USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 60
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The story of Mr. Bradley's life would not be fully told unless reference is made to his zeal for the promotion of religious works of every description. Freely and regularly are his gifts inade to proper objects of charity, and every effort for the public good receives not only sympathy from him, but also substantial aid. Among the first to provide for the work of the Young Men's Christian Association, he subscribed generously to the fund when the building was erected, and his interest in and gifts to this worthy adjunct of the Christian church have continued to the present time. He is a member of the First Congregational church of Meriden, and closely connected with all its work. For over twenty years he has served on the committee of the society, and during all these years he has faithfully sought to build up a harmonious and prosperous fellowship. Having but just entered upon his second half- century of existence, Mr. Bradley is now in the very prime of his later manhood, with every prospect of seeing what the first quarter of the twentieth century has in store for the world.
Mr. Bradley was married Oct. 25, 1860, to Hattie E., daughter of Selden and Lucy Hooker (Hart) Peck of Kensington, Conn. His wife is a sharer in all his benevolent and religious works, and is a constant source of inspiration to him in his efforts to benefit humanity. One son, Clarence P. Bradley, was the result of this union. He is now a director in the Bradley & Hubbard Manufacturing Company.
ITCHELL, CHARLES LEMOYNE, of New Haven, ex-member of Congress, was born in that city, Aug. 4, 1844. He died March 1, 1890.
Some of the best blood of the colonial and Revolutionary periods of Connecticut history found its expression in Mr. Mitchell. On the maternal side his genealogical line can be traced to Sir Thomas Fitch of Eltham, Kent County, Eng., who was formally created a baronet. He was a judge of much distinction and is so mentioned by Sir William Blackstone. Thomas Fitch, a lineal descendant of the baronet, died in Braintree, Eng., leaving a widow and several sons, and after disposing of the family estate, they all emigrated to this country between the years 1634 and 1638. Thomas Fitch, Jr., settled in Norwich, and, in 1665, was acknowledged as the wealthiest
citizen of the town. Then followed two generations each bearing the same name, and the third Thomas Fitch was lieutenant-governor with Gov. Roger Wolcott from 1750 to 1754, and for the next twelve years was governor of Connecticut, and was chief justice of the colony from 1766 to 1770. Jonathan, son of Governor Fitch, was a colonel in the Revolutionary War. His daughter Sarah married Marvin Gorham, whose ancestors came over in the Mayflower, and their daughter was the inother of Charles L. Mitchell.
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894. 373
William Mitchell came to this country at a date impossible to ascertain accurately. His son John settled in New Haven, but his business was largely in the South. Edward A. Mitchell, son of John, married Elizabeth Mary Gorhain, and became the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born in Bristol in 1815, and manifested exceptional business capacity at an early age. Though never prominent in political affairs, he was appointed postmaster of New Haven by President Tyler, and retained that position under President Pierce. He took an active part in establishing several of the great manufacturing industries which have been the means of building up the district which his son afterwards represented in the halls of Congress. For the last twenty years of his life, he was connected with many of the foremost manufacturing interests of the state. Among them were the Rogers & Smith Company, Winchester Repeating Arins Company, Meriden Britannia Company, Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company, and the Willimantic Linen Company.
C. L. Mitchell received a liberal education at the popular school of General Russell, at New Haven, and later at the Rectory School, Handen, and the Episcopal Acadeiny, Cheshire. Two years were then spent in a journey around the world, a trip which included Asia, Africa and Europe, and did much to broaden his mind and enlarge his conceptions of the scope of mercantile affairs. The enumeration of the companies in which Mr. Mitchell was a director will convince the most casual reader that time did not liang heavy on his hands, for lack of employment. He held a directorship in the Winchester Arms Company, the Meriden Britannia Company, Mitchell, Vance & Company, and the Tradesmen's Bank, New Haven. As a stockholder, he was interested in many of the prominent manufacturing enterprises throughout the state, among them being the Cheshire Brass Company, Benedict & Burnham Company, and the Waterbury Clock Company, Waterbury, R. Wallace & Sons, Wallingford, the Meriden Cutlery Company, and Wilcox & White Organ Company, Meriden ; and the Bridgeport Brass Company, Bridgeport. Always ready to assist in promoting new industries that inet his approval, Mr. Mitchell's practical knowledge of business affairs and intelligent interest in scientific inventions connected with industrial progress, caused his counsel to be sought and valued by inventors.
Mr. Mitchell made his entry into the public life of the state as a member of the legislature for the town of East Haven, in 1878. The district usually gave a heavy Republi- can majority, but such was his popularity, he carried it for the Democrats. The following year, he received the Democratic nomination for senator, but failed of election, though receiving more than the party vote in a majority of the towns. Remembering his previous success, his friends suggested his name for the nomination for congressman in the Second District, in the fall of 1892. In presenting Mr. Mitchell's name to the congressional con- vention, Mr. Colin M. Ingersoll said in closing : "I have had the good fortune to be daily associated with the Hon. Charles L. Mitchell. I have noted with admiration his correct habits, his courtly bearing, his methodical ways, his business capacity, his connection with manufacturing interests and his mercantile transactions. - His generosity is known to all classes, poor and rich alike. He has also religious associations. Give us this man for a candidate. Give him the handling of the Democratic flag in this congressional district, on which I wish to see no glittering generalities, but bearing on it only economy and honesty in the direction of public affairs. He will carry that flag into the thickest of the fight, and it will never be allowed to trail in the dust. I wish that by acclamation the name of Charles L. Mitchell might be adopted by this convention."
Speaking of the nomination, the New Haven Union said : "It is needless to say that Mr. Mitchell will be elected. He was the unanimous choice of a convention representing all the towns of New Haven and Middlesex Counties. He is a man of high character, is
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well acquainted with the commercial and business interests of the district, and is wholly beyond the reach of corrupt agents who infest the lobbies of Congress. Mr. Mitchell's popularity was attested by the enthusiasmn displayed for his nomination. His majority will be very large. He will poll hundreds of Republican votes. His name will strengthen the state ticket of the Democratic party."
The choice of the party convention was endorsed at the polls. Mr. Mitchell's course at Washiington was so satisfactory to his constituents, that when his first term expired, he was reelected by an increased vote. In this Congress he served as chairman of the com- mittee on patents, and on other lesser committees. He was extremely popular at the capital of the nation and to a high degree enjoyed the confidence of President Cleveland.
His church affiliations were with the Protestant Episcopal church and he was a member of the vestry of St. Paul's church, New Haven. The religious and benevolent institutions of the city and state found in him a consistent friend, and he took an active part in their support and management. Fernhurst, Mr. Mitchell's family homestead, one of the most attractive of the many beautiful residences in the environs of New Haven, has been in the possession of the family for three generations.
Said a brief inention of him in the Hartford Post Annual: "In private life Mr. Mitchell is a general favorite, a staunch friend and a good neighbor. He is a generous patron of art, a buyer and reader of good books, and a skilled horticulturist. By family training and inheritance, as well as by his own deliberate choice, a Democrat, Mr. Mitchell is free from offensive partisanship. He not only accepts, but heartily believes, in political progress, and has always the courage to stand by his convictions."
Charles L. Mitchell was married Feb. 1, 1871, to Emma C., daughter of Anthony Morse of Lebanon, N. H. Two children were born to them, Edward Anthony, named for his grandfathers, and Elise Lathrop.
The mention of Mr. Mitchell's death in the New Haven Journal and Courier contained the following just comment :
In New Haven he was endeared to all who knew him by his amiable qualities, his wide charities, and his public spirit. A man of the most generous and lively nature, few men had more or warmer friends. During his term of office at Washington he was among the most influential as well as popular members of congress, and had a wide circle of friends all over the country. No man could be dearer to his friends, and he will be long and sadly mourned. But it is only those who enjoyed his intimate friendship who can fully appreciate the many charms of his character, the cheerfulness which even illness could not depress, the generosity which was as direct as it was unfailing, and the taste for art, books and flowers which made his home life beautiful. His business associates always found in him an intelligent and sagacious co-worker, and had the utmost confi- dence in his enterprise and judgment. But it is by his many personal friends-and few men had so many - that his loss will be longest and most keenly felt.
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
ORTER, GEORGE LORING, M. D., of Bridgeport, was born in Concord, N. H., April 20, 1838. He is a descendant in the ninth generation from Jolin Porter, who settled in Hingham, Mass., in 1635. Among his ancestors are Elizabeth Porter, who was the mother of Gen. Israel Putnam ; Asahel Porter, killed at Lexington; Gen. Moses Porter, who, entering the army, early in the Revo- lution, continued in the service until 1822, "all his life in the service of his country, longer than any officer of his grade, won the confidence and admiration of all as an able and coura- geous soldier, and a high disciplinarian," and Colonel Porter, a gentleman who received a large land grant from one of the Georges in the northern part of New York and Verinont. Dr. Porter was graduated from the New London, N. H., Academy in 1855, and four years later, he received his degree from Brown University. Choosing the medical profession as the one best suited to his tastes for the employment of his life, he entered Jefferson Medical College, and taking the regulation course of studies, gained his title of M. D. in 1862. The War of the Rebellion was in progress, and deciding to enter the service of his country, he passed the examination of the army medical board in the April after graduation. He was assigned to duty as a "proof candidate," at Strasburg, Va., then under the command of Major-General Banks.
When the national army retreated down the Shenandoah Valley, on the 25th of May, Dr. Porter volunteered to remain with the sick and wounded, and was captured by Colonel Ashby of the Virginia Cavalry, but Gen. "Stonewall " Jackson at once reinstated him in charge of the hospital, and also requested him to care for the Confederate wounded. This was one of the earliest instances, if not the very first, in the War of the Rebellion of the recognition of the right of medical officers to claim the protection of the rules of war govern1- ing non-belligerents. For his conduct at this time he received honorable mention in the official reports of the division and department commanders, and a commendatory letter from the surgeon-general. July Ist, he was assigned to Best's Battery (Light Battery F, Fourth Artillery, the oldest military organization in the service, having been in continuous service during and since the Revolution), and was present at the battle of Cedar Mountain, the combats along the Rappahannock, the second battle of Bull Run, and the battle of South Mountain. After Antietam he was in the general hospital at Braddock Barracks, Frederick, Md., until November, when he joined the Fifth Cavalry (U. S. A.), and served with the regular army until 1864. He was present at the battles of Fredericksburg, Beverly Ford, Gettysburg, Brandy Station and Todd's Tavern; the engagements at Flemming's Crossroads and Manassas Gap ; the actions at Kelly's Ford, Middletown, Upperville, Williamsport, Boons- boro (where he was wounded by a fragment of shell), Funkstown, Falling Waters and Beaver Dam; the skirmishes at Warrenton, Ashby's Gap, Front Royal, Culpepper Court House and Morton's Ford. He conducted the first train of wounded sent to the transports on the Potomac after the battle of the Wilderness, May, 1864, and was the bearer of important dispatches to Washington.
In referring to his services with the regiment, Captain Mason (afterwards in command of General Grant's escort), testified, "he was fearless in the discharge of his duty on the field of battle. He was always with the regiment when it was engaged with the enemy, and had many applications from his orderlies to be returned to their companies, as the service there was seemingly less dangerous than to remain with him. He often performed impor- tant surgical operations on the field and under a heavy fire. During his service the regiment was engaged in many battles, losing heavily in killed and wounded. Assistant-Surgeon Porter's faithfulness to the sick and wounded is gratefully remembered by the officers and men ; and
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his conspicuous gallantry during the battles of Upperville, Aldic, Gettysburg, Williamsport, Funkstown and Brandy Station, where he took the dead and wounded alinost from the hands of the enemy, entitles him to the greatest praise and consideration. He enjoyed the goodwill and cordial esteem of the Regular Cavalry Brigade."
After leaving the Army of the Potomac, he served as the post-surgcon at Washington Arsenal from May, 1864, mintil May, 1867, and was the only commissioned officer present at the burial of the body of J. Wilkes Booth1. He had medical charge of the conspirators against President Lincoln and his cabinet, during their imprisonment in the old penitentiary building, and was present at the hanging of four of them, and conducted the others to Tortugas. From Washington he was ordered to Camp Cook, Montana, where, after many vicissitudes by field and by flood, he reported August, 1867. He served with an expedition to the Musselshell River, and during April and May of 1868, in addition to his medical duties, volunteered for, and stood regular tours as officer of the day, to relieve the line officers, who were greatly overworked by the constant presence of hostile Indians.
Resigning his commission, Dr. Porter crossed the continent on horseback in August and September, 1868, traveling alone over the Lewis and Clarke trails, and returned to the east by steamer via the Isthmus. He then located in Bridgeport as a practicing physician and surgeon, and has since retained his residence in that city, adding to his reputation with each succeeding year. To medical publications he has made numerous contributions, and his address as president of the State Medical Society upon the cost of sickness to the individual and to the state was widely copied throughout the country. Dr. Porter started the discussion in Bridgeport on suspended animation, which resulted in the passing of the present coroner's law of the state of Connecticut, and it is generally conceded that his address before the judiciary committee of the legislature largely determined the enactment of the present medical practice act. He has had a share in many civil and criminal trials, being called upon to give expert testimony, and has inade numerous official post mortem examinations. The profession of which he is a leading member has honored him in various ways. Besides serving as president of the Bridgeport City and Fairfield County Medical Societies, for the years 1888 and 1889 he was president of the Connecticut Medical Society. He is one of the judicial council of the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Porter was made a Mason and a Knight Templar in the city of Washington, in the old George Washington bodies. He is now one of the nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, being a member of Corinthian Lodge at Bridgeport. Taking in a grand total of the whole, he is a member of nearly seventy different societies and organizations. He has been connected with the National Guard of Connecticut, and has served as surgeon of the Fourth Regiment, and as medical director of the state brigade. He is a member of the Loyal Legion of the state of New York and is one of the inspectors of the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford.
Dr. Porter's wife was a Providence lady, the daughter of Mr. Chaffee, the inventor of the Chaffee cylinder for vulcanizing rubber. They have four children.
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
ESSENDEN, SAMUEL, of Stamford, a distinguished lawyer and state's attorney for Fairfield county, ex-member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, and prominent for many years as a leader in the Republican party, was born at Rockland, Me., April 12, 1847.
The family to which he belongs was descended from Nicholas Fessenden, says the "Biography of Connecticut," who came from England, and settled in Cambridge, Mass., in 1674. One of its worthiest members of the third generation was the Rev. William Fessenden, who was graduated at Harvard College, and became the first minister of Fryeburg, Me., then a district of Massachusetts. His son, Samuel Fessenden, born at Fryeburg, July 14, 1784, was a man of marked distinction. Connecting himself with the militia while a young man, he rose to the rank of major-general, and for many years commanded a division of the Massachusetts citizen soldiery. He was a lawyer by profession and was engaged in active practice in the courts of Maine for more than forty-five years, where, by his great ability and absolute integrity, he achieved a distinguished and justly deserved reputation as a safe and faithful counselor and able advocate, ranking among the most prominent and successful members of the bar. In politics a Federalist, he became a pronounced anti-slavery man in 1841, joining the ranks of the Abolitionists with whom he was closely identified until the forination of the Republican party, the principles of which he warmly espoused and ably and eloquently defended. Possessed of great moral courage and devoid of physical fear he always took a prominent part in the discussion of public questions, having the courage of his convictions in the expression of his opinions during the exciting and stormy period of anti-slavery agitation. General Fessenden, who was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch and for whom he was named, had nine sons, three of whom, William Pitt, Samuel C. and Thomas A. D., were in the delegation of Maine in the Thirty-seventh Congress, the only instance in the history of the United States where thrce brothers have been elected to the same Congress from the same state. The eldest, the late William Pitt Fessenden, who will always be held in honored remembrance for his distinguished services to his country during the late civil war, and as secretary of the treasury in the cabinet of President Lincoln, has passed into history as one of America's ablest statesmen and financiers.
The second, Samuel Clement Fessenden, though overshadowed by the national fame of his eminent brother, was, like him, a man of ability and distinction. Born in New Glouces- ter, Me., March 7, 1815 (five years before the district of Maine was admitted as a state), hie was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1834, and at the Bangor Theological Seminary in 1837. After being pastor of the First Congregational church in Thomaston (now Rockland), Me., for nearly twenty years, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and shortly afterwards was elected judge of the municipal court of Rockland. He was a leading abolitionist and one of the founders of the Republican party, and as the candidate of that party was elected to Congress in 1861, serving until 1863. He married Mary A. G., daughter of Joshua Abbe of Bangor, Me. His family consisted of four sons and eight daughters. The eldest son, Joshua Abbe Fessenden, entered the army at the outbreak of the Rebellion and became a captain in the United States army. He served in the Army of the Cumberland, and was wounded at Chickamauga.
The second son, Samuel, the subject of this sketch, was educated at Lewiston Falls Academy, Auburn, Me. The outbreak of the Rebellion found him a boy of fourteen, in the midst of his preparation to enter college. From the firing of the first gun on Sumter he burned with the desire to enter the service of his country. At sixteen his military ardor could no longer be held in restraint, and sacrificing his college career, he gallantly enlisted as a private in the Seventh Maine Volunteer Battery. On December 14, 1864, being strongly
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recommended for promotion by General Grant, he was appointed to a first lieutenancy in the Second United States Infantry, by President Lincoln, and before the close of the year was offered a captaincy in that company, but having been recommended for a commission ini the artillery service of his own state, with the duties of which he was practically familiar, hie declined to accept these commissions, and on Jan. 15, 1865, although lacking three months of being eighteen years of age, was commissioned as second lieutenant in the First Maine Volunteer Battery, then at the front. After a brief service with this command he was appointed as aide on the staff of Major-General Albion P. Howe, and remained in this position until mustered out of the service at the close of the war. He participated in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg, and in every position in which he was placed performed his duties so gallantly and conscientiously as to win the favorable recognition of his superiors.
Upon leaving the army he decided upon adopting the profession of law, and took the full course of study at the Harvard Law School, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. On March 4, 1869, having taken up his residence at Stamford, Conn., he was duly admitted to the bar of Fairfield County. A Republican by preference, as well as by inherited instinct, he took an active part in politics from the date of settling at Stamford, and, in 1874, was elected on the party ticket to the lower branch of the state legislature. He served during this term as a member of the judiciary committee and "inade one of the ablest speeches of the session on the parallel railroad project, carrying the House by the eloquence and force of his presentation of the case." In 1876, he was a delegate from Connecticut to the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati, and after Connecticut had complimented her favorite son, voted every other ballot for the nomination of James G. Blaine. In 1879, he was again elected to represent Stamford in the General Assembly, and became one of the leaders of his party in that body. Mr. Fessenden has been an active and prominent inember of every State Republican Convention held in Connecticut for fully fifteen years. Gifted with rare eloquence and seemingly unlimited capacity for hard work, he has won high dis- tinction as a party leader. In 1880, he was again a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago, and voted steadily from "start to finish " for the nomination of Mr. Blaine. In 1884, he was elected secretary of the Republican National Committee, and in that capacity showed himself the possessor of singular executive ability. He is still a mnem- ber of the National Committee of his party, and as one of the executive board ranks with its most trusted advisers. In 1888, he was a delegate at large to the Republican National Convention of that year, was chosen chairman of the delegation, and took a prominent part in bringing about the nomination of President Harrison, and was engaged in the active work of the campaign which followed.
Although still a young man for one so prominent, Mr. Fessenden has had a rare experience of men and events. He began his career by valiantly. facing the enemies of his country on the field of battle. While in the army and since, his social relations have brought him into contact with almost all the prominent men in public life. His great political activity in recent years has kept him in close touch with the leaders of his party in all parts of the country. He is known as a man of strict integrity, high intelligence and infinite resources, an able and trustworthy executive officer and a wise and experienced manager and counselor. He is renowned at the bar for the care he bestows 011 the preparation of his cases and for the skill and eloquence with which he presents them. It is doubtful if there is a more powerful or successful advocate in the state than Mr. Fessenden in a cause involving a great principle or a public benefit. He has the reputation among his colleagues of being a formidable antagonist at any time, being not only skillful, thorough and eloquent, but likewise powerful in his influence over juries.
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