USA > Connecticut > Representative men of Connecticut, 1861-1894 > Part 9
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
" Returning to his practice, Mr. Brandegee was elected judge of the city criminal court of New London. In the enthusiastic campaign for 'Free Speech, Free Soil, Freedom and Fremont,' which followed the anti-Nebraska excitement, Mr. Brandegee took an active and conspicuous part. He made speeches in the principal towns and cities of Connecticut and soon became noted as one of the most popular and well known campaign orators of his party.
8
5.4
REPRESENTATIVE MEN
He was chosen as one of the electors of the state on a ticket headed by Ex-Governor Roger S. Baldwin, and with his colleagues cast the electoral vote of Connecticut for the 'Patlı-Finder,' and first presidential candidate of the Republican party -Jolin C. Fremont. In 1858 he was again elected to represent the town of New London in the Connecticut House of Representatives, and in 1859 he was a third time chosen. Although selected by his party, then in a majority, as their candidate for speaker, in 1859, he was obliged to decline the office 011 account of tlic death of his father. I11 1861, he was for a fourth time elected to the House and was honored by being elected its speaker. This was the first 'war session' of the Connecticut Legislature. The duties of a presiding officer, always difficult and delicate, were largely cnhanced by the excited state of feeling existing between the two great parties, and the novel requirements of legislation to provide Connecticut's quota of men and ineans for the suppression of the rebellion. The duties of the chair were so acceptably filled by Speaker Brandegee, that, at the close of the session, he was presented with a service of silver by Hon. Henry C. Deming, the leader of the opposition, in the name of the members of both political parties, without a dissenting voice.
"Mr. Brandegee took a very active part in the great uprising of the North which followed the firing upon Fort Sumter. His services were sought all over the state in addressing patriotic meetings, raising troops, delivering flags to departing regiments and arousing public sentiment. In 1863 he was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress of the United States as a representative from the third congressional district of Connecticut, and in 1865 he was re-elected, and served in the Thirty-ninth Congress. Although the youngest member of the body, he at once took a prominent position, and was selected by Speaker Colfax as a member of the committee on naval affairs, at that time, next after the military committee, one of the most important. He was also a member of the committee on the auditing of naval accounts, and chairman of a special committee on a post and military route from New York to Wash- ington. Mr. Brandegee continued a member of the House during the four historic years covered by the Civil War and the reconstruction period, acting with the inost advanced wing of his party, and trusted and respected by his associates, among whom were Garfield, Blaine, Schenck, Conkling, Dawes, Winter, Davis and Thaddeus Stevens. He was admitted to frequent and friendly intercourse with President Lincoln, who always manifested a peculiar interest in Connecticut, and who was wont to speak of Governor Buckingham-its executive at that time- as the 'Brother Jonathan' upon whom he leaned, as did Washington upon Jonathan Trumbull.
" In 1864 Mr. Brandegee was a member of the Connecticut delegation to the National Republican Convention, held at Baltimore, which nominated Lincoln and Johnson. It was largely due to this delegation that Johnson was selected instead of Hamlin for the vice- presidency, the Connecticut delegation being the first to withdraw its support from the New England candidate. In 1871, notwithstanding his earnest protests, he was nominated for the office of inayor of the city of New London. He received very general support and was elected, but resigned after holding office two years, being led to this step by the exacting requirements of a large and growing legal practice. In 1880 Mr. Brandegee was chairman of the Connecticut delegation to the Chicago Republican National Convention, held in Chicago, nominating Washburne for the presidency. His speech attracted favorable notice not only in the convention, but throughout the country, and gave him wide reputation as an orator and party leader. In 1884 he was again chairman of the Connecticut delegation to the Republican National Convention, also held at Chicago, and made the nominating speech for General Hawley, the candidate of his state for the presidency.
55
OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
" For the past five or six years Mr. Brandegee has, of choice, gradually retired from public life and devoted himself almost exclusively to the practice of law at New London; and although he has been repeatedly urged by the leaders of his party to take its nomination for governor, and has been frequently talked of as an available candidate for the United States senatorship, he has uniformly declined this and all other public offices and honors, preferring to devote his entire time and energies to professional work, in which he is still actively engaged, having as an associate his only son, Frank B. Brandegee, a graduate of Yale University in the class of '85. As a lawyer Mr. Brandegee is ranked as one of the very foremnost in the profession; as a politician, one of the highest ability and integrity, and as a citizen one of the most honored and respected."
ULKELEY, MORGAN GARDNER, ex-governor of Connecticut, and president of the Atna Life Insurance Company, was born in East Haddam, Conn., Dec. 26, 1837.
The naine Bulkeley was originally spelled Buclough, and was derived from a range of mountains in the County Palatine of Chester, England, and it runs back to a remote antiquity. The Connecticut Bulkeleys can trace the family line by direct succession for over six centuries. From an interesting old parchment in the possession of Governor Bulkeley it is learned that Robert Bulkeley (or Buclough), Esq., an English Baron in the time of King John, was lord of the manor of Buclough, in the County of Palatine. From him by successive generations are (2) William, (3) Robert, (4) Peter, (5) John, (6) Hugh, (7) Humphrey, (8) William, (9) Thomas, (10) Rev. Edward. Rev. Peter Bulkeley, son of Rev. Edward, emigrated from England in 1634, settled in Massachusetts, and, after a life of inuch usefulness, died in 1659. Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, son of the first settler, was prominent in the colonial history of Connecticut, and married a daughter of Presi- dent Chauncey of Harvard College. It was said of him, "As a clergyman, he stood at the head of his profession, and ranked among the first in medical science. He devoted much time to chemistry, with its useful researches, and to philosophy as a cardinal branch of medical knowledge. He was master of several languages, among them being Latin, Greek and Dutch. He was famous as a surveyor, preeminent in his time as a chemist, and highly respected as a magistrate." Then came the fourth reverend in the family line - Rev. John Bulkeley, the first minister at Colchester, and regarded by the inen of his time as a noted casuist and sage counsellor. His son John was a judge, and held many important offices of trust. Eliphalet, son of the Honorable John Bulkeley, was father of John Charles and grandfather of Eli- phalet A. Bulkeley.
The latter is deserving of more than a passing notice. He was born in Colchester, June 29, 1803, graduated at Yale College in 1824, and was admitted to the bar at Lebanon, Conn. Removing to East Haddam, he continued the practice of his profession and became president of a bank. While residing here he was elected to the legislature once, and twice to the Senate. In 1847, he settled in Hartford, and in 1857 was again elected to the legislature, and received the honor of being chosen to the speaker's chair, being the first Republican to occupy that responsible position. For many years he was associated with Judge Henry Perkins under the firm name of Bulkeley & Perkins. At this time the subject of life insurance was almost in the air of Hartford, and naturally his progressive mind became inter- ested in the new topic. Assisting materially in the organization of the Connecticut Mutual
56
REPRESENTATIVE MEN
Company, he was chosen its first president, but retained the position ouly two years. In 1853, he was elected president of the Atna Life Insurance Company, and remained at the head of the company until his death in 1872. He married Lydia Smith, daughter of Avery Morgan, and six children were the fruit of this union, of whom Morgan G. was the third.
The business career of the future governor began as bundle boy in a mercantile house in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1851. Being faithful and energetic, he was rapidly advanced on his merits to the position of salesman and confidential clerk ; and in 1858 he became a partner in the firun in whose employ he served seven years before as errand boy. When the call was made for troops to suppress the rebellion, he enlisted in the thirteenth New York regiment, and went to the front as a private. During General MeClellan's peninsular campaign, he served under General Mansfield.
The better to supervise his large financial interests, after his father's death in 1872, Mr. Bulkeley decided to locate permanently in Hartford. Intimately acquainted with all the details of questions of finance, he was the prime factor in the organization of the United States Bank, and became its first president. Now that, after twenty years of successful existenee, it is among the largest and most substantial of the city banks, gives evidence that the founda- tion was laid on a solid basis.
When the presidency of the Atna Life Insurance Company beeame vaeant by the retire- ment of Thomas O. Enders, he was elected to the position. The unexampled success which has followed his management of the company's affairs is another tribute to his rare perception and managerial skill. It is exceptional that a father is followed by a son at the head of a corporation of such magnitude as the Ætna Life; and as the company is so identified with the lives of both, a passing mention of its history would seem fitting. Commencing its existenee as a branch of the Ætna Fire Insurance Company, it was organized under an inde- pendent eharter in 1853 with Eliphalet A. Bulkeley as president. During the first decade of its eareer, the company developed slowly. To quote from "Hartford in 1889," a volume issued by the Board of Trade :
Nowhere is the greatness of the change in the attitude of the public towards life insurance more clearly reflected than in the records of the Ætna. In 1863, thirteen years from the date of organization, its assets. amounted to $310,492. The impetus then given to the development of the company was stimulated and multi- plied by the energy of the management. Its subsequent growth in resources and surplus, in reputation and popularity, has never for an instant been checked by adversities of any nature, or troubles from any quarter. It has been singularly fortunate, too, in avoiding the errors of judgment which intelligence and prudence mnay, without discredit, be expected to make under the law of averages. In 1868, its assets had increased to $7,538,- 612 ; in 1878, to $24, 141, 125 ; in 1889, $32,620,676. Success far transcending the dreams of the founders, and on the whole perhaps unequalled in the records of life insurance, either in Europe or America, is easily explained in the light of the facts. The Atna Life was a pioneer in loaning to western farmers, having entered the field under highly favorable conditions. . . . All the early loans bore interest at ten per cent. The arrangement proved greatly advantageous to both loaner and borrower. . .. In economy of management the Ætna ranks. with the first three or four in the list of American companies. ... The present capital is $1,250,000. The marvellous growth of the AEtna Life cannot be repeated in the future by any similar organization, because the conditions which rendered the process possible have passed never to return.
At a banquet given by Illinois managers of the Atna Life Insurance Company, June, 1892, of Governor Bulkeley, in his address of welcome, Mr. R. W. Kempshall said :
As Leonidas, the Spartan, came from a family of soldiers, so it might be said that he who is our guest tonight comes from a family of insurance men. His father, the venerable E. A. Bulkeley, was the first president of the Ætna Life Insurance Company. His brother, Ex-Lieutenant Governor Bulkeley, was for many years the vice-president, and I look with peculiar interest upon our president's little son (laughter and applause) who undoubtedly has got insurance blood in his veins, for it is said, that when he was a baby, and refused to be comforted with the ordinary rubber ring and rattle box, he would immediately subside, in his most tempestuous moods, if only given an agent's manual and an Ætna policy to play with (long laughter). It is my privilege to have known Mr. Bulkeley as a merchant, soldier and banker, as alderman
-- -
OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894. 57
and mayor of the city in which he lives, and as governor of the state of Connecticut. He has held and now fills many honorable offices, but his crowning one of them all I hold to be the presidency of the Ætna Life Insurance Company (long applause). He is not alone president of the directors, though always watchful of their interests, but he is also careful for the rights of policy holders, and ever has an attentive ear and kindly word for the encouragement of agents-a good all round president (applause). To be the accountable head of our great company, with its millions of assets, thousands of policy holders, and tens of thousands of beneficiaries, is a heavy responsibility ; but this trust so sacred, this obligation so great, rests upon the shoulders of a man whom we all believe has the strength and ability to carry the load (applause).
At the same occasion and in response to Mr. Kempshall, Governor Bulkeley said : " Speaking of the company, its first quarters were in a little room, about ten by fifteen feet square, which was its home for several years, and it was my distinguished privilege at that early date in the history of the company, to wield a broom early in the morning, sweeping out the office. The remuneration was of the inost liberal character- one dollar per week " (laughter and applause). It is not often given to a man to become a partner in the firin whose employ he entered as a bundle boy, and later to become president of a great insur- ance company whose office he had swept when a youth.
Men of Mr. Bulkeley's stamp are not allowed to confine all their executive ability and energy of character to the limits of one corporation. Besides bearing the burdens of the management of the Atna Life, he is also director in the Atna Fire Insurance Company, Ætna National Bank, United States Bank, Willimantic Linen Company and other business corporations.
Inheriting his father's love for politics, Mr. Bulkeley naturally became a participant, as well as an interested observer in local political affairs. He made municipal problems a matter of conscientious study, and this doubtless had much to do with the satisfactory manner in which he filled the offices to which he was successively chosen. Making an entrance into official life as a councilman, later he was made an alderman, and for eight consecutive years was elected mayor of Hartford. During his incumbency of this office, he exercised a watchful care over income and expenditure, and advocated only such measures as would advance the interests of the municipality, irrespective of partisan considerations. Liberal with his private means for the amelioration of the distressed, he did much for the comfort and pleasure of the working classes. His salary, as mayor, was more than disbursed in this way every year.
During his tenure of office as mayor of Hartford, he developed such rare executive ability in civil affairs, it was not singular that Mr. Bulkeley's friends should urge his availability as a candidate for gubernatorial honors. Acting upon this conviction, his name was presented to the Republican convention of 1886. In the meantime, however, a inovement in favor of Mr. Lounsbury had acquired such momentum that, in the interest of harmony, Mr. Bulkeley authorized the withdrawal of his name as a candidate. Joining heartily in the support of his rival, he assisted materially in securing his successful election. His course at this time was everywhere commended. At the next state convention of his party in August,' 1888, Mr. Bulkeley was nominated for governor by acclamation. The choice of the party was approved at the polls, and on the following January he took his seat in the gubernatorial chair. The vigorous administration which followed was characteristic of the inan, and will be remembered as among the most notable in the history of the Commonwealth.
At the state election in November, 1890, a peculiar situation of affairs occurred, and amid the trying scenes, Governor Bulkeley won fresh honors for himself. It was the first state election under the new ballot law, and results were declared by town officers which were not accepted as conclusive by the Senate to whom the election statistics were returnable under the statute, or by the House of Representatives. As the legislature failed to settle the questions of gubernatorial succession, under the Constitution it became Governor Bulkeley's duty to continue to exercise the functions of his office for two additional years. The circum-
¢
58
REPRESENTATIVE MEN
stanees attending his second term as the official head of the state were delicate and sometimes vexing in the extreme. That he bore cvery test most creditably is the highest praise that could be awarded. After the usual details attending the adjournment had taken place, Gov- ernor Bulkeley spoke as follows, and his words were really a brief history of the session itself :
You have reached the elosing hours of this session of the General Assembly, unprecedented in its length in the history of our state and protracted from the wide and irreconcilable differences of opinion between the two branches of the Assembly in regard to proper and legal constitutional provisions-resulting in a complete cessation of legislation during your entire term of office. As you return to your several constit- uencies, you will certainly not be charged as assemblies too often are with burdening the people with an excessive amount of legislation. I sincerely trust that no interest of the state has seriously suffered. The experience of the last two years has demonstrated the law abiding character of our people, and the strength and stability, under the severest test it has ever sustained, of the constitution and government under which the old commonwealth has existed for so many years. In directing the customary and formal adjournment, I commend each and every meuiber to the protecting care of an all wise Providence now and always.
One of the first duties of the state legislature which assembled in January, 1893, was to elioose a United States Senator for the term of six years. The friends of Governor Bulkeley brouglit his name forward as a candidate for this honorable office. When the final counting of the votes was made, it showed he had a handsome vote and he has cause to be proud of the support he received. The prize, however, was awarded to Gen. J. R. Hawley, the previous incumbent. No citizen of the state could be elected governor of Connecticut and later be one of the leading candidates for the United States senatorship, unless lie have special qualifications for these honorable positions.
In a well written sketch, the University Magazine says of him :
Governor Bulkeley's record as governor is too well knowu to need much comment here. Without a. particle of formality, he has yet showu the highest respeet for the office. He has at all times been true to his sense of duty, and has beeu alert, able and origiual to a marked degree, often under discouraging circumstances. His thorough manliness and ability have made him the future leader of his party, and the natural candidate for its highest honors. During the recent legislative deadlock between the two political parties, when at times partisauship has risen to extreme heat, opposition press has severely criticised Goveruor Bulkeley's course, not realizing perhaps that he coutinued in office against his private wishes, and in obedience to his interpretation of the law and Constitution, which has been sustained by the highest court in the state. But it is sufficient tribute to his eharacter, that even the Democrats, as a rule, have ackuowledged his success as a public man, aud the sway of his popularity in private life. At reeent ceremonials, such as the Washington and Columbian festivals in New York, and the dedicatiou of the World's Fair in Chicago, where he has been called upon to lead the Connecticut delegations, he has always been received with the utmost cordiality, and has represented the state with exceptional brilliancy. Governor Bulkeley is in the prime of life, both for business and political work. As president of the Atna he has strengthened that already strong company, and won a national repu- tation as a business man of the first grade. Socially, he is a prince of good fellows, and is rich, generous and promiuent iu Hartford society.
Morgan G. Bulkeley was married Feb. 11, 1885, to Fannie Briggs, daughter of James F. and Caroline A. Houghton of San Francisco, Cal. They have one son, Morgan Gardner, Jr., who came as a Christinas gift in 1885, and one daughter, Elinor Houghton, boru in 1893 ..
-
Ma to chusetts Hihlisome Co Evoroll Mass.
59
OF CONNECTICUT, 1861-1894.
HASE, GEORGE LEWIS, president of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, Hartford, was born in Millbury, Worcester County, Mass., Jan1. 13, 1828. He was the son of Paul Cushing Chase, a lineal descendant in the sixth generation of Aquila Chase, who came from Cornwall, England, and settled in Hampton, Mass., in 1640. The links in the chain connecting the present with the past : are : (1) Aquila, (2) Moses, (3) David, (4) Daniel, (5) Paul, (6) Joshua, (7) Paul Cushing. Receiving a thorough education in the regular English course of studies at Millbury Academy, he was well equipped for the business life upon which he entered. Beginning his chosen sphere of action at the early age of nineteen years, he engaged in the insurance business, as the agent of the Farmer's Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Georgetown, Mass. Subsequently he was elected a member of the board of directors. His energy and tact fitted him to become an efficient canvasser, and he operated first through southern Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut ; and within a short time his agency included four companies doing business on the mutual plan. One of this quartette, the Holyoke Mutual of Salem, is still successfully engaged writing policies. In 1848, Mr. Chase was appointed travelling agent for the People's Insurance Company of Worcester ; he retained that position for four years, when he removed to Ohio, having been appointed assistant superintendent of the Central Ohio Railroad Company. His manifest ability was such, that a vacancy being made, he was advanced to the office of general superintendent of the road. Believing in the value of organization, he was among the representatives who formed the first Association of Railroad Superintendents in the United States, a meeting for the purpose being held in Columbus in 1853.
His first choice in a business career still kept its hold on his affections, and, in 1860, Mr. Chase resumed his connection with the fire insurance business, accepting the western general agency of the New England Fire Insurance Company of Hartford. This position was held for three years, when he became a part of that company with which the rest of his life was to be identified, by accepting the appointment of assistant western general agent of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company.
In all the positions he had occupied, Mr. Chase had displayed ability of the highest order, and in the new field he at once attracted the attention and approval of the board of directors. Just after he entered his fourth year of service, the presidency of the com- pany was offered him. The duties and responsibilities of the office were great, and it was only after a thorough deliberation that Mr. Chase decided to accept; and in June, 1867, he succeeded Timothy C. Allyn, as president. As his connection with the Hartford Fire Insurance Company now covers a period of thirty years, a few words regarding its history would seem most fitting. To quote from " Hartford in 1889," by Mr. P. H. Woodward, secretary of the Board of Trade :
The lessons of history are most easily learned from examples. The Hartford was chartered in May, 1810, but from a policy still extant, it seems to have had an inchoate being as early as 1794. On the roth of June following, the company was organized, by the choice of Nathaniel Terry as president, and Walter Mitchell as secretary, with a capital of $150,000, made up of ten per cent. in cash, and the balance in the notes of shareholders, secured by mortgages or private endorsements. It was hoped that the profits would gradually pay off the notes, removing the liability to further assessments; but the makers were men of pecuniary solidity, prepared to meet the obligations, should the necessity arise. Thus equipped, the pioneer company, like Columbus at Palos, embarked upon an unknown sea, little dreaming of the discoveries to be made, the wealth to be won, or of the all pervasive influence of the venture upon the future development of the town. They started on the voyage without compass or chart, for even the elementary laws underlying the business had not then been generalized, the facts were ungathered, and the literature of science, now loading the shelves of large libraries, had not thrown one ray of light athwart the darkness.
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.