USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 50
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
Mr. Simpson was senior warden of St. Paul's church, and mnost generous in his donations to it. He subscribed over $20,000 for its new church, and built the parish house connected with it in memory of his deceased daughter. The Ladies' Library Association have had the use of a suite of rooms in his business block for years free of charge. To those in distress he was ever ready to lend a helping hand, and the deserving never applied in vain.
The people of this generation have regarded him as a wealthy and successful business man, but a glance backward over the long vista of years which have rolled their succeeding rounds since 1814, and his career viewed through all the vicissitudes he has passed, shows that whatever he has accomplished has been the result of personal toil, frugal habits and incessant application to duty, labor and business. The light of heaven is reflected in the character of a noble man, one who has a stern, set purpose in the attaining and maintaining of a standard of integrity that can only be measured by the rule of equal and exact justice, always tempered by the divine attribute of charity that throws its mantle covering over the faults and failures of his erring brother man. Such was the character of Mr. Simpson, stern and unflinching in the discharge of public duties, always holding himself up to a higher standard than he exacted of others, and faithful to every trust to the very last.
The following minutes, which were drawn by Judge Hubbard, were adopted by the directors of the First National Bank :
It becomes our sad duty to record the death of Samuel Simpson, Esq., from its organization a director in this corporation, and until a recent period its president. While it is not our province in this minute to make special note of the general and many-sided usefulness which marks the career thus brought to a close, it inay in truth be said that the same superior capacities and virtues that won for him preeminent success in other and con- spicuous relations in life were prominently exhibited in the wisdom, prudence and sagacity, combined with the high sense of justice and integrity with which he discharged his offices in this institution and contributed so largely to the successful conduct of its affairs. The place which here knew him shall know him no more forever, and yet remembering his fullness of years and of honor and his longings for relief from the terrible sufferings he had so long though so patiently endured, we can hardly lament his departure, while in common with the whole body of the community in which he passed his life and for whose welfare he did so much, we shall cherish as a priceless treasure the memory of his character as a man, a philanthropist and a Christian. The cashier is directed to spread this minute upon the record, and transmit a copy, with an expression of our sympathy, to Mrs. Simpson.
To Mr. and Mrs. Simpson were born four sons and two daughters. All the sons and one daughter have passed over the river, the surviving daughter being Mrs. Elizabeth Melinda Hull, widow of the late Gurdon W. Hull, who was associated with Mr. Simpson in various business operations. Mrs. Simpson is still in vigorous health and resides at the old homestead. There are two grandchildren, Mrs. C. H. Tibbits and Miss Bessie Hull.
ORTER, NOAH, D. D., LL. D., president of Yale College, was born Dec. 14, 18II, in Farmington, one of the most beautiful and attractive of the country towns of Connecticut. He died March 4, 1892.
He was of Puritan ancestry, being descended from one of two brothers, Robert and Thomas Porter, natives of England, who settled at Farmington in 1640. His father, the late Rev. Noah Porter, S. T. D., born at Farmington, in 1781, was gradu- ated at Yale College with the highest honors in 1803. Ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Farmington about three years later, he ministered to that charge until his death, in 1886. He was a man of exalted character and edifying life, a zealous as well as a devout Christian, and a theologian of rare learning. It was in his study at Farmington, on Sept. 5, 1810, that the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized and held its first meeting. For more than a generation he was a member of the corporation of Yale
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College, and during the greater part of the time served upon its most important committees. His children all shared his Christian zeal, love of learning and philanthropic spirit. Samuel, one of his sons, has achieved a world-wide fame as an educator of tlic deaf and dumb, and is 110w cineritus professor in the National Dcaf Mute College, at Washington, D. C. His daughter Sarah likewise achieved distinguished success as an educator.
" In the home of such a father," says the "Biographical Encyclopedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island," "all the associations connected with the early life of the future president of Yale College werc calculated to awaken an interest in study and a desire to enter upon the life of a scholar. But there were still other influences which contributed to stimulate in lim the love of learning. There were within the limits of the town two public libraries, which furnished a good selection of books, which served to aronse in him a taste for the best literature. Farmington was also the home of several families of wealth and cultivation, who gave to its society a tone of refinement and elegance not often possessed at the time by the smaller towns of the state.
The interest which the boy early manifested in books was so great, and his progress so rapid in the ordinary English branches of education, that, before he was eight years of age, his father, at the solicitation of his instructor, Mr. Simeon Hart, who was about to spend the winter in the neighboring town of Winsted, and asked to be permitted to take his pupil with him to begin the study of Latin, consented to thie arrangement. Mr. Hart subsequently graduated at Yale College, and immediately resumed his position as teacher of the academy in Farmington, and it was under him principally that young Porter was fitted for college. He was for a short time, however, under the instruction of Mr. John H. Lathrop, who was after- ward chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, and of Mr. Elisha N. Sill, who lias filled several important public offices, and is now living in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. In 1824, also, an arrangement was made with his uncle, Dr. Humphrey, president of Ainherst College, of a kind which at the time was not uncommon in New England.
He was received into the family of Dr. Humphrey, one of wliose sons took his place in the home at Farmington. While at his uncle's, young Porter studied under Mr. Ebenezer Snell, afterward professor of natural philosophy in the college at Amherst. Dr. Porter also sent his son for a term or two to the school in Middletown, Conn., and he thus had what was then the unusual advantage of seeing something of the world outside of his native town before he entered upon his college life.
Still another of the influences under which President Porter was brought as a boy should not be passed by without notice. His teacher, Mr. Hart, early interested him in botany, and it was in pursuing his studies in this science that he was led to acciistom himself to long walks, and to acquire that habit of close observation, that appreciation of the beauties of natural scenery, and that love of a life in the country, which have characterized him ever since, and which have led him in his vacations to undertake long expeditions through the Adirondack woods and the forests of Canada.
In his sixteenth year he left home to enter Yale College as freshinan. The class of 1831, of which he became a member, had in it an unusual amount of ability. Its career, however, was a stormy one. The period in which it was in college was marked by a wide- spread rebellion against the authority of the faculty-known as the "bread-and-butter rebellion " -in which a large number of students in each of the classes participated. There was also an element of constant excitement in his own class, in the struggle of a South Carolina faction and a Virginia faction for the leadership. Mr. Porter took a high rank as a scholar, and so conducted himself throughout his whole course as to secure the respect of the authorities of the college, while at the same time lie had the confidence of liis classmates, for inany of whom he formed warm attachments which proved lifelong.
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After graduating in 1831, Mr. Porter became the rector of the ancient Latin school in New Haven, which had been founded in 1660, and which is known as the Hopkins Grammar School. Here he gained an honorable reputation for his ability as an instructor, and especially for his success in administering discipline in a school which had been traditionally somewhat unruly. In 1833, he was elected tutor in Yale College, and served in that capacity for two years as the instructor of the somewhat famous class of 1837 in Greek. While tutor he pursued the regular course of study in theology in the Yalc Divinity School under Rev. Dr. Nathaniel W. Taylor.
In 1836, he became the pastor of the Congregational church in New Milford, Conn., being ordained in April of that year. Mr. Porter's pastorate in this town was a laborious one. The church was one of the largest in the state, and its members, many of whom were farmers, were scattered over a town whichi by the road was sixteen miles from north to south, and nine from cast to west. For nearly seven years lie had the charge of this important church, where he acquired reputation for his ability in the pulpit, and for the energy and faithfulness with which he discharged all the duties of a pastor, riding diligently at all seasons over the long hills to visit his parishioners, and holding stated meetings in the most remote districts of the town. It was while settled in this country parish that he began by his contributions, published in the leading periodicals of the day, to attract attention as an original and vigorous thinker on theological and philosophical subjects.
In 1843, he became the pastor of the South Congregational church in Springfield, Mass., where he remained for four years, when he was chosen, in 1846, Clark professor of inental and moral philosophy in Yale College. After occupying this chair for twenty-five years, on the resignation of President Woolsey, in 1871, he was elected president. It was considered at the time to be a fortunate circumstance that a president was secured who was acquainted with all the traditions of the college, and was in thorough sympathy with them. President Porter's views on the subject of collegiate education were set forth in his inaugural address, and in his work on American colleges. They were conservative, though he was by no ineans indisposed to seek for improvements on the past, as is shown by the fact that during his administration very important changes were made in the methods of instruction. The college during his presidency was very prosperous. Several costly buildings were erected; the corps of instructors was much enlarged; the department of philosophy and the arts was re-constructed so as to induce instruction for graduate students; and the different departments of the college have been officially recognized by the corporation having "attained to the form of a university."
President Porter during all his life was a very voluminous writer. His published works, consisting of reviews, essays, addresses, sermons, are too numerous to mention here even by their titles. He was a constant contributor to the press and to the most important magazines and reviews. His mnost elaborate work is a treatise on the "Human Intellect" (New York, 1866; 8vo, pp. 673), of which Prof. Benjamin N. Martin, his reviewer, says (New Englander, January, 1869) : "In comprehensiveness of plan and in elaborate faithfulness of execution the work is far before any other in the language." He adds: "For such a labor of years, and such an example of enthusiasm in the pursuit of abstract truth, the author's countrymen may well be proud of him; and their grateful appreciation of an aim so high, and so well sustained, will rank him, perhaps, foremost among our American scholars in tlie loftiest and most difficult walk of investigations."
Among his principal publications is a "Historical Discourse, Commemorating the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of Farmington " (1840) ; "The Educational Systemn of the Puritans and the Jesuits " (1851) ; "Books and Reading" (1870) ; "American Colleges and the American Public " (1871) ; Science of Nature vs. Science of Man;"-"A Review of
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the Philosophy of Herbert Spencer; " "Evangeline " (1882) ; "The Elements of Moral Science, Theoretical and Practical" (1885) ; "Life of Bishop Buckley" (1885) ; "Kant's Ethics," "A Critical Exposition" (1886). Dr. Porter was undeniably one of America's most scholarly metaphysicians. His labors as a lexicographer in connection with the revision of of the second and later editions of "Noah Webster's Unabridged Dictionary " of the English language, were very arduous, and brought him great famc, as well as universal recognition as a scholar. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the University of the City of New York in 1858, and that of Doctor of Laws by the Western Reserve College in 1870, by Trinity College, Conn., in 1871, and by the University of Edinburgh, in 1886.
Dr. Porter married Mary, eldest daughter of his esteemed instructor and friend, the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel W. Taylor of New Haven, in 1836.
ATLING, RICHARD JORDAN, of Hartford, Conn., a distinguished American inventor, whose celebrated revolving battery gun, which bears his name, has given him world-wide fame, was born in Hertford County, N. C., on Sept. 12, 1818. His father, Jordan Gatling, a man of sterling character and remarkable for his energy and industry, was a fariner in easy circumstances, and the owner of quite a tract of land, and a number of slaves. His mother's maiden name was Barnes. Rich- ard, who was the third son of six children, was brought up to regard labor as honorable and economy a duty ; and it was impressed upon him in youth that with due diligence, success could surely be reached through these avenues. Not the least of the influences acting on him was the high Christian character of his mother. Every facility of an educational char- acter that the neighborhood afforded was taken advantage of by him, and at the age of seventeen, when lie had exhausted the resources of the locality, he was an unusually bright and well-informed lad. Never shirking his duty on the farm, he grew up healthy and sturdy in limb. The vitality of his mind equalled that of his body, and long before he was out of his teens he was working conjointly with his father upon an invention for sowing cotton seed, and also upon a machine designed for thinning cotton plants. The genius of invention thus aroused, soon exercised itself in a variety of ways, to the advan- tage of liis neighbors as well as of his own people, and thereafter never slumbered.
Being a good penman, says the "Biography of Connecticut, " young Gatling found employment copying records in the office of the county clerk of Hertford County, and was thus engaged during the greater part of his sixteenth year. At the age of nineteen he took a position teaching school, but soon abandoned this occupation to engage in mer- chandizing, which he followed successfully on his own account for several years. It was during this latter period that he busied himself with the invention of the screw propeller now so extensively used in steam-vessels. Having first given his discovery a practical test attached to an ordinary boat, he applied for a patent, going himself to Washington in 1839, with his model. Upon reaching the capital, he found that a patent upon the same appliance had already been granted to another inventor. Though sadly disappointed to learn that he had been forestalled in his discovery, he wasted no further time upon the matter, but turned his attention to other inventions. Shortly afterwards he invented and patented a seed-sowing machine designed for sowing rice, which he adapted subsequently to sowing wheat in drills. In 1844, he removed to St. Louis, and for a year worked as a clerk in a dry-goods store. While thus engaged he employed a skillful
RS Gatling
Att Century Publisher & Engraving Co. Chicago
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
mechanic to construct his seed-sowing machines, which found a ready sale. Interest in them soon became so wide-spread that, in 1845, Mr. Gatling gave up his other occupa- tions to devote his whole time to their improvement and sale, aud established agencies in several of the principal cities of the Northwest.
While proceeding from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh in the winter of 1845-46, lie was stricken by small-pox, and as the steamboat in which he travelled was caught in the ice and frozen in for thirteen days, he lay all that time without medical attendance and came very near dying from neglect. This terrible experience impressed him with the necessity for acquiring a knowledge of medicine so that he might be able to serve him- self and others also, should occasion arise. The leisure of several years was now devoted mainly to the study of medicine, and regular courses of instruction were taken at the Indiana Medical College, then at Laporte, and subsequently at the Ohio Medical College at Cin- cinnati. He completed his medical studies in 1850. Being now free to resume business operations, he established himself at Indianapolis, and engaged in the manufacture and sale of his seed-sowing machines, investing his profits, which were then considerable, in real estate speculations and in aiding in the construction of a number of the railroads leading to that city.
Dr. Gatling was an enthusiastic advocate of the advantages of drilling wheat over the old method of sowing broadcast, and he was the first to introduce this class of imple- ments into the Northwestern states, and probably did more than any other inan to secure the general adoption of drill culture in the West. His drills for years took many inedals and prizes at the various state fairs, and his skill as an inventor received high recogni- tion from distinguished sources, including a medal and diploma from the Crystal Palace, London, 1851, and a gold medal from the American Institute, New York City. Another invention in agricultural machinery produced by him about this time was a double-acting hemp- brake, which is still employed in some parts of the West. In 1849, lie conceived the design of transmitting power from one locality to another, or rather of distributing it from a main source - originating from steam or water- to numerous other points, through the medium of compressed air in pipes laid under ground as gas and water pipes are laid, a great cen- tral power generator thus sufficing to drive many sinaller engines situated in shops and factories at a distance. This method of using compressed air is now employed in working drills in mining operations, and in the construction of tunnels, etc. For years he sought to obtain a patent on this invention, but was unsuccessful, the authorities at the Patent Office in Wash- ington denying his claim on the ground that this was a discovery and not an invention. Failing to secure the protection of a patent, Dr. Gatling abandoned this scheme after the expenditure of much time and money. In 1857, he invented a steam-plough, designed to be operated by animal and steam power combined, but ill-health and other causes prevented him from working out the details of this machine to practical results.
But the great invention of Dr. Gatling, and that with which his name is indissolubly linked, is one which is in marked contrast to those employed in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture. This is the world-renowned Gatling gun, one of the most terrible engines of modern warfare, the design of which was conceived in 1861. When the Civil War broke out Dr. Gatling resided at Indianapolis. A true patriot, he closely followed the events of the war, and watched its progress with keen interest. The arrival and depar- ture of troops found him at the depot using his fine powers of observation, and constantly on the alert for an idea upon which he might build something of utility to the govern- ment. His humane feelings were deeply affected by the miseries and sufferings of those who went forth to fight the nation's battles, and he offered all the sympathy of a warin
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and generous nature to those around him bereaved of their loved ones by the sad fortunes of war. One day, while contemplating the fact that the casualties in war resulted chiefly from exposure and disease, the thought flashed upon him that it was perfectly possible to make labor-saving machinery for war. His reasoning was to the effect that if one inan, by means of a machine, could do the work of a hundred men, a great many could be withdrawn from the manifold dangers incidental to the prosecution of war; in other words, tlic necessity for large armies would no longer exist.
The idea of the machine gun now universally known as the "Gatling" was conceived in 1861, and the first one was constructed and fired by the inventor at Indianapolis in the spring of 1862. The test took place in the presence of a number of ariny officers and private citizens. Two hundred and fifty shots per minute were discharged from the gun with ease. The effect was startling and the invention became the talk of the land. Some of Dr. Gatling's friends, prompted by mistaken notions of humanity and for other reasons, sought to dissuade him from manufacturing his gun, but believing he was entirely in the right, he allowed no in- fluences to interfere with the carrying out of his project. The gun as first exhibited, although deemed imperfect by its inventor, contained the main essential principle of the later perfected weapon. During 1862, Dr. Gatling constructed several of his guns, making improvements in eachı. In the fall of that year he gave an order for six of them to the firm of Miles Green- wood & Company of Cincinnati. About the time they were ready for delivery the factory was burned and the guns, together with all the plans and patterns, were totally destroyed, subjecting the inventor to heavy pecuniary loss, and compelling him to begin his work all over
again. Shortly after this unfortunate circumstance he made thirteen of his guns at the Cincinnati Type Foundry Works. Some of these guns were finally employed in active service by the Union forces on the James River, near Richmond, under General Butler, in repelling attacks of the rebels. He also had twelve of his guns made by the Cooper Fire-Arms Manu- facturing Company in Philadelphia, in 1865. These were subjected to numerous tests at the Frankford Arsenal, and subsequently at Washington and Fortress Monroe. The most severe tests having proven entirely satisfactory to Secretary of War Stanton, and Gen. A. B. Dyer, chief of ordnance, the arm was adopted by the government. In August, 1866, an order was given for one hundred of these guns, fifty of one-inch and fifty of fifty one-hundredths of an inch calibre. They were made at Colt's armory, Hartford, Conn., and were delivered to the United States authorities in 1867. In that year Dr. Gatling visited Europe and spent nearly a year and a half in bringing his invention to the notice of the several governments.
He inade a second trip in 1870, and upon his return to America settled at Hartford, Conn., where he still lives. He again visited England in 1880. Since the approval of the Gatling gun by the United States government, it has been adopted by Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Egypt and England. From the day it was first brought out, in 1862, down to the present time, it has been subjected to the most severe tests, both in Europe and America, and has emerged successfully from all. In England the "Gatlings" were subjected to a general and exhaustive trial at the government butts, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, with the result that they were recommended by the authorities and finally adopted. That the "Gatling" antedates the French mitrailleuse is conclusively proven by documentary evidence in the possession of its inventor, who, communicating with the artillery commission of the French army as early as 1863, received a reply asking for definite information, and treating the invention as perfectly novel and original. Since that time the gun has been examined and tested by commissions from every government in Europe, with one exception (Belgium), from nearly all the South American governments, and those of China, Japan, Siam, and Egypt, with the results as previously stated.
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