USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 8
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Although uot one of the members of the Polytechnic Club was counected with insurance, the body unconsciously drew inspiration from the local predominance of the interest, which was theu making Hartford famous as the home of skilled underwriters. Iu the course of the debates on the subject the attention of the young men was attracted to the feasibility of combining a guaranty with the inspection, thus giving both parties to the contract a pecuniary interest in the safety of the boiler. So far as known, the couception had not at that time materialized elsewhere. Although distinctly evolved in the club, the seminal idea waited several years for further development on account of the intervention of the civil war.
With the return of peace, the subject was revived, and in May, 1866, prominent manufacturers in and out of the state secured a charter empowering the company formed under it "to inspect steain boilers and insure the owuers against loss or damage arising from boiler explosions." In the following November the company was organized, when J. M. Allen, who had given much study to this and related subjects, was urged to take the management, but, having made other engagements for the year, was compelled to decline. E. C. Roberts was accordingly elected president, and H. H. Hayden, secretary. In October, 1867, Mr. Alleu succeeded to the presidency, and under his care a sickly infant, seriously threatened more than once with early death, has in twenty years grown iuto present usefuluess, strength aud influence.
For a long time the process was slow and the way wearisome. Most seemed to regard the new departure as a useless novelty that must soou run its short-lived course. What will Hartford people undertake to insure next? was a question often asked iu tones of undisguised derision. Iu the hands of a unanager less firm in couviction or less conciliatory in manner, the prophecy of disaster must have wrought its own fulfilment. Mr. Allen met the flavor of sarcasm with the antidote of pleasantry, and toiled on to create a demand which it should be his future business to supply. For the first five years the company occupied a single room sixteen or eighteen feet square, aud for the same period the floor of the vault was spread with papers for the protection of the books, from the unwillingness of the officers to go to the extravagance of fitting it up with shelves. Iu a moment of self-indulgence the president did invest fourteen dollars iu a desk for his own use, but such outbreaks of luxury seldom occurred.
Before the establishment of the company, the destruction of life, limb, and property through the ignorance of boiler-makers, and the incompetence of "engineers," filled a wide space in the daily record of casualties. To reduce and ultimately eliminate the hazards arising from the use of steam has been the constant aim of the management. By frequent
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REPRESENTATIVE MEN
and thorough inspections, defects are detected in their incipiency and the proper remedies applied. Structures so worn or faulty as to approach the danger line are peremptorily condemned. No chances are taken, no compromises with peril allowed. As a result, the explosions of boilers inder care of the company now scarcely reach one in ten thousand per annum. Viewed as a work of beneficence, few attempts in the line of philanthropy have been equally fruitful. Thic licavy drain on the premiums charged to the insured comes not from payment of losses, but from cost of inspections. About one hundred and twenty experts are constantly employed in making examinations. From the outset, Mr. Allen introduced rigidly scientific methods in collecting and classifying facts. So far have his inquiries been pushed that lic has prepared many formula that set forth with mathematical precision the strength of materials under a great variety of arrangement and conditions. Although invaluable to the company, these do not appear in its list of assets.
In 1867, Mr. Allen began the publication of the Locomotive, an illustrated monthly, intended primarily to explain in detail the causes and character of specific boiler explosions, but afterwards so enlarged in scope that it has long been an exponent of the most advanced studies respecting the steamn boiler and cognate subjects. The magazine was changed to its present form in 1880, and has attained a circulation of twenty-five thousand. The home office is a storehouse of facts and statistics relating to every phase of the business. Of the whole, all the patrons have the benefit without charge.
Mr. Allen has furnished plans for many of the most extensive steam plants in the country. As the designs aim, by strictly scientific methods, to secure the highest degree of economy, efficiency, and safety, the saving in operation as compared with the superseded systems has often sufficed in a few years to offset the first cost of the outfit. The company has a laboratory for the analysis of waters, and for such as are injurious to boilers the proper chemical remedies are prescribed. Toward makers it holds an attitude of entire impartiality, permitting 110 officer or employee to have any pecuniary interest in any appliance connected with the trade. The growth and strength of the company can best be studied in the reports of the state insurance commissioners.
For Sept. 16, 1892, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mr. Allen's election to the presidency, his associates in conducting the business in all parts of the country arranged a surprise, as touching to the principal person in the drama as it was unexpected. Being absent from the city he was summoned back by telegraph, and returned under the apprehension that unpleasant news awaited him. Hurrying from the station to his residence, he was relieved to meet the welcome of a throng of familiar and beaming faces. Theodore H. Babcock, manager of the New York department of the company, speaking for all, said that the "silver anniversary" was regarded by officers, clerks, agents and inspectors of all degrees, as an appropriate time to show the universal esteem in which he was held by them. He was then taken into the next room to see the material forms in which goodwill and affection had found embodiment. There reposed a solid silver tea service, salver, and complete set of dinner, dessert, and tea cutlery, and spoons of silver. In all there were one hundred and one pieces of exquisite workmanship. A plate on the large mahogany case containing most of the treasures, bears this inscription :
1867 PRESENTED TO J. M. ALLEN 1892 BY OFFICERS, AGENTS, INSPECTORS AND EMPLOYEES OF THE HARTFORD STEAM BOILER INSPECTION AND INSURANCE COMPANY.
Besides the silver, there was an elegant albumn containing the photographs of about fifty persons connected with the company, and autograph letters of congratulation in verse and prose.
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
In 1888, the Hartford Board of Trade was organized. At the earnest solicitation of the directors, Mr. Allen took the presidency, and has held it continuously since. For a long period the growth of the city had been painfully slow; several enterprises had been torn up by the roots to be transplanted in other soil, and despondency prevailed. Largely through the efforts of this association a remarkable change soon became apparent. The town, after a long sleep, seems to have entered upon a new career with the energy and courage of youth renewed. In the annual reports of the board may be found the details of the movement. Of the causes of the change let the Courant bear witness :
No other single agency has contributed so much to this result as the Hartford Board of Trade, with Mr. J. M. Allen as its tactful and judicious president, and Mr. P. H. Woodward as its untiring secretary, full of energy and resources. The turn of affairs dates from the time when the Board of Trade began to be felt as a factor here. It concentrated public spirit, caught the common interest of the community, and roused the people to a fuller sense of what this place is and may be.
Mr. Allen's services have been widely sought in the management of corporations and trusts, and though often obliged from pressure of other duties to decline, he is a director in the Security Company, the Connecticut River Banking Company, the Orient Insurance Com- pany, and the Society for Savings. He is associate executor and trustee of the estates left by John S. Welles and Newton Case, amounting together to more than $1,500,000. He belongs to an order of men, unfortunately too rare, whom the entire community by an unerr- ing instinct recognizes as honest, honorable, and certain to prove faithful to whatever trust they inay assume.
For many years Mr. Allen has been trustee of the Hartford Theological Seminary. When the institution first moved to the city, it occupied rented quarters on Prospect street. It now owns inodern and spacious buildings in a choice location. Its finances have improved correspondingly. Jan. 18, 1893, the Case Memorial Library was dedicated, Mr. Allen delivering the historical address. His part in the work is thus referred to in the report for 1893 of the secretary of the Board of Trade : "The building, as a whole and in detail, originated in the brain of J. M. Allen, whose scientific knowledge and varied skill in handling force and matter have found embodiment in many diverse and widely scattered forms."
Mr. Allen is non-resident lecturer of Sibley College and Cornell University, and a member of several scientific, literary, and historical societies, including the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, the American Association of Mechanical Engineers, the American Academy of Political and Social Science (Philadelphia), the American Historical Association (Washington, D. C.), the Connecticut Historical Society, etc., etc.
With little time or taste for the scrambles of politics, Mr. Allen has rarely accepted municipal office, and then only to promote some matter of public welfare in which he took deep interest. It would be tedious to enumerate his particular services. A person of capability and public spirit is always heavily loaded with cares. Perhaps the gift most impressive to intimate associates is his readiness in overcoming physical obstructions and annoyances by the application of principles of science.
Mr. Allen married, April 10, 1856, Harriet, daughter of Hermon C. and Mary A. Griswold of Ellington, Conn., and has two children, Elizabeth Turner, wife of C. E. Roberts, and William H. Allen. Mr. Roberts is the manager and W. H. Allen is the assistant manager of the Boston office of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company.
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REPRESENTATIVE MEN
RANKLIN, WILLIAM BUEL, president of the board of managers of the National Home for disabled volunteer soldiers and vice-president of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, and ex-major-general United States volunteers, was born in York, Pa., Fcb. 27, 1823.
His father was Walter S. Franklin, who was clerk of the United States House of Representatives at the time of his death, in 1838; and his great-grandfather was Thomas Franklin of Philadelphia, commissary of prisoners during the War of the Revolution, who married Mary Rhoads, a daughter of Samuel Rhoads, a member from Pennsylvania of the first Continental congress. The family came from Flushing, L. I. His mother was a daugliter of Dr. William Buel of Litchfield, Conn., who was a descendant of Peter Buel of Windsor, Conn.
Choosing a military career for himself, he secured an appointment as cadet at the United States Academy at West Point, in June, 1839. Passing through the regular curriculum of the institution, he graduated and was brevetted second lieutenant of topographical engineers four years later in July, 1843. The next two years were spent in extended service on the western lakes and the Rocky Mountains. After another year in the Topographical office at Washington, he was appointed second lieutenant in that service Sept. 11, 1846. His first real experience as a soldier was received during the Mexican War. For gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Buena Vista, he was appointed first lieutenant, Feb. 23, 1847. He was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at the military academy from July, 1848, to January, 1851. Again came a couple of years of active life, during which he was engaged on service along the Atlantic coast. On March 3, 1853, he was commissioned first lieutenant of topographical engineers, and until 1857 was assigned the duties in connection with lighthouse work or custom house engineering. In March, 1857, he was appointed secre- tary of the lighthouse board, and in October of the last named year he was commissioned captain of topographical engineers, for fourteen continuous years in that department. In November, 1859, he was appointed superintendent of the capitol and post-office buildings, and in March, 1861, was appointed supervising architect of the treasury departinent at Washington.
In the terrible conflict between the North and South, he gained undying fame for himself. Commissioned colonel of the twelfthi United States infantry, May 14, 1861, three days later he was elevated to the rank of brigadier-general United States volunteers. In the Manassas campaign, and at the battle of Bull Run, he was in command of a brigade, and until March, 1862, he was in command of divisions about the defence of the capital. General Franklin took an honorable part in the Virginia peninsular campaign, and on June 30, 1862, he was brevetted brigadier-general of the United States Army " for gallant and meritorious conduct " in the battle before Richmond, Va., and was appointed major-general of volunteers on July 4, 1862. In the Maryland campaign lie was in command of the sixth army corps, and in the battle of South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862, commanded the left wing of the army of the Potomac, carrying Crampton's Gap by assault, gaining a signal victory. He commanded the sixth corps in the battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. He commanded the left wing of the ariny of the Potomac, Dec. 12, 1862, when the army was so disastrously defeated under the command of General Burnside. In June, 1863, he was ordered to the department of the Gulf, and served in Texas and Louisiana until April, 1864, when he succumbed to a wound received at the battle of Sabine Cross Roads, where two horses were shot under him, and was given his first leave of absence until November of the same year. During this time he was captured by rebel raiders on the Philadelphia and Baltimore railroad, but fortunately escaped from them the next night. From December, 1864, to November, 1865, General Franklin was president of the board for retiring disabled officers at Wilmington, Del.
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
In March, 1865, he received additional honor by being brevetted inajor general of the United States Army, and just one year later he resigned his commission and retired to private life. In the various trying positions in which he was placed, he always acquitted himself with honor, and his military record is one of which he lias just cause to be proud. Serving his country faithfully, he risked his life in her defence, and his name should be inscribed high on her roll of fame.
Selecting Hartford as his future residence, he removed to that city in 1865. In November of that year he was chosen vice-president and general manager of the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Company, and retained that position until April, 1888. In 1868, he was elected president of the board of visitors of the United States military academy. When the new state capitol was to be erected, he was selected as the most suitable person to act as president of the coin- mission for the erection of the new state house in 1872-73 ; was consulting engineer froin 1873 to 1877, and superintendent from 1877 to March 1, 1880. The magnificent capitol is now the pride of all the citizens of the state, and it is a remarkable fact that the cost of erection was kept within the appropriations made by the legislature. In all the details of construction, General Franklin's controlling hand could be felt and his vigilance was never relaxed. For the fifteen years from 1863 to 1878 he was a member of the board of water cominissioners, and here his experience as an engineer was useful on numerous occasions. At the Centennial exhibition, General Franklin was chairman of the committee of judges on engineering and architecture.
In 1876, he was chosen one of the presidential electors on the Democratic ticket, and took part in the convention which nominated Mr. Tilden. From 1877 to 1879 he was adjutant- general of the State of Connecticut, and since July, 1880, he has been president of the board of managers of the National Home for disabled soldiers. Additional honors still awaited himn. In June, 1888, he was appointed commissioner-general for the United States at the Inter- national Exposition at Paris, France, and in October of the following year he received the appointment of grand officer of the French Legion of Honor,-a high compliment to be paid
an American. A member of the New York Commandery of the Legion of Honor, he was for several terins its commander. His interest in secret societies is not confined to one section. He is a member of the Cincinnati, of the Sons of the American Revolution, of R. O. Tyler Post, No. 50, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Army and Navy Club. He still retains his hold on the business world, and is vice-president of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, and a director of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, and of the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford. He is also a director of the Panama Railroad Company.
That General Franklin attained high rank as an engineer, is evidenced by his various deserved promotions. No man could rise to the rank of major-general during the late war unless he was a born leader of men, and unless he had rare capacity for handling large bodies of troops. Returning to private life, unless he had executive ability of the highest order, combined with a superabundance of practical common sense, no inan could be the controlling spirit of an immense corporation for over twenty years. Unless he was popular in the truest and best sense of the word, no man could have filled the honorable positions which have been awarded to General Franklin without any seeking on his part.
William B. Franklin was married July 7, 1852, to Anna L. Clarke, daughter of Matthew St. Clair Clarke and Hannah B. Clarke of Washington, D. C. There are no children.
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RENTICE, AMOS WYLIE, of Norwich, merchant and cx-state senator, was born in Griswold, Com., Dec. 20, 1816.
Amos Prentice, father of A. W. Prentice, was thic son of John Prentice of Griswold. His life was devoted to agricultural pursuits. Hc married Lucy Wylic, by whom he had two sons. The youngest enlisted in the army for defence of his country, and died in New York during the war.
Receiving simply a common school education, young Prentice, by hard study and persist- ent application, laid the foundation for a successful business and public career. He transferred liis residence to Norwich in 1823, and has made that city his home almost continuously ever since. His first business experience was as clerk for W. A. Buckingham, subsequently the war governor of the state. I11 1831 Mr. Prentice entered the employ of Mr. John Breed, a hardware merchant, in the store which proved to be his business home for the larger part of his life. Such was his faithfulness and zeal that in 1840 he was made a member of the firmn, the name becoming John Breed & Co. In 1856 Mr. Breed went into a different line of business, and, with Mr. Amos C. Williams, Mr. Prentice continued the sale of hardware specialties under the old name. Six years later Mr. Williams died, and Mr. Prentice formed a new partnership with Messrs. William A. Williams and Francis A. Dorrance, taking the name of A. W. Prentice & Co. This connection lasted till 1888, when Mr. Prentice sold out his interest to his clerks who had been with him for a long series of years. The firm name now is Eaton, Chase & Co., the latter being Mr. Prentice's son-in-law, and they carry on business along the same lines on which it was established nearly seventy years ago.
Mr. Prentice has devoted no small share of his time and talents to the management of financial institutions. He has been president of the Norwich Savings Society since 1890. With one exception, this is the largest savings institution in Connecticut. He has been senior director of the First National Bank of Norwich for over twenty-five years. Besides the financial organizations mentioned, Mr. Prentice is a director in the Richmond Stove Company, and other companies of lesser note, and is a trustee of the Norwich Free Academy.
Men of Mr. Prentice's stamp must expect to have official stations tendered them for acceptance. In 1854 he represented the old eighth senatorial district at the state capitol, and served on the committee on state prisons as chairman. Among his colleagues that year were Hon. James Dixon, subsequently United States Senator, Gov. Henry B. Harrison, and the late Gov. William T. Minor. In 1859 his fellow citizens elected him mayor of Norwich, and it was during his term of office that the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the city was celebrated. He was equal to all the responsibilities of the occasion, and nothing occurred to mar the festivities of the day. Mr. Prentice served his constituents so satisfactorily that he was re-elected the following year. The year 1877 again found him at the capital of the state, this time as the representative of his city in the lower branch of the legislature. Hon. Lynde Harrison, Lieutenant-Governor Gallup, Ex- Comptroller Chauncey Howard, and others who have since gained eminence in state affairs, were also members the same year. Mr. Prentice served on the Republican side, and along various lines exerted an important influence during the session. He was a member of the judiciary committee, which is usually composed of lawyers, and was appointed on a special committee on the examination of the state capitol.
The religious affiliations of Mr. Prentice are with the Broadway Congregational Church, of which he has been deacon for over twenty years, following Governor Buckingham. His course during his long residence in Norwich has greatly endeared him to its citizens, and he is held in the highest esteem by men of all political parties and of all denominational beliefs.
May 18, 1840, Mr. Prentice was married to Hannah E. Parker. She died Dec. 24, 1887, and of her four children, one married daughter is still living-Mrs. A. H. Chase.
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OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
B
RANDEGEE, AUGUSTUS, ex-member of Congress and ex-mayor of New London, was born in that city, July 15, 1828.
"He is the youngest of the three sons of John Brandegee," says the Biography of Connecticut. "His father moved when a lad from Berlin, Conn., to New Orleans, where he acquired a competency as a broker in cotton. He served as a member of the City Guards under General Jackson, and was engaged in the celebrated battle of Jan. 8, 1815, in which General Packenham and the flower of the British army were defeated. His inother, whose inaiden name was Mary Ann Deshon, was descended from Huguenot ancestors who were driven from France by the revocation of the 'Edict of Nantes.' His grandfather, Capt. Daniel Deshon, was appointed in 1777 to command the armed vessel, ' Old Defence,' which was built and commissioned by the state of Connecticut for service against the British in the Revolutionary War. His two grand-uncles, Jolin and Richard Deshon, served with conspicuous gallantry as captains of the Connecticut forces in the Revo- lutionary army.
" Young Brandegee laid the foundations of a classical education at the Union Academy in New London, and completed his preparation for college at the Hopkins' Grammar School, New Haven, under the tuition of the celebrated Dominie Olmstead. He entered Yale in 1845, during the last year of President Day's administration, and graduated with his class in 1849. Although lie was necessarily absent during the larger part of his sophomore year, he was graduated fourth in a class of students, an unusual number of whom afterward became distinguished. Among these President Fiske of Beloit University (who ranked first in the class), President Timothy Dwight of Yale (who ranked third), Judge Finch of the New York Court of Appeals, and William D. Bishop, may be named as conspicuous examples. After studying a year at Yale Law School, at that period under the superintendence of Ex- Governors Bissell and Dutton, Mr. Brandegee entered the law office of the late Andrew C. Lippitt, then the leading attorney at New London, with whom he soon after formed a partnership which continued until 1854, when Mr. Brandegee was elected to represent his native city in the House of Representatives of the State of Connecticut. The old Whig party was then in the throes of dissolution after the disastrous political campaign under General Scott ; and the proposed repeal of the Missouri Compromise had stirred the moral sense of the North to its foundations. Mr. Brandegee threw himself with the ardor of a young and enthusiastic nature into the anti-slavery movement. Although the youngest member of the House, he soon developed talents of a very high order as a parliamentarian and debater, and became its leader. He was appointed by Speaker Foster-afterward senator - a member of the judiciary committee, and also chairman of the select committee to carry through the 'Bill for the Defence of Liberty, ' a measure drafted by Henry B. Harrison - subsequently governor of the state-the practical effect of which was to prevent the enforce- ment of the Fugitive Slave Law in Connecticut. He was also appointed chairman of the committee on the Maine law, and, as such, carried through the Assembly the first and only prohibitory liquor law ever passed in Connecticut. Mr. Brandegee was largely instrumental in the election at that session of Speaker Foster and Francis Gillette to represent the anti- slavery sentiment of Connecticut in the United States Senate.
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