USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
During their stay on blockade, numerous prizes were captured which were condemned and sold, and Governor Cady had a share in several engagements, the second in importance being at Senaca City. After routing the rebels and nearly destroying the town, the fleet returned to Galveston. In July, 1863, Commander Bell received orders to report at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This was glad news for all on board. Two or three stops were made, but on the last day of August, 1863, the destination was reached in safety. Most of the inen were paid off and received their discharge papers, Governor Cady being among the number. Not having any regular employment, he used the money earned during his service and secured a three months' term at Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, and the time and money were among the best investments of his life.
Ernest Cady was married Jan. 16, 1871, to Ellen E., daughter of Ex-Lieutenant Governor Hyde and sister of Major E. Henry Hyde of the Governor's Foot Guard. He has two sons, Ernest H. Cady, who is a student at Yale Sheffield Scientific School, and Charles W. Cady, a student at the Hartford High School.
-
3
Isaw W. Books
1-854 brott: Biblint ... Co. Everett, Mass,
23
OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
B
ROOKS, ISAAC WATTS, of Torrington, speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, was born in Goshen, Litchfield County, Nov. 8, 1838.
Mr. Brooks comes of a good old Connecticut family, who for several genera- tions past have occupied the old farin and homestead in the south part of Goshen. His great-grandfather, Joseph, son of Charles and Mehitable (Norton) Brooks, was born in Durhamn, Conn., about 1753, and married Amanda, daughter of Cyprian Collins. His son Harvey was born in 1779, and died in 1873, at the ripe old age of ninety-three. Watts H., son of Harvey and Polly (Taylor) Brooks, married Mary, daughter of John Wadhams, Jr., and was the father of the subject of this sketch. He was a respected and influential citizen, and represented the town at several sessions of the legislature. Mr. Brooks was the second of four children, the eldest of whom, John W., was for three years insurance commissioner of the state, and later president of the Orient Fire Insurance Company. Both brothers attended Goshen Academy, and Mr. Brooks afterwards continued his studies at Brown University, from which, however, he did not graduate, owing to ill health; but later received from the University the degree of Master of Arts.
In 1860 he engaged in the mercantile business in his native town with his brother. This connection lasted until 1871, and the following year he removed to Torrington where he has since made his home. For ten years prior to his removal from Goshen he served as town clerk, being regularly elected by the Republican party. With his brother, he formed the banking firm of Brooks Brothers in 1872. They have supplied the needed banking facilities for the merchants and manufacturers of Torrington so fully, that no other bank has been organized in the town, and it is a direct compliment to their integrity and fair dealing that such has been the case.
Without ever being a seeker after office, more positions of trust have been offered to Mr. Brooks than his time would allow him to accept. He has been treasurer of Torrington since 1871, and also of the Borough since it was organized, was judge of the probate court for four years, and for more than a score of years he has been treasurer of the Torrington Savings Bank. He was one of a committee of three to look into the feasibility of supplying water to the town, and on the formation of the water company in 1878 was chosen president, and is now filling that office. The water works proved of immense benefit to the town, as well as a pecuniary success to the stockholders.
In 1886 Mr. Brooks was appointed one of the receivers of the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company of Hartford, by Judge Pardee of the supreme court, and has devoted no small share of his time during the past eight years to settling the affairs of that institution. Mr. E. A. Stedman has been associated with him, and their labors are now drawing to a close. He is also a director of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford.
Mr. Brooks has had his share of honors at the state capitol. In 1884 he served as a member of the legislature from Torrington, and was appointed to the important place of chairman of the committee on finance. In the same year he was appointed by Governor Waller a member of a tax commission which recommended inany changes in the laws relating to taxation, subsequently adopted by the legislature. He was again elected to the state legislature in 1892, this time by a majority of over 400. Enthusiastic friends brought forward his name as a candidate for speaker, and in the Republican caucus he was nominated by a large majority, on the first ballot. At the election in the House he polled the full Republican strength, receiving 133 votes to 105 for his Democratic competitor. The record shows that, notwithstanding the immense amount of labor incident to the requirements of his position, he
-
24
REPRESENTATIVE MEN
was present at every session of the House. He was eminently fair in his decisions, and in the make-up of committees. Thic Waterbury Republican voiced this sentiment most fittingly in the following paragraph :
We are sure that the Democratic as well as the Republican members of the House of Representatives will cordially agree with us in saying that Speaker Isaac W. Brooks has proved himself to be a most efficient presiding . officer, and that he amply justified the high expectations of his friends. Dignity and fairness, two qualities which are indispensable to a successful speaker, he possessed in an eminent degree. When the gavel is in his hand he belongs to no political party, but is the Speaker of the entire House ; and consequently he has commanded the complete respect of the 251 representatives over whom he presides. It must, indeed, be confessed that he is utterly deficient in that theatrical bluster and muscular assertiveness which some speakers have apparently thought desirable for the discharge of the high responsibilities of the office, but in quiet efficiency it would be difficult to find a presiding officer superior to the gentleman from Torrington.
In 1880 Mr. Brooks made quite an extensive European tour, and, after the close of the session of 1893, he took a second shorter trip.'
A gentleman of superior business capacity, it will be seen that Mr. Brooks has been eminently successful in the management of financial interests. Besides being the head of a successful banking firm, he holds three treasurerships, and yet, owing to his adınirable system, his books are models of clearness; while during more than a third of the time he has lived in Torrington he has been engaged in untangling the snarls of a mismanaged insurance company. The extract quoted from a contemporary newspaper reflects the sentiments of his constituents. in all parts of the state regarding his effective work as speaker of the house.
B UEL, HENRY WADHAMS, M. D., of Litchfield, founder of the Spring Hill Home for Nervous Invalids and President of the First National Bank of Litch- field, was born in that town which has produced so inany men of mark, April 7, 1820. He died Jan. 30, 1893.
He was the son of Dr. Samuel Buel and was descended from William Buel or Beville of Chesterton, England, who came to Windsor, Conn., in 1630, and whose son Samuel Buel was one of the pioneers and landholders of Killingworth, Conn., where he held many public offices of honor and trust. In 1721 Deacon John Buel, son of Samuel Buel and great- great-grandfather of Dr. Henry Buel, came to Litchfield, where he became one of the first settlers and proprietors.
Dr. Buel's father, and also his father's brother, William Buel, were physicians of note; consequently it seemed the most natural thing for the young man, after his graduation from Yale College in 1844 with honors, to enter at once upon the study of medicine. This he did in the office of his father and later in the offices of Dr. W. P. Buel, and Dr. Gurdon Buck of New York City. In 1847 he graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, and with such honors that he was immediately appointed house surgeon at the New York Hospital where he remained two years. In 1850 he received an appointment as house physician of Sanford Hall at Flushing, L. I. This position he held for five years, and while thus engaged may be said to have commenced his professional career as an expert in mental diseases.
During these ten or twelve years passed in study and the practical experiences of hospital life, Dr. Buel laid broad the foundations of his future professional success. How important the experiences of this period were to him before he assumed the full responsibility which attaches to the duties of a practicing physician, no one realized more fully than did Dr. Buel himself. They placed him on vantage ground when his father began to feel the need of his
Massachusetts Publishing Co. Everett. Mass.
25
OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
assistance on account of age, and called him to come to his aid. He resigned his position at Sanford Hall and removed to Litchifield in 1854, where he became an assistant of his father in general practice. In 1856 he visited Europe, and in 1858 founded the institution in Litchi- field known as the Spring Hill Home for Nervous Invalids. Here began and ended the chief and crowning work of his life, and by his energy and fine aptitude he made this institution a complete success. His friend, Dr. Henry P. Stearns of Hartford, says of him in the New England Medical Monthly : "For this class of patients his large sympathies were always enlisted and the institution became the center of liis professional life. He sought to make it truly a home, and as nearly as possible to have his patients enjoy a home life. They became, especially in his latter years, as wards and children to him. He had that professional tact in his intercourse with them that enabled him to secure their entire confidence, and they often said that his presence gave more help and comfort than the medicine which he prescribed."
Dr. Buel held for many years the office of president of the Litchfield County Medical Society, and was greatly beloved and admired by all of its members. Acknowledged as their ideal of all that was noble, manly and courteous in the life of a physician, he found time amnid the multiplicity of his duties to attend regularly the meetings of the society, and to contribute his share towards making them interesting and profitable. His opinions were highly valued by his medical brethren as the product of a carefully trained, well informed and logical inind. Many important positions in the medical world have been held by Dr. Buel. In 1872 he was elected president of the State Medical Society, and received a vote of thanks for his annual address on the " Advancement of the Medical Profession." He was a member of the American Medico Psychological Association ; of the New England Psychological Society ; of the Academy of Medicine of New York ; and of the American Medical Association. He was appointed by Governor Hubbard as one of the three commissioners to examine into the need of further provision for the indigent insane of the state.
Outside of his profession, in his native town and state, he filled several stations of honor and trust. He was for twenty-two years vice-president, and since 1887 president of the First National Bank of Litchfield. One of the projectors, he was at one time the president of the Shepaug Railroad. Interested in the history of his state, he was a member of the Connecticut Historical Society and of the New York University Club. In political life he was a zealous Republican, and in religious faith he was a Congregationalist, having been a deacon for thirty years of that church at the time of his death. Owning a large and productive farin near his residence, he took much delight in keeping it under an excellent state of cultivation.
Dr. Buel's education and mental qualities, however, enabled him to go beyond the routine practice of his profession, and gave him an interest in everything which pertained to the well- being and growth of the community in which he lived. He was accustomed to do whatever seemed to be the most important to his best judgment and then could readily pass on to duties of another kind, while the diversity of his work seemed, in some measure, to rest his inind ; so that, notwithstanding his many and varied duties, he always seemed to be fresh and vigorous. His domestic relations were most happy and his influence both home and abroad was that of a true gentleman. A friend who had known Dr. Buel for many years, writes of him, that " Tennyson himself, so full of Christian amenity, never knew any one to whom these words ' He bore without abuse the grand old name of gentleman,' would have better applied than to Dr. Henry W. Buel. In every situation this refinement of head and heart was dominant. To great personal and professional gifts Dr. Buel added a charm of manner and adaptation of speech never surpassed. His kind deeds were twice blessed, and the tones of his sympathetic voice come back to us with the memories of our dear sick ones and will tenderly vibrate until we respond, like him, to the call which summons us to the world where earthly echoes cease."
26
REPRESENTATIVE MEN
In the field of surgery, Dr. Buel was considered an expert, and was often called by other physicians to distant towns to perform difficult and important operations. On such occasions his judgment was sound, his courage assuring and his technique faultless. He was also greatly in demand as a consulting physician in critical cases of severe disease, and was sure to leave a good impression after him. He never sought to disparage or undermine the reputation of a professional brother, but on the other hand he would adroitly manage to establish more firinly the confidence of the patient and his family in the attending physician.
Soon after Dr. Buel's death a touching tribute to his memory appeared in the Hartford Courant. It was from the graceful pen of his lifelong friend and early professional associate, Dr. Gurdon W. Russell of Hartford, and was a faithful estimate of his character. Dr. Russell said : "My acquaintance with him commenced many years ago at a medical gathering in New Haven, and ripened into a friendship which was mutual and sincere. He was ever interested in matters pertaining to his profession and possessed the confidence of his brethren and the favor of the public, and so was largely consulted by both. Of a large frame and robust constitution, he was well calculated for great labor. Methodical in his arrangements and business-like in his habits, he was able to attend to many and diverse occupations. Whatever was of interest to the town, of a benevolent or public nature, found in him an ardent advo- cate and co-laborer. So robust was his constitution that he was able to performn an amount of work that would have overwhelmed most men. It always seemed to me that he possessed in an eminent degrec that sober common sense which is a golden treasure to the fortunate owner of it, and so he regarded the various matters which came before him with a temper allied to the judicial mind. His disposition to do the thing which was right was upperinost with him; it was a natural habit, and was confirmed from conviction. He was so much of an educated Christian gentleman that it was comparatively easy for him to do that which would give a man peace at the last. In all his relations, as husband, father and friend, he was most happy ; in his professional life he was honorable and just; in the recognition of his duty to his fellows, he was liberal, humble and sincere. In the sturdiness of his character we had the assurance that he would be honest in whatever he undertook. The private institution which he established and conducted for a long time, was the intense desire of his early manhood and the pride of his advancing years ; it was his life work, as he regarded it, and was the outcome of a laudable ambition and a proper conception of his own powers. He had a happy way of dealing with his patients which secured their confidence and aided greatly in their restoration. We may place him in the list of specialists who have been an honor to our profession and to our state. He may be classed with Doctors Todd, Woodward, Brigham, Butler and Shew, who gave their lives to the humane treatment of the insane."
Dr. Buel was twice married. First, March 24, 1859, to Mary Ann C. Laidlaw, who died Dec. 31, 1864. He then married, April 24, 1867, her sister, Katherine K. Laidlaw, who died Aug. 26, 1882. Three children survive him : Dr. John H. Buel, who succeeds his father in superintendency of the Spring Hill Home, and is already making his mark in the medical world, and two daughters, unmarried.
27
OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
ARRISON, HENRY BALDWIN, ex-governor of the state of Connecticut, was born in the city of New Haven, Conn., on Sept. 11, 1821. His father was a talented and eloquent member of the New Haven County Bar, born in the town of Branford. The ancestors of Governor Harrison were residents of Branford, in the first settlement of that town, says the Biography of Connecticut. His first ancestor of the name in this country, Thomas Harrison, was a deputy from the town of Branford to the assembly, which met at Hartford under the charter of King Charles, in 1676. This Thomas Harrison was a man of decided capacity. When the major portion of the inhabitants of Branford removed from that place to New Jersey in 1664, on account of their hostility to the union between the New Haven and Hartford colonies, a brotlier of Thomas Harrison, Richard by name, left Branford with the Rev. Abraham Pierson. Thomas, however, believed that the colony of Connecticut was a good place to remain in, notwith- standing the fact of the union; and that thereby membership in the established church was no longer a necessary qualification for admission to the privileges of a freeman in the colony. Thomas Harrison died in 1704, leaving one of the largest estates of the colony. In the division of lands, inany of the best locations from the seashore north as far as the present village had been taken by him, and each of his sons and sons-in-law received a large and fertile farm in the division of his estate.
Governor Harrison was educated at the Lancasterian School of New Haven, under the celebrated English teacher, John E. Lovell. For a few years lie acted as the assistant of Mr. Lovell, and he was highly respected and beloved by all the pupils of that school who were under his tuition. He entered Yale College in 1842, and graduated in 1846, with the highest honors of his class, being the valedictorian. Immediately after graduation he began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He entered at once upon a fine practice, and within a few years was recognized as one of the leading lawyers of the state. He continued to practice his profession with great success, making a fine reputation, especially as a corporation lawyer and as a successful advocate in the Supreme Court of Errors. He retired from active practice about 1880, and while he has since that time declined to appear in the courts, his advice and counsel are frequently sought upon intricate questions of constitutional and corporation law. In 1872, when an amendment to the charter of Yale College was adopted, by which the alumni are permitted to elect a certain number of Fellows of the corporation, Governor Harrison was elected, and he continued to hold the position of Fellow of the corporation of his alma inater until he resigned in 1885.
One of the inost notable cases with which his name has been identified was the trial of Willard Clark at New Haven for inurder. It was all the more marked because it occurred only eight years after his admission to the bar. Charles Chapman of Hartford was associated with him as counsel for defence. In an article on the " Bench and Bar of New Haven," in the history of that city, the story of the trial is told in full. It contains the following allusion to Governor Harrison : "No one had suspected before that time that Clark was an insane man within the ordinary meaning of the word. As junior counsel, Mr. Harrison went into the preparation of the case with his usual thoroughness and ability. The young woman was about seventeen years of age, and Clark was about thirty. He had courted her with assiduity, and she had repulsed most of his attentions with disdain and disgust. Clark insisted that, notwithstanding her apparent want of affection for him, she was deeply in love with him, and that her negatives were to be understood by him as affirmatives. He seemed to believe that after her marriage with Wight she was dumbly pleading with him to rid her from a hateful alliance. At that time, the defense of insanity upon a
28
REPRESENTATIVE MEN
single subject, monomania, had not received thic general favor with jurics it has since aequired. The eloquence of his counsel, and the careful preparation of the evidence, coll- vinced the jury that Clark was not legally responsible for the crime lic had committed, and lie was acquitted on the ground of insanity."
In early life, Mr. Harrison was an active member of the Whig party, and in 1854 he was cleeted by the Whigs and anti-slavery men of New Haven a member of the State Senate from the thien fourth district, which included the towns of New Haven, Hamnden, and Woodbridge. Among his associates in the Senate were James Dixon, afterward United States Senator, William T. Minor, who was subsequently governor of the state, and a judge of the superior court, and David C. Sanford, who became a judge of the Supreme Court of Errors. All of thesc gentlemen were the seniors of Mr. Harrison, yet he received the important position of chairman of the joint committees on incorporations, and on temperance.
From the latter committee, Mr. Harrison reported and secured the passage of the pro- hibitory law, sometimes known as the Maine law. It was so carefully drawn that all of the inany subsequent attacks upon the constitutionality of the act failed in the Supreme Court of Errors. Mr. Harrison was also the author of the Personal Liberty bill, designed to protect colored men against illegal attempts to deprive them of their liberty under the Fugitive Slave act of 1851. During the seven years that followed before the outbreak of the Civil War, no attempt was ever made in Connecticut to take a colored man out of the state under the claim that he was a fugitive from slavery. Hon. Augustus Brandegee, a member of the House in 1854, from New London, ably seconded Senator Harrison, and by his eloquence carried the bill through the lower branch of the Assembly.
Two years later, upon the organization of the Republican party, Mr. Harrison, who never joined the American or "Know Nothing " party, as it was called, entered heartily into the formation of the new Republican party. He attended the first inass convention held for that purpose at Hartford, Connecticut, in February, 1856, and was the first candidate of that party for the office of lieutenant-governor. The Hon. Gideon Welles, of Hartford, was the candidate for governor. The Republican ticket received in that election about six thousand votes, but within two years thereafter most of the inen who forined the remnant of the Whig party, and those who had gone into the " Know Nothing " movement, united with Mr. Welles and Mr. Harrison in the support of the principles and candidates of the Republican party. For many years the voice and pen of Mr. Harrison were potent, and the eause of freedom and the Union had no more eloquent advocate in the state. In 1865 Mr. Harrison was elected a representative from the town of New Haven to the General Assembly at Hartford. He deelined to be a candidate for speaker, and requested the nomination of his colleague, the late judge E. K. Foster. Mr. Foster became speaker, and Mr. Harrison became the leader of his party upon the floor of the House. His learning, his eloquence, his sound sense, and his judgment as a legislator and a party leader, so commended him to his fellow citizens that, by cominon consent, in every part of the state, it was understood that he should become the sueeessor of Governor Buckingham in the executive office. A few weeks before the Republican convention assembled in January, 1866, some friends of General Hawley came to New Haven and requested Mr. Harrison to withdraw his name as a candidate for governor, and urged that the Republicans owed such a debt to the returned soldiers that one of their leaders ought to receive the nomina- tion for governor. At that time nothing but his own act could have prevented the nomination of Mr. Harrison by aeelamation. His admiration, however, for the inen who had gone to the front during the war for the Union was so great that he promptly wrote a letter which was made public, absolutely forbidding the use of his name for the office
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.