USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 26
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The bare enumeration of the various official positions held by Mr. Belding will show his wide interest in manufacturing and business affairs. Besides being a director and sccre- tary of the Belding Brothers & Company's silk mill, Rockville, president of the Belding Land & Improvement Company, Belding, Mich., and vice-president of the Belding Savings Bank, he holds a directorship in the following corporations : Belding, Paul & Company Silk Mill of Montreal ; Carlson & Courier Silk Manufacturing Company, San Francisco; in the Miller Casket Company, of Belding, Mich., and the St. Lawrence Marble Company, Gouver- neur, N. Y. In Rockville he is a director in the Rockville National Bank, the People's Savings Bank, and the American Mills Company, and is a stockholder in several other companies.
Despite his varied multifarious interests, Mr. Belding finds time to devote to the wel- fare of the city where he resides, and is one of its most popular citizens. He is a typical, energetic, New England business man, possessed of the rare ability to accomplish a great many things, and do them all equally well. He has an intuitive faculty of always striking when the iron is hot, and, to carry the simile still further, none of the numerous irons he has in the fire are ever burnt. Systematic, prompt, thorough, he contrives to throw off an amount of work which would be simply appalling to a man of weaker inind, or one with a narrower line of business characteristics. Mr. Belding is a firm believer in
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Republiean principles, but by no stretch of the imagination could lie be classed as an active politician. So great is his popularity, however, that lie was cleeted to the state legislature in 1882, by the largest proportionate vote ever cast in his town, receiving 757 votes out of a total poll of 901. He served on the committees on incorporation and on rules, doing good work on both committees.
Men in business life need something to divert their minds and relax the intense strain caused by the competition of the times. Mr. Belding finds both relaxation and pleasure in a fine farin in Ellington, which he purchased in 1877. The place has been greatly im- proved in the years which have elapsed, and his blooded horses and sleek Jerseys are a constant source of pride.
A. N. Belding was married Jan. 6, 1870, to Lizzie S., daughter of H. A. Merrick of Shelburne Falls, Mass. Two children, a son and a daughter, were the result of this union.
W AIT, JOHN TURNER, was born at New London, Conn., Aug. 27, 1811. His father dying when he was very young, his mother returned to reside in Norwich, which was her birthplace and the home of her relatives, and where her son received his early education in the publie and select schools of the town. When he reached a suitable age he entered the employment of a leading merchant of the place and for nearly three years had a mercantile training. Deciding then to follow the profession of the law he resumed his early studies, passed a year at Bacon Academy, Colehester, and two years at Washington, now Trinity College, Hartford, pursuing such an academic course as would benefit him in the profession which he proposed to enter. He studied law with the Hon. L. F. S. Foster and Hon. Jabez W. Huntington, was admitted to the bar in 1836, and commeneed praetiee at Norwich, where he has sinee remained. In 1842, he received the appointment of aide-de-eamp on the staff of the late Governor Cleveland. He was state's attorney for the County of New London in 1842-44 and 1846-54, the duties of which office he discharged in a manner that won the approval of the public and gave him a leading position at the bar.
When the Bar Association of that eounty was organized in 1874 he was elected its presi- dent and has held the position by unanimous annual reelections to the present time. He was the candidate on the Democratic ticket for lieutenant-governor in 1854-55-56-57, but he and his associates on the tieket failed of an election. He was the first elector-at-large as a War Demoerat in 1864, on the Lineoln and Johnson tieket, the Republican Convention nomi- nating him for that position by aeclamation. He was a member of the state Senate in 1865 and 1866, being chairman of the committee on the judiciary throughout both sessions, also serving in the last year as president pro tempore. He was a member of the State House of Representatives in 1867, 1871 and 1873, serving as speaker the first year, his party nominating him for the place by acclamation. Mr. Wait declined that position on his reelections, but acted as chairman of the committee on the judiciary on the part of the House, while serving on other House committees. He was a candidate for lieutenant-governor on the Republican tieket in 1874, but with his associates on the tieket was unsuccessful. In 1876, he was elected to the Forty-fourth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the Hon. H. H. Stark- weather, and was reelected to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses. After serving for eleven years, he declined a further renomination.
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While a member of congress Mr. Wait served on the committee on commerce, on elec- tions, on foreign affairs and on several subordinate committees, and was also one of the three imembers of the House associated with three ineinbers of the Senate, as a joint commission to consider the existing organizations of the signal service, geological survey, coast and geodetic survey and the hydrographic office of the Navy Department, with a view to secure greater efficiency in these departments. It may also be stated here that while a member of the House of Representatives in 1883, tlie compliment was bestowed upon him of an appoint- inent as chairman of the select committee of the House to attend the unveiling of the statue of Prof. Josepli Henry, at Washington, his associates on that committee being among the inost distinguished and prominent members of the congressional body thus represented.
As a member of congress, Mr. Wait cared for the interests of liis constituency with untiring vigilance and zeal. Tlie extensive industries which give employment to thousands of citizens in the two eastern counties of the state had in him an intelligent and watchful guardian. As the advocate and friend of home industries, he steadily opposed in Congress every attempt to impair or weaken the laws under which Connecticut manufacturing and 111echanical interests have sprung up and prospered, and gave his support to every ineasure calculated to advance the commercial and agricultural prospects of the state. During his eleven years of service at Washington he was invariably attentive to the demands made upon his time and consideration by his constituents in matters affecting their private interests. Courteous and frank toward all who approached him, he allied men to him by the strongest personal ties, and became universally popular as a consistent representative and champion of his district and state. Before entering upon legislative and congressional duties, in the interim between sessions, and since retiring from public service, Mr. Wait's law practice has been extensive and profitable, his commanding influence at the bar insuring him all the business that could possibly be attended to. For forty years he was engaged in nearly all the impor- tant cases, civil and criminal, that have come before the New London county courts. His practice has included scores of important cases, not only in his own county and the state, but before the United States courts, all of which he conducted in a masterly manner, and was generally able to bring to a successful and satisfactory termination for his clients.
Mr. Wait is connected by blood with many of the leading families in Eastern Connecticut. On his father's side he is associated with the Griswolds and Marvins of Lyine, while on his mother's side he is a lineal descendant of William Hyde and Thomas Tracy, two of the thirty- five colonists who settled at Norwich in 1659. His family have given inany prominent 111em- bers to the legal profession. Marvin Wait, his father, was born in Lyme in 1746. He was admitted to the bar in 1769, when, forming a partnership with Samuel Holden Parsons, thien King's Attorney for New London county, he removed to New London and entered at once upon the practice of law. He continued this relation until the War of the Revolution when Mr. Parsons was appointed a major-general by Congress and entered the army. Marvin Wait soon became a leader in public affairs and prominent at the bar. He was for several years a judge at the county court, a presidential elector in 1793 and cast his vote for Washington. He represented the town of New London nineteen times in the General Assembly of the state, and was one of the commissioners appointed to sell the public lands and establish the splendid school fund of Connecticut. He died in 1815. Henry Matson Waite, former chief judge of the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut, and Morrison R. Waite, late chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, sprang from the same stock and were near rela- tives of the subject of this sketch. His mother was a daughter of Philip Turner of Norwich, a distinguished physician, who served under General Amherst as assistant surgeon through the French war. At the breaking out of the Revolution he was appointed by congress sur-
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geon-general of the eastern department of the army, and filled that position with signal ability and credit until near the close of the struggle. He died April 20, 1815, in the 75th year of his age, and was buried with military honors in St. Paul's churchyard in the city of New York. His career had been brilliant and his success unequalled.
In 1842, Mr. Wait married Mrs. Elizabeth Harris, who died in 1868. He has not remarried. Three children were born of the union, two of whom still survive. His son, Lieutenant Marvin Wait, left college and at the age of eighteen enlisted in the Union army, as a private in the Eighth Connecticut regiment. He served with distinguished courage in the field, was higlily commended by special mention in the reports and orders of his superior officers, and in the gallant charge of the Connecticut Brigade at Antictam he fell mortally wounded. Although then but nineteen years of age he had command of his company in that battle. Severely wounded in his right arm he seized his sword with his left, refusing to retire, and advancing with his company and encouraging them to press forward he fell riddled with bullets. The story of his devotion to every detail of duty, his undaunted spirit and his forti- tude in battle will be preserved upon Connecticut's historic page with that of Nathan Hale, the youthful martyr of the Revolution. Two daughters of Mr. Wait are now living, the elder the wife of Col. H. W. R. Hoyt of Greenwich, the younger the wife of James H. Welles, Esq., of Norwich.
Those who have known Mr. Wait most intimately in the social relations of life bear ready testimony to his exceptional worth as a neighbor and friend. He is a gentleman of the old school, courteous, hospitable and generous. His literary culture and acquirements have been fitly acknowledged by the honors that have been bestowed upon him. In 1851, Trinity College conferred upon him the degree of A. M., and in 1871, Yale College gave him the same honor. In 1883, lie received from Howard University the degree of LL. D., and Trinity College again recognizing his ability and prominence conferred that degree upon him in 1886. Mr. Wait is a member of the New London County Historical Society, of the order of the Sons of the Revolution and of various other social organizations. He has been the president of the I. K. A., a collegiate society embracing in its membership students and alumni of Trinity College, ever since its incorporation by act of the Connecticut legislature. He is one of the corporators of the "William W. Backus Hospital " of Norwich, existing under the general laws of this state and organized April 8, 1891, to make available the munificent gifts of W. W. Backus and William A. Slater for the charitable purpose indicated. He has been, ever since the establishment of " The Eliza Huntington Memorial Home " for the aged and infirm ladies in Norwich, its president, and as such has managed its affairs with wise prudence and in such a manner as to carry out to their fullest extent the generous and benevolent purposes of its founders. This institution was created by the benefactions of the late Jede- diah Huntington and his wife Eliza, who was a sister of Mr. Wait. The founders provided grounds and buildings for the home and $35,000 in cash for its proper maintenance. There are inany financial and trust institutions in New London county with which Mr. Wait lias been long prominently and closely identified, officially and otherwise, and with regard to the management of which his advice is constantly sought and followed. Want of space forbids their mention in detail, but they stand among the foremost in New London county for their strengthi, solidity and importance. John T. Wait is an unusually eloquent and impressive orator. His speeches at the bar, in the legislature, in congress, on the stump, and from the platforin embrace a wide variety of subjects, to the consideration of all of which he has brought research and learning, wit, logic, breadth of thought, felicity of diction, and a remark- ably keen knowledge of human nature. As a leader of his party in both branches of the General Assembly of Connecticut he was called upon to give frequent expression to his views
OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894. 165
on pending questions and he never failed to impress his hearers with his power as a debater and his grace and skill as an orator. His eulogy on Lincoln, delivered in the state Senate in 1865, and his addresses on assuming the office of speaker of the House at the beginning of the session in 1867, and his retirement from the chair at the close of the same session, are models for all similar occasions. As an indication of their respect and affection for Mr. Wait, the members of the House presented to him at the time of the final adjournment, a set of silver which bears the following inscription :
PRESENTED TO HON. JOHN T. WAIT, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MAY SESSION, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN, BY THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF PARTY, AS A TESTIMONIAL OF THEIR APPRECIATION OF HIS ABILITY, URBANITY AND IMPARTIALITY IN DISCHARGING THE DUTIES OF THE CHAIR.
Mr. Wait's congressional speeches were especially effective in producing the results he aimed at in their delivery. They were logical, filled with facts clearly stated, unanswerably put and were elevated in tone, expression and sentiment. Among the most notable were his argument of, Dec. 12, 1877, in the Colorado contested election case of Patterson and Belford, his speech July 6, 1878, in the California election case of Wigginton and Pacheco, and his exposition of the law and facts in the South Carolina case of Smalls and Tillinan in 1882. In these cases he set forth the law governing contested elections with such perspicuity and force, and with such ample and well selected citations of authorities, that the speeches are themselves alinost a complete compendium of principles and decisions affecting this very important branch of law. It is said of one of these speeches that Mr. Wait thereby actually convinced the sitting member, whose claim he was opposing, as to the invalidity of his title to a seat. In 1880, by his effective speech to the House for an appropriation for the New London Navy Yard he succeeded against strong opposition in carrying a bill giving $20,000 for a building, and in 1881 he made a brief but spirited and convincing appeal, replete with patriotic senti- ment, by which he obtained an appropriation of $10,000 for repairs to the Groton monument and the expenses of the Centennial celebration. He inade another clear-cut, epigrammatic and effective speech on the Chinese Indemnity Fund in 1885, in which he laid down and enforced the principle of fair dealing between nations in their intercourse with each other and carried the House with him in support of his views. One of the ablest and inost elaborate speeches inade upon the tariff question in either branch of congress, in the earnest and intense debate of 1884, was made by Mr. Wait. It was a statesmanlike discussion of the subject, evincing a profound, practical, historical and philosophical knowledge of the principles involved in one of the most important questions that has ever claimed the attention of the national legislature. The speech received a wide circulation in pamphlet form and in news- papers throughout the country, and extracts were freely used as campaign documents by the Republican managers in the succeeding presidential contest.
Besides the speeches above mentioned, Mr. Wait while in congress made forcible and notable addresses as occasion demanded on extending the benefits of the pension laws, on appropriations for geodetic surveys, on international improvements, on the banking system and the currency, on educational bills, on the civil service and on inany other public questions of importance. His intense patriotism led him to make public addresses for the preservation of the Union before the outbreak of hostilities. Immediately after the first gun was fired at
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Sumter, his voice was hicard with stirring and impassioned cloquence at a public meeting of the citizens of Norwich, convened to aid in the support of the government and to give expres- sion to the loyalty of thic people. As a presidential clector, and as a candidate for congress in six successive campaigns, he was in constant demand as a political orator. It may be safely said that there is hardly a town in Windham and New London counties in which lic has not been called to discuss publicly the issues involved in pending political struggles and always with marked effect. His appearance upon the platform is invariably the signal for warm applause. His speech at the Centennial celebration in Groton in 1881 was noted for its finished diction and lofty sentiment, and the numerous addresses which are even yet demanded from him on all public occasions partake of the qualities mentioned in the speeches to which reference has been inade. He has been the orator at many Memorial Day observances, and his warm and earnest interest in the welfare of veteran soldiers and the deeds done by them during the Civil War has served to call forth some of his most eloquent efforts, filled with beauty of thought and pathos of expression. His various addresses in Woodstock at the repeated observances of the Fourth of July for a number of years are full of patriotic sentiment and eloquent in thought and language. One of them has been characterized as "a gem of oratorical expression and patriotic sentiment." His publislied eulogy of the late Hon. LaFayette S. Foster, delivered Sept. 12, 1880, before the Superior Court at New London, on presenting the resolutions adopted by the bar of that county, his speeches at the dedication of soldiers' monuments, and at the Norwich centennial celebration, his numerous addresses at public meetings on matters of general interest and importance, bear testimony to the versa- tility of his genius, to his broad and extended knowledge of widely varied subjects, acquired by his habits of patient research and studious application, and to that richness and beauty of rhetorical expression which embellish and adoru all his public utterances. As a frequent contributor to the press for many years his articles have always been sparkling, clear and full of information. He was a writer for Greeley's New Yorker in 1839, and when in 1840 C. W. Everest prepared a beautiful gift volume and engaged John Williams, now bishop of Connecticut, Mrs. Sigourney, William James Hamersley, Park Benjamin, James Dixon, Willis Gaylord Clark, Robert Turnbull, Melzar Gardner and other of the brightest writers of the day to contribute to it, Mr. Wait's contribution was one of the best of the collection. And now, when a special historical event is to be written up, or an obituary notice of some promi -. nent citizen furnished, his ready pen is the first one thought of to be called into service.
Both before and during his career in congress he accomplished much for deserving soldiers and their families. From the beginning of the war he was closely identified with their inter- ests and welfare. So marked and well known was his earnestness in this direction that in the history of the part taken by Connecticut in the War of the Rebellion, as written by the Rev. John M. Morris and W. A. Crofut, a very high compliment was paid to Mr. Wait by the formal dedication of the work to him. The following is the text of the dedication : "To John Turner Wait, late Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, a patriot whose only son fell in defense of his country, and whose many acts of kindness have endeared him to the soldiers of Connecticut, this volume, the record of their services and sufferings, is cordially dedicated."
During his terms of service in congress his labors in behalf of soldiers were onerous and invaluable. His prompt and unfailing attention to the unceasing calls that reached him for assistance in hastening the settlement of the claims of poverty-stricken veterans and their families resulted in lifting burdens from the shoulders of hundreds of worthy applicants and brought comfort and happiness into many humble homes. The soldiers of Eastern Con- necticut have been prompt and glad to give expression to their appreciation of his efforts
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in their behalf. Sedgwick Post, No. I, G. A. R., located in Norwich, the first Grand Army Post established in this state, has shown an especial affection for Mr. Wait and made him an honorary member. On every parade or public occasion where the members of the post are ceremonially mustered, Mr. Wait is invited as their honored guest. The sincerity of their regard is attested by their presentation to him of a richly engraved badge of solid gold which bears the following inscription : "Presented by Sedgwick Post, Number One, G. A. R., to the Hon. John T. Wait, the Soldiers' Friend. Norwich, Conn., December Twenty-five, Eighteen Hundred and Eighty-seven.
Nor is it from the soldiers of his town alone that expressions of esteem come to Mr. Wait. There is hardly a community in the third congressional district that has not some story to tell of his prompt and effective services in behalf of some worthy, disabled veteran. Marvin Wait Post, G. A. R., of Dayville, in Windham county, was named in remembrance of his son, to whose service and death in the army reference has been already made in this sketch, and as a mark of honor to Mr. Wait, and a recognition of his loyal and untiring devotion to the wants and interests of Union soldiers. Mr. Wait is still in active practice, at his office every day, enjoying good health, with faculties practically unimpaired. His fourscore years have touched him but with a light and gentle hand, and the sincere hope of his unnumbered friends that he may long survive to enjoy the honors and repose which he has earned has a promise of a rich fulfillment.
OYT, HEUSTED W. R., was born in Ridgefield, Conn., on the Ist of Novem- ber, 1842. His father, Rev. Warner Hoyt, rector of the Episcopal church at Ridgefield, died when the subject of this sketch was an infant. He studied in the comminon school and the academy of that town, says the Biography of Connecticut, and afterwards entered Columbia College, New York City. About the iniddle of his first terin at Columbia College he was seized with a severe and protracted illness, and was unable to continue his studies there. On his recovery he immediately began the study of law in New York City, and for the period of about two years was secretary of the United States prize commissioners for the district of New York. He was admitted to the bar in 1865, and commenced practice soon after in Greenwich, Conn., where he rapidly rose to distinction as a counsellor at law, being elected to serve the town as its counsel, and the borough as attorney. His pleasant address and wonderful command of language, superadded to thorough scholarship and profound knowledge of legal principles, contributed greatly to his success as an advocate and enabled him in a very short time to gather round him a large clientele.
He has been engaged in several important litigations, among which may be mentioned that he was retained as sole counsel for the late Williamn M. Tweed, in a suit brought against him by James H. Ingersoll in the Connecticut Superior court, in which over $160,000 was claimed by the plaintiff, and defended his client with complete success. While thus winning for himself an honorable place in the ranks of the legal profession of his state, his abilities as a public speaker early attracted the attention of the Republican party managers, and in 1869, while still a young man, he was chosen a member of the state Senate. Here he acquitted himself so well that he was returned in 1873. During both his senatorial terms he was entrusted with the discharge of important legislative duties, being appointed chairman of the committees on military affairs and engrossed bills in the former year, and in the latter, chair- man of the committee on incorporations. Occupying this honorable station before the community, his fellow-citizens of Greenwich were not slow to recognize the abilities of Mr.
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