of similar victorious achievements on other and more celebrated scenes of activities.
Than the Douglas family, there is none more renowned in the romantic and thrilling histories of the Scottish people. The original arms of the Douglases in the days of chivalry were simply three silver stars on a blue field, a device which is held by heraldic antiquarians to indicate relationship with the Murrays. "The cognizance of Douglas blood," as Sir Walter Scott has expressed it, is given in Burke's Heraldry, and in ordinary language may be thus described : "Upon a field of silver, a man's heart, red, beneath an imperial crown, in its proper colors; above the dividing line, upon a blue ground, three stars of silver." The pages of English and Scottish history bristle with the exploits and victories, the defeats of the Douglases. Since the arms of the British monarch have borne the triple device of the rose, the thistle and the shamrock, there has been no battle of note wherein the red cross of St. George has flamed in the van, that some loyal and fiery Douglas has not spurred in its defence, and helped to bear it on to triumph.
Barn Douglas
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When the New World became accessible to the people of the Old, it could not well have been otherwise than that the Douglas blood and name should be represented in the influx of brave and conscientious settlers. William Douglas, son of Robert, of whom little is known, was born in Scotland in 1610. At the age of thirty he emigrated to New England with his wife and two children. Tradition states that they landed at Gloucester, and after a brief stay removed to Boston. He followed the cooper's trade, and in 1660, having purchased property in New London, he removed to that town, and received a grant of two farms in remuneration of his services. One of these, inherited by his son William, has remained in the family, in the direct line of his male descendants, for over two centuries. The other was inherited by his son Robert, and is still in possession of his direct male descendants.
Deacon William Douglas was active and efficient in the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the town, and was one of the commissaries of the army in King Philip's war. He also represented the town in the General Court for several sessions. When he died, his pastor, the Rev. Simon Bradstreet, noted the event in his diary, and added the simple but touching remark : "He was an able Christian and this poor church will much want him." William, the youngest son of Deacon Douglas, succeeded his father in the diaconate of the church and held that honorable office until his death. Then followed two more Williams in the family line. John Douglas, son of the fourth William, was lieutenant-colonel of the Eighth Connecticut Regiment, the best equipped in the colony, and was a man of great note in his day. Of the seven children of Col. John Douglas, William was the fifth. He served as orderly sergeant in the company under Israel Putnam, and in the expedition that captured Quebec and brought the war to an end, in 1759. After that he engaged in the West India trade and amassed what was then looked upon as a small fortune. Entering into the war between the colonies and the mother country with all the courage and enthusiasm of a Douglas of earlier days, he first raised a company and later a regiment. He contributed generously to the expense of enlisting and equipping his regiment, literally sacrificed life and fortune for his country, was a brave and faithful officer, and also a true patriot and Christian. His second son, a sixth William, was married January 28, 1797, to Sarah, daughter of Constant Kitland of Wallingford, by whom he had eight children, of whom Benjamin Douglas was the youngest.
Said a sketch of him: "The domestic training of young Douglas was such as ordinarily falls to the lot of scions of the substantial New England yeomanry. He worked on a farın throughout the months usually devoted to agriculture, and studied in the local schools in the winter. At the age of sixteen, he began to learn the trade of a imachinist in Middletown, and in 1836 entered into the employment of Guild & Douglas, its specialty being the manufacture of iron pumps, the business having been established by his brother William in 1832. Three years later Benjamin and his brother purchased the entire interest in the business, formed a co-partnership and conducted their affairs under the style and title of W. & B. Douglas. Their manufactures for the next three years were those of an ordinary foundry and machine shop. They supplied steam engines and other fabrica- tions to the neighboring factories. But in 1842 they invented the famous revolving stand cistern pump, and conceived the idea of making pumps their staple article of production and commerce.
Since the reception of their first patent, perpetual improvements in structure and style have been effected, and over one hundred additional patents obtained to cover those developments and kindred constructions. In Europe, also, their rights are protected by similar issues. Old prejudices in favor of ancient instruments they soon discovered could
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only be overcome by persistent energy, and Benjamin Douglas went from dealer to dealer with a pimp under his arm, explained its superioritics and demonstrated the propriety of adopting it. Success came slowly, notwithstanding liis determined efforts. Not more than tlirec hundred pumps were sold in the first twelve inonthis. After that the demand rose rapidly. Popular appreciation was fairly won and wide reputation and lucrative sales followed.
In 1858 William Douglas, the senior partner, died, and the entire control of the business devolved upon the survivor. Up to that time, William had devoted himself principally to the manufacturing department, in which his experience and genius were of great service, while Benjamin, with equal aptitude, had bestowed his forces mainly on the mercantile branch. The year following the concern was reorganized under a charter conferred by special act of the legislature, as a stock company, which retains the old firm title of W. & B. Douglas,- of which Benjamin Douglas is president ; and his sons, John M. Douglas the secretary and treasurer, and Edward assistant secretary. Joseph W., a son of William Douglas, is superintendent of the manufacturing department.
Continuous prosperity is, and always has been, a characteristic of the company, and is in strict harmony with the mechanical skill and wise provision of general need that are essential factors of its success. Not less conducive to the confidence universally felt in their work is the conscientious integrity invariably incorporate with it. Pumps, like the men that operate them, have consciences. The difference between the two is that pumps possess the consciences of their makers ; the users of pumps only possess their own. The little one-storied wooden shop, 60 x 40 feet, in which the manufacture commenced, and in which it also continues, is in marked contrast with the numerous massive roomy buildings that have since been added to it. The foundry is the largest in Connecticut, the furnace of the most approved construction, and the castings remarkable for their excellence. More than twelve hundred styles and sizes of pumping apparatus attest the hydraulic knowledge of the proprietors, and minister to all the varieties of civilized wants. Pumps for artesian and for ordinary wells; force pumps for boilers and for manufacturing needs; chain pumps, fire engines, garden engines, rotary pimps for the elevation of liquor; air pumps, gas pumps, and many other kinds of pumps; pumps made of brass, of iron, of copper, of composite inetal, are supplied in quantities on the briefest notice. One of the most useful of them all is the improved tube or drive-well apparatus. Settlers in the western states and territories prize it supremely, while exploring expeditions and marching military detachments find it exceedingly useful.
Wherever the hydraulic machines of W. & B. Douglas are exhibited they carry off the highest prizes for utility and worth. The first inedals were awarded to thein at the Paris Exposition in 1867; in 1873 they received the Grand Medal of Progress, the highest honor at Vienna; in 1876 at Philadelphia, and again at Paris, they bore off the palmn against all competitors. The demand for the Douglas hydraulic machines is co-extensive with modern civilization. Not only throughout the United States, but in the British Provinces, in South America, the Sandwich Islands, Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa, do they find a ready market, and hold their preeminence as prime favorites.
Men of Mr. Douglas's stamp are invariably called upon to serve their fellow citizens in an official capacity. He has repeatedly represented his town in the General Assembly of the state; from 1849 to 1855 he was mayor of the city of Middletown. In 1861 he was chosen as one of the presidential electors of Connecticut, and cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln, and in 1861-62 he was lieutenant-governor of the state, serving with the famous war governor, W. A. Buckingham. During the trying scenes at the opening of the war he bore himself steadily and well, ably assisting the chief executive in the important work
Tada by H.B.Hall's Jins, New York.
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in which he was engaged. Mr. Douglas was president of the First National Bank of Middletown from 1864, the year of its organization, to 1894; he is also president of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Savings Bank of Middletown, and is one of the trustees of the Wesleyan University, which is located in his own city.
Like nearly all his American ancestors, he is a member of the Congregational Church, with which he identified himself in early life, and is a generous supporter of the South Church in Middletown. A inodel business inan, by his intelligence and enlightened supervision of the concern in all its details and relations, he has expanded its proportions to their present enormous size. Sagacious, experienced and resolute, but gentle withal and devoid of ostentation, he has been admirably qualified for his post, and also for judicious ministration to the welfare of the company's employes, and to the needs of society, whether local, national or universal.
Benjamin Douglas was married April 3, 1838, to Mary Adeline, daughter of Elias Parker of Middletown, and niece of Major-Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield, U. S. A., who was slain at the battle of Antietam, while in command of the Eleventh Corps. Of the six children who have been the fruit of this union, John Mansfield, the eldest son, Benjamin the fifth, and Edward the youngest, are connected in important managerial capacities with the W. & B. Douglas Company.
W ELLES, GIDEON, of Hartford, was born in Glastonbury, Conn., July Ist, 1802. He was secretary of the navy during the administrations of both Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, holding the office for a longer time than any of his predecessors or successors. He comes of the primitive Puritan stock. Thomas Welles, the original settler, was in Hartford as early as 1636, was the first treasurer of the colony from 1639 to 1651, commissioner of the United Colonies in 1649 and 1654, and governor of Connecticut in 1655 and 1658. The estate in Glastonbury upon which Mr. Welles was born was purchased from the Indians by Governor Welles in 1640, and has never passed from the hands of his descendants.
After passing through the public schools, Mr. Welles attended the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire, and completed his scholastic education at Norwich University. He was at first inclined to enter the legal profession, and read law in the offices of Chief Justice Williains and Hon. William W. Ellsworth; but later circumstances decided him toward a political life, and he did not engage in general practice. In January, 1826, he became editor and one of the proprietors of the Hartford Times, and upon the disorganization of the old Republican and Federal parties, he was active in organizing the Democratic party in that state. The Times, under the auspices of Mr. Welles, was the first paper in New England to sustain General Jackson, and after his election, as Connecticut was represented by his opponents in Congress, he was more than any man in the state President Jackson's confidential friend and advisor in the local affairs of the state. He continued to edit the Times until the close of Jackson's administration, and was a large contributor to its editorial columns until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.
Mr. Welles was elected to the Legislature from Glastonbury in 1827, and was the youngest member of that body. He was repeatedly re-elected until 1835, when he was appointed by the Legislature comptroller of public accounts. In the politics, legislative
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action, and important measures of the state, for more than forty years, Mr. Welles bore a distinguished part, and the different measures and policy advocated by him ultimately became successful. As a counsellor and advisor, his party friends gave him their entire confidence, and the results of his suggestions justified their selection. Hc was a strenuous opponent of special legislation, and took a prominent part in advocating the abolition of imprisonment for debt. He was also one of the advocates of low and uniformn rates of postage, and of many other reforms now universally conceded as wise.
Upon the election of Judge Niles (then postmaster of Hartford), to the Senate in 1836, Mr. Welles was appointed to succeed him, the Hartford post office being one of the inost important distributing offices in the country, making the distribution of inails for all New England. He remained in this position until the change of administration in 1841, when he was removed. In 1842 he was elected comptroller by the people, the Constitution having been changed, making the office elective, and was re-elected the following years. In 1846, Mr. Polk, without solicitation and very unexpectedly, appointed Mr. Welles chief of the bureant of provisions and clothing of the Navy Department, a position which he retained until the summer of 1849.
The Missouri Compromise, followed by the Kansas aggressions, led to new party organiza- tions ; the Republican party came into existence, and Mr. Welles was early active and promni- nent in organizing it. In Connecticut, the Hartford Evening Press was started to advocate its views, and he became one of its principal contributors. In the spring of 1856 he was the candidate of the party for governor, but the movement failed of success. The Republican Convention in Philadelphia in the same year appointed him a member of the National Committee, and for eight years he was one of its executive members. He was also chairman of the Connecticut delegation to the convention at Chicago which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the presidency.
When Mr. Lincoln took the presidential chair in 1861, Mr. Welles was invited to a seat in the cabinet as Secretary of the Navy. The breaking out of the Rebellion soon made evident that the position was one of great responsibility, and the selection proved to be an eminently wise one. Mr. Welles took the ground in the outset that the Government onght not to declare a blockade, but by proclamation close our ports to foreign commerce. If the blockade was declared, it proclaimed to the world that an independent power was being dealt with, and the rules and practice of international law must be observed. If the ports were closed, an insurrection on the part of the southern states only was admitted, which was a domestic affair, bringing the violators under our municipal laws, to be treated according to the decision of our own courts. The matter was warmly discussed in the cabinet, and a blockade was finally declared. Had the views advanced by Mr. Welles. prevailed, a large part of the cost of maintaining the fleet necessary to patrol our coast, in accordance with the provisions of international law, would have been saved. As the war progressed, Mr. Lincoln saw the mistake and regretted the decision inade.
It will be impossible to detail or follow to any extent the successive steps which led to the creation of a naval force, whose operations during the war shed a new lustre upon the naval history of our country ; but to be able to estimate properly the great executive ability and remarkable foresight of the secretary, certain points should be touched upon. When Mr. Welles assumed charge of the navy departinent, in 1861, the total force of the navy in commission, including tenders and store ships, was 42 vessels, carrying 555 guns, and having a complement of 7,600 men. At the commencement of the session of Congress. in December, 1861, Mr. Welles was able to report that when the vessels repairing, building and purchased were ready for use, there would be in the service 264 vessels, carrying 2,557
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guns, and that over 200 of these vessels were then in commission, the number of the seainen being not less than 22,000. One year later, December, 1862, there were 427 vessels, carrying 3,268 guns, and 28,000 seamen ; December, 1863, 588 vessels, carrying 4,443 guns, and 34,000 seamen ; and in December, 1864, there were 671 vessels, carrying 4,610 guns and 45,000 seamen. Many of these vessels, built expressly for the service, were of the most modern construction, and of a powerful and effective character. No such record has ever been shown by any other maritime power. It not only tested the energy of the directing authority, but in a large measure the resources of the country.
Not less creditable were the ineasures adopted by Mr. Welles for the prompt creation of a large force of iron-clad vessels. Impatient of delay, in view of the condition of the country and what an iron-clad force might accomplish, on the 3d of February, 1862, he addressed a letter to the naval committee of the Senate, urging immediate action 11pon the House bill which he had worked through in the fall of 1861. The Senate was stimulated to action by this, and a bill authorizing the construction of twenty iron-clad vessels was approved February 13th. The memorable engagement between the " Monitor " and the " Merrimac " took place on the 7th of March following, and immediately the public pulse in all sections of the country beat high for armored ships. But the foresight of Mr. Welles had anticipated the call of the people, and the work of constructing an iron-clad navy had already been commenced - a navy which did honor to the inventive genius of the country, and reflected the highest credit upon the Secretary, under whose guidance and fostering care this great initiation in a new naval policy was so successfully carried out. The steps taken by Mr. Welles in the introduction of turretted iron-clad vessels and heavy ordnance, botli of which are the outcome of our civil war, it is no exaggeration to say, have revolutionized the preparations for naval warfare throughout the world.
The first step in what subsequently became the policy of the government was inaugurated by Mr. Welles as Secretary of the Navy. To return fugitive slaves to their masters, he said, "would violate every principle of humanity, and would be impolitic as well as cruel." He therefore enlisted thiem for service, giving them reasonable compensation, as early as September, 1861.
Mr. Welles held the office of Secretary of the Navy during the entire period of President Lincoln's administration, and that of his successor, President Johnson, two full terms, and longer than any of his predecessors. When differences arose relative to the reconstruction measures, Mr. Welles resisted the idea that the states lately in rebellion should be considered out of the Union, or deprived of their constitutional rights, and claimed that many of the measures adopted by congress with reference to them were quite as repugnant and destructive to our republican system as the attempt of a state to withdraw or secede. He adhered to his lifelong principles, and much disturbance would have been avoided had his voice prevailed.
Soon after retiring from the navy departinent, Mr. Welles purchased the residence in Charter Oak Place in Hartford, where he continued to reside. His leisure moments were, to some extent, employed in essays and compiling accounts of important events connected with the rebellion, and the administration of which he was a member, most of which were published in the Galaxy or Atlantic Monthly. During his residence at Washington, Mr. Welles kept a diary of important and inside occurrences, notably the discussions at cabinet meetings and the opinions of distinguished men upon public events, as gathered in personal interviews. This record enabled him authoritatively to correct many statements put forth as history, placing important events in their true light, and giving to individuals their proper positions. His last articles passing through the press at the time of his death, were the series in the Atlantic Monthly, defending Mr. Lincoln, whom he greatly admired, fromn charges made by Gen. Dick Taylor in an article in the North American Review.
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