LAKE, EVERETT JOHN, of Hartford, senator from the first district and prominent in the business life of the State Capital, is a native of Woodstock, Windham County, Connecticut, of which town his ancestors on his mother's side, sturdy Scotchmen, were among the first settlers. He was born February 8th, 1871, the son of Thomas A. and Martha A. (Cockings) Lake. His father, whose ancestors coming from England were early settlers in Concord, New Hampshire, was for many years a lumber merchant in Rockville, Connecticut, and subsequently in Hartford, and was prominent in public life. He was representative from the town of Woodstock, in the legislature of 1885, was a member of the Republican State Central Committee and State senator in the session of 1897. He also served with much credit as collector of internal revenue, in Hartford.

The son's education was begun in the country school at South Woodstock, Connecticut, and when the family had removed from Woodstock to the West was continued there until he was graduated at the age of sixteen, from the Stromsburg High School of Stromsburg, Nebraska, in the class of 1887. Thence he went to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was graduated with the degree of S.B., in the class of 1890. After that he went to Harvard University, where he received the degree of B.A., in 1892.

Of powerful build and inheriting a splendid constitution, he attained prominence as an athlete in his college days, and such was his success in supporting the Crimson's standard on the football field that his services are still in demand there each year, to help coach other men into "good shape." For a year after his graduation from the college he studied at the Harvard Law School, but did not complete the course. Instead, in June, 1893, he went directly from the law school into business life as a clerk in his father's company, the Hartford Lumber Company, which was enjoying a prosperous career and which, in its rapid development, seemed to offer a good opportunity for a young man of force and energy.

The following year he was advanced to the responsible position of secretary of the company and in 1896 the duties of treasurer were added, to be followed in 1901 with his promotion to the presidency, in addition to the treasurer-ship. In 1903 he was chosen also president and treasurer of the Tunnel Coal Company, and all of these positions in both of these eminently successful corporations he holds today.

Always with a deep interest in public affairs, his first public office was that of member of the Hartford Board of School Visitors, which he held from 1900 to 1903. The latter year he was sent from Hartford to the House of Representatives and at the following session of the Legislature he was in attendance as senator (and one of the youngest of that body) from the first district. In both sessions he had important duties to perform, during the first session as chairman of the committee on appropriations, and during the latter session as chairman of the committee on incorporations. Senator Lake is first, last, and always a Republican. He is a lieutenant on the staff of the major commanding the First Company, Governor's Foot Guard, and is a member of the Hartford Club, and of the Hartford Golf Club, though his time for recreation is limited.

He married Miss Eva Louise Sykes, daughter of the late George Sykes of Rockville, and they have two children, Harold S. and Marjorie S. Their residence at No. 553 Farmington Avenue is one of the most attractive on that delightful thoroughfare.

Mr. Lake was nominated for lieutenant-governor at the Republican State Convention in New Haven, September 20th, 1906. He was elected by a plurality of 19,781.  Men of Mark Index

LUTHER, FLAVEL S.  JR. Early in the seventeenth century, an Englishman, John Luther, emigrated to this country, and settled in Swansea, Massachusetts. He was killed by the Indians in 1641, leaving a son, Hezekiah, the progenitor of the northern Luthers. This John Luther was the second in descent from Johannes Luther, a German, a brother of the great reformer, Martin Luther, who had settled in Sussex County, England.

It may not be altogether fanciful to attribute the sterling qualities of moral courage, fidelity to conviction, and directness of speech which have marked the Massachusetts and Connecticut Luthers to the sturdy, uncompromising temper of their remote German ancestors. The subject of this sketch is, however, the ninth in descent from the German settler, Captain John, and has in his veins numerous strains of the best Puritan stock.

His father, Flavel S. Luther, Sr., was born in Providence, R. I. but settled in Brooklyn, Connecticut, where his son, Flavel S. Luther, Jr., was born March 26th, 1850. Brooklyn is a typical farming town of New England, and was the home of General Israel Putnam and Godfrey Malbone, and the community is an admirable example of the industrious, intelligent. God-fearing descendants of the Puritans. Here the boy was subject to the educating influences of field and stream and outdoor life, and household helpfulness, and social self-respect which have made so many vigorous and able men. The religious atmosphere of Puritanism has been sometimes repressive, but the social atmosphere of the old-time New England village has always been bracing, natural, and conducive to manly vigor and independence. Young Luther went to the schools which the village afforded, and was noted as a good scholar especially in mathematics. His father was engaged in mercantile business, and the acquaintanceship of the son with the farmers in a circuit of four miles was large. Thus he came to know American life and character from the foundation, even before he went to college. This, of course, might be said of many American country boys, but it is not every one that has the sensibility and the judgment to build on early experience a full comprehension of national character as Abraham Lincoln, Whittier, Emerson, and a few others of our eminent men have done.

His schooling finished, he went to Trinity College, Hartford, where he entered as sophomore in his eighteenth year, and was graduated at the age of twenty. He was, of course, too young to attain the highest rank in college, but he was graduated third in his class and took the first mathematical prize.
In the fall of 1870 he went to Troy, New York, and took charge of a parish school of one hundred members. His success as a teacher and disciplinarian was marked, though in addition to his duties he studied theology under the Rev. Dr. Coit, and was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church by Bishop Doane, as soon as he was of age.

In 1873, having previously married Isabel Blake Ely of Hartford, he was appointed rector of the large Episcopal school in Racine, Wisconsin. He devoted himself assiduously to the study of mathematics, and in 1876 was made professor of mathematics in Racine College, a position which he held till 1881, when he was elected to the chair of mathematics in Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. He remained in Gambler but two years, for in 1883 he was called to the chair of mathematics and astronomy in Trinity College, Hartford, thirteen years after his graduation. He filled this position very acceptably till he was elected president on the resignation of Dr. George W. Smith in the summer of 1904, having been acting president for a year previously.

While teaching mathematics and astronomy in Hartford, Professor Luther acted as consulting engineer for the Pope Manufacturing Company, in the development of the bicycle. One of his inventions is used on every bicycle, and was of so much value that the company voluntarily made him a handsome present in addition to his salary. Like many Connecticut men, the inventive faculty is strongly developed in Professor Luther. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and had he devoted himself to the profession of mechanical engineering would no doubt have achieved a marked success. As it is, practical knowledge of mechanics is only one of the many sides in which his interest in modem life is manifested.

Professor Luther, or, as we must now call him, President Luther, is in many ways peculiarly fitted for an educator. His life has been spent in teaching, and the fact that he began with schoolboys widened his experience, as did also the fact that he taught in the Middle West as well as in New England. He was in his youth a noted athlete, and his interest in outdoor sports helps to put him en rapport with young men. The beautiful athletic field of Trinity is due almost entirely to his exertions. Understanding students and sympathizing with them as he does, he is still a stern disciplinarian whenever the vital interests of the institution over which he presides are at stake, and he possesses the power of discerning when a breach of discipline is vital, and when it is venial. By nature genial and sympathetic, long experience and natural common sense have made him a discerning but lenient judge of human nature as manifested in American youth, and an executive at once prompt and judicious. He joins to this a theoretical knowledge of the science of education, and a practical knowledge of the necessity of modifying the rigid laws under the limitations of circumstances and of individual cases.

As a clergyman he is familiar with the best literature of our language, and as a man of science he is in accord with the modern spirit. This is a rare combination, more rare perhaps in our country than in England—the combination of the technical man with the man of general culture in the "humanities."

President Luther is an admirable speaker; direct, simple and sincere, always enforcing a comprehensible point, and rising at times to forcible and eloquent presentation, or to some poetic illustration flowing naturally from the subject. He speaks entirely without notes, and in a conversational manner. He is an excellent preacher, and his sermons to the students have not been equaled in appeal to the higher natures of young men since Thomas Arnold preached to the boys at Rugby.

President Luther received the well merited degree of LL.D. from his alma mater in 1904, just previous to his formal inauguration.

Trinity is fortunate in finding one of her graduates so thoroughly competent to assume the multifarious duties of the presidency, and one so devoted to the profession of teaching that he has repeatedly declined the pastorates of large churches, and one so devoted to her that he refused the presidency of Kenyon while a professor in his own college.

A modern college president must possess some knowledge of the general principles of modern education. He must not be exclusively technical, but it is necessary that he understand the bearing of modem science on modern training. He must be entirely devoid of the distrust of scientific thought and scientific methods that mark many clergymen. He must love teaching and have sympathy with youth and a general comprehension of the way in which young men can be developed. He must have had long experience in the profession of teaching. He must possess executive ability and energy enough to keep things moving, and tact enough to keep them moving in the right direction. He must know when to be firm and when to yield slightly in the interests of conciliation, and, when he is firm, he must be firm without being brutal. He must be enthusiastically interested in the college he serves, and not given to magnifying his office. He must be able to discern among the many young recruits to the teaching profession, the ones who will second his efforts with zeal, and who are likely to make their mark in science or learning. In addition to this it is highly desirable that he possess the power of making brief addresses on all imaginable occasions, and of presenting succinctly all college questions to the trustees and the alumni. In a word, he must be a man of ability in several distinct lines; a scholar, an administrator, a man of affairs and a judge of human nature. President Luther combines as many of these qualifications as any man in the country, and is consequently entitled to be considered a man of mark, for fifteen years hence he will have made his mark in the educational world. In one respect he may not prove equal to the foremost of his colleagues, and that is in the ability to persuade men of wealth to interest themselves in his college. Our educational institutions do not pay their way in dollars and cents. Every year the income deficiency is made up by donations from friends. A college with a surplus from invested funds at the end of a fiscal year would be an anomaly in the educational world. But the gifts to a college usually come in small sums, and President Luther will attract these, for there are many who know that he is doing a good work with insufficient means. If he should ever suggest to some very rich man that a gift to Trinity College would serve the highest interests of society, such suggestion will be made in a frank, open manner and without any undignified solicitation. We are inclined to think however that the rich man will be left to find out the situation for himself, for there are rich men in our country who are ready to help an institution which is helping the country, and are heartily sick of the skillful cajoling and flattery to which they are subjected by applicants for their bounty, and President Luther does not know how to flatter He does however, seem to know how to excite the enthusiasm and interest of the alumni, and the respect and regard of his students  Men of Mark Index

MCLEAN, GEORGE PAYNE, one of the ablest and most popular of the former governors of Connecticut, was born in Simsbury, Hartford County, Conn., October 7th, 1857. From Colonial days his forefathers have been counted among the leading men of Simsbury, and he has always resided in that town, except when he was compelled to move to Hartford to attend the High School. His father, Dudley B. McLean, is remembered as a prosperous and influential farmer and as the son of the Rev. Allen McLean, who was for fifty years the pastor of the Simsbury Congregational Church. His mother, Mary Payne, was a daughter of Solomon Payne, one of the leading men in Windham County, and a direct descendant of Governor William Bradford and Captain John Mason.

Like so many of Connecticut's foremost sons. Governor McLean spent his early days as a sturdy country boy, working on his father's farm during the busy summer months and attending school during the winter. To this wholesome life and especially to the careful teachings and high example of his father and mother can doubtless be traced all the strong and admirable physical, mental, and moral characteristics of the former governor. In looking back over his successful career he gratefully acknowledges his moral and spiritual debt to his mother. After acquiring all the advantages offered by the public schools of Simsbury he went to Hartford to attend the High School. This was to be the end of his school education and he took full advantage of his opportunity. In his junior year he received the distinction of being chosen editor of the school paper. He was graduated in 1877.

Having received his High School diploma, he started out in his twentieth year to earn his own livelihood. It was doubtless his experience on the school paper which turned his immediate thoughts to journalism. He became a reporter on the Hartford Post at a salary of $7 a week. Journalism is an enticing career, but many school editors change their opinion of it after they become real reporters. This may have been the case with Governor McLean, for he did not find the occupation to his taste. However, he stuck to it with his usual perseverance, did good work, and during two years made himself more and more valuable to his paper. The experience he gained here broadened his knowledge of men and affairs and has no doubt been helpful to him in later life. Having determined to join the legal profession, he left the Hartford Post and entered the law office of the late Henry C. Robinson at Hartford. While a student here he supported himself by keeping books for Trinity College. In this manner he earned $300, which was then sufficient for the modest wants of the future governor. He studied his law books with understanding and enthusiasm and in 1881 he was admitted to the bar in Hartford.

Having acquired a good groundwork in the law he started to practice for himself in the office of Mr. Robinson, going each evening to his home in Simsbury. He made immediate and rapid progress in his profession and it soon became evident that he was learned in the law, of a judicial temperament and an able trial lawyer, a fortunate combination of qualities, but one seldom found in individual lawyers, yet always a guarantee of success. As he prospered in his profession, so he grew in influence in the political world. In 1883, two years after he was admitted to the bar and but six years after he left the High School, he was chosen by the Republicans of his district to represent the town of Simsbury in the State House of Representatives. His career in the legislature was active from the start, and he soon won for himself a place of prominence in the General Assembly. As chairman of the committee on state's prisons he prepared a bill which created the present Board of Pardons, Formerly any inmate of the state's prisons who applied for a pardon was required to submit his petition to the General Assembly, a slow and cumbersome method, which took up the time of the State Legislature which should have been devoted to matters of more general interest. Mr. McLean's bill brought about a radical and progressive change, by providing for a board to consist of the Governor, ex officio, the Chief Justice and other members of the bench, a representative of the medical profession, and other citizens. He not only prepared the bill, but also saw that it passed the General Assembly at once. This substantial public service was rendered by him in 1884, only one year after he had become a member of the assembly. He was made clerk of the Board of Pardons, a position which he held until he became Governor of the State.

In 1885 Governor Harrison appointed Mr. McLean a member of the commission to revise the statute laws of the State. His associates on this commission were Judge Hovey, Judge Fenn, and Judge Walsh, and although it was but four years after he was admitted to the Bar, he was of valuable assistance to the other commissioners. Subsequent events proved how well they accomplished the delicate and difficult task of revising the state's laws. The same year of his appointment on this important committee he was urged to take the Republican nomination for state senator from the Third District. He was elected by a large majority and took his seat in 1886. In the Senate, as in the House of Representatives, his ability as an orator, parliamentarian, and politician soon manifested itself and made him one of the leaders of the majority. In the presidential campaign of 1888 he did effective work for the national ticket, making speeches to appreciative audiences throughout the State, and it was in no small degree due to his efforts that Connecticut gave such a large majority to President Harrison. In 1890 he was a candidate for Secretary of State, but this was the year of the famous "deadlock," and he was not elected. But Mr. McLean was by this time one of the recognized public men of the State and this slight check did not hinder him in his rapid advancement. In 1892, and on the advice of the entire Congressional delegation from Connecticut, President Harrison appointed him United States Attorney. During the four years which he held this position he won for the government every criminal case and lost but one civil case. At the same time he acted as counsel for the State Comptroller and the State Treasurer. When in 1893 the corporation of Yale University brought an action against the State Treasurer to enjoin him from paying to Storrs' Agricultural College any part of the funds acquired by the state under certain Congressional enactments, Mr. McLean represented the state and defeated the corporation. Eleven years later Yale University conferred upon the successful attorney, who had in the meantime become an ex-governor, the honorary degree of M.A. This is the most recent honor bestowed upon Governor McLean and it is significant for two reasons. It shows how a man, whose school training ends with a High School diploma, may through useful activity in life receive scholastic distinction from one of the first universities of the country; and it shows furthermore the impartial manner in which a great and broad institution of learning will confer deserved recognition even upon one who opposes it in a matter of importance.

In 1900 the Republican State Convention, which met in New Haven on September 5th, nominated George Payne McLean for Governor. When informed of his nomination he entered the convention and thanked his supporters in a short speech which is remembered as a model of tact, sincerity, and oratorical effect. "It is unnecessary for me to say," he declared, "that if elected, I shall be elected without pledge or promise to any man save the one I shall make to every citizen of Connecticut, without regard to party, when I take the oath of office. It is unnecessary for me to say that my sole hope and effort will be to keep unspotted before God and man the bright shield of the State I love." To his hearers these eloquent words had the ring of sincerity, and time has shown that during the two years he was chief executive of the State he never forgot the promises he here made.

After receiving the nomination the Governor-to-be threw all his enthusiasm into the campaign. He addressed large audiences throughout the entire State. His speeches were eloquent, but more than that. He delivered them with tact; he gave his listeners facts and he presented them with all the skill of an able and well-trained lawyer. During recent years a candidate's personality has had a great effect upon the voters. Mr. McLean's was all in his favor. He went among the people and they did not fail to notice his sincerity, his frankness, his amiable disposition, and his pleasing personality. When the ballots were counted there were 95,832 for McLean and 81,421 for Judge Bronson, his Democratic rival. He was inaugurated Governor on Wednesday, January 5th, 1901, and held office for two years. Regarding his record as Governor of the Commonwealth it suffices to say that he fulfilled his ante-election promises and more than justified the expectations of his friends and supporters. He has shown himself to be an able and reliable man, of sterling character and amiable disposition, and what is always popular with men in high position, approachable to every one.

Although there are doubtless many chapters still to be written, the story of ex-Governor McLean's life already serves as an inspiration for younger men and as a source of pleasure to those beyond him in years. In his case, application plus natural ability have made success.  Men of Mark Index

MITCHELL, CHARLES ELLIOTT, lawyer, was born in the town of Bristol, Hartford County, Connecticut, May 11th, 1837. On his mother's side Mr. Mitchell traces his ancestry to Thomas Hooker, the famous Puritan preacher popularly regarded as the founder of Connecticut. Ira Hooker, Mr. Mitchell's maternal grandfather, a farmer and manufacturer of Bristol, Connecticut, was several times a member of the legislature. On his father's side Mr. Mitchell is descended from William Mitchell, who came from Scotland and settled in Bristol shortly before the Revolution. His paternal grandfather was George Mitchell, a man of probity and prominence, a State senator, and a leading manufacturer. Mr. Mitchell's father was George H. Mitchell, a merchant and the postmaster of Bristol. His mother was Lurene Hooker Mitchell, and her influence, which was very strong on his intellectual life, was most lasting and helpful. To her encouragement he ascribes very largely the success that has been his.

Living in a village and endowed with vigorous health, Mr. Mitchell's youthful days were filled with wholesome industry. He had a decided penchant for legal studies, and a native mechanical taste that led to an intimate acquaintance with the manufacturing industries of his town. He was fond of gymnastics, but above all he was fond of good literature. Macaulay's history and essays, biographies of statesmen, other English essays and poetry gave him the greatest delight. Like so many other successful men, he combined work and schooling, for he assisted his father in the post office while he was preparing for college, studying in the office and reciting sometimes to the principal of the high school, and at other times to one of the clergymen of the place. He supplemented this fragmentary preparation with a year at Williston Seminary. He then entered Brown University and received his degree in 1861. For a time he served acceptably as principal of the Bristol High School, and later on he entered the Albany Law School, from which he was graduated in 1864 with the degree of LL.B. From his early boyhood Mr. Mitchell has had a strong natural preference for the study and practice of law, and this purpose so early formed and so persistently followed and fostered has insured his success at the Bar. He began as a general practitioner of law in New Britain, but gradually, by a process of natural selection rather than by conscious choice, he inclined to making a specialty of patent law. His practice soon became extensive in patent and trademark cases, giving him a national reputation and taking him frequently to the Supreme Court of the United States. In response to the general desire of the patent lawyers of the country, Mr. Mitchell was appointed Commissioner of Patents by President Harrison. During his service as commissioner, he conducted its affairs on sound business principles, introducing various reforms, and brought the work of issuing patents into a condition equal to the pressure of the incoming applications, a most important step. In the fall of 1891 he resigned and removed to New York, where he practiced his profession very assiduously until 1903, when he returned to Connecticut and soon resumed his residence in New Britain.

Confining his efforts and interests to his profession, Mr. Mitchell has generally held aloof from public life, and as he has never sought political office, his excursions into politics have been so slight as to hardly amount to exceptions to his rule of adhering to one purpose in life. He is a Republican in political creed, and although at times not wholly satisfied with the policies of his party, he has never desired to shift his allegiance. In 1880 and 1881 he was a member of the Connecticut House. In 1880 he was chairman of the committee on corporations and in 1881 an influential member of the judiciary committee. In the presidential campaigns of 1884 and 1888 he made several speeches. He was the first city attorney of New Britain.

During his residence in New York, he was principally engaged in electric litigation, being employed by the General Electric Company in many cases relating to Edison's incandescent lamp and other electrical inventions. At one time and another he has been concerned in litigations involving the inventions of Edison, Tesla, Brush, Thomson, and others of the great inventors of the electrical art.

Besides his legal and occasional political interests, Mr. Mitchell has always been deeply interested in the material, moral, and religious life of his home city. In addition to holding the presidency of the Stanley Rule & Level Company he is director in various other manufacturing companies. Recently, owing to his somewhat impaired eyesight, he has withdrawn to some extent from the practice of law. He is a member of the American Bar Association, of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Hartford County Bar, the Century Association, the University Club, the Hardware Club, the New Britain Club, the New England Society, and while in New York was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Association of that city.

Mr. Mitchell was married to Cornelia A. Chamberlain, a sister of Ex-Governor Chamberlain, in 1866. They have three sons, Robert C, Charles H., and George Henry. The eldest and youngest are practicing law in New York. Charles H. is clerk of the city and police courts of New Britain.

It has been said that Mr. Mitchell's motto in life has been "to deserve success," believing that the constitution of things is such that success can be obtained in that way better than in any other.  Men of Mark Index

MITCHELL, EDWIN KNOX, M.A., D.D., professor of Greco-Roman and Eastern Church History at the Hartford Theological Seminary, author, preacher, and educator, was born in Locke, Knox County, Ohio, December 23rd, 1853. His grandfather. Captain Sylvanus Mitchell, was a member of a colony organized in Granville, Massachusetts, which emigrated west and settled in Granville, Ohio. Captain Mitchell was an officer in the War of 1813 and was a descendant of Moses and Eleanor (Black) Mitchell who came from Glasgow, Scotland, and settled in Blandford, Massachusetts, in 1727. Edwin Mitchell is the son of Spencer Mitchell, a farmer and a man of marked integrity and good judgment, and of Harriet Newell (Howard) Mitchell, whom he calls "a woman of mark" and whose influence was the strongest and best exerted upon his life and character.

Vigorous, athletic, and studious, Edwin Mitchell made the most of every opportunity in his youth. He lived on his father's large farm and learned to do all kinds of farm work, to operate all kinds of agricultural machinery, and became familiar with the life, habits, and care of horses, cattle, sheep and poultry. The farm was two hundred and fifty acres in extent and at seventeen years of age he undertook its management. He was eager to learn and was especially interested in mathematics and history. He prepared for college while managing the farm by attending the country school and by private study at home. He entered Marietta College and was graduated with the B.A. degree in 1878 and received his M.A. degree at the same institution in 1881. He then entered Union Theological Seminary, New York, where he was graduated in 1884. This course was followed by two years of travel and study in Europe at the universities of Berlin, Giessen and Gottingen. He began work before completing his education by teaching Latin and mathematics in the Columbus, Ohio, High School from 1879-1881.

In 1886, after his return from Europe, Mr. Mitchell became pastor of the Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine, Florida, and remained in that pastorate until 1890, when he again went abroad for further study at the University of Berlin, going later to Rome and the Orient. He returned to America and in 1893 was called to the chair of Greco-Roman and Eastern Church History in the Hartford Theological Seminary and he still holds that chair. In 1896 he received the degree of D.D. from his Alma Mater, Marietta College. In 1894 he published his "Introduction to the Life and Character of Jesus Christ According to St. Paul." He has been a frequent contributor to magazines and to "World's Best Literature," and is also the author of "Creeds and Canons." He is a trustee of Marietta College, a member of the American Historical Society, the American Oriental Society, the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, the Hartford Archeological Society, the Connecticut Historical Society, the Religious Education Association, the Hartford Federation of Churches, the Municipal Art Society, the Hartford Club, the Hartford and Saratoga Golf Clubs, the Hartford Charity Organization Society, and the Twentieth Century Club, of which he was president in 1903-4. In political views he is a Republican. Golf is his favorite recreation and he is an enthusiastic and constant devotee of that game. In January, 1887, he married Hetty Marquand Enos of Brooklyn, New York, and three children, all now living, have been born of this marriage.

Edwin Knox Mitchell is a man of many active and fruitful interests, religious, public, educational, and charitable, as his membership in so many and varied organizations shows. He has succeeded in many lines of work and is still so vigorous, enthusiastic, and ambitious that greater things will undoubtedly come from his mind and pen. The secret of his manifold successes is revealed in his own words to others who would make their mark. He says: "Preserve physical vigor. Be not over-anxious about to-morrow. Do your work thoroughly and enthusiastically and promotion will come. Aim high, work hard, never be discouraged but always keep alert to new things. Gain and keep the confidence of a widening circle of friends. Be a Christian gentleman in all relations in life."  Men of Mark Index

MONTGOMERY, JOHN ROBERT, was born in Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, February 24th, 1845. The family is of Scotch origin, the American branch of it being founded at Salisbury, Connecticut, early in the history of this country. His father, John Milton Montgomery, was a farmer, and later a railroad man.

He attended, whenever possible, the district schools of the county, and later the Drury Academy at North Adams, Massachusetts.

At the age of sixteen Mr. Montgomery began the active work of life as an operative in a cotton mill at Great Barrington. Six years later his ability and faithfulness made him superintendent of this mill; and in four more years he was proprietor of a cotton mill at Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Since 1890 Mr. Montgomery has been president of the J. R. Montgomery Cotton Manufacturing Company of Windsor Locks. He is respected by his fellow citizens for his integrity and fidelity. He believes that "the way for a young man to succeed is by having some definite object in life and sticking to it."

Mr. Montgomery is a Republican and has never voted any other ticket. He finds his recreation in out-of-door exercises and in reading, caring most for the books of fiction and poetry. He has been married twice, the first time on May 28th, 1867, to L. Maria Holden, and the second, on September 23rd, 1880, to Frances Wills Meeks. Four children have been born to him, none of whom are living.  Men of Mark Index

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