BENNETT, HON. EDWARD BROWN, lawyer, postmaster of Hartford, president of the Farmington River Power Company, and of the Hartford City Gas Light Company, and holder of many public offices, was born in Hampton, Windham County, Connecticut, April 12th, 1842. His early ancestors were sturdy New England farmers, the first of whom came from England to Ipswich, Massachusetts, and later to Hampton, Connecticut. Mr. Bennett's father was William Bennett, a farmer, who was representative in the General Assembly, selectman, and otherwise prominent in the public life of the community. Mr. Bennett's mother was Marina Brown Bennett.

Until he was eighteen years old Edward Bennett lived on his father's farm, attending school in season, and "farming" the rest of the time. He left home in 1860 to take a two years' course at Williston Seminary, after which he entered Yale University and was graduated in 1866. He then returned to Hampton and studied law with Gov. Chauncey F. Cleveland, and afterwards with Franklin Chamberlain in Hartford. He was admitted to the Windham County Bar in 1868, and began to practice law in his native town, and in 1869 he opened a law office in Hartford. In the same year in which he began his legal practice, that is in 1868, he was made representative to the General Assembly of Connecticut, and the following year he was made assistant clerk of the House, and in 1870 he was made clerk of the Senate. From 1872-3 he was clerk of the Hartford Police Court, and in 1872 he was made a member of the Common Council. From 1878 to 1891 he served as judge of the Hartford City Court. In May, 1891, he became postmaster of Hartford and served until 1896, and in 1900 he was reappointed and still holds the office. He has always been a strong supporter of the Republican party, and has served on the State central committee as its secretary.

In addition to his profession and his public offices Judge Bennett has had many business interests. He has been president and treasurer of the Farmington River Power Company since 1890, and president of the Hartford City Gas Light Company since 1894. He is a director of the American School for the Deaf at Hartford. He is a member of no secret societies or Masonic orders. His religious connections are with the Asylum Hill Congregational Church. Always blessed with robust health, Judge Bennett delights in physical activity. When in college he was on the 'Varsity crew for three years. Bicycling is his favorite exercise now.  Mrs. Bennett, whom he married in April, 1877, was Alice Howard, daughter of the Hon. James L. Howard. Their home is at 67 Collins Street, Hartford.  Men of Mark Index

BILLINGS, CHARLES ETHAN, a prominent manufacturer and inventor of Hartford, Connecticut, was born in Weathersfield, Windsor County, Vermont, December 5th, 1835. He is the son of Ethan Ferdinand Billings and Clarissa Marsh. The family originally came from England. Mr. Billings' first known ancestor was Richard Billings, who was granted six acres of land in the division of the river in 1640, at Hartford. He signed a contract with Governor Webster to settle Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1659, where he resided till his death. His only son, Samuel, lived in that part of Hadley called Hatfield, and died in 1678, leaving a son also called Samuel, who left four sons, all born in Hatfield. The last of these, Joseph Billings, born in 1700, was reported in the "History of Northfield, Massachusetts," as a member of a company organized to fight the Indians. He died in 1783, leaving a son, Joseph Billings, Jr., who, with his uncles and other men to the number of seventy, petitioned Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire for a grant of land. In 1763, these men were granted, under George III., a royal charter of some 23,000 acres of land on Lake Champlain, to be incorporated into the town of Swanton. Rufus Billings, son of this Joseph Billings, Jr., was the grandfather of Charles E. Billings, and his son, Ethan Ferdinand Billings, already mentioned as Mr. Billings' father, was born in Windsor, Vermont, in 1807, and died in 1848,

During boyhood Mr. Billings helped his father at his trade—that of a blacksmith—and attended the common schools of Windsor, It was his ambition to become a mechanical engineer, and he read all the books possible on that subject. The example of his mother was especially strong on his character. The active work of his career commenced when, as a very young man, he entered the factory of the Robbins & Lawrence Company of Windsor, Vermont. Here he remained, serving an apprenticeship of three years, and working as a journeyman for one year longer. From 1856 to 1861 he was employed as a die-sinker and tool maker at Colt's Armory, and from 1861 to 1865 as a contractor on army revolvers with E. Remington & Sons, Utica, New York.

At the close of the Civil War he returned to Hartford, and was superintendent of the Weed Sewing Machine Company from 1865 to 1868. In 1869, with Mr. C. M. Spencer, he organized the Billings & Spencer Company of Hartford, making a specialty of drop forgings, which art (for an art it certainly is) was then in its infancy, and has, through the energy and ability of Mr. Billings, been brought to its present high standing. The company is the leading concern of the kind in the United States, and its products are sold and favorably known all over the world. At the time the company was organized the process of drop forging was crude, and the products imperfect and unsatisfactory, and within narrow limits. Mr. Billings made many improvements and secured valuable patents on drop hammers, and at the present time the company has seventy-five drops in operation, and is turning out forgings so perfect that many of them require no further finishing. Forgings weighing from a fraction of an ounce to over one hundred pounds are made with equal precision and facility. Over three hundred men are employed at their shops located on Broad, Lawrence, and Russ Streets, Hartford. Mr. Billings also has a large farm and a summer residence at Dividend, Connecticut, and a fine water power, with shops for the manufacture of hammers and other tools. He has taken out a number of important patents, among them commutator bars for dynamo-electric machines, breech-loading firearm, drill chuck, shuttles for sewing machine, expanding bit, ratchet drill, wrenches, hand vise, knurling tool, sewing machines, and many others.

Mr. Billings is well known in Masonic circles, having attained the 33rd degree, and is past grand commander of the Knights Templar, a member of the American Protective Tariff League of New York, of the Home Market Club of Boston, and the Hartford Club. On October 2nd, 1895, he was elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and is now "Honorary Member in perpetuity," and a member of the "Honorable Council" of that society. In politics Mr. Billings is a Republican, having voted that ticket without change since his majority. He has served the city as councilman, and was alderman of the third ward for four years, and president of the fire commissioners for twelve years, always working for the best interests of the city. He finds his recreation out of doors in hunting and fishing and is a most enthusiastic sportsman.

Mr. Billings was married to Frances M. Heywood of Windsor, Vermont, January 5th, 1857. She died in 1872. They had three children : Charles H., Fred C, and Harry E., only one of whom, Fred C, is living, and he is vice-president and superintendent of the Billings & Spencer Company. On September 9th, 1874, Mr. Billings married his present wife, who was Miss Evelina C. Holt of Hartford. They have two children: Mary E., wife of Wm. B. Green of New York, and Lucius H. of Hartford. A gentleman of genial disposition, charitable and honorable, Mr. Billings is honored and esteemed by his fellow citizens in the city where he has so deservedly prospered, and in which he occupies so high a position.  Men of Mark Index

BUCK, JOHN RANSOM, a prominent lawyer of Hartford and a former member of Congress, was born in Glastonbury, Hartford County, Connecticut, December 6th, 1836. His father and mother were from old New England families. His father, Halsey Buck, was a Connecticut farmer, known as a man of strong will, of industrious habits, and of firm convictions in religious and political affairs. His ancestors came to this country from England in 1694.

Mr. Buck spent the early years of his life on his father's farm, where, by performing regular tasks of light manual labor, he developed a rugged constitution and habits of industry, which have aided him through life. Influenced by the careful guidance of his mother in early life, he acquired, and has always retained, a love of books. After attending the local country school, including a select school at East Glastonbury, he studied at Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. Later he went for one year to Wesleyan University. In 1877 this university conferred upon him the honorary degree of M.A. Like many young men of New England Mr. Buck began his active affairs of life as a school teacher. For several years he taught as principal in graded schools and academies. In 1859 he came to Hartford to study law in the office of Wells & Strong. In 1863 he was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of his profession at Hartford. He was associated with the Hon. Julius L. Strong, former member of Congress, under the firm name of Strong & Buck; and upon the death of Mr. Strong, in 1872, he became associated with the Hon. Arthur F. Eggleston, states attorney for Hartford County, as a member of the firm of Buck & Eggleston. During his professional career he has been counsel for towns and other municipal corporations, and for railroad companies, fire and life insurance companies, and other corporations. During the Spanish-American War he was legal adviser of the Governor of Connecticut. He is a director in the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, of the Hartford County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and of the State Bank of Hartford; he is also a trustee of the Wesleyan Academy of Wilbraham, Massachusetts.

In his active and successful career in public life, Mr. Buck has always been associated with the Republican party. In 1864, two years after he was admitted to the bar, he was elected assistant clerk of the Connecticut House of Representatives. The next year he became clerk of the House, and one year later he was elected clerk of the State Senate. In 1868 he was president of the Hartford Court of Common Council, and from 1871 to 1873 he was attorney for the city. He was treasurer for Hartford County for eight years ending in 1881. In 1879 he was elected to the State Senate from the First District. As chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments he reported the amendment which provided for the appointment of the judges of the Supreme Court of Errors and of the Superior Court by the General Assembly upon nomination of the governor, and he was largely instrumental in procuring its adoption. He took an active part in the establishment of the Court of Common Pleas in Hartford and New Haven Counties, and conducted the hearings before the committee of the General Assembly, which reported in favor of the measure. As chairman of the committee on corporations he reported the Joint stock law of 1880, and was instrumental in securing its passage. He took an active part in procuring the passage of the laws making Hartford the sole capital, and providing for the construction of the new State House. In 1880 he was elected to the Forty-seventh Congress of the United States, and in 1884 he was elected to the Forty-ninth. While in Washington he served on the committee on Indian affairs, on revision of laws, and on naval affairs. On this last committee he was especially active, and did much to bring about the construction of the new navy, which, years later, in the war with Spain, did such good service for the nation. After his second term in Congress Mr. Buck decided to retire from active public life and devote his time exclusively to his legal practice; but he still retains a deep interest in politics, and his advice is often sought and highly valued by the members of his party. In politics, as in law, he is regarded by his large circle of acquaintances as a safe and judicious counselor. He is by nature conservative, but also a man of positive and courageous convictions.

On April 12th, 1865, Mr. Buck was married to Mary A. Keeney of Manchester. Their children are Florence K., the wife of Jacob H. Greene of Hartford, and John Halsey Buck, who graduated from Yale in 1896 and is now a practicing lawyer at Hartford.

His favorite forms of amusement are fishing, walking in the woods and fields, and reading. From the time he was a boy he has enjoyed reading history and good fiction. Dickens is his favorite author, and he has a vivid recollection of reading the speeches of Charles Sumner, as they were published in the newspapers of the time.  Men of Mark Index

BULKELEY, MORGAN GARDNER  THE ancestors of Morgan Gardner Bulkeley belonged to the educated, liberty-loving class that directed in definite lines the early development of New England. Peter Bulkeley, fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, heir to a large estate, silenced for non-conformity after a ministry for twenty-one years in England, emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635, and the following year, with a number of adherents, began the settlement of Concord, where he preached and died. He married Grace, daughter of Sir Richard Chitwood, or Chetwode, as anciently spelled. Gershom Bulkeley was graduated at Harvard College in 1655, and four years later married Sarah, eldest daughter of President Charles Chauncy. Preacher, soldier, physician, and politician, he served the people of Connecticut with marked distinction in all these capacities. As a surgeon he occupied the first rank in the colony. As a controversialist he struck hard blows. Some of his writings still survive. To skip intermediate generations, Eliphalet A. Bulkeley, father of Morgan G., was graduated from Yale College in 1824, studied law, and after a brief residence in East Haddam moved to Hartford, where, during a long career, he was prominently identified with the financial institutions of the city. He also took an active interest in politics, and was one of the founders of the Republican party. Among other offices he was Judge, Commissioner of the School Fund, State Senator, Speaker of the House of Representatives, etc. He married Lydia S. Morgan of Colchester—a woman of strong character and uplifting influence.

Morgan Gardner Bulkeley was born at East Haddam, Connecticut, December 26th, 1837. Robust and adventurous, at the age of fourteen he left school to tempt fortune in the great world. Entering the house of H. P. Morgan & Co., of Brooklyn, New York, as errand boy, in seven years he was admitted to the partnership. In answer to the call for volunteers he enlisted in the Thirteenth New York regiment, and served under General McClellan during the Peninsular campaign. At the close of his term of military service he resumed business in Brooklyn, but on the death of his father in 1872 returned to Hartford to supervise the financial interests of the family. As organizer and first president he launched the United States Bank, at first named the United States Trust Company, which today has by far the largest percentage of surplus of any bank in Hartford.

In 1879 Governor Bulkeley was elected president of the Etna Life Insurance Company, having long been intimately connected with the management of its affairs. His father, as president from the date of its birth in 1850 till his death in 1872, had safely piloted the enterprise through the weakness and perils of infancy. Thus, for over half a century, with the exception of seven years between 1872 and 1879, father and son in succession have guided the destinies of the institution. Viewed in the light of strength and symmetry of development its record has nowhere been surpassed.

December 31st, 1879, the capital of the Etna was $750,000; the premium income for the year $3,487,606; the income from investments $1,830,695; the total assets $25,592,363, and the surplus to policyholders $3,591,665.

December 31st, 1904, the capital was $2,000,000; premiums for the year $12,868,922; income from investments $3,062,633; total assets $73,696,178, and surplus to policyholders $8,850,426.

Life insurance rests on a mathematical basis. Tables of mortality generalized from long and wide experience under the law of averages give the expectation of life at all ages, from youth onward. It has been assumed that money will yield at least four per cent.

With the basic principles of the business mathematically and hence immutably fixed, the measure of success or failure depends upon ability of management. Justice in the treatment of patrons, foresight in the investment of funds, skill in the choice of agents, care in the selection of risks, and personal magnetism in bringing a multitude of diverse and widely separated units into harmonious and effective cooperation, are the qualities that, if combined in the head of a life insurance company, guarantee in advance that it will outstrip all rivals less favorably equipped. Persons in position to form a correct opinion unite in crediting to Governor Bulkeley the above gifts in full measure.

The Etna led the way in loaning to western farmers. Early contracts, although bearing ten per cent, proved even more profitable to the borrower than to the lender. Purchasers of land at $1.25 per acre through the aid of the capital thus obtained, and the inflow of population, in a few years saw it increase in value ten or twenty fold or more. As the loans were paid and the rates of interest fell toward the standards prevalent in settled communities, the company pushed westward, preempting fertile acres and areas of large return. Simultaneously it invested liberally in the bonds of western towns. From both sources the income largely exceeded the legal requirement of four percent.

Till 1861 the company made contracts of insurance only on the stock plan. It then began the issue of participating policies, establishing a separate department with distinct books, accounts, and investments. Patrons can choose between the two. On the participating plan the insured pays a sum somewhat in excess of the tabular cost, and the difference in due time is returned to him in the form of "dividends." On the stock plan he pays the bare cost with a slight addition for contingencies. Such profits above the legal reserve as accrue from good luck or good management belong to the company. After making provision as required by law for meeting at maturity all contracts, it can dispose of the surplus as it pleases.

The extraordinary productiveness of the investments of the Etna piled up in the treasury a large sum belonging to the stock. To place this where it could never be withdrawn, where it would broaden the basis of security, and where it would remain planted in perpetuity for the protection of policyholders, parts of it were used from time to time to increase the capital, till this now amounts to $2,000,000.

The Etna has never done business on the tontine plan—a device which gives to some large companies a delusive show of strength. Patrons pay full premiums and forego dividends on the promise that the margins with accretions will be returned at the maturity of the contract. Meanwhile, the funds thus held in trust are carried as surplus, while the liability is ignored. Serious complications are likely to arise over the disposition of the marginal funds.

Such are the vicissitudes of life that prosperity, even where great, is shadowed by more or less of adversity. The Etna stands forth a shining exception to the rule. Its growth has been continuous, solid, unbroken by reverses. Luck, so-called, has played small part in the drama. The explanation is to be found in the mental grasp, sound judgment, and far-sightedness of the management.

The stately home of the company was bought in 1888 from the estate of the defunct Charter Oak at a trifle over one-fourth of the original cost. Within its walls the Etna, with its subsidiary accident, health, and liability departments, finds ample accommodation.

In Governor Bulkeley an inherited taste for politics has not been suffered to wither from disuse. After serving as councilman and alderman he was elected mayor of Hartford in 1880 and held the chair till 1888. His was essentially a "business" administration, conducted as a careful man would manage his own affairs. Incidentally, he disbursed more than his salary in providing pleasure or comfort for the poor of the city. Among the means of entertainment are remembered free excursions on the river, free picnics for children, etc., etc.

In the fall of 1888 the Republican Convention of the State nominated Mr. Bulkeley by acclamation for governor. He was elected by a large majority though at the time the Democratic ticket for presidential electors was successful. In the executive chair he continued to exercise the same vigilance and care that had made memorable his long term in the mayoralty.

Following the custom a new ticket was presented in 1890. The only person on either side having a clear majority over all was the Democratic candidate for comptroller. The election of the remainder of the State officers was thrown into the General Assembly. As the two Houses belonged to opposite parties there arose under the provisions of our constitution a deadlock. Accordingly, Governor Bulkeley and his associates, with the exception of the comptroller, held over for two years. During the period the legislation remained in abeyance. No appropriations were voted for the maintenance of the institutions of the State or for meeting the imperative requirements of the treasury. At this crisis the Etna Life Insurance Company, through its president. Governor Bulkeley, volunteered to furnish all the money needed to meet every legitimate bill. Instructions were issued in regard to the method of making disbursements and keeping the accounts. The next General Assembly by public act repaid the company in full without disallowance of an item.

Having twice thrown the votes pledged to him in the General Assembly, to secure the reelection of General Hawley to the United States Senate, in the fall of 1904 Governor Bulkeley, on the withdrawal of General Hawley, entered the field with the view of holding his strength to the end. In nominations, and later in the election, attention was centered on the senator ship, all other issues being for the moment submerged. When the caucus met the following January, Governor Bulkeley had about two-thirds of the votes, and the action of the caucus was ratified in the General Assembly. In executive ability no man in the United States Senate will excel the new member from Connecticut. Corporate abuses have provoked a dangerous disposition to assail the bad and good indiscriminately. The friends of Senator Bulkeley believe that he will penetrate to the marrow of questions affecting the business of the country, and prove a bulwark against injustice to legitimate interests.

A bit of local history, if ever written in full, will bring into view the grasp and resourcefulness of Mr. Bulkeley. May 17, 1895, the obsolete and inadequate bridge across the Connecticut river at Hartford was burned. Instinctively the community turned to the ex-mayor for relief and guidance. A ferry and, later, a temporary structure were provided to meet the immediate needs of the public. By act of the legislature a commission was created with Mr. Bulkeley as chairman, empowered to build. A bridge district was also created, embracing Hartford and several towns east of the river, not without opposition, for the procedure was new in Connecticut. Time was taken to elaborate a comprehensive scheme, not for the hour merely, but for a distant future also. Much patient study was given to the subject. The plans as slowly developed were supported by the well-nigh unanimous approval of the citizens of Hartford—a striking proof of the confidence of the public in the wisdom of the commission. As a result there is in process of construction a magnificent stone bridge, that will endure for ages. Eastward, across the meadows, a broad boulevard has taken the place of a narrow driveway. On the west side land has been secured by purchase or condemnation to open parallel to the river a broad avenue, artistically combining park and highway.

Though the expense will be great, no serious obstruction has been thrown in the way, except from a distance. For reasons inscrutable to an onlooker burdened with an old-fashioned notion that utilities ought to bear some recognizable proportion to cost, powerful influences up the river insisted upon a draw—possibly with a view to the development of a harbor on Mount Washington. So well organized was the movement, that it long threatened to mutilate the structure. However, by patient, persistent, and tactful efforts. Governor Bulkeley finally silenced opposition. When that was withdrawn the United States Government consented to the execution of the work as designed.

In 1885 Governor Bulkeley married Miss Fannie Briggs Houghton. They have three children: Morgan Gardner, Jr.; Elinor Houghton, and Houghton Bulkeley. He belongs to many clubs and fraternities, and has been specially active in patriotic societies. The spacious and beautiful building of the Hartford Club was made possible through his support. He is president of the Commission on Improvements of the State Capitol.

Although the life of Governor Bulkeley has abounded in activities, he has done everything with thoroughness.  Men of Mark Index

BURR, WILLIE OLCOTT IN 1861, Willie Olcott Burr was supplementing his common school education with a course in the Harris Private School for Boys, which was situated on Main Street in Hartford, about where the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company's building now stands. His intention, promoted by his father, was to continue his education through college and round it out with a trip abroad. But education of a sterner kind and such as few young men are privileged to receive was to come to him. He would have preferred to have the academic course first, and he himself never considers his life well rounded because of lack of it, but the grim events at the outbreak of the Civil War claimed his faculties and shaped a life career for which Connecticut history is grateful. On May 13th, 1861, following the attack on Fort Sumter, Mr. Burr was at his father's side in the editorial rooms of the Hartford Times.

It was a small establishment compared with its present splendid proportions, on the very same corner of Grove and Main streets now occupied by it. The post office was on the ground floor of the corner, where the business office of the paper now is; the Times had rooms above and a small building to the rear where the mechanical department's plant stands to-day. Mr. Burr's father, Alfred Edmond Burr, —the stalwart man who had been editor of the paper for twenty years already and who long since had been recognized as a tremendous force in the affairs of the Democratic party and in what makes for civic welfare,—and Mr. Burr's uncle, Franklin L. Burr, the sole partner, had few men around them then to handle and pass on to the eager public the news which those feverish days so quickly began to make as never before. An opportunity even greater than could then be estimated, it was more than that; it was Mr. Burr's call of duty to go into the newspaper office.

As the paper grew and the work was systematized, he became head of the city department and occupied other responsible positions in turn. In 1890, when old age began to make the cares of management onerous for the father, the son relieved him of the most of his burden, and in 1894 the father made over the whole great property and entrusted it to the son. Mr. Burr, the elder, died on January 8th, 1900, serene in the consciousness of the success of his paper and of the maintenance of its sixty years' standard by his son.

To be the head of a large newspaper precludes the possibility of his mingling in other affairs, however strong the call from his fellow citizens. Such a career is known and felt by the people, but rather in an impersonal way; it is the paper they see and not the "man behind" it, outside of the immediate circle of home. One appointment he did accept, and from a Republican governor, and that was to a position on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut State Prison. Governor Lorrin A. Cooke appointed him in 1897, when important work was to be done.

Mr. Burr was born September 27th, 1843. May, 1906, saw the completion of forty-five years of effective but impersonal public work on his paper. He comes of a family that has held high place since Hartford's beginning. Three of his ancestors were among the original proprietors of the town. Benjamin, the progenitor of the Hartford branch of the family, was one of the founders in 1635 and an original proprietor in 1639. From him Willie Olcott Burr is descended through Thomas, Thomas (2), James and Alfred Edmond Burr, whose wife was Sarah A., wife of Abner Booth of Meriden. On his grandmother's side he is descended from Thomas Olcott, also an original proprietor in Hartford in 1639, a merchant, and one of the founders of the trade and commerce of the Colony of Connecticut. The line of descent is through Samuel, Thomas (2), Joseph, Joseph (2), and Lucretia (Olcott) Burr, wife of James.

Mr. Burr was married May 21st, 1874, to Miss Angle L. Lincoln of Upton, Massachusetts. They have one daughter, Florence Lincoln Burr.  Men of Mark Index

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