USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 63
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The old Ætna Fire Insurance Company, chartered in 1819, had in 1820 obtained an amendment to its charter allowing it to grant annui- ties and insurances upon lives, with an additional capital not exceeding $150,000, exclusively liable for the expenses and obligations of such business ; but the permission had never been utilized. In 1850, how- ever, it organized a life annex under this provision, with $150,000 subscribed capital, divided among its stockholders in proportion to their holding of stock ; and for three years it did business under the name of the Ætna Insurance Company Annuity Fund. It was of course an integral part of the Ætna Fire, and had the same officers ; but its real creator, Judge Bulkeley, was its head and manager. The associate directors, styled the "managers " of the Annuity Fund, were : Miles A. Tuttle, Roland Mather, Edwin G. Ripley (secretary of the Ætna), Henry Z. Pratt, Joseph Church, and Austin Dunham (widely known as one of the founders of the Willimantic Linen Company). In 1853 the shareholders of the Annuity Fund were incorporated as a separate organization, under the name of the " Ætna Life Insurance Company," with E. A. Bulkeley as president and John W. Seymour as secretary.
The long depression which the business as a whole suffered in the years before the war, after its brief " boom," told heavily on the Etna. Its rise from this prostrate condition dates from the time when, at the urgency of Thomas O. Enders, the secretary, it obtained permission in 1861 to issue participating policies. The ÆEtna Life's assets in 1863 were but little over $300,000. In 1866 they were $2,036,823 ; in 1871, over $15,000,000; in 1880, over $25,000,000; and it is at present sec- ond in volume of assets among the city companies, its statement, Jan. 1, 1886, showing assets of $29,771,230, and surplus of $5,194,204. It has returned to policy-holders since organization $58,038,725. In 1878, under an amendment to its charter, the company increased its capital stock to $750,000 ; and in 1883, under another amendment, to $1,000,000, where it remains. It continues to issue both stock and participating policies. Judge Bulkeley retained the presidency of the Etna Life until his death in 1872, and was then succeeded by Mr. Enders (the company's first employee, secretary since 1858, and now president of the United States Bank), who served till 1879, when he resigned and was succeeded by Morgan G. Bulkeley (son of the founder, and the present mayor of Hartford), who still retains the position. J. C. Webster (formerly State agent for New Hampshire, and later superintendent of agencies) is vice-president, and J. L. English (with the company since 1867) secretary. Its office is in the Ætna (Fire) Insurance Company's building, a neat brown-stone block next north of the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company's building.
Et Bulkeley
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INSURANCE.
The same year (1850) saw still another company established, long the leading one of the city in outside estimation -the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company. It had a subscribed capital of $200,000. The corporators were Calvin Day, Ezra S. Hamilton (postmaster), J. B. Powell (now president of the Mercantile National Bank ), Samuel Coit, Chauncey Howard, Noah Wheaton, and James C. Walkley. The first president was Hon. Gideon Welles (subsequently Secretary of the Navy during the Rebellion ) ; vice-president, William T. Lee (druggist like Dr. Phelps, of the famous old firm of Lee & Butler) ; secretary, Samuel Coit, afterward secretary of the Etna Life. Mr. Welles retained the presidency two years ; in 1852 Alfred Gill succeeded him, and in 1855 J. C. Walkley (then a lawyer, and the real originator of the company) began his long reign. In 1864 it wrote 2,078 policies ; in 1865, 4,454 ; from 1866 to 1870, six to eight thousand a year, culminating in 1870. From this point began a decline which was never arrested till the final ruin of the company. Meantime its estimated assets leaped from $966,174 in 1865 to $2,384,844 in 1866, $3,709,081 in 1867, $9,453,901 in 1872, and $13,185,956 on Jan. 1, 1875. In 1869 it had built the splendid granite structure next to the Wadsworth Athenæum, one of the business palaces of the city, which it still occupies, and where the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company is also located. The pitiful story of the downfall of the Charter Oak can only be told here in general terms. It is enough that immense loans on rail- road and mining property, which proved ruinously losing, and whose disastrous nature became fully apparent in 1875, broke down the finan- cial solidity of the company. In 1878, the question only remaining how its affairs should best be wound up, it was resolved to have it done under a regular management instead of a receivership. The capital was retired, and the policy-holders organized into a new company, with policies scaled. George M. Bartholomew was made president, and Charles E. Willard secretary. Under their able and upright management several millions have been returned to policy-holders, and the final dissolution retarded far longer than was once thought possible.
In 1851 the American Temperance Life Insurance Company, now the Phoenix Mutual, came into the field. As its name implies, it was organized under the belief that by confining its business to men of virtually total-abstinence habits, it conld safely offer lower rates to this selected class than other companies gave to their miscellaneous risks ; and its tables accordingly were some ten per cent lower than those of the others. Nor was this view without justification. But the restric- tions of the contract annoyed those who were solicited ; they did not generally care to sign a temperance pledge along with a policy, which was what it amounted to, and the business fell off somewhat, and was likely to keep on doing so. Accordingly the temperance feature was abandoned in 1861, and the company's name changed to the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, the rates and style of policy being conformed to those of other companies. The number of new policies for 1863 having been but 916, that for 1864 was 2,303; in 1870 it had grown to about 9,000, and in 1872 to about 10,500. Its assets in 1861 had been but $238,739; in 1868, over $2,000,000; and in 1872, about $8,000,000.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
To go back to the beginning: The American Temperance was incorporated by Barzillai Hudson (dry-goods dealer, and head of the temperance organizations of Connecticut), Rev. Benjamin E. Hale (edi- tor of the "Fountain," temperance paper), James B. Hosmer (business man), Judge Thomas S. Williams (ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), Francis Gillette (noted lawyer and Abolitionist, and for a year United States Senator), Francis Parsons (lawyer), and Edson Fessen- den. Mr. Hudson was chosen president, Tertius Wadsworth vice- president, and Mr. Hale secretary. The former served the regular two years which seems to have been the accepted etiquette among the first presidents of the early insurance companies (the exact causes of this great official mortality it is not profitable to inquire too curiously into), and was succeeded by Mr. Fessenden, who held the office until 1875, when he was succeeded by Aaron C. Goodman (publisher, and previously a director of the company) who still retains the office. Jonathan B. Bunce, formerly a leading merchant, is vice-president, and John M. Holcombe (the first actuary of the present Insurance Department) sec- retary. The company's business since 1872 has been good and profit- able. Its assets, Jan. 1, 1886, were $10,442,991 ; surplus, $1,005,135. It has returned to policy-holders $25,000,000.
The first new life company established in Hartford after 1851 was the Continental Life Insurance Company, established in 1864 with a capital of $150,000. The first president was John S. Rice, the secre- tary Samuel E. Elmore (now president of the Connecticut River Banking Company). In 1869 Mr. Elmore succeeded to the presidency, and in 1872 was displaced, with the secretary, F. D. Douglass ; and James S. Parsons and Robert E. Beecher, who had been the company's local agents at Boston, were made president and secretary, which offices they still hold. In 1872 the company had assets of over $2,500,000. This amount has not increased since. The company reports that it has returned to policy-holders over $6,000,000. It is the only one in Hartford writing " Tontine " policies under that name.
The next succeeding company was not, in its original intent, a com- petitor of the old ones, but rather a utilizer of waste products, so to speak, - designed to insure the risks which others rejected. It was projected and developed in the bosom of the Connecticut Mutual. Its theory was the seemingly excellent one that all lives can be insured at a price, just as all property can be insured at a price. On this belief the "Connecticut General Life Insurance Company " was chartered in 1864, with $500,000 capital. James S. Niles was made president for a short time, to organize, and Edward W. Parsons, then superintendent of the Eastern Division of the Adams Express Company, vice-president ; after which Mr. Parsons took the presidency, as had been contemplated. Thomas W. Russell, then of the Connecticut Mutual, was the secretary. The company's plan was broadened, before starting, to include general life business ; and it was most fortunate that it was so, for the "im- paired life " business proved a failure, and had to be abandoned in a couple of years. The company is not of the first magnitude, but it is as sound and safe as the largest, having $1,551,414 of well-invested assets, of which $359,565 is surplus to poliey-holders ; is very cautiously
THE CHARTER OAK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING, ON MAIN STREET.
(The Home Offices of the Hartford Steam Boiler and Inspection Company are in this building. )
519
INSURANCE.
and conservatively managed, and has steadily grown in business and resources for a number of years. Its capital was lowered to $250,000 in 1874, and to $150,000 in 1880. It has returned to policy-holders $2,139,230. Its president (who took the place of E. W. Parsons in 1876) is Thomas W. Russell, the original secretary ; secretary, Fred. V. Hudson (formerly superintendent of agencies of the company).
The Life Department of the Travelers Insurance Company (see ACCIDENT INSURANCE); virtually an individual life insurance company, though managed by the same officers and under the same roof as the accident business of that company, followed in 1866, by virtue of an amendment broadening its charter to authorize the transaction of life business, under the same capital, which is $600,000. Its policies are all written purely on the " stock " plan, - a low cash rate, but no dividend or return of any kind to the policy-holder. The life business for a long time was not extensive; but of late years it has grown very rapidly, and the Department now ranks alongside the leading life companies of the country. The Travelers occupies an old family mansion, built about 1823 by the Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth (afterward Commissioner of Pat- ents), and long the residence of the Hon. Alfred Smith, and for a short time of Governor Isaac Toucey, who died there. It is on Prospect Street, a quiet, shady, country-like street, in the heart of the city and but a few yards from Main Street, yet seemingly retired and unvexed by heavy traffic.
The Hartford Accident Insurance Company was chartered in 1866 (over the governor's veto, interposed on the ground of too extensive powers conferred), with $300,000 capital, and a long and formidable list of corporators. Thomas J. Vail (president of the Connecticut Arms Company, now secretary of the National Association for the Promotion of the Interests of the American Trotting Turf) was chosen president, C. C. Kimball vice-president, and James P. Taylor (now cashier of the Charter Oak Bank) secretary. The company attempted to do the accident business for which it was chartered, but failed almost entirely, and found it necessary to add life business to it, changing its name accordingly to the Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Com- pany in 1867, and on Jan. 1, 1868, closing out the accident branch and shortly having its name changed to the Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company. Mr. Vail retired from the presidency in 1867 ; the office remained vacant for some time, but for purposes of organization Chester Adams was made president pro tem, while C. C. Kimball was its real head and manager. Finally, in 1868 the latter took the presidency. Under his management the company flourished well ; did a good and growing business, its investments were well placed and its funds economized. In 1870 Mr. Kimball resigned and Wareham Griswold was made president ; Daniel F. Seymour, the vice-president, being the actual manager. Mr. Griswold died in 1876, and Erastus H. Crosby took his place. During his presidency the company engrafted the assessment system upon its own, and now confines itself almost exclusively to this business. Frederick R. Foster is its president, and Stephen Ball its secretary.
520
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
A very interesting episode in the history of Hartford insurance properly has place here, - the brief career of live-stock insurance. undertaken by the Hartford Live Stock Insurance Company and the Ætna Live Stock Insurance Company. Their business was life insurance certainly as much as the slave and coolie business mentioned before ; its special object was the insurance of gentlemen's fine driv- ing and racing horses, imported cattle, and blooded stock generally. The former company was chartered in 1866, with $500,000 capital ; the latter, with $112,500 capital, was incorporated in 1867, while it was still thought that its predecessor was on the high-road to fortune instead of bankruptcy. They continued in business until 1868, and then dissolved, with heavy loss to the stockholders, and an experience so varied and conclusive that no such company is ever likely to be formed here again. The reasons for their failure are, as usual, patent enough when they are stated, though they had not previously been thought of. One was that in case of cattle of any kind, no veterinary surgeon could tell whether one was sick or well, and an animal apparently in perfect health one day was not unlikely to be dead the next. Another was that in case of race-horses such enormous pecuniary interests were staked against each horse's life that no premium could cover the risk. When the death of a costly racer might put $10,000 in the pocket of any one of twenty men, the mysterious death of the animal was far too probable. Horses were poisoned, burned, shot, stabbed, hamstrung, at a rate not credible to any one but those out of whose pockets the losses came. Even where, as in most such cases, the grooms were locked in with the horses night and day, catastrophes would happen : a stable was set on fire and a magnificent racer suffo- cated during the ten-minute absence of a groom at his dinner in a restaurant just across the street Besides, the grooms were far from incorruptible ; and to carry on the business it would have been found necessary to insure also the fidelity of every leading jockey in the country. A third was that identification was practically impossible, just as in the case of the negroes before referred to: none but the grooms acquainted with the animals could tell whether the horse which died was the one insured, and they naturally would not open their lips ; the owners swore to the fact of identity, and the company had always to pay. And lastly, horses which had outlived their usefulness were often insured and then left to dic, and no proof of fraud could be adduced. This item of insurance history is still a vivid if not grateful memory to all the participants ; and an engraving of part of Rosa Bonheur's " Going to the Fair," used as a pattern for the seal of the first-named company, which represents the entire salvage from a $10,000 invest- ment by one of the directors, is proudly pointed to by its owner as the second costliest picture ever in Hartford.
Ghanamou
521
INSURANCE.
II. - ACCIDENT.
THE original impulse to the establishment of accident insurance in this country was given by the success of the Railway Passengers' Assurance Company of England, formed (as its name implies) chiefly in consequence of the public horror aroused by great railway catastro- phes, the concentrated volume of destruction in which is much more impressive than the really far more serious loss from accidents scattered through the ordinary walks of life. But though that company furnished a motive and a guaranty of probable success, it could furnish little else; its experience was meagre and not much diversified, and the conditions of life, labor, and travel in this country were so different from those in England, that even that experience was an extremely treacherous guide. Such as it was, however, Mr. James G. Batterson, of Hartford, - who had received a thorough training at home and abroad in the widely different professions of a practical architect, builder, and incidental geologist and expert in building-stones, and who was passing through England on his return from Italy, -examined it in the year 1863, and was convinced of the practicability of the system at home. Returning to Hartford, he organized with others a corporation entitled The Trav- elers Insurance Company (the dangers of travel being still uppermost in their thoughts), which received its charter the same year. Its capi- tal was $300,000, afterward increased by successive capitalizations to $600,000; and of the board of directors then appointed, several still remain in that position, including the president, vice-president, and secretary, - namely, James G. Batterson, Gustavus F. Davis, and Rodney Dennis. But the scheme was regarded by the mass of the community as visionary, and few besides the projectors had, even for a long time after its launching, any great faith in its permanence ; so that it was found inexpedient to begin business until 1864, when the ground was a little cleared for its reception. Its first report was made July 1, 1865, and showed assets of $539,948.49.
Its position was not won, any more than that of other great compa- nies, without passing through a season of severe trial and difficulty, through which it was carried only by prodigious labor and application and rigid economy. The first office was an uncarpeted upstairs room, furnished with a legless pine desk and a couple of chairs, and the sec- retary was sole clerk and office-boy. But the brilliant success which shortly began to attend it, in those years of inflated business just after the war, came nearer being fatal than adversity had been, for a swarm of rivals arose from end to end of the United States : at one time no less than seventy accident companies were competing for this business, which was considered a mine of easily-gotten wealth; and in addition, most of the railroads, whose employees The Travelers was insuring, ejected that company and started similar organizations of their own. A few years later, nearly every one of these was dead, and The Trav- elers held a virtual monopoly of its special business.
In 1866 The Travelers obtained legislative permission to issue life
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
policies under the same capital and management; and its life depart- ment-virtually an individual life insurance company, though managed by the same men - was thereupon added.
In May, 1865, a charter was procured for the Railway Passengers Assurance Company, a corporation designed to consolidate, under a single management, the travel risks of all the accident companies then
operating in America. Conventions, in the winter of 1865-1866, at which representatives from all the companies were present, arranged the details of the scheme and elected officers ; James G. Batterson, of The Travelers, was chosen president, and each of the combining com- panies had at least one representative on the board of directors. Its capital was $250,000, of which a controlling interest was held by The Travelers, and its head office was in Hartford. In 1878 it re-insured its risks with The Travelers and retired from business, the Ticket Department of the latter company taking its place.
The statement of The Travelers for 1886 (January 1) showed assets of $8,417,038; liabilities, $6,321,199 ; surplus as regards policy-holders, $2,095,839. The claims paid in the accident department since the or- ganization of the company had been $8,145,128; in the life department $3,290,147. 1,186,315 accident policies had been written, and 44,800 life policies.
Another Hartford Accident Insurance Company was incorporated June 4, 1874, with a capital of $200,000. Richard D. Hubbard (after- ward Governor of Connecticut) was president, Charles E. Wilson (for- merly assistant secretary of The Travelers) vice-president, and George Lester (formerly actuary of The Travelers) secretary and leading man- ager. Mr. Hubbard shortly retired, and was succeeded by William A. Healey ; the latter and Mr. Wilson not long after left the company, and Mr. Lester became president. In 1876 it re-insured in The Travelers and retired from business with serious loss.
Format Morgan.
THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY'S BUILDING, PROSPECT STREET, CORNER OF GROVE STREET.
525
CONNECTICUT RETREAT FOR THE INSANE.
SECTION VIII.
THE CONNECTICUT RETREAT FOR THE INSANE.
BY HENRY P. STEARNS, A.M., M.D.
ON the 1st day of April, 1824, the Hartford Retreat was publicly opened, and in a fervent address delivered on that occasion by the Rev. Thomas Robbins, the blessing of God was invoked upon this refuge for " the distracted, the desponding, the tempted, and the broken in heart;" consecrating thus to the highest services of humanity an institution which for more than half a century has been instrumental in accom- plishing the purposes of its founders.
To the Connecticut Medical Society belongs the honor of the incep- tion, and subsequent measures necessary to the building and equipment of the Retreat. When there were but two institutions for the exclusive care of insane persons in this country, and while as yet the importance of restorative treatment was but little understood or appreciated even by the medieal profession, and while the most erroneous ideas as to its nature and management were entertained by intelligent persons, a few members of this Society had studied the subject far enough to lead them to believe that much could be done not only to ameliorate the condition of the insane, but also to restore many to reason, usefulness, and comparative happiness.
At a meeting of the Society in October, 1812, a committee was ap- pointed to ascertain the number of lunatics in the State. The result of their inquiries was indefinite, and there exists no record of other pro- ccedings by the Society until April, 1821, when it appears that further action was warranted by the interest excited on the subject. Another committee, consisting of Drs. Eli Todd. Thomas Miner, and Samuel B. Woodward, was appointed to prosecute the subject, and means were devised to obtain further information as to the number, condition, and needs of the insane in the State, and to raise money for an institution ; the latter measure attracting much attention. In some localities people were " entirely indifferent, or directly opposed to the propriety of the establishment." Eventually general agents were appointed to visit all parts of the State, and were "liberally compensated." "The com- mencement of the subscription in the city of Hartford was peculiarly auspicious, and the very liberal sum obtained was a sure prognostic of future success."
When the subject was before the General Assembly many distin- guished members generously offered their services in aid of the cause. An act of incorporation was obtained, together with a grant of $5,000; also a "brief" which conferred the privilege of taking up contributions in the churches of the State during five years. About this time the Medical Society further contributed what remained available of their funds, - about $400; and by October the nominal sum of $20,000 had
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
been obtained from all sources. At a meeting of the subscribers held during this month it was ascertained that more than thirty had given $100 or more each, and had thus become directors.
HARLEY 160
They met in the State House in December, and voted to locate the institution in Hartford, and also appointed a sub-committee to select a
CENTRE AND NORTH WING OF THE RETREAT.
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CONNECTICUT RETREAT FOR THE INSANE.
site. This sub-committee consisted of Bishop Thomas C. Brownell, Daniel Putnam, Esq., the Hon. Joshua Stow, and Drs. William Buell and Samuel B. Woodward. After an examination of various places they decided upon the Ira Todd farm, where the Retreat now stands.
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