USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 31
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Gro . Loariz
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
do a safe business, even if a small one, but during the war his business grew to iminense proportions. One branch was the manufacture of a popular kind of hats for the California trade, but these hats have long ago passed out of style, though they were very popular in their day. The twenty employees at the first have grown to an average of over ten times that number in later years. The factory was burned in 1892, but was rebuilt at once larger and more convenient than before. The firm makes an excellent line of medium priced goods, both in stiff and soft hats, and their reputation is second to none in the state.
Mr. Crofut's energies have been largely confined to the manufacturing business of which he is the liead. Still, he found time to assist in forming the Union Savings Bank in 1867, and served as vice president for many years, and he has been one of the directors of the Paliquioque and Danbury National Banks for a number of years. His conservative opinions have made him a safe financial adviser.
He has invariably declined election to town offices, though his name has been mentioned for various positions. He was induced to accept a nomination and was elected to the legislature of 1887-88, serving as a member of the railroad coutmittee. In 1889-90 he served in the state Senate for the Fifteenth district, and was chairman of the committee on engrossed bills. Said the Hartford Courant, speaking of the nomination to the Senate :
The Republicans of the fifteenthi senatorial district to-day nominated Henry Crofut, a wealthy hat manufacturer of this city, by acclamation. Mr. Crofut represented this district in the state Senate before and is nominated this time to defeat Michael J. Houlilian, his Democratic opponent. Mr. Crofut is, perhaps, the most popular manufacturer in the entire hatting district and was the only employer who stood by his work- men in the big strike ten years ago. He enjoys the unique distinction of being the only manufacturer that never had any labor trouble in his shop in thirty years of active business. He is so popular among the hatters that he is known in every hatting district in the United States. His election is regarded as a certainty.
Almost from its formation Mr. Crofut has been an active and consistent member of the Republican party. During the war, he rendered valuable assistance to the Union cause, and gave liberally of his time and means. His friendship for the soldiers has continued up to the present day. Honored in the community where he resides for his probity and upriglit- ness of character, he is an excellent representative type of the best citizenship of Connecticut. Though by several years he has passed threescore and ten, he is still actively engaged every day in the management of his manufacturing business.
Henry Crofut has been married three times. First, in 1842, to Sarah Maria Bevins. She died, leaving four children, of whoin three are now living. Second, to Maria Stewart, who died, leaving one child, and the third time to Ellen Moore. His daughter, Laura Elizabeth, became the wife of Mr. Rollo Nichols, and Mary Amelia is the wife of his present partner, Joseph White.
ARVIS, GEORGE CYPRIAN, M. D., of Hartford, was born in Colebrook, Conn., April 24, 1834.
In the Jarvis genealogy the statement is inade that the Jarvis family of the " United States and British America are of English extraction, though the stock comes from Normandy, whence they emigrated into England. The name was originally Gervais. Their seat is at Bretagne, and the first name found is Jean Gervais, who lived about the year 1400. The arins of the Gervais family showed a shield, "D'or, a une pomme de pice, placés au canton, dextre du chef ; et un chouette placés au canton senes- tre accompagneé en pointe d'un crapaud, le tout de sable." Both in this country and Europe, the name Jarvis has been enrolled in alinost all the learned professions and pursuits in life.
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It has given a dignity to the bench and bar; it has graced the professions of medicine and surgery ; it has adorned the pulpit and the stage ; it has entwined its garlands of poetry with music and painting, and has thundered its decds of daring over the ocean wave and among the distant islands of thic sca. Earl St. Vincent, Sir John Jarvis, the renowned Britishi admiral, was a noble type of the hero and English sailor. The late Bishop Jarvis, and his son, Rev. Samnel Farmer Jarvis, D. D., LL.D., were among the prominent divincs of the Episcopal Church. John Wesley Jarvis was one of the most accomplished artists of his timc.
The carliest records of any settlement of the Jarvises in this country, show the name of one John Jarvice as living in Virginia in 1623, and John Jarvis is mentioned in the records of Boston as one of the coroner's jury in September, 1648. Dr. George O. Jarvis, the father of the subject of this article, was the son of John Jarvis and Elizabeth Bontelle. He was born in New Canaan, Conn., July 14, 1795, and was a thorough English scholar and an educator of youth during his early manhood and scholastic life. Studying medicine with his brother-in-law, Dr. Truman Spencer Wetmore of Winchester, Conn., after being licensed to practice, he settled first in Torrington, removing from there to Colebrook, and finally to Portland, where he died at a ripe old age, sincerely' mourned by the people among whom he had lived for so many years. Dr. Jarvis married Miss Philamela Marshall, by whom he had six children. It is recorded to his credit that he was the inventor of an ingenious surgical apparatus for reducing fractures and dislocations. In 1845, he went to Europe and after delivering a series of lectures he was awarded a gold medal by the Society for the Promo- tion of Arts and Sciences, the medal being received from the hands of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.
George C. Jarvis, the youngest son of Dr. George O. Jarvis, received his early education in the district school, which he attended until he was fifteen years of age, after which he spent a year at the military academy at Norwich, Vermont, and another year with Rev. S. M. Emery of Portland, Conn. Entering Trinity College in 1851, he remained through the junior year, leaving in 1853. The next three years were spent as a clerk in a drug store in Middletown, thereby acquiring a practical acquaintance with materia medica. Having had the theory and practice of medicine illustrated before him all through his life, he naturally chose the medical profession as the one best suited to him in which to gain both reputation and financial success. Accordingly he commenced the study of medicine with his father, whose extensive surgical practice gave unusual facilities for illustrations in this branch of the profession. He also studied for two years with the distinguished gynecologist, Dr. J. Marion Sims. Attending the regular course of lectures at the medical department of the University of the City of New York, he received his degree of M. D. from that institution in March, 1861.
Dr. Jarvis at once began the practice of his profession in Stamford, Conn., but the call of his country was too loud to be neglected, and he offered his services to the government. They were accepted readily, and in December, 1861, he was commissioned assistant-surgeon of the First Battalion Connecticut Cavalry. He was promoted to be surgeon of the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers, October, 1862, and was later a member of General Terry's staff. Through a large part of the war he was operating surgeon of the first division of the Tenth Army Corps.
In General Butler's expedition on the James River, he took part, and was the chief operat- ing surgeon at the assault on Fort Fisher, where his skill was put to a severe test. Near the close of the war, Dr. Jarvis was the surgeon in charge at Wilmington, N. C., where about twenty thousand wrecks of humanity from Andersonville, Raleigh and other southern prisons passed under his care, and the responsibilities of his position were complex and trying in the extreme. Some idea of the terribleness of the situation may be gained when it is stated
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
that of the twelve surgeons under him, eleven fell victims to the fearful contagion of a malignant typhus or prison fever, and of those who were stricken seven died, while of the enlisted men the average mortality was twenty per day. Under his direction the inen were cared for and fed, and those who were able to bear the strain were transported to northern hospitals. From a slum of pestilence, the filthy city of Wilmington was transformed to a clean and healthful place of residence. That his duties were performed to the satisfaction of his superior officers is all that need be said regarding his wearisome labors.
During the siege of Morris Island in 1863, he volunteered for a midnight assault, after other surgeons who were appointed found reasons for not being disturbed. After serving honorably and with distinction through the war, he was mustered out July 20, 1865. . Be- sides being a skillful and reliable surgeon, Dr. Jarvis's army record shows that he was noted for his bravery and gallantry, as is best illustrated by the numerous places of trust and responsibility to which he was assigned.
Under the title of " At Olustee," a Hartford lady wrote a true story of the Seventh Connecticut Regiment and its surgeon. The tale was an exciting one but entirely too long for reproduction, but at a very thrilling period occurs the following paragraph :
"Just at that moment," Uncle Dick resumed, "as Rob was losing consciousness, up dashed our brigade surgeon ; he had been in the thickest of the fight, giving all the aid in his power to the wounded, and now following after the retreating forces, was picking up those who had fallen out of the ranks, and hurrying thein off in wagons to headquarters. He was a young fellow, tall, straight and handsome, with the keenest eye I ever saw, one that pierced through all the shams and make-believes of the shirkers; but he had always a kind word and a cheery smile for the poor sick and wounded fellows in his brigade. He was quite young, not more than twenty-eight or thirty, but with as clear a head and skillful a hand as any old surgeon of twice his years. He was a great favorite with all the boys, the sight of his face or the sound of his voice was as good as a dose of medicine, we used to say." Then the story goes on to tell of how the surgeon put Rob on his horse and had a long, weary walk himself. Near the close comes this sentence : "The Seventh received high praise for their gallant conduct throughout the whole affair, but to my mind the hero of Olustee was our surgeon. A man is brave, I acknowledge, who can inarch up to a cannon's mouth, or stand under the heavy fire without flinching ; but he is one of many, excitement, enthusiasm and discipline nerve him up to it; but in cool blood to give up his best chance of life like that, to run the risk of being shot by the enemy follow- ing them, or of being taken prisoner, a fate worse than death, and to tramp those long weary miles, with muscles all unused to such exercise, just for the sake of a poor fellow who was nothing to him, shows courage of a far higher order. It is the stuff of which heroes are inade."
On his return from the war, he settled in Hartford, and soon won a position among the leading surgeons of the state. A large general and consultation practice was a natural result, and it is here that Dr. Jarvis has built up the excellent reputation he possesses. Original in his conceptions, and bold though careful in his researches, has made at the least one of the discoveries which should immortalize his name. Gaining a clue from an autopsy, in July, 1877, he performed the first operation for appendicitis and since then has operated successfully in over thirty cases. He failed in only two cases where the patient was too far gone before he was called. Others have followed where he opened the way, but to him should be awarded the credit of being the pioneer in this new field of surgical science.
The first successful operation in ovariotomy in Hartford was the work of Dr. Jarvis. Here his close analysis of causes came to the rescue, and he discovered that the use of im- pure water was the reason for so many previous failures. In the line of general surgery, Dr. Jarvis has now the highest rank of his profession in the state. By careful experiments two years ago, he found out a radical cure for inguinal hernia, and has performed the operation several times. He supposed he was the originator in this new field, but after seven consecu- tively successful cases he found that Dr. Halstead of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Dr. Macewen of Scotland and Dr. Bassine of Padua, had made the same discovery and were working along similar lines at the same time. The discovery is none the less to his honor, as the investigations were made entirely independent of other physicians.
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I11 1869, Dr. Jarvis was appointed examining surgcon for pensions, and, on the re- organization of thic board in Hartford, was appointed its president. He filled that office till 1884. For six years lic was a member of the examining committee for conferring degrees at Yale College, and relinquishicd the position through ill hicaltlı. He was appointed one of the visiting surgeons of Hartford Hospital in 1872. As the time has been so fully occupicd in the practice of his profession, Dr. Jarvis has had little opportunity for literary work, thongli liis tastes led him in that direction. He has found time, however, to inakc sundry contribu- tions to medical and surgical literature, and to the societies of which he is a member.
Dr. Jarvis was married to Martha, daughter of George Gillum, Esq., of Portland, Conn. They have one daughter, who is now the wife of Dr. C. E. Taft of Hartford.
B
LACKSTONE, LORENZO, ex-mayor, and a leading manufacturer of Norwich, was born June 19, 1819, at Branford, Conn., and died Nov. 14, 1888.
All students of English literature are familiar with the name of Blackstone. No member of the legal profession, either in the United States or Great Britain or the British colonies, is unacquainted with the "Commentaries on the Laws of England," published by Sir Williamn Blackstone, 1765-68. The master of the English language, he was the first of all institutional writers who taught jurisprudence to speak in the words of the scholar and gentleman. No less eminent as a Christian than as a lawyer, his native country has no son of whom she has more cause to be proud. Legal authors of the highest character, on both sides of the Atlantic, have profitably exercised their profound learning and critical acumnen in annotations on his wonderful pages.
Colonists from the Blackstone family were received in New England at an early date. An eccentric non-conforming clergyman was the first who appears in colonial records. In 1628, it is known that he was living in almost complete loneliness at the head of Massachusetts Bay, on the peninsula of Shawmut. It is stated in the records of the place that when Governor Winthrop arrived at Charlestown in the summer of 1630, that "Mr. Blackstone, dwelling on the other side of the Charles river, alone, at a place by the Indians called Shaw- inut, where he had only a cottage, at or not far off from the place called Blackstone Point, he came and acquainted the governor with an excellent spring there, withal inviting him and soliciting him thither, whereupon, after the death of Mr. Johnson and divers others, the governor, with Mr. Wilson, and the greatest part of the church, removed thither." In consideration of his service, at a court held in April, 1633, fifty acres of land near his house in Boston were granted to Mr. Blackstone forever.
For some unknown reason the old planter did not choose to remain in the neighborhood of his new associates. Removing to the banks of the Pawtucket river, within the present limits of the state of Rhode Island, he met Roger Williams, the founder of the Baptist church in America, and though they were not in full sympathy, they made their homes not far apart.
The preliminary education of young Blackstone was gained in the district school of his native place, and it was finished in the local academy. The hereditary influence of the first Blackstone had no effect on his choice, and after several years' experience in mercantile business, at the age of twenty-three he took an important step, which proved to be the foundation of his subsequent success. The field was comparatively new, and the enterprise an experiment full of risk, but his energy and ability brought forth mnost satisfactory results. He opened an agency and commission house in Liverpool, England, for the sale of American
OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894. 197
merchandise, and ere long his transactions extended over all parts of Great Britain, and to many points on the Continent and Australia. A few years after, to his already successful business, he added the sale of rubber overshoes, being the first to introduce the Goodyear rubber goods into Great Britain. Just as he had built up an extended trade in this special line, he was notified by Charles Mackintosh & Company, the great rubber manufacturers of Manchester, that he was infringing on their rights as owners of the patents of Thomas Han- cock, who was in litigation with Charles Goodyear. Never did the business tact and foresight of the man show itself more clearly. He immediately entered into an arrangement with Messrs. Mackintosh & Company, which gave him the exclusive right to sell rubber boots and shoes in every part of Great Britain, and at the same time secured himself against the com- petition of American manufacturers and their English agents. It was a rare stroke of good policy, and the results attained more than vindicated the wisdom of his action.
.In 1857, Mr. Blackstone closed up his foreign business and removed to Norwich, Conn., where he resided till his death. His choice of a permanent abiding place was largely influenced by his close relations with the Messrs. Norton, his brothers-in-law, who were leading merchants of Norwich, as well as by his intimate friend, Governor Buckinghamn.
Becoming interested in manufacturing industries, in 1859, Mr. Blackstone purchased the old Blashfield factory site. Erecting a substantial brick building, he put in new machinery, modernizing the mill, and running the spindles up to a grand total of 28,000. The name was also changed to the Attawaugan mill. Not long after he and his three brothers-in-law were incorporated by the state under the name of The Attawaugan Manufacturing Corporation. Besides the one mentioned, they purchased and operated three other mills, the Ballou, the Totokett and the Pequot mills.
Gradually Mr. Blackstone extended his connections to various corporations, and naturally his services were sought in an official capacity. He became a director in the Ponemah Manufacturing Company, one of the largest in New England, and Richmond Stove Company. Not all of Mr. Blackstone's energy and managerial ability were confined to the building up of manufacturing properties. On the organization of the Chelsea Savings Bank he was chosen president and retained that office for a number of years. At the time of his death, he was president of the Norwich Bulletin Association, and of the Occuin Water Power Company.
In the Thames National Bank, and the Thames Land & Trust Company he was a director, and he occupied the same position in the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, and other railroads and corporations.
In local affairs Mr. Blackstone was deeply and beneficently interested, and has served as trustee of the Norwich Free Academy. Of the Board of Aldermen of the city of Norwich he was a member for several years, and officiated as mayor for a similar period. During his admin- istration as mayor, the present system of water works with reservoir was conceived and built.
He represented his constituents in the lower branch of the legislature in 1871, and in 1878, as the successful candidate of the Republican party, he took his seat in the Senate. Reelected to the same body in 1879, he served as chairman of the committee on finance with marked ability. His extensive and protracted business experience, acknowledged skill in financial matters, thorough acquaintance with legislation, and manifold accomplishments of head and heart, enabled him to wield powerful influence among his fellow legislators. All his attainments were used to the advancement of the best interests of the state at large. Mr. Blackstone was an active and useful member of the Broadway Congregational church, and for many years he served in the honorable position of deacon.
Lorenzo Blackstone was married in Branford, Conn., Oct. 17, 1842, to Emily, daughter of Asa Norton, Esq. Three sons and two daughters were the result of this union : James
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REPRESENTATIVE MEN
De Trafford, Harriet Belle, Ellen Frances, William Norton and Louis Lorenzo. James De 'T. Blackstone is now treasurer of the Totokett Company, and seeretary and treasurer of the Oecmm11 Company. William N. is treasurer and agent of the Attawangan Company, and a director in the Thames National Bank and the Chelsea Savings Bank.
Mr. Blackstone's death occurred Nov. 14, 1888. The funeral serviees were from liis residence, and the interment was at Yantic Cemetery. The pall bearers were Messrs. Amos W. Prentice, H. H. Osgood, Gardiner Greene, Henry Bill, Thomas D. Sayles, and Jolin Mitchiell. After giving a summary of his life's history, the Norwich Bulletin said : "In the death of Hon. Lorenzo Blackstone, Norwich loses a valued and esteemed citizen. In every position in life he proved eapable and efficient, and was as highly respected for his private virtues as for his superior business qualifications and publie services."
S TRONG, DAVID, of Winsted, president of the Strong Manufacturing Company, and of the First National Bank, was born in East Hampton, Conn., Aug. 17, 1825. That the Strongs of England, Ireland and Scotland are all of different origin respectively, is manifest from the variety of their family erests. The Strong family of England was originally located in the county of Shropshire. Richard Strong was of this branch of the family, and was born in the county of Caernarvon, Wales, in 1561. In 1590, he removed to Taunton, Somersetshire, England, where he died in 1613, leaving a son, John, then eight years of age, and a daughter, Eleanor. John Strong moved to Plymouth, and having earnest Puritan sympathies he sailed for the New World Mareh 20, 1630, in company with one hundred and forty persons, in the ship "Mary and John." In 1635, after assisting in founding and developing the town of Dorchester, he made a brief stay in Hinghanı, and then located in Taunton, where he remained about ten years. His next change was to Windsor, Conn., where he was appointed with four others "to superintend and bring forward the settlement of that place," which had been settled a few years before by a portion of the colony that with him had founded Dorehester. The "History of the Strong Family " says of him : "In 1659, he removed from Windsor to Northampton, Mass., of which he was one of the first and most active founders, and as he had previously been of Dorehester, Hingham, Taunton and Windsor. In Northampton he lived for forty years, and was the leading man in the affairs of the town and of the ehnreh. He was a tanner and very prosperous in his business. He owned at different times, as appears by records in the county clerk's office, some two hundred acres of land in and around Northampton."
From Elder Jolin Strong the family line comes down through Jedediah, Jedediah, Jr., Ezra, David, who was a commissary in the Revolutionary army, to John C. A. Strong. The last named was the youngest of nineteen children, married Deborah L. Clark, and was the father of the subject of this sketch.
He received his education in the district school of East Hampton, during the intervals of work on his father's farin, mingled with casual employment in a bell factory. For the next few years, his life was varied indeed. Two years were spent with N. S. Markham, a hoe manufacturer ; subsequently he taught sehool several seasons, and for a couple of winters he travelled as salesman for a book coneern in Virginia and the West. In 1856, Mr. Strong formed a partnership with A. H. Markham, under the name of Markham & Strong, and went into the business of silver plating bells for the bell manufacturers of East Hampton.
David Strong
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
Not long after they added the manufacture of coffin tacks and screws of white metal, then much used by undertakers, and also the common kind of coffin handles. At the opening of the War of the Rebellion, Clark Strong, only brother of David, returned from Missouri and assumed the active management of the factory, while David carried on the farm.
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