USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 20
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REPRESENTATIVE MEN
of the hoop skirts, and established a factory in New York, which was in charge of William F. Tompkins, and it was here that Mr. E. B. Dunbar got his first business experience. The New York factory was a marked success as long as it was carried on, but a change in prevailing fashions caused it to be abandoned. Edward L. Dunbar married Julia, daughter of Joel Warner, and of his six children, Edward B. was the second.
After passing through the common schools of his native town, young Dunbar's cducation received its finishing touches at the Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass. In the spring of 1860, before he had reached the age of eighteen, hic went to New York city to assist Mr. Tompkins in his father's factory. Five years later he returned to his old home, where he has since been occupied in the manufacture of clock springs and other small springs, under the firm name of Dunbar Brothers. This business was established by his father with half a dozen hands, the most crude processes being used, and the production being correspondingly limited. By the introduction of the improved machinery of the present time, thirty men can turn out from11 5,000 to 7,000 clock springs per day. In the last decade, the large clock manu- facturers have many of them commenced to make their own springs, so the business of the firm has changed to a considerable degree. They now devote themselves to making sinall springs for all kinds of purposes, and in the course of the year turn out millions.
Ever since Mr. Dunbar became a voter he has taken an active interest in politics, and has been a prominent worker in the ranks of the Democratic party. For over twenty years he has been a member of the Democratic town committee, and for six years served as chair- inan. He has always been a strong friend to educational interests, as his course in town meetings and his public speeches will bear abundant testimony. From the very establishment of the high school he has been chairman of the committee, and is also a member of the third district school committee.
Mr. Dunbar has held a large number of the official positions within the gift of his fellow citizens. He has been grand juror, and for over twenty years has been one of the registrars of voters. Always taking great interest in the fire department and the development of its efficiency, for the last ten years he has filled the responsible position of chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners. When he was made chairman the fire department had only hand engines, and it was in a large degree owing to his labors that two steam fire engines were purchased, and the morale of the department placed on a much higher basis.
At the State House Mr. Dunbar has passed four legislative terms with honor to himself and to the great satisfaction of his constituents. He was first sent to the lower branch to represent the town of Bristol in 1869, and was returned a second time in 1881, serving on the committee on claims.
His first experience as a member of the Senate was in 1884, and he was reelected in 1886, and on both these occasions he ran more than a hundred votes ahead of the state ticket in his own town. Being in the minority- party, only a small portion of the honors fell to his share, the chairmanship of the committee on federal relations and new towns and probate districts, made up the list. He has the proud consciousness of knowing that he has never yet been placed before the people for their suffrages when he suffered defeat.
Being a working man himself, Mr. Dunbar possesses a warm sympathy for the working classes, and while at the capitol he looked well to their interests. He was one of the inost earnest advocates of the weekly payment law, and in fact inaugurated the system in his own factory before the law was passed. In 1890, he was mentioned, with others, as a possible candidate for congressional honors, but he peremptorily declined to allow his name to be used in that connection, his business interests requiring his undivided attention.
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Dal1 8. Williams
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
A share of Mr. Dunbar's time has been devoted to financial institutions. He has been a director in the Bristol National Bank since it was organized in 1875, and is a vice-president in the Bristol Savings Bank. One of the prime movers in the organization of the Bristol Board of Trade, he was chosen vice-president, an office he filled for several years.
In religions faith Mr. Dunbar follows in the footsteps of his fathers, and is a member of the Congregational church of Bristol, and at different times has served as chairman of the society's committee. Not all of his activity in the canse of righteousness has been confined to the church of which he forins a prominent part. For the four years from October, 1886, to October, 1890, he served as president of the Bristol Young Men's Christian Association, and in this capacity rendered some valuable assistance to the cause of the Master whom he professes to serve among the young men of Bristol. In 1892, an effort was made to start a public library in the town, and Mr. Dunbar took hold of the movement with his accustomed zeal. He was chosen president of the organization, and did much to place it on the firm foundation where it now rests.
Edward B. Dunbar was married Dec. 23, 1875, to Alice, daughter of Watson Giddings, a carriage maker of Bristol. This union has been blessed by three children, of whom one daughter, Marguerite, and one son, Edward Giddings, are living. Mr. Dunbar and his family are living in the house built more than half a century ago, and for a time occupied by Chauncy Jerome, the famous clock maker. It has been entirely remodelled and every modern improvement introduced.
ILLIAMS, JAMES BAKER, of Glastonbury, president of the J. B. Williams Company, was born in Lebanon, Conn., Feb. 2, 1818.
W It was the year noted in the annals of our country as being the starting point of a large number of inen who were prominent in state and national affairs, as well as in the world of inechanics and manufacturing. Six governors of Massachusetts were born this year, and Connecticut can claim Gov. Richard D. Hubbard (once a schoolmate of Mr. Williams), United States Senator William H. Barnum, and Lieu- tenant-Governor James L. Howard.
The name Williams is very ancient in its origin, and it probably extends throughout the English-speaking world. Most of the earliest members of the name were doubtless of Welsh extraction. They formed a large portion of the principality of Wales in England, somewhat like the O's in Ireland and the Macs in Scotland. Many of the noted men and women of England and America have borne this name.
The first of this family to emigrate to this country was Robert Williams of Norwich, England. He settled in Roxbury, Mass., and was made a freeman in 1638. From him the family line comes down through (2) Capt. Isaac Williams, his second son, who settled in Newton, Mass., and was a deacon of the First Congregational Church in that place - and (3) his son William, who was for fifty-five years the minister of the church in Hatfield, Mass. This Rev. William Williams married first Eliza, a daughter of Rev. Seaborn Cotton, whose son, Rev. Elisha Williams, was for thirteen years the president of Yale College ; and for a second wife he married Christian, a daughter of Rev. Solomon Stoddard, D.D., of Northamp- ton, Mass., and a sister of the mother of Jonathan Edwards, D.D. (4) Her son, Rev. Solomon Williams, D.D., was pastor of the church in Lebanon, Conn., for fifty-four years. He married Mary, a daughter of Judge Samuel Porter of Hadley, Mass., and their oldest son,
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REPRESENTATIVE MEN
Eliphalet Williams, D.D., was pastor of the First Church in East Hartford for fifty-five years ; and his son, Rev. Solomon Williams of Northampton, Mass., was also a pastor in that place fifty-five years.
The second son of Rev. Dr. Solomon Williams of Lebanon was Ezekiel Williams, Esq., of Wethersfield, Com., who was the father of thic late Hon. Thomas S. Williams of Hart- ford, and for many years the chief justice of the state of Connecticut. His third son was Hon. William Williams of Lebanon, Conn., of whom it is said that "for more than ninety sessions he was scarcely absent from his seat in the legislature, except in 1776 and 1777, wlien he was a member of the Continental Congress, and as such signed the Declaration of Independence." His fourth son, and in this line the fifth, was Dr. Thomas Williams of Lebanon, who married Rebecca Wells, a lineal descendant of Gov. Thomas Wells, and who was the mother of the sixth of this line, Solomon Williams, also of Lebanon. He married Martha Baker, a daughter of Dr. Joseph Baker of Pomfret, now Brooklyn, Conn. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached that place, Gen. Israel Putnam and many of his. neighbors started for Boston, and his friend and physician, Dr. Baker, went with them as surgeon for the troops of Connecticut. Dr. Baker was at the battle of Bunker Hill, and also at Fort Griswold to attend the wounded and dying soldiers after the fight and inassacre at that place.
Mrs. Williams was of Huguenot descent, her mother being a daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, whose ancestors are traced back to prominent families in France about seven hun- dred years. Two of her brothers were officers in the United States Army during the war of 1812, and Col. Rufus L. Baker was connected with the ordnance department as late as 1857. The birth-place of Mr. Williams was the house built as a parsonage in 1710, by Rev. Samuel Wells, a kinsman of his grandmother, and in 1722 sold to and occupied by his successor in the ministry, Rev. Dr. Solomon Williams. Here, too, lived Dr. Thomas Williams a life of eighty-four years, and here his son Solomon lived and reared most of his ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth. This house is still standing, is in good repair, and is one of the noted homes in that old and historic town. In this house was forined and kept for many years the first circulating library in New England, among whose members were President Clapp of Yale College, Joseph Trumbull, the father, and Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, his son, who was for many years its secretary, and was succeeded in that office by Dr. Thomas Williams. The catalogue of books, their cost, and the records are still extant. On these premises during the winter of 1780 and 1781 a part of a regiment of five hundred French hussars, under the command of the Duke de Lauzun, were quartered, and with five other regiments from France were reviewed on the town common by General Washington. This venerable town has furnished the state five governors, for thirty-seven years, and several gov- ernors for other states, seven members of Congress for this and other states, and three United States senators.
In the public schools of this old town, of East Hartford and Hartford, supplemented by two short terms in the East Hartford Academy, Mr. Williams obtained what was supposed to be equivalent to a common-school education. To make up in part the felt deficiency, after entering a store where his time and labor was required for six days and evenings in a week till about nine o'clock, he made it his rule to study from nine till eleven at night and to rise at five in the morning and study till called to the day's business. This he continued for many years, and the habit thus formed has been a help to him during all his subsequent life. His first business experience was behind the counters of a country store at Manchester. At the end of four years he secured an interest in the business, under the name of Keeney & Williams. Two years later, he engaged in the drug business with his brother, George W. Williams (since of Hartford), and they began the manufacture of druggists' articles in a small way, and soon after they added the production of soaps, etc.
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
In 1847, he transferred his business from Manchester to Glastonbury, and set up manu- facturing in what was formerly Hale's grist mill, run by water power. The building was twenty-four by forty feet, with attic and cellar. For the first two years Mr. Williams carried on his operations alone, but in 1849, he was joined by his brother, William S. Williams, the naine becoming J. B. Williams & Company. For the first dozen years they manufactured soap, inks, blacking, etc., but about 1860, all other lines except the first were either sold out or dropped, and they have confined themselves wholly to that speciality ever since.
By always producing a superior article, an excellent reputation was soon gained for Williams' soaps, and now, after more than half a century of existence, there is not a cloud upon the fair name of the company. By gradual enlargement, the business, which started in the little building twenty-four by forty, has grown until it covers between 60,000 and 80,000 square feet of floor space. A walk through the various buildings reveals the fact that the plant is supplied with every possible labor-saving appliance, and nothing is omitted which will tend to improve the quality of their production. To the average man, the processes required to produce a high grade of soap are utterly unknown, but success is only attained by long experience combined with an intimate knowledge of the proper chemicals. The Williams' " Yankee Shaving Soap " is a popular article in all parts of the United States and Canada, and to their other specialties in 1885, they added the manufacture of "Ivorine," a washing powder which has found its way into a numerous array of families. The J. B. Williams Company can make the rare claim that it has never lost a customer while he continued business, and that, with scarcely if any exception, in no year since it has been in business has it failed to make an increase over the preceding one.
Though Mr. Williams grew up as a near neighbor of Governor Buckingham, and was the familiar friend of many of the public inen of the state, a couple of terins in the legislature will cover his entire official life. While at the capitol he was chairman of the committee on engrossed bills, and was a member of the committee on education and other committees of lesser note. He has often been solicited to allow his name to be used as a candidate for state and town offices, but has invariably declined, except in connection with schools or the Ecclesiastical Society and Congregational church of the town, in which last he has held the · office of deacon for over thirty-five years. His business energies have been practically confined to the building up of the widely known company which bears his name. He is also president of The Williams Brothers Manufacturing Company of Naubuc, Conn., and vice-president of The Vermont Farin Machine Company.
The "Memorial History of Hartford County " contains the following brief allusion to the fırın : " This privilege is now owned by The J. B. Williams Company, successors to Messrs. James B. & William S. Williams, who established themselves here before 1850, in the manu- facture of soaps of all kinds, ink and shoe blacking. Their business is now confined to the former articles. Their success consequent upon a career of active, intelligent business, is such as greatly to have benefitted themselves, their town, and all good enterprises."
James B. Williams was married Sept. 24, 1845, to Jerusha M., daughter of David and Jerusha (Hollister) Hubbard of Glastonbury. She died in 1866, and in July, 1869, he married Julie E. Hubbard, a younger sister. Mr. Williams has eight living children, of whom six are the children of his first wife.
The J. B. Williams Company, incorporated under the laws of the state, is composed of Mr. Williams and his sons, David W. and Samuel H., and of his brother, William S. Williams and his sons, George G. and Bernard T. Mr. Williams's second son, James S., is superin- tendent of The Williams Brothers Manufacturing Company at Naubuc. The young men in business, in society, and in the church are nobly filling the places soon to be vacated by their fathers.
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REPRESENTATIVE MEN
LSOP, JOSEPH WRIGHT, M. D., of Middletown. Born August, 1838, dicd June 24, 1891. The Alsop family of Connecticut was practically established by Thomas Wandell of Newtown through Richard Alsop, his nephew, whom lic brought from England when a mere boy, about 1665, and adopted as his son and heir. It is said of Mr. Wandell: "That the one act of his life which serves to perpetuate his name in local history, was his effort to thwart the burning of human beings for witchcraft. He was foreman of the jury which tried Ralph Hall and wife, and acquitted them." The great qualities of mind and heart possessed by Wandell were impressed upon his young protégé and relative, and these have been transmitted un- tarnished, through the succeeding generations down to the present time. Richard Alsop fell into possession of Wandell's property about the year 1691, and continued "lord of the manor " until his death in 1718. Of his three sons, John removed to Esopus on the Hudson River, where he became a prominent attorney. Richard Alsop, his son, was probably born at Esopus, and after receiving a thorough mercantile education, he came to Middletown about 1750. He was one of the pioneers of the West India trade, in which he was remarkably successful and accumulated a large fortune. There were no established insurance companies at this time, and he not only took his own risks but insured vessels for others on his private responsibility. He was a inan of broad, liberal views, public- spirited, and engaged heartily in all works of benevolence. Besides being a leading Mason in his town, he was a member of the state legislature, and also occupied other public positions.
. Capt. Joseph Wright Alsop, the eighth child and second son of Richard, was born March 2, 1772. The death of his father when he was but four years of age, left him dependent on his mother, to whose careful training he was indebted for his success in life. He became a sea captain, and re-opened the West India business established by his father many years before. Captain Alsop was a man deservedly popular, and proved himself a worthy representative of his distinguished predecessors. Joseph W. Alsop, Jr., third child of Captain Alsop, was born in Middletown, Nov. 22, 1804. At an early age his father designed him for commercial pursuits, for which he had a special fondness and ability, inherited from his father and grandfather. Following in their footsteps he successfully engaged in the West India trade, and also interested himself in the development of rail- roads, being the first president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. Like those who had preceded him, he was a thorough business man, and a firm friend of the poor and unfortunate, for whom it is recorded that he frequently made personal sacrifices. Oct. 25, 1837, he married Mary Alsop, daughter of Francis J. Oliver of Boston, and the subject of this sketch was their only child.
After receiving his primary education, Dr. Alsop entered Sheffield Scientific School. In 1860, deciding to make the medical profession the means of future advancement, he engaged in the study of medicine, and in 1861 he was awarded the degree of M. D. from the medical department of the University of New York.
Taking an active interest in public affairs, Dr. Alsop was naturally called upon to serve his friends in official stations. In 1873 he was chosen to the lower house of the state legislature, this being his first experience as a law maker. He was senator from the eighteenth district in 1881, and was returned to the senate from the new twenty-second district for the years 1881-82, 1883-84, 1885-86.
Dr. Alsop was a member of the State Board of Agriculture from 1883 until his death, and gave no small share of his time to the work of the board. £ Everything affecting the farmer or his farm found in him a ready helper.
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
For ten years he was trustee of the hospital for the insane at Middletown, and for half a dozen years occupied the same position with the industrial school for girls, and in special fields rendered some efficient service. He was also visitor of the Sheffield Scientific School. He was an active friend to the development of all local institutions, and the work he gave to their advancement was simply limited by the amount of time at his cominand.
In the Democratic State Convention of 1890, Dr. Alsop received the nomination for the lieutenant-governorship, on the ticket with Hon. Luzon B. Morris. This honor came to him without any effort or solicitation on his part. When the votes were counted, he had an apparent majority of 566. On the assembling of the legislature, the senate and the house failed to concur regarding the status of the returns, and, with the single exception of the comptroller, no official was declared elected. An anomalous state of affairs prevailed, and under the constitution the old officers of two previous terins "held over." In company with Mr. Morris, he had begun quo warranto proceedings against the existing officers, but death ended all his claims to station in this world.
The death of Dr. Alsop produced a profound sensation of loss in Middletown. Flags were displayed at half mast throughout the city, and all places of business were closed during the funeral. The solemn services were conducted by Bishop Williams, assisted by Rev. Dr. Parks, rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity. The interment was in Indian Hill Cemetery. In the course of an article the Hartford Courant, a paper opposed to him politically, said :
The news of his death bronght a shock to the community where he resided, not alone on account of its snddenness, but because he was everybody's friend. Being possessed of large means, his acts of benevolence and charity were many, but always bestowed with modesty and lack of ostentation. He kept standing orders with the butcher and baker, whereby many poor families were kept from hunger, and yet no one knew of it save the parties immediately interested, A gentleman of genial and lovable habit, his advice and judgment were often songht. He was especially a valuable member of the board of trustees of the Hospital for Insane, and was rarely absent from their meetings. And yet he possessed a degree of firmness which would not permit him to swerve from a conviction once settled. Senator Alsop was a Democrat always, not seeking office, but ready to answer his party's call. Yet when the nomination for lieutenant-governor was offered him in 1890, he hesitated and accepted with misgivings, fearful that he could not endure the strain of the campaign on account of the malady which ended his life, and of the existence of which he had been painfully aware for some years. But he thoroughly believed that he was elected lieutenant-governor, and when urged by his party friends to preside over the Senate, neglected to do so on account of his physical condition alone.
The following resolutions were passed by the Senate, after several eulogistic tributes setting forth the strong and attractive qualities of his nature, his courage of conviction, his courtesy and kindness of heart, and his disinterested devotion to the welfare of others :
Resolved by the Senate, That the recent death of Lieutenant-Governor Joseph W. Alsop has filled the hearts of the members of the Senate with profound sorrow.
By this sad event the state has lost a good, useful and patriotic citizen, who by his public service and private virtues had won the love and esteem of all who knew him.
In his death the Senate monrns the loss of one who was for many years one of its most honored, able and distinguished members. The Senate extends heartfelt sympathy to his bereaved family and relatives in this their great affliction.
In 1869, Dr. Alsop was married to Elizabeth, daughter of H. C. Beach of New York. She died in 1889. Four children, three sons and one-daughter, survive.
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ICKINSON, FRANCIS LEMUEL, M. D., of Rockville, was born Jan. 29, 1816, in Portland, Conn.
About the middle of the last century, David Dickinson came from England and settled in Marlboro, Com1., where lic was a deacon and prominent in church affairs. His son, Deacon David Dickinson, Jr., followed in the footsteps of his father. Lemuel, son of David, Jr., married Saralı C. Clark, and the subject of this sketch was their only child.
Dr. Dickinson's father died in1 1819, before tlic son was a year old, and the mnotlier removed to Colchester, Conn., where she afterwards resided. The early scholastic training of young Dickinson was obtained in the district schools, and he was fitted for college at the Bacon Academy in Colchester. The winter after he was seventeen he taught the district school at Rocky Hill, and the two following winters he taught the high school at Vernon. The medical profession attracted his attention as the one best suited to his tastes in which to attain eminence, as well as pecuniary success. Accordingly he commenced the study of the effects of "pills, powders and potions" in the office of Dr. Frederick Morgan of Col- chester, and later on he continued his studies with Dr. Alvan Talcott of Vernon, Conn. After taking the regular course of lectures at the Yale Medical College he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1840. A serious illness interrupted his career after a few months' practice at Hampton, Conn., and he was obliged to spend some time with his friends. His health being restored, Dr. Dickinson resumed the practice of his profession in Willington, where he remained until the summer of 1863, when he transferred his residence to Rockville. In this thriving town he has since resided, and by his marked ability and success in the treatment of disease has gained a high reputation for himself. He has been connected with several notable cases which attracted inuch attention at the time, but no detailed description was written of them, and consequently full credit cannot be given for the skill displayed. His standing as a physician is based on the broad ground of his rare skill in the handling of intricate cases of whatever nature he may be called upon to treat. His reputation has been earned by half a century spent in the faithful service of humanity.
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