■■C^X.
 

 
 \A f a n Wtthdrawn 
 
 RPB
 
 
 ■ — or
 
 INSURANCE 
 
 IN 
 
 CONNECTICUT 
 
 BY 
 
 P. HENRY WOODWARD 
 
 1897 
 D. H. HURU & CO 
 
 BOSTON
 
 Copyright 1897 
 By D. H. HURD & CO.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Early Fire and Marine Insurance i-io 
 
 Poverty of the country after the Revokition — Mutual antipathies of the Colonies — Situa- 
 tion in Connecticut — Re-awakened energy — Policy written by Sanford and Wadsworth 
 in 1794 — The Hartford and New Haven Insurance Company in 1795-^Ezekiel Williams 
 Jr.. and local marine insurance — Its methods — Hartford conspicuous in insurance — The 
 pioneers: Jeremiah Wadsworth, Peleg Sanford, Daniel Wadsworth. John Caldwell, John 
 Morgan, Ezekiel Williams, Jr. , John Chenevard, Michael and Thomas Bull, Hudson & 
 Goodwin — The Hartford Insurance Company formed in 1S03 — Merger in the Protection 
 in 1S25 — Thomas Scott Williams— The stock note method — The New Haven Company 
 — Companies in Norwich, Middletown, New London and New Haven — The Napoleonii: 
 wars — The West India trade — Commercial distress after 1807 — Our navy — Passage of 
 early marine insurance. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 The Mutual Assurance Company of the City of Norwich. . . . lo ii 
 
 The first incorporated insurance company of Connecticut— Incorporated May, 1795 — The 
 New London agency — Annual meetings held in the court house — A prosperous business 
 — Secretaries from 1794 to 1S76 — Insurance e.xclusively on dwelling-houses since 1S3S. 
 
 The Mutual A.ssurance Company of New Haven .... . . ii 
 
 The Norwich Fire Insurance Company . . 1 1 
 
 Joseph Williams, Jr., first secretary and executive officer— Abandonnitnl of marine Inisi- 
 ness in 1S18 — Admitted into State of New- York in 1849 — Presidents from 1S07 to 1S68. 
 
 The Hartford Fire Insurance Company 12-21 
 
 Scarcity of securities — Its first investment — Rates empirical— Character — Cause of slow 
 growth — Planting agencies — Corporate donations — Early salaries — Good and bad luck — 
 No reserves laid by — General Nathaniel Terry and Walter Mitchell — Change of manage- 
 ment and heavy losses in 1835 — How a crisis was met — A series of fires — Eliphalet 
 Terry — Increase of capital — Profits capitalized— Hezekiah Huntington — T. C. Allyn — 
 George I^. Chase — A more vigorous policy Losses by the Chicago fire .settled in full — 
 One million dollars in fresh subscriptions — Mr. Chase and the Ocean Bank receivership 
 — Successive offices Builds in 1870 and enlarges in i8g6—Oflficers— Present condition. 
 
 The New Haven Fire Insurance Company 21-22 
 
 Incorporated in 1813 — Charter revoked in 1822. 
 
 The Middletown Fire Insurance Company 22 
 
 Incorporated May, 1S13— After a short e.xistence its outslaniling risks were assumed by 
 the /Etna of Hartford. 
 
 iii 
 
 2024538
 
 iv CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The ^Etna Insurance Company of Hartford 
 
 Page 
 
 Curious origin — Organization — First officers — Henry L. Ellsworth — Reinsures risks of 
 Middletown Fire Insurance Company — Early discussions and practices — Agency busi- 
 ness pushed — Mobile, Alabama, in 1827— Distress following the English panic of 1825 — 
 Heroic action of directors — Isaac Perkins — The panic of 1837 — An early journey — The 
 early director — Three generations: Joseph, Junius S., and J. Pierpont Morgan — Inland 
 insurance -President Brace and the New York fire of 1845 — Turn of the tide — Passage 
 of the half century—Failure of the Protection — The .Etna occupies the vacated field — 
 Increases of capital Sketch of Thomas K. Brace — Edwin G. Ripley — Thomas A. Alex- 
 ander — Internal dissensions over reinsurance reserves — Beginning of classifications -Art 
 — Outline charts — A book of instructions— The Chicago and Boston fires — Lucius I. 
 Hendee — fotham Goodnow — Erastus J. Bassett — Andrew C. Bayne — Present officers 
 and condition — William B. Clark. 
 
 The Protection Insurance Company of Hartford 32-35 
 
 Initial advantages — Lineage — Organization — William W.Ellsworth — Thomas C. Perkins 
 — Its widespread agency system — Ephraim Robins and his work— Head of the western 
 department — Its Cincinnati office a Whig club room — List of successive officers — Mark 
 Howard, first special agent — His courage — Apparent profits dissipated in dividends — 
 W. B. Robins — Desperate expedients— Collapse -Residuary legatees. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Security Insurance Company of New Haven 35-36 
 
 The City Fire of Hartford 36 
 
 The Bridgeport Fire and Marine Insurance Company 36-37 
 
 Bogus swapping of .securities — Driven from New \'ork and Massachusetts - Pailure. 
 
 The City Fire Insurance Company of New Haven T,y 
 
 Double retirement. 
 
 The Connecticut Fire Insurance Co.mpany of Hartford 37-40 
 
 Conservative policy — Capitalization of profits — Benjamin W. Greene— Settlement of 
 Chicago losses in 1871 — Saving the plant — Increase of capital - John 11. l-^ldriilge — M. 
 Bennett, Jr. — J. D. Browne— Present condition and officers. 
 
 The Ph<f:nix Fire Insurance Company of Hartford 40-44 
 
 Henry Kellogg, the founder— Organization — N. H. Morgan — Occupation of frontier and 
 Pacific coast — Rapid growth — Increase of capital— Simeon L. Loomis — Governor Jewell 
 amid the ruins of the Chicago fire — First payment of loss — Effect on the despairing mul- 
 titude - l'"resh capital — Successive locations — Asa W. Jillson — Henry Kellogg-D. W. C. 
 Skilton— Statistics— Officers. 
 
 The State Firk Insurance Company of New Haven 45-48 
 
 charter dormant — Nebulous assets — More vapor — Enter Benjamin No\es — Unseen 
 favors— Flight of the secretary — Elizur Wright hoodwinked — A new light— Certificates 
 for show — Plausible phrases— The lion roused — Efforts to prosecute^Voluntary assign- 
 ment-Suits on stock notes — An unparalleled shrinkage.
 
 CONTENTS. V 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Page 
 
 Thk Merchants' axd the National of Hartford 49-52 
 
 Formation of the Merchants' — Lessons from tlu- Protection — Monotonous prosperity — 
 Entire assets in 1871 distributed to ('hicas;o policy-holders — Revived in the Merchants' — 
 Large over-subscription — W'liole capital paid in cash — Boston fire of 1872 — Mark Howard 
 — lames Nichols— Condition— Ofticers. 
 
 Charter Oak Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Hartford. 52 
 
 The Home Insurance Company of New Haven 53 
 
 Heavy losses and large dividends Fluctuations of capital — Failure and local distress - 
 Benjamin Noyes in a spasm of virtue. 
 
 The North .\merican Fire Insurance Co.aipanv of Hartford. . . 53-54 
 
 The New England Fire and Marine Insurance Co. of Hartford. 54 
 
 The Norwai.k Marine and Fire In.surance Company 54 
 
 The Thames Fire Insurance Company of Norwich 54 
 
 The Union Fire Insurance Company of Hartford 54 
 
 The Putna.m P'ire Insurance Co.mpany of Hartford 54 
 
 The Quinnipiac Insurance Company of New Haven 55 
 
 The Orient Insurance Company of Hartford 55 
 
 Succeeds the City Fire Insurance Company— Organized in November, 1871— Losses in 
 Boston in 1S72— Rapid recovery— Charles B. Whiting— EfTects of the panic of 1893 — 
 Condition — Officers. 
 
 The Meriden Insurance Company 56 
 
 The .\tlas Insurance Company 57 
 
 Foreign Companies M.anaged in America by Martin Bennett, Jr. 57 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Mutual Insuranxe Co.mpanies 5^ 
 
 Age and assets — Needs which brought into being the oldest of the Mutuals. 
 
 The Windham County Mutual Fire Insurance Company .... 58 
 
 F'ormation, Progress and Economies — The rural director — Officers. 
 
 The Hartford County Mutual Fire Insurance Company 59 
 
 The premium note— A small beginning - A crisis met — Officers. 
 
 The Middlesex Mutual Assurance of Middletown 60 
 
 Largest of Connecticut mutuals — Evolution of methods — Officers. 
 
 The New London County Mutual Fire Insurance Co.mpany ... 60 
 
 Officers from 1S40 to 1895. 
 
 The State Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Hartford ... 61
 
 vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Page 
 
 Hartford and Life Insurance • 6i 
 
 The pioneers — Curious opposition — Elder Suan denounces the pernicious novelty. 
 
 The Connecticut Mutual Life Insi'rance Company of Hartford . 62 
 
 Origin- Restrictions of the charter- Organization — Guaranty fund - Severe economy 
 Dissensions — Battle — The premium note — Controversy with Superintendent Barnes of 
 New York— Defiant attitude of the company — No forage for raiders — Distribution of 
 savings — Voluntary renunciation of forfeitures — Rapid growth, 1863-67 - Outpour of paper 
 money and land speculations — Refusal of the company to loan to speculators — Heedless 
 legislation — Defeat of a desperate assault Gu^? R. Phelps — ^James Goodwin — Succession 
 of officers— Jacob L. Greene— John M. Taylor — The company first to foresee the fall in 
 rates of interest — Its prudent action — .Acrid criticism — Patrons protected —Hostility to 
 the Tontine and other speculative schemes — Condition — Officers. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The American National Life and Tru.st Company of New Haven 69-81 
 
 Professor Benjamin Silliman, president — Benjamin Noyes, secretary— Reckless assump- 
 tions as to rates of interest and mortality — Perplexity of commissioners over statements 
 — Exclusion from New York and Massachusetts Criticisms of Elizur Wright Noyes in 
 full control Also first insurance commissioner of Connecticut — Building on leased land 
 — Ideal figure-heads— A troublesome trustee— An honest agent — Sophistication of debts 
 —An attack from Norwich — Under a new name— Looseness of new charter — Bogus sub- 
 scriptions—Guaranty capital — Metempsychosis— A bad bargain— Trouble at Albany — 
 John W. Stedman, commissioner — Frequency of complaints — A thorough investigation — 
 Deficiency in assets — Trustee applied for — The commissioner beaten Mythical securi- 
 ties — Unconscious .shareholders — Something from nothing — Value of the building - Cour- 
 age and persistence of Commissioner Stedman— P'ight transferred to the legislature — 
 Sudden conversions — The curtain lifted — Another trial — A phantom credit of |5o,ooo — 
 Nemesis — DeparturefromConnecticut— Purchase of a Washington charter — Dark seances 
 — More phantom bonds — Clothing a corpse— A fresh start — ^Jersey justice- Noyes in 
 prison — Talcott H. Russell appointed receiver — Efforts to collect the wreckage — 
 Triumphal return — forlorn exit. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The' Connecticut Health Insurance Company 81 
 
 An impracticable scheme— Changes of plan — .Slaves and coolies — Officers^ames Di.xon. 
 
 The Charter Oak Life Insurance Company of Hartford .... 82-89 
 
 Brilliant start — Gideon Welles — Selling stock notes — Their character Successive officers 
 Stock notes paid in earnings — Beguiling Votes — Good work in the field — High tide- 
 Weak management— Note of warning — Bad breaks— Allen, Stejihens & Co. — Mining 
 ventures — The Valley Road — A summer hotel -A hole in West Virginia — A costly office 
 building— Entrance of Henry J. Furber-rSecures control— His contract - Loopholes — 
 Expert investigations — Deplorable discoveries —Exchange of bad debts for valuable real 
 estate — Premature sales — Prevalent distrust -A special commission — Differing views of 
 the Commissioner and of the commission — Mortgage of the building — Change of man- 
 agement —Marshall lewell in control— Too late — The company changes from stock to 
 mutual— Trial for conspiracy — Secret contracts of Wiggin and White — George M. Bar- 
 tholomew, president — Final collapse.
 
 CONTENTS. vii 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Pack 
 Thk ^l^TNA Lii-1-: Insurance Company of Hartford . 90-94 
 
 A rliild of tlic ^^tna Fire Iiisiir.inif Company — Se'iiaralion of control — (Jrgani/ation^ 
 (ieiiL-ral financial depression — War stimuhis- Large increase of business — Rapid jjjrowth 
 rrofitable investments — Early loans on Illinois Central lantls — Oilier profitable loans — 
 Deatlirate small— Increases of capital — Eliplialet A. Bulkeley — Thomas O Enders — 
 Morgan G. Bulkeley — Other officers— The accident di-parlnu-nt o|)en(il lamiary i, 1891. 
 
 The Phcenix Mutcal Life Insurance Company of Hartford . . . 94-99 
 
 Temperance and life insurance — Reformers — Public indilTerence — Aliandonmeiit of the 
 temperance feature — Early officers— Panic of 1S73 — Excessive dividends to policy-hold- 
 ers Change of management in 1S75 — Painful discoveries — Payment of stock notes — 
 The work of repair — Appearance of an adventurer Suggested perils— Action of the 
 legislature — Extinguishment of stock — The company becomes mutual - Its new building 
 — Condition — Officers. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Continental Life Insurance Company of Hartford .... 99-101 
 
 Organization— Plots and counterplots — Capture — Spectral payments of stock notes A 
 bewildered commissioner — Bogus bank credits— Phantom bonds — Report of special com- 
 mission — Filling a hole — A rude awakening Further probing— Plxplosion- Appoint- 
 ment of receivers. 
 
 The Connecticut General Life Insurance Company 101-ioj 
 
 Formed to insure impaired lives Inherent difiBcuIties — Abandonment of the scheme- 
 Capital paid in cash— Organization — Corner turned in 1876 — Tontine insurance — Com- 
 plimentary banquet— Thomas W. Russell — Condition of the company — Officers. 
 
 The Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company (Now The 
 
 Hartford Life Insurance Co.) 103-106 
 
 Original scheme — Organization — Early losses Change of policy— Prosperity — Another 
 change — Recuperation — Plan of Henry P. Iluclos — Officers — New building. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Miscellaneous Insurance of Health, of Live Stock 106 
 
 The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford 106-112 
 
 Conception — Organization— Early difficulties and economies The field unexplored — 
 Facts and generalizations — Costliness of new truths — (Iratuitous advertising through ac- 
 cidents - Wild competition — Absorption — Fatality among weaklings — No rival left — A 
 secession in 1874 — Jokes before the funeral — Establishment of life department in 1S65 — 
 Its success — Increases of capital — Purchase of an historic mansion — Its enlargement — 
 Character of loss-claims — Notable accidents — James G. Batterson — Rodney Dennis — 
 Officers — Condition. 
 
 The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. 112-117 
 
 Incoming of steam — Early boiler explosions — Recklessness of engineers — The Polytech- 
 nic Club — Foreign inspections — Evolution of a new idea— Charter — Organization — Lack 
 of faith — Desertion of directors — ]. M. Allen called — Acceptance Public skepticism — 
 Creation of a new demand — Economies — Thoroughness of inspections — Absence of 
 losses — Changes of capital — Stock of 1500,000 fully paid — The Locomotive — Preventive 
 work — Indemnity Plans for steam plants — The laboratory — Impartial attitude toward 
 the trade — Statistics — Occasional casualties— J. M. Allen Other officers. 
 
 Insurance in Connecticut Localized 117-118 
 
 Underwriting in Connecticut mostly confined to Hartford — Evolution of a century — 
 Leadership, how gained— Cosmopolitanism— State commissioners. 
 
 Postscript, July ist, 1897 iiS 
 
 .^tna Insurance Company — Hartford Life Insurance Company.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 BY P. HENRY WOODWARD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FIRE INSURANCE.* 
 
 [(XDERWRITING in Connecticut began in the last decade of the eighteenth 
 century. Its early ventures were humble, for the country was poor and 
 few could afford to take risks. ]\Iost of the large fortunes of the colonial 
 period were scattered and lost during the Revolution. At the close of the 
 struggle the stock of specie on hand went abroad to buy goods for which 
 importers could find little else to offer in payment. Six years of unrest and anxiety 
 followed, during which the work of repair progressed slowly. It was not till the 
 adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1789, and the establishment of a mild but 
 stable central government that our people threw off the weight of repression. 
 
 When Washington became the first president there was slight travel, or traffic, or 
 social intercourse between residents of different states. Habits of isolation arose, not 
 alone from difl5culties of transportation, but from deep-seated though wholly irrational 
 antipathies. The free commingling of troops from all the colonies during the war 
 did little to arouse a spirit of nationality. Sons of Massachusetts and Connecticut, 
 of Virginia and Carolina, were intensely loyal to their respective mothers, but hardly 
 cared for brothers across the border, except as united in a common league to break 
 the hated yoke of King George. 
 
 In Connecticut the industrial situation at the commencement of our story was 
 simple. Manufactures, except for coarse articles of prime necessity, awaited birth 
 among the unsuspected marvels of the future. A large majority drew support from 
 agriculture. Commerce with the West Indies and with neighboring groups of islands 
 carried off the surplus, giving not only employment, but practical education to many 
 youth, born of the best blood of the commonwealth, who learned even,- part of the 
 business from selling and buying cargoes to navigating ships, running blockades and 
 eluding hostile cruisers. Hartford, New Haven, Middletown, New London and 
 Norwich gathered the surplus products of surrounding districts, and distributed the 
 goods purchased in exchange. 
 
 After 1789 the reawakened energies of our people found outlets in ever-multiply- 
 ing activities. In 1 792 the Hartford Bank and the Union Bank of New London were 
 organized. The benefits were so quickly apparent that other towns hastened to pro- 
 
 * A few citations without change of verbiage have been incorporated in the following history 
 from reports made from time to time by the writer. 
 
 1
 
 2 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 vide like facilities. At Hartford insurance followed quickly iu the wake of the new 
 bank, initiated and largely carried on for half a generation by the same men. 
 
 Early in 1794 Sanford and Wadsworth opened an office for the purpose of insur- 
 ing houses, furniture, merchandise, etc., against fire. Policy No. 2, issued February 
 8, 1794, insures the house of William Imlay for one year at the rate of one-half per 
 cent. 
 
 As the evolution of a policy satisfactory to both parties making the contract, has 
 been long and tedious, and is still incomplete, the first attempts in that line have a 
 peculiar interest. It runs thus, pen-written words being reproduced iu italics. 
 
 "No. 2. 
 
 Whereas William Imlay, Esq., 0/ Hartford, or whom else it may concern, whollj- or partly, 
 Friend or Foe, doth make Assurance on His House against Fire, and all dangers of Fire ; moreover 
 against all Damage wliich on Account of Fire may happen, either by Tempest, Fire, Wind, own 
 Fire, Negligence and Fault of own Servants, or of Neighbors, whether those nearest or furthest 
 off; all external Accidents and Misfortunes ; thought of or not thought of, in what manner soever 
 the damage by Fire might happen ; for tlie space of one year commencing o?t tlie eiglitii day of 
 February, l~<)4, and ending on tlie eiglith day of February, lygs, both at twelve o'clock at 
 Noon, valuing specially and voluntarily the said House at tlie Sum Insured. — And the 
 Assured, or whom it may concern, in case of Damage, or Hurt, shall need to give no Proof 
 nor account of the Value ; but the producing this Policy shall suffice. And in case it 
 should happen that the said House, the Whole or Part, are burnt and suffer Damage, on 
 that Account, we do hereby promise punctually to pay and ratify, within the space of three 
 IMonths after the Fire shall have happened, due Notice having been given to us, and no Deduction 
 to be made from the Sum assured except Two and an Half per Cent., provided said Loss amounts 
 to Five per Cent., under which no Loss or Damage will be paid. And in case of a partial Loss, 
 all that shall be found to be saved and preserved, shall be deducted, after the Deduction of the 
 Charges paid for the saving and preser\nng ; and concerning which the Assured shall be believed 
 on his Oath, without our-alledging any thing against it. And so we the Assurers are contented, 
 and bind Ourselves and Goods present and to come, renouncing all Cavils and Exceptions con- 
 trary to these Presents, for the true Performance of the Premises, the Consideration due unto us 
 for this Assurance by the Assured, at and after the Rate oi one-half per cent. 
 
 Reciprocally submitting all Differences to two Persons, One to be chosen by the Assured out 
 of Three to be named by the Assurer, the other by the Assurer or Assurers, out of Three to be 
 named b)' the Assured, who shall have full Power to adjust the same ; but in case they cannot 
 agree, then such two Persons shall choose a Third, and any two of them agreeing, shall be obli- 
 gator}' to both Parties. 
 
 In Witness Whereof We the Assurers have subscribed our Names and Sums assured in 
 Hartford the Sth Day oi February. One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninetyfour. 
 
 £Boo Sanford &Wads7vorth \ Eight hundred Pounds, 
 
 for the Hartford Fire I?isura?ice Company. J •* 
 
 At no point can charges of evasion or ambiguity be brought against the docu- 
 ment. In preparing the printed form, it was well tmderstood that none btit persons 
 of good repute could buy indemnity. Sanford & Wadsworth either signed for them- 
 selves alone, or for a small coterie for whom they acted as agents. There was then 
 no such chartered institution as the "Hartford Fire Insurance Company." 
 
 Jeremiah Wadsworth, John Caldwell, Sanford & Wadsworth, Elias Shipman and 
 John Morgan, July 27, 1795, formed a copartnership "for the purpose of underwrit- 
 ing on vessels, stock, merchandise, etc. , by the firm of the Hartford and New Haven 
 Insurance Company." Obviously this is the partnership of the year before enlarged 
 by the addition of Elias Shipman, of New Haven, who was made agent at that city. 
 Between the others there had been, and continued to be, very close relations. They 
 were together in many enterprises, both public and private. When the new mem- 
 ber was taken in, the name was also expanded that it might cover with its compre- 
 hensiveness the entire field of operations. John Caldwell was appointed agent for
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 3 
 
 Hartford. Elias Sliipman soon withdrew, establishing a sejiarate bnsiness in New 
 Haven. From the fall of 1797 this was carried on under the charter of the New 
 Haven Insurance Company till it retired in 1833. 
 
 Local marine insurance soon became a separate branch of the business, crystal- 
 lizing around Ezekiel Williams, Jr. It was carried on not by a definite association, 
 but by distinct combinations, variable in personnel and in amounts written. Mr. 
 Williams formed the groups, collected the premiums, kept the records, investigated 
 claims and paid losses. 
 
 Owing to the excellence of its harbor most of the vessels covered by the policies 
 thus issued sailed to and from New London. A smaller number hailed from Say- 
 brook, Middletown, and the Connecticut River. With few exceptions they were 
 bound to the West Indies and to the smaller groups in the same seas. There was 
 some coastwise trade with Charleston, S. C. Rarely a ship cleared for an European 
 port. 
 
 For the round trip the gross premiums often ran up to ten, twelve, fifteen and 
 sixteen per cent., and in some cases even higher, according to the character of the 
 voyage. Material rebates were frequently allowed if the vessel either touched only 
 or avoided certain ports, and returned safely. For the premium the assured usually 
 gave their notes, payable out of the profits or at the close of the venture. 
 
 The assurers agreed to bear "perils of seas, men of war, fires, enemies, pirates, rovers, thieves, 
 jettisons, letters of mart, and counter-mart, surprizals, takings at sea, arrests, restraints, and 
 detainments of all kings, princes, or people of what nation, condition or quality soever ; baraty 
 of the master (unless the assured be the owner of the vessel) and mariners, and all other losses, 
 perils and misfortunes, that have or shall come to the hurt, detriment or damage of the said 
 vessel or any part thereof, for which assurers are legally accountable." 
 
 Aside from the terminals named in the policy vessels were allowed, without 
 prejudice, to sail to, touch and stay at any ports or places, if obliged by stress of 
 weather, or unavoidable accident. In case of loss the assured abated two and one- 
 half per cent., and payment was to be made within ninety days after proof, provided 
 the loss amounted toi^ve per cent., under which limit no liability was incuiTed unless 
 in case of general average. Disputes were settled by arbitration, the decision being 
 final. 
 
 The amounts written by the several assurers on a single vessel were \'er3- varia- 
 ble. Sometimes a dozen parties would join, taking from fifty to one hundred and 
 fifty dollars each. Others freely wrote two, three, and as high as five and six hun- 
 dred dollars. John Caldwell was, perhaps, the boldest operator. Quite a number 
 ventured in once or twice and then retired permanently from the arena. A single 
 hit cured them of the gambling propensity, if so harsh a word may be used in con- 
 nection with a strictly legitimate business. When autumnal tempests were raging or 
 wintr}' winds howling, the timid found a risk on a marine policy a dreadful hindrance 
 to sleep. 
 
 The names that appear most frequently are John Caldwell, Michael and Thomas 
 Bull, Asa and Dan Hopkins, Richard Alsop, Normand Knox, John Chenevard, E. 
 Williams, Jr., Thomas Sauford, John Morgan, Hudson & Goodwin, William Howe, 
 Samuel Lawrence, Gleasou & Cowles, Hooker & Chaffee, Spencer Whiting, Daniel 
 Jones, John Knox, Samuel Alcott, somewhat in the above order. 
 
 Wherever any line of effort attains paramount success, especially if it involves 
 unusual difl[iculties and dangers, the inquirer will find that at the outset, or at some 
 crisis in its development, or most often continuously, its destinies have been carried 
 by men of stiong character and marked ability. Experiments in underwriting have
 
 4 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 been freely made in nearly all the cities of the state. With the exception of a few 
 mutual fire companies, outside of a single town, almost ever}' venture has ended in 
 disaster. In many instances the tradition of their existence has faded out, even in 
 the communities where they once flourished. If questioned on the point the local 
 antiquary looks blank and asks for time. Of them it can generally be said that they 
 were managed with ordinary ability, and were destroyed by extraordinary calamities. 
 
 Hartford stands forth a conspicuous exception. Though in size but a speck on 
 the map of the world, she has few rivals in underwriting, while the oldest, richest and 
 biggest cities on the planet would be rash to claim superiority. To comprehend the 
 situation as presented to-day we must review the history of the men who laid the 
 foundations, and of their successors who have reared the superstructure. 
 
 The first avowed partnership formed for the purpose begins with the name of 
 Jeremiah Wadsworth, an intimate associate of Robert Morris and Alexander Hamil- 
 ton, and one of the best equipped financiers of the time. He was born in Hartford 
 July 12, 1743, son of Rev. Daniel Wadsworth, pastor of the First Church. At the 
 age of thirty he settled in his native town as a merchant, having made several 
 voyages as master. By successive promotions he became, in the spring of 1778, 
 commissary-general of purchases for the colonies. Later he accepted a similar posi- 
 tion in the French army in America, and held it till our allies returned home. 
 Under his roof Washington, Lafayette, Rochambeau, Ternay, and many other 
 dignitaries were entertained. 
 
 Colonel Wadsworth was one of the founders of the Bank of North America in 
 Philadelphia, in 1781-2, taking one hundred and four shares of $400 each. In 1785, 
 on the urgent advice of Alexander Hamilton, he was elected president of the Bank 
 of New York. He was a director in the first United States Bank, and was chiefly 
 instrumental in organizing the Hartford Bank, of which he was elected president, but 
 declined. 
 
 Besides filling minor positions Colonel Wadsworth served in the Continental 
 Congress, in the convention called to ratify the Constitution, and three terms in the 
 Federal Congress. Public-spirited and large-hearted, he was foremost in the enter- 
 prises which he believed would advance the prosperity of his neighbors and of the 
 country. He died April 30, 1 804. In our histories his eminent talents and services 
 have received scant recognition. 
 
 Peleg Sanford, confidential clerk of Col. Wadsworth, formed a partnership with 
 his only son Daniel, under the title of Sanford & Wadsworth. B}- mutual consent 
 the firm was dissolved January 10, 1798. Mr. Sanford moved to New Haven, and 
 died in April, 1801, on the passage from Charleston to New York. 
 
 Rich by inheritance and benevolent by nature, Daniel Wadsworth was chiefly 
 noted among contemporaries for the grandeur of his belongings, and is chiefly 
 remembered for the munificence of his public gifts. He furnished the site and a 
 generous cash subsciption for the Athenaeum, where the literary, artistic and his- 
 torical treasures of the city are largely collected. To this institution he bequeathed 
 thirty paintings, several by eminent artists. His influence on the movements of 
 business was more indirect than active. He died in 1848. 
 
 Major John Caldwell, a merchant extensively engaged in foreign and domestic 
 trade, held a leading place in nearly all the local enterprises of his time. He built 
 and owned ships, providing no small share of the cargoes to and from the West 
 Indies, and the ports of other foreign lands. He was president of the Hartford 
 Marine Insurance Company throughout its entire existence ; first major of the 
 Governor's Horse Guards, incorporated in 1788 ; and was elected twenty times to the
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 5 
 
 legislature, which then met semi-annualh'. John Trumbull, the poet, John Caldwell 
 and John Morgan constituted the commission for building the State House, begun 
 in 1794. Major Caldwell was also a member of the commission that supervised the 
 building of the bridge across the Connecticut in 1809. He was one of the founders 
 of the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, the pioneer school in the United States for 
 the education of this class of imfortunate children. Young men came from the West 
 Indies to acquire a mercantile education in his house. Several, after returning home 
 became distinguished merchants. The firm of John Caldwell & Co. prospered for a 
 long period, but later sustained ruinous losses in the Napoleonic wars and in the War 
 of 18 1 2. He lived twenty years after retirement from active work, passing away 
 May 20, 1838, in his eighty-third year, having been born December 31, 1755. Six 
 feet tall and of stalwart frame, he is still remembered as a genial and courtly gentle- 
 man of the colonial type. Col. Samuel Colt, inventor of the revolver, was the son 
 of his daughter Sarah. 
 
 John IMorgan, of the fifth generation from James, the emigrant ancestor, having 
 graduated at Yale College in 1772, selected Hartford for a home, and became a lead- 
 ing merchant of the Connecticut \'alley. By the largest subscription and by tireless 
 efforts he pushed the construction of the bridge across the Connecticut, holding the 
 presidency of the company from 1809 till 1820. The street thence to Main took his 
 name. His operations w'ere so extended that he made large importations in the first 
 American craft to enter Chinese waters. He was devoted to Christ Church, and was 
 largely instrumental in raising it from weakness to strength. Possessing a rich, 
 well-trained voice, he not unfrequently read the service on Sundays. Outside, in 
 excited talk, he now and then tore words from their decorous settings in the prayer- 
 book to drop them quite unconsciously into bad company. Pel low- worshipers 
 knew that no harm was meant and gently overlooked these aberrations of language. 
 To the last ]\Iaj. Caldwell and John Morgan clung to the colonial style of dress, 
 short breeches, long stockings, silver knee-buckles and ruffled shirt bosoms, which 
 well became their high bearing and courtly manners. The large fortune of Mr. 
 Morgan was lost in the business distress that long bore heavily on New England, 
 during and after the War of 1 812. He died in New York city, September 19, 1S42, 
 aged eighty-nine. 
 
 These men undoubtedly made up the partnership of 1794, known as the "Hart- 
 ford Fire Insurance Company." When Elias Shipman was admitted in July, 1795, 
 out of compliment to him and to express more accurately its enlarged scope of oper- 
 ations, the name was changed to the Hartford and New Haven Insurance Company, 
 the word Fire being designedly omitted as excluding marine risks. 
 
 With the dissolution of the partnership of Sanford & Wadsworth in 1798, the 
 Hartford and New Haven Insurance Company passed awa}'. Caldwell and Morgan 
 brought the weight of their wealth and influence to the aid of Ezekiel Williams, Jr., 
 who as already described became the central figure for the next few years in the 
 marine insurance of the Connecticut valley. 
 
 Ezekiel Williams, Jr., was born at Wethersfield, Conn., December 29, 1765. 
 In both the male and female lines the descendants of Robert Williams, of Roxbury, 
 Mass., the emigrant ancestor of Ezekiel, have in large numbers by character and 
 talents won high position both in the professions and in business. His father, for 
 twenty-two years sheriff of Hartford county, resigned in 1789. Silas Deane, 
 chagrined that a townsman could surpass him in loyalty to the cause of independence, 
 spoke sneeringly of his ardor as "boiling zeal." The zeal sprang from both tem- 
 perament and training, for his father Rev. Solomon Williams for over half a century
 
 6 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 was pastor of the church iu Lebanon, of which Gov. Jonathan TrnmbuU was a 
 pillar. From the view-point of the king that chnrch was one of the hottest nests of 
 treason in America. William Williams, signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
 was a brother of Ezekiel, Sr. " Rector" Elisha Williams, brother of Rev. Solomon, 
 served as colonel in the field, as chaplain of a regiment, as judge of the superior 
 coirrt and as president of Yale College. Such fruit ripened on a single twig of the 
 family tree. Ezekiel, Jr., graduated at Yale in 1785. He was postmaster at Hart- 
 ford from 1795 till 1803. He married Abigail, daughter of Oliver Ellsworth, chief 
 justice of the United States Supreme Court, and died October 18, 1843. 
 
 John Chenevard, son of John Michael Chenevard, of Geneva, was born in Hart- 
 ford in 1733, about ten years after the arrival of his father in this country. Having 
 been a member of the council from the charter of the city in 1788, till March, 1799, 
 he was then elected alderman in place of John Caldwell, who had also served in one 
 or other of the boards continuously during the same period. A thrifty merchant, he 
 left, in 1805, an estate of over thirty tliousand dollars. 
 
 Alichael and Thomas Bull were the youngest sons of Caleb and Martha (Cald- 
 well) Bull, who had twelve children that lived to marry. Six of the sons were orig- 
 inal stockholders in the Hartford Bank. At this time, from numbers and standing, 
 the family had wide influence. 
 
 Hudson & Goodwin published the Connecticut Courant, established in 1764, the 
 oldest newspaper iu the country. From the day the first number was issued, till the 
 close of the War of 18 12, the people of the state moved forward with singular 
 unanimity, and the Courant voiced their convictions on matters of morals, religion 
 and politics. Despite the increase in the number of competitors for popular favor, 
 and the rivalry of an ever-growing body of literature, it still retains a large share of 
 its ancient power. Mr. Goodwin's active connection with the paper lasted for seventy 
 years. He died May 13, 1844, "the oldest man in the town," having been born in 
 1757. Mr. Hudson withdrew in 1815. 
 
 In Hartford the pioneers in underwriting gave the profession a character, which 
 has clung to it through all vicissitudes of fortune. The early method of conducting 
 the business involved a great deal of needless labor. Many policies bore from ten to 
 fourteen signatures. In the first place these must all be procured. In case of a 
 prosperous voyage, the distribution of the premiums called for an interview with 
 each subscriber. Less cheerful was the presence of the broker when he went around 
 to collect for losses. Some were not in, some not ready to settle, and frequent were 
 the invitations to "come again." A single contract might impose on him twenty 
 or more separate interviews, and each contract required a repetition of the same 
 routine. A large part of the details could be avoided by a "pooling of issues." 
 Accordingly, in October, 1803, a charter was procured for "The Hartford Insurance 
 Company." * The capital was $80,000, with the privilege of increase to $150,000, 
 divided into shares of $40 each. Twenty-five per cent, was paid in notes in two 
 equal installments, and the remaining seventy-five per cent, in notes secured by mort- 
 gages on real estate, or by approved indorsements. John Caldwell, Jonathan Brace 
 and Ephraim Root were authorized to call the first meeting of stockholders, and to 
 appoint one of their number to preside thereat. The company was organized and 
 ready for business within two months from the passage of the act of incorporation. 
 John Caldwell was elected president, and Normand Knox, secretary. It opened an 
 office on the south side of Pearl street, near Main, one door west of the Hartford 
 
 ■* Incorporated as "The Hartford Insurance Companj'," but called in early policies "The 
 Hartford Marine Insurance Company." Its business was wholly marine.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 7 
 
 Bank. IMr. Knox was also cashier of the bank from June, 1799, till July, 1814, when 
 he resigned to take the presidency of the Phoenix Bank. The contract of the com- 
 pany follows mainly the forms in use, but explicitly excludes from responsibility 
 individual shareholders : 
 
 "And the assured in this polic}' expressly agrees, and the Hartford Marine Insurance Com- 
 pany by their president undertake, that the joint stock and property of the said company, shall 
 alone be responsible for any loss that may accrue upon this policy ; and the assured, by accept- 
 ing the signature of the president, gives credit thereby only to the said stock, and disavows 
 having recourse to the person or separate propertj- of anj' member of the companv. And all 
 suits to be brought, if any there shall be, shall be brought against the president who subscribes 
 this policy, or his successor in office for the time being ; and all recoveries had thereon, shall be 
 conclusive upon the company, so far as to render the company's property liable thereby and no 
 farther." 
 
 Mr. Williams continued for a short time to solicit business on the old plan, but, 
 about the middle of June, 1S04, gave up the unequal contest. Later, he succeeded 
 Mr. Knox as secretary. 
 
 For ten j-ears from 1807, Thomas Scott Williams, younger brother of Ezekiel, 
 Jr., held the place. He was born at Wethersfield, Conn., June 26, 1777, graduated 
 at Yale College in 1794, studied law, and, rounding out his education by a course in 
 practical insurance, further dignified the family record by various services in the 
 General Assembly, by representing the district in the Fifteenth Congress, by four 
 years in the mayoralty of Hartford, and by eighteen on the bench, — thirteen as Chief 
 Justice of Connecticut. All benevolent enterprises found in him an ardent friend. 
 He died December 15, 1861. 
 
 The secretaryship must have possessed great attractions, for in 18 17 Mr. Wil- 
 liams was succeeded by his brother-in-law, William W. Ellsworth, afterwards mem- 
 ber of Congress and governor. In May, 1825, the stockholders were incorporated as 
 the Protection Insurance Company. John Caldwell remained president till the 
 company was merged in its successor. 
 
 Besides the companies located at Hartford and New Haven, the Norwich Marine 
 and the Middletown Insurance Companies were chartered in 1803, and the Union of 
 New London in 1805. The business of the five, by the several acts of incorporation, 
 was confined wholly to marine insurance. 
 
 A practice, enjoined at first by the poverty of the country-, prevailed for a long 
 time from the ease with which it allowed new ventures to be launched on a small 
 investment of funds in hand. Nearly all early charters required a variable, but never 
 a large percentage of the subscriptions to stock to be paid either at once or within a 
 few weeks, leaving the balance to be represented by notes secured to the satisfaction 
 of the directors. These obligations might or might not bear interest ; but if they did 
 it was expected that the payments, as they fell due, would be canceled by dividends. 
 Still, both subscribers and the public looked upon the stock-notes as binding obliga- 
 tions, to be met to the last cent in case of necessity. Later in the development of 
 the country, swindlers, ever on the alert not only to contrive new schemes of fraud, 
 but to pervert existing customs to purposes of cheating, hit upon the device of start- 
 ing bogus concerns on froth instead of cash. Of course these went to pieces in the 
 first serious storm. Policy-holders, misled by lying statements, lost heavily. Educa- 
 ted by experience, the people became more careful, while, in state after state, this 
 kind of cheats has been suppressed by law. 
 
 The capital of the New Haven Company, the first of the group, was fixed at 
 not less than fifty thousand dollars, divided into shares of twenty-five dollars. Five
 
 8 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 dollars on each share were called for within thirty days from the time of subscription, 
 five more by note of hand payable within sixty days, and the remaining fifteen were 
 paid by stock-notes. While the shareholders were relieved from personal liability 
 oustide of the special investment, they were also required to insert in every policy a 
 clause expressive of the fact. 
 
 Elias Shipman, who had acquired an appetite for insurance by his connection 
 with the first group of underwriters in Hartford, procured the charter, and in Janu- 
 ary, 1798, was elected president. Austin Denison was appointed secretar}-. At the 
 annual meeting a year later, the board declared a dividend of $3 a share out of the 
 profits of the previous six months, or 30 per cent, on the cash actually paid in. The 
 following July the dividend was increased to ^5 a share, or 50 per cent, on the money 
 invested. These were paid through the New Haven Bank, of which William Lyon, 
 treasurer of the insurance company, was cashier. Mr. Shipman held the presidency 
 about twenty-six years, and was succeeded by Gilbert Totten. In 1833 Timothy 
 Dwight was elected president. Secretaries were Austin Denison, 179S-1812 ; John 
 Shipman, 1812-1833 ; Elihu Sanford, 1833. 
 
 For reasons to be given presently, its early good fortune did not long continue. 
 After a jDatient struggle with adversity, in 1831 the stockholders voted to suspend 
 business for two years, or, until a special committee raised to consider the situation, 
 with Timothy Dwight as chairman, should judge it expedient to call a meeting in 
 order to resume. But the outlook did not improve. In January, 1833, the stockholders 
 voted to cease the issue of further policies. No dividend had been paid for six 
 years, and the committee reported that the prospect of making good past losses by 
 future income was far from flattering. The afiairs of the company were quickly 
 settled, the sum of $7.25 on each share having been distributed the following July as 
 a final dividend. After retirement from active operations, the organization was kept 
 up nominally, with Timothy Dwight as an impressive figurehead, for the purpose of 
 pressing claims against the government on account of French spoliations. 
 
 The capital of the Norwich was the same as that of the New Haven Company, 
 the shares being ^50 each. 
 
 Middletown secured more liberal terms. The capital of her company was 
 §60,000, divided into shares of §50 each, on which $2. 50 were paid at the time of sub- 
 scribing, the same amount within thirty days after commencing business, and the 
 other §45 in notes. 
 
 Benjamin Williams, who had written marine risks on his own account, was first 
 president, holding the place till 18 10, when he was succeeded by Ebenezer Sage. In 
 1 8 19 Joseph Alsop became president, and soon after the company wound up its 
 affairs. Secretaries were Asher Miller, Enoch Parsons, Chauncey Whittlesey and 
 Samuel B. Redfield. 
 
 The capital of the Union Insurance Company at New London was fixed at not 
 less than $100,000, with the privilege of increase to $150,000. Byway of variety it 
 was divided into shares of §200 each. Ten per cent, was called for in two install- 
 ments of five percent, each, and the other ninety per cent, in notes secured by mort- 
 gage on real estate or by personal indorsements. 
 
 Presidents were : Jared Starr, 1805-1818; Elihu Denison, 1818-1829 ; Codding- 
 ton Billings, 1829-1831 ; Richard Law and Coleby Chew. Secretaries were: Job 
 Taber, David Colt, Thomas S. Perkins, Coleby Chew and Joshua C Learned. 
 
 The Ocean, of New Haven, incorporated in October, 1818, began business on a 
 capital of S6o,ooo the following June, in its office on Union wharf. Roger Sherman 
 was president and Truman Woodward secretar}-. Justus Harrison became secretary
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 9 
 
 in 1832. Conditions were loo unfavorable to permit tlie concern ever to gain a sure 
 foothold. After a long infancy it passed away by a lingering death. 
 
 The marine companies that entered the field, near the beginning of the century, 
 for a short time enjoyed great prosperity. With no experience to aid the managers in 
 framing a system, they divided current earnings to the last penn\', witliout a thought 
 of building up reserves to carry them safely through seasons of possible disaster. 
 
 During the Napoleonic wars our carrj-ing trade, stimulated for short inter\-als by 
 abnormal profits, was vexed and robbed by Great Britain and France in turn, who 
 both looked with equal contempt upon our rights and our power. As if this were 
 not enough, our own government adopted a policy of retaliation, still more destruc- 
 tive to our commerce than the lawless acts of the belligerents. 
 
 New Haven, New London, Hartford and other towns of the lower Connecticut 
 valley, had an extensive and, when let alone, a lucrative trade with the West Indies 
 and other islands in the same seas. Exports embraced horses, cattle, hay, lumber, 
 hoops, staves, flour, corn, corn-meal, potatoes, oats, beans, onions, tobacco, cheese, 
 lard, beef, pork, butter, crackers, etc. Imports consisted mostl)- of sugar, salt, rum, 
 and molasses. Horses which were rapidly used up on the sugar plantations, and for 
 which there was a steady demand, and cattle, were driven across the country to the 
 ports on the sound. A great deal of stuff from Massachusetts, Vermont and New 
 Hampshire was floated down the river to Hartford, and either shipped direct, or car- 
 ried around to New London in small craft, and there transferred to ocean freighters. 
 
 In Connecticut many young men of the highest promise, after leaving school, 
 acquired on shipboard experience of great value to themselves and to the country'. 
 Bright boys were thrust into positions of responsibilit)-, and often acquitted them- 
 selves admirably. Beset with perils from the utter disregard of England and France 
 for neutral rights, they became skillful in eluding dangers which they were too weak 
 to meet openly. 
 
 To masters thus trained wide latitude was given. Live stock was usually con- 
 signed to some dealer on the islands and the in-bound cargo to the captain. After 
 the first landing he was authorized to sail to other ports at his discretion, according 
 to the state of the market and the political outlook. Owners instructed captains to 
 be careful not to get into difficulty- by going into a blockaded port, or by taking on 
 board contraband goods, and yet, ever ready to run risks for the chance of great gains, 
 closed the letters with a sa\-ing clause, leaving the business of the voyage to be con- 
 ducted as they should think "most for the interest of the concerned." Hostile 
 cruisers could not find in the instructions a line or a hint to excuse seizure, partly 
 because drawn up for their perusal. Trained amid perils and forced to meet ever 
 changing conditions, masters became adroit diplomats as well as skillful sailors and 
 traders. 
 
 The embargo of 1807 and the subsequent non-intercourse acts oppressed New 
 England. Exports from the United States fell from $110,084,207 in 1807 to 
 $22,430,960 in 1808. On imports the duties paid at New London dropped from 
 $201,838 in 1807 to $98,107 in 1808; $58,417 in 1809, and $22,343 in 1810. Our ves- 
 sels lay idle and rotting. In New England the commercial distress was the more 
 unbearable because the people well knew that the restrictive policy of the govern- 
 ment was more injurious to them than to the nations at which it was aimed. 
 
 Of course the fortunes of our marine insurance companies withered with the 
 failure of foreign trade. Even w^ir rates, though oppressive to the shipper, fell below 
 the losses of insurers. Claims for French spoliation and other unlawful seizures 
 gradually took the place of solid assets in the hands of the companies.
 
 10 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 After long endurance, when at length the Federal government was driven into 
 war, our sailors, trained in the merchant marine, electrified friends and astounded 
 foes by the splendor of their naval victories. On the ocean where she was supposed 
 to rule without a rival England was humiliated and beaten. Till then both at home 
 and abroad the flag of the Republic had symbolized little but immaturity. Our small 
 navy in the first real trial of its mettle both cemented the wavering sentiment of 
 nationality and gave to the jJeople faith in their destiny. 
 
 To the sorrow of marine underwriters the peace of 1 8 1 5 failed to bring a speedy 
 revival of prosperity. Foreign trade improved haltingly. Relapses so interrupted 
 the course of recovery that at times the observer could hardly tell whether the move- 
 ment was forward or backward. In the case of a people full of energy, enterprise 
 and resources, there could be no doubt as to the final outcome. The strong can work 
 and wait, certain that good times are ahead. But many cannot wait. The passage 
 across the depressions, always broad and deep and rough beyond expectation, strews 
 the graveyards of commerce with the bones of the weak. Crippled by seizures and 
 spoliation, our marine companies yielded to the strain. The Norwich was saved by 
 changing to fire insurance in 1818. Seven j-ears later the Hartford came forth from 
 the shadows of the dark valley reincarnate in the Protection. The others passed 
 away silently, leaving few traces from which their troublous stor}' can be told. Thus 
 ended the first dvnastv of marine underwriters in Connecticut. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT— Continued. 
 
 ' HE first incorporated insurance company in the state still exists, and in an 
 age of countless changes has never departed from the simple plan of its 
 founders. On the evening of December 29, 1794, a number of substantial 
 citizens of Norwich met to consider plans for mutual protection against 
 losses by fire. The old way of passing around the hat for the aid of the 
 neighbor who had lost his house or barn, did not work fairly. The generous gave 
 too much, but there were more who gave too little. At best the outcome was uncer- 
 tain, and this gathering looked for something better. 
 
 On the 26th of January they met again. By-laws and a deed of settlement were 
 approved. Each person joining the association agreed to pay on the sum insured 
 for him a premium of one-half per cent, for the first year, one-third for the second 
 and one-fourth thereafter. Profits were to be left in the treasury till they reached 
 ;f 2, 000 ($6,666.66), after which the surplus was to be divided annually on equitable 
 terms. Each person insured to an amount not exceeding ;^ioo was entitled to one 
 vote, for an insurance of i^200 to two votes, and above that sum to one vote for each 
 iJ"200, but no incorporation could have more than one vote by any way or means 
 whatever. The post-Revolutionary generation of Americans had a great dread of 
 corporations, and as law-makers, in granting charters where abuses were likely to 
 arise, insisted upon strict limitations. Similar fears cropped out in dealing with them 
 as associates. 
 
 In case a single loss exhausted the money or property in the treasury, the mem- 
 bers were bound to contribute pro rata, not exceeding one per cent, on the amounts 
 insured for each, to make up the deficiency.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 11 
 
 111 May, 1795, the association was incorporated by the name of the Mutual As- 
 surance Company of the City of Norwich, on the basis of the "deed of settlement." 
 The company issued policies only from the home office and through its agency 
 in New London. At the annual meeting in 18 14 the auditors reported that not only 
 was the guaranty capital of ^^2,000 fully made up, but after appropriating ^1,054-27 
 to pay return premiums, a balance of ^450.93 still remained in the treasury, subject to 
 the order of the directors. 
 
 Annual meetings were held in the court-house at Norwich Town till, in 1825, it 
 was voted to hold them alternately in the two societies, beginning at Chelsea the fol- 
 lowing year. 
 
 In general the business has been prosperous. The insured are all known to the 
 managers and to a large extent to each other. At any time a person of doubtful 
 reputation would have found it very difficult to secure one of its contracts. Yet, al- 
 though hedged in by safeguards, the company has passed through seasons of adver- 
 sity. In 1844 it lost $3,189 on nine policies, meeting the drain by borrowing $i,Soo 
 from the Savings Society. Three years passed before the impairment of $1,691 in 
 the capital account was made good. Under the most careful management the busi- 
 ness of fire insurance has from the outset been called to pass through seasons of calam- 
 ity that set at defiance the laws of average. With the growth of population and 
 wealth the recurrence of fiery seasons becomes more marked. Like certain comets 
 astronomers know they must return, but when or whence the wisest cannot foretell. 
 
 Since 1838 the company has insured only buildings used exclusively for dwell- 
 ings, and takes only $1,000 on any one risk. Policy No. i is still in force on the 
 house of the late Benjamin Huntington. The first eight policies were issued to 
 Christopher Leffingwell. The gross assets of the company are about $13,000 and 
 the net about $12,000. It has no desire to extend its business or make large 
 accumulations. 
 
 The secretary' has always been the executive officer. For many years he received 
 an annual salary of $60, and it now does not exceed $200. 
 
 Zachariah Huntington was chosen secretary in 1794; Thomas Tracy, in 1800; 
 Levi Huntington, in 1807; John Fanning, in 1812; Joseph Williams, in 1813; 
 J. W. Kinney, in 1834; John T. Adams, in 1835 ; G. B. Ripley, in 1S36; Burrel 
 Lathrop, in 1839 ; Henry B. Tracy, in 1841, and Asa Backus, the present incumbent, 
 in 1876. 
 
 An association very similar was organized in New Haven in 1801, b\- the name 
 of the Mutual Assurance Company. Elizur Goodrich was chosen secretary and 
 Simeon Baldwin, treasurer. It soon passed out of existence. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the Norwich Marine Insurance Company, 
 chartered in 1803. Having found the business unprofitable its name in 181 8 was 
 changed by act of legislature to The Norwich Fire Insurance Company, and the 
 capital was increased from $50,000 to $100,000, with the privilege of a further 
 increase to not more than $300,000. 
 
 The directors fixed the capital at $100,000, of which fifteen per cent, was paid 
 in cash and the rest in stock notes. Joseph Williams, as secretary, was the active 
 executive officer prior to the abandonment of marine business, and filled the 
 position till 1854. Presidents, selected for high standing in the community and 
 changed often, were not expected to become familiar with the technique. Till near 
 the end of ]\Ir. Williams' administration the company rested content with a narrow 
 field of operations. Both agents and risks were carefully selected. On the whole 
 the returns on the actual cash investment of the stockholder proved highly sati-^f^--
 
 12 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 tory. No attempt was made to lay by a surplus. As soon as a dollar reached the 
 treasury it was looked upon as earned. No reserve was charged against it nor was 
 such a charge required either by custom or law. When fortune smiled the directors 
 met every few weeks to divide the balance on hand. No regularity as to time or 
 amount governed the action of the board. Plenty followed famine, and famine 
 plent}-. Now stockholders rejoiced over abundant showers, and now lamented over 
 withering droughts. But through both alike, ever)' loss was met with scrupulous 
 care. The company led off in limiting its insurance to seventj'-five per cent, of 
 property as valued. Single risks were restricted to $5,000. It was once its boast 
 that for thirty years it had not had a trial at law. 
 
 In June, 1849, the company was admitted into the state of New York. The 
 stock had been raised to $150,000. Of the assets about ;$2o,ooo were invested in 
 bank stocks in Norwich and Hartford ; $10,031 were reported as "cash on hand just 
 received specially for investments ; " #340 represented for several years the supposed 
 value of twenty-three shares of turnpike stock ; and the balance consisted of secured 
 notes. The business of 1849, though not large, began to reflect the results of a more 
 enterprising policy. Premiums reached $22,056.35 and interest $1,204.20. In 
 losses were paid $1 1,270.38 and in dividends $1 1,000. As reported the gross assets 
 continued to barely touch $150,000 till 1852, when they slightly overran the nominal 
 capital. 
 
 Augustus Brewster was elected president in 1854, ^"^ Ebenezer Learned, Jr., 
 secretary. Mr. Brewster, a man of force, was also president of the Norwich and Wor- 
 cester Railroad. Mr. Learned graduated at Yale College in 1831, and was a lawyer. 
 
 In 1856 the stock notes were mostly taken up and the proceeds invested in 
 securities. The capital was increased to $200,000 in i860, and to $300,000 in 1864. 
 Its losses in the Chicago fire of October, 1871, so largely exceeded its assets that no 
 attempt was made to continue its existence, although it was the oldest stock fire 
 company in the state and had always maintained a high reputation. 
 
 Presidents were Samuel Woodbridge, vSimeon Thomas, 1 807 ; Thomas Lathrop, 
 1810; Ebenezer Huntington, 1S13; David Ripley, 1819; Charles P. Huntington, 
 1820; John Buswell, 1825; George L. Perkins, 1S30; William Williams, Jr., 1836; 
 Lewis Hyde, 1845; Charles Johnson, 1846 ; John G. Huntington, 1849; Samuel 
 Morgan, 1853; Augustus Brewster, 1854, and Ebenezer Learned, 1864. Secretaries, 
 Shubael Breed, Joseph Williams, 1814; Ebenezer Learned, 1854; John L. Dennison, 
 1864, and W. T. Steere, 186S. 
 
 THE HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 The Hartford Fire Insurance Company was incorporated in 18 10, and since the 
 Chicago fire of 1871, has ranked as the oldest stock insurance company in the state. 
 The capital was placed at $150,000 with the privilege of enlargement to $250,000, 
 divided into shares of fifty dollars each. Subscribers were required to pay five per 
 cent, within thirty daj'S from the passage of the act, and five per cent, more within 
 sixty days. For the remaining ninety per cent, they were allowed to give notes 
 secured by mortgage on real estate, or by satisfactory indorsements, payable thirty 
 days after demand by the president and directors. 
 
 The subscribers met on the 27th of June at the inn of Amos Ransom, and 
 organized by electing as directors Nathaniel Terry, Nathaniel Patten, David Watkin- 
 son, Daniel Buck, Thomas Glover, Thomas K. Brace, James H. Wells, Ward Wood- 
 bridge, aud Henry Hudson. General Nathaniel Terry was chosen president, and 
 Walter IMitchell appointed secretary.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 13 
 
 In due time fifteen thousand dollars reached the treasury from cash payments on 
 capital account. How to invest funds with a view both to safety and productiveness 
 was then quite a novel question. Few were confronted with the difficulty, for the great 
 majority had no surplus. Prosperous farmers bought more land or loaned to neigh- 
 bors on mortgage. Prosperous merchants extended their trade. Of the weil-uigh 
 uncounted millions of securities now bought and sold at the centres of excliange, all 
 but a tenuous fraction rest upon forms of enterprise then unknown. Brokers confined 
 their dealings mostly to bonds of the United States and the several states, which 
 moved sluggishly. Cities had not acquired the art of piling up big debts. The 
 spirit of speculation found food by rushing singly and in widely ramifying combina- 
 tions into dealings in wild lands. 
 
 At Hartford the Hartford Bank, established in 1792, loomed high amid the 
 general bareness. At this time its capital exceeded half a million, and already it 
 had won a reputation for strength that has never been clouded. Hence the board 
 naturally turned to the bank. November 14, 1810, they voted that Nathaniel 
 Terry and Nathaniel Patten be a committee to obtain by subscription or purchase, 
 at discretion, a number of shares, not exceeding forty, in the stock of the Hartford 
 Bank, and that the pecuniary funds of the company be transferred to them for the 
 purpose. " Also, that they obtain a loan from said bank of such an amount as they 
 shall judge requisite to effect said purpose." 
 
 As the par of the shares was then ^400 and they commanded a premium of four 
 per cent., the committee would have needed $ 1 6, 640 had they decided to go to the 
 limit allowed by the vote. November 27th, $16,224 were placed to their credit, the 
 excess over gi 5,000 having been borrowed. But the matter was too vital for hurried 
 action. After duly weighing the pros and cons, the committee on the 13th of De- 
 cember bought fourteen shares at $5,824, returning the balance to the treasury. 
 October 29, 18 17, the investment had grown to one hundred shares, bought at a 
 total cost of $43,684. 25. The company now holds five hundred and fifty-six shares 
 of the bank stock (par reduced to 100) representing a cost of $63,962.75, considerably 
 less than one-fifth of the dividends received upon it. 
 
 In 1 8 10 fire insurance was supposed to be a matter of pure chance. No attempt 
 had been made to generalize the laws underlying the business. Indeed the existence 
 of such laws was unsuspected, except possibly by some deep thinker, who passed for 
 a visionary. Facts were ungathered. Hardly a contribution had been made to the 
 literature of the subject, which now loads the shelves of large libraries. Amid preva- 
 lent darkness pioneers could only experiment. Hence charges to the insured often 
 bore no close or fair ratio to the cost. Some paid too little, and others too much. 
 The rates must be low enough to attract patrons, and high enough to pay losses. 
 
 An address read before a meeting of agents held at Niagara Falls, June 9, 1885, 
 by Charles B. Whiting, formerly secretary- of the Hartford, and later president of the 
 Orient, contains much curious information respecting this and other companies of 
 the city. 
 
 Policy No. I of the Hartford covered a builder's risk of $4,000 for three months 
 at twelve and one-half cents. No. 5 took $11,000 on a gin distillery at one and 
 one-fourth per annum. No. 21, $20,000 on a stock of dry-goods at seventy-five 
 cents. No. 22, $20,000 on a stock of hardware at twenty-five cents. Within a few 
 weeks from birth the company was taking single risks thirty-three per cent, in excess 
 of its entire cash assets. 
 
 The hazard was less than it seems, for the character of the insured, though 
 unmentioned in the policy, formed one of the most important elements in the cm-
 
 14 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 tract. Every risk was accompanied by a survey of the property, and the written 
 representations of the owner had the force of a guaranty. Persons desiring insurance 
 solicited it as a privilege from the officers of the company, and, being required to 
 carry themselves a material part of the hazard, the two parties to the agreement 
 became partners in the venture. A man of bad reputation found difficulty in obtain- 
 ing a policy on any terms. At first no commission was paid to agents, their com- 
 pensation coming from the survey and policy fee, which varied with the labor, and 
 was collected from the assured. 
 
 Then, too, the population was homogeneous and almost entirely of English 
 parentage. The spirit of Puritanism still pervaded New England. Branded often 
 by latter-day critics as cruel and ridiculed as narrow, it is admitted to have encour- 
 aged the growth of the rugged virtues. What will be the final product of the inflow 
 and mixture of many races no one can foretell. Few will deu)-, however, that at the 
 present stage of progress, the process has increased the perils of underwriting. 
 
 For nine months ended April, i8i i, premiums were $2,784.5 1 ; interest and divi- 
 dends, ^638.53, making total income ;$3, 423.04. The first full fiscal year ended April, 
 1812, with premiums of 53,542.25, and $956.03 interest, a total of $4,498.28. For the 
 year ended April, 1820, the premiums were $5,258.48, and the interest $2,808.05; 
 total, $8,066.53. 
 
 Why did the company grow so slowly during the first decade? Because money- 
 making was a secondary consideration. The gathering at Ransom's Inn was made 
 up of men of affairs, owners of stores, merchandise, shops and homes. Occasional 
 fires fell crushinglv upon sufferers. In an hour one might see the slow savings of a 
 life — the support of age, the provision for children — swept awa}' forever. Eike the 
 sword of Damocles, the threat hung by a thread. Nearly every one in trade or in the 
 workshop had his property collected in one spot, liable to utter destruction in a 
 single catastrophe. A sense of ever-present peril, a desire to avert the worst effects 
 of calamity from the immediate sufferer by distributing the loss through the com- 
 munity, and a willingness to contribute fairly to the common fund, brought the 
 company into existence. Doubtless the subscribers hoped to make a profit. Money 
 set aside to guarantee the performance of hazardous contracts, entitled depositors to 
 more than the ordinary rate of interest. Still dividends above the current rate were 
 rather a matter of hope than faith. Not till long after the venture was launched and 
 the hands that laid the keel had turned to dust, did its commercial possibilities fairly 
 dawn ui^on fortunate holders of the stock. 
 
 Again, as insurance was a novelt}-, the unappreciative held aloof on the theory 
 that ways good enough for their grandfathers were good enough for them. In every 
 thing the mind was much less receptive of new ideas then than now. The pioneers 
 did a great deal of missionary work in uprooting prejudice and making converts to 
 the doctrine that insurance is both a privilege and a duty. 
 
 In planting agencies the board did not begin near home, or in large cities, but 
 in small and remote towns. In 181 1 Ebenezer F. Norton, of Canandaigua, N. Y., 
 was commissioned to take insurance and countersign policies. In June, 18 14, Ephraim 
 Kingsbury was appointed at Haverhill, Mass., and, in February, 18 16, Hooker and 
 Brewster, at Middlebur\-, \'t., with authority to insure "houses, furniture, stores, 
 merchandise and barns only," they to retain fifty cents on each policy. October, 
 1 8 19, Hooker Leavitt was appointed for Greenfield, Mass., and, in addition to the 
 charge for policies, was allowed five per cent, on premiums received. In 1S20, James 
 S. Seymour was appointed at Auburn, N. Y., and Samuel Cowls at Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 For ten years the company was, apparently, experimenting with the agency sys-
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 15 
 
 tem. In 1821 it entered upon a much more vigoroTis policy, appointing^ Anson G. 
 Phelps at New York city, George Wales at Boston, Roger S. Skinner at New Haveu, 
 and others elsewhere. Thenceforth the net-work was rapidly extended. The ques- 
 tion of entering a town ceased to be a matter of grave deliberation, and was followed 
 b}' the question, Who is the best man to represent us? In July, 1822, the board 
 voted that the agents at New Haven, Canandaigiia and Middlebury " be allowed ten 
 per cent, commission on all premiums received by them exceeding one thousand 
 dollars for any one year, commencing the current year." Other contracts continued 
 at five per cent., and numbers were afterwards made at the same rate. 
 
 Rigid ideas then pre\-ailed respecting the use of corporate funds except for strictly 
 corporate purposes. Still, the rule was now and then broken. November 17, 18 18, 
 the board voted to five persons gratuities amounting to sixty dollars, " in considera- 
 tion of their active, laudable and successful exertions in extinguishing the fire in 
 this cit\- on the evening of the 2nd November inst. " November 30, 18 19, they voted 
 that twenty dollars be paid by the company towards procuring a watch for the city. 
 The watch, developed later into the police system, was at first supported by volun- 
 tary contributions, though its duties and powers were defined by the common council. 
 
 In June, 1822, the board ratified the contract entered into by Roger S. Skinner, 
 agent at New Haven, with a committee of the New Haven Fire Insurance Company, 
 to indemnify it against all loss and damage by fire in consequence of any outstanding 
 polic}-. They also directed the president and secretary to execute a bond in the 
 penal sum of $150,000 for the faithful execution of the contract. 
 
 Secretary Mitchell received an annual salary of $300, with an allowance of $30 
 for rent, the business of the company being transacted in his private office, till 18 13, 
 ■when it was raised to ;$330 from January. The next year it was again raised to ^360, 
 and by 1824 it had mounted upward to ^460, with an allowance of $55 for office rent 
 and stationery, but this was high water-mark, for in 1830 it was cut down to $450, 
 in 183 1 to ;g30o, and in 1832 to $200. 
 
 He had no assistance at the desk till February, 1829, when Lewis Bliss wds 
 appointed clerk. The star of the clerk waxed as that of the secretary waned, for 
 within three months he was sent to Georgia to adjust losses occurring in the Augusta 
 and Savannah agencies, with authority to draw drafts on the company, payable sixty 
 days from time of proof His salary, too, beginning at $500, was increased to $600 
 in 1832, and to gSoo in 1835. 
 
 President Terry received no salary till May 31, 1823, when ^100 was voted him for 
 services during the previous six months. It continued at the rate of $200 per annum 
 till May, 1835, when for the previous half year he was voted an additional hundred. 
 No salaries were fixed in advance, but were voted semi-annually, for work already 
 performed. 
 
 Not a loss occurred the first year, and for the next three they amounted, all told, 
 to ;g42i.84 only. Again, from April, 1S20, to November, 1823, they amounted to but 
 ^^66.25. The year ended November, 1827, proved over five times as disastrous as the 
 worst that preceded, the losses reaching ^37,567.67, but this was a season of happi- 
 ness compared with 1829, when they rose to ^89,469.59. 
 
 For the twenty years ended April, 1830, total income was ^24 1,297. 29, made up 
 of premiums ;g2i9,640.97, and net interest $2 1,656. 32. Disbursements, on the other 
 hand, reached ^327,818.47, made up of losses, ^175,926.65 ; expenses, ^29,791.91 ; and 
 dividends, $122,100. At this time the capital was impaired $42,907.14. Mays, 
 1829, the board designated Eliphalet Terry and David Watkinson a committee to 
 eflfect a loan at the Hartford Bank for an amount not exceeding $60,000, and to
 
 16 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 pledge as security the stock of the company in the bank and the stock notes for the 
 third installment. At this juncture the shareholders, over and above the securities 
 in the treasury, were liable for about fifteen per cent, on their stock notes, barely to 
 wipe out the deficiency, Against this minus quantity, owners, endowed with a 
 faculty for seeing the bright side, might put as an offset the good-will and established 
 business of the company. 
 
 All our early insurance companies made the deadly mistake of dividing profits in 
 periods of prosperity, resei-ving little or nothing to meet the drains of adversity. 
 Only two or three survived the wounds inflicted by the policy. These were saved in 
 several crises by the heroism of the directors, who, by guaranties, threw their private 
 fortunes into the breach. 
 
 Growing dissatisfaction came to a head in 1835, when the official connection of 
 General Terry and Mr. IMitchell with the company was brought to an end. General 
 Nathaniel Terry w-as born at Enfield, Conn., January 30, 1768; graduated at Yale 
 College in 1786; studied law ; moved to Hartford, and was long a leading figure in 
 the state. He represented the town twelve sessions in the General Assembly ; was 
 judge of the county court, 1807-9 i member of the Fifteenth Congress ; of the Con- 
 stitutional Convention of 1818, and mayor of the city, 1824-31. He was president 
 of the Hartford Bank, 1819-1828. Hemarried, in 1798, Catharine, daughter of Gen. 
 Jeremiah Wadsworth, of whom a sketch has been given. General Terr}' commanded 
 the governor's foot-guard from 1802 to 1813. Six feet and four inches tall, erect and 
 imperious, he appeared in uniform the born soldier. On parade or in debate he was 
 at home. In business, however, he was much less successful. He died at New 
 Haven, June 14, 1844. Gen. Alfred H. Terry, captor of Fort Fisher, was a grandson. 
 
 Walter Mitchell is represented as somewhat heavy in person and intellect. At 
 first parties desiring insurance were compelled to seek the broker. Competition 
 soon changed the relations of the parties to the contract, but Mr. Mitchell did not 
 drop with alacrity into new ways. It is said of him that he was averse to doing 
 to-day what could conveniently be put off till to-morrow. 
 
 In June, 1835, Eliphalet Terry became president, James Bolles secretary, and in 
 July, C. C. Lyman, assistant secretar>'. Mr. Lyman held the place forty-three years, 
 refusing all offers of promotion. Six months of remarkable prosperity followed the 
 installation of the new management, and, in December, a supper was given to cele- 
 brate the coming dividend, which, however, was doomed to disappear in smoke, for 
 the next day came news of a great fire in New York city. The losses of the com- 
 pany reached ^84,973.34, but the crisis was met with a courage that turned a 
 calamity into a blessing, bringing at once a large, permanent and profitable enlarge- 
 ment to the volume of its business. Mr. Terry, having pledged his own property to 
 the Hartford Bank as security for drafts to be drawn, with Mr. Bolles, started in a 
 sleigh, with the mercury below zero, to grapple in person with the issue. On arriv- 
 ing in the city, they found most of the insurance companies bankrupt, and a state of 
 desi)ondency bordering on panic. Property-owners outside of the burned district felt 
 that they were no longer protected, while the actual sufferers looked for small divi- 
 dends on their policies. Mr. Terry announced that he would pay in full all losses of 
 the Hartford, and take new insurance. The promise — the first sign of cheer in the 
 gloom — was fulfilled to the letter. Business poured in at highly renumerative rates, 
 and the deep gap in its assets was soon refilled. Premiums rose from $19,260. 1 5 for 
 six months ended April, 1835, to ;g97,84i.75 for the corresponding term the next 
 year. The day of small things had passed. Thenceforth, both for good and for ill, 
 the annual operations of the company have been expressed in large and ever-swelling 
 figures.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 17 
 
 Dividends were omitted from November, 1829, till November, 1841, inclusive, 
 and again from April, 1846, to April, 1853, inclusive. 
 
 Between July 19, 1845, and May 18, 1849, fires occurred at New York city, St. 
 John's, N. F., Nantucket, Albany, and St. Eouis, which cost the Hartford $6g,6gi.^o, 
 $84,014.75, $54,521.65, ;g57,637.43, and ;g58,676.83, respectively, making a total of 
 $324,577.96, in addition to ordinary losses. St. John's was burned, June 9, 1846. 
 Mr. Bolles hastened thither and made settlements by giving the notes of the com- 
 pany. Landing from the steamer at Boston on the way home, he was informed of 
 the fire in Nantucket, and there repeated the dreary routine. Meanwhile notes 
 given for unpaid installments on stock no longer sufficed to uphold the credit of the 
 compau}'. To avert bankruptcy directors freely indorsed its paper. Some signed 
 their names expecting that the necessity of meeting the obligation would ultimately 
 fall upon them personally. Yet in the absence of sustaining faith such was the esprit 
 de corps that they took the risk. The earnestness of a few moved the mass. 
 
 In 1850, when the fiery epoch already mentioned drew to a close, after deducting 
 unpaid losses and claims, the company was able to muster ;gis8,44i.58 in assets, of 
 which $87,000 consisted of stock notes. Among the investments the supporting 
 column was four hundred and fifty-three shares of Hartford Bank stock, estimated 
 at $49,589.75. On the other hand, one hundred and twenty shares of Connecticut 
 River Company stock, valued at $12,000, and ninety-five shares of Hartford, Provi- 
 dence and Fishkill Railroad, valued at $9,500, were made to carry a much heavier 
 load than they could rightfully bear. 
 
 At the annual meeting, in 1849, Eliphalet Terry declined a re-election on account 
 of ill health, and Hezekiah Huntington was made president. Born at Enfield, De- 
 cember 25, 1776, Mr. Terry caine to Hartford at the age of nineteen. At the death 
 of his employer he succeeded to the business, and taking into partnership his brother 
 Roderick, built up the house of E. & R. Terry, the leading Hartford firm in the 
 West India trade, and one of the largest wholesale grocery houses in the Connecticut 
 Valle}-. Their store was located at the corner of North Main street and Albany 
 avenue. He died July 8, 1849. 
 
 By an act amending the charter passed in 1853, the company was authorized to 
 increase the capital to an amount not exceeding $300,000, and to change the shares 
 from $50 to $100 each. Both amendments were accepted. The amendment of 1857 
 authorized an increase to $1,000,000, and the amendment of 1865 to $3,000,000. At 
 a special meeting, held February 2, 1854, the stockholders voted unanimously to 
 raise the capital to $300,000. Subscribers for the additional shares agreed to pay sixty 
 per cent, in cash, or by notes, dated March i, 1854, payable in one year with interest, 
 and the other forty per cent, in the regulation stock-notes, which had not yet 
 fallen into discredit. Still the prosperity of the company was such that these were 
 rapidly extinguished. July 14, 1857, profits in the treasury were capitalized to the 
 extent of $200,000, making the capital $500,000, which by the same process was 
 lifted to a round million in June, 1864. 
 
 A long period of exemption from notable disasters was followed in swift succes- 
 sion by fires at Augusta, Maine, September 16, 1865 ; at Portland, July 4, 1866, and 
 at Vicksburg, December 24, 1866, involving losses of $57,022.16, $151,288.31, and 
 #55)077-55 respectively. But the company was now much better prepared to with- 
 stand the strain, and even after the extraordinary' payments at Portland and Vicks- 
 burg, was able to add over $200,000 to its assets from the business of 1866. 
 
 After an incumbency of fifteen years Mr. Huntington retired in 1864. He was 
 born October 28, 1795, at Suffield, Conn., whence the familv moved to Hartford in 
 •1
 
 18 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 1813. Alone and in partnership with his brother, Frank J. Huntington, lie pub- 
 lished various works, including the Greek text-books of Prof. Sophocles, at a time 
 when this was one of the leading activities of the city. He died Februaiy 20, 1865. 
 His father, also named Hezekiah, moved from Tolland to Suffield. In 1806 Mr. 
 Jefferson appointed him United States Attorney for Connecticut, and he filled the 
 office till 1829. 
 
 T. C. AUyii succeeded Mr. Huntington. His term was short, for in May, 1867, 
 he resigned and went to New York city, where he formed a partnership with Ezra 
 White, who had long been local agent of the company. The firm also managed the 
 American branch of the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company of Loudon 
 and Edinburgh. 
 
 The company had grown to such proportions that the directors now, for the first 
 time, went outside of the city to seek a president, and the choice fell upon George 
 L. Chase, assistant general agent of the western department. Mr. Chase engaged 
 in insurance at the age of nineteen, and in early manhood broadened his experience 
 by serving as assistant superintendent and superintendent of the Central Ohio Rail- 
 road, re-entering the insurance field in i860. Although born in Massachusetts, Mr. 
 Chase had acquired a liking for western ways, and hence, with some hesitation, 
 accepted the place in 1867. His previous connection had made him familiar with 
 the affairs of the company, and besides he brought to the new position a close ac- 
 quaintance with the men and methods of a great and growing region. 
 
 From the middle of the century the Hartford pushed westward and southward 
 with great vigor, having the headquarters of a new department at Columbus, Ohio, 
 under charge of Denias Adams, appointed in 1852, and later of David Alexander, 
 appointed in October, 1854. When the Rebellion cut off relations with the South 
 the western office was transferred to Chicago, where G. F. Bissell succeeded Alex- 
 ander in 1863, and at the end of the war the loss of receipts from the Southern states 
 had nearly been made good by extensions in the Northwest. 
 
 With the increase of population further subdivisions became expedient. In 
 1 87 1 the Pacific Coast department was organized, and in 1889 the Metropolitan, made 
 up of parts of New York state, Long Island and New Jersey. 
 
 The advent of Mr. Chase marks the beginning of a more aggressive era, and 
 figures afford the most trustworthy measure of results. At the end of December, 
 1867, the assets of the company were $2,026,220.79; liabilities: capital, $1,000,000; 
 unpaid losses, ;g 167, 350. 23; unpaid dividends, 5i44; reinsurance reserve at an aver- 
 age of fifty per cent, of unexpired premiums, $831,975.87; total, $1,999,476. 10, leav- 
 ing a net surplus of $26,744.69. 
 
 The income for the year reached $1,673,582.69, of which the main sources were 
 premiums, $1,559,040.09, and dividends and interest $102,688.07. 
 
 The new administration attempted nothing sensational or revolutionary, but 
 simply crowded the established policy with more vigor. It aimed to have an agency 
 at every settlement in the United States and Canada, where income bid fair to exceed 
 outgo, thus reinforcing the streams from large cities by contributions from many 
 rivulets. Its age, reputation and resources attracted everywhere agents of the highest 
 character and business of the best quality. 
 
 A season of long, unbroken sunshine was cruelly interrupted by the Chicago 
 fire of October, 1871, coming like a hurricane on a still summer day. In a few hours 
 property valued at $150,000,000 was destroyed, and while the embers were still hot, 
 it was known at the home office that the losses of the Hartford would reach nearly 
 $2,000,000. So many companies were broken by the catastrophe that a flood of
 
 insurancp: in Connecticut. 19 
 
 securities must lall upon the market, depressing prices and rendering the fulfilhnent 
 of contracts still more difficult. In times of gloom the managers always turned to 
 the Hartford Bank as an unfailing refuge. To an appeal for help the bank now 
 replied that it would aid to the full extent of. its resources. The courage of both — 
 the one struggling for existence and the other not less for the honor of the city than 
 to save an old comrade — seems almost a matter of course, as realities fade in the dis- 
 tance, but then amid the wreckage lifted the actors out of the world of common- 
 place into the realm of the heroic. The Connecticut Mutual Life also loaned the 
 company half a million. The Hartford settled every loss in full, paying out $1,968, - 
 225. A bare million — a sum insufficient to meet the requirements of the re-insur- 
 ance fund — was left in the treasury. By a vote of the directors the capital was 
 reduced to $500,000, and at once increased to $1,000,000 by fresh subscriptions, the 
 rights to subscribe commanding a premium of $85 a share in the darkest days of the 
 disaster. Thirteen months later, November 9, 1872, it incurred losses amounting to 
 ^485, 356 at the Boston fire, but met the drain out of current receipts. 
 
 The Hartford Fire owned a block of stock in the Ocean National Bank of New 
 York city, which, in December, 1871, passed into the hands of Theodore M. Davis 
 as receiver. It had already been looted by burglars and badly burned by the pa- 
 tronage of William M. Tweed and his associates. January 19, 1872, the receiver 
 issued a printed circular in which the excess of resources over all liabilities, includ- 
 ing the amount due depositors, was estimated at $587,313.02. He stated that with 
 good management and good luck the assets ought to yield a much larger simi. The 
 only cloud then apparent on the horizon grew out of the suits for the recovery of the 
 value of certain United States bonds, left in the bank for safe-keeping and carried 
 off by burglars in 1869. In the event that those cases were decided adversely, he 
 thought the above surplus might be diminished by $200,000. The bank won these 
 suits, but before the trial, by way of caution to the stockholders not to sacrifice their 
 interests, in a circular dated July i, 1873, the receiver virtually promised a dividend 
 of thirty-four (34) per cent, to stockholders, after discharging all obligations to 
 depositors. 
 
 July I, 1875, the receiver reported the assets remaining in his hands, " uncol- 
 lected and not charged off as worthless," at $1,302,51 1. 81. He also held the Port- 
 age Lake Canal Company debt, amounting with interest to $560,000, and expressed 
 the conviction that this debt was secure and would ultimately be collected. At the 
 same time' the total obligations of the bank were given as $390,395.63 only. 
 
 Affairs drifted along for eighteen months more, when the shareholders were 
 rudely awakened from dreams of prospective dividends by a printed notice, dated 
 January 25, 1877, announcing that an assessment of forty (40) per cent, had been 
 levied upon them to pay off the creditors. The receiver, with his customary disposi- 
 tion to make things pleasant, intimated that the comptroller of the currency was at 
 the same time reserving for the stockholders assets which would ultimately yield a 
 large sum, but which coiild be sold then only at heavy sacrifice. He declared it to 
 be a part of the plan to collect upon these as soon as possible and to apply the pro- 
 ceeds to their benefit. 
 
 The circular awakened no small degree of astonishment and wrath in Eastern 
 Connecticut, where for some reason the bank shares had been a favorite investment. 
 A promised dividend of nearly sixty per cent, had dwindled to thirty-four, only to be 
 transmuted further on into an assessment of forty. A call was sent out to interested 
 parties to meet at the office of the Hartford Fire. Representative men came together 
 from several counties to consider the matter.
 
 20 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Mr. Chase advocated the most vigorous and aggressive resistance to the demand 
 until the facts of the receivership could be unearthed and laid bare. He took the 
 position that on the ground of sound public policy it was just as much the duty of 
 the executive officers of insurance companies and savings banks to resist unjust or 
 fraudulent claims as to pay such as were just. He urged that all unite in employing 
 the best talent to trace the assets from the vaults of the bank into the pockets whither 
 they had disappeared, and if necessary to assault the comptroller of the currency in 
 his stronghold to learn why through thick and thin he upheld an appointee who by 
 his own circulars was convicted of playing high-handed tricks with his trust. 
 
 The earnest appeal of Mr. Chase brought several to the support of the plan, but 
 the times discouraged heroic action. Just then the country was suffering the severest 
 strain of the long depression that began with the panic of 1873. The air, charged 
 with timidity and distrust, overpowered resolution. All appreciated the sniokiness 
 of the record as developed in the successive circulars of the receiver, but the majority 
 saw no hopeful method of redress. The assessments were paid with much the same 
 feelings that the belated traveler on the lonely moor surrenders his purse at the 
 muzzle of the pistol. 
 
 Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since the comptroller of the currency 
 and his appointee took charge of assets estimated to exceed all liabilities by over half 
 a million of dollars. That large sum has vanished. The bottomless pit has swal- 
 lowed four hundred thousand more, wrung by arbitrary orders from shareholders, not 
 a few of them widows and orphans. Out of all the property not a cent has been paid 
 to the owners of residuary interests. 
 
 Perhaps undue space has been given to this episode. The general adoption of 
 the course advocated in this instance by Mr. Chase would go far to prevent such 
 scandals and, where failures have occurred, to secure a just distribution of the salvage. 
 
 During Walter Mitchell's connection with the company the business was carried 
 on in his law office on the site now occupied by the Courant building. In 1835, its 
 rooms were moved one door eastward. In 1854, the company took quarters on Main 
 street, north of Pratt, and with one more change in the interim removed to its 
 own building, at the corner of Pearl and Trumbull, in 1870. The structure built of 
 Quincy granite, having a frontage of sixty and a depth of one hundred feet, aud ris- 
 ing four stories abo\-e the basement, served its purposes for twenty-six years. To 
 meet the needs of a business that has grown far more rapidly than either officers or 
 directors deemed possible a quarter of a century ago, the company in 1896-7 built an 
 addition forty-four by seventy-two feet, six stories high, with a front also of Quincy 
 granite. The old part was raised one story and both are surmounted by a continuous 
 fire-proof roof, supported by steel beams and girders. By the removal of the division- 
 wall the first floor is thrown into a single room, sixty-four b)' seventy feet. Here 
 the main clerical work of the company is performed under the eyes of the officers. 
 The new part is fire-proof, and the security of the old has been greatly increased. In 
 the rear of the office, besides a large room for private consultations, is an additional 
 fire-proof vault, sixteen by twenty-four and seventeen feet high, for the storage of 
 books and valuable documents. The upper floors are rented for offices and bachelor 
 apartments. 
 
 Out of profits a stock dividend of twenty-five per cent, was declared in 1877, 
 raising the capital to $1,250,000. At that point it has since remained, all gains going 
 to swell the surj^lus. Thus far the officers, supported by a conservative directory, 
 have stubbornly resisted all attempts to increase the stock-liability. 
 
 The successors of James G. BoUes in the secretaryship have been Charles Taylor,
 
 N. TERRV, 
 President 1810-35 
 
 THUS. TURNBULL, 
 Assistant Secretary, 
 
 GKO. L. CHASE, 
 President 1867. 
 
 E. 1 EKRY, 
 President 18,55-49. 
 
 CHAS E. CHASE, 
 Assistant Secretary. 
 
 H. HUNTIXGTON- 
 President 1849-64. 
 
 W. MITCHELL, 
 First Secretary. 
 
 T. C. Al.LYN, 
 President 1864-67. 
 
 THE HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 21 
 
 1S50-2 ; A. F. Wilmarth, 1S52 (for six monllis) ; Caleb I!. Bowers, 1853-July i, 1858; 
 Timothy C. AUyn, August 5, 1858-June 2, 1864; George M. Coit.Juue 2, 1864-Feb- 
 riiary i, 1870; John D. Browne, February i, 1870-November i, 1880; Charles B. 
 Whiting, November 20, 1880-June i, 1886; Philander C. Royce, since June i, 1886. 
 
 Mr. Wilmarth was afterwards vice-president of the Home of New York. Mr. 
 Bowers was president of the City and the Putnam, both of Hartford, and thence 
 moved to New Haven. T. C. AUyn was promoted to the presidency. Mr. Coit left 
 to represent the company in New York city, and later became assistant-manager of 
 the Royal of Liverpool. Mr. Browne resigned to take the presidency of the Con- 
 necticut Fire, and Mr. Whiting to take the presidency of the Orient. 
 
 Christopher C. Lyman, appointed a clerk July 20, 1835, and assistant-secretary 
 in 1840, filled the place till June i, 1878, having charge of the bookkeeping depart- 
 ment. After his death the position of assistant-secretary' remained vacant till the 
 appointment of Philander C. Royce, June 23, 1881. Mr. Royce was born of New 
 England parentage in Plainfield, 111., in 1838; graduated at Kno.x College in i860; 
 taught till 1866, when he entered the insurance field, first as local and later as special 
 agent ; served in the western department of the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, 
 from May, 1872, till August, 1876; thence as secretary of the Girard Fire and Marine 
 of Philadelphia, till in 1881 he returned to the Hartford Fire, where he has since 
 remained, having been made secretary in 1886. 
 
 Thomas Turnbull succeeded Mr. Royce as assistant-secretary, June 11, 1886. 
 Born in Scotland in 1834, and richly endowed with the sturdy qualities of the Scotch 
 character, he came to America in 1852, and engaged in the wholesale tea trade in 
 Philadelphia and New York. He was special agent of the Niagara Fire from 1869 
 till 1876, when he became general agent of the Hartford Fire in New York state, 
 holding the position till 1886, when he was called, as above, to the home office. 
 
 Charles E. Chase, son of the president, born at Dubuque, la., March 29, 1857, 
 having graduated at the Hartford High School in 1876, the next year entered the 
 service of the company, and for efficiency was made second assistant-secretary 
 July I, 1890. 
 
 Cofran & Bissell manage the western department from Chicago, H. K. Belden 
 the Pacific department from San Francisco, and Young & Hodges the Metropolitan 
 department from New York city. 
 
 On the first of Januan.', 1897, the gross assets of the company were ;Sio,oo4,- 
 697.55, and the net surplus, after deducting reserve for reinsurance and all unsettled 
 claims, ;^3, 264,392. 15. 
 
 The small capital and large surplus of the Hartford give it an enormous advan- 
 tage in the struggle for existence. Income from assets alone suffices to pay dividends 
 that ought to satisfy the most exacting shareholder. All the profits from the 
 business in seasons of general prosperity can, if needful, be added to the reserves to 
 meet the drains which recur at irregular intei-vals, but with unerring certainty. 
 
 THE NEW HAVEN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 The New Haven Fire Insurance Company, with a nominal capital of g 100,000, 
 was incorporated in 18 13. Presidents were : Isaac Tomlinson, 1813; Charles Deni- 
 son, 1818; Simeon Baldwin, 1820. Secretaries: John H. Lynde, 1813; William 
 Connor, 1818; Roger S. Skinner, 1820. In 1822 Samuel Ward, Har\-ey Sanford 
 and L. E. Wales were appointed a committee to negotiate a contract with the Hart- 
 ford Fire Insurance Company to assume its outstanding risks. Mr. Skinner, the 
 secretary, was also agent of the Hartford, and hence acted for both parties. The
 
 22 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 arrangement was completed in June, the Hartford giving a bond of indemnity in the 
 penal sum of $150,000. The terms of the contract were not spread on the record, 
 but the penalty of the bond probably equalled the entire amount at risk, since the 
 sum paid for reinsurance made no perceptible addition to the current receipts of the 
 Hartford. The charter was revoked the same year. 
 
 THE MIDDLETOWN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 The Middletown Fire Insurance Company was incorporated in May, 18 13, with 
 a capital of $150,000, to be paid in the customary way. The first board of directors 
 consisted of Elijah Hubbard, John R. Watkinson, Samuel Wetmore, Joseph W. 
 Alsop, Josiah Williams, Daniel Rand, and Samuel Gill. 
 
 Elijah Hubbard was elected president, and Thomas Hubbard, secretary. Jona- 
 than Barnes, Jr., soon succeeded Thomas Hubbard. The company ran along half a 
 dozen years, making a feeble show of life, and then passed out of existence. Its 
 outstanding risks were assumed, September 25, 18 19, by the ^tna of Hartford, 
 which executed a bond in the penal sum of $200,000 to save it harmless. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 /.V5 URANCE IN C O NNE CTICUT— Continued. 
 THE ^TNA INSURANCE COMPANY (hARTFORD). 
 
 ALTER MITCHELL, first secretary and factotum of the Hartford Fire, 
 lived in Wetliersfield, a village three or four miles south of the city. In 
 the early days every resident desiring a policy had to seek him, and at hours 
 to suit his convenience. The road over a clayey soil was frequentl)- so bad 
 that the trip to Wetliersfield took more time than a trip to Springfield or New 
 Haven does now. He had a way of closing his office at three or four o'clock in the 
 afternoon, and on Saturdays much earlier. According to current tradition merchants, 
 often inconvenienced by the daily habits of Mr. Mitchell, resolved to flank his 
 position by forming a new company. Hence originated the conception of the .5Jtna. 
 The company was incorporated in May, 1819. The capital was placed at $150,- 
 000, with the privilege of increase to any further sum not exceeding $500,000. 
 Subscribers were required to pay within thirty da)s after the first meeting of the 
 corporation five per cent., within sixty days five per cent, more, and the remaining 
 ninety per cent, either in mortgages on real estate, or indorsed promissory notes, 
 approved by the president and directors and payable thirty days after demand. 
 Each stockholder was entitled to one vote for every share up to fifty, and there his 
 voting power came abruptly to an end. While both corporate and personal liability 
 was limited to the investment, it was with the reservation that "for misconduct or 
 fraud, the person guilty thereof shall be personally liable to said corporation, or to 
 the insured, as the case may be." 
 
 At the first meeting of the stockholders held June 15, 18 19, at Morgan's Coffee 
 House, the following directors were chosen : Thomas K. Brace, Thomas Belden, 
 vSamuel Tudor, Jr., Henry Kilbourn, Eliphalet Averill, Henry Seymour, Griffin 
 Stedman, Gaius Lyman, Judah Bliss, Caleb Pond, Nathaniel Bimce, Joseph Morgan, 
 Jeremiah Brown, James M. Goodwin, Theodore Pease, Elisha Dodd, Charles Babcock.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 23 
 
 At a meeting of the directors the same day Thomas K. Brace was chosen presi- 
 dent, and Isaac Perkins, secretary. They voted to make the office of Mr. Perkins 
 the office of the company also, and to keep its acconnt at the Plioenix Bank. By-laws 
 were adopted June 25th. These provided that the directors should be divided into 
 four classes, taken in the order of appointment, each to be on duty one month, fol- 
 lowing in rotation. No money could be drawn from bank except on checks signed 
 by the president and countersigned by the secretary. Directors were made ex officio 
 surveyors for the company. 
 
 September 27, 18 19, Mr. Brace resigned the presidency in consequence of 
 pecuniary embarrassments, when Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, who had already been 
 elected a director in the place of Theodore Pease, deceased, was chosen to fill the 
 vacancy. 
 
 How modest were the beginnings of this great institution, appears from the 
 balance sheet presenting its operations up to May 31, 1820. On the debit side the 
 principal item is the dividend of six per cent., declared December 15, 1819, on 
 the actual cash investment, making $900. From the organization till May 31, 1820, 
 the total current expenses, including ^225 for the salary of Mr. Perkins and rent, 
 reached the sum of ^451.82. During this period the receipts from all sources 
 amounted to ^3,646.42, and as no losses had occurred, the fiscal year closed with a 
 profit balance of ;g2, 294.60. 
 
 Mr. Ellsworth resigned the presidency March 6, 1821, when Thomas K. 
 Brace, real father of the enterprise, whose embarrassments in the meantime had been 
 removed, was re-elected. 
 
 Son of Chief Justice Oliver, and twin brother of Governor William W., Henry 
 L. Ellsworth was born November 10, 1791 ; graduated at Yale in 1810 ; studied law, 
 but subordinated professional practice to more active pursuits ; erected several build- 
 ings in Hartford on Central Row ; went to the frontier in 1 832 as Indian Commissioner 
 to the tribes in the southwest beyond Arkansas ; was ten years at the head of the 
 United States Patent Office in Washington, and then settled at Lafayette, Indiana, 
 as United States Land Commissioner. He moved to Fair Haven, Connecticut, in 
 1856, and died there December 27, 1S58. By will he left the bulk of a large estate 
 to Yale College. A contest over the document ended in a compromise. 
 
 The first policy for S6000 was issued August 17, 18 19, and is treasured among 
 the choice possessions of the office. About a month later the ^tna contracted to 
 assume all outstanding risks of the Middletown Fire Insurance Company, amounting . 
 as it seems to nearly ^200,000. This is the first case of re-insurance of a company in 
 the state, and is believed to be the first in the country. 
 
 In 1822 the board undertook to perform a similar act of grace for the New Haven 
 Fire, then nearing the end, but Roger S- Skinner, its secretary, was also agent of the 
 Hartford Fire, and diverted the contract to his principal. 
 
 Questions discussed and passed upon at early meetings of the directors often 
 appear trivial, but none the less instructive because trivial, for they furnish data for 
 measuring the length of the road from crude, tentative beginnings to the development 
 of a highly educated profession. Matters of detail are now turned over to the experts, 
 who fill the executive offices, and to their trained assistants. Then the vital parts of 
 each policy, with the survey, were read to the board before delivery. Within eight 
 months they wisely voted to take no new risk in excess of ;g 10,000 without a unani- 
 mous vote in its favor, and in such cases nine were required to constitute a quorum. 
 The next year an agent was authorized to write, not exceeding ^17,000 on a single 
 risk, and it is specially noted that nine directors were present and favored the excep-
 
 24 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 tion. Evidently the original division into four classes had already fallen into disuse. 
 To provide mental aliment for the wisdom that gathered around the table, the secre- 
 tary was requested to procure for the use of the ofhce, two newspapers, either semi- 
 or tri-weekly, published one in New York and one in Boston, also a gazetteer and a big 
 map. As a first essay to collect statistics the secretary was requested to register, in 
 a suitable blank book, all losses by fire that might come to his knowledge, designa- 
 ting place, kind of property, etc., and for the service a reasonable compensation was 
 promised in addition to salary. Thus the outlay for newspapers, aside from the grat- 
 ification of habitues^ was made to serve a permanent utility. Such incidents show 
 the care bestowed upon minute details by the directors, and the vigilance with which 
 they watched the expense account. 
 
 Until the formation of the ^tna, the few American companies in existence 
 restricted their efforts almost entirely to the local business that could be conveniently 
 secured by the executive officers. Very early the .i5itna initiated a radical departure 
 from the previous method, planting agencies cautiously at the more important cen- 
 tres of trade, and gradually extending the system till every desirable place in the 
 country was occupied. April 2, 1822, the directors, by vote, requested the secretary 
 " to journey on the seaboard of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, and from 
 thence through the interior of the country home, and establish agencies at all places 
 where he may think proper, and for his service he shall be allowed his expenses and 
 two dollars per day." During the trip the per diem allowance took the place of 
 salary. Again, in October, 1825, the president and secretary were authorized to 
 employ a suitable person to travel through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. 
 Missouri and the states south for the purpose of establishing agencies. 
 
 A destructive fire, bringing heavy losses to the ^tna, occurred at Mobile, Ala., 
 in the fall of 1827. Mr. Perkins was sent thither in November to settle claims and 
 suspend the business of the agency. He was also empowered both to establish and 
 suspend agencies at discretion on the journe}'. While at Mobile, although expected 
 by tlie home office to pay by sight drafts, he invariably drew at thirty days. The 
 process of adjustment proved somewhat tedious. Local business had been unsatis- 
 factory. Mr. Perkins felt ill at ease, nursing exaggerated notions of southern care- 
 lessness in handling pistols and other implements suited to make life unpleasant for 
 disagreeable strangers. He wished to avoid irritation and especialh" any outbreak of 
 resentment. Hence, as he explained on reaching home, he intended to be well out 
 of the way of harm in case losses elsewhere prevented the company from meeting 
 the drafts and they went back protested. 
 
 The country was passing through a period of profound distress. One of the 
 severest panics ever known struck England in 1825, suddenly ending an era of great 
 apparent prosperity and riotous speculation. 
 
 From the intimacy of the business connections between the two countries our 
 people, though in much sounder condition, were sucked into the whirlpool. Fac- 
 tories were idle, industries disorganized, trade sluggish, collections poor and bank- 
 ruptcies frequent. Fires in 1827, as measured by the losses of insurance companies, 
 were four-fold in excess of the normal ratio. 
 
 Perils so thickened around the -Etna that only the Roman courage of the direc- 
 tors saved it from destruction. A committee, appointed to devise ways and means to 
 pay losses, made their report November 22, 1827, and recommended that the bank 
 stocks, having a par value of $21,750, be sold, except !Si,500 in the Eagle Bank of 
 Providence; that all loans, amounting to $6,780, be collected as soon as it could be 
 done without inconvenience to borrowers, and that agents be pressed to remit bal-
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 25 
 
 ances on hand. From the three sources it was thought that $30,000 could be raised 
 in time to apply on outstanding losses. For the balance needed it was considered 
 inexpedient to make an assessment on the stock notes. Accordingly they further 
 recommended that loans be made at one or more of the city banks on paper endorsed 
 b}- some of the directors, and that the board pledge themselves to save the endorsers 
 harmless. By a unanimous vote the report was accepted and approved. 
 
 Thus the first dread crisis in the histor}' of the .(Etna was faced. From time to 
 time other situations not less appalling have confronted the management. While 
 the constituent members have changed, the spirit animating the body has never 
 changed. Calamities sweeping away its assets and apparently leaving nothing but a 
 shadow bereft of substance, have again and again been met with the same indomit- 
 able resolution and overcome. 
 
 Owing to the disorganized condition of business, the moral hazard was greatly 
 increased. The ^F)tna appointed committees to confer with other offices which were 
 undergoing like experiences, and, by mutual agreements, there followed before the 
 end of the year a general raising of rates. Perhaps to-day this course would be stig- 
 matized by a certain class of writers as a dangerous combination, but it saved the 
 lives of such as sur\'ived. 
 
 After paying out the funds derived from the sale of stocks and the collection of 
 loans, the conipan\' pledged to various banks stock-notes to the amount of $50,000 as 
 security for loans. Before these were fully paid its condition had so improved that 
 in June, 1830, the directors voted a dividend of two dollars per share. 
 
 Isaac Perkins retired in June, 1828. He practiced law in Hartford from 1805 
 till 1S40, ser\'ing for two j-ears as prosecuting officer for the county. For a while he 
 was in partnership with Thomas C. Perkins, who became one of the most eminent 
 lawyers in the state. For the first nine years the business of the company was trans- 
 acted in the office of Mr. Perkins. His salary fluctuated, rising in 1823 ^"^ 1824 to 
 the rate of $900 per annum, with an allowance of $100 additional for rent and fire- 
 wood, and afterwards receding to $750. In lieu of salary he was voted four dollars 
 per dav while absent on the trip to Mobile, whence he reached home about the mid- 
 dle of March, 1828. 
 
 June 9, 1828, James M. Goodwin was appointed secretary, and ser\^ed till May i, 
 1837, when his resignation of April 24th took effect. June 8, 1837, Simeon L. 
 Loomis, who for .several years had been a faithful clerk in the ofllice, was elected in 
 place of I\Ir. Goodwin. 
 
 Dividends of $1 per share were paid with fair regularity from June, 1831, till 
 December, 1834, when the rate was increased to #5. By May, 1836, the situation 
 had so improved that the board voted a dividend of twenty-five per cent, to be 
 applied on the stock-notes. Meanwhile the investment of funds was resumed, 
 including a subscription for three hundred shares in the Hartford and New Haven 
 Railroad in the year 1835. 
 
 Fire losses serve as quite an accurate gauge of general business conditions, 
 rising with adversit}' and falling with prosperity. The panic of 1837 brought 
 trouble to insurance offices, causing a large excess of outgo over income. With none 
 of them was there a surplus seeking securities. To meet deficiences most were com- 
 pelled to sell or borrow. The year 1839 opened favorably, but the panic of '37 had 
 not yet spent its force. During the summer and fall heavy losses, occurring for the 
 most part over a wide area, exhaustive more from frequency than magnitude, com- 
 pelled the company to resort again to sales and loans. 
 
 At the request of the directors, and with full power to remove and appoint
 
 26 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 agents, settle accounts, collect dues, give discharges, and act otherwise for the benefit 
 of the company. President Brace, in the summer of 1838, made a trip through New 
 York, New Hampshire and the British dominions. His letters, by the way, 
 addressed to Simeon L. Eoomis, secretary, are still preserved in the arcliives of the 
 company. The' journey, which would now require a week, was then leisurely per- 
 formed between the middle of June and the ist of September. 
 
 The .Etna was the first company to issue a fire policy in Chicago, having, in 
 1834, appointed Gurdon S. Hubbard to represent it. The document was on exhibi- 
 tion in the historical library of that city till destroyed in the fire of 1871. Mr. Hubbard 
 remained a trusted agent of the company till his retirement, after more than thirty 
 years of faithful service. 
 
 No small part of the pioneer work was performed b}- the early director, who 
 traveled west and south by stage and boat, long in advance of railways, establishing 
 outposts at frontier towns which have since developed into populous cities. In this 
 way, to a large extent, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, Louisville, St. Louis, Memphis, 
 Natchez, New Orleans, Mobile, and other places were reached, and the territory 
 partially pre-empted. He went armed with ample powers, his instructions following 
 in its essential features the commission given to Mr. Brace in 1838. In case of large 
 fires the work now performed by the professional adjuster then fell to the director. 
 As emergencies arose different members of the board were selected for special services 
 at points near and far. Some became very expert in discriminating just from unjust 
 claims, and in effecting settlements with all sorts and conditions of men. 
 
 During the period of infancy, while the company was fighting for existence, the 
 economical scale of expenditures arranged for Secretary Perkins on his initiatory 
 trip through New England was rigorously adhered to. Just twenty years later, in 
 1S42, Joseph Morgan, one of the original directors, made an extensive circuit, taking 
 in New Orleans and Chicago, and all the important intermediate towns. The jour- 
 ney, estimated at six thousand one hundred and four miles, occupied ten weeks, at an 
 average expense, including fares and hotel bills, of ^83.29 per day. During most of 
 his long life Mr. Morgan kept a diary. The record, filling many volumes, is now in 
 possession of his grandson, James J. Goodwin. Chicago then had four or five thou- 
 sand inhabitants. St. Louis was six times as large. A notable incident of the trip 
 was a detour to Ashland to visit Henry Clay. Mr. Morgan was called on oftener 
 than either of his associates to do this kind of work. He was the father of Junius 
 S. Morgan, the eminent London banker, and grandfather of J. Pierpont Morgan, 
 whose more than royal power in financial circles has been used effectively to purify 
 American railway management, and to rehabilitate great properties wrecked by 
 incompetence and fraud. Three generations have been successively represented in 
 the directoiy by Joseph, Junius S- and J. Pierpont Morgan. Mrs. James Goodwin, 
 of Hartford, was a daughter. His descendants, both those who have remained at 
 home and those who have found elsewhere broader fields, have bestowed upon the 
 city munificent gifts, including nearly $300,000 for a free library and art gallery. 
 
 By an amendment to the charter secured in 1839, the company was empowered 
 to issue policies against the hazards of inland navigation. The privilege was not 
 exercised till the autumn of 1843, when the directors authorized agents at Apalachi- 
 cola. Savannah, Macon, Columbus, Mobile, New Orleans, Natchez and Louisville, to 
 take risks on cargoes on board of steamers and pole boats, but not on the boats 
 themselves, nor on the cargoes loaded on "that species of craft called boxes, arks or 
 broad-horns." A policy issued October 4, 1859, at the rate of one-half per cent., on 
 fifteen negroes, valued at ;g 16,000, bound from Glasgow, Mo., to Carrollton, Miss., is 
 still preserved at tlie home office as a curiosity of inland insurance.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 27 
 
 Affairs had so improved that in November, 1 843, the board declared a dividend 
 of 18 per cent. — eight in cash, and ten to be indorsed on the stock-notes. 
 
 The .Btna escaped the fire of December 16, 1H35, in New York city — the first in 
 the series of great American conflagrations — which destroyed property to the value 
 of ;g 15,000,000, and bankrupted twenty-three out of twenty-six local insurance com- 
 panies. It entered the city the following year, having for agent Augustus G. Haz- 
 ard, afterwards the organizer and president of the Hazard Powder Company, of 
 Enfield. It was not so fortunate in the fire of 1845, which swept ^6,000,000 of 
 property from the business centre of the metropolis, and cost the ^?itna 5115,000. 
 When the news reached Hartford, Mr. Brace called together the directors and told 
 them that the calamity would probably exhaust the entire resources of the company. 
 Going to the fire-proof, he took out and laid on the table the stocks and bonds 
 representing its investments. Little was said, each member waiting for some one 
 else to take the initiative. At length the silence was broken by the question : " Mr. 
 Brace, what will you do?" 
 
 "Do?" replied he. "Go to New York and pay the losses if it takes every dollar 
 there," pointing to the packages, "and my own fortune besides." 
 
 "Good, good," responded the others. "We will stand by -s-on with our fortunes 
 also." 
 
 Such an increase of premium-receipts followed, that in twelve months the yEtna 
 was as strong in cash as before. In March, 1848, a dividend of twenty dollars a 
 share, amounting to $50,000, was indorsed on the stock-notes, and the money invested 
 in solid securities, some of which the company still holds. Hitherto, it had been 
 forced again and again to part with favorite investments to pay losses, but here when 
 about to enter upon the last half of the century-, the somewhat periodical distresses 
 due to smallness of resources passed away for good. In February, 1849, the board 
 declared a dividend of twenty per cent., applicable only to the payment of the third 
 and last installment upon the stock notes. By this operation these were finally 
 extinguished. 
 
 Fifty thousand dollars were added to the original capital in December, 1822. 
 The secretary was authorized to offer the new stock at an advance of $5.00 on a 
 share, wot pro rata to holders of record, but "in such number of shares and to such 
 persons as in his opinion may be most for the interest of the company." 
 
 In 1S46, in conformity with a vote passed the 30th of the previous December, 
 $50,000 were added, one-half payable in cash or its equivalent, and one-half in the 
 customary installment notes. In July, 1849, a third increase of $50,000 was voted, 
 to be paid in cash or indorsed notes, running not more than eighteen months. Thus 
 the company turned the middle of the century with a fully paid capital of $300,000. 
 
 January i, 1849, the ^Etna owned bonds and stocks valued at $269,550. Thir- 
 teen months later, with $50,000 of fresh capital in the treasury-, its assets amounted 
 to $456, 327.46, and its liability for losses to $141,344. In the interim it disbursed 
 g;i25,ooo for a single fire in St. Louis. 
 
 But the season of storms which culminated at St. Louis, and sent many com- 
 petitors to the bottom, convinced the public of the inherent staunchness of the 
 .(Etna, and by the prudent enterprise of its managers, even cruel reverses to the 
 general interests of fire insurance, were made to bring to it large accessions of busi- 
 ness and revenue. 
 
 The Protection, the third fire insurance company organized at Hartford, failed in 
 1854 through the continuous unprofitableness of its marine department, aggravated 
 bv the incurable injuries received at St. Louis in 1849. It had been the pioneer in
 
 28 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 occupying the small as well as tlie large towns of the West, bnt the gains from these 
 sources were insufficient to offset the losses incurred at sea and on our inland waters. 
 Here was a broad gap to be filled, and the ^tna lost no time in meeting the emer- 
 gency, for it opened a branch office at Cincinnati in 1853 with the firm purpose of 
 keeping step with civilization in progressive occupancy of the West. When a few 
 months later the Protection yielded up the ghost a material share of the business 
 dropped as ripened fruit into the lap of its rival. Soon a thousand agents were at 
 work west of the Alleghenies, and in the ensuing period of exemption frou: large 
 fires the company rolled upwealth with a rapidity never equalled before either in the 
 United States or elsewhere. In 1854 the capital was increased from ^300,000 to 
 ;^ 500, 000, one-half contributed by shareholders and the other half by a dividend from 
 profits. The figures remained at this point but a short time, for in 1857 they were 
 changed to an even million. In 1859, from the profits of two years, the owners were 
 gladdened by a second stock dividend of half a million, which was followed in 1864 
 by another for ^750,000. Evidently the figures, ;g2,25o,ooo, offended the eyes of the 
 directors, and accordingly after enduring the sight for two short years they raised the 
 capitalization in 1866 by a stock dividend to the rounded, symmetrical and artistic 
 sum of $3,000,000. Ambition to make the ^tna the largest fire insurance company 
 in the country led the stockholders in i88r by an issue of ten thousand new shares at 
 par for cash to enlarge the capital to four millions, wliere it now stands. 
 
 In 185 1 the company appointed its first traveling or special agent, A. F. Will- 
 riiarth, who a few months later was made assistant secretary, but soon left. The 
 position of assistant secretary, evidently created for Mr. Willmarth, remained vacant 
 except during the brief incumbency of Jonathan Goodwin, Jr., appointed in 1863, 
 till 1867, when it was permanently revived on the accession of William B. Clark to 
 the official corps. 
 
 Thomas Kimberly Brace, through whose influence and exertions mainly the 
 ^tna was brought into existence, warned by the infirmities of age, resigned the 
 presidency in 1857, and died June 14, i860, in his eighty-first year. Stephen Brace 
 (Bracey), the emigrant ancestor, came from London and settled in Hartford. His 
 grandson, lyientenant Jonathan, moved to Harwinton in 1733; Jonathan, Jr., born in 
 Harwinton, November 12, 1754, graduated at Yale College in 1779, studied law, ac- 
 quired a large practice in Central Vermont, but returned to Connecticut, and after 
 residing a while in Glastonbury took up his permanent abode in Hartford in 1794. 
 He was in public life forty-two years, less from choice than from solicitation of his 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 Thomas K. Brace was born October 16, 1779, graduated at Yale College in 1801, 
 and settling in Hartford built up the wholesale grocery house of T. K. Brace & Co. 
 He was mayor of the city, 1840-43, and in the latter year consented to run for Con- 
 gress on the Whig ticket, but was beaten by Col. Thomas H. Seymour. He was 
 nominated for a subsequent term, but declined in favor of James Dixon, who was 
 elected. Mr. Brace belonged to the safe and trusty order of men to whom others 
 instinctively turn for guidance. 
 
 Edwin G. Ripley succeeded Mr. Brace August 4, 1857. A New Hampshire boy, 
 Mr. Ripley emigrated to Hartford, where he learned the details of business in the 
 establishment of T. K. Brace & Co. Later he became partner of his uncle, Philip 
 Ripley, in the iron trade. He was elected secretary of the ^tna in June, 1853, and 
 vice-president a year later. He died August 26, 1862. Quiet but forceful, his words 
 were few, direct and convincing. He was one of the first to see the need of storing 
 up reserves wherewith to meet the heavy drains of hard times, and to open book
 
 
 FORMER PRESIDENTS /ETNA INSURANCE COMPANY.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 29 
 
 accounts with different classes of risks witli a view to learn the average cost of 
 carrying each. 
 
 On the loth of September following Thomas A. Alexander was elected president 
 and held the position till his death, March 29, 1866, although, broken in health by 
 continuous labor, he had resigned the previous October. Mr. Alexander entered the 
 service of the ^tna as a clerk in its New York agency in March, 1843. Upon the 
 resignation of A. G. Hazard in July, 1845, he was promoted to fill the vacancy. He 
 moved to Hartford in November, 1853,10 take the secretaryship of the company. 
 Having nearly reached the term of three-score years and ten he died at Bergen, N. 
 J., greatly respected and lamented. 
 
 In April, 1S52, Chillicothe, O., called for $1 i5,cx)0, and three months later Mon- 
 treal took $105,000. For the next ten years the company enjoyed remarkable im- 
 munity from large losses, considering the extent and magnitude of its business. 
 With the turn of the tide even the $163,000 required to settle the Portland claims in 
 July, 1866, and the $120,000 sent to Vicksburg in January-, 1867, did not perceptibly 
 interrupt the upward flow of assets. 
 
 Strangely enough the phenomenal prosperity of the company provoked internal 
 dissensions in regard to the disposition of profits. A party among the stockholders, 
 strong in number and influence, strenuously resisted the policy of accumulating a re- 
 insurance fund. Any deviation from the early practice of treating a premium as 
 fully earned the instant it reached the treasury, was denounced as a "new-fangled" 
 notion without justification in theory or fact. They demanded a distribution of all 
 earnings either in cash or in new shares which the recipient could convert into cash. 
 Reserves for reinsurance were not then required by law. Warned by the practices 
 and consequent failure of the Protection, the managers of the .Ijtna, long in advance 
 of legislative action, saw the fallacy of the reasoning and the danger of the method. 
 They urged that over and above the capital an insurance company should have a 
 fund large enough to reinsure outstanding risks. This view is now universally en- 
 forced by law and has become a truism of the trade, but early advocacy of the doc- 
 trine raised a tempest around the officers of the ^Etna. Fortunately they were sup- 
 ported by the dominant directors and won the fight. The decision of that contro- 
 versy plaved a large part in giving to Hartford its pre-eminence in underwriting. 
 
 A dealer, struck by the frequency of fires among his customers, asked Mr. Ripley 
 if the company made money on paper-mills. He could not answer the question, but 
 like Paul on the road to Damascus, saw a bright light. Several years in advance of 
 competitors he began to arrange statistics in regard to relative hazards, and the task 
 has been extended to cover ever>' kind of risk. Upon the fulness and accuracy of 
 the record must rest the claims of underwriting to a scientific basis, including the 
 fairness with which the burden of losses is distributed by means of a justly gradu- 
 ated scale of premiums. 
 
 In 1853 the general agent of the .^tna at Cincinnati prepared the first blank 
 proof of loss. In substantially the original form it has since come into universal use. 
 
 Not content with furnishing indemnity to an ever-widening circle of patrons, 
 the ^tna initiated the work of educating the public in art by publishing the first 
 chromo poster in 1855. The picture represented a steamer throwing a stream of 
 water upon a burning block. How deep in human nature lay the hitherto dormant 
 and unconscious appetite destined to be roused by the venture into omnivorous vo- 
 racity, was quickly disclosed through the abundance of aliment supplied tor its grat- 
 ification. 
 
 The company was the first to introduce the use of outline charts in 1857. Out
 
 30 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 of this germ grew the Sanborn maps, now an essential part of the equipment of all 
 large offices. 
 
 As far back as September, 1819, the ^?itna issued a book of instructions for the use 
 of its agents. It classifies risks, fixing the rate for each and excluding some as non- 
 insurable. It insists upon correct surveys as serving to expose frauds, prevent law- 
 suits, and secure truthfulness. Buildings and fixtures must not be estimated above 
 their worth in cash, and any proposal for more is of itself a cause of suspicion. The 
 rule is not to be enforced against personal property-, merchandise, etc., which is liable 
 to vary in kind and quantity. The insured is entitled to no more than the value of 
 the property proved to have been destroyed. The correctness of the rules laid down 
 in this little book — believed to be the oldest of the kind iu the country — has never 
 been successfully assailed, though attempts have been made through valued policy 
 laws and other schemes for the encouragement of robbery. 
 
 In April, 1866, Lucius J. Hendee was elected president and Jotham Goodnow, 
 secretan,'. November 20, 1867, William B. Clark was appointed assistant secretary. 
 
 In 1S35 the company bought of William H. Imlay, for $9,570, a lot on the north 
 side of State street, and proceeded to erect the block now containing three stores, 
 numbered 134-42. For its oflice it occupied No. 134 till the completion, in 1867, of 
 its present home in the brown-stone building on Main street. 
 
 By the Chicago fire of 1871 the .?5tna lost $3,782,000. To meet the impairment 
 the capital was reduced one-half, and immediately refilled by cash payments of 
 51,500,000. Thirteen months afterward the Boston fire absorbed $1,635,067 more, 
 and the inroad was made good by a further contribution of $1,000,000 from the 
 shareholders, making $2,500,000 furnished by them in a year to maintain the tech- 
 nical solvency of the company. After deductiug the losses at Chicago, over $2,600,- 
 000 of assets were left in the treasury exclusive of fresh contributions. 
 
 Mr. Hendee passed away September 4, 1888, aged seventy. He was born in 
 Andover, Conn., July 13, 18 18. He assisted his uncle, Abner Hendee, in his store in 
 Hebron, from 1836 till 1852, when he succeeded to the business. Both uncle and 
 nephew were faithful and trusted agents of the ^tna. While living in Hebron 
 Lucius J. took deep interest in the political controversies that led up to the war, 
 serving as State Senator in 1856, and as vState Treasurer three terms, 1858-61. July 
 3, 1861, he was elected secretary of the ^tna, and in April, 1S66, president, in both 
 cases succeeding Mr. Alexander. Under his administration the great reverses at 
 Chicago and Boston were met. After paying nearly $5,500,000 to the sufferers from 
 those two fires alone, the company came out of the ordeal stauncher and with higher 
 credit than ever before. Sincere and upright, genial and gentle, Mr. Hendee was 
 beloved by his associates both in office and out. 
 
 September 26, 1888, Jotham Goodnow was elected president ; William B. Clark, 
 vice-president ; Captain Andrew C. Bayne, secretary ; and James F. Dudley and Wil- 
 liam H. King, assistant-secretaries. 
 
 Mr. Goodnow died suddenly, November 19, 1892, at the age of seventy-one. He 
 came from Fall River to Hartford in 1856, was bookkeeper in the Hartford Bank till 
 1864, when he went to Rockville as cashier of the First National Bank. Soon after 
 he accepted the cashiership of the City Bank of New Haven, and iu 1866 the secre- 
 tar\'ship of the yEtna. His most impressive characteristic was unswerving devotion 
 to what he believed to be right. He detested evil-doing and fraud imder all forms 
 and guises. Love of right sometimes made him appear unduly iutolerant of wrong. 
 He served in the common council, not because the position was agreeable, but from 
 a desire to promote the public welfare. The positions he held best indicate the esti- 
 mate placed by others ui50ti his capacity.
 
 V\ce 
 
 pjes>' 
 
 ,dei«- 
 
 
 WM. B. CLARK, 
 Presid(.nt. 
 
 Ailis^::\"^'is 
 
 Stan, ,s, 
 
 '•^■^'eia 
 
 THE .-ETNA INSURANCE COMPANY OF HARTFORD.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 31 
 
 Erastus J. Bassett, adjuster for the yEtna since 1862, and widely known for lii'^ 
 skill in the profession, died July 27, 1891, at the age of seventy-one. Andrew C. 
 Bayne followed, October 12, 1S93. Although born in Scotland, he entered the mili- 
 tary service of the United States at the outbreak of the Civil War, and was wounded 
 five times, thrice seriously. He entered the regular army in 1866, and was retired 
 in '71. Before his call to the home office, he had served the com ])any as special 
 agent, with headquarters at Albany. 
 
 November 30, 1892, William B. Clark was elected president; and, December 7th, 
 A. C. Bayne, vice-president ; James F. Dudley, secretary ; and William H. King and 
 
 E. O. Weeks, assistant-secretaries. 
 
 The death of Captain Bayne brought further changes in the official corps. James 
 
 F. Dudley became vice-president ; William H. King, secretary ; and E. O. Weeks 
 and F. W. Jenness, assistant-secretaries. All these gentlemen are veterans in the 
 service of the company. Setli King, father of William H. , was enrolled in 1838, 
 and for ten years did all the clerical work in the office. His son followed in 1862, 
 and his grandson, F. E. King, in 1893. 
 
 President Clark was born in Hartford, June 29, 1S41. His father, A. N. Clark, 
 was manager and part-owner of the Conrant during and after the war. The son, 
 after serving a short time on the newspaper, in 1857 entered the office of the Phoenix 
 Fire, of which he became secretary in 1863. In 1867 he resigned to take the assis- 
 tant-secretaryship of the yEtna. On the death of Mr. Goodnow, the office of vice- 
 president, created in 1853 for Edwin G. Ripley, and after his promotion allowed to 
 remain vacant, except when filled for a brief interval in 1862-3 by Henry Z. Pratt, 
 was revived for Mr. Clark. Although still in the prime of life, in term of service he 
 is the oldest insurance official in the city, and even from early manhood has been 
 through the country recognized as one of the most competent men in the profession. 
 He has served as an alderman, and on the board of water commissioners, and as a 
 director is connected with several financial and benevolent institutions of the cit\-. 
 
 James F. Dudley, vice-president, was born in Hampden, Me., February i, 1841, 
 graduated at Bowdoin College, taught awhile, for several years conducted a local 
 insurance office at Bangor, Me. ; in 1874 became special agent for Pennsylvania for 
 the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, in 1876 took the special agency 
 for the ^'na for the same territory, and later for New York ; in 1885 returned to the 
 North British, acting as assistant manager in New York city when recalled to the 
 ^tnain 1888. 
 
 William H. King, secretary, both by inheritance and a.ssociation, seems to be 
 almost an integral part of the .F^tna. His father was connected with the company 
 over forty-four years. William H., born July 4, 1840, after a short term of service 
 during the war, entered the office of the .^tna in 1862, becoming second assistant 
 secretary in 1888, first assistant secretary in 1892, and secretary in 1893. Declining 
 attractive offers to go elsewhere, he has remained steadfast in attachment to the 
 institution to which his life-work has been devoted. 
 
 Egbert O. Weeks, assistant secretary, was born of New England parentage in 
 Pennsylvania, October 28, 1847. Beginning his work in insurance with the Wyom- 
 ing Company of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., he later became special agent of the Lancashire, 
 and of the Liverpool and London and Globe. In iMay, 1 883, he entered the service of 
 the ^■Etna with office at Wilkes-Barre. In 1889 he moved to Philadelphia, taking 
 supervision of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West \'irginia and the District ot 
 Columbia. He was one of the founders of the Underwriters' Association of the 
 middle department, serving almost continuously upon its Executive Committee, and 
 as president one term. He was called to the home office in December, 1892.
 
 32 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 F. C. Bennett, of Cincinnati, is general agent of the western branch ; William 
 H. Wyman, of Omaha, of the northwestern ; Boardman & Spencer, of San Francisco, 
 of the Pacific. 
 
 January i, 1897, the ^F^tna had gross assets of gn, 431, 184.21. After provid- 
 ing for all liabilities, actual and contingent, its capital of $4,000,000 is reinforced 
 by a net surplus of $3,849,988.05. 
 
 THE PROTECTION INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 Of all the early insurance companies of Connecticut, none began under such 
 favorable conditions as the Protection, of Hartford. It was incorporated in 1825. 
 The capital was to be not less than ^150,000, with the privilege of increase at 
 pleasure to any further sum not exceeding $500,000. Ten per cent, was required 
 at the time of subscription, and the remaining ninety per cent, within thirty days 
 was to be paid in notes secured by mortgage on real estate, or by approved indorse- 
 ments and payable thirty days after demand. Each stockholder was entitled to one 
 vote for every share up to one hundred, and at that limit his voting power ceased. 
 The corporation was authorized to make both marine and fire insurance. By an 
 amendment passed the next year the clause authorizing marine insurance was extended 
 to the hazards of inland navigation. All stockholders in the Hartford Insurance 
 Company had the special privilege of taking as many shares in the Protection as they 
 held in the Hartford, provided the privilege was exercised at the opening of the 
 books in June, 1825. The old company was forbidden to make any further insurance 
 from the time when its successor went into operation. 
 
 It will be seen that in direct line of descent the Protection inherited the tradi- 
 tions and good will of the first generation of underwriters in Hartford. Back in 
 1795, Jeremiah Wadsworth, John Caldwell, Sanford and Wadsworth, Elias Shipman 
 and John Morgan formed a copartnership "for the purpose of underwriting on 
 vessels, stock, merchandise, etc., by the firm of the Hartford and New Haven 
 Insurance Company." The year before some of the same parties, and probably all 
 of them except Shipman, issued policies as the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. 
 The combination did not last long. Having acquired an appetite for the business, 
 Shipman organized a corporation under his own management at New Haven in 
 1797. The partnership of Sanford and Wadsworth was dissolved in January, 1798, 
 and soon afterwards Sanford moved from the city. Beginning in 1799 with Ezekiel 
 Williams as manager, John Caldwell and John Morgan, in association with others 
 issued himdreds of marine policies, till, in 1803-4, the business was taken up by 
 the Hartford Insurance Company, which, in turn, was merged in the Protection in 
 1825, the last secretary of the Hartford becoming its first president. 
 
 Books for subscription were opened June 13, 1825, at the oflice of the Hartford 
 Insurance Company. The shares were quickly taken, and on the 22d of the same 
 month the stockholders elected the following board of directors : Solomon Porter, 
 Jeremiah Brown, William W. Ellsworth, Merick W. Chapin, James B. Hosmer, 
 Nathan Morgan, Henry Hudson, Roderick Terry, Edward Watkinson, James H. 
 Wells and Charles S. Phelps. On the same day the board elected William Woicott 
 Ellsworth president, and Thomas. Clap Perkins, secretary. 
 
 William W., son of Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth, was born November 10, 
 1791 ; graduated at Yale College in 1810; studied law; was elected three times to 
 Congress, but resigned before the close of his third term ; beginning in 1838, was 
 four times elected governor of Connecticut, and later judge of the Supreme Court 
 and of the Supreme Court of Errors, where he served till retired by law, at the age of 
 seventy. He died January 15, 1868.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 33 
 
 Tliomas Clap Perkins, secretary till 1S37, was born at Hartford, July 30, 1798; 
 graduated at Yale College in 1818, standing second in his class, and practiced law in 
 Hartford, where he rose to such eminence that he was employed on one side or the 
 other of nearly even,- important case that came before the courts. He declined an 
 appointment to the bench of the vSupreme Court of the state, preferring private prac- 
 tice to judicial honors. He died October 11, 1870. 
 
 Fortunate in lineage and its first executive officers, the company was equally 
 fortunate in meeting the man who built up its agency system at the West. Ephraim 
 Robins, a merchant, well educated, tall and attractive in person, elegant in manners, 
 systematic, conscientious, powerful with the pen and generally versatile in accom- 
 plishments, at the age of forty-one saw his property vanish in the cyclone of 1825. 
 Amid widespread ruin his eye fell upon a notice in a Hartford newspaper of the 
 formation of the Protection Insurance Company. Having lost by the perils of inland 
 navigation, his vision, further sharpened by mental pain, saw at once the utility and 
 beneficence of the scheme. With his own experience as a text to preach from he 
 felt that he had a call to go forth into the world to save others from the ruin that had 
 overtaken himself. 
 
 Son of Ephraim Robins, Sr., of Hartford, Conn., in 1797, at the age of thirteen, 
 he entered the employ of Harrison, Wilby & Co., of Boston, importers of English 
 queensware. Later he established a business in New York city, which he transferred 
 to Cincinnati in 1820. 
 
 When the possibilities of the West as a field for insurance flashed upon him he 
 hurried to Hartford, on the way working out the details of his scheme. Seeking 
 Mr. Perkins he presented the advantages certain, as he argued, to accrue to the com- 
 pany from the establishment of a branch agency at Cincinnati, in the heart of a new 
 and growing region, with the power of appointment, removal and supervision in the 
 hands of a competent general manager. 
 
 Both the secretary and the directors were convinced. Mr. Robins was accord- 
 ingly made general agent and put in charge of the western department. Returning 
 to Cincinnati September i, 1825, he rented for an office the vacant banking house of 
 the ]\Iiami Exporting Company. Selecting John P. Foote, a well and widely known 
 resident, he sent him out through Ohio and other states to select in important towns 
 the best available men for agents. These carefully instructed and trained, within a 
 few 3^ears, numbered two hundred and fifty, and from their general character gave a 
 high standing to the company. 
 
 The office in Cincinnati, furnished with the leading newspapers of the day and 
 warmed in winter by hickory logs burning in a broad open fire-place, was also a sort 
 of club room for the local chiefs of the Whig Party. It was frequented by General 
 William H. Harrison, Bellamy Storer, Judge Burnet, Isaac G. Burnet, DanielDrake, 
 Alphonso Taft, Nicholas Longworth and many others who met to talk over public 
 affairs. 
 
 In a business way the office became a normal school in which fire insurance in 
 progressive and systematized form was taught to employees and agents. 
 
 Mr. Robins died in 1846, having in the twenty years taken three millions in 
 premiums, of which ten per cent, on an average went to the company in profits. 
 
 Meanwhile changes occurred in the management. Mr. Ellsworth retired in 
 1836. Subsequent presidents were David F. Robinson, 1836-9; Hezekiah King, 
 1839-40; Eliphalet Averill, 1 840-1 ; Daniel W. Clark, 1841-54. Secretaries were 
 Thomas C. Perkins, 1826-37 ; James L. Goodwin, 1837-40 ; William Conner, 1840-54. 
 
 As the Protection was the pioneer in organizing the ageucv system on a com- 
 3
 
 34 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 preliensive scale, so it was the first to employ a special agent for the exclusive work 
 of travel, supervision and adjustment. In this capacity Mark Howard entered the 
 servdce of the company in 1846. Railways were then few. Mr. Howard traveled 
 east and west, north and south, from Maine to Louisiana, mostly by canal, stage and 
 steamboat. 
 
 The three Hartford companies then in existence suffered bitterly by the St. 
 Louis fire of 1849. The losses of the Protection exceeded $130,000, and coming as a 
 climax in a season of woeful disasters led the management to debate the question of 
 giving up the fight for life without further struggle. ]\Ir. Howard denounced the 
 proposal and volunteered to go in person to settle the claims, although cholera was 
 raging in the city. He found the streets deserted. Thousands had fled and scores 
 were dying daily. Undaunted he walked into the pestilence. Adjusting and paying 
 in full all claims against his own company and the ^tna, he added much to the 
 general confidence already felt in Hartford underwriters. 
 
 Correct theories of fire insurance, so far as a line of effort so uncertain and 
 variable can claim a scientific basis, have been developed slowly and enforced by 
 countless failures. During the first half of the century companies lived from hand 
 to mouth. When afl!"airs ran cheerfully, current profits were scattered in dividends. 
 Premiums at the instant of receipt were assumed to be fully earned. A few years 
 of continuous prosperity always saw the birth of a lot of weaklings that lived just 
 long enough to give a bad name to the business. To meet competition rates dropped 
 to levels that barely yielded living returns under the most favorable conditions. No 
 preparations were made for impending evils. Yet panics, followed by stagnation 
 and an enormous increase of the "moral hazard," succeed periods of hope and boom 
 as wave chases wave. Institutions had not then learned the imperative need of 
 piling up reserves in good times to meet the drains that bad times will surely bring. 
 Consequently the history of fire insurance during the first six decades of the century 
 is mostly a history of wreck and ruin. Those that survived the stage of ignorance 
 pulled through by virtue of the personal faith and courage of managers. 
 
 W. B. Robins succeeded his father in 1846, continuing in charge of the depart- 
 ment till the company susi^ended. Before the close four hundred agents reported 
 to him. During the eight years he took two millions in premiums, with a fair 
 average of profit. As St. Louis reported directly to the home office the adverse 
 balance arising from the fire of 1 849 was not charged against him. 
 
 Measured by the standard of local contemporaries the Protection exceeded the 
 average in mistakes. Exhaustive dividends were declared as a matter of course 
 whenever there was an apparent surplus. The management clung to losing lines. 
 They insured whaling ships after the industry was clearly doomed. They sought 
 the coasting trade despite continuous disaster. 
 
 A reported interview between President Clark and ]\Iark Howard exposes the 
 distress of the treasur\-. 
 
 "Have 3'ou made money on distilleries?" asked Mr. Howard. "No," replied 
 Mr. Clark, "we are far behind on them." 
 
 "Have you made money on paper-mills? " "No. On paper-mills the balance 
 is heavily against us." 
 
 "How is it with wholesale drug stores?" "Oh, on them we have lost right 
 along. ' ' 
 
 "Well, Mr. President, are you still insuring distilleries, paper-mills and whole- 
 sale drug stores?" "Yes, we are. He must have t/ie premtitms.'' 
 
 Mr. Howard saw the drift of affairs too clearlv not to forecast the inevitable.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 35 
 
 Loyal to the company, he at first remonstrated against the continuance of ruinous 
 methods, and when his warnings passed unheeded quietly withdrew. 
 
 In 1845 the capital was increased to ;g200,ooo, and in 1849 to the nominal sum 
 of §300,000, but grounded on the figures $291,800, and there held fast. During the 
 last years one-half was represented by stock-notes and one-half by cash. Final 
 statements to state authorities were strained to make as fair a showing as a certain 
 vague traditional regard for truth would permit. At last, on the 7th of September, 
 1854, amid heart-burnings and reproaches, aggravated by calls to pay the stock- 
 notes lodged in banks as security for loans, the suspension of the company was 
 formally announced. 
 
 The collapse of the Protection, by directing attention to both the strong and the 
 weak features of its policy, taught lessons that were not lost. Other Hartford com- 
 panies profited, not only by taking on a large share of its business, but by accessions 
 from its disbanding ranks of bright, energetic, well-trained agents. In the fall of 
 1^53) J- B. Bennett abandoned the sinking ship, and under contract with the ^tna 
 took full charge of its western business, with headquarters in Cincinnati. Young, 
 magnetic, and overflowing with mental resources, he pushed the work with unpre- 
 cedented vigor. In the next seventeen years the branch, through a thousand subor- 
 dinate agents, handled seventeen millions of premiums, of which over three and 
 one-half millions accrued to the home office in profits. F. C. Bennett, brother of 
 J. B. , and also a graduate of the Protection, has, since 1871, had charge of the 
 business of the >55tua in the Central West. Another graduate, H. M. Magill, a 
 versatile and accomplished underwriter, has long been general agent of the Phcenix, 
 of Hartford, managing from Cincinnati, its department made up of southern and 
 western states. Mark Howard organized the Merchants', and after the Chicago fire, 
 the National. The list might be extended to include notices of W. H. Wyman, 
 J. W. G. Simrall, Samuel E. Mack, J. C. Mitchell, J. C. Davies, and others of high 
 repute in the upbuilding of insurance interests in America. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INSURANCE IN C O NNEC TIC UT— Continued. 
 
 SECURITY INSURANCE COMPANY (NEW HAVEN). 
 
 'HIS company was chartered in 1841 as the IMutual Security, with the view 
 of doing business on both the stock and mutual plans. The latter feature 
 was abandoned in 1843. For a long time the paid capital remained 
 $50,000. In 1872 it was increased to gioo,ooo, and in '75 to §200,000. It 
 fortuuateh' escaped the great fires of Chicago and Boston. From 1S41 till 
 1872 the Security did mainly an ocean marine business, confining its fire risks to 
 New Haven and vicinity. It then made a radical change of policy, reducing its 
 marine risks to a small volume, and extending the fire business till it now has about 
 one thousand agencies, covering nearly all of the Eastern and Western states. Hav- 
 ing paid in losses §6,425,107, and dividends averaging over 8 per cent, annually for 
 fifty-six years, it had, January i, 1897, capital, §200,000; assets, §755,666; and net 
 surplus, §123,257. 
 
 §1
 
 36 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Presidents in snccession have been Joseph N. Clark, Theron Towner, Jnstns 
 Harrison, William Lewis, Willis Bristol, John S. Griffing, Charles Peterson and 
 Charles S. Leete. 
 
 H. Mason succeeded Philip S. Galpin as secretan,- and manager in 1871, and has 
 held the position since. 
 
 The company has been a favorite in New Haven, having from time to time in 
 its directorate many of her most prominent business men. 
 
 THE CITY FIRE (HARTFORD). 
 
 The company that came at last to be known as the "City Fire," of Hartford, 
 was long in getting a start and a name. Chartered in 1847 as the Connecticut 
 Mutual Fire, with the view of apiDlying the mutual principle to the insurance of 
 property in cities, it soon learned that this was not the kind of protection which 
 merchants and town residents desired. By an amendment secured in 185 1, the cor- 
 poration was authorized to raise a guaranty capital of not less than ^50,000, nor over 
 ^100,000. It began at the full limit. Ten per cent, was paid in cash, and 90 per 
 cent, secured by stock-notes. In 1S53 the name was changed to the Hartford City 
 Fire Insurance Company, but as the "Old Hartford" protested vigorously against 
 such enroachment upon its vested rights, the word Hartford was dropped the follow- 
 
 year. 
 
 The company did not organize for work prior to 1853. Leverett Brainard, who 
 has since in many ways been actively identified with the industries and institutions 
 of Hartford, moved thither to take the secretaryship, Ralph Gillett becoming presi- 
 dent. A careful policy was followed by uniform prosperity till, with few mistakes 
 to regret, it was suddenly destroyed by the Chicago fire of 1871. The capital was 
 increased to $150,000 in 1856, and two years later to $250,000, where it afterwards 
 remained. For 1870 its premiums reached $346,560. On the ist of January-, 1S71, 
 it had gross assets of $554,287, and a net surplus of ^69, 163. 
 
 Mr. Brainard resigned January i, 1858, to enter the partnership of Case, Lock- 
 wood S: Co., which has long been one of the leading printing and book-binding 
 houses in New England. He was succeeded by C. C. Waite, who left in 1S62, and is 
 better known in hotel than in insurance circles. William E. Baker was secretary' 
 1862-4, and George W. Lester, 1864-71. 
 
 Presidents were Ralph Gillett, H. D. Condict, C. B. Bowers, W. E. Baker and 
 C. T. Webster. 
 
 THE BRIDGEPORT FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 This company was incorporated in 1850, but did not organize until 1854. It be- 
 gan with a capital of $100,000, ten per cent, paid in cash and ninety per cent, in the 
 customary stock-notes. No shareholder was permitted to vote on over sixty shares 
 at annual or special meetings. Besides the ordinary fire risks it was authorized to 
 insure against perils of the seas and of inland navigation. In 1856 the capital was 
 increased to $300,000, and in 1857 the name was changed to the Bridgeport Insurance 
 Company. At the close of 1857 the company claimed to have assets valued at $367,- 
 000, with liabilities present and prospective of $70,000. At this juncture the comp- 
 troller of New York refused to renew its license to do business in that state, not on 
 account of the slight technical impairment of the capital, but because its securities 
 were of doubtful character. On the assurance of the officers that its afiairs were in 
 sound condition, the comptroller finally consented to recall his adverse decision on 
 the understanding that an agent of his own selection should be permitted to make a 
 full examination of its affairs. Early in February he appointed Samuel B. Ruggles.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 37 
 
 Nathaniel Green, acting president of the company, on the 17th of March submitted 
 to Mr. Ruggles his sworn statement that Joseph Richardson, an original director of 
 the company and still a director, had in 1S57 given to the company bonds of sound 
 corporations amounting to $98,000, in exchange for $26,000 of its own stock, and 
 $,150,000 in the stock of the Hudson Coiinty Paint Manufacturing Company, and that 
 the transfer was absolute and unconditional. To the affidavit Richardson appended 
 his certificate setting forth that the statements were correct. 
 
 Mr. Ruggles left Bridgeport apparently satisfied. A few days later Richardson, 
 trembling for the safety of his securities, turned iip in Albany for the purpose of 
 denying the truth contained in the affidavit and certificate. He alleged that he could 
 not read writing and had been deceived by Green. With this new light the commis- 
 sioner reported, April 20, 1858, that the company did not possess the amount of cap- 
 ital, ;$ 150,000, required by the statute, unimpaired to the extent of twenty-five per 
 cent., and that in his opinion its affairs were in an emphatically unsound condition. 
 From the evidence submitted by Mr. Ruggles the comptroller was convinced that 
 nearly all the assets of the company of much real value were not in fact the propert}' 
 of the institution. He accordingly revoked the certificate given conditionallv a few 
 months before. 
 
 In 1857 the company was excluded from Massachusetts, the commissioners ex- 
 plicitly cautioning the public against making any further engagements with it. 
 
 Driven from two important states, and discredited elsewhere, it went into insol- 
 vency May 27, 1858. Philo C. Calhoun was appointed trustee. 
 
 Presidents were P. :M. Thorp, H. W. Chatfield, Thomas E. Courteney and 
 Nathaniel Green. Secretaries : J. H. Washburn and Timothy Hough. 
 
 THE CITY INSURAN'CE CO:\:PANY OF NEW HAVEN 
 was incorporated in 1850, with a capital of $100,000. Before proceeding to business, 
 the subscribers were required to pay in ten per cent., to deposit securities for forty per 
 cent., and to give personal securit}- for the balance. At first the company was em- 
 powered to issue policies against loss by fire and inland navigation, but in 1855 
 marine risks of ever>- kind were expressh- prohibited. Wells Southworth was the 
 first president, and Henn," L,. Cannon, secretarj'. For a number of years they made 
 money, but about the time the war ended the tide had turned and the managers 
 reasoned that their interests would be best served by retiring from the field. Having 
 decided on this course, they closed the aff"airs of the company, paying in full all 
 claims and 140 per cent, on the cash investment to stockholders. 
 
 For nearly ten years the charter lay dormant. In 1874 it was purchased b}' 
 James M. IMason, E. J. I\Iason and H. Mason, and the company was revived under 
 the presidency of James M. Mason. The subscribers paid in the capital, as required 
 by the original act, $50,000 in cash and in pledges of securities, and $50,000 in stock- 
 notes. It confined its operations to the home field, and, after a trial of two years, 
 again retired from business without loss of principal to the parties who risked their 
 mone}' to repeat the experiment. 
 
 THE CONNECTICUT FIRE INSURANCE COMP.A.NY (HARTFORD). 
 
 This institution was organized in June, 1850, with a capital of $200,000, of 
 which ten per cent, was paid in cash, and ninety per cent, in stock-notes. On the 
 29th of the month the stockholders elected as directors Joseph Trumbull, Benjamin 
 W. Greene, James B. Hosmer, David F. Robinson, Julius Catlin, Harvey Seymour, 
 Edwin D. IMorgan, James Dixon, Edmund G. Howe, Tertius Wadsworth, Timothy
 
 38 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 M. Allen, John h- Bnnce and Edson Fessenden. The same day Benjamin W. Greene 
 was elected president, and, July 4th, John B. Eldredge was appointed secretarj'. 
 
 By a policy deliberately adopted and consistently pursued, the management 
 restricted the operations of the company to non-hazardous risks, subordinating am- 
 bition for large receipts to desire for safetN'. For similar reasons, agencies were 
 planted with caution, and chiefly in towns with well-equipped fire departments. By 
 the end of June, 1855, total dividends in cash amounted to gio. 5oper share, while 
 $15.00 per share had been endorsed on the stock-notes. At this time the directors 
 voted to raise the cash capital to f 100,000 by calling for an instalment of twenty-five 
 percent., payable on or before July 28th. Thenceforward it became the settled 
 policy of the company to extinguish the stock-notes by the application of net earn- 
 ings, which were devoted exclusively to that end. On the i6th day of July, 1859, 
 the task was accomplished, and the shares became fully paid, sixty-five per cent, 
 having been contributed from profits. At the end of the year assets in round num- 
 bers amounted to $231,000; liabilities, including re-insurance reserve, to $32,600; 
 gross premiums for 1859, to $78,000 ; and gross income, to $90,000. 
 
 At the end of the first decade the company had made enough on a small but 
 carefully conducted business, to virtually pay ninety per cent, in instalments on the 
 stock. It had sixty-three agents, a surplus of about $4,000, and a premium income 
 of less than $80,000. 
 
 In October, 1865, Benjamin W. Greene resigned, and Mr. Eldredge was elected 
 president. i\Ir. Greene had been an active director in the Protection, and had earn- 
 estly but vainly protested against the policy which ended in its destruction. He 
 was born in 1801 at Uxbridge, Mass. At the age of fourteen he moved to Windsor, 
 Vt., and thence to Hartford, where he had a saddle and harness factory on Pratt 
 street, with James B. Hosmer for a silent partner. Warned by the fate of the Pro- 
 tection, he studiously shunned its errors. Of his conservatism it was facetiously 
 said that if he insured a load of pig iron in a ten-acre lot, he would lie awake nights 
 fearing it would take fire from spontaneous combustion. He died soon after his 
 resignation. 
 
 Martin Bennett, who, fresh from college, entered the service of the company as 
 general agent and adjuster in August, i860, was elected secretary, October 23, 1865. 
 Two years later, in December, 1867, Charles R. Burt was made assistant secretarj-. 
 
 In 1 87 1, after twenty years of continuous prosperity, the company was brought 
 to the brink of destruction by the Chicago fire. Its losses far exceeded its assets. 
 Payment in full was out of the question. Two courses only lay before it, either to 
 go into bankruptcy and give up all, including good will and a well-established busi- 
 ness, or to compromise with the policy-holders in that city. Amid the confusion 
 and jar of conflicting interests a committee of seven had been selected to represent 
 the sufferers. They were men of such character and standing that their decision was 
 accepted as final. To them were presented the proposals of the companies that had 
 anything to offer between complete surrender and payment in full. M. Bennett, Jr., 
 its secretary, made a determined effort to secure a settlement for the Connecticut and 
 succeeded. The facts were a matter of record. Official returns showed assets and lia- 
 bilities on the first of January. Nine months of ordinary business could not greatly 
 change the figures. So far as the local situation was concerned, the committee had a 
 list of the policies, and of the loss inider each. If the company went on, it must carrj' 
 all the risks on its books, and pay in full subsequent losses. Two apparent elements 
 of uncertainty entered into the question : the effect on prices of the large outpour of 
 securities from companies forced into insolvency, and the fatality of existing risks.
 
 BENJAMIN W. GREENE, 
 President 1850-1865, 
 
 CHAS, K. IJURT, 
 Secretary. 
 
 JOHN B. ELDRID(iK. 
 President 1865-1S73. 
 
 JOHN D. BROWNE, 
 P resident. 
 
 MARTIN P.ENNET'l 
 President 1873- 
 
 L. W. CLARK. 
 
 Ass't Secretary. 
 
 .\ WIM.I.VMS, 
 Late Western JNLuiagcr. 
 
 CONNECTICUT FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 39 
 
 Mr. Bennett believed that the company could pay thirty-five per cent, and go on. 
 Tlie committee, after a careful examination, concluded that the proposal was fair to 
 all parties and accordingly endorsed it. Policy-holders accepted the decision as 
 equitable, the money was paid, and thus the Connecticut was enabled to save both 
 its charter and its plant. 
 
 During the next few months general conditions greatly favored the insurance 
 interest. The absorption of securities by newly-formed companies, and by the fresh 
 capital put into those that sur\nved, held up prices beyond expectation and thus 
 added to the salvage. On account of higher rates and diminished facilities the 
 insured carried an increased percentage of risks, and hence used greater care in 
 guarding against fire. For a time premiums rose above and losses fell below the 
 average. From both cairses the Connecticut derived unforeseen benefits from its 
 settlement. 
 
 Underwriters were taught by the hard lesson, that the day of small companies 
 had gone to return no more, and accordingly, after the removal of the dibris, the 
 Connecticut reorganized with a fully paid capital of $500,000. A year later, the 
 Boston conflagration called for $132,580, but within a few weeks the premium income 
 more than repaired the loss. January 28, i^^j^^ Mr. Eldredge resigned the presidency. 
 The same day Martin Bennett was elected to fill the vacancy, and Charles R. Burt 
 was made secretary'. On the 28th of the following June, James H. Brewster was 
 elected assistant secretary-. 
 
 Mr. Eldredge remained an active member of the directory till his death in June, 
 1882. In early life he was connected with the press, having edited the Connecticut 
 Sentinel^ in New London, and the Springfield Whig. In 1835 he established in 
 Hartford the Patriot and Democrat^ which was later merged in the State Eagle and 
 under that name expired in 1842. He was appointed marshal for the state in 1840, 
 and after retiring from office engaged in the boot and shoe trade. During life he 
 gave to various charities with a liberal hand and left a large estate. 
 
 In November, 1876, the company voted to increase the capital to $1,000,000. 
 An extra dividend of $20 per share was voted in December to apply on the new 
 stock, and the remaining eighty per cent, was paid in cash. On January i, 1877, its 
 statement showed a net surplus of over eighteen per cent, on the enlarged capital. 
 
 After twenty years of continuous and faithful service Mr. Bennett resigned the 
 presidency October 11, 18S0, to take the general management for the United States 
 of the Lion and Scottish Union. Mr. Brewster also resigned the same day. On 
 the 1 6th J. D. Browne was elected president. February i, 1881, L. W. Clark, late 
 president of the Meriden Insurance Company, was elected assistant secretary-. 
 
 Born at Plainfield, Conn., August 26, 1836, at the age of twenty-one Mr. Browne 
 moved to ^Minneapolis, where with youthful ardor he engaged in business. He was 
 selected to take the electoral vote of Minnesota to Washington in the fall of i860. 
 During the administration of President Lincoln be was chief clerk in the office of 
 the surveyor-general of public lands at St. Paul. In 1865 Mr. Browne returned to 
 the East, becoming general agent and adjuster for the Hartford Fire Insurance Com- 
 pany in 1867. Three years later he was elected secretar}^ of the company, and held 
 the position till called to the presidency of the Connecticut. 
 
 The home office of the Connecticut, completed in 1885, is one of the most 
 notable structures in the city, combining beauty and utility to a degree rarely 
 attained. The location at the corner of Prospect and Grove streets, within a block of 
 City Hall Square on the north, and Main street on the west, is central, quiet, and in 
 every way desirable. It is built of brick, brown stone and terra cotta, after the
 
 40 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Byzantine style of architecture, fifty-eight by one hundred and twenty feet, two 
 stories in height, with an hexagonal tower of three stories, every part of which is 
 utilized. The general office, forty by forty-five, with ceiling twenty feet high, 
 lighted and ventilated on three sides, is not only admirably adapted to the present 
 requirements of the business, but will answer equally well, when its magnitude shall 
 have expanded four or five fold. Directly in the rear of this is placed the vault, 
 twenty feet square on the floor, and twenty-two feet high, so arranged with galleries 
 and light stair-cases as to afford a maximum of available and easily accessible space. 
 Underneath is a second vault of equal length and breadth, which will ultimately be 
 needed for storage purposes. The vestibule, the rooms of the directors and president, 
 and the large clerical room, all finished in hard woods, are models of quiet elegance. 
 The company occupy the entire building, and all the supplies of a large insurance 
 company can be prepared for shipment within its walls. Built upon land advantage- 
 ously purchased at a time when the cost of material and labor was low, the enterprise 
 has proved profitable in giving every desirable convenience at the equivalent of a 
 small rental. 
 
 Since the date of reorganization in 1871, the history of the Connecticut is the 
 record of uninterrupted progress, which, though bare of dramatic incidents, is of a 
 kind to bring contentment to patrons and solid satisfaction to shareholders. The 
 books show gross assets of 51,483,480.02, ;g2, 347,692. 99 and ^3, 300,017.88 on the ist 
 of January for the years 1880, 1890 and 1S97 respectively ; and at the same dates a 
 net surplus of ^209,662.34, ^522, 254.96 and;g668,33i.50, and for the years preceding 
 the above dates premiums of $399,348.07, ;$i, 069,531, 04 and ^1,724,851.53. 
 
 For twelve years prior to January i, 1897, all dividends were paid exclusively 
 out of income from assets, and a balance of over $325,000 from this source alone 
 was added to the general fund for the protection of policy-holders. 
 
 Charles R. Burt, secretary, has been identified with the company from boyhood, 
 having, after an active connection with the local agency for several years, entered 
 the office as clerk in 1S65, at the age of twenty. In December, 1867, he was made 
 assistant secretary, and in January, 1873, secretan.'. Though still in the prime of 
 manhood, he is a patriarch among local underwriters, very few surviving who were 
 active in the business when he joined the ranks. 
 
 L. Walter Clark, born in Cornwall, Conn., entered the insurance field in 1S65, as 
 special agent for the Home of New Haven. Shortly before the Chicago fire of 1871 
 he took the \ice-presidency of the Enterprise of Philadelphia, which went down 
 through losses incurred by that calamity. After a brief term as special agent with 
 the Springfield Fire and Marine, he accepted the presidency of the Meriden, but 
 resigned in 1881 to enter the Connecticut. 
 
 Abram Williams, a man of mature judgment, who had been at the head of the 
 western department from the time of its formation, died at Chicago in January, 1897. 
 
 Robert Dickson manages the Pacific department, from San Francisco. The 
 business of the Atlantic and Gulf states, inclusive of Ohio, is managed from the 
 home office. 
 
 THE PHCENIX FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY (H.\RTFORD). 
 
 In 1853 the late Henry Kellogg was bookkeeper of the Connecticut Mutual Life. 
 On the death of its Boston agent, he applied for the vacant place, believing that he 
 had fairly earned promotion. To his chagrin, the situation was given to another, 
 whose record for the company was yet to be made. By way of explanation, he was 
 told that he could not be spared from the position he then held. Sensitive, ambi- 
 tious, and conscious of capacity, he concluded that if his services were so valuable to
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 41 
 
 others, the time had come to make them more vahiable to himself. On a survey of 
 the fiekl, lie felt that a new fire insurance company in Hartford could be made a suc- 
 cess — possibly a striking success. Friends caught his enthusiasm, and ])romised 
 their aid. Thus encouraged, he selected the corporators of the Phcenix, drew the 
 charter, and saw it safely through the legislature. 
 
 By the terms of the charter the capital was placed at not less than S 100,000, 
 •with the privilege of increase to any sum not exceeding $300,000. Books were 
 opened by the corporators June 2i, 1854, and stock to the amount of 5 100,000, the 
 limit agreed upon, was subscribed at once. The same day the subscribers elected 
 the following directors: Chester Adams, Erastus Smith, Nathan I\I. Waterman, John 
 A. Butler, William Faxon, Samuel B. Beresford, Elisha T. Smith, James C. Walk- 
 lev, Lyman Stockbridge, Edwin T. Pease, Joseph Merriman, Nathaniel H. Morgan 
 and Ral^jli Chene}-. 
 
 Before adjournment the stockholders voted to increase the capital to $200,000. 
 One week later, June 28th, the books were reopened and the additional shares eagerly 
 taken. There were then one hundred and three separate subscriptions. 
 
 Mr. Kellogg took the secretaryship with the view of making the development of 
 the enterprise the work of his life. As a matter of convenience Nathaniel H.Mor- 
 gan consented to act as president temporarily till a man possessing the requisite 
 technical knowledge and other needed qualities could be found. Mr. Morgan, the 
 fourteenth of seventeen children, was born June 8, 1805, in Salem, then a part of 
 Colchester, whence the family moved to Lebanon in 18 14. Having settled in Hart- 
 ford, as merchant, captain in the coasting trade, a trusted servant of the town in dif- 
 ferent offices, a student of genealogy and local histon.-, he filled a long life with a 
 gi-eat variety of useful work. Through his efforts the Halls of Record were built at 
 the corner of Pearl and Trumbull streets. 
 
 At the time of subscription $10 per share were paid in cash, and soon after the 
 remaining ninety per cent, was secured by stock-notes. At the end of the first j'car, 
 or more exactly June 27, 1S55, Simeon L- Loomis was elected president. From the 
 yEtna he had gone to New York city to organize the Home Insurance Company, but 
 gladly accepted the invitation to return to Hartford. Messrs. Loomis and Kellogg, 
 working in complete harmony, mapped out the policy which the company has since 
 pursued without deviation or faltering. On the failure of the Protection in September, 
 1854, the Phcenix secured some of its best men at the West and a fair share of its 
 business. Strengthened by the profits of the first year the president and secretary 
 determined not to confine operations to our cities or older settlements, but to occupy 
 as fully as possible the long fringes of our frontiers. The Phcenix took the lead in 
 planting agencies up and down the Pacific coast. Till then merchants and others 
 even hundreds of miles distant were compelled to procure insurance through their 
 correspondents in San Francisco. The brothers R. H. and H. IM. Magill were 
 speciallv active in pre-empting territory on both sides of the Rocky IMountains. 
 
 L^ulike its elder brothers, the Hartford and yEtna, the Phcenix did not pass 
 through a prolonged period of infancy, but by a few stalwart bounds leaped into the 
 strength and responsibilities of manhood. On the 15th of June, 1S55, a dividend of 
 $20,000 was endorsed on the stock-notes, and six months later a second ot equal 
 amount was similarly applied. 
 
 But the exigencies of the situation did not permit the delay required to pay the 
 stock- notes out of profits even at the rate of ten per cent, semi-annually. Numerous 
 failures among fire insurance companies gave rise in various quarters to more strin- 
 gent legislation, and several of the states passed laws permitting only those whose
 
 42 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 capitals were fully paid in cash to do business Avithin their borders. Accordingly, on 
 the 25th of February, 1856, the directors voted to call in the remaining seventy per 
 cent., and by the 28th of March the money was all in the treasury. 
 
 Having obtained legislative permission, the capital was increased to $400,000, 
 in June, 1859, one-half contributed from profits and one-half called in cash. It was 
 again increased in 1864 to $600,000 by an issue of new shares at par. 
 
 Mr. Loomis passed away August 23, 1863, beloved by his associates and highly 
 respected by the commimity. He was a skillful underwriter, versed in the intricacies 
 of the profession, cautious yet bold, careful in forming plans, but vigorous in push- 
 ing them. He was an admirable correspondent, and if occasion required could 
 discipline an agent so gently and dexterously that the victim often took the lesson 
 with pleasure as well as profit. 
 
 August 27, 1863, Mr. Kellogg was elected president and William B. Clark 
 secretary. In 1867 Mr. Clark went to the yEtna, and was succeeded, December ist, 
 by D. W. C. Skilton. The same day George H. Burdick was elected assistant 
 secretary. Asa W. Jillson was made vice-president in April, 1864. 
 
 In 1871 the Phoenix had accumulated over $1,900,000 of solid assets, which 
 enabled it to pay in full at Chicago losses, under two hundred and eighty policies, 
 amounting to ^937,219.23. At the request of President Kellogg, Marshall Jewell, a 
 large stockholder and a director, happening to be in Detroit at the time, hurried 
 thither to look after the interests of the company. A feeling of despair pervaded 
 the city. Thousands of homeless people were encamped on the outskirts, without 
 money, withovit hope, and almost without clothing and food. In a calamity so 
 unlooked for and so overwhelming, and hence so far removed from the hazards con- 
 templated in the business of underwriting, the sufferers believed their policies to be 
 nearly or quite worthless. Press dispatches, laden with painful rumors, deepened 
 the despondency. 
 
 On the morning of October 13th Governor Jewell stood on the banks of the 
 river overlooking three thousand flame-swept acres from which a mighty city had 
 vanished. Around was a surging, sullen, half-crazed, despairing crowd, which seemed 
 to feel that even the foundations of the earth were crumbling with the destruction of 
 their fortunes. Aware that the Phoenix had both the means and the will to meet 
 every claim. Governor Jewell, not less prompt to act than quick to see, lost no 
 time in making known the purpose of the company. Mounted on a dry-goods box 
 with a smile in itself a benediction, he announced that the Phcenix would pay all 
 losses in full, and off"ered to draw his check on the spot for any claim approved by 
 H. M. Magill, general agent of the western department. Shortly policy No. 10,752, 
 for $10,000, was presented by Isaac C. Day, when, as director, Mr. Jewell drew on 
 the company for the full amount, less interest for two months — the term allowed 
 for jDayment. 
 
 Though the remarks of Governor Jewell contained no suggestion of oratorical 
 display, no other speech ever delivered in the Lake City compressed into a few words 
 so much cheer and helpfulness, or changed so quickly and effectively the temper of the 
 people. The draft bears date October 13, 1871. Immediately the Triltit /le drop-ped 
 from its window a hugh placard, announcing that the Phceni.x, of Hartford, had 
 begun to pay its losses in full. As the news spread from one to another, the multi- 
 tude cheered, and cried, and laughed by turns. From overburdened hearts the 
 vapors began to roll away, as even then clouds of smoke were drifting from the 
 scene, and, as if her baptismal name had been selected in anticipation of the event, 
 both company and city rose from the ashes stronger than before.
 
 NATHANIEL H. MORGAN. 
 President 1854-55. 
 
 SIMKON i.. LOOMIS 
 President 1855-63. 
 
 D. W. C. SK.I1.T0N, 
 Presidtiit, 
 
 J. H. MITCHELL. 
 
 Vice-President. \j| 
 
 HENRY KELLOGO, 
 President 1363-91. 
 
 JOHN P.. KN(.)X. 
 Assistant Secretary. 
 
 EDWARD MILLIGAN, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 THE PHC^NIX INSURANCE COMPANY.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 43 
 
 The 8th and qth of October, 1S71, are also memorable in insurance annals on 
 account of the simultaneous forest fires in IMichigan and Wisconsin, which drew from 
 the coffers of the Phcenix #50, 176.73, making the total losses for the two days 
 5987,395.96, or one hundred and sixty-four per cent, on its capital stock. After 
 meeting without delay these extraordinary demands, the company had nearly a 
 million of assets left, but to repair the reserves required by law, the capital was 
 reduced December i, one-half, to $300,000, and immediately restored through subscrip- 
 tion of stockholders. Although the Boston fire, November 10, 1872, called for 
 $385,956.18 more, the burden was met without assistance from the shareholders. 
 
 January i, 1876, the company had gross assets of over $1,900,000 and a net sur- 
 plus of $385,000. Six months later the capital was raised to a million, an extra 
 dividend of fifteen per cent., or $90,000, having been applied toward payment of the 
 new issue. In 1881 it was made two millions by cash subscriptions. 
 
 The company was organized in a rear room of the office of Wm. H. Imlay, on 
 the second floor of "Union Hall," afterwards demolished to make place for the 
 building of the Connecticut Mutual Life. For a few months the same room was 
 used for an office, till in December quarters were taken at No. 275 Main street, on the 
 second floor. In December, 1862, the office was moved to "Hill's Block," No. 333 
 Main street. To secure the facilities required for a rapidly growing business the com- 
 pany decided to build, and in November, 1873, moved into the ample quarters which 
 it owns as well as occupies. 
 
 From enfeebled health Mr. Jillson resigned in August, 1S88, and died April 21, 
 1893. Born in Boston in April, 1823, he spent most of his early life in Willimantic, 
 Conn., the Jillson family having been largely the pioneers in building up the manu- 
 factures of that thriving borough. For fifteen years from 1847 he was agent for the 
 Connecticut Mutual Life, and for two )-ears agent of the Hartford Fire. 
 
 For the same cause Mr. Kellogg also practically retired from all active partici- 
 pation in the affairs of the company in August, 1888, but remained honorary presi- 
 dent till his death, Januarj' 21, 1S91. He was born of sea- faring stock at East Hart- 
 ford, September 9, 1820. In early life he was clerk on the Vanderbilt steamboats. 
 In 1849 he entered the office of the Connecticut Mutual Life. From 1854 his 
 energies were devoted to the company which he founded and ardently loved. Active 
 in organizing the National Board of Underwriters, he always sacredlv observed 
 every express and implied obligation which' membership involved. In the conduct 
 of the Phceni.x there was never the slightest discrepancy between profession and 
 practice. When Mr. Kellogg subscribed to an agreement it was with the intention 
 of keeping it both in letter and in spirit. Independent himself, he liked independ- 
 ence in others, and was pleased to have his own views couibatted bv an intelligent 
 adversary. Acting the part of a public-spirited citizen he was connected with 
 various enterprises, having held among other places the presidency of the Hartford 
 Trust Company. 
 
 D. W. C. Skilton was elected vice-president and acting president August i, 
 1888, and retained the secretar\'sliip till September nth, when George H. Burdick 
 was promoted to that position. Born at Plymouth Hollow, Conn., January 11, 1S39, 
 Mr. Skilton came to Hartford in 1S55, and after a probation of six years in the drj'- 
 goods trade entered the office of the Hartford Fire, October 24, 1861. In August, 
 1862, he enlisted, was appointed second lieutenant, and at the expiration of the term 
 of service was mustered out as first lieutenant, when he returned to his former 
 place which had been retained for him. Of the National Board of Underwriters, 
 Mr. Skilton was three years secretary ; seven, vice-president ; and three, president.
 
 44 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Mr. Skilton has always been a firm believer in the efficacy of organized effort and 
 hence has cheerfully given much time and thought to the upbuilding of the National 
 association. He entered it so early and has maintained the connection so closely 
 that nearly every representative whom in those days he was wont to meet has passed 
 away, and present members, though no younger than himself, regard him as a veteran. 
 He Avas selected by the New York City Association of Underwriters to represent the 
 Connecticut companies on the committee which prepared the standard policy for 
 fire insurance. By many states this form has been adopted and made obligatory. 
 
 J. H. Mitchell was elected second vice-president September ii, 1888, and vice- 
 president February 2, 1891 ; Charles E. Galacar, assistant secretary March 10, 1888, 
 and second vice-president February 2, 1891 ; John B. Knox, assistant secretar}' Octo- 
 ber I. 1891. 
 
 Up to January i, 1897, the Phoenix had received for premiums $65,137,672.81 
 and paid in losses ^39,739,174.81, or by decades : 
 
 PREMIUMS. LOSSES PAID. 
 
 First year, $39.053-74 $12,745.29 
 
 Tenth year, 463,419.28 285,614.06 
 
 Twentieth year, 1,512,710.02 760,255.95 
 
 Thirtieth year, 2,038,470.52 1,290,20481 
 
 Fortieth year, 3,507,580.82 2.206,976.70 
 
 Assets at the end of the first, tenth, twentieth, thirtieth and fortieth \-ears were 
 ,$212,896.61, $925,902.97, $1,852,894. 12, $4,316,957.91, 55,588,058.07 respectively, and 
 January i, 1897, $5,320,265.42, with a net surplu.s, $730,5ii,57- 
 
 George Harrison Burdick, born at Granville, N. Y., December 17, 1841, after a 
 partial course at college, at the age of nineteen entered the office of the Phcenix, 
 where, as clerk, assistant secretary and secretary, he spent the remaining years of his 
 life. He died suddenly at Heidelberg, Germany, July 2, 1896, having left home 
 about a month before. 
 
 Mr. Galacar resigned in the fall of 1896 to take the vice-presidency of the 
 Springfield Fire and Marine. Officers, January i, 1897, were D. W. C. Skilton, 
 president ; J. H. Mitchell, vice-president ; Edward Milligan, secretary, and John B. 
 Knox, assistant secretar}'. 
 
 Capt. J. H. Mitchell was born in Venango county, Penna. ; served in the late 
 war ; shared in several battles, including Chancellorsville and Gettysburg ; was after- 
 wards a merchant ; entered the insurance business about a quarter of a century ago, 
 first as local and later as special agent of the Niagara ; joined the special corps of the 
 Phcenix in 1884, and came to the home office, as above described. 
 
 Edward Milligan, born at Haddonfield, N. J., June i, 1862, began work while a 
 boy as clerk in the local insurance agency of Kremer &: Durban, of Philadelphia ; 
 was later surveyor of the .Etna, of Hartford, in the same cit)- ; in November, 1888, 
 became special of the Phoenix for the middle department, and was elected secretary' 
 in September, 1896. 
 
 John B. Knox, born in Hartford, April 30, 1857, after one 5'ear in the local 
 insurance agency of W. F. Rice & Co., entered the office of the Phoenix September 
 '5) 1873, and having been clerk, adjuster and special agent for Western New Eng- 
 land, was elected assistant secretary September 24, 1891. 
 
 The Phoenix has three departments. H. M. Magill conducts the Western from 
 Cincinnati ; A. E. Magill the Pacific, from San Francisco ; and Smith & Tateh-, the 
 Canadian from ^Montreal.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 45 
 
 THE STATE FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW HAVEN. 
 
 The above company was incorporated in 1855. The capital stock was fixed at 
 not less than Sioo,ooo, with the privilege of increase to any sum not exceeding 
 $200,000. Subscribers were required to pay an installment of ten per cent, at the 
 time of subscribing, and within sixty days thereafter to secure the payment of the 
 remaining ninety per cent, either by mortgages of real estate or by endorsed prom- 
 issory notes, payable within ninety days after demand, by order of the directors. The 
 board was also empowered, at discretion, to require payment in cash on the ninety 
 per cent, thus secured. 
 
 For about two years the charter was unused. In the summer of 1857 the com- 
 pany came before the public by opening an office in New Haven. Nothing in its 
 records throws any light upon the time, place, or manner of organization. It started 
 with a nominal capital of $150,000, all held by New York parties. This was made 
 up of mortgages, of a character to be described hereafter, to the extent of $102,500, 
 and of endorsed promissory- notes amounting to $47,500. Thus far not a dollar in 
 cash had found its way into the treasury of the concern, yet certificates for full paid 
 stock were issued to the manipulators. 
 
 In November, 1857, the directors voted to increase the capital to $200,000, and 
 appointed a committee to attend to the matter, which reported on the 8th of Febru- 
 ary- following, that the additional capital was all received and in possession of the 
 company. 
 
 Meanwhile, at a meeting of the directors held January 5, 1858, a committee, of 
 which Benjamin Noyes was the active spirit, was appointed to dispose of fresh stock 
 to the extent of $47,500, to take the place of a like amount embraced in the original 
 oiitput, and represented in the assets by promissory' notes. Through some under- 
 standing with the New York parties, their certificates were returned in exchange for 
 their personal obligations. Noyes presented the prospects of the enteqjrise in such a 
 rosy light that sundry persons were induced to come into it in a somewhat vague and 
 shadowy way. Under the proposed arrangement new subscribers were to draw 
 double income — dividends on the insurance stock issued to them and also on the 
 collaterals of which they still retained ownership, though apparently turning them into 
 the treasury in payment of their subscriptions. 
 
 On the 1st of April, 1858, a single share of stock each was issued without con- 
 sideration, to eleven citizens of New Haven to qualify thein to act as directors. Most 
 of the gentlemen singled out for the distinction were not notified by the officers, and 
 perhaps some first heard of it when threatened with suits. Early in 1858 the com- 
 pany advertised for btisiness in the local papers and in printed circulars. 
 
 Having at length started upon its short but stormy career the company applied 
 for a license to do business in Massachusetts, which was granted April 9, i860. 
 
 Its financial statement was presented to the commissioners by Mr. Augustus O. 
 Brewster, the first incumbent of the newly created office, and a relative of a leading 
 director. On a capital of $200,000 the gross assets were set down at $250,795, and 
 the net surplus at $8,081. The list of securities looked irreproachable, including 
 among the items bank and railway stocks and bonds exceeding $75,000, issued by 
 institutions of well-known strength. Loans on mortgages of real estate reached 
 $138, 100, and were said by I\Ir. Brewster to be on city property in New Haven and 
 New York. With childlike confidence in human nature he had, without due 
 inquin,-, accepted as true the representations made by Benjamin Noyes, both a 
 director and a kinsman. The statement was sworn to before a notary by John B.
 
 46 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Robertson, president, and G. Farnham Stevens, secretary. Of the twenty directors, 
 seventeen resided in New Haven, several of whom were obviously selected, not to 
 share in knowlege or conduct of the business, but to impart to it by reflected light an 
 air of respectability. 
 
 The statement for November i, iS6o, seemed to indicate marked improvement 
 during the inter\'al in the condition of the company, gross assets having increased 
 to $278,41 1.92, and the net surplus to $24,313. 26. 
 
 In June, 1861, Secretary Stevens suddenly disappeared from New Haven. The 
 news did not reach the office of the insurance commissioner in Boston, through the 
 loudness of the local outcry, btit came several weeks later in letters from claimants, 
 unable to collect losses under policies of the company. Mr. Elizur Wright, then 
 commissioner for Massachusetts, lost no time in hurr\'ing to the home office in New 
 Haven. He was there told by the managing directors that heavy losses in New York 
 had absorbed the most available of the assets. He learned, too, that the $138,100 
 of mortgages did not rest on city property, but on vast tracts of wild lands in northern 
 New York. Collaterals deposited to secure notes of stockholders to the amount of 
 $30,000 were said to have disappeared with the lost secretary. With regard to other 
 securities, Mr. Wright was assured that they were kept in bank and were all right. 
 Promise was also made that the notes given by shareholders should be collected at 
 once, and that the company would soon settle in full all claims in Massachusetts. 
 
 Hoodwinked, as Mr. Brewster had been before him, Mr. Wright proceeded on to 
 New York city with his suspicions completely allayed. On the return trip, as it was 
 a warm summer day, he decided to take the afternoon boat to New Haven. Here, 
 by mere accident, he happened to overhear the conversation of a little group of fel- 
 low-passengers seated near. The line of talk ran along the shady side of things, and 
 they seemed particularly amused at the success of a "job " put up to tide the "State 
 Fire" over a crisis in its affiiirs. A prophetic perception of the true situation 
 dawned upon him. Visiting the local corporations whose stocks the insurance com- 
 pany had professed to own, he learned that at least $50,000 of the list which 
 had been included in the sworn statements as assets never belonged to the company, 
 having been hired for show occasions, and to swear by. Four per cent. , or $2,000 
 a year, were paid to the lenders. In most cases certificates were made directly to the 
 company to heighten the deception. The banks were told that the shares were 
 wanted as a "temporar)- guaranty," or " preferred stock " — phrases not impleasant to 
 the ear, and helping to hide the enormity of the cheat behind a veil of mystery. 
 
 Detesting fraud and falsehood in every form, Mr. Wright was speciall\- incensed 
 at the deception practiced upon him as commissioner. He not only denounced the 
 officers as rascals — a position which few were inclined to dispute — but also jumped 
 to the conclusion that all the directors nmst have known about the crookedness, and 
 hence were little less guilty. Accordingly he laid the facts before Hon. E. K. Foster, 
 state's attorney for the county, asking that the officers be prosecuted criminally. He 
 also employed counsel to enter civil suits against the directors for the losses and un- 
 earned premiums due to citizens of Massachusetts. 
 
 On the 15th of November, 1861, Mr. Foster reported that he was not altogether 
 satisfied that criminal proceedings could be instituted successfully, though there was 
 enough "to justify action," should it be thought advisable to proceed at any time. 
 A few weeks later he wrote to the commissioner thus : 
 
 New H.-wen, December 9, 1861. 
 Dear Sir, — An examination of our law by no means satisfies me that I can successfully 
 prosecute the officers of the vState Fire Insurance Company ; and, indeed, it determines ray mind
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 47 
 
 quite othen\-ise except as to the secretary, Farnliaiu vStevens, who has gone to parts unknown. 
 The reason for this conclusion I will state to you the first time I meet you. 
 
 Respectfully your.s, 
 
 E. K. Foster. 
 
 For several years the commissioner continued to press the several suits. He 
 placed the case against the directors in the hands of Tilton E. Doolittle, Esq., and 
 the following letters will indicate the drift of affairs: 
 
 Office of Insurance Commissioners, Boston, January 13, 1S63. 
 Tilton E. Doolittle, Esq., New Haven, Conn.: 
 
 Dear Sir, — Will you be so good as to inform me by letter what progress has been made in 
 the suit I authorized you to bring against the directors of the State Fire Insurance Company, and 
 what obstacles, if any, stand in its way? I am as desirous as ever to know whether there is law 
 in Connecticut to hold those gentlemen to the oaths, words and figures bv which they got busi- 
 ness in Massachusetts, and the suit shall not fail through any failure on my part. 
 
 Very respectfully 3'ours, 
 
 Elizur Wright. 
 
 In his reply, dated January 16, Mr. Doolittle wrote that the case would be tried 
 at the first jury term of court, either in ]\Iarch or October, and that no obstacle stood 
 in the way. 
 
 Nearly two years later, however, having submitted terms for the compromise of 
 a Massachusetts case, which were not accepted, December 28, 1864, he wrote as follows: 
 
 "The most weighty- reason in my mind, if not the most obvious one, wh}- we should not get 
 a verdict is the high standing and political influence of the defendants. While I do not doubt 
 the law, I have but little faith that a jurj' will ever agree upon a verdict against these defendants. 
 You may say that they ought to, and all that sort of thing, but the mischief of it is, that the jury 
 have the power and they won't." 
 
 Mr. Doolittle's conclusions were certainly correct. Several of the directors 
 were men of very high character. Their names were tised without their consent, 
 unless consent is implied from failure to repudiate the connection by public notice. 
 They knew nothing of the affairs of the concern, nor would the managers under anv 
 circumstances have disclosed to them its guilty secrets. If the contention of the 
 commissioner prevailed, that directors of companies should be held pecuniarily 
 responsible for the correctness of statements sworn toby executive officers, in a case 
 like this a person for simply neglecting to read advertisements in newspapers, or for 
 failure to inspect the literature put forth to win business, might find himself exposed 
 to heavy penalties. 
 
 Benjamin Noyes was elected secretary August 20, 1861. On the 2nd of No- 
 vember following, the company made a voluntary assignment for the benefit of 
 creditors, and Frederick W. Northrop was subsequenth- appointed trustee in insol- 
 vency. As a test case he brought stiit against Cornelius S. Bushnell, a director, for 
 the balance due on a stock-note, and obtained judgment for the amount. It was shown 
 that Bushnell was elected without his knowledge or consent. It was not shown that 
 he had taken any part in the direction of the company. The court held that as he had 
 not promptly resigned the position and repudiated the contract into which he had been 
 entrapped, but permitted his name to remain for two )-ears before the public as one 
 of the directors, and had thus contributed to win for the company public trust and 
 confidence, he could not set up as a defense against creditors a previous compromise 
 and settlement with Benjamin Noyes, although the latter had been authorized bv 
 the board to settle claims and execute instruments of release. Mr. Bushnell, after
 
 48 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 the decision, paid the judgment in full. Others, not directors, were then sued on 
 their stock-notes, and paid more or less to get out of the scrape. 
 
 The mortgages on lands in northern New York, that constituted over one-half 
 of the capital, proved worse than worthless, for when sold in foreclosure the proceeds 
 were insufficient to pay the costs. 
 
 When the appraisers of the insolvent estate returned to the court in January, 
 1862, a sworn inventory of assets, the $278,41 1.92 of November i, i860, had dwindled 
 to a beggarly $83.49. 
 
 The document is a curiosity in the literature of insurance. Falstaff's half-penny 
 worth of bread to an "intolerable deal of sack" would pass for solid diet when com- 
 pared with the assumption of several millions of risks on assets of $83.49 invested 
 as shown. 
 
 " To the Probate Court for the District of New Haven. 
 
 Estate of State Fire Insurance Company of New Haven in said district insolvent debtor. 
 
 The subscribers appointed appraisers on said estate, having been legally sworn, have 
 appraised all of said estate, both real and personal, according to its value, and have assisted in 
 making a true and perfect inventory thereof as follows, viz. : 
 
 6 arm chairs g6.oo, i spittoon .25, i pail .05, i pair of tongs .10 $ 6.40 
 
 I wash stand .50, i basket .25, i card rack .50 1.25 
 
 I enveloperack .62, one twine box .13, I Post Office box .25 i.oo 
 
 Two tin boxes $1.00, wetting machine .25, one small press .50 1.75 
 
 Old paper $1.00, blank books $2.00, one stove and pipe gio.oo i3-oo 
 
 One map of United States $2.50, one map of Connecticut $2.00 4.50 
 
 One map of New Haven $2.50, one office desk and fixtures $10 12.50 
 
 One long counter and standing desk $25.00, pens .25 25.25 
 
 Lot of writing paper $1.00, one picture, basin and tumblers .37 1.37 
 
 Duster .05, postage scales .75, gas fixtures and shades $8.75 9.55 
 
 Lot of curtains and fixtures $2.00, three portfolios .87 2.87 
 
 Paper clasps .50, lot of envelopes $1.00, one ink stand gi. 00 2.50 
 
 One broom .05, step ladder Si.50 1.55 
 
 $83.49 
 W11.LIS Bristol, | Appraisers. 
 Alfred Daggett, j ^^ 
 F. W. Northrop, Trustee. 
 Received, sworn to and accepted January 17, 1862. 
 
 Luzon B. Morris, 
 
 Judge." 
 
 The thought of the projectors is easily divined. If small companies elsewhere, 
 with a small percentage of the nominal capital paid in cash, had attained conspicuous 
 success, why could not their venture, without any cash whatever, meet with similar 
 good fortune? Fraud and perjury certainly did not stand in the way. Had luck 
 been different, the weakness of the beginnings might never have been suspected by 
 the public. But losses in excess of premiums killed the experiment in the bud.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 4!i 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 INS URANCE 1 X C O NNE CTICU T— Continued. 
 
 THE MERCHANTS' AND THE NATIONAL (hARTFORD). 
 
 LTHOUGH distinct, the above corporations are so closely identified in the 
 line of succession, that an account of both can best be given in a contin- 
 uous story. The Merchants' was chartered in 1857, with a capital to be 
 fixed at pleasure between the extreme limits of $200,000 and $500,000. 
 In the act the old formula was pursued of requiring a cash payment of 10 
 per cent., and permitting the other 90 per cent, to be secured by stock notes. A 
 book for subsciiptions was opened July 2, 1857. Such was the eagerness of the pub- 
 lic to take a hand in the venture, that five thousand five hundred and sixteen 
 shares ($55 1,600) were at once applied for. Two days later the corporators met and 
 scaled the subscriptions to two thousand shares ($200,000). On the 7th the follov/- 
 ing board of directors was elected : Mark Howard, Samuel Woodruff, James Bolter, 
 Ebenezer Roberts, Guy R. Phelps, Timothy Sheldon, James P. Foster, \V. H. D. Cal- 
 lender, Sidney A. White, Charles T. Hillyer, Elijah H. Owen, Homer Blanchard, 
 Richard D. Hubbard, Matthew M. Merriman and William L. Collins. The same 
 day Mark Howard was elected president, and E. Thomas Lobdell secretary. 
 
 Mr. Howard, traveling agent of the Protection till he gave up the position after 
 striving earnestly but in vain to reform its methods, had been a close observer of the 
 mistakes that led to its downfall. He adopted and pursued a widely diflferent policy. 
 While energy was put forth in planting agencies and soliciting business, care was 
 even,-where taken to confine risks to the less hazardous classes of property. Mr. 
 Howard impressed upon his associates the theory' that better results in the long nm 
 were likely to follow from carefully-selected lines than from a great volume of pre- 
 miums. 
 
 The l\Ierchants' was the first company in Connecticut to repudiate the custom 
 of building on a foundation of stock notes — a privilege long embraced in even,- 
 charter granted by the Legislature. Within five weeks after organization, the direc- 
 tors voted a cash installment of 40 per cent. Similar calls followed at convenient 
 intervals till the shares were fully paid. 
 
 For a long period the record tells a stor\' of uniform prosperity enlivened by no 
 dramatic incident. Directors almost ceased to attend meetings. It was even hard 
 to get a quorum to vote dividends, which were paid at the rate of 5, 6 and 8 per 
 cent, semi-annually, till July, 1869, when the rate was raised to 10, or 20 per cent, a 
 year. 
 
 Mr. Lobdell died in November, 1870, and was succeeded, January 23, 1871, by 
 James Nichols, general agent of the company. 
 
 At the annual meeting in July, 1 871, assets were reported to be $580,270.71. 
 Shares brought $250. Viewed in the light of experience, the position of the Mer- 
 chants' was supposed to be impregnable. 
 
 In October came the Chicago fire, with losses of $1,075,643 — over five times the 
 amount of its capital, and nearly half a million in excess of its entire assets. Pay- 
 ment in full was clearly impossible. The ^Merchants' held a number of mortgages 
 on propetrv in the burned district, which not only lessened available resources, but 
 4
 
 50 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 increased the difficulty of effecting settlements. Probably the best thing for all par- 
 ties would have been a compromise. All but a small majority of the sufferers were 
 entirely willing to accept the terms offered by the company — terms which would 
 have justified the managers in calling in fresh capital, and thus saving it from 
 destruction. A few held off, hoping by obstinacj' to secure larger dividends than 
 their more considerate neighbors. Mr. Howard, with the strong support of Mr. 
 Nichols, took the ground that all should be treated precisely alike. Both had 
 promised parties who signed the compromise that, w-hether it succeeded or failed, they 
 should receive a^ much as any other creditor. With them, rising above every con- 
 sideration of expediency, a promise was sacred and inviolable. Thwarted in their 
 efforts to secure unanimous consent to the terms of settlement by the attitude of a 
 mere handful of policy-holders, the directors, without a dissenting voice, voted to 
 distribute the entire assets of the company /ri? rfl/a among creditors. Everything 
 down to the smallest article of office furniture was sold, and the proceeds thus 
 applied. Those who had ahead)' signed full releases received a small additional 
 dividend. But a company of stainless record and brilliant promise was forced out 
 of existence. 
 
 An act had been jDassed in 1S69 incorporating the National Fire Insurance Com- 
 l^any, but at the time of the Chicago fire no steps had been taken toward making use 
 of the franchise. It was now decided to continue the business of the Merchants' 
 through an entirely new compau}- organized under this charter. Accordingly, books 
 were opened November 14, 1871, and when closed November 20th, six thousand and 
 eighty shares had been applied for. General William B. Franklin, James G. Batter- 
 son and Richard D. Hubbard, corporators, named in the charter to receive subscrip- 
 tions, scaled the allotments down to a total of two thousand. 
 
 At the first meeting of stockholders, held November 27th, it was voted to increase 
 the capital from ;^200,ooo to ;S50o,ooo and the following board of directors was elected, 
 viz: Mark Howard, E. H. Owen, Richard D. Hubbard, J. P. Foster, E. N. Welch, 
 James Bolter, Ebenezer Roberts, William B. Franklin, Homer Blanchard, Wareham 
 Griswold, J. F. Judd, D. F. Seymour, Frank Cheney, Harrison B. Freeman, William 
 S. Pierson, Timothy Sheldon and William H. Lee. 
 
 The same day Mark Howard '^\'as elected president and James Nichols secretary. 
 
 Our familiar acquaintance, the stock note, played no part in the organization of 
 the National, the entire capital having been paid in cash. 
 
 During the first eleven months of business the National increased its assets to 
 $623,000. Then followed the Boston fire with losses of $161,000. To meet the 
 emergency the capital was reduced to $350,000, and at once restored to the former 
 figures by subscriptions of the shareholders. From that day on its success and 
 growth have been iminterrupted. In 1878 the contribution for Boston was in part 
 returned in a stock dividend of $100,000 from net profits, and in July, 1881, the 
 capital was further increased to $ 1,000,000 by cash subscriptions. 
 
 President Howard died January 24, 1 887. He was born in Loose, county of Kent, 
 England, May 27, 1S17, and came to America with his father and one brother in 1831. 
 The three proceeded to Ann Arbor in the territory of Michigan, where four weeks 
 later the father died. When seventeen j'ears old Mark established a Whig paper at 
 Ann Arbor. While still a minor he was appointed clerk of one of the branches of 
 the legislature and held the place for two terms. As local agent for the Protection 
 Insurance Company he exhibited such admirable qualities that in 1846 he was made 
 its special agent with broad powers of supervision and appointment. It is claimed 
 that he was the first person in the United States to be employed exclusively in the
 
 MARK HOW AKD, 
 presWent 1871-87 
 
 JAMES NICHOLS. 
 Presideiu. 
 
 
 Assistanl Secreuw 
 
 NATIONAL FIRE INSUKANCb COMPANY OF HARTFORD.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 51 
 
 field. He now made his residence in Hartford, but traveled tip and down our 
 frontiers from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico by stage and steamer. In the story 
 of the Protection we have told of his visit to St. Louis in the height of the cholera 
 ei)ideniic of 1849, ^'^'^ "^ ^"■'' heroism in facing perils from which old residents fled 
 in panic. That one act brought untold credit and business to Hartford insurance 
 interests. 
 
 The instniction book which he prepared for the Protection about 184S marks 
 an epoch in the literature of the science. Speaking of it Charles B. Whiting, presi- 
 dent of the Orient, says : — 
 
 " It was much the most elaborate of any before issued and is the basis for all our modern 
 books. Here appear for the first time the definitions of insurance terms. It treats of the 'Moral 
 Hazard,' the ' Local and Internal Hazard,' and gives full instruction for the inspection of risks. 
 Here also appear standards for the rating of a large number of risks ; forms of policy for a great 
 many hazards, and for the first time the three-quarter value clatise. This book was the greatest 
 contribution to insurance literature that had been issued up to that time, and very far in advance 
 of any of the others. The definitions are those in vogue to-day, and there has been but little if 
 anv improvement on the forms there put forth. Subsequent books are but an enlargement of 
 this. The text for them all is found within its covers." 
 
 He was appointed b}' President Lincoln first internal revenue collector for Con- 
 necticut. He was so fair that appeals were seldom taken from his rulings, several of 
 ■which became incorporated in the system. 
 
 Mr. Howard was a man of lofty ideals. The inspiration of high aims lifted him 
 out of the atmosphere of the common place. Wherever the battle for principle raged 
 hardest he was sure to be found taking blows if need be, but giving sturdy ones in 
 return. 
 
 James Nichols, long and intimately associated with Mr. Howard, was elected 
 president February 9, 1S87. He was born December 25, 1830, at Weston, Conn. 
 Admitted to the bar in 1854, he settled a year or two later in Hartford, having been 
 made assistant clerk of the Superior Court of the county. In 1861, when the dis- 
 trict embraced seven towns, he was elected judge of probate, a position for which he 
 was peculiarily fitted. Attracted by business connections into the field of insurance, 
 he became adjuster and special agent of the Merchants' in 1867, and three years later 
 its secretary. Anxious as the executive officers were to save the charter of the com- 
 pany after the Chicago fire, both agreed that the end must be reached if at all by 
 treating the strong and the weak precisely alike. Hints from rich claimants eager 
 for an luidue share fell upon deaf ears. The result has been told. Mr. Howard was 
 so exhausted by the vexations and labors in which both equally shared that he fell 
 ill and went abroad to find rest. He was still in Europe at the time of the Boston 
 fire, in October, 1872. Mr. Nichols was then in charge, and the gap made in the 
 assets was filled under his direction. Differing in temperaments,. Mr. Howard and his 
 chosen lieutenants were alike in inflexible adherence to do what they believed to be 
 right. 
 
 In April, 1887, Ellis G. Richards, of Boston, an experienced imderwriter, 
 was elected secretar}-. In ilarch, 1891, Benjamin R. Stillman was elected assistant 
 secretar}'. 
 
 In January, 1888, the National reinsured the Washington Fire and Marine 
 Insurance Company of Boston on all their business throughout the United States, 
 except in Connecticut, New York, Penns)-lvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Mary- 
 land ; established a western department at Chicago, and reorganized and enlarged 
 the Pacific department, with headquarters at San Francisco. The transaction added
 
 52 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 to the company a large amount of good business, guarantying a large and permanent 
 increase of premium receipts. 
 
 In the fall of 1893 at a cost of nearly ^200,000 the company completed its hand- 
 some home office upon the corner of Pearl and Lewis streets. It has a frontage of 
 seventy-one with a depth of one hundred and thirty-four feet, and comprises a main 
 building, foi-ty-nine by seventy-one feet, three stories high, and a large wing in the 
 rear, flanked on the Lewis street side by a two-story annex. The building is of fire- 
 proof construction with floors of iron beams and tile arches and with stainvays and 
 roof of iron. 
 
 During the life of President Howard the growth of the National was slow. 
 His successor, supported by able assistants, has pursued a much more aggressive 
 policy with eminently satisfactory results. Net premium receipts increased from 
 ^521, 960 in 1886, to $2,254,240 in 1896, with an average loss ratio for the period of 
 52.4; the reinsurance reser\-e from $341,677 to $1,806,990; the gross assets from 
 $1,958, 506 to $4, 120, 260. During 1896 net surplus increased $324,382 to $1,037, - 
 580. Meanwhile annual dividends have never fallen below ten per cent., and have 
 alwavs been paid exclusively out of income from assets. 
 
 Ellis Gray Richards, vice-president and secretary, born at Worcester, Mass., 
 December 16, 1848, left school for business at the age of seventeen, and at twenty-one 
 was head bookkeeper for a large iron manufacturing establishment. The concern 
 was so disabled by the panic of 1873, that the next year he took a clerkship in the 
 Boston office of the Commercial Union Assurance Company. Within a few months 
 he was made secretary and surveyor of the Worcester County Board of Underwriters, 
 and in May, 1877, special agent of the Royal and the Pennsylvania for service in 
 New England. In May, 1881, he accepted a similar position in the same field with 
 enlarged responsibilities from the Queen Insurance Company, taking an active part 
 two years later in organizing the New England Insurance Exchange. In the changes 
 that followed the death of president Howard, he accepted the secretaryship of the 
 National in April, 1887, and was elected vice-president in December, 1896. 
 
 Benjamin Rhodes Stillman, assistant secretary, born at Adams, N. Y., March 
 31, 1852, after preparing for Hamilton College, changed his plans and entered the 
 office of Mollison «&. Hastings, merchants, millers and insurance agents, where soon 
 his time was wholly devoted to the last-named branch. Later he served at the home 
 office of the Watertown Fire and the Sun, till appointed general agent of the 
 Springfield Fire and Marine in 1884, with which he remained six years, resigning in 
 1890 to take the secretaryship of the Safety Car Heating and Lighting Company of 
 New York City. He came to the National as assistant secretary in 1891. 
 
 Fred. S. James supervises the western department from Chicago, and George D. 
 Dornin the Pacific, from San Francisco. 
 
 THE CHARTER OAK FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 The Charter Oak Fire and ^Marine Insurance Company, of Hartford, was organ- 
 ized with a capital of $300,000, July 16, 1856. Ralph Gillett was elected president 
 and Joseph H . Sprague, secretary. Dui'ing the war the capital was in a state of 
 chronic impairment. In August, 1866, tlie commissioner of New York revoked its 
 certificate to do business in that state because the impairment exceeded twenty per 
 cent. To restore technical solvency the capital was reduced to ^150,000. At the 
 time of its destruction by the Chicago fire its surplus was nominal. Presidents were 
 Ralph Gillett; B. Hudson, protein^ and Joseph H. Sprague; secretaries, Joseph H. 
 Sprague, Julius JM Sexton, James Goodwin and George Nevers.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 53 
 
 THE HOME INSURANCE COIMPANY OF NEW HAVEN 
 Was organized in 1859 on a capital of ^150,000, which was increased in February, 
 i860, to #200,000. D. R. Satterlee was elected president and Charles Wilson secre- 
 tary. For the first two years it did both a fire and marine business, but after 
 January 15, 1862, risks were confined to fire and inland navigation. Progress was 
 slow during the war. At the beginning of 1862 its statement showed an impairment 
 of over $44,000. The capital was increased to ^^500, 000 in April, 1S64, and in Jan- 
 uary, 1S66, to $1,000,000, of which $350,000 were contributed in cash and $150,000 in 
 a stock dividend. Losses were so heavy during the year that the directors laid an 
 assessment of fifteen per cent. , thus replacing the scrip with cash. During the 
 twelve months the price of the shares fell from $180 to $100. Although the impair- 
 ment continued the company paid dividends at the rate of about ten per cent, per 
 annum from the start till near the end. With almost a thousand agents in tlie field 
 it pushed for business with zeal iintempered b}' discretion. 
 
 An oflScial examination of the Home in June, 1870, showed that at least one-half 
 of the capital was extinguished. It was now reduced to $500,000, and important 
 changes were made in the management. But old wounds were severe, its invest- 
 ments in bad shape, and heavy losses continued. Early the next year it went into 
 liquidation, and General S. E. IMerwin was appointed trustee. The wreck proved 
 unexpectedly disastrous, the stockholders getting nothing and the creditors very 
 little. Payment of unjustifiable dividends had caused the shares to be sought as an 
 investment, so that the failure caused much local distress. 
 
 Benjamin Noyes, first insurance commissioner of Connecticut, whose exper- 
 ience as dominant director of the State Fire, and as manager of a life company, that 
 under a succession of names went from bad to worse till death closed its career, gave 
 him good opportunities to study from the inside the effects of abnormal methods, in 
 his last report wrote thus of the Home. Wrath that such things should occur at his 
 own door puts a twist into the words through which his feelings find utterance. 
 
 "There never was a more reckless business conceived of than ma3" be made out of fire 
 insurance, and when we think of the case of the ' Home ' at our own door, we blush for its man- 
 agement, while we stronglj' endorse the integrity of its stockholders and directors, not that the 
 latter did \visel3', or that they were influenced by good counsel as manager, for the result shows 
 the^' were made to believe by an officer of the compan}- that unearned premiums were profits 
 realized, and that borrowing and returning was an ever3'-day affair, especially, when after receipts 
 seemingly justified the return. 
 
 "The rocks which dashed the ' Home,' of New Haven in pieces are all within the soundings 
 we have been taking for the fraternit}' in former reports, and the onlj- difference which marks the 
 case of this company is its rapiditj-. After they had doubled their capital twice, doubled their 
 agencies and quadrupled their risks on many classes of property, the business became too large 
 to control, and the losses followed too rapidly to make them known to the directors ; as a matter 
 of course confusion and uncertainty soon involved the company in such a dense cloud that the 
 directors, in a state of alarm, ended the matter, as they supposed, by placing the property in the 
 hands of a trustee, to be closed up, for the benefit of the creditors, with no prospect of saving 
 much, if anything, for the stockholders." 
 
 THE NORTH AMERICAN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HARTFORD. 
 This company was organizea in 1S57, on a capital of $300,000, of which the 
 charter required ten per cent, to be paid in cash, while allowing tlie remaining ninety 
 per cent, to rest on secured notes. However, as one state after another fell into line 
 in refusing longer to recognize the stock note as an a^set, it soon vanished. Except 
 in 1862, the company paid dividends without interrtiption, and for the last three 
 years before its downfall at Chicago, at tlie rate of twelve per cent, per annum. In
 
 64 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 fact, the company was so depleted by dividends that it seldom had a surplus. 
 Presidents were : James G. Bolles, 1857; A. F. Hastings, i860; James G. BoUes, 
 1866; W. C. Hastings, 1868. Secretaries: J. A. Wallace, 1857; W. C. Hastings, 
 i860; J. B. Pierce, 1868. 
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HARTFORD. 
 This company, with a capital of ^200,000, was organized in 1858. Nathan M. 
 Waterman was elected president, and George D. Jewett, secretary. In 1863 Mr. 
 Jewett became president and Robert A. Johnson, secretary. From the start the 
 company struggled against adverse conditions and wound up in 1866. 
 
 THE NORWALK MARINE AND FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 This company was chartered in 1858, and began business in i860, on a paid 
 capital of $50,000. About si.x years ago a controlling interest in the stock was 
 bought by the London and Lancashire Insurance Company of Liverpool, England, 
 and the organization has since been utilized in the conduct of its American- business. 
 The capital was subsequently increased to $200,000. 
 
 THE THAMES FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORWICH. 
 This company was organized in 1859. It began with a capital of gi 13,700, 
 which was increased in 1 864 to $200,000. It went out of business in 1 866, and having 
 settled all claims, paid back to the stockholders about fifty per cent, of the face 
 value of the shares. Amos W. Prentice was president. Secretaries were : O. P. Rice, 
 1859; B.B.Whittemore, 1864. 
 
 THE UNION FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HARTFORD. 
 This company was formed in 1859, but soon after the beginning of the war 
 retired from the field and returned the capital to the shareholders. Presidents were : 
 J. W. Danforth and Ralph Gillett. 
 
 THE PUTNAM FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HARTFORD. 
 
 This company was organized September i, 1864, on a capital of $300,000. 
 Caleb B. Bowers was elected president, Daniel Buck, secretary', and in October 
 William N. Bowers was added to the official corps as vice-president. After a hot 
 fight the Bowers regime was overthrown at the annual election in June, 1865, when 
 Samuel Woodruff, of Woodruff & Beach, boilermakers and machinists — a firm of 
 national reputation during the war — was made president. That residence in Hart- 
 ford presumptively qualified a person to run an insurance company had become a 
 current superstition. First and last the delusion cost investors and other victims of 
 misplaced confidence a great deal of money From the start the venture ran behind, 
 and though the pace now and then slackened, the drift was never long reversed. The 
 secretary had no taste for the economies which successful companies in their early 
 days have found indispensable. The president had been willingly lured into a 
 variety of outside schemes. Promoters looked to him for cash. Meanwhile war- 
 contracts had dried up. He borrowed large sums from the company which it was 
 inconvenient to pay. A small over-issue of stock, due to carelessness, as his friends 
 claimed, added to the confusion. Mr. Buck was succeeded by S. G. Parsons in 1868. 
 The next year Mr. Woodruff was forced to retire. In his valedictory he attributed 
 the misfortunes of the enterprise to the mismanagement of the first secretary. 
 
 George M. Welch followed as ad inieriiii president from January 3rd till August 
 18, 1870, when Robert E. Day was elected. On probing its wounds the capital was
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 55 
 
 found to be impaired over thirty-three per cent. It was now reduced to S300,ooo, 
 and then raised by cash pa>-nients to §400,000. While the new management was 
 strivinfj to correct pa.st errors tlie company was destroyed by the great Chicago fire, 
 its losses amounting to $1,206,000. 
 
 THE QUINNIPIAC IXSURAN'CE COMP.\NV OF NEW II.VVEN, 
 Chartered in 1869, was organized with a capital of js 100,000. J. D. Dewell was 
 elected president, and George S. Lester secretary. In 1871 the company voluntarily 
 retired, paying in full all claims and returning its capital to shareholders. 
 
 ORIENT INSURANCE COMPANY (HARTFORD). 
 
 Although the charter of the Orient was granted by the legislature of Connecticut 
 in May, 1867, the company did not organize until November 23, 1871, being the 
 lineal successor of the City Fire Insurance Company, which, with most of its con- 
 temporaries was blotted out of existence in the holocaust at Chicago. By the terms 
 of tlie charter, a capital of §2,000,000 was authorized with the privilege of doing 
 business on a minimum of $500,000. In view of the enormous drafts upon the 
 resources of Hartford required to pay the losses at Chicago, the corporators thought 
 best to begin with half a million, and to increase as the growth of business might 
 demand. 
 
 The first directors were David Gallup, Newton Case, George AI. Bartholomew, 
 Charles T. Webster, William Boardman, Daniel Phillips, Augustus S. Jerome, Fred 
 R. Foster, John W. Danforth, Selden C. Preston, James G. Batterson, Thomas T. 
 Fisher, Joseph S. WoodmfF, Levertt Brainard, Charles J. Cole, William H. Bulkeley, 
 Knight D. Cheney, George S. Lincoln, Samuel F. Jones, James Campbell and George 
 M. Pullman. The first officers were, Charles T. W^ebster, president ; Selden C. Pres- 
 ton, vice president, and George W. Lester, secretary ; these gentlemen having held 
 similar positions in the City Fire, whose agency system the Orient proceeded to 
 adopt. 
 
 January i, 1S72, the first policies were written, and a handsome business was as- 
 sured from the outset. Ten months later came the Boston fire, which took §164,000 
 from the Orient, a heavy blow to befall a small company at the beginning of its 
 career. However, it met every obligation by sight drafts, paying all losses in full. 
 
 To preserve technical solvency the capital was now reduced to $350,000. In 
 January, 1875, an extra dividend of §50,000 in cash was declared and simultaneously 
 turned back into the treasury so as to raise the capital to §400,000. The process was 
 repeated in Januarv', 1876, and in Januar}-, 1877, when out of earnings the capital 
 was fully restored to its original figures. Those were good davs for insurance inter- 
 ests, for the ruin of many companies by the Chicago and Boston fires stopped for a 
 time destructive competition. 
 
 S. C. Preston succeeded Mr. Webster in May, 1S74, and held the place till 1S83. 
 In 1881 the capital was raised by cash subscriptions to §1,000,000. John W. Brooks, 
 a banker of Torrington, who had just completed a term of three years as insurance 
 commissioner of Connecticut, held the presidency from 1883 till ^May, 1886, when he 
 was followed by Charles B. WHiiting. 
 
 Mr. Whiting was born of New England parentage at Greenbush, N. Y., Sep- 
 tember 3, 1828. After passing, both at the east and the west, through rather more 
 than the Usual variety of experiences that befall adventurous voungmen, he returned 
 from the banks of the ^Mississippi to New York city in 1866, and permanently en- 
 tered the field of insurance. From October, of that year, till May, 1870, he was sec- 
 retary of the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Thence he faithfullv served the
 
 56 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Home of New York city for ten >-ears, till forced by broken health to seek rest. 
 After recovery and a brief connection with the Springfield Fire and ]\Iarine, he came 
 to Hartford in October, i88i,as secretary of the Hartford, and held the place till 
 elected president of the Orient. Mr. Whiting is also a racy and entertaining writer. 
 He has delivered a number of addresses. One, essentially historical, delivered at 
 Niagara Falls, June 9, 1 885, has been of great service in the preparation of these papers. 
 
 Like mercury in a thermometer the prosperity of insurance interests rises in 
 good times and drops (often to zero) in seasons of adversity. The panic of April, 
 1893, with its long sequence of failures and disorder, so increased the loss ratio from 
 fires that in the height of the trouble veteran underwriters stood aghast at sight of 
 the ruins. To add to the strain, the assets of companies fell heavily in market value 
 to that extent diminishing their resources. At the time of the outbreak the net sur- 
 plus of the Orient was too small to carry the company through without impairment. 
 Hence, in December, 1893, the stockholders voted to reduce the capital to $500,000. 
 
 January i, 1897, gross assets amounted to ;g2,2 15,470.20, and net surplus to 
 $562, 165.37, the last item liaving increa.sed $243,769.54 since January i, 1894. These 
 wide and rapid fluctuations illustrate the vagaries of fire insurance. Statistics cease 
 to guide when the moral hazard breaks loose. 
 
 Secretaries have been George W. Lester, 1 872-February, 1886; George B. Bod- 
 well, Februaiy, 1886-June, 188S ; James L^. Taintor, June i, 1888-. Assistant secre- 
 taries, George B. Bodwell, October, 1885 ; Howard W. Cook, June i, 1888. 
 
 James U. Taintor, secretary, was born October 23, 1844, in Pomfret Conn., 
 whence the family moved to Colchester in 1848 ; graduated at Yale College in 1866 ; 
 was assistant clerk of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1866, clerk in 
 1867, and clerk of the Senate in 1868 ; for a short time in 1869 belonged to an insur- 
 ance firm in. Meriden ; in July of the same year became a special agent of the Phoenix 
 Fire, of Hartford ; and in June, 18S8, secretary of the Orient. 
 
 Howard W. Cook, born in Hartford August 19, 1858, left the high school in his 
 junior year to enter the Orient, where, having served faithfully and intelligently 
 through lower grades, he was made assistant secretary in 1 888. 
 
 B. W. French manages the western department from Chicago ; Trezevant & 
 Cochran, the southwestern from Dallas, Texas ; and W. J. Callingham the Pacific 
 from San Francisco. 
 
 THE MERIDEN INSURANCE COMPANY, 
 
 Incorporated in 1868, was organized early in 1872, with a capital of ;g200,ooo. 
 Jedediah Wilcox was elected president, and E. B. Cowles, secretary. A few months 
 later the Boston fire drew $36,000 from its assets. While supervising the settlement 
 of claims in that city, the vice-president, L. W. Clark, just about filled the gap with 
 fresh premiums. In 1878 the capital was increased to ^300,000, but it was again 
 reduced to $200,000 in December, 1881, when its business outside of New England 
 was reinsured in the German-American and Niagara, of New York. In Januan,', 
 1892, the company reinsured its risks and retired altogether, not from necessity, but 
 because the stockholders saw that the advantages held by powerful rivals would ulti- 
 mately force .small concerns out of existence. 
 
 In round numbers, during twenty years, the company took $2,488,000 in 
 premiums, paid $1,500,000 in losses, and $280,000 in dividends. 
 
 L. W. Clark was president from 1874 to 1881, when he became assistant secre- 
 tary of the Connecticut, and was succeeded by A. Chamberlin. E. B. Cowles con- 
 tinued secretary throughout. He then became assistant manager for New England 
 of the Roj'al Insurance Company, with headquarters at Boston.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 57 
 
 THE ATLAS INSURANCE COMPANY, 
 Successor of the Charter Oak, was chartered in 1872, and 1)egan business in July, 
 1873, on a capital of j5200,ooo. In August, 1877, the management ceased taking new 
 business, but carried existing risks till they ran off. In June, 1879, the stockholders 
 voted to reduce the capital to ^100,000 and resume business. An examination in 
 Noveml)er, 1881, disclosed an impairment of over twenty-five per cent, in the capital, 
 when the commi.ssionersuccessfull)' petitioned the court to restrain thecouipau)- from 
 the further prosecution of business. Joseph H. Sprague was president, and Edward B. 
 Huntington and George S. Merritt, secretaries. 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF FOREIGN COMPANIES. 
 In 1880 the Scottish Union and National Insiirance Company, of Edinburgh, 
 and the Lion Fire, of London, having decided to enter the United States, sent com- 
 mittees hither to select a general manager. After e.vamining the field they tendered 
 the place, entirely without solicitation on his part, to Martin Bennett, of Hartford. 
 His position at the head of the Connecticut Fire was eminently agreeable, but the 
 offer came in such form as to be irresistiljle. The record and presence of Mr. Ben- 
 nett determined the decision of the committees, and results have shown the wisdom 
 of their choice. Graduating at Brown University as a civil engineer in i860, he 
 entered the oflJice of the Connecticut Fire August 14th, was elected secretary- October 
 
 23, 1865, and president January 28, 1873. After the Chicago fire he presented the 
 case of his company with such captivating candor that every creditor assented to 
 terms of settlement that saved its charter. 
 
 October 11, 1880, Mr. Bennett resigned the presidency of the Connecticut to 
 enter upon his new duties. Instead of going to New York or elsewhere he estab- 
 lished the American headquarters of the two foreign companies in Hartford. The 
 venture has been remarkably successful. A net remittance to this country by the 
 Scottish Union of $839,695 had grown Jauuaiy i, 1897, to $3,681,118.60, nearly all 
 invested in the United States. During the period its receipts in this countn' were 
 $12,549,454.87; losses and expenses, $10,615,318, all calculated on a net basis. 
 
 Mr. Bennett has been president of the Hartford Local Board and of the National 
 Board of LTuderwriters. He is a forceful and witty writer, and has often been called 
 to read addresses at important meetings. 
 
 James H. Brewster, assistant manager, was born at Coventry, Conn., December 
 
 24, 1845. In the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company and in his present position 
 he had on the 25th of February, 1897, beeu associated with Mr. Bennett thirty years 
 continuoush'.
 
 58 
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INS URANCE IN CO NNE CTICUT— Coniinued. 
 
 EARLY forty mutual fire insurance companies, from time to time, have been 
 chartered by the General Assembly of Connecticut. January i, 1897, 
 seventeen were in existence. Their names, dates of incorporation and 
 gross assets, less premium notes, were as follows : 
 
 when 
 Name. incorporated. 
 
 Mutual Assurance of Norwich 1795 
 
 Windham County Mutual 1826 
 
 Tolland County Mutual 1828 
 
 Hartford County Mutual 183 1 
 
 Litchfield Mutual 1833 
 
 Middlesex Mutual Assurance 1836 
 
 New London County Mutual 1840 
 
 Danbury IMutual 1850 
 
 Farmers' IMutual 1853 
 
 Farmington Valley Mutual 1854 
 
 Madison Mutual 1855 
 
 Greenwich Mutual 1855 
 
 Harwinton Mutual 1856 
 
 Washington Mutual 1862 
 
 State IMutual 1867 
 
 Rockville Mutual 186S 
 
 Patrons' Mutual . . ' 1888 
 
 Gross assets, less premium 
 notes, Januarj- i, 1S96. 
 
 g 13,256.29 
 
 47.342-38 
 67,656.40 
 
 575-500-00 
 
 97,704.99 
 
 720,225.55 
 
 121,806.46 
 
 29.570-17 
 
 229.85 
 
 5.710.85 
 
 8,498.41 
 
 6,915-44 
 
 197-30 
 
 lOI.IO 
 
 30,786.46 
 8,073.32 
 
 1,266.10 
 
 The needs, which brought into being the oldest of the jMutuals, have been 
 briefly stated in the account already given of the IMutual Assurance of Norwich. A 
 few words with regard to three or four of the larger companies will perhaps give a 
 sufiGciently clear idea of the manner of growth. 
 
 Upon petition of Vine Robinson, and fifty-five others, the Windham County 
 Mutual was incorporated in May, 1826, and organized the following June. It 
 was allowed to insure only houses and other buildings. The insured paid a small 
 23ercentage of the premium in cash, and the rest in a note liable to assessment in case 
 of losses by fire. 
 
 Only three assessments have ever been laid: the first in 1829, yielding $653 ; 
 the second in 1830, yielding $(iO-j.i\\\ and the third in 1 831, yielding $498.64. In 
 1 87 1 the company was authorized to dispense with premium notes. Policies were 
 made a lien on buildings and lands. 
 
 The position of president was at first honorary, but the directors made a radical 
 departure in June, 1837, when they voted him an annual salary of $9. Revolutions, 
 it is said, never go backward. In 1842 the directors voted to allow themselves ;^i 
 each for attendance at meetings. As they resided in all parts of the county, and 
 were compelled to drive from six or eight to twenty-five miles over hilly roads, they 
 claimed that the pay was not excessive. A charge of seventy-five cents for new pol- 
 icies, and of fifty for renewals, which made up the entire compensation of the 
 secretary, was voted in 1839, and proved such a mine of wealth that in 1845 he paid 
 $40 for the contract for the year. The first statement to be found bears date October i , 
 185 1, when the company had in cash and in tlie hands of agents 5190.05, and in 
 interest-bearing notes $1018.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 59 
 
 Presidents have been: \'me Robinson, 1S26-43; Asael Hamnionri, 1843-49; 
 Armin lioUe.s, 1S49-56; Aaron H. Storrs, 1856-78; John Galliq), 1878-9; David 
 Greenslit, 1879. 
 
 The positions of secretary and treasurer have been filled b}' the same persons, 
 except from 1848 till 1856, and again since 1892. Executive functions have been 
 lodged mostly in the office of the secretar\'. Secretaries have been : Adams White, 
 1826-48; B. Wheaton, 1848-9; Edwin S. Chase, 1849-56; Aug. F. Fisher, 1856-7; 
 John Palmer, 1857-92 ; James C. Palmer, 1892. 
 
 John Palmer was connected with the company thirty-six years, and during the 
 time its assets grew from $2,016 in 1856, to $5 1,160 in 1892. 
 
 THE HARTFORD COUNTY MUTUAL 
 was incorporated in May, 183 1, for the purpose of insuring houses and other build- 
 ings in the county of Hartford without the limits of the city of Hartford. At the 
 first meeting held in the State House September 19th, David Grant was elected 
 president, and Elisha Phelps, secretar}-. After a few weeks Mr. Phelps resigned and 
 was succeeded by Charles Shepard. 
 
 The "premium note" was perhaps the most characteristic feature in the early 
 history of the Mutuals. Upon ordinary detached risks the company required a note 
 equal to two (2) per cent, of the face of the policy and ten per cent, of the first year's 
 premium in cash. On buildings more exposed the rates were higher. 
 
 The following year the company was authorized to insure property outside the 
 limits of the county, and to charge the premium in a gross sum instead of rating the 
 same by the year, the lien remaining the same. 
 
 In 1835 the cash payment on effecting insurance was raised to, three and one- 
 third per cent, of the premium charge. The system with occasional variations in 
 the rates continued till 1889, when the premium note was discarded and the whole 
 business put on a purely cash basis. 
 
 The Hartford County began modestly, and after disbursing ;g 1 2 in losses, and 
 $179 in contingent expenses, had a surplus of ^12 at the end of the first twelve 
 months. For the next eleven years the business grew slowly, and at each annual 
 meeting the books showed a small balance on the credit side of the ledger. In 1842, 
 however, came a turn in the tide. Losses mounted up to ^3,269. 14, and at the close 
 of the fiscal year, in December, the directors were confronted with a deficit of 
 $2i^2.ii. Matters seemingly trivial have often proved to be pivots on which the 
 fate not only of nations, but of civilization itself, has turned. So in a small way of 
 this deficit. It provoked earnest thought and much discussion. Some advocated an 
 assessment. Mr. Shepard took ground in favor of borrowing the money and raising 
 the cash rates to a remunerative basis. Already the theory which prevailed at the 
 outset, and which in many changeful forms has been revived and discarded since, 
 had proved its insufficiency. The sensible views of the secretary were approved, 
 and a note for the arrearages, presumably indorsed by the officers, was discounted at 
 the Hartford Bank. From current receipts the obligation was soon discharged, and 
 the company has never been compelled by reverses to pass through a similar expe- 
 rience since. 
 
 Not till 1853 was the company permitted to insure buildings within the city 
 limits of Hartford. On the morning after the great Chicago fire, residents of the 
 city did not know whether the policies on their property issued by stock companies 
 were worthless or not. Of the solvency of the Hartford County Mutual they were 
 certain, for it did no business beyond the boundaries of Connecticut. Many came in
 
 60 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 at that time to take advantage of the protection it offered, and have since remained 
 upon its books. 
 
 From 1835 to 1844 policies were renewed on the payment of a fee of twenty-five 
 cents to the secretary, with no further cost to the insured. Meanwhile new members 
 paid their initiatory premium. 
 
 The company takes only the safer class of risks, as dwellings and farm buildings 
 with their contents. It does not insure churches, school-houses, stores or factories. 
 Its business has always been confined to the state of Connecticut. 
 
 Presidents have been David Grant, 1831-38; Daniel St. John, 1S38-44; Charles 
 Shepard, 1844-67 ; D. D. Erving, 1867-73 ; Julius Catlin, 1873-4; Walter H. Havens, 
 1874-6; James B. Shultas, 1876-80; William E. Sugden, 1880. 
 
 Secretaries, Elislia Phelps, one month in 1831 ; Charles Shepard, October, 1831- 
 44 ; R. A. Erving, 1844-53 ; D. D. Erving, 1853-67 ; William A. Erving, 1867-. 
 
 R. A. Erv'ing resigned to accept the position of secretary of legation under Ex- 
 Governor Thomas H. Seymour, then recently appointed minister to the court of St. 
 Petersburg. Having spent a number of }-ears in Russia, he was lost with the steamer 
 Pacific on the voyage home. The secretary has alwa}'s been the executive officer. 
 
 THE MIDDLESEX MUTUAL ASSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 Not the oldest but the largest of the mutual fire companies of the state in busi- 
 ness and assets, is the Middlesex Mutual Assurance Company of Middletown, char- 
 tered in May, 1836, and organized June 13th of the same year. Richard Hubbard 
 was elected president, and John L,. Smith, secretary and treasurer. During the first 
 year four hundred and sixty-seven policies were written. At the annual meeting in 
 June, 1838, William Woodward was elected secretary, and Samuel Cooper treasurer. 
 It was voted to move the office from the store of John L- Smith to that of E. Hunt 
 & Co. In 1865 it was moved to a room under the Universalist church, and was again 
 transferred to permanent quarters in the new building of the company the next }ear. 
 
 At first a small cash premium was required from the insured to meet current 
 expenses and ordinary losses, and a promissory note to be held in reserve for emer- 
 gencies. In 1859 the premium note system was abandoned. By a charter amend- 
 ment policies gave the company a lien on the buildings insured and on the land. 
 
 In June, 1886, the assets having increased to $530, 174.77, a still further innova- 
 tion was made. The directors voted to cancel and release the lien reserved on all 
 policies outstanding at the close of business, June 30, 1886, and to reserve no lien 
 aside from the cash premium, in policies issued on or after July i, 1886. 
 
 Presidents have been Richard Hubbard, 1836-9; vSamuel Cooper, 1839-54; 
 William S. Camp, 1856-66 ; William D. Willard, 1866-67 ; William R. Galpin, 1867- 
 79 ; Elijah Ackley, 1879-83 ; John N. Camp (temporary) October, 1883-June, 1884; 
 1884, O. Vincent Coffin. Besides holding many positions of trust the present incum- 
 bent, Mr. Coffin, was mayor of Middletown for two terms, was elected to the State 
 Senate in 1887 and 1889, and Governor of Connecticut in 1894. 
 
 Secretaries have been John L. Smith, 1836-38; William Woodward, 1S38-49; 
 Stephen Taylor, 1849-56; William Woodward, 1856-66; John W. Hoyt, 1866-67; 
 H. F. Boardman, 1867-82 ; C. W. Harris, 1882-. 
 
 THE NEW LONDON COUNTY MUTUAL, 
 Organized July i, 1840, has won a secure position. Presidents have been Joseph 
 Backus, 1S40-44; Joel W. White, 1844 (March till October); John G. Huntington, 
 1844-61 ; Elijah A. Bill, 1861-68 ; E. F. Parker, 1868-95 ; Charles J. Winters, January, 
 I 895-.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNPXTICUT. 61 
 
 Secretaries, J. DeWitt, 1S40-7; John H. DeWitt, 1847-54; John L. Devotion, 
 1854-75 ; C. J. Fillmore, 1875-7S; William Roatli, 1S78-S5 ; J. F. Williams, 1885-. 
 
 THE STATE :MUTUAL OF HARTFORD, 
 Though nearly the youngest on the list, has gained sufficient strength to guarantee 
 its permanence. September 2, 1867, Ralph Gillett was chosen president, and Isaac 
 Cross, Jr., secretary and treasurer. There was no change in the management till the 
 death of Mr. Gillett April 17, 1894, when Mr. Cross was made president, and Franklin 
 A. Morley, secretary. A loss of ^4,000 on policy No. 61 insuring one of the best 
 dwellings in Windsor occurred June 29, 1S69. The assets of the company were 
 insufficient to meet the call, but the officers made up the deficiency out of their 
 private funds and paid the claim within a week. It pursues a conservative course 
 issuing no policy for over $2,000. 
 
 Ralph Gillett, born in Gilead, Conn., October 24, 181 1, moved from Ellington to 
 Hartford in 1849, and was one of the first to start in this cit}- of insurance a general 
 insurance agency. He was first president of both the City and Charter Oak Fire 
 Insurance Companies and of the Union in 1 860. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 /:VS URANCE IN CO NNE CTICU T— Continue J. 
 
 LIFE INSURANCE.* 
 
 T may be said that the successful development of life insurance in Connec- 
 ticut has been confined to Hartford. Companies started elsewhere on the 
 plan of accumulating sufficient reserves to meet every claim at maturity, 
 have ended in failure. Within a few years some fraternities have adopted 
 the plan of contributing a fixed sum to the families of deceased members, 
 and several bodies have been chartered w-itli authority to pay losses by assessments 
 on sur\-ivors. Siich schemes may apparently flourish for a while, but they lack the 
 features that insure permanence. Life insurance proper has come to be a matter of 
 science and equity. Its methods have been evolved so as to conform to laws of aver- 
 age which are almost as exact in operation as the laws of physics. 
 
 Dr. Pinckney W. Ellsworth and James L. Howard were the first to call the 
 attention of the people of Hartford, at least, in an effective way, to the subject. Dr. 
 Ellsworth was agent of the International, of London, England. Mr. Howard, in 
 February', 1846, took out policy No. 1079, in the Mutual Benefit of New Jersey, 
 and at the same time accepted the local agency of the company. Joseph Lord came 
 up from New York city to initiate him in the theory and practice of canvassing. 
 ^Ir. Howard started off with a boom, presenting the subject not only in private inter- 
 views, but in public addresses. Guy R. Phelps was so impressed with the merits of 
 the system that he took a policy in the IMutual Benefit. Elisha B. Pratt became an 
 early convert. Other men of prominence quickly followed. All at once the 
 novelty became the talk of the town. 
 
 * In this sketch of life insurance in Connecticut, no account is given of the operations of 
 assessment companies or of fraternal or benevolent associations.
 
 62 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 It was a new subject, and the vigorous presentation of the affirmative side pro- 
 voked a good deal of curious opposition. Some good people argued that the scheme 
 was irreligious in substituting reliance upon human instrumentalities for trust in 
 Providence. Elder Swan, a revivalist famous for rough eloquence, and for the lurid 
 colors in which he painted the terrors of the law, in a sennon at an annual state 
 convention, resolved to crush the pernicious novelty at a blow. Rising to a climax 
 in 'denunciation, he said : " Suppose that Jesus, on His way to the Jordan, had met 
 John among the foothills, and to the question, 'Whither goestthou?' John had 
 answered : ' Behold, all these years have I trusted in the God of Israel, and have 
 been sorely pressed by many troubles. Wist thou not that I go up to Jerusalem to 
 get my life insured?' Would the church, my hearers, have outlived the few and 
 feeble days of infancy had treacher>' so foul been permitted to occur and to pass un- 
 rebuked? If lack of faith was a sin then, it is a sin now. Avoid the snares of a 
 perverse generation, and say to the tempter, 'Get thee behind me, Satan.' " 
 
 Prejudice yielded before enlightened discussion. The act condemned by the 
 good elder as a sin is now classed with the duties. 
 
 • THE CONNECTICUT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY (HARTFORD). 
 
 Discussion of the merits of life insurance in private counting-rooms would have 
 continued indefinitely in many towns without suggesting the thought of forming a 
 company to enter upon the work. Not so in Hartford. For a full half century the 
 city had been engaged in fire and marine underwriting. Abilities of a high order 
 had been attracted to the field. Carrying on operations over a wide area, coming in 
 contact with many minds, and trying to generalize laws from accunuilating stores 
 of fact, managers not only acqiiired a fondness for the business, but unconsciously 
 found it an efficient instnrment for sharpening the wits. At this juncture, too, it 
 was beginning to pass out of the empirical stage. Principles now recognized as fun- 
 damental were discussed pro and con in the offices of the Hartford, the .^tna, and the 
 Protection. The first two saw the light and lived. The third passed on in the old 
 way and died. 
 
 Early in 1846 James L,. Howard took thirty applications for policies in the 
 Mirtual Benefit in two months. Very quickly the familiar arguments in favor of 
 life insurance penetrated the community. It was like the fall of a stream of sparks 
 on tinder. Long habit had developed in the city an instinct for underwriting which 
 seized at once upon the advantages to be gained by entering the field promptly. A 
 charter incorporating The Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company was drawn 
 up and passed by the General Assembly at the May session in 1846. 
 
 The document carefully guards the rights of all parties. In case of loans on 
 real estate it requires double security on unencumbered property, and in loans on 
 state stocks and bank stocks a margin of twenty-five per cent. As a rule managers 
 do not seek to have their freedom limited by sharp restrictions, for it is only in sea- 
 sons of panic and disaster that the wisdom of iron-bound rules becomes manifest. The 
 corporation was impowered to insure husbands for the exclusive benefit of wives and 
 children, free from all claims originating on the side of the husband, provided the 
 annual premium did not exceed $100 (raised to $150 in 1848), unless paid from the 
 private property of the wife. This was at a time when the law regarded husband 
 and wife as one, and that "one" the husband. It was allowed to take from the 
 insured notes for the premium in part or for the whole at discretion, and in case just 
 claims at any time exceeded the cash on hand to lay assessments on the notes pro 
 rata. At the beginning of each year the company was required to make an estimate
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 63 
 
 of profits and of the true state of affairs for the previous }ear, to charge each member 
 with a proportionate share of losses and exj^enses, and to credit him witli a jjropor- 
 tionate share of profits. Other provisions were made for carr>'ing out the system of 
 distribution in a way that then seemed equitable. 
 
 The corporators met first July i6, 1846, at the Eagle Hotel, and adjourned from 
 time to time till July 29th, when the company was organized by choice of the fol- 
 lowing directors, viz. : Thomas K. Brace, Robert Buell, David S. Dodge, Guy R. 
 Phelps, Elisha B. Pratt, Edson Fessenden, James A. Ayrault, Eliphalet A. Bulkeley, 
 Lorenzo B. Goodman, Nathaniel H. Morgan, Nathan M. Waterman, and Henry L. 
 Miller. 
 
 August nth Eliphalet A. Bulkeley was chosen president; Guy R. Phelps, secre- 
 tary ; and David S. Dodge, physician. Elisha B. Pratt was subsequently elected 
 vice-president. 
 
 The board met frequentlj-, but for several months made little progress. As the 
 scheme was purely mutual they saw that heavy losses in the infancy of the associa- 
 tion niight crush out its life by the weight of assessments. For bridging the danger, 
 and thus opening a sure road to permanence, they decided, as permitted by the 
 charter, to raise a guaranty fund of ^50,000. It was to be made up of well-secured 
 notes, given in advance for premiums, one-half pa}able fi\'e and the other half ten 
 5ears from date. In case of asssessments the makers were to be reimbursed from 
 premiums earned immediately afterwards. The company paid for the credit six per 
 cent, annually. Except for losses and assessments previously incurred the notes 
 became \-oid at the end of their respecti^•e terms, and were to be then surrendered. 
 Death of the maker operated as a cancellation for future liability. A like rule 
 applied to the guarantor. Provision was made for substituting new obligations in 
 place of those withdrawn by cancellation or failure. 
 
 The plan was approved December 1st, and, at a meeting on the 7th, the entire 
 amount was apportioned to nineteen subscribers, in sums ranging from ;g4,ooo to 
 $1,000 each. On the i itli of the same month the board voted that policies might be 
 issued to aj^proved parties, as applications had already been received to the amount 
 of ^100,000. Meanwhile suitable forms and literature had been prepared and printed 
 and tables of premiums adopted. At the annual meeting, in January, 1847, James 
 Goodwin and William T. Hooker took the places of Messrs. Phelps and Goodman in 
 the directory. The work of appointing agents and procuring risks was pushed with 
 vigor, not over $5,000 at first being taken on a single life. 
 
 The first Finance Committee to which the by-laws intrusted the care and invest- 
 ment of funds, consisted of Messrs. Bulkeley, Goodwin and Hooker. 
 
 Januan.' 6, 1 848, James Goodwin was elected president, and James A. Ayrault 
 was appointed actuar}-, other officers remaining as before. 
 
 Applications for insurance. were all submitted to the full board of directors. 
 These came in such volume, however, that in January, i S48, the board authorized the 
 officers to issue policies upon unexceptionable applications presented during the 
 recess of the board, upon obtaining the approval of three members, of whom the medi- 
 cal examiner must be one. 
 
 The following March Isaac Toucey, afterwards governor, United States senator 
 and secretary of the navy, was appointed first legal counsellor. 
 
 The first serious dissension arose over the rigid economy shown by the executive 
 officers in making allowances to agents. It was a fixed rule to pay no bills incurred 
 b>- them for furniture, fixtures, stationer}-, etc.,irnless appropriations had been spe- 
 cifically asked and been approved by the board. All literature emanated from the
 
 64 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 home office. Agents were invited to send in any matter which they desired to see in 
 type, and were told that if approved it would be duly incorporated and supplied to 
 them gratuitously. They were required, however, to foot printing and other bills if 
 incurred without authority. 
 
 N. D. Morgan, agent in New York city, grew restive and resentful under the 
 restrictions imposed upon him. Elisha B. Pratt, in charge at Boston, was also dis- 
 satisfied. In anticipation of the election to be held in February', 1849, they made a 
 determined effort to capture the company, with the avowed purpose of introducing a 
 more liberal and expansive policy. But the garrison holding the fort was not asleep. 
 December i6th a vote was passed to notify Mr. Morgan that his term of service would 
 expire on the 19th, three days later. A powerful minority in the board sympathized 
 with the malcontents. On the first day of the new year Messrs. Brace, Hooker, Mil- 
 ler and Dodge resigned from the directory, and after a decorous delay their resigna- 
 tions were accepted. Mr. Pratt had retired the previous September, and the follow- 
 ing SeiDtember he gave up the agency at Boston. 
 
 The election was hotly contested. Of the twenty-four hundred and one votes 
 cast James Goodwin received twenty-three hundred and ninety-seven. The rest of 
 the successful ticket was elected by majorities of about two hundred. The new 
 board consisted of James Goodwin, William W. Ellsworth, Ebenezer Flower, Ed- 
 mund G. Howe, George Sumner, Zephaniah Preston, Edwin Tiffany, Samuel Wood- 
 ruff, Simeon L. Loomis, Mason Gross, William E. Dodge, of New York, and John 
 W. Sullivan, of Boston. Messrs. Dodge and Sullivan declined to ser\'e, when Henry 
 Z. Pratt, of New Y'ork, and William T. Hooker were chosen to fill the vacancies. A 
 brief war of circulars was followed by a long calm. 
 
 In the partial reorganization that ensued Ebenezer Flower, sea captain, coal 
 merchant and afterwards mayor, was elected vice-president. Dr. George Sumner 
 succeeded Dr. David S. Dodge as physician. The position of actuary was abolished. 
 The business had so grown that the board now authorized the employment of a 
 bookkeeper, clerk and office-boy. 
 
 The statement for the 3'ear ended January 31, 1850, showed that over six hun- 
 dred more policies were issued during the twelve months than during the entire pre- 
 vious existence of the company. The number of clerks had increased to four. The 
 annual election passed without a ripple. 
 
 The guarantee notes were retired at maturity in 1S51 and 1856 respectively, 
 having by their mere presence in the treasury^ fulfilled their purpose without assess- 
 ment of any kind. 
 
 Till the outbreak of the war growth was more solid than showy. At that time 
 the company had about three and one-third millions of dollars in assets and about 
 twenty-five millions at risk. It had already won the confidence of the public and 
 had in the field many devoted and enthusiastic workers. In one western city after 
 another it secured correspondents of high character and ability to act as loan agents. 
 As the transactions were eminently profitable . to both lenders and borrowers the 
 arrangement brought a large clientage, and by aiding the development of the coun- 
 try continually broadened the field of operations. Not less popular than its enter- 
 prise in offering loans were its unique provisions for guarding the interests of women 
 and children. 
 
 The premium note, too, jDroved an unexcelled device for canvassing purposes. 
 Under this system fifty per cent, of the first four premiums was payable in a note, 
 bearing six per cent, interest, which was made a policy lien and was deducted from 
 the death claim by the terms of the contract. Limited to the first four years, the
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 65 
 
 method made it easy to take large amounts of insurance at small cost. These were 
 extinguished by dividends with a rajDidity dependent on rates of interest. Counted 
 at their face they reached a maximum of $11,859,974 in 1870, and had fallen to 
 $1,065,427.28 at the beginning of 1897. The officers have always regarded the notes 
 as an excellent asset. These were unsatisfactory, however, to claimants who wanted 
 the face of their claims in cash. This was one reason for giving up the system. 
 
 In 1863 an acrid controversy arose between William Barnes, superintendent of 
 the insurance department of New York, and Secretary Phelps, with regard to an as- 
 sumed failure to report as a liability dividends to policy-holders provisionally de- 
 clared by the directors. The superintendent went so far as to threaten, unless his 
 demands were complied with, to decline to renew the certificate of the company al- 
 lowing it to issue new policies in that state. The subject matter of dispute is of far 
 less interest than the defiant, almost contemptuous, attitude maintained throughout 
 by Mr. Phelps. He asked no favors, courted the fullest inquiry and met insinuations 
 with scorn. 
 
 A few years later a successor of Mr. Barnes, in wanton disregard of decency, let 
 loose upon the life companies of New York a swarm of bummers under pretense of 
 examining their condition. For alleged investigations these foragers presented enor- 
 mous bills, which were paid without audible protest. It was notorious that most of 
 the men commissioned to go on the raid had little fitness for any work outside of 
 political chicanery. In short, the scheme began and ended in blackmail pure and 
 simple. Why did the victims submit in silence to imposition and robbery- ? The 
 question has been often asked, biit never answered "officially." 
 
 We may infer from the letters of Mr. Phelps, and from the fearlessness uni- 
 formly shown since then in dealing with frauds of every name and nature, that an 
 expedition fitted out at Albany to assault the treasury of the Connecticut Mutual 
 would have met there a very different reception. 
 
 Till 1869 the company returned to each member, without regard to the age of his 
 policy, a uniform percentage of the premium, thus discriminating in favor of new- 
 comers. Meanwhile, keen minds penetrating to the core the mathematical intricacies 
 of the subject, detected the inequalities of existing methods of distribution. In 1 869, 
 the contribution plan devised by Shepard Homans, then actuary of the Mutual Life 
 of New York, was adopted. Under it each one theoretically receives in dividends or 
 return premiums, from year to year, precisely the share that his payments entitle him 
 to. In view of the difficulty of combining mutuality with strength in the early 
 stages of the attempt, the system has been accepted by competent critics as a close 
 approach to perfect equity, and has been everywhere adopted in this country. 
 
 In early days by the terms of the contract failure to pay premiums universally 
 forfeited the policy. Not a few companies reckoned largely upon this source of 
 revenue. Many persons were thus subjected to great hardships, from which through 
 change of fortune they could not escape. In 1864 the Connecticut Mutual volunta- 
 rily changed the form of its contracts so as to give members the full value of past 
 premiums in paid-up insurance, where they found it inconvenient to continue. 
 
 When business rebounded after the first shock of war the fruitfulness of wise 
 seed-sowing became clear. An issue of one thousand, two hundred and seventy-five 
 policies in 1859 — the highest record up to that time — fell to nine hundred and fifty- 
 nine in i860, but increased to five thousand and ninety, in 1863 ; to eight thousand 
 and forty-five in 1864; and to fourteen thousand, one hundred and fifty-one, high 
 watermark, in 1867. Meanwhile, assets had increased to over twenty-two and a 
 half millions. The amount written in 1867 reached ^845,647, 191. 
 5
 
 66 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Hartford did not escape the speculative mania that followed the outpour of paper- 
 money during the war. Suburban farms were bought at high figures and on charts 
 laid out in building lots. Prices soared. Others caught the frenzy. More land was 
 bought to be sold to new-comers whom heated imaginations saw thronging toward 
 the city. By and by the balloon wavered in its upward flight. Something must be 
 done. Money was sorely needed to sustain the weight. One after another asked 
 loans from the Connecticut Mutual. Was it not the duty, they asked, of a Hartford 
 institution controlling many millions, to uphold Hartford interests? Supported by 
 the directory Major Goodwin promptly and peremptorily declined. He met insistent 
 appeals by showing how the folly must inevitably end. 
 
 For the speculators the situation was desperate. Quietly and secretly they formed 
 plans for the capture of the company. In July, 1867, they procured the passage by 
 the legislature of an act less than three lines long, repealing section 376 of the 
 revised statutes, and thus changing the mode of electing directors. Simultaneously 
 they scoured the country for proxies. The plot was discovered only a few days 
 before the annual election, but happily in time to frustrate it. In view of the relative 
 claims and rights of the two parties it now seems incredible that the attempt so nearly 
 succeeded. Separate communities and the country have suffered imtold evils from 
 heedless legislation pushed through to promote private interests. 
 
 Dr. Phelps was secretary till 1866, and president thence till his death in 1869. 
 Born at Simsbury, Conn., he graduated at the Yale Medical School in 1825, and after 
 a few years of practice in different places, opened a popular drug store in Hartford. 
 During his long connection with the Connecticut Mutual, he aimed to make the 
 company strong and rich. 
 
 Except during the brief incumbency of Dr. Phelps, Major James Goodwin was 
 president from January, i84S, till his death, March 15, 1S78. Born March 2, 1803, 
 he early exhibited great aptitude for the management of large affairs, having while 
 still a minor become owner of the main line of mail stages running east from Hartford. 
 In association with others he extended his interests till most of the lines centering in 
 the city were included. He quickly foresaw the supersedure of the stage by the 
 railway, and changed his investments accordingly. He was largely interested also 
 in fire insurance, banking, and manufactures, and on all these varied lines of effort 
 his counsels were highly valued. Local benevolent and educational institutions, 
 too, profited from his guidance and gifts. He married, in 1832, Lucy, daughter of 
 Joseph Morgan and sister of Junius S. Morgan, long a leading banker of London. 
 For thirty years Major Goodwin largely directed the financial polic}' of the Connecti- 
 cut Mutual in the matter of loans and investments. To his sagacity it is greatly 
 indebted for the strong position which it won early and has easily maintained. He 
 knew personally, and accurately measured the leading financiers of both the East and 
 the West, and was thus enabled often on short notice to make large and advantageous 
 purchases. 
 
 For the most part the executive officers of the company have served till death 
 closed their labors. Woodbridge S. Olmstead succeeded Mr. Phelps as secretary in 
 1866, and died in 1871. Colonel Jacob L. Greene, for whom the ofRce of assistant 
 secretary was created in 1870, succeeded Mr. Olmstead in 1S71 and was elected presi- 
 dent in '78. JohnM. Taylor was assistant secretary, '7--'78 ; secretary, '78-'S4, and 
 has been vice-president since '84. Later secretaries have been, William G. Abbot, 
 '84-' 89, and Edward "SI. Bunce, '89- ; assistant secretaries, Daniel H. AYells, William 
 G. Abbot, and John D. Parker. Since March, 1881, Mr. Wells has also been actuary, 
 and his work as such is held in high regard. After Mr. Flower, Edmund G. Howe
 
 GV\ K I'llKI.l'S. 
 President 1866-69. 
 
 EDWARD M. UUNCE, 
 Secretary. 
 
 J.\C()r. L. GRKENE. 
 President. 
 
 J.\JIES GOODWIN, 
 President 1848-66; 1869-7S. 
 
 JOHN M. '1 AYLOR, 
 Vice-President. 
 
 j;eorgf. r. shepherh 
 
 Medical Director. 
 
 DANIEL H, WELLS, 
 Actuary. 
 
 THE CONNECTICUT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 67 
 
 was vice-president, '51-' 57; Zephaniah Preston, '57-' 77; Edward B. Watkinson, 
 '78-'84. Mr. Watkinson also, as chairman of the committee on building, supervised 
 the construction of the home office. 
 
 Colonel Greene was born at Waterford, Me., August 9, 1837, studied at ^^lichigan 
 University, and began the jjractice of law. Soon after came the war, with its loud 
 calls for young men. At the age of twenty-four he enlisted in the Seventh Michigan 
 infantry, and except when on a sick bed or in southern prisons, served in the Union 
 arm}.- till one year after federal authority was fully restored. In 1863 he was 
 aj^pointed assistant adjutant-general on the staff of General Custer, and in 1865, chief 
 of staff to the same commander. April, 1866, he was mustered out with the full 
 rank of major and the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel, bestowed for distinguished 
 gallantr}-. Colonel Greene then took an agency for the Berkshire Life Insurance 
 Company of Pittsfield, Mass., and was soon invited to join the office staff as assistant 
 secretary. For a quarter of a century he has sers^ed the Connecticut Mutual. Colo- 
 nel Greene takes an active interest and occasionally an aggressive part in public 
 affairs, always, in seasons both of calm and contention, on the side of sound morals, 
 clean politics, and good government. His pen has enforced the use of correct methods 
 in life insurance, and has mercilessl}- laid bare the injustice of alluring but deceptive 
 devices for entrapping the unwary. In March, 1896, he read a paper before the 
 Hartford Board of Trade on " Our Currency Problems," of which over one hundred 
 and ninety thousand copies were circulated, largely through the South and West. 
 During the troubles that have sprung from tampering with the currenc)-, he has been 
 a stalwart leader in exposing the heresies wrapt up in the pretensions of fiat monev. 
 
 Mr. Taylor was born of New England parentage at Cortland, N. Y., February 18, 
 1845, graduated with class and scholarship honors in 1867, at Williams College, and 
 was admitted to the bar in 1870, when he opened an office in Pittsfield, Mass. 
 Incidentally he was elected town clerk, clerk of the district court, and to other positions. 
 He gave up a career at the bar to link his fortunes with the Connecticut Mutual, but 
 the connection has been happ}- for both parties. Thorough legal training at the 
 outset reinforced by familiarity with current legislation and court decisions affecting 
 insurance, exact knowledge of principles and mastery of details, long ago made him a 
 trusted and authoritative guide through the changeful complexities that continually 
 arise. To the general management he has contributed his full store of thought and 
 responsibility. Mr. Taylor has decided literary and critical ability as shown by his 
 recent historical work, "Maximilian and Carlotta, a Story of Imperialism." 
 
 The Connecticut Mutual is peculiarly strong, not only in solid assets, but in a 
 conservatism of policy, the wisdom of which will become more and more apparent 
 with the lapse of time. Its premiums and reserves upon risks taken since April, 
 1882, are computed on the assumption that before the liabilities mature, safe invest- 
 ments cannot with certainty be depended upon to yield a yearh- net income of over 
 three per cent, instead of four per cent., the basis heretofore required in prudent 
 legislation and estimates. When taken, the step, quite at variance with the prevalent 
 tendency, provoked, in certain quarters, acrid criticism, but its justification came 
 more quickly, perhaps, than its advocates foresaw. The discussion drew from able 
 economists elaborate papers to prove that for a generation, at least, the annual rate 
 of interest in the United States, except for short and transient intervals, could not 
 fall below six per cent. The arguments were based upon the extent of our unde- 
 veloped and partially developed territory, the tireless energ}' of our people, and the 
 enormous sum certain to be required both for the enlargement of old and the initia- 
 tion of new enterprises. In reality, capital increases much more raj^idh' than the
 
 68 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 demand for it in safe investments. In a panic the rate may mount tipward according 
 to the necessities of the borrower. During the last decade, on the contrary, call loans 
 on the best security have ranged for months at a time from one per cent, a year to a 
 fraction above, while much of the time United States and some state bonds have 
 yielded less than the assumption of the company requires. Nothing but a long and 
 destructive war can arrest except temporarily the downward movement. In view 
 of the further fact that life insurance contracts, in many instances, will run fifty or 
 sixty years, and that every one kept in force must be provided for at the outset and 
 ultimately be paid in full on penalty of bankruptcy, it is easy to see that all similar 
 institutions, to meet remote obligations, must follow in practice, if not avowedly, the 
 example first set by the Connecticut j\Iutual. 
 
 On the highly improbable assumption, that the destruction of capital in waste- 
 ful wars should restore, for a long period, former rates of interest, and thus postpone 
 the necessity for revising the tables of cost, patrons of the company would reap the 
 entire benefit in the way of larger dividends. In case the accumulation of wealth, 
 with the attendant decrease of income, goes on without interruption, they are fully 
 protected, and in case the natural order of economical development is suspended or 
 temporarily reversed, they lose nothing by the changes introduced in preparation for 
 the seemingly inevitable. 
 
 In 1 87 1-2 several ambitious companies that had pushed their business at such 
 an expense as to affect their dividends very unfavorably when compared with those 
 of more conser\-ative competitors, revived the "tontine" scheme under which 
 insurers agreed to forego all dividends for ten to twenty years and pay full premiums. 
 
 Those who died during the term lost such surplus as had accumulated up to the 
 time, and those Avho ceased to pay, no matter when, lost everything. It was repre- 
 sented that the forfeitures arising from the two sources would make a very large sum 
 in addition to the face of the policy, to be divided among the select few who perse- 
 vered till the end of the period. 
 
 The Connecticut ^Mutual, with unanswerable logic, pointed out the injustice of 
 the scheme, taking the ground that as the surplus accrued from year to year it ought 
 to be used to aid in keeping the policy in force, and in case of lapse, that the reserves 
 were entitled to an eqivalent value of paid-up insurance. If the plan Avas carried out 
 faithfully it simply meant the robbery of the many for the benefit of the few, and 
 hence pushed a demoralizing speculation into sacred ground that should be kept free 
 from such intrusion. 
 
 Even as a contrivance for enriching the fortunate at the expense of the unfortunate 
 the devise has proved a failure, for as the policies are now falling due the holders are 
 receiving less than forty per cent, of the profits which were promised by way of 
 temptation. Where the balance has gone, raises another question yet to be answered 
 "officially." Costly business blocks built by the companies in different quarters of 
 the globe, that may excite the wonder of beholders, but for the most part yield 
 scant returns on the outlay; large salaries to many employees; and, in short, a 
 heavy ratio of expenses — indicate, in part, where the other sixty per cent, may be 
 looked for. 
 
 Prior to January i, 1897, the Connecticut Mutual had received : 
 
 For Premiums $192,111,805.65 
 
 " Interest 76,438,281.19 
 
 " Rents 7,059,292.87 
 
 " Profit and loss 1,035,219.59 
 
 Total $276,644,599.30
 
 insurancp: in Connecticut. 69 
 
 « 
 
 DISBURSED. 
 
 For Death claims and endowments 5102,683,616.37 
 
 " Dividends 55,966,763.64 
 
 " Surrendered policies 23,803,729.92 
 
 Total paid policy-holders $182,454,109.93 
 
 Expenses 24,316,102.41 
 
 Taxes 8,892.715.35 
 
 Total 5215,662,92769 
 
 Ledger assets, January i, 1S97 60,981,671.61 
 
 Xet surplus §7,153,297.04 
 
 The surplus would be over a million of dollars more if wholly computed on the 
 legal standard of 4 per cent. On tables in use since April, 1882, the company has 
 assumed 3 per cent, as the rate of interest on accumulations accruing after that date. 
 In the management of the Connecticut IMutual, one is impressed by the thorough- 
 ness and equity with which principles are studied and applied. 
 
 Edward M. Bunce, secretary, was born in Hartford in 1841, educated at the Hart- 
 ford Public High School, and on graduation was appointed clerk in the Phcenix 
 Bank, where, having served under the state and national systems, as teller, assistant 
 cashier and cashier, was elected a director in the Connecticut Mutual Life in 1878, 
 and its secretary in 1 8S9. 
 
 Daniel H. Wells was born at Riverhead, L. L, in 1S45 ; graduated at the Yale 
 Sheffield Scientific School in the class of 1867 with the degree of C. E., later receiv- 
 ing the degree of Ph.B. , and remaining there as instructor in mathematics and engi- 
 neering for seven 5-ears. In i S74 he became a clerk in the actuarial department of the 
 Connecticut Mutual; was placed in charge in 1876 as second assistant secretary ; 
 was elected assistant secretary in 1878, and actuary of the company in 1881. 
 
 John D. Parker was born in Pittsfield, I\Iass., in 1850 ; educated in the Pittsfield 
 High School ; joined the clerical force of the Berkshire Life Insurance Comjjany in 
 1866, and after five years' ser\'ice there, was appointed clerk in the Connecticut 
 Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1871 ; chosen second assistant secretary in 1S89, 
 and assistant secretary in March, 1890. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 INS UR A NCE IX CO NNE C TI C U T— Continued. 
 
 THE AMERICAN MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, AND THE AMERICAN 
 N.ATIONAL LIFE AND TRUST COMPANY (nEW HAVEn). 
 
 HIS company was incorporated in 1847. Six commissioners were authorized 
 to open books aud receive applications for insurance to be effected, not to 
 exceed ;$5,ooo upon the life of any one person, and when the amount 
 reached $100,000, to call a meeting at New Haven for the purpose of orga- 
 nizing and electing a board of trustees, every member to have one vote on 
 each $500 applied for. 
 
 Benjamin Silliman, an honored professor in Yale College, was elected president, 
 and Benjamin Noyes, secretar\-. Tables fixing the rates to be charged for insurance
 
 70 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 on lives generally assiimed, in the earlier days of the business, that an income of at 
 least 4^2 per cent, per annum could be realized on the accumulations made up of 
 premiums and interest. If through good investments higher rates were obtained, 
 the excess was so much clear profit, either to be added to the reserves, or to be 
 returned in dividends to the insured. As loanable funds increased, it was found that 
 the estimate was too high. States like INIassachusetts, New York and Connecticut 
 long ago reduced the limit by law to 4 per cent., while far-seeing managers have for 
 some time been recasting their tables on a still more conservative basis. 
 
 The American Mutual, however, started on the dangerous assumption that it 
 could realize at least six per cent, on all funds in the treasury. On that theory it 
 made contracts liable to run in some cases for half a century. Whenever, from any 
 cause, the average rate of interest on the combined assets fell below six per cent., a 
 loss arose that could only be charged against principal. In long periods the margin 
 of two per cent, placed at compound interest produces quite astonishing results. 
 On annual payments of $100, the difference amounts in twenty-five years to $1,484, 
 and in fifty years to $14,898. The company, too, made up a table of mortality less 
 conservative than those now in use. Low rates and the world-wide fame of the 
 president gave the American Mutual a good start. In 1855 it claimed to have 
 1:4,960,450 insured by existing policies, although the following year the amount had 
 fallen to $3,500,000. Its annual statements puzzled the newly-created insurance bu- 
 reaus of Massachusetts and New York. The commissioners of Massachusetts, in the 
 report of January, 1858, treat the valuation of $30,000 put on existing policies as 
 " evidently guesswork and not deemed reliable." The next j-ear its statement first 
 came under the searching scrutiny of Elizur Wright, who brought to the office great 
 technical knowledge, integrity and courage. From his eye vagueness could not hide 
 absurdity in estimates. He failed to see how five millions at risk could be transferred 
 to a reliable company for a "sum not exceeding $37,500," as claimed in the state- 
 ment. To his mind the figures were given, " not as the result of any calculation or 
 investigation, whatever, but of wholesale conjecture." Considering the age of the 
 company and the amount at risk, he was inclined to believe that no other company 
 would be justified in taking its risks for $162,212.98 — the whole amount of its net 
 assets. At the same time he suggests that there may be some peculiarity in its busi-' 
 ness to relieve it of suspicion. This much is conceded "out of regard to the venerable 
 gentleman who has stood at its head, and whose name has been its chief tower of 
 strength — a name dear to the whole world for his noble zeal and eloquence in the 
 cause of science and humanity." 
 
 In 1862 the company was excluded from doing business in the state of New 
 York, where it then had ten agents. For a long period Commissioner Wright dealt 
 with it very tenderly out of regard for its distinguished president. He was at a loss 
 to see how reports, hazy, indefinite and strained could be fathered by a gentleman 
 trained to exact methods of science, and known to be scrupulously correct in every 
 relation of life. He knew that no taint of mercenary motive could stain the charac- 
 ter of one who had devoted splendid talents and incessant toil to the cause of truth 
 and popular education. But at length the suspicion ripened into conviction " that 
 men of science may misplace their confidence in the science of others," and he goes 
 on to show that the calculations avowedly made by Benjamin Noyes for the sworn 
 return deposited with the department, October 30, 1852, involve gross and palpable 
 impossibilities. 
 
 Professor Silliman died in 1864. For a short term Willis Bristol held the presi- 
 dency, and was succeeded by Mr. Noyes, who had held uncontrolled sway from the
 
 IXSURANXK IX COXXECTICUT. 71 
 
 start. Ill 1S65 an insurance department, with limited fnnctions, was established in 
 Connecticut. Benjamin Noyes was appointed first commissioner. He held the place 
 till 1S71, when the department was reorganized with much broader duties and 
 powers. Thus the American Mutual enjoyed double services from the same person. 
 The wisdom, however, of hiring an official to watch himself is yet to be proved. 
 Although shut out from Massachusetts and Xew York, within the jurisdiction of 
 Connecticut he could manipulate figures iinder authority of the commonwealth, 
 applying methods and tests which were wholly his own. In his report to the legis- 
 lature in 1S67 — the first embracing home institutions — he presented a table to prove 
 inferentially that the American Mutual was by far the strongest of the eight life com- 
 panies then doing business under charters from the state. But it is useless to waste 
 words in refuting manifest absurdities. 
 
 In 1 87 1 an act was worked through the General Assembly authorizing the com- 
 pany to lease land from Trinity Church, New Haven, and to erect thereon such 
 building or buildings as should be deemed expedient. Under the permission thus 
 granted much the larger part of its available assets was soon solidified in brick and 
 mortar. It was carried on the books at ^350,000, while the lease was claimed to add 
 ^50,000 more to the value of the property. 
 
 Mr. Noyes appreciated the commercial value of nominal connections with men 
 of high character and wide reputation. The more engrossing their labors the better, 
 for other activities would then leave little leisure for prying into secrets of manage- 
 ment. For his purposes Professor Sillimau made an ideal figure-head. Too noble 
 and truthful to suspect trickeiy and falsehood in an associate, and too busy with pur- 
 suits that delighted his heart to descend to the details of money-making, he was con- 
 tent to be an apparent leader in life insurance from a conviction that the work was 
 essentially beneficent. From time to time excellent men were also placed on the 
 board, but, so far as the company was concerned, they were expected to look wise and 
 know nothing. 
 
 Rarely, by mistake, persons were selected who declined to be hj-pnotized. Prof. 
 A. C. Twining, of Yale College, a!i influential trustee, dissatisfied with the loose 
 methods and indefinite reports of the secretary, urged his associates to apply the 
 curb. By a flank attack he was driven from the board. He also tried to procure a 
 legislative inquiry, but was easily bafiled by his wilj' adversary. 
 
 When Joseph G. Lamb resigned the agency at Norwich, Mr. Noyes engaged John 
 L- Dennison to collect premiums on renewals in the town and its vicinit\'. In for- 
 warding the receipts he added that policy-holders had from time to time received 
 dividends in scrip representing surplus earnings, and asked him to collect all in that 
 section and return the same to the home office with his next monthly statement. 
 Mr. Dennison, from whose training the art of reaching ends by devious paths had 
 been omitted, paid the holders the face value out of his collections and reported 
 accordingly. Mr. Noyes was much displeased. He wrote, " I never intended }ou 
 to pay the scrip-holders. The object was upon their return to me to consolidate the 
 various pieces, and issue a form of obligation which would be of the same relative 
 value to the holders at maturity." He also requested Mr. Dennison to forward the 
 amount paid in cash in order properly to settle his account. 
 
 ]\Ir. Dennison replied that the office had sent no blank to be filled, and given as 
 a voucher to be held during the exchange, or even mentioned the proposed substitu- 
 tion. Hence he had but one way of obtaining the script, and that by paying for it. 
 The explanation brought no answer. IMr. Noyes acted on the theor)- that to sophis- 
 ticate the form of an obligation was the easiest wav to get rid of it.
 
 72 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 In iS/O several leading citizens of Norwich, policy-holders in the company, in a 
 commnnication printed over their na\nes in the A ih'er/iser, made an outspoken attack 
 on the management. Mr. Noyes hurried over to cpiiet the disturbance. Some of the 
 interviews took a decidedly personal turn, and he was forced to listen to plain talk. 
 At length the)' finally agreed, as perhaps the liest way out of a bad fix, to sell their 
 policies at fifty per cent, of the amount paid in to Dr. J. B. Robertson, vice-president 
 of the company. 
 
 As the American Mutual Life had long rested under a cloud, various plans were 
 considered by the managers for getting rid of the discredit without sacrificing the 
 assets and business. In pursuance of the scheme they came before the legislature of 
 Connecticut in 1 866, and secured the passage of an act incorporating The American 
 National Life Insvirance Company. The capital stock was to be not less than $ioo,- 
 ooo, with the privilege of increase at the pleasure of the directors to ^500,000. The 
 subscribers were required to pay the amounts subscribed for, " in such installments 
 as the directors shall order and direct." As subsequently construed, this provision 
 was assumed to authorize the company to begin and continue business with no paid 
 capital whatever. Similar latitude of phraseology runs through the entire document. 
 Section 7 begins, "The capital stock and the accumulations of said company may 
 be invested in mortgages upon real estate worth double the amount loaned," etc. 
 In other words, the managers were permitted, if it suited their purposes, to invest in 
 sundry classes of good securities, but the permission was not coupled with any obli- 
 gation or penalt)'. The company was authorized to accept and execute any and all 
 trusts that might be committed to it by any court, or person, or persons, whatso- 
 ever, and to " assume or to reinsure any risks involving the casualties of life, either 
 separately or otherwise." The last clause, half hidden under the shadow of inno- 
 cent privileges, embodied the essence of all that was sought for. 
 
 Section 6 allowed dividends to be paid " in cash or scrip, or in stock, or in new 
 policies of insurance, or (to) be added to old ones. It was the original plan to draw 
 from the treasury of the American Mutual Life the funds needed to pay for the capi- 
 tal stock of its offspring. At the next session of the General Assembly the charter 
 of the old company was so amended as to authorize it to loan on vague and illusive 
 conditions to the individual members of its board the amount required to pay for 
 such shares in the new company as they might subscribe for. That Benjamin Noyes 
 and his associates could obtain from successive legislatures the authority to handle 
 without restriction trust funds of the most sacred character, is, perhaps, not so much 
 an evidence of confidence in their integrity as of their adroitness in effecting com- 
 binations for political and other purposes. 
 
 A long period of gestation followed. In 1871 the cor[)orate name was changed 
 to "The American National Life and Trust Compan)'." The following September 
 stock subscriptions to the amount of $125,000 were entered on a sheet provided for 
 the purpose, and an organization was consummated by electing as its officers the 
 officers of the American Mutual Life. Benjamin Noyes, president, and Richard F. 
 Lyon, secretary'. 
 
 The larger part of the subscriptions were made in the name of sundry persons 
 by B. No)-es, "attorney." A little in the same line was done by R. F. Lyon, "at- 
 torney." Willis Bristol, treasurer, in trust for the company, took one hundred and 
 twenty shares, which were afterwards vacated b\- vote of the board. Then came 
 another long and involuntary dela^■. The annual statement of the American ^Mutual 
 Life for December, 1871, as made uj) in the home office, showed a deficiency of 
 ;g 18,678.84. Dr. George S. Miller, the first regular insurance commissioner of Con-
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 73 
 
 necticnt, as directed by the Act of 1871, creating the office, notified the company to 
 cease the issne of new policies and tlie payment of (li\idends till the impairment 
 should be made good. Accordingly a "guaranty capital," so called, of S75,ooo was 
 subscribed to fill the gap in the early part of 1873. About the same time, as per- 
 mitted by a .special act jjassed in 1871, the state treasurer surrendered to the Ameri- 
 can National Life and Trust Company, the securities deposited with him by the 
 American Mutual Life, in exchange for an equal amount substituted by the former. 
 
 As a part of the same transaction the new company assumed all the liabilities of 
 the old one and took its entire assets, including the guaranty capital. In spite of 
 many difficulties the transmigration was complete. A soul had so passed from one 
 body to another that the closest observer from external appearances would never have 
 suspected the fact. Nothing visible was changed except the title. Not only assets 
 and liabilities, but the premises occupied, the management and atmosphere remained 
 the same. After an examination of its condition in April, 1873, Commissioner Mil- 
 ler gave the company a license to issue policies and transact business. 
 
 As it was brought into being with the primary purpose of absorbing dead and 
 dying institutions, it lost little time, after swallowing its parent, in hunting for the 
 next meal. The following December it reinsured the risks of the National Life of 
 New York, which had failed in October. The bargain was bad in every way, the 
 buyer getting little and assuming much. Among the securities assigned were bonds 
 to the amount of ^100,000, deposited with the superintendent of insurance at Albany. 
 It was to get hold of these that the trade was made. Here Mr. Noyes met unex- 
 pected difficulties. His manipulations as lobbyist in his own state had given him 
 great confidence in his prowess. But he was now manceuvering on imfamiliar 
 ground. The superintendent was deaf equally to demands and entreaties, success- 
 fully claiming that the bonds could not be used for any other purpose than the pro- 
 tection of policy-holders of the bankrupt company in that state. Aside from the 
 deposit of $105,500 (including excess of price over par) retained by the superintend- 
 ent, the concern had the December before only $18,208.97, made up of cash and ac- 
 crued interest, available for the payment of losses. The balance out of a total of 
 $760,034.87 of assumed assets consisted of premium notes, loans on policies in force 
 and Tinpaid premiums. At the same time the liabilities reached $760,034.87. Had 
 the New York superintendent given up the deposit, the contract of reinsurance would 
 still seem an act of madness. 
 
 John W. Stedman, second insurance commissioner of Connecticut, served two 
 terms, having been appointed by Gov. Charles R. IngersoU and reappointed by Gov. 
 Richard D. Hubbard. He entered upon the duties of the office in July, 1S74. Com- 
 plaints from the beneficiaries of deceased policy-holders in the American National Life 
 and Trust, and from others, came with alarming frequency. Proof accumulated in his 
 hands to indicate that the company was pursuing vigorously the system of freezing 
 out old policy-holders and of compromising death claims on the hardest terms pos- 
 sible. Some, in ignorance, submitted, taking whatever they could get. Others 
 directly or through friends, sent to the department for advice. Mr. Stedman felt 
 that he would be criminally negligent if he allowed such practices to continue with- 
 out inquiry or rebuke. Accordingly, beginning on the 20th of October, with the aid 
 of several experts, he made an exhaustive examination of the condition of the com- 
 pany and a revaluation of the liabilities on all outstanding policies. The resulting 
 statement showed its condition on the first day of October, 1874. 
 
 Putting upon the famous building erected on Chapel street a much higher esti- 
 mate than was realized in the final settlement, he made the total assets $923,220.71,
 
 74 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 the liabilities gi, 335,068. 28, and the deficiency $411,847.57. Among the assets he 
 included the bonds, now valued at $108,000, which were deposited with the superin- 
 tendent at Albany and which never did or could come into the hands of the New 
 Haven company. He disallowed the following items, and over them a fierce contest 
 arose : 
 
 Capital stock unpaid $84,700 
 
 Guarantee capital 75i°oo 
 
 Agencies balances 15,706 
 
 Virginia Coal Company stock 26,600 
 
 $202,006 
 
 Section 28 of the act of 1871 provides that if on examination by the commis- 
 sioner, the assets of any company chartered by this state to grant insurances or 
 make contracts contingent upon lives, are less than its liabilities, the commissioner 
 shall forthwith notify such company to cease the issue of new policies and the pay- 
 ment of dividends until the deficiency shall be supplied, or at his discretion he may 
 apply to the local court of probate for an appointment of a trustee to take possession 
 of the property for the benefit of the creditors. 
 
 Section 29 further provides that if the assets are less than three-fourths of the 
 liabilities the commissioner shall without delay bring petition as above, and the 
 court shall thereupon appoint a trustee. It also prescribes the further steps to be taken 
 to accomplish the dissolution of the company. 
 
 As the deficiency exceeded twenty-five per cent., no discretion was allowed the 
 commissioner. He therefore applied to the court of probate for the district of New 
 Haven for the appointment of a trustee to take possession of the property and wind 
 up the affairs of the company. At the first hearing the application was resisted on 
 the ground that the law was imconstitutional. The plea was overruled and a trial 
 ordered on the merits of the case. After some delay the hearing began January 18, 
 1875, before Judge Bradley of the Probate Court, assisted by Judge Phelps of the 
 Superior Court, and closed March 19th. Various adjournments reduced the time 
 actually consumed to twenty days. The court decided, April 1 2th, that the allega- 
 tion in the petition that the assets were less than three-fourths of the liabilities was 
 untrue, that the allegation that the assets were less than the liabilities was true, and 
 that the deficiency was not such that the prayer should be granted. Accordingly 
 the petition was dismissed, the court giving no hint of its opinion regarding the 
 value of the property owned by the company, or of the amount of deficiency. Up 
 to this point Henry B. Harrison, afterwards governor, prosecuted the case in behalf 
 of the state. He was so astounded and shocked, however, at the outcome that he 
 withdrew peremptorily from any further connection with it. He was succeeded by 
 Simeon E. Baldwin, now on the bench of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, who 
 with great ability and unfaltering persistence conducted the case to the end. Let us 
 examine the situation in the light of the evidence. 
 
 The guaranty capital of $75,000 was an inheritance, as already narrated, from 
 the American Mutual Life, and was made up in order that the process of absorption 
 might proceed in apparent accordance with law. In a contract between the trustees 
 of the company and the subscribers, dated March 15, 1873, it was agreed that the 
 company should pay six per cent, per annum interest on the several subscriptions, 
 that the fund should not be used or resorted to unless all the resources of the com- 
 pany were exhausted, that all income derived from the securities transferred from 
 private hands to make up the amount, should, when collected by the treasurer, be
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 75 
 
 paid to the owners, and that the securities themselves should be returned at the end 
 of three years from the 15th da\' of December, 1872. 
 
 Less than $12,000 in marketable bonds were lodged with the company under the 
 contract. The balance was made up mostly of mythical mortgages. Fair Haven 
 Water Company stock, and town of Brighton, 111., bonds. The use of the stuff drew 
 from the treasury- $4, 500 annually, to which, in return, even the fractional $12,000 
 contributed not a cent of revenue. It is obvious that a fund thus constituted, 
 whether good or bad, if allowed as an asset, should be charged also as a liability. 
 
 The amount of the regiilar capital stock is variously stated. In the report for 
 1873 it is put at $100,000, with the legend "actually paid up in cash." It matters 
 little whether it is called less or more, for not a dollar had been paid on a single 
 share. June 2, 1873, by vote of the directors a dividend of twenty-three per cent, 
 was declared to be endorsed on the certificates, an assessment of like amount having 
 been ordered at the .same meeting. It appears from the testimony that several gen- 
 tlemen credited on the books with the ownership of stock were entirelv unaware of 
 tlie bounties which had been showered upon them. On the original paper five hun- 
 dred and forty shares were subscribed for sundry parties "by B. Noyes." From 
 these blocks he seems to have made transfers freely without consulting either osten- 
 sible sellers or buyers. 
 
 C. S. Maltby testified that he never authorized B. Noyes to subscribe for fifty 
 shares for him or to transfer or receive it. J. A. Bishop, of the Yale National Bank, 
 testified that he did not authorize B. Noyes to make a subscription of fifty shares for 
 him, that he had received no certificate for it, and did not authorize B. Noves to 
 transfer it to Samuel S. Noyes. Joseph A. Smith testified that he never authorized 
 B. Noyes to transfer five shares to him. The mayor of the cit>-, H. G. Lewis, swore 
 that he owned none of the stock and had never authorized any transfer to him. 
 
 The dividend of twenty-three per cent., amounting to $25,300, was made on a 
 nominal capital of $1 10,000, leaving §84,700 unpaid. It was declared out of the sur- 
 plus created b}' the deposit of the guaranty capital already described. As nearly as 
 existing conditions permit, Benjamin Noyes had succeeded in creating something 
 out of nothing. These phantoms, too, he treated as realities with such apparent sin- 
 cerity that men of considerable intelligence were deluded by the show. The other 
 two items thrown out by the commissioner, agency balances and Virginia Coal Com- 
 pany stock, were about equally worthless. 
 
 Returning to assets allowed we find the commissioner too liberal by over $200,000. 
 He included at a valuation of $108,000, the bonds conveyed by the National Life of 
 New York, but never delivered because the superintendent at Albany kept them 
 securely locked in his vault for the protection of the policy-holders of that state. 
 
 He estimated the building of the company at $269,822. 50. By special permission 
 of the general assembly this structure was erected on ground leased from Trinity 
 Parish, New Haven, for sixty years from October i, 1 871, at an annual rental of 
 g8,ooo for the first ten years, $9,000 for the next ten, and for the rest of the term at 
 six per cent, on the appraised value of the ground, the yearly rent to be never less 
 than $9,000. .-Vt the hearing the witnesses produced by the commissioner estimated 
 the value of the leasehold at from $100,000 to $125,000. The experts of Mr. Noyes 
 thought much more highly of the investment ranging from $250,000 upward. Till 
 the time of the hearing it had not yielded sufficient revenue to meet the ground-rent 
 and current expenses. 
 
 After the finding of the court many officials would have abandoned fturtlier 
 attempts to break up a combination so securely intrenched, and backed by such
 
 76 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 varied and powerful influences. Whatever disaster might come in the future, a com- 
 missioner unwilling to encounter trouble could hold up the record to show that he 
 had fully complied with the law, and that further responsibility rested elsewhere. 
 Not thus, however, with Mr. Stedman. He felt that his duty to husbands and fathers 
 who for man}' years had paid premiums through trust in false promises, to widows 
 and orphans threatened with robbery in the hour of bereavement, and to the state 
 which had made him guardian of these special interests, demanded that he should 
 press forward without faltering. Accordingly, on the 5th of May, 1875, he submitted 
 a special report to the general assembly. After marshaling the facts he demonstrated 
 by applying to the case the well-known principles of the science, that the company 
 was hopelessly insolvent, that recovery was impossible, and that the longer it contin- 
 ued in business the more disastrous would be its unavoidable failure. He also quoted 
 from his voluminous files to show how Noyes was working to frighten policy-holders 
 into the surrender of claims at fractions of their face. 
 
 On the 24th of the month came a reply addressed to the general assembly and 
 signed by thirteen directors. It throws little fresh light on the controversy. In 
 answer to the charge that not a dollar had ever been paid on the capital stock it 
 defends the course of the company on the grounds, ist, that the charter authorizes it 
 to go into operation upon subscribed capital; and, 2nd, "that the payment of the 
 stock had not been called for by the directors, either in whole or in part, simply for 
 the reason that no necessity had arisen for calling for its payment." 
 
 Evidently Mr. Noyes foresaw with far more penetrating vision than the legisla- 
 ture the use that could be made of the instrument. 
 
 July 14th the Senate passed a resolution unanimously recommended by the Com- 
 mittee on Insurance, to annul, on the first day of September, 1875, the charters of the 
 American Mutual Life Insurance Company, and of the American National Life and 
 Trust Company, unless the latter, on or before that day should supply the deficiency 
 existing in its assets, and receive from the commissioner a certificate to that eflfect. 
 
 On the 20th of July the matter came up in the House, when two provisos ap- 
 peared, the first offered by Lynde Harrison, of Guilford, in the interest of the managers, 
 and the second by Elisha Johnson, of Hartford, who favored the naked resolution of 
 the Senate. By the first it was provided that in case of disagreement between the 
 commissioner and the company in regard to the sufficiency of the assets, upon the 
 application of either, the chief justice of the state should designate one of the judges 
 of the Superior Court to sit with him to try the issue, that their determination 
 respecting the amount, value and sufficienc>' of the assets, should be conclusive, and 
 that they should thereupon issue their certificate of the amount of the deficiency, if 
 any, to be paid in, and if the company within thirty days made up the deficiency so 
 found, the main resolution should become inoperative and void. The decision was 
 required to be made and the certificate delivered before November i, 1875. 
 
 By the second it was provided that in case of disagreement between the commis- 
 sioner and the company as to the sufiiciency of its assets, and the deficiency was not 
 supplied on or before vSeptember i, 1S75, the commissioner should on that day take 
 possession of all the assets, books and papers of the company, and hold them subject 
 to the order of the chief justice, and to be disposed of as provided by law. 
 
 On the 2 1st the Senate voted to concur, and the bill, as amended, became law. 
 Before the final vote in the house several sudden and radical conversions took place. 
 The reasons for the changes were freely suggested in the debate. In his next annual 
 report the commissioner, with a courage as breezy and refreshing as it is unusual, 
 in drawing back a corner of the curtain, disclosed not hints and suspicions, but names 
 and prices.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNICCTICUT. 77 
 
 " And it should also be stated that two of the ineiiibers of the House, Bus Well Carter, of 
 Plainville (holding a policy for Si.ooo in the company), and George T. Steel, of Bristol (holding 
 one for $2,000), speaking earnesth- and with great apparent sincerity, as policy-holders, plead for 
 leniency to the company, and induced the members to consent to the first House proviso. Up to 
 within two hours of this action of theirs they had been vehement against the companj-, and 
 against any change in the action of the Insurance Committee. Two days afterwards the}' 
 surrendered their policies to the company and received their mone\' value." 
 
 Sttibs in the check-book of Noyes show that otit of the funds of the company 
 during the year 1875 and the early part of 1876, he paid over twenty-seven thousand 
 dollars to lawyers, lobbyists and scribblers. Much of this was used around the cap- 
 itol. Some of the money passed through hands notoriously corrupt. Some was ac- 
 cepted by men of high repute, who, for a price, consented to act as secret agents in 
 aiding the continuance of one of the most detestable forms of fraud. Perhaps in 
 open court it is proper to defend and to defend vigorously even the worst offenders. 
 But when one, no matter how thickly veneered with respectability, takes a fee for 
 prowling with hidden and tinavowed designs aroimd the halls of legislation in the 
 interests of crime, it is fairly questionable whether the hireling is not more guilty 
 than his employer. 
 
 As the company had not made good the deficiency, the commissioner, in compli- 
 ance with law, prepared to take possession on the ist of September. He was re- 
 strained by an injunction, is.sued Augu.st 31, by Jtidge Beardsley, of the Superior 
 Court. This was dissolved on the 8th of September, but while it was in force the 
 United States District Judge in New York city, ttpon the petition of local policy- 
 holders, issued a restraining order, which was also dissolved after a hearing. 
 
 In ptirsuance of the special law passed to meet the case, a hearing before Chief 
 Justice Park, assisted by Judge L,. F. S. Foster, began the 5th day of October, and on 
 the 30th they certified that the deficiency in its assets amoitnted to $50,000. The 
 total assets were estimated by the company at $1,207,598.63, by the insurance depart- 
 ment at $577,578. 12 and by the judges at $1,013,279.65; and the liabilities respec- 
 tively at $1,073,294. 16, $1,273,932.98 and $1,073,294. 16. The judges reftised to give 
 an official detailed statement of their valuations, but Jtidge Park furnished verbal in- 
 formation to the commissioner from which he prepared a table. They considered 
 the btiilding worth $300,000 and the lease $50,000. Brighton bonds (par $26,200), 
 Virginia Coal stock and city lots were lumped together at $50,009.54. The bonds 
 still held by the New York superintendent were placed at $121,750. 
 
 November 22d the directors voted to increase the capital stock $50,000 and to 
 require full payment. On the 27th the ofl&cers certified that the full amount had 
 been subscribed and paid, and on the 29th the commissioner found the sum standing 
 to the credit of the treasurer at the Yale National Bank. 
 
 The commissioner was compelled by the statute to assume that the findings of 
 the judges were correct. Accordingly, though still profoundly lacking in faith, he 
 issued a qualified circular, to the effect that on the above assumption the company 
 was solvent. 
 
 By what legerdemain the credit of $50,000 found its way upon the books of the 
 bank, whence it came, and whither it went, were questions quickly lost sight of in 
 the swift whirl of events. Mr. Noyes was plotting a flank movement. 
 
 Connecticut pleased him no longer. That niuch-endttring person was about to 
 turn his back upon the state. He still carried the lobby in his pocket ; he cotild 
 still control in large measure legislation likely to affect his interests ; he could still 
 hoodwink judges ; he could still command a following of uncritical, but highly 
 respected, gentlemen. In the presence of so many blessings one form loomed up
 
 78 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 before him, ubiquitous, irrepressible, a Nemesis, threatening vengeance for the past, 
 and warning him away from the fair and familiar fields that continued to tempt his 
 enterprise. He saw that even the points won in the fight with the commissioners, 
 were of negative value, and could yield no practical benefits. To find an atmos- 
 phere suited to the flights of his genius, he must get beyond the jurisdiction of that 
 mild-mannered, but troublesome, officer. Even before the hearing, held by Judges 
 Park and Foster, began, Noyes was not only actively prospecting elsewhere, but had 
 already decided in outline upon a plan of future operations. 
 
 In 1873 the National Capital Life Insurance Company of Washington, D. C. , 
 having lost two-thirds of its capital, voted to reinsure, wind up, and divide the sal- 
 vage among the shareholders. In two 3'ears the work was practically accomplished, 
 all the odds and ends supposed to have any value having been converted into cash 
 and distributed. In August, 1875, Mr. Noyes appeared on the scene, and offered to 
 buy the charter. A committee from the board of directors agreed to fix the price at 
 ;g4,ooo. If paid, the sum would be a clear gain, as they considered the franchise 
 worthless. The off'er was promptly accepted. Mr. Noyes then left, but promised to 
 return soon to complete the transaction. The following December he reappeared in 
 Washington, attended by two confidential lieutenants, Henry D. Walker and A. 
 Goodrich Fay. A check for $4,000 was now given to the committee, and the charter 
 was turned over to the buyers. 
 
 The scene shifts to New York city, where the inner circle held several dark 
 seances to materialize out of the realm of shades the capital needed to clothe, with 
 an appearance of life, the corpse thus lifted from the grave. It was natural that the 
 magicians should seek the aid of Augustus T. Post, for in 1871 he had sold to the 
 American Mutual L,ife the Brighton bonds. Mr. Post agreed to loan them for 
 fifteen days a mixed lot of western town and county bonds, having a face-value of 
 $50,400, and they agreed to pay $1,500 for the accommodation. By the terms of the 
 contract, the securities were deposited in the Continental National Bank, as the agent 
 of the lender, and they were never to pass out of his complete control. During the 
 period Walker was to have the privilege of inspecting and showing them to others. 
 
 Another lot of bonds and stock amounting on their face to $132,000 were 
 borrowed and deposited on similar conditions in the Central Safe Deposit Companj'. 
 Simultaneously, in W^ashington, books were opened for subscriptions to renew the 
 capital of $150,000 of the National Capital Life Insurance Company. A. G. Fay, 
 for himself and others, took the whole amount. The affair was organized by the 
 election of William H. Clagett, of that city, temporary president ; A. Goodrich Fay, 
 secretary ; and Henry D. Walker, treasurer. Mr. Clagett was not admitted to the 
 secrets of the ring. The stock subscriptions were paid to him as president in checks 
 or certificates which he supposed to be good and which under that impression he 
 turned over to the treasurer. 
 
 On the 17th the directors resolved, 
 
 "That Henry D. Walker, treasurer of this companj', be, and he is hereby, authorized to 
 certify as treasurer, that one hundred and fiftj' thousand dollars of capital stock of this company 
 is paid in under the provisions of the 7th section of its charter. 
 
 " Attest "A. G. F.%v, Sccfctary." 
 
 In pursuance of that vote the following certificate was issued : 
 
 " This is to certifj' that the capital stock of the National Capital Life Insurance Company of 
 Washington, D. C, was duly paid in on the 17th day of December, 1S75, to the amount of one 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and that at the present time the same is invested in securities
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. Id 
 
 (stock and bonds), the par value of which amounts to one hundred and eighty-four thousand, six 
 hundred and five dollars, and that the same are now in nu- po.ssession as treasurer. 
 
 " December 20, 1875. " Henry D. Walker, 
 
 " Treasurer of National Capital Life Insurance Company." 
 
 The managers of the Wa.shington company now invited a committee from the 
 board of directors of the New Haven Compan}' to inspect the securities fraudulently 
 deposited in New York city. The invitation was accepted and Joseph A. Smith 
 selected. December 23d Smith was taken by Walker to the Continental Bank and 
 Central Safe Deposit Company. The borrowed securities were exhibited to him, 
 and he made inventories of both lots. 
 
 The same day he certified to the home office : 
 
 " I have .... personally examined the schedule of assets of the National Capital Life 
 Insurance Companj' of Washington, D. C, and find that said National Capital Life Insurance 
 Company of Washington, D. C, have on special deposit in said Central Safe Deposit Company 
 and said Continental National Bank respectively the following securities, to wit. (Here follow 
 the inventories.) 
 
 "The gross amount of said securities being one hundred and eight\--two thousand, four 
 hundred dollars (5182,400) with accrued interest thereon, amounting to twenty-five hundred 
 dollars or thereabouts, the market value of which I am informed and believe to be one hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars, which said amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars consti- 
 tutes the capital of said National Capital Life Insurance Company of Washington, D. C, in 
 accordance with the terms and conditions of the charter of the said company. 
 
 "Joseph A. Smith." 
 
 With the eqttation reduced to simplest terms, B. Noyes, as the embodiment of the 
 Washington Company, then formally contracted with B. Noyes as the embodiment 
 of the New Haven Company, to take the assets of the latter and assume its liabilities. 
 At the end of the fifteen days the bogus capital of $150,000 was rettirned to the 
 lenders. In the mind of the inventor the growth that sprang tip, blossomed and 
 perished within two weeks, was no more and no less genuine than the " preferred 
 stock," " guaranty capital," and other stttfF christened with imposing titles, which 
 ''learned judges," on more occasions than one, after "full consideration," had 
 impliedly pronotmced good. The wreckage gathered from New Haven afforded the 
 enterprise as launched afresh under a change of colors, the means for coming before 
 strangers in presentable garb. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the company, held in Washington early in May, 1S76, 
 Benjamin Noyes was elected president ; William H. Clagett, vice-president ; Henry 
 D. W^alker, treasurer ; and J. A. Mortimore, secretar}-. Mr. Walker retained charge 
 of the department of New York and New Jersey, with headquarters at 170 Broad- 
 way. A department for New England was created, with headquarters at room No. 2, 
 Insurance Building, New Haven. The compan}- advertised that it had o\'er one 
 million of dollars in assets. 
 
 In Januar)-, 1S77, the National Capital Life contracted to reinsure the New Jersey 
 Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Newark, which had over thirteen thousand 
 policy-holders, and claimed over $1,800,000 in property. The authorities of New 
 Jersey regarded the trade as a plot to steal the assets. Justice did not delay. In 
 March Noyes was arrested. In May the case was called, and as he did not appear his 
 bail of $5, 000 was declared forfeited. Later he was tried, convicted and sentenced 
 to a term of eighteen months in prison. All efforts to procure a pardon failed. 
 
 In October Judge Martin of the Superior Court, on motion of Commissioner 
 Stedman, issued a temporary injunction restraining the National Life and Trust and 
 the American Mutual Life Insurance Companies, their officers and agents, under a
 
 80 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 se\-eral penalty of $50,000, from proceeding fnrther in business, except to receive any 
 preniiums tendered, and hold the same as a special deposit to abide the order of the 
 conrt, to pay gronnd-rents and to receive proofs of losses nnder policies. 
 
 Commissioner Stedman also applied to have a receiver appointed for both com- 
 panies. Gen. William B. Wooster, of Derby, was appointed by the Snperior Conrt a 
 committee to hear the testimony in the case. On all points he reported in favor of 
 the commissioner. Accordingly, Jtidge Pardee granted the application. Talcott H. 
 Rnssell, Esq., of New Haven, was appointed temporary receiver Jnly i, 1878, and per- 
 manent receiver November 9th. In addition to the ordinary fiinctions conferred by 
 law, he was specially authorized to bring suits to collect unpaid subscriptions to the 
 capital stock and for installments on the same, called and improperly canceled. One 
 year from the 8th day of November, 1878, was limited for the presentation of claims 
 against the company, etc. 
 
 The managers had taken good care that the receiver should find very little. By 
 an act approved July 8, 1874, the treasurer of Connecticut was authorized to receive 
 "a bond and first mortgage " for the sum of $100,000, on the insurance building in 
 New Haven, and to surrender to the company all other mortgages and securities held 
 for the protection of policy-holders. The mortgages thus surrendered were duly col- 
 lected, and the proceeds moved out of the state. Books, papers, everything supposed 
 to have any value, or to throw any light on the past were spirited away. The build- 
 ing could not be stolen bodily, and so remained, a monument of folly and crime. If 
 the rent was not paid promptly by the terms of the lease, the property was forfeited 
 to the leasor. Extracts from 3 letter of Noyes to Walker, dated June 11, 1876, will 
 show how closely they sometimes came to the edge: 
 
 " My Dear Walker : 
 
 " We must pay to Bishop who is treasurer of Trinity Church, the ground rent due ist May, 
 $3,000. I have paid losses, etc., so that I am short, and we must pay $1,250 to Fay, sure. 
 
 " I have given Smith a line to Mortimer to pay over to j'ou all he can, way down to his bot- 
 tom dollar, so that you can send your check as treasurer, paj-able to J. A. Bishop — leaving oiF 
 Treasurer — for S2000, so that the ground rent will come direct from j-ou as treasurer, and Bishop 
 will iise the money to pay Trinity church debt with, but not credit it at present, for if the legis- 
 lature at the heel of the session under Stedman's spur, should pass some damnable act of confis- 
 cation, the records will show that the building and lease is forfeited to Trinity church, when, in 
 fact. Bishop, their treasurer, had the rent money in liand and it is not forfeited — and we fix it up 
 anew— which, if so done, would wipe out the state deposit.'' 
 
 ]\Ir. Russell fought step by step to recover what belonged to the creditors. The 
 btiilding realized $35,600, but back taxes and assessments reduced the net to about 
 $20,000. About $2,000 was obtained for the Brighton bonds. Stockholders and 
 directors were forced by lawsuits to contribute over $40,000. Some suits failed 
 through the death or insolvency of the parties. Efforts to hold Post and others 
 pecuniarily responsible for the fraud practiced through their aid, also failed through 
 the death and reputed insolvency of the principal parties. In February, 1893, the 
 receiver closed the trust, having paid two dividends of 5 per cent, each, aggregating 
 $66,875.76. 
 
 On the release of Mr. Noyes from prison late in September, 1879, many citizens 
 of New Haven gave him a reception at the Elliott House. From the tenor of the 
 remarks on that occasion, a visitor unfamiliar with the history of the guest, would 
 have supposed that a hero, persecuted by malice to the verge of martyrdom, had re- 
 turned at last triumphant, to find among friends of happier days, if not fresh chances 
 for the e.xercise of rare gifts, at least a retreat for an honored old age. But the blaze
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 81 
 
 of welcome quickly died away. The last dozen years of fruitless stniggle were 
 briohteued bv few gleams of light. Deserted by nearly every one, Mr. Noyes died 
 in the hospital at New Haven, August 31, 1891, dependent for comforts in his last 
 illness on the kindness of a few old friends. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT— Coniinued. 
 
 THE CONNECTICUT HEALTH (HARTFORD LIFE) INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 URING its brief existence this company twice changed its name and twice 
 the essential character of its risks. By the act of incorporation, passed in 
 1S48, its business was confined to health insurance. As at a later date 
 could have been foreseen the scheme proved a failure. Facts had not been 
 sufficiently collected and classified to afford a basis for rates. Again, the 
 border lines of ailment that must be crossed to entitle policy-holders to benefits, like 
 isothermal lines across the continent, shadowy at best, grew more tortuous from 
 prospects of indemnity. 
 
 The next year the company was empowered to make insurance predicated upon 
 lives, to increase the capital from the limit of $50,000 to ^100,000, and to change the 
 n|ime from the Connecticut Health to the Hartford Life and Health Insurance Com- 
 pany, which in 1852 was razeed to the Hartford Life Insurance Company, the health 
 department, except for early issues, having been entirely abandoned. 
 
 It had been formed as a sort of offshoot from the Connecticut ^Mutual to occupy 
 a field from which this was excluded, but now came into direct competition with its 
 foster-father. For a time the company prospered under the new departure, but in an 
 evil hour tried the experiment of insuring negro slaves and coolies by ship-loads. 
 Although premiums were very high they were still far from remunerative. Asa rule 
 the worst masters took out policies and in the most hazardous occupations. Negroes 
 were described as Cssar or Cato, Jim or Tom, and identification was so difficult that 
 if any of a gang died, names in the proofs of loss were easily fitted to them. Shippers 
 of coolies knew the average percentage of loss, and hence had ever)- advantage in 
 arranging terms. After two or three years the experiment was abandoned, but not 
 till incurable wounds had been left behind. The company withdrew from New 
 York and Massachusetts in 1857, and wound up its affairs with convenient dispatch. 
 It built and occupied the block on Pearl street, now owned and occupied by the State 
 Savings Bank. 
 
 The company was well officered, and hence its mistakes are the more surprising. 
 Its president, James Dixon, a winsome, tactful, scholarly gentleman, member of Con- 
 gress 1845-49, United States senator two terms, 1857-69, succeeded better in politics 
 than with insurance. Conservative by temperament he had little sympathy with 
 measures of reconstruction contrived to secure party supremac}-, and hence sided with 
 President Johnson, whose eccentricities brought swift disaster to his cause and its 
 supporters. William T. Hooker, afterward president of the Guardian Mutual Life 
 Insurance Company of New York, was vice-president, and Henry L. Miller, secretary. 
 6
 
 82 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 THE CHARTER OAK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY (HARTFORD). 
 
 This institution at one time held the promise of a brilliant career, but reckless 
 investments brought its alTairs to a crisis from which the fall was not less swift than 
 sad. " By the charter the capital was limited to $200,000, ten per cent, to be paid in 
 cash and ninety in stock notes. The issue of policies on the lives of husbands for 
 the exclusive benefit of wives and children was authorized. Three-fourths of the 
 funds must be invested either in mortgages on real estate of double the value of the 
 debt secured, in the stocks of the United States or of the several states, or in the 
 bonds of New York, Boston and the cities of Connecticut. One-fourth might be 
 loaned upon indorsed promissory notes not having more than twelve months to run. 
 The directors were forbidden to make dividends to stockholders exceeding eight per 
 cent, per annum on the capital. 
 
 Books for subscription were opened by the commissioners August 3, 1850. 
 There was such a rush for the shares that nine thousand six hundred and nine 
 ($969,000) were taken and the first installment paid. The total was reduced by allot- 
 ment to two thousand ($200,000). On the 24th of the same month the subscribers 
 organized by adopting by-laws and electing the following directors : Gideon Welles, 
 William T. Lee, Calvin Day, Tertius Wadsworth, Thomas Belknap, Erastus Smith, 
 James G. BoUes, Charles Seymour, Jr., John A. Butler and L. F. Robinson. The 
 board met the same evening and elected Gideon Welles, president ; William T. Lee, 
 vice-president, and Samuel Coit, secretary. Archibald Welch, M.D., was appointed 
 consulting physician. He was killed in a railway accident at Norwalk in 1S53. 
 Dr. Samuel B. Beresford was then appointed. To his care and skill the company 
 was largely indebted for the excellent character of its risks. 
 
 Mr. Welles, an able writer on current political topics, in early life a stalwatt 
 advocate of Jacksonian Democracy, a frequent member of the legislature, comptroller 
 of the state, postmaster at Hartford, and Secretary of the Navy under Presidents 
 Lincoln and Johnson, retired from the presidency in March, 1852. He was succeeded 
 by A. Gill. John L. Buuce was elected vice-president, and James C. Walkley, 
 secretary. 
 
 To increase the cash assets to $100,000, the board voted in June, 1852, to sell to 
 William T. Hooker stock-notes amounting to $74,340, for the sum of $67,025, the 
 proceeds to lie as a special deposit at ii\'e per cent, interest in the Connecticut River 
 Bank till February 28, 1853. In February, 1853, the notes were repurchased from 
 Mr. Hooker at the original price. Early in March the process was repeated on a 
 smaller scale. Notes of a face value of $53, 39° were sold for $50,000, and the 
 proceeds deposited as before. 
 
 The difference in the sums realized from the two sales was made up in the cash 
 assets of the company from the profits of the year. In July, 1854, a different device 
 was adopted to meet the legal requirements of certain states that excluded outside 
 companies unless they could show a given amount of paid-up capital, invested in 
 ajjproved securities. Instead of selling the stock-notes and making a special deposit 
 of the proceeds for a definite period, at the expiration of which they were to be repur- 
 chased, and so on in a round of concentric circles, the secretary was authorized at 
 discretion to sell them and with the proceeds buy bank, state or city stocks to stand 
 in the name of the company. The institution further agreed to buy back the notes 
 whenever requested by the purchaser at the " full amount thereof," and, to provide 
 the means, the secretary with the consent of the president was authorized to sell any 
 of the stocks in the treasury.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNFXTICUT. 83 
 
 As parties bought and sold, the stock-notes changed, l)nt care was taken to accept 
 none unless good. As we have seen, this feature played a very imi:)ortant part in 
 early insurance when the country was comparatively poor. In some other states the 
 device was used fraudulently to launch companies without resources beyond a few 
 chairs and other furniture. In Hartford, from first to last, both makers and endorsers 
 expected to meet the obligations in full if need arose. When the Protection failed 
 two or three tried to evade payment on technical pleas, but were beaten in the courts. 
 The war against stock-notes that began about the middle of the century in several 
 states was not provoked by any abuse of the system in Hartford. 
 
 In March, 1855, James C. Walkley was elected president, and Elias Gill secre- 
 tary. Up to this time the position of president had been honorary rather than active. 
 He now became the real head, and was expected to devote his energies to the work. 
 At the end of the fiscal year Mr. Gill resigned, and was succeeded by Samuel H. 
 White. Few changes occurred in the ofllice corps during the next decade. Thomas 
 W. Russell, elected vice-president in '59, was succeeded by Noyes S. Palmer in Sep- 
 tember, '64. Z. A. Storrs followed Mr. Palmer, and was succeeded by Mr. White in 
 '72. Halsey Stevens became secretary in January, '/3- While secretary and vice- 
 president, Mr. White also acted as treasurer. 
 
 In March, 1867, the board voted that the president and secretary notify the 
 stockholders to pay up in cash twenty-five dollars per share, within thirty days after 
 demand, and the secretary was directed to indorse the same upon the stock-notes. 
 Two reasons are given ; first, the legal requirement in several states of a paid-up 
 capital in the sum of $150,000 ; and second, the ability to loan on the best bond and 
 mortgage security at eight per cent, a year, "so that the maximum dividend of eight 
 per cent, semi-annually, as specified by our charter, can be declared and paid regularly 
 when $150,000 are paid upon the capital stock." 
 
 A year later, in March, 1868, another vote was passed in substantially the same 
 language calling in the final twenty-five dollars per share, so as to raise the paid 
 capital from $150,000 to $200,000, and directing the secretary to surrender to the 
 makers the stock-notes in the treasury. 
 
 That in both instances the money for paying the instalments was furnished by 
 the company, the record omits to mention, possibly on account of the provision in 
 the charter which made it unlawful for the directors to make dividends exceeding 
 eight per cent, per annum upon the capital. By a curious lapse each vote refers to 
 the charter as permitting a maximum dividend of eight per cent, semi-annually. 
 
 Whether the reasons given for the transactions were addressed to possible visi- 
 tors from the insurance departments of other states, or were thrown in to beguile the 
 historical inquirer of the future, must be left to conjecture. 
 
 At the close of 1863 the company had in force 3,047 policies insuring $5,909,011, 
 with gross assets amounting to $657,387, exclusive of $100,000 in stock-notes. For 
 the next nine years growth was rapid and apparently solid. Among the agents of 
 the Charter Oak was a large infusion of men of high character and wide influence, 
 who secured for it a very desirable clientage. In 1S69 over seven thousand two hun- 
 dred new policies were issued, insuring over ;$ 18,000,000. Though this was the most 
 fruitful year in its history the three that preceded and the three that followed indicate 
 great activity on the part of its agents and great confidence on the part of the public. 
 
 In the face of superb labor in the field the home management was weak and 
 wasteful. As from the walls of a reservoir too flimsy to resist the pressure from 
 within, all at once both patrons and the public saw the contents of the treasury pour- 
 ing to waste through several bad breaks.
 
 84 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 The first official warning of danger came from John W. Stedman, insurance com- 
 missioner of Connecticut, in his first annual report, dated June 9, 1875. After describ- 
 ing the charter provisions of the company he says: 
 
 " Only ten dollars a share was ever paid up on the capital stock. The remaining: ninety 
 dollars were paid in dividends. On this full paid stock a dividend of eight per cent, is regularly 
 paid according to law, and in addition to this the commissions on the business in the home office 
 are divided among the stockholders, amounting in some years to as high as fourteen dollars a 
 share. Certainly nothing of this kind could have been contemplated b}' the legislature in grant- 
 ing the charter of the company, and I think it wholly unwarranted." . ..." I have thus 
 made a full and fair presentation of the embarrassments of this comjiany. There has been a 
 weakness of judgment in its confidences, and a carelessness in loaning its money and scattering 
 it in gratuities, amounting to a moral delinquency." 
 
 The embarrassments were more serious than could then be known. Early in 
 1875 the banking house of Allen, Stephens & Co. failed, owing the Charter Oak 
 $944,816. A part of the indebtedness grew out of a joint interest in a silver mine in 
 Utah, and other ill-defined speculations. The claim has since yielded very little 
 except trouble and expense. 
 
 Early in the seventies the Valley Railway was built from Hartford to Say brook 
 on the west bank of the Connecticut. Mr. Walkle)-, who lived down the river, was 
 father and president of the company. Hartford subscribed half a riiillion toward the 
 stock, which was increased by subscriptions, mostly from other towns, to a little over 
 a million. First mortgage bonds were isstted to the extent of another million. In 
 1873 the cost per mile for construction was given as $58,858, and for equipment, 
 $5,834. The excess, furnished almost exclusively by the Charter Oak, was carried as 
 floating debt to the extent of $1,177,564. For convenience this, including, perhaps, 
 other items, was funded in second mortgage bonds to theamount of ,g 1,250, 000, which 
 were lodged with the insurance company as security for loans aggregating $1,083,456. 
 As the railway, coming eight months out of twelve in competition with a navigable 
 river, was earning little, if anything, above current expenses, the outlook for the 
 jtinior bonds was extremely dismal. 
 
 To build up btisiness for the road $235,874 were loaned to a manufacturing con- 
 cern in Higanum, and ^75,000 upon a summer hotel in Saybrook, with $25,000 addi- 
 tional on the furniture. Mining property in West Virginia absorbed another half 
 million of cash, and the returns from this also have come chiefly in the form of bills 
 and worry. 
 
 While the sky was still cloudless the company erected, at a reported cost of 
 $844,380, its home office at the corner of Main and Athenjeum streets, moving in early 
 in '71. Hot disputes afterwards arose at intervals over the value of the property. 
 Sixteen years later it was sold to the .^tna Life for $231,000. 
 
 I\Iinor embarrassments are passed by not because they were trivial in them- 
 selves, but trivial in comparison. 
 
 Great alarm followed the official disclosure of this condition, and a lively hunt 
 for some mode of relief. At this juncttrre an officer of the New York Chamber of 
 Insurance, and an expert in the business, brought the agents of the company into 
 relations with Henry J. Furber, vice-president of the Universal Life of New York, 
 who had already taken a hand in winding up the affairs of several that in the wild 
 extravagance of the time had been driven into close corners. Mr. Furber had recently 
 won the good-will of the insurance department of New York, by saving for the North 
 American Life a large line of bonds and mortgages, liable to forfeiture from taint of 
 usury. After several interviews with the commissioner and other prominent citi-
 
 INSURAXXE IN COXXECTICUT. 85 
 
 zens of Connecticut, and, with their approval, Mr. Furhcr purchased the stock of the 
 Charter Oak in the name of himself and his friends. 
 
 From the progress then made in his investigations the commissioner thought 
 that a contribution of half a million of dollars in fresh funds would make good the 
 impairment and restort technical solvency. Mr. Furber agreed to give that amount 
 outright. He was to be indemnified by monthly payments of seven and one-half per 
 cent, on all premiums collected, and by one-half the salvage on all policies purchased 
 during the next five years. It was further agreed that at the option of the company 
 the contract might be liquidated at any time before the expiration of the term, after 
 Furber had received $500,000 with interest from the proceeds of the contract, and in 
 addition such further sum for services and risks, as the parties might agree upon. 
 In case of disagreement upon the terms of liquidation the matter was to be referred 
 to three disinterested arbitrators, one selected by each part}-, and the third by the 
 persons so chosen. Their decision was to be final. 
 
 The commissioner took the view that the $500,000 should not be charged as a 
 liability, as it was to be repaid gradually from the loading of premiums. On the 
 other hand, the special commission afterwards appointed contended that it became an 
 immediate liability, and hence did not technically help at all to repair the gap in the 
 assets. 
 
 A point less open to dispute was the extreme improbability that a man in reality 
 making a contract with himself would have serious trouble in fixing the compensa- 
 tion for "ser\'ices" and "risks," or that he would harm his bank account by "liqui- 
 dating" it prematurel}-. 
 
 The affairs of the company passed into the hands of the new management late 
 in 1875, Edwin R. Wiggin having been elected, December 9th, acting president for 
 the rest of the year. 
 
 At the next annual meeting, January- 25, 1876, James C Walkley, S. H. White, 
 Nelson Hollister and Daniel Philips were re-elected directors, while Edwin R. Wiggin 
 and A. H. Dillon, Jr., were added. The same day Edwin R. Wiggin was elected presi- 
 dent ; S. H. White, vice-president and treasurer ; A. H. Dillon, second vice-president ; 
 Halsey Stevens, secretary' ; and William L.Squire, assistant-secretary. J. C. Walkley 
 was appointed advisory counsel, and Henry J. Furber, financial manager. Furber and 
 Wiggin were not old associates, but were first brought together in this venture. 
 
 ]\Ir. Furber, whose ability no one ever questioned, went to work at once to intro- 
 duce order and system, in the place of disorder and confusion. He soon found that he 
 had been greath' deceived as to the condition of the company. Assets had been over- 
 stated, and liabilities under-stated. In June he put Thomas M. Smith, an expert, on 
 the premium note account, with instructions to ascertain and report its exact condi- 
 tion. Edmund A. Stedman, actuary of the State Insurance Department, went over 
 the same ground, starting later. Both labored for months, and their final footings 
 diflfered by less than $20 ($18.03). But the amount was nearly $1,000,000 less than 
 claimed in the previous annual statement. The result was promptly reported to the 
 department, and embodied in the next return. 
 
 ^Meanwhile, the large debt of the \'alley road, the Higganum shops, the Saj'- 
 brook Hotel, the West Virginia mines, the claims against Allen, Stephens & Com- 
 pany, to say nothing of minor "investments," were not only yielding no income, 
 but several at best were sources of vexatious expense. The only light ahead cafne 
 from the excellent quality of the insurance risks scattered over the country. And 
 now the insured were learning how their premiums had been locked up in ominous 
 speculations.
 
 86 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 One cannot help admiring the courage and fertility of resource with which Furber 
 met the crisis. The company had a mortgage for $800,000, taken in 1875, on eight 
 parcels of property in New York city, owned by Edward Mathews, one of the 
 largest holders of real estate in the city. He was greatly pressed for cash. In 
 December, 1876, Mr. Furber bought from him the eight pieces, nearly all located on 
 Broadway, for ^3,030,000, releasing the company's mortgage of $800,000, assuming 
 prior mortgages to the amount of $948,000, turning in the second mortgage bonds 
 of the Valley road ($1,250,000), at $1,047,000, and paying $235,000 in cash. The 
 trade was conducted under the eye of Commissioner Stedman, who sent to the New 
 York department for an official appraisal. The superintendent of that state selected 
 Thomas Knowlton Marcy, who made his report December 9th. Mr. Marcy went 
 over the records and accounts of each piece with great care. He found the total 
 annual expenses for taxes, insurance, repairs, etc., to be $47,887, the income from 
 rooms actually rented, $235,480, and the net income, $187,593. He fixed the appraisal 
 at $3,000,000, on which the property was yielding net yearly revenue at the rate of 
 over six per cent. (6.24). Rooms then vacant were estimated to be worth $28,500 
 additional. 
 
 Similarly Mr. Furber traded the Higganum mortgage, amounting, with interest, 
 to $250,000, for productive property in the heart of New York city. 
 
 It should be remembered that the winter of 1876-7 was the most dismal part of 
 the long period of depression which followed the great financial panic of 1873. An 
 undecided contest for the presidency of the Republic was then piled on our other 
 troubles. 
 
 The New York property received in the trade is now estimated to be worth over 
 eight millions. Instead of holding it for better times the company placed a price on 
 each parcel, and sold as the market rose to its figures, the best going first. On 
 the other hand the Valley bonds never yielded a dollar of revenue, and in the 
 subsequent reorganization of the road were wiped out utterl}'. 
 
 In January, 1877, a petition signed by eleven influential policy-holders was 
 presented to the General Assembly, asking that the affairs of the company be investi- 
 gated. This was but a symptom of the distrust that pervaded the community. 
 Through the Guardian and the Universal Mr. Furber had reinsured many weak 
 companies. Thousands of poor people had been induced to sell or exchange policies 
 for fractions of the reserve charged against them. This process was justly regarded 
 in Connecticut, and especially in Hartford, as one of the most heartless and cruel 
 contrivances ever devised for fattening the few at the expense of the many. Large 
 local interests in the business had educated the people to regard the custody and 
 management of life insurance funds as a most sacred trust. With such convictions, 
 many felt that the intrusion of the methods in vogue in Mr. Furber' s New York 
 companies must be prevented at all hazards. In March, 1877, the superintendent of 
 that state began an exhaustive examination of the Universal. In July his report, 
 severely condemnatory, was made public. While the work was in progress various 
 scraps of fact and inference found their way across the border, adding fuel to the flame. 
 
 As a result of the agitation a law was passed creating a special commission to 
 investigate the life companies of the state. It consisted of Origen S. Seymour, H. M. 
 Cleveland and David P. Nichols. During his life Judge Seymour, the chairman, 
 filled with distinguished credit a seat on the bench of the SupremeCourt of the .state. 
 He was a man of sound judgment and unquestioned probity. The special commis- 
 sion made a preliminary report to Commissioner Stedman, June 21, 1877, finding a 
 deficit of $2,063,412.38. In reaching the result they reduced the appraisal on the two
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 87 
 
 New York city purchases from 53,030,000 and §800,000 to $1,845,000 and 5505,000 
 respectivel}-. The special coininission discovered nothing not already known to Mr. 
 Stednian. But the point of view and animus differed. Mr. Stedman saw that the 
 situation was desperate, and in his anxiety to save the institution from ruin and its 
 patrons from loss, gave the management the benefit of ever}' doubt. On the other 
 hand, the special commission (and we may safely concede that both were equally 
 sincere) drew its inspiration from prevalent distrust and hostility. 
 
 The law relating to the winding up of insurance companies passed in 1875 left 
 it optional with the commissioner when he found the assets of any such comi)any 
 impaired to notify it to cease the issue of new policies and the payment of dividends 
 until the deficiency should be made good, but in case the assets were found to be less 
 than three-fourths of the liabilities he was required to apply to the courts for the 
 appointment of a receiver and the annulment of the charter. The commissioner 
 consulted eminent counsel and hesitated. At length, borne down by overwhelming 
 pressure, on the 14th of July, he applied to Dwight W. Pardee, one of the judges of 
 the Supreme Court, for the appointment of a receiver. An injunction was accord- 
 ingly issued. After several adjournments, July 30th, by common consent the 
 injunction was dissolved. During the pendency of the petition plans were arranged 
 for the transfer of the company to other hands. On the 2Sth, the old directors 
 resigned seriatim^ and the vacancies were immediately filled by the election of Mar- 
 shall Jewell, William W. Eaton, George P. Bissell, Robert E. Day and Elisha 
 Johnson. George E. Hatch held over, and J. M. Allen was added later. Simulta- 
 neously the old officers resigned. The new board at once organized and elected 
 Marshall Jewell president of the company. 
 
 One of the last acts of the old regime before issue of the injunction was to 
 borrow two hundred thousand dollars of the yEtna Life by mortgaging tlie Charter 
 Oak building. 
 
 There is no evidence that Mr. Furber by word or deed ever tried to deceive either 
 the commissioner or the special commission. His ways, avowedly dictated solelv by 
 self-interest, were bold and open. He did not pose as a Christian, or shed tears to be 
 seen of men over the woes of deceived and defrauded polic\'-holders. Masterful 
 in resource, if let alone he would have saved the company because its rescue was 
 clearly for his interest. Yet, whether it was to live or die, the part of the community 
 who believe that life should be something higher and nobler than a game of grab, 
 breathed more freely when this adept in the game departed. 
 
 Early in July an influential committee was raised to see whether the ratio of 
 assets to liabilities would justify- an attempt to save the company from a receivership. 
 A sub-committee, consisting of Colonel Jacob L. Greene, Thomas O. Enders, Gusta- 
 vus F. Davis, and John M. Holcombe, after making as thorough an examination as 
 the time permitted, on the 25th of July reported that economy and efficiencv of 
 management, supported by confidence on the part of policy-holders, would probably 
 enable the company to pay all claims in full and regain solvency. 
 
 Marshall Jewell had a national reputation. He was not only successful in busi- 
 ness, but had been governor of the state, minister to St. Petersburg, and postmaster- 
 general. His purchase of a large majority of the stock and acceptance of the presi- 
 dency promised to supply the essential conditions of recovery suggested by the sub- 
 committee. But the change came too late. New business had ceased. Many policy- 
 holders, taking advantage of the terms of the contract, demanded paid-ujj insurance 
 to the value of their claims. While revenues were cut off, death losses and expenses 
 continued to pour in.
 
 88 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 In September the directors voted to scale the capital forty per cent., and to pay 
 no dividends on the balance for five j^ears. They also asked policy-holders to scale 
 the liability on that account forty per cent., also promising to restore the amount so 
 relinquished, if possible, from gradual sales of unproductive property. Claims from 
 deaths and endowments were scaled to the same extent. 
 
 ]\Ianv polic)"-holders consented and many held back. Meanwhile demands 
 upon the treasury far outran income. The gentlemen who had undertaken the 
 work of rescue became discouraged. At their suggestion, commissioner Stedman 
 in January, 1878, again applied for a receiver. The legislature was in session, 
 and all parties in interest now united in asking for such amendments to the charter 
 as would enable the policy-holders to re-organize on a purely mutual basis. The 
 act was passed and approved March 15. 
 
 On the iSth of April the policy-holders met, accepted the amendments to the 
 charter, and elected a board of twenty-one directors. After much persuasion, George 
 M. Bartholomew took the presidency, June 3d. Halsey Stevens continued as secretary 
 till succeeded by Charles E. Willardin June, '79. 
 
 In December, 1878, Messrs. Wiggin, Furber, Walkley and White were tried at 
 Hartford before Judge James A. Hovey for conspiracy. For the state appeared Wil- 
 liam Hamersle}-, L. F. {5. Foster and John R. Buck; for the defense, Leonard Swett, 
 of Chicago, Governor Dorsheimer, of New York, Daniel Chadwick, of Lyme, Conn., 
 with Charles E. Perkins, A. P. Hyde and Lewis E. Stanton, of Hartford. The trial 
 lasted twenty-four days and resulted in a verdict of acquittal for all the defendants. 
 A witness, whose testimony before the grand jurj- had been decisive, meanwhile had 
 met with a change of heart and put himself beyond reach of the court. 
 
 After the return home of the invaders from New York city Wiggin presented to 
 Governor Jewell, for adjustment, a contract made with President Walkley, without 
 the knowledge of Furber, to run for five years, and calling for two and one-half per 
 cent, on all premium receipts. According to Wiggin the consideration was his share 
 in persuading Furber to put up the famous ^500,000. Mr. White had a like contract. 
 Generosity, even colossal generosity, in handling the money of others, is not an 
 uncommon trait. The claim was pressed, but defeated. 
 
 Mr. Bartholomew's consent to take the presidency renewed the courage of all 
 parties in interest. Gifted with quick and keen perceptions, he was a man of affairs, 
 accustomed to handle large transactions without neglecting details. He had the full 
 confidence of the community and was much in demand for positions of trust. But, 
 as can be seen now, the fight for life was hopeless from the start. The forlorn condi- 
 tion of the company had been widely advertised. No upright and competent agent 
 would canvass for a concern visibly doomed. No one intelligent enough to make a 
 desirable risk would take a contract from it. Following a lead started, but soon 
 abandoned, by President Winston, of the New York Mutual Life, the Charter Oak 
 years before had cut rates about twenty per cent., and thus on live policies was 
 deprived of the margin available for repairs. Maturing claims constantly exceeded 
 income. One piece of property after another was sold and the proceeds applied to 
 meet current demands. Its credit withered. To raise funds Mr. Bartholomew from 
 time to time gave his personal indorsement to the amount of over $2,250,000. With 
 the moneys thus procured the company in a single j-ear saved $340,000 by bu}'ing up 
 claims. Betweenjuly, 1878, and July, 1886, $6,311,165.17 were paid to policyholders, 
 the number of whom was reduced from about twenty-two thousand to less than ten 
 thousand. Yet heroic treatment failed to arrest the progress of the disease. With 
 steady step creeping paralysis drew near the vitals.
 
 INSURANCIC IN CONNECTICUT. 89 
 
 At length, in September, 1885, Epliraini Williams, insurance commissioner, 
 applied for a receiver on the ground that the impairment of assets exceeded the legal 
 limit of twenty-five per cent. The case, tried before Judge Granger, turned on valu- 
 ations — a question prolific of wide diversities of opinion. After a contest of two 
 months the suit was withdrawn. 
 
 A year after the application for a receiver, or in September, 1886, the final explo- 
 sion came with a sudden and dreadful shock. Heavy embezzlements from the Hart- 
 ford Silk Company and from the Union Manufacturing Company of Manchester, 
 were brought to light by the flight of the person who was both president of the Silk 
 and treasurer of the Union. Mr. Bartholomew was president of the Union Com- 
 pan}', a director in both and personally a heavy endorser of their paper. At a spe- 
 cial meeting of the directors of the Charter Oak, held September i8th, 
 
 " ]\Ir. Bartholomew stated that for some time he had had in his hands, as a matter of protec- 
 tion from annoying attachments, a large amount of the companj-'s funds ; that he had held him- 
 self ready to pay over these funds to the company as needed, although he had not kept them dis- 
 tinct and intact ; that now, owing to his embarrassment growing out of the troubles of the Hart- 
 ford Silk INIanufacturing Compan}^ for which he was a heavy endorser, he found himself unable 
 to pay this company the amount due them ; that he had handed to the secretary, as collateral se- 
 curity for this debt, certain securities which he believed would in time, at least, be worth the full 
 amount of his indebtedness. Mr. Bartholomew said further that he deemed it necessary to make 
 some temporary arrangement for protecting the company and continuing its business." 
 
 Possessing unlimited credit, reticent, self-centred and, till awakened too late to 
 the error, confident of ability to meet every demand upon him as occasion arose, INIr. 
 Bartholomew suddenly found himself unable to do so. During a long career he had 
 signed many bonds of indemnity, especially for young men, and had indorsed paper 
 to the amount of many millions. 
 
 September 20th Mr. Bartholomew resigned. The board directed its counsel, 
 Charles E. Gross, to apply for a receiver. There was no opposition. Judge Pardee 
 selected in succession Jonathan B. Bunce and Robert E. Day. Both declined. He 
 then appointed Isaac Brooks, of Torrington, and Edmund A. Stedman, of Hartford, 
 who both qualified. 
 
 Thus from mortal wounds inflicted twelve or fifteen years before, an institution 
 once strong and promising, was brought to the grave. 
 
 After many delays a dividend to policy-holders of fifteen (15) per cent., amount- 
 ing to $458,775.49, was paid. Januarj' 22, 1897, the court made a final order distrib- 
 uting the rest of the assets ($105,747.21) in payment of sundr\' expenses aird fees, 
 and a last dividend of three and one-fourth per cent, to policy-holders. 
 
 When the impairment of assets, caused by the recklessness of the Walkley- 
 White regime^ was first brought to light, both the company and a large percentage, 
 if not the full amount of claims of policy-holders, could have been saved had the 
 law been less mandatory and left a wider range to the discretion of the commis- , 
 sioner. Had it come within the power of the oflfice to substitute a competent for an 
 incompetent management, and to enforce such slight scaling of claims as would have 
 restored technical solvency, the beneficiaries under its contracts would have received 
 nearly their full dues instead of the beggarly driblets that finally reached them.
 
 90 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT— Continued. 
 
 THE ^TNA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY (hARTFORD). 
 'HE year after its incorporation, in 1819, the ^tna (Fire) Insurance Company 
 obtained an amendment to its charter, authorizing it to grant annuities, upon 
 an additional capital not exceeding $150,000, to be held as a separate guar- 
 anty for the liabilities arising under the business. The privilege was never 
 exercised. In 1850, by a second amendment, the ancillary company was 
 empowered to grant insurance upon lives, and thirty years after the inception of the 
 original plan, organized as the .E^tna Insurance Company Annuity Fund. Rights to 
 subscribe were distributed among tlie owners of the parent company in proportion 
 to their holdings. Officers of both were the same, certain directors, with Eliphalet 
 A. Bulkeley as chairman, having been delegated to manage the affairs of the new 
 department. 
 
 After a brief experience, it was thought best that the control of the two institu- 
 tions should be made separate and distinct, and accordingly, in July, 1853, by still 
 another amendment to the cliarter, the child was launched on its independent career 
 under the name of the ^E^tna Life Insurance Company. Original directors were 
 E. A. Bulkeley, Austin Dunham, H. Z. Pratt, Lawson C. Ives, Mark Howard, John 
 Warburton, Roland ]\Iather, S. L. Loomis, J. W. Seymour and W. H. D. Callender. 
 E. A. Bulkeley was chosen president, and John W. Seymour, secretary. 
 
 During the first decade of its existence the company developed slowly. It will 
 be remembered that a period of long, and at times severe, financial depression 
 preceded the war — a condition that bore heavily upon new enterprises, and brought 
 to both new and old widespread mortality. 
 
 Till 1 861 all contracts for insurance made by the /Etna Life were written on 
 the proprietary plan. It then began to issue participating policies, and established a 
 mutual department under the same control, but with entirely distinct books, accounts, 
 and investments. Since then applicants have had their choice between the two 
 methods. Till 1868 patrons on the mutual side were allowed to pay a part of the 
 premiums by note, a system once quite popular, but under plans then matured all 
 subsequent contracts have required payments in cash. 
 
 One of the first effects of the war was to aggravate the depression previously 
 existing. As it went on, and issues of paper currency stimulated speculation and 
 extravagance not less than legitimate business, the life companies already in the 
 field soon began to profit from changed conditions. Large numbers of men rushed 
 into hazardous ventures, and amid the uncertainties of their private affairs, made 
 provision for their families by taking out heavy lines of insurance. Others of more 
 prudent habits were influenced by the example to investigate the merits of the 
 system, and to avail themselves of the same protection. Inquiry could not fail to 
 satisfy the mind that the principles were sound, or that any well-managed company 
 must always be in a position to meet maturing obligations. The sudden popularity 
 of life insurance was due partly to more urgent need of its benefits, and partly to 
 more thorough comprehension of the subject. 
 
 Nowhere is the greatness of the change in the attitude of the public towards
 
 IHOS. O. ENDF.US, 
 President 1872-79. 
 
 JOF.L L. ENGLISH, 
 Secretary 1872, 
 
 K A. BULKKLEV, Trcst. 1850-1S72 
 Prest. Conn. Mutual Life. Ins. Co., 
 1846-48. 
 
 MORGAN' G. BULKELEV, 
 President 1879. 
 
 JOHN C. WEBSTER, 
 Vice-President 1879. 
 
 H. W. ST. JOHN, 
 Actuary 1867. 
 
 G. W. RUSSELL, M. D. 
 Medical Director 1850. 
 
 /F.TNA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY,
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 91 
 
 life insurance more clearly reflected than in the records of the ^"Etna. In 1S63, 
 thirteen years from the date of organization, its assets amounted to ^310,492. In 
 1866 they had risen to $2,036,823. The impetus then given to the development of the 
 company was stimulated and multiplied by the energy of the management. Its subse- 
 quent 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 intelli- 
 gence and prudence may, 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 
 1888, to $^2, 620,676; and in 1897, to $45,557,272. Its surplus January i, 1875, was 
 $1,561,810 ; and gaining each year during the next two decades, reached 36,71 1,502, 
 on Jannars- i, 1S97. 
 
 Success far transcending the dreams of the founders, and on the whole, perhaps, 
 unsurpassed in the records of lifi? insurance, viewed in the light of strength rather 
 than size, either in Europe or America, is easily explained. One of the postulates of 
 the business demands that investments shall yield an annual income of four per cent., 
 the excess being available either for immediate distribution among the insured, or 
 for building up a fund held in reserve to meet claims maturing possibly many years 
 later, when the rate of interest on approved security will certainly fall below tliat 
 figure. The -iEtna Life was a pioneer in loaning to western farmers, having entered 
 the field under highly favorable conditions. At the time when its treasury began to 
 be distended by the volume of inflowing premiums, the Illinois Central Railway had 
 a large number of outstanding contracts with settlers on their lands, agreeing to 
 convey titles on payment of the purchase money. Both sides desired the completion 
 of the contracts. At this juncture the J-^tna Life came forward and furnished the 
 needful funds, taking mortgages on the farms as security. All the early loans bore 
 interest at ten per cent. The arrangement proved highl}- advantageous to both 
 lender and borrower. The fertility of the soil attracted heavy immigration, with 
 consequent enhancement in the value of the properties. While the company had 
 abundant reason to be satisfied, thousands of farmers rose from poverty to wealth by 
 the aid thus afforded them. As the region grew rich and the loans were paid off", the 
 company pushed westward into Iowa, repeating the process on the same terms. 
 Employing only trained and faithful agents, it seldom met with defaults, and when 
 compelled to foreclose, generally succeeded, by patience, in drawing a profit from the 
 transaction. The perils of growing competition were met by increase of carefulness, 
 one of the rules being to loan in no case in excess of the value assessed for taxation. 
 
 In view of the good fortune that has attended the farm loans of the company, it 
 is not singular that this has continued to be with it a favorite form of investment. On 
 January i, 1897, it had, thus placed, §25,200,422, secured by over seventeen thousand 
 mortgages on as many separate blocks of real estate, representing a total value of 
 over $105,000,000. On the few foreclosures that have occurred the books show a 
 balance for the credit side. 
 
 While loanable funds were much less abundant than now, the ALtna Life also 
 invested largely in the bonds of prosperous cities at the West, bearing seven and 
 seven and three-tenths per cent, interest. On transactions involving many millions 
 the losses were few and small. The surplus annually accruing from investments of 
 extraordinary productiveness enabled the company to return generous dividends to 
 the participating policy-holders, which in turn stimulated growth in new business, 
 and added to the tide of inrolling premiums. 
 
 Its risks have been confined to the healthiest parts of the northern states and 
 Canada, where the death rate is comparatively small.
 
 92 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 The capital remained at ^150,000 till 1S78. With over twenty-four millions of 
 assets and nearly two and three-fourths millions of surplus, the company then 
 petitioned the General Assembly for authority to increase the capital to an amount 
 not exceeding ^750,000, and the charter was amended accordingly. The act required 
 the increase to be made from such surplus funds as were derived from business done 
 upon the non-participating stock plan of insurance, and to have the approval of the 
 state commissioner. Dividends were limited to ten per cent, per annum, and con- 
 tributions for this purpose from the mutual department were limited to $9,000 per 
 annum. The capital stood at $750,000 from 1878 till 1883, when the General 
 Assembly again amended the charter authorizing a further increase to $2,000,000. 
 It was increased May 16, 1883, to $1,000,000; January i, 1887, to $1,250,000; July 
 13, 1892, to $1,500,000 ; and July i, 1895, to $1,750,000. 
 
 Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley continued at the head of the company from its 
 inception till his death February 13, 1872. He was born in Colchester, Conn., June 
 20, 1803, graduated at Yale College in 1824, striding law with William P. Williams, 
 of Lebanon, and about 1830 opened an office in East Haddam, where he was also 
 president of the local bank. Thence he was elected to both branches of the General 
 Assembly. In 1847 he moved to Hartford, where he formed a law partnership with 
 Henry Perkins under the firm-name of Bulkeley & Perkins. He was first judge of 
 the local police court, school fund commissioner, and in 1857 speaker of the House 
 of Representatives. He was one of the organizers and first president of the Con- 
 necticut Mutual Life. Later the /Etna absorbed his energies, while incidentally as 
 director he was connected with many other corporations. He was noted for punctu- 
 ality and for the personal care given to all matters which legitimately claimed his 
 attention. 
 
 Thomas Ostram Enders, immediate successor of Judge Bulkeley, was born in 
 Glen, N. Y., September 21, 1832. He became interested in insurance through John 
 G. North, of Meriden, who employed him as solicitor. He movpd to Hartford, and 
 at the age of twenty-two took a clerkship in the ^tna Life, and was elected secre- 
 tary four years later. His industry, fidelity and remarkable aptitude for the business 
 contributed largely to win phenomenal success for the company. To build this up 
 he sacrificed himself. Severe toil, carried often late into night, broke down his 
 health, and shortened his days. In 1879 he resigned, and rested for two years. In 
 1 88 1 he took the presidency of the United States Bank, then called the U. S- Trust 
 Company. At the time it was suffering from old losses, and the stock was quoted at 
 sixty or less. Under his guidance it shot rapidly ahead. When he resigned in 1S92, 
 the bank, in percentage of surplus, value of shares, and ratio of deposits to capital, 
 held the lead in the city by a long inter\'al. Mr. Enders had his residence over the 
 line in West Hartford. He represented that town in the General Assembly for the 
 sessions of 1889 and 1891. He died June 21, 1894. 
 
 On the retirement of Mr. Enders, Morgan G. Bulkeley, son of the founder, 
 became president. Born December 26, 1837, and educated in the public schools of 
 Hartford, he began his business career in a mercantile house of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 
 1 85 1, rising in seven years from the grade of errand boy to partner. When the war 
 came, he enlisted in the Thirteenth New York regiment, and went to the front. On 
 the death of his father in 1872, large local interests brought him back to Hartford, 
 where he served in both branches of the city government, and for eight years as 
 mayor, looking closely and intelligently after the financial and other interests of the 
 public. In 1888 he was elected governor of Connecticut, and, owing to the dead- 
 lock between the two branches of the General Assembly that convened in January,
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 93 
 
 1 89 1, he held over, under the Constitution, for a second term of two years. Wliile 
 Governor Bnlkeley has devoted much time to the public, fi<;^ures show tliat the inter- 
 ests of the /Etna Life have not suffered. 
 
 Vice-presidents have been : J. W. Seymour, 1856-7 ; John Warburton, 1857-60; 
 S. L. Ivoouiis, 1860-63; Austin Dunham, 1863-77; W. H. Bulkele\-, 1877-9; and J. 
 C. Webster, since 1879. The position was honorary till 1879. Mr. Webster has 
 served the company since 1865, having been general agent and superintendent of 
 agencies before taking the vice-presidency. Secretaries have been : J. W. Seymour, 
 1853-5; Samuel Coit, 1855-8; Thomas O. Enders, 1858-72; and since 1872, J. L- 
 English, whose entry into business was made with the company in 1867. The posi- 
 tion of assistant-secretary was created in February, 1890, and was filled by George 
 W. Hubbard, an employee for a quarter of a century, till his death, October 13, 1893. 
 He was succeeded by Charles E. Gilbert. Dr. Gurdon W. Russell, as examining and 
 consulting physician, has been connected with the medical department from the start. 
 Dr. James Campbell was elected medical examiner, February 13, 1894, working in 
 connection with Doctor Russell. Howell W. St. John, the present imcumbent, was 
 appointed actuary in October, 1867. Except from death, very few changes have 
 occurred in the official corps. 
 
 Under the general statutes the /Etna Life opened an accident department, Jan- 
 uary I, 1 89 1. Just six years later it had in force eighteen thousand, five hundred 
 and thirty-two policies, instiring ;g79,o83,850. Vice-president Webster has immediate 
 charge of this branch ; Walter C. Faxon, also connected with it, was made assistant 
 secretary' in October, 1893. 
 
 RECEIPTS TILL JANUARY I, 1S97. 
 
 Premiums $123,971,464.75 
 
 Interest 45,866,940.55 
 
 Total §169,838,405.30 
 
 DISBURSEMENTS TO POLICY-HOLDERS. 
 
 Death losses $42,833,641.22 
 
 IMatured endowments 17,623,658.64 
 
 Surrender values paid 20,650,164.27 
 
 Dividends to policy-holders 18,590,343.88 
 
 Total $99,697,808.01 
 
 Niimber of policies in force January i, 1897, eighty-seven thousand, six hundred 
 and fifty-eight, insuring $145,635,940. 
 
 In econoiu)' of management the /Etna Life ranks with the first three or four of 
 American companies. It began upstairs in a small room on State street under the 
 wings of its elder brother, the yEtna Fire. 
 
 John C. Webster, vice-president, was born at Kingfield, Me., May 24, 1839. 
 Equipped with a good English education, he learned the printer's trade, and before 
 reaching the age of twenty-two was at the head of one of the largest printing offices 
 in Concord, N. H. In 1864 he became agent of the /Etna Life in that city, and soon 
 after general agent for the state of New Hampshire. In 1873 he was made superin- 
 tendent of agencies, when he moved to Hartford. He has been vice-president since 
 July, 1879. For fifteen years, up to 1895, he edited the .'Etna, a quarterly publication 
 devoted to the interests of the company. He organized and has had throughout 
 special supervision of the accident department. 
 
 Joel L. English, born October i, 1843, at Woodstock, Vt., in 1867 entered the 
 Hartford office of the .^tna Life as a clerk, and was appointed secretan,- in 1872. In
 
 94 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 this single company his life has been devoted to the j^erformance of a ceaseless round 
 of duties. While a life of quiet work ma}- be bare of dramatic incidents, Mr. English 
 is regarded by the profession as one of its most accomplished members. 
 
 Howell W. St. John, actuary, was born at Newport, R. I., in April, 1834. After 
 graduating from Yale University as a civil engineer, he pursued the profession in 
 the South and West until October, 1867, when he became actuary of the /Etna Life. 
 He is one of the charter members of the Actuarial Society of America, was its presi- 
 dent in 1893 and 1894, and one of its delegates to the International Convention of 
 Actuaries held at Brussels in September, 1895. 
 
 Charles E. Gilbert, assistant secretary, was born in Wallingford, Conn., November 
 8, 1 836. During the war he was employed in the offices of the mustering officer and 
 the military' commandant of Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 1868 he was made 
 cashier of the yEtna Life and assistant secretary in February, 1895. 
 
 With customary good fortune in 1888 the ^Etna Life acquired for $231,000 the 
 commodious and elegant building erected by the Charter Oak Life, at a cost by the 
 books of $844,380. The home offices were transferred to the new quarters in the 
 summer of that year. The marvelous growth of the .E^tna Life cannot be repeated 
 in the future by any similar organization, because the conditions which rendered the 
 process possible have passed never to return. 
 
 THE PHCENIX MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY (HARTFORD). 
 
 Proceeding on the theor}' that total abstainers from the use of alcoholic drinks 
 could safely be insured at lower rates than miscellaneous risks, accepted, without 
 close regard to personal habits, a number of men, connected for the most part with 
 the temperance reform, in 185 1 secured a charter for the American Temperance Life 
 Insurance Company. The incorporators were: Barzillai Hudson, a prominent leader 
 in the crusade against alcohol; Benjamin E. Hale, editor of the /vw;;/^?;'//, a cold-water 
 sheet ; Thomas S. Williams, ex-chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court ; 
 Francis Gillette, a noted abolitionist in the formative period of the party, and for a 
 year in the United States Senate ; James B. Hosmer, philanthropist, who left large 
 sums for public uses ; Francis Parsons, a prominent lawyer ; and Edson Fessenden, 
 keeper of the Eagle Hotel. 
 
 The capital was placed at g 100,000, divided into shares of S50 each, with power 
 to increase to $200,000. Ten per cent, was required at the time of subscribing, six 
 per cent, within twenty days after organization, and the balance was allowed to rest 
 in stock-notes. 
 
 Books were opened July 22d by H. S. Ramsdell, Andrew T. Judson and A. I\I. 
 Collins, commissioners, and were closed at noon the next day when it was found that 
 twenty-three hundred and forty-three shares of $50 each had been taken. The 
 number was scaled to two thousand. On the 24th the subscribers met at the Foun- 
 tain office and elected for directors B. Hudson, J. B. Hosmer, T. Wadsworth, F. Par- 
 sons, Albert Day and John H. Goodwin. B. E. Hale was elected secretary for the 
 year ensuing on the same ballot. In the afternoon the directors chose B. Hudson 
 president, and Tertius Wadsworth vice-presiderit. On the 28th the board already 
 elected chose four additional members, viz. : W. W. Hoppen, Noah Wheaton, Francis 
 Gillette and Edson Fessenden. 
 
 August 4th by-laws were adopted. The distinctive article provides that the 
 company shall take no risks upon the lives of persons addicted to the habitual use 
 of intoxicating liquors as a beverage. 
 
 Moved by strong convictions, advocates of temperance gladly accepted an oppor-
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. <J5 
 
 tunity to subject their beliefs to a practical and perhaps decisive test. Accordingly, 
 tables were prepared gradualiiig the cost of insurance about ten per cent, below cur- 
 rent rates, and the issue of policies began. All premiums were at first required in 
 cash. Had the scheme met with popular favor perhaps the correctness of the theory 
 would have been demonstrated. However, persons interested in the cause did not 
 hasten to seize the privilege, and others did not care to sign a pledge of perpetual 
 abstinence in consideration of the discount. Solicitors found the restrictions placed 
 upon the freedom of the individual an ever-present obstacle, blocking the persuasive 
 force of their eloquence. Satisfied after a fair trial that, however correct the prin- 
 ciple might be, the attempted application of it ran counter to the inclinations of 
 human nature, the managers abandoned the temperance feature in 1861, conformed 
 the rates and contracts to the common practice, and with legislative permission, 
 changed the name to the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company. 
 
 Many of the risks taken under the original plan still remain on the books, and 
 as a whole have perhaps justified the opinions of the founders in regard to the 
 greater longevity of those who entirely avoid spirituous drinks. 
 
 October 5, 1852, Benjamin E. Hale was chosen president for the rest of the year, 
 and James H. Holcomb, secretary. Mr. Hale resigned February 23, 1853, to take 
 the general agency of the company, and was succeeded by Edson Fessenden. Mr. 
 Holcomb also resigned, and declining a re-election, was succeeded by J. Augustus 
 Wright, March 14th. W. H. Hill was secretary, April, '57-July, '65, and James F. 
 Burns, July, '65-June, '75. The company decided to conduct its business on the 
 mutual principle and to treat the stock as a guaranty capital, entitled only to six per 
 cent, a year, the legal rate of interest. 
 
 The early progress of the company was slow. In June, 1861, when the experi- 
 ment of insuring only the strict!}- temperate was abandoned, its gross assets amounted 
 to 3262,088.40. For the previous year premiums reached 548i704-02 and income 
 from investments, ;g 10, 749.81. With change of method and the stimulus given to 
 all activities by the Civil War, came rapid growth. Imitating a popular feature of 
 the time, it gave up the wholly cash requirement, accepting part payment in notes. 
 
 The panic of 1873, followed by six years of sore depression, brought ruin upon 
 many insurance companies both life and fire. All interests suffered. Even the 
 savings banks of New England and of our older states, though placed by law under 
 severe restraint and strict supervision, sustained heav}- losses from shrinkage of securi- 
 ties, and the strongest were forced to reduce the rate of dividend from six to four per 
 cent, a year. Some failed. Some pulled through by scaling their liabilities. As 
 prices soared skyward during the outpour of inconvertible paper currency giving to 
 business of all kinds a delusive appearance of prosperity, so they sank again toward 
 the cold bed-rock of reality, when the financial drunk came slowly to an end. 
 
 The Phoenix suffered not only from general causes, but from the payment of 
 excessive dividends, or return premiums to policy-holders. For a long period these 
 were fixed at thirt}-three per cent, on the temperance and fifty per cent, on the other 
 tables. Managers sought to win business by giving patrons larger returns than their 
 rivals. At times the strife became fairly frenzied. When pushed to extremes the 
 policy took away the main resource for making good the general shrinkage of prices 
 that fell upon all interests, and often from unexpected quarters. 
 
 For the above reasons the situation of the Phoenix in 1875 was serious, but not 
 alarming. The statement of its condition on December 31, 1874, showed admitted 
 assets of $10,011,876, including $16,000 paid in on capital account and a surplus as 
 regards policy-holders of $339,866.
 
 96 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Secretary Burns was the real executive officer. His methods were not approved 
 bj^ Aaron C. Goodman, with one exception the largest stockholder, and long a non- 
 resident director. In early manhood Mr. Goodman was a bookseller and book-pub- 
 lisher in Hartford. Later he opened a paper warehouse in New York city and 
 carried on a large and lucrative business. In 1873 he returned to Hartford. He now 
 became a constant attendant at the meetings of directors, where his free criticisms 
 provoked the ire of the secretary and occasionally ruffled the temper of the president. 
 
 A plan was arranged to displace the obnoxious director at the annual meeting in 
 June, 1875. The proposed victim got wind of the plot and resolved not to be sacri- 
 ficed in that way. He offered his shares to several prominent directors, and failing 
 to get a bid, took the opposite course and so added to his interests as to secure prac- 
 tical control. His purchases included a block of three hundred and ninety-seven 
 shares from Mr. Fessenden. At the election a few days later Mr. Goodman was 
 chosen president ; Jonathan B. Bunce, vice-president ; and John M. Holcombe secre- 
 tary. Heretofore the vice-president had held an honorary title. He was now made 
 a member of the working staff. 
 
 Under the rigid scrutiny of the new officers, an alleged surplus of over ^300,000 
 before the end of December was changed into a deficit of ^79,000 — a change very 
 painful to the incoming management, and due not to current shrinkages, but to the 
 correction of past errors. To fill the gap the directors required payment of the stock 
 notes, amounting to ^84,000. 
 
 The affairs of the company were found to be in great confusion. Many months 
 of arduous labor passed before its exact condition was reached. Not only had a 
 great deal of worthless stuff been carried to the credit of assets, but still larger sitms 
 on sundry classes of policies had been dropped from the liabilities, though the" com- 
 pany was responsible for the claims. As the truth was reached the books were 
 corrected. Troubles came to light one by one, and hence were more easily borne. 
 
 The statment of December 31, 1875, represented the financial condition as then 
 understood. Many policy liabilities were afterwards discovered and restored. New 
 by-laws were framed and adopted. A department for insuring at lower rates on the 
 stock plan was put in operation. Real estate taken by foreclosure was gradually sold, 
 and for the most part without loss. After the annual statement of December, 1878, 
 the chief drain on resources came from the restoration of policies that under the 
 previous management had dropped from acknowledged liabilities. From these 
 causes, several years elapsed before the management could claim with confidence a 
 solid surplus. 
 
 When the crisis was safel)' passed, it became manifest that the company had 
 fallen into a chronic habit of attending to repairs instead of new construction. 
 While the volume of assets from 1875 to 1888 remained nearly stationary, the sur- 
 plus grew from ^4,679 to ^1,318,537, and the insurance in force fell from over sixty- 
 nine to less than twenty-five millions. 
 
 President Goodman, who owned one thousand and two shares, and thus a con- 
 trolling interest, desired to sell on account of ill-health. Early in 1889, William 
 Barnes, ex-superintendent of the insurance department of New York, after various 
 preliminary negotiations, introduced John J. McFarlane, of Philadelphia, to Mr. 
 Goodman. Mr. McFarlane offered ^500 a share for Mr. Goodman's holdings. He 
 claimed that as he had decided to go into life insurance on a larger scale, he could 
 afford to spend this sum for a well-established plant, as the outlay would be much 
 less than the cost of reaching equal strength from fresh beginnings. He brought 
 letters of indorsement from reputable people. His backers described him as an ex-
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 97 
 
 member of the State Senate of Pennsylvania, an elder in the Presbyterian Church, 
 a Prohibitionist ; in short, as variously virtuous. At the above figures for a limited 
 time he obtained an option on the entire block. 
 
 Inquiries on the part of persons interested in the company and in the city satis- 
 fied them that the proposed purchaser was not a man to whom could safely be 
 committed the custody of many millions of trust funds. As the discussion pro- 
 ceeded the conviction deepened that a large body of assets controlled by a handful of 
 stock that bore to the mass a ratio of less than one per cent., like a tall pyramid 
 inverted, must be in constant danger of fall. The accumulation of cash in bank, 
 I amounting to three-fourths of a million, was also a sore temptation to schemers. If 
 to-day one assailant with honeyed words, but evil designs, was detected and repulsed, 
 another as bad or worse was likely to appear on the skirmish line to-morrow or 
 next month. 
 
 Both stock and policy-holders united to eliminate the peril. Mr. Goodman, the 
 largest owner, expressed a willingness to make concessions from the estimate he 
 placed on the value of his shares. Others took similar ground. An appeal was 
 made to the legislature, then in session, to furnish, by charter amendments, the 
 machinery for extinguishing the stock. That body promptly passed an act provid- 
 ing for the retirement of the capital and the transfer of ownership aud control to the 
 insured when duly.accepted by the parties in interest. 
 
 A meeting of ' policy-holders to be held on or before December 3, 1889, was 
 empowered to purchase all the capital stock of the company at a price not exceeding 
 11250 per share, with interest at the rate of five per cent, from July ist, to be paid 
 out of the surplus, provided such price be first approved by the insurance commis- 
 sioner as not impairing the reserves, and that no less than a majority be purchased at 
 any price. Transfers were to be made to the commissioner and his successors in 
 office, in trust for the insured, till all the stock had been bought, when the certificates 
 were to be surrendered to the company for cancellation and retirement. The existing 
 directors were to hold office and fill vacancies till the meeting in December. Mean- 
 while on the stock standing in his name, as trustee, the commissioner was authorized 
 to vote for directors. Great power and a wide discretioft were lodged in his hands. 
 
 These proceedings put an end to the schemes of operators like Mr. McFarlane. 
 On the /th of May Mr. Goodman gave to Charles E. Gross, his assignees and appointees, 
 an option for ten days on one thousand and two shares for ;g250,ooo, one-halt of the 
 sum offered by the Philadelphian. The offer was accepted on the nth, and the stock 
 was delivered and paid for July 3d, a syndicate of directors and appointees of Ux. 
 Gross assuming the load. On the same day Mr. Goodman resigned as president and 
 director. The block was transferred to John C. Parsons to hold in trust aud transfer 
 to the compau)', provided the policy-holders voted to buy at the price paid. At the 
 meeting in December they so voted by a large majority. All the other shares except 
 ten which remained out for a year or two longer were taken at the same price. 
 Since then the company has been mutual in methods and in interests as in name. 
 
 The meeting also chose a board of fifteen directors, who completed the reorgani- 
 zation by electing J. B. Bunce, president; John M. Holcombe, vice-president, and 
 Charles H. Lawrence, secretary. 
 
 The commissioner demanded repayment of dividends in excess of six per cent., 
 for the years 1882 and 1889, inclusive, and all the old directors, except Mr. Goodman, 
 complied. He refused and was sued, but the suit was at length withdrawn. 
 
 In 1890 John J. McFarlane, having played leading part in wrecking the Ameri- 
 can Life Insurance Company and the Bank of America, both of Philadelphia, fled the 
 7
 
 &8 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 countn-, while three confederates in crime went to prison. In the spring of 1S93 he 
 returned from Brazil, surrendered to the authorities and was sentenced for four years, 
 preferring, as he said, " punishment in jail to the endless miser)' of a wanderer in 
 exile." 
 
 Renewing its youth the Phoenix Life, under the new regime^ has advanced 
 steadily in every element of strength. The number of policies written increased from 
 1,224 iri 1889, to 5,193 in 1896, and premium receipts from ;g650,777 to ^1,430,228. 
 Although the cost of securing new business makes its rapid increase a heavy drain 
 on resources, the net surplus grew meantime from $534,000 to $571,552, where we 
 might reasonably have looked for retrogression. Belonging now wholly to the 
 policy-holders, the company has taken a secure j^lace among the solid institutions of 
 the state and country. Its gross assets January i, 1897, were $10,658,042.71. 
 
 In 1896-7 the company built a home-office on the south side of Pearl street, near 
 Main, seventy by one hundred and twenty feet, six stories high in front and three in 
 the rear, exclusive of the basement. The floors and roof are built after the new 
 Columbian svstem, an American adaptation of the more clumsy French concrete 
 method, combining, as modified, lightness, strength and safety. It is fire-proof 
 throughout. It has a high-speed electric elevator, gas and electric lights, direct and 
 indirect steam heat, sanitary plumbing, with abundant ventilation and light for all 
 the rooms. The front is in the Italian renaissance style. 
 
 For its own use the company occupies the entire second floor with the rear of 
 the third. On the first floor, flanking the entrance on each side, are two large rooms 
 with fire-proof vaults, suitable for banks. The rest of the building will be rented 
 for ofiices. Around the elevator is a flight of iron stairs with platforms and treads 
 of Italian marble. The rooms occupied b}- the company are finished in East India 
 mahogany, and the rest of the interior in oak. There are nine fire and burglar-proof 
 vaults constructed with the most approved devices. 
 
 Jonathan B. Bunce, born in Hartford, April 4, 1832, passed from the high school 
 of his native town to the Sheffield Scientific School of New Haven, whence after a 
 course of eighteen months, he moved to New York city as a member of the firm of 
 Dibble & Bunce, commission merchants. In 1 860 he was recalled to Hartford by 
 the death of his father, and succeeded him in the wool business, entering into part- 
 nership with the surviving member of the firm, Drayton Hillyer. At the outbreak 
 of the war Gov. Buckingham, in searching for a suitable person to reorganize the de- 
 partment, tendered to Mr. Bunce the position of quartermaster-general. He accepted, 
 and for six months devoted himself untiringly to the work, equipping for the field 
 nine infantry regiments, a battalion of cavalry and a battery of artillery. Feeling 
 that he could no longer in justice to himself withhold attention from his own busi- 
 ness which was expanding rapidly under the stimulus of war expenditures, he then 
 resigned. The partnership of Hillyer and Bunce continued for fifteen years. At its 
 expiration in 1S75 he entered the Phoenix Mutual as vice-president, and at the reor- 
 ganization in 1889 became president. He is identified with many of the financial 
 and humane institutions of the city. 
 
 Mr. Holcombe was born in Hartford, June 8, 1848, graduated at the Public High 
 School in 1865, and at Yale University in 1869. While studying law he was turned 
 aside by fondness for mathematics into the actuarial department of the Connecticut 
 Mutual Life, and in October, 1871, was appointed actuary of the insurance depart- 
 ment of Connecticut. Of the Phoenix he became assistant secretary in 1874, secre- 
 tary in 1875, and vice-president in 1889. 
 
 As a citizen and as a member of both branches of the municipal government
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 99 
 
 Mr. Holcombe has labored indefatigably to improve local sanitary conditions, among 
 other things securing the passage of an ordinance establishing the Board of Health, 
 on which he is now ser\-ing as commissioner a third term. He is chairman of the 
 committee which laid out the intercepting sewer lor draining the Park river valley. 
 Charles H. Lawrence, secretary', was born in New York city, Aug. 23, 1845. 
 Passing from the public schools to the then Free Academy, he came to Hartford in 
 1866 as shipping clerk for Smith, Bourn S: Co. He entered the Phoenix Life, Janu- 
 ary I, 1871, and was chief clerk of the investment department at the time of reor- 
 ganization in Jtine, 1889, w^hen he was elected secretary. He has taken deep interest 
 in municipal affairs, and in addition to other services was three months acting mayor. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT— Continued. 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, HARTFORD. 
 
 HARTERED in 1862 the Continental was organized in the spring of 1864, 
 with a capital of ^150,000, divided into six thousand shares of $25 each. 
 In July, 1866, the capital was increased to ;^300,ooo. Forty per cent, was 
 paid in cash, and sixty per cent, was represented by stock notes. May 16, 
 1864, was elected the first board of directors, consisting of John S. Rice, 
 Lucius J. Hendee, James L- Chapman, Samuel E. Elmore, Horace Cornwall, Buel 
 Sedgwick and Ezra Hall. Three months later Allyn S. Stillman, H. K. W. Welch 
 and Abner Church were added. The original seven met May 23d and elected John 
 S. Rice, of Farmington, president, and Samuel E. Elmore, secretary-. 
 
 It was a period prolific in the birth of life insurance companies. In New York, 
 under a general statute, many sprang into being about this time. After struggles 
 variously jirolonged most of them passed away. Meanwhile intensity of competition 
 enhanced expenses and diminished profits. 
 
 At the annual meeting in 1 870 a plan to capture the management took form. 
 Several of the old directors were displaced. James S. Parsons, as representative of 
 the assailants, was elected vice-president, with the duties ordinarily assigned to the 
 superintendent of agencies. Mr. Elmore succeeded Mr. Rice in the presidency. 
 Francis D. Douglass, assistant secretary since July i, 1869, was made secretary. 
 
 At the next annual meeting the intrusive element dropped out. Lucius J. 
 Hendee, was elected vice-president, and the by-law attaching certain duties to the 
 office was rescinded. May ist Mr. Hendee retired, and John S. Rice was elected in 
 his place, watli the special assignment of examining all claims for losses. 
 
 At the annual meeting in March, 1873, the assault, partially successful in '70, 
 but foiled in '71, carried the position. The new directors were: John C Tracy, 
 Edwin Bulkeley, George C. Johnson, Ansel Arnold, Thomas Ramsdell, John S. Wells, 
 J. G. Martin, James S. Parsons, H. B. Freeman and Robert E. Beecher. One-half of 
 the new board resided in the town of Windham. They elected James S. Parsons 
 president, and Robert E. Beecher secretary. 
 
 Januan,- i, 1873, the statement claimed assets of §2,735,394 (of which $1,330,315 
 were in premium notes), and a surplus over all liabilities of $355,357- 
 
 In the statement for December 31, 1874, the capital is first reported as full-paid.
 
 100 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 It was done thus. John C. Trac}-, a director in the Continental, was also president 
 of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank. For friends he did illegal acts which in the 
 end brought heavy losses upon the bank and punishment upon himself December 
 31st, a package of stock notes having a face value of ^180,000 was deposited in the 
 bank, and a credit for the same amount entered on the pass-book of the Continental. 
 January 19th the package was withdrawn, and the credit cancelled. 
 
 As more fully described in the historj' of the Charter Oak a special commission 
 was appointed in 1877 to investigate the life companies of Connecticut. Judge 
 Origen S. Seymour, chairman, examined the home affairs of the Continental, taking 
 as a point of departure the annual statement to the commissioner, dated December 
 31, 1876. The return and the books of the company were found to correspond. 
 Still, strange outcroppings perplexed the mind of the Judge and led him to probe 
 deeper. At first the dance of ghostly figures without substance grievously bewildered 
 him. Weeks of hard labor passed before the real situation took form in his mind. 
 
 After the revolution of 1873, the new management, to entrench itself more 
 securely, bought with the funds of the company from hostile interests 4670 shares of 
 its own stock at a cost of 1^125,482.90, or $5,482.90 more than all the cash paid into 
 the treasury on capital account. The block stood December 31, 1876, in the name 
 of John C. Trac)', trustee, by whom as trustee also the accompanying stock note of 
 ;g70,05o was signed. It is apparent that the money thus paid out and the note given 
 to itself had no value whatever as security for creditors. 
 
 Various large sums were credited by President Tracy on the pass-book of the 
 Continental which were nowhere to be found in the accounts of the bank. The 
 first was an item of ^186,907. 16, which represented to the extent of $180,000 the 
 stock-notes, including the one for $70,000 virtually given through its trustee by the 
 company to itself From time to time the Continental had advanced $133,534.90 to 
 Sharps' Rifle Company. The vouchers were handed to Mr. Tracy, and he entered on 
 the pass-book a credit for the same amount. His act was wholly illegitimate. 
 Whether the property was worth more or less than the face of the vouchers would 
 depend of course upon the outcome of the venture. The $125,482.90 paid out for 
 its own stock appeared in two items, one of $20,966.40, credited on the pass-book, 
 and the other in a certificate of special deposit for $104,516.50. The latter went 
 toward making up the sum reported as cash deposited in bank. There was still 
 another credit of $35,000 which represented not even the shadow of a shadow. 
 Against this aggregate of $480,924.90, but two offsets can be allowed ; the notes for 
 sixty per cent, on the 7330 shares in the hands of the public ($109,950) and the 
 equity in Sharps' Rifle Company. 
 
 United States bonds, par $205,000, market value $230,625, and Windham town 
 bonds, $35,000, were included in the same return among the assets owned by the 
 company December 31st. It is true that December 27th the president of the Conti- 
 nental wrote to the bank requesting it to buy on account of tlie company $200,000 
 United States bonds. From the 5 th to the loth of January inclusive the bank made 
 the purchases on the general credit of the company, using its own funds for the pur- 
 pose, holding the bonds as security with power of attorney to sell, and again disposed 
 of them all between February loth and March 2, 1S77, repaying itself with the 
 proceeds. Yet to keep up the show the insurance company as if in paj'ment drew 
 checks upon the unreal credits entered on the pass-book, but not on the bank ledger. 
 The ownership of the Windham bonds seems if possible even more mythical. Mr. 
 Tracy left the bank in February, 1877. ^^ the adjustment that followed, the 
 spectral assets, evoked from the realm of sliadows by his aid, returned to the noth- 
 ingness whence they seemed to spring.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 101 
 
 The special commission submitted its report to the General Assembly January 1 5, 
 1 878, but no adverse action was taken. Commissioner Stedman required the com- 
 pany to restore the money used in the purchase of its own shares. Thereupon the 
 officers represented to certain stockholders that on account of the disturbance 
 created by the special commission there was need of a temporary increase of assets. 
 Supposing that the emergency would soon be passed, the parties appealed to gave 
 their notes, with collaterals, for sums that amounted altogether to $125,482.90. 
 No interest was collected from the makers, and all dividends on the securities 
 entrusted to the officers were paid over to the actual owners. 
 
 In the summer of 1887, a local firm of brokers, with which the president of the 
 Continental had had extensive dealings, failed. Within a few days the affairs of the 
 concern were published in detail. Among the securities hypothecated to the firm to 
 reinforce speculative margins, and in several cases rehypothecated elsewhere, the 
 parties, who had filled the gap of §125,000, recognized some of their own stocks. 
 Others had vanished. Stocks and bonds, once the property of the Continental, and 
 supposed by the directors to be securely stored in the vaults of the company, turned 
 up to their surprise in the same place. 
 
 Commissioner Fyler at once began an examination, taking as a basis the state- 
 ment for December 31, 1886. By the 17th of November he had progressed so far as 
 to feel called upon to issue an order, under the statute, forbidding the issue of new 
 policies and the payment of dividends. After further progress he became satisfied 
 that the impairment exceeded twenty-five per cent, of the assets, and on the 30th of 
 November applied to Judge Carpenter, of the Supreme Court of Errors, for the 
 annulment of the charter, and the appointment of a receiver. The application was 
 resisted, and the case adjourned till December 23. At the second hearing, the peti- 
 tion was not opposed, and the Court appointed Eorrin A. Cooke and John R. Buck 
 receivers. 
 
 Under the scnitiny of the commissioner, the volume of admitted assets shrank 
 from $2,113,356.68 to $1,235,680.97, including $391,064 in premium notes. He 
 placed the direct liabilities at $2,070,045.25. 
 
 Before the second hearing the president liad retired beyond the jurisdiction of 
 the Court. The secretary was indicted for perjury, in swearing to a false return. It 
 was claimed on his side that he had never made oath to the return, and that the 
 certificate of the notary was false. Under a New York decision in a similar case, that 
 "there must be proof of the oath taken, independent of the notarj-'s certificate, signa- 
 ture, seal and jurat," the judge advised that the case be nolled. 
 
 THE CONNECTICUT GENERAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 The Connecticut General entered a field already crowded, not as a competitor of 
 older institutions, but with the view of selecting at adequate rates, from risks which 
 others rejected. Dr. Phelps, father of the Connecticut Mutual, was also the god- 
 father of the Connecticut General, and proposed to further aid the infant enterprise 
 with liberal slices from the excess lines of the parent company. The promoters 
 reasoned, quite plausibly, that if fire rates could be so adjusted upon all classes of 
 property as to be remunerative, there could be no inherent difficulty in graduating 
 the cost of insurance for impaired lives also. It was soon found, however, that the 
 infirmities buried in the human system were too deceptive and variable to respond to 
 any determinate law of averages. Moreover, applicants who failed to pass the stand- 
 ard examinations, did not display expected alacrity in accepting the benefits of the 
 new departure on the terms proposed. Each one's confidence in his own destiny is
 
 102 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT, 
 
 so strong that he must either suffer from "malaria," or be clearly nearing the grave, 
 before he will admit that his chances of longevity are less than those of his neigh- 
 bor. Happily the error in the theory was soon shown by the perplexities encoun- 
 tered in attempts to apply it, and in two years the feature was abandoned, and the 
 business of the company thenceforth confined to first-class risks. 
 
 It is worthy of note that the Universal and the American Popular Life Insurance 
 Companies, organized about the same time on the same theory, persisted in adhering 
 to the plan, and paid the penalty a few years later by dying bravely in the last ditch. 
 
 In view of the extra hazards and untried conditions to be met, the capital was 
 placed by the charter at not less than $500,000. Ten per cent, was required at the 
 time of subscription, a second installment of 10 per cent, was called at the first 
 meeting of directors, and a third, of 30 per cent, in cash, June 9, 1866. When the 
 experiment of insuring impaired lives was given np, the need of a large capital to 
 guarantee the performance of contracts also vanished. Hence, by permission of the 
 Legislature, it was reduced in 1874 to ^250,000, the amount actually paid in. The 
 reduction was effected by the cancellation of stock notes. In 1880 it was again cut 
 down to $150,000, by taking up two-fifths at par, the growing strength of the insti- 
 tution having rendered a larger guaranty needless. This was the first life insurance 
 company in Connecticut of which the capital was wholly paid in cash. 
 
 The first board of eighteen directors, twelve from Hartford and six from other 
 cities, was elected July 20, 1865. A week later John M. Niles was elected presi- 
 dent ; Edward W. Parsons, vice-president, and Thomas W. Russell, secretary. Mr. 
 Niles held the place- but a few weeks, having been succeeded by Mr. Parsons in 
 September. 
 
 With others the Connecticut General suffered from the shrinkage of values that 
 followed the panic of 1873. Loans made on real estate at inflated values defaulted, 
 throwing upon its hands large blocks in several cities, notably in Washington, D. C. 
 The distress to all interests was severest during the winter of 1876-7. The annual 
 statement for December, 1S76, showed an impairment of capital on a four per cent, 
 basis of $12,607.67, or, throwing out items not admitted by the commissioner, of 
 $18,265.41. Total assets then amounted to $1,272,298. But the turning point had 
 been reached. From that date onward the company has steadily gained in every 
 element of strength, though compelled from time to time to charge off losses arising 
 from the old transactions above referred to. 
 
 In May, 1 876, Thomas W. Russell, an expert in life insurance, succeeded Mr. 
 Parsons as president, and at the same time Frederick V. Hudson was elected 
 secretary. 
 
 In 1872 the company began to issue policies on the tontine plan in a modified 
 form for terms of ten and twenty )-ears. In July, 1887, the scheme was abandoned 
 in disgust, partly from conviction that the theory was injurious and misleading, and 
 partly from the incessant complaints of the unfortunates who fell by the wayside. 
 It seemed impossible to print conditions in type sufficiently conspicuous to attract 
 the attention of the insured to the terms of the contract. On the other hand, those 
 who have held out to the end have had no ground for fault-finding. The funds be- 
 longing to separate classes have been kept distinct, and have been charged only with 
 their proportionate share of expenses. On long-term policies the company is paying 
 fifty-nine per cent, of estimated results, and on short term, eighty-eight, as the latter 
 are less affected by the continuous fall in rates of interest, which dropped fully one- 
 third during the progress of the experiment. These results are from fifty to over 
 one hundred per cent, better than results attained by some of the largest companies
 
 INSURANCE IX CONNECTICUT. 103 
 
 in the country, which about the same time went into the scheme on a grand scale 
 with promises as alluring as experts in the manufacture of advertising literature 
 could produce. 
 
 May 22, 1894, President Russell reached the age of three-score years and ten. 
 From the young men in the office, whose welfare he has studied with the solicitude 
 of a father, came the suggestion that the company take some appropriate notice of the 
 event. The idea was approved by the directors. At a complimentary- dinner given 
 on the 29th of June, officers, directors, employees and general agents, with a few 
 invited guests, came together to express their regard for one who had served the 
 institution continuously from its birth. Three others were present who had also 
 been connected with it from the beginning : Doctor Melanchthon Storrs, vice-presi- 
 dent, toastmaster and medical examiner ; Leverett Brainard, mayor of the citv at the 
 time, and a continuous director ; and Walter H. Tilden, agent at Philadelphia, and 
 an original stockholder. 
 
 Mr. Russell was born at Greenfield, ^Nlass. From 1846 till 1852 he was a mer- 
 chant at Mystic Bridge, Conn., and incidentally acted as local agent for the Charter 
 Oak Life Insurance Company, which in the latter }'ear, when he represented the town 
 of Stonington in the General Assembly, persuaded him to move to Hartford and 
 take a traveling agency. In 1857 he was elected vice-president. He resigned in 
 1864, while its sky was still unclouded, and after a year with the Connecticut 
 Mutual, aided in launching the company to which he has devoted the energies of 
 three-fifths of his business life. Since his accession to the presidency it has enjoyed 
 not only uninterrupted, but in regard to solidity, conspicuous prosperit}-. Others 
 have grown faster in accumulations, but few now surpass it in strength. 
 
 January i, 1897, the comjiany had gross assets amounting to ^2,944,747.97, with 
 a net surplus of ^388,862.35 exclusive of its capital of $150,000. Of the surplus, 
 too, $260,058 belongs to a special class of policies. There have been few changes in 
 the official corps. 
 
 Frederick V. Hudson, secretary, was born in February, 1838, in Cincinnati, O., 
 where, in 1867, he became local agent for the Penn Mutual, and the next year state 
 agent for the Hartford Life and Annuity. After a short term he accepted the general 
 agency of the Connecticut General in October, 1 868, and was elected secretary in 1 876. 
 
 Edward B. Peck, assistant secretary, was born in Galveston, Tex., January 31, 
 1840 ; was educated in the schools of St. Louis, Mo., taught several years, a part of the 
 time as principal of one of the public schools of Bridgeport, Conn., engaged in mercan- 
 tile business in Alabama, whence he moved to Hartford, where he was made cashier 
 and accountant of the Connecticut General in Max, 1868, and assistant secretarv in 
 May, 1882. 
 
 Robert Watkinson Huntington, actuary, was born in Norwich, Conn., November 
 9, 1866 ; graduated at the Hartford High School in 1885, at Yale University in 1889, 
 and in November of the same year entered the office of the Connecticut General, of 
 which he was appointed actuary June 29, 1893. 
 
 THE HARTFORD LIFE AND ANNUITY INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 This company was chartered in 1866 as the Hartford Accident Insurance Com- 
 pany, primarily to make insurance connected with loss of life or personal injur)' 
 through accidents of every description, and with the privilege also of making ordi- 
 nary insurance upon lives. August 14th, of the same year, the subscribers chose the 
 following directors, viz. : Daniel F. Seymour, Jasper H. Bolton, Stiles D. Sperr>-, E. 
 Thomas Lobdell, John A. Butler, Alvan P. Hyde, Chester Adams, John W. Danforth,
 
 104 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Elislia P. Smith, Jacob Knous, Hiram Bissell, Thomas J. Vail, Joshua R. Lord, John 
 B. Russell and David A. Rood. 
 
 T.J. Vail was elected president; C. C. Kimball, vice-president; and September 
 1 0th, W. S. Manning, secretar>'. The capital was placed at ;g300,ooo. 
 
 Little was then known about accident insurance, and the unprofitableness of the 
 attempt soon became apj^arent. In 1867 the name was changed to the Hartford Life 
 and Accident Insurance Company, and in 1868 the descriptive words were changed 
 to the Hartford Life and Annuity. 
 
 For the first two years money was lost rapidly. Changes now occurred in both 
 pcrsonttel auA policy. The accident business was dropped. In May, 1868, Chester 
 Adams consented to act as president pro tcftt. till a suitable person could be found. 
 After much importunity C. C. Kimball took the position in January, 1869. With a 
 keen sense of the needs of the situation he cut off excrescenses, reformed old methods 
 and soon put the concern on a money-making basis. James P. Taylor, later cashier 
 and president of the Charter Oak Bank, served as secretary' from May, 1867, till May, 
 1874. 
 
 With the improved outlook certain parties in the directory were seized by a sud- 
 den and singular desire to obtain control for the sake of the supposed honors aud 
 emoluments. No resistance was offered from within. On the contrary, a large block 
 of stock was indirectly and kindly supplied to them at high prices. At the next 
 annual election in May, 1 870, Warehani Griswold was chosen president, and D. F. 
 Seymour, who had been vice-president since February 8, 1869, became the active 
 manager. 
 
 Affairs now took another turn. Expenses grew, and business became unprofit- 
 ble. The book value of the shares fell from eighty-eight in the spring of 1S70, to 
 fifty-five within the next five years. Mr. Griswold died in 1876, and was succeeded 
 by E. H. Crosby. Stephen Ball, who was elected assistant secretary October 28, 1867, 
 and secretary May 12, 1874, saw that a change of method was imperative. Under his 
 guidance new business was dropped, collections were made from the home office, and 
 rigid economy was enforced. Meanwhile every proper claim was fully and promptly 
 met. So great are the recuperative energies of life insurance that in a few years the 
 technical solvency and general credit of the company were fully restored, the capital 
 having been reduced meanwhile to $250,000. It was now ready to re-enter the field 
 aggressively. 
 
 In January, 1880, the company adopted a form of natural premium insurance 
 combining low cost aud security, devised by Henry P. Duclos, formerly of St. Albans, 
 Vt. At the same time a contract was made with Duclos and his associate, A. 
 T. Smith, to manage the agency department. Tlie system requires policy-holders 
 to pay only for the actual mortality among members as it occurs, in quarterly periods. 
 Applicants for insurance pay a single admission fee, which varies according to tlie 
 amount required, but not with the age of the person. For collecting and distributing 
 the funds and all other expenses of management, a yearly charge of $3.00 per g 1,000 
 of insurance is made, and the rate cannot be increased. The safety fund, which gives 
 the system its name, is made up exclusively of contributions of $10.00 per $1,000, 
 required of each member once only, and placed in the hands of the Security Company 
 of Hartford as trustee for the policy-holders. In July, 1894, it reached the contract 
 limit of one million of dollars. Till then semi-annually the entire net income from 
 the fund was divided pro rata among the holders of certificates in force, who, five 
 years before or earlier, contributed to it their full share, and the dividends thus 
 accruing were applied to the reduction of subsequent dues and mortality-calls. Since
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 105 
 
 that date the contributions from new members are semi-annually added to the income 
 from it, when the entire surplus thus accruing is distributed in like manner. 
 
 The principal, placed by a deed of trust beyond the control of the company, 
 remains at an even million, as a guaranty that death claims shall always be met in 
 full, even if the membership for any cause be so reduced that stipulated mortality- 
 calls fail to produce enough to satisfy the claims. 
 
 By mathematical computation the rates are so fixed that the amount of insurance 
 in force must fall below one million dollars to cause an insufficient membership. 
 Should such contingency occur, the trustee is required, from the principal of the 
 safety fund, to pay all outstanding policies in full, without waiting for death to mature 
 the claims. Had the condition arisen in the early stages of the venture, and before 
 accumulations were sufficient to meet all liabilities in full, the deed j^rovided for the 
 division of the fund pro rata among the holders of certificates in force. This was the 
 first company in the country doing business on the assessment plan, where an ample 
 fund was built up to protect the insured against adverse possibilities, liable to occur 
 in the distant future. 
 
 Several modifications of the original plan have been adopted, but none which 
 alter its essential character. ]\Ir. Duclos died in March, 1885. Mr. Smith continued 
 to manage the agency department till his resignation in September, 1896, when he 
 was succeeded by W. B. Warner, who had been in the service of the company four- 
 teen years, and assistant superintendent of agencies, ten. 
 
 Since 1880 the business of the company has been confined to the "safety 
 fund plan." 
 
 Late presidents have been E. H. Crosby, May, 1876-1882; Frederick R. 
 Foster, May, 1882-1889 ; H. A. Whitman, May, 1889- 1893 ; R. B. Parker, since 1893. 
 
 Januarj' I, 1897, assets were, J2, 465, 152.65 
 
 Liabilities, 1,893,922.34 
 
 Number of policy-holders 44.297 
 
 Rienzi B. Parker, president, was born in South Coventry', Conn., February 15, 
 1838. Soon after leaving the High School in Ellington, he engaged in the manu- 
 facture of cotton goods, an industry in which his father had long experience. In 
 1873 he established the Ravine I\iills Company, at Vernon, Conn., and is still its 
 treasurer. A stockholder in the Hartford Life and Annuity from the first, he was 
 elected president in May, 1893. 
 
 Stephen Ball, secretar>', was born in 1839, in New Haven, Conn. He came to 
 Hartford in 1867, from New Orleans, where he had been employed in the service of 
 the government. In August of the same year he was made assistant secretary of this 
 company, and in 1874, secretary. He was largely instrumental in rescuing the 
 institution from its early dangers and in building it up afterwards. 
 
 W. A. Cowles, an employee of the company since May, 1872, was elected assis- 
 tant secretary. May 13, 1874. 
 
 After plans prepared by Frederick R. Comstock, at the corner of Asylum and 
 Ann streets, in 1897, the company will complete, mainly for its own use, a building 
 of five stories, with a frontage of sixty-two and a depth of one hundred and two feet. 
 The style is a modification of the Italian renaissance. The first story of the exterior 
 has a base course five feet high, of granite with a hammered dress face, surmounted 
 by Indiana limestone laid in courses. This is crowned by a continuous and highly- 
 ornamented cornice of terra-cotta, slightly lighter in color than the limestone. The 
 stories above are laid in buff-colored press-brick and cream-colored terra-cotta. The
 
 106 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 entire superstructure is supported by steel columus and steel beams encased in solid 
 walls of brick. On the level with Asylum street are two stores, with the printing 
 department of the company in the rear, opening into Ann. The second and 
 third floors are occupied wholly by offices of the company. Each has a fireproof 
 vault, eight and one-half by eighteen feet. The fourth and fifth floors will be leased 
 till the room is required by the owners. Hot water is used for heating, and electricity 
 for light. Much attention has been given to ornamentation both on the exterior 
 and interior. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT— Contlnufd. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS INSURANCE. 
 
 •^^SIDE from marine, fire and life insurance, attempts have been made in Con- 
 necticut from time to time to extend the business to various other classes 
 of risks. Several health companies were chartered about the middle of 
 the century', and the reason of their failure is given in our account of the 
 Connecticut Health. A little later the notion became suddenh' prevalent 
 that money could be made by insuring live stock. A few experiments proved the 
 futility of the scheme. Somehow the cow or the ox that died belonged to the part 
 of the herd that happened to be covered by the policy. The question of identity 
 often arose to the bewilderment of agents, if not of owners. It was soon discovered, too, 
 that less care was taken of horses when heavily insured. On our canals and in other 
 pursuits where consumption was rapid, the records showed the exact ratio of loss so 
 that managers took out policies only when sure of saving money by the operation. 
 
 Two institutions in Connecticut, each entering as a pioneer a field not previously 
 trodden in America, have won eminent success. 
 
 THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 In 1863, when passing through England, James G. Batterson, of Hartford, became 
 interested in the subject of casualty insurance, and after examining the methods pur- 
 sued there and on the Continent, was convinced that the system could be advan- 
 tageously transplanted into the United States. On his return home the scheme was 
 talked over with influential friends, but at first met with little encouragement or 
 sympathy. However, the jDersonal force of the projector, backed by arguments which 
 grew in number and cogency as the discussion went on, began to win valuable con- 
 verts, and the enterprise soon materialized in tangible form. Outside of the charmed 
 circle skepticism still prevailed, but a nucleus had been formed and a charter was 
 secured in June, 1863. 
 
 By the terms of the charter the capital was placed at not less than $100,000, with 
 the right to increase it at will to any sum not exceeding $250,000. An installment 
 often per cent, was required at the time of subscription, a second installment of like 
 amount within sixty days after organization, and the remaining eighty within the 
 same period in stock notes properly secured and payable at the call of the directors. 
 
 At first the business of the incorporation was limited to " the insuring of persons 
 against the accidental loss of life or personal injury sustained while traveling by rail-
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 107 
 
 ways, steamers, or other modes of conveyance in the United States and other coun- 
 tries." 
 
 At the City Bank of Hartford, a book for subscriptions was opened by the com- 
 missioners, James G. Batterson, George M. Bartholomew, Gustavns F. Davis and 
 William h. Collins, January 28, 1864, when two thousand shares of ;giooeacli were 
 taken and the first installment paid. The first meeting of stockholders, held at the 
 same place February 23, voted to issue the remaining fifty thousand dollars of capital 
 stock, and elected the following directors : James G. Batterson, Ebenezer Roberts, 
 W. H. D. Callender, Thomas Belknap, Jr., James L. Howard, Charles White, George 
 W. Moore, Cornelius B. Erwin, Marshall Jewell, Hugh Harbison, G. F. Davis, 
 George S. Gilnian, and Jonathan B. Bunce. The next day the board elected James 
 G. Batterson president. IMarch 4th G. F. Davis was elected vice-president, and Rod- 
 ney Dennis secretary. 
 
 Finding the powers first granted too narrow, the managers b)' an amendment to 
 the charter one year later obtained authority " to make all and every insurance con- 
 nected with accidental loss of life or personal injury sustained by accident of every 
 description." 
 
 To the substantial nucleus of president and secretary were added in time several 
 other young men who manifested capacity for the assimilation and mastery of com- 
 plex details, and the gifts of all were put to a severe test in the early struggles of the 
 company for existence. Severe labor, rigid economy, and especially quickness and 
 accuracy in the interpretation of facts, carried the enterprise safely through the perils 
 of infancy. Not a penny was wasted on superfluities. The first office, located on 
 the second floor to save rent, was furnished with two chairs and a second-hand pine 
 desk set on a cheap table. A carpet was an extravagance not to be thought of. For 
 a while the officers did all the work alone, writing the letters, keeping the books, in- 
 structing agents in the mysteries of the craft, and running on errands for exercise. 
 The first luxury to be introduced was an office-boy, who became assistant secretary'. 
 
 For eight generations children have read with unabated interest of the pilgrim- 
 age of Hooker and his flock through the trackless forest, from Massachusetts Bay to 
 the banks of the Connecticut, with only the compass and north star for guides. 
 On starting into the wilderness the Travelers had the benefit of neither compass nor 
 star. At home no one had gone before to cut a bush or blaze a tree ; while the con- 
 ditions underlying the casualty business in England differed so widely from those in 
 America that the scanty generalizations formulated in tables by the pattern-company 
 proved treacherous and misleading. From the bottom stone in the foundation to the 
 flagstaff" on the tower, the officers constructed as they went, without aid from archi- 
 tectural designs or preformed plans, necessarily making many mistakes, and costly 
 mistakes too — tearing down, changing, rebuilding, adding here and discarding there 
 — till from a chaos of materials grew the present solid, stately, and enduring edi- 
 fice, the despair of rivals, and the delight of friends. 
 
 No kind of business, and especially no branch of insurance, can be carried on 
 with safety till its laws have been generalized from a wide range of experience. In 
 the case of the Travelers, it was necessary to get the experience and to deduce the 
 governing principles simultaneously. The process of adjustment demanded frequent 
 and radical changes in classifications and rates, introducing confusion into methods, 
 annoying and losing patrons, and exciting in faithful agents ebullitions of sore dis- 
 pleasure. The knife of the surgeon was in constant requisition. Meanwhile the 
 executive ofiicers did not sleep on beds of roses, at least till the small hours of the 
 morning, for midnight often found them at headquarters, toiling over the solution of 
 changeful problems or anxiously discussing what should be done next.
 
 108 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 The palpable benefits of the system, the disbursement over a wide area of many- 
 small sums to injured persons who fortunately held policies in the Travelers, the 
 gratuitous advertising given to the business by its relations to destructive railway 
 accidents, though jjroductive of a copious inflow of premiums, damaged the company 
 at a certain stage of growth in two ways. Men engaged in dangerous pursuits in- 
 sured in large numbers before the actual cost of the hazard had been determined, 
 and, in fact, bought indemnity much too low. Perils from this source passed away 
 as enlarged experience enabled the officers to correct the tables. The other danger 
 came from the opposite quarter, and though serious enough in the thick of the figlit, 
 now seems almost ludicrous when viewed in connection with the mental conditions 
 which preceded and followed in swift succession. Reversing the normal sequence of 
 development, the age of skepticism yielded place to an age of faith, and before the 
 doubting Thomases near home had ceased to hum, with a slight accent of derision, 
 "what will the harvest be?" a swarm of casualty companies, organized in 1865 and 
 1866, rushed wildly into the field. Witli ample powers of destriiction all lacked the 
 art of construction, and after emulating the feats of the historic bull in the china 
 shop, sank one by one into unremembered graves, and though mourners were many, 
 the only monuments of the departed are tlie death records in the state insurance 
 reports. 
 
 During the winter of 1864 five western states chartered over a dozen accident 
 comj^anies. Elsewhere others were striving with frenzied haste to reach fields that 
 were supposed to glow with golden harvests. Nearly all began to issue railway acci- 
 dent tickets, bringing such confusion upon the business that obviously some form of 
 combination could alone save strong and weak alike from common ruin. To pave 
 the way, in May, 1865, the managers of the Travelers procured a Connecticut charter 
 for the Railway Passengers Assurance Company for risks by travel alone, amended 
 the following year to include general accidents and life insurance. The first meet- 
 ing of presidents and representatives was held at Cincinnati, O., June 15, 1865. 
 Others followed. At length, in 1866, seven companies united to prosecute the work 
 for their joint benefit under a single management and a uniform system extending 
 over the whole country. The instrument was the Railway Passengers Assurance 
 Company, in which each as a corporation took stock and had representation in the 
 directorate. It was organized on a capital of ^260,000, with ;g44,Soo more allowed 
 for equi]3ments taken or canceled, making a total of $304, 800, of which the Trav- 
 elers held $128,600. James G. Batterson was elected president, and headquarters 
 were located in Hartford. By a singular fatality all the others found the losses from 
 the residue of their business too great to be repaired by the dividends from their 
 common offspring. A kind of cholera infantum carried off most of the lot in 1867. 
 At the end of five years the Travelers was left sole sun-ivor, residuar}' legatee and 
 reinsurer of the rest. Having bought the shares of its late associates, the company 
 in 1878 turned the Railway Passengers into the ticket department of its own office. 
 In 1 87 1 not an American rival was left, for the concerns which declined to enter the 
 union had perished even more summarily. 
 
 As a rule the officers and employees of the Travelers have been singularly loyal 
 to its interests. At the end of three decades there had been few removals from the 
 official corps by death, and few withdrawals from the office force from any cause 
 whatever. An element of discontent seceded in 1 874, having carefully prepared for the 
 event. The assistant secretary and the actuary went out to take the ^•ice-presidency 
 and the secretaryship respectively of the Hartford Accident Insurance Company, 
 which was chartered in June, 1874, and soon began business on a capital of $200,000.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 109 
 
 Richard D. Hubbard, afterwards jjovernor, was induced to take the presidency. 
 A noted humorist, in a speech industrioush' circulated, ])rocured for the new concern 
 no small amount of gratuitous advertising. Yet in two short years the fledgeling 
 was dead and buried with every dollar sunk. Luckily the jokes were let loose before 
 the first course of the barmecide feast. 
 
 October 25, 1S65, the directors voted to introduce and prosecute the life depart- 
 ment of insurance. The business was conducted on the purely stock plan and was 
 pushed as fast as due regard to the requirements of a legal reserve would permit. 
 Although the loss ratio was exceptionally small, the rates charged were so low and 
 the business grew so rapidly that not until 1S73 did the balance sheet of the life 
 department show a technical profit. For a number of years so great was the popu- 
 larity of its life policies that the company was forced to reject many first-class risks 
 I in order to avoid swelling the deficit to figures that to the uninformed might be made 
 ,to appear alarming. Yet from the start the prosperity of the department far 
 exceeded estimated results as embodied in tables of mortality. In the early stages 
 the Travelers skillfully used the profits of the Accident to promote and protect the 
 growth of the life department. Behind both was the security aflTorded by a sound capital. 
 
 At the first meeting the stockholders voted to increase the capital from 
 ;g20o,ooo to ^250,000. March 19, 1864, 50 per cent, of the subscriptions, inclusive of 
 previous payments, was called in cash. In June, 1864, by an amendment to the 
 charter, an increase to an amount not exceeding ^1,000,000, was authorized. The 
 following October the directors voted to increase it to an amount not exceeding 
 ^400,000. December 4, 1865, the board declared from surplus earnings, a dividend 
 of 25 per cent., payable in the stock of the company at par. For the benefit of 
 owners, unadjusted fractional shares were sold at auction at the Merchants' Ex- 
 change, and brought iSjyi Ov ■'4- Meanwhile, the balance of the stock notes given 
 for subscriptions had been paid in cash in convenient installments. The capital 
 remained at ;$5oo,ooo from December, 1865, till January i, 1875, when $100,000 was 
 added by a dividend from surplus. Similarly it was raised from $600,000 to S 1,000,- 
 000, April I, 1892. 
 
 Having outgrown rented rooms, the Travelers purchased^ in 1872, the historic 
 mansion at the northeast corner of Prospect and Grove streets, built in 1820 by 
 Henry L. Ellsworth, first commissioner of patents, and occupied among others, by 
 Oliver Wolcott, secretary of the United States Treasury under Washington, governor 
 of Connecticut, etc. ; Professor Charles Davies ; Roswell C. Smith, manufacturer of 
 school-books ; Isaac Toucey, governor, secretary of the navy, etc. In 1891 the com- 
 pany added a third story to the original building, a new wing on the northwest 
 corner, and, in the rear, running parallel to Grove street, a new wing one hundred 
 by twenty-five feet, three stories high. Four fire-proof vaults were added to the five 
 already in use. Granite steps, surmounted by a portico of granite, appropriately 
 symbolize the solidity of the institution to which they lead. 
 
 A ver\' great proportion of the losses in the accident department of the Trav- 
 elers come from the ordinary casualties daily occurring all over the country, which 
 attract little attention beyond a limited circle ; the large sunrs which the company is 
 often required to pay to the injured and to the heirs of the killed after notable 
 disasters, making but a small fraction of its disbursements. Still, death claims 
 alone amounted to $32,000 from the railway accident at Angola, Januar}-, 1868 ; to 
 $43,000, at Carr's Rock, April, 1868 ; to $20,000, at New Hamburg, February-, 1871 ; 
 to $13,000, steamer "Metis," September, 1S72 ; to $52,000, at Ashtabula, January, 
 1877 ; to $15,000, at Chatsworth, 111., August, 1887.
 
 110 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 At the time of the great conflagration, one hundred and eighty-one Chicago 
 firemen held policies in the Travelers, and not one was injured, though over $20,000 
 had previously been paid there on this single class of risks. 
 
 The Travelers Record^ established in 1865, and issiied monthly from the home 
 office, by giving wide currency to facts and arguments showing the benefits of 
 casualty insurance, has aided materially in enlightening the public, and thus extend- 
 ing the business. Edwin G. Barrows, first editor, was succeeded at his death, in 
 1875, by William M. Pearl. Forrest Morgan followed in November, 1882. Mr. 
 Morgan retired in March, 1896, and was succeeded by George William Ellis, a son of 
 the secretary, and a recent graduate of Trinity College. Under the editorship of 
 Mr. Morgan the company, in 1889, issued, as a souvenir, in five volumes, the collected 
 writings of Walter Bagehot. 
 
 Why has the Travelers prospered while all rivals, save two or three late entries, 
 have perished? Many minor reasons might be given, but they all run back to a 
 common source — diff"erences of management. The company was not started as an 
 asylum for failures in the struggle for existence, but from its inception has been 
 guided by men of great capacity, with definite and inflexible aims. 
 
 It can be said of James Goodwin Batterson, the president, that he has done much 
 on many diS'erent lines, and has excelled in every field of effort. Only a person of 
 extraordinary strength, physical and mental, could so break through the limitations 
 that defy the ambition and hinder the success of all save a favored few. He was 
 born in Bloomfield, Conn., February 23, 1823, spent his boyhood in New Preston, 
 fitted for college in the academy at Warren, served an apprenticeship in a printing- 
 office in Ithaca, N. Y. ; returning home, studied law with Judge Origen S. Seymour, 
 and then entered the marble works of his father in Litchfield. Five years later, the 
 headquarters of the house were moved to Hartford. From making monuments the 
 operations of Mr. Batterson soon extended to the construction of buildings, at first 
 at home, and then over a rapidly-broadening area. Among the structures thus 
 erected may be mentioned, in Hartford, the marble building of the Phoenix National 
 Bank, the granite and marble work of the home-office of the Connecticut Mutual 
 Life, the State Capitol ; in New York city, the Worth monument, built in 1857, the 
 stone and marble work of the Mutual Life, of the Equitable Life, of the Manhattan 
 and other banks, of the Waldorf and Imperial Hotels, of the Vanderbilt houses, both 
 there and at Newport; in Providence, of the City Hall ; in Washington, of the new 
 congressional library, etc. His marble works in New York city, established about 
 i860, in normal times give employment to five hundred hands. His granite quarries 
 in Westerly, R. I., grade among the first in the country. Mr. Batterson was the first 
 person in the United States to use machinery for polishing granite. The upbuilding 
 of the Travelers has beeu another integral part of his varied career. 
 
 With so many practical aflfairs continually pressing upon him, Mr. Batterson has 
 somehow found time to become a finished scholar, writer and speaker. His studies 
 embrace Greek, Latin, the modern languages, Egyptology, political economy, science, 
 philosophy, sociology and general literature, and he is proficient in all. He is also a 
 connoisseur in art, and the owner of a large and choice collection of paintings. 
 
 Rodney Dennis, secretary from the beginning till March, 1896, was born at 
 Topsfield, Mass., January 14, 1826, came to Hartford when sixteen years old, and, 
 having served an apprenticeship in the grocery trade, established the house of Dennis 
 & Ives at the age of twenty-one. A few years later his partner fell sick and never 
 returned to work, while he was disabled for months by a serious accident. He now 
 sold his interest, and going to Augusta, Ga., entered the employ of the historic firm
 
 JOHN U. LEWIS, M D.. 
 Surgeon and Adjuster. 
 
 F.DWARD V. PRESTON, 
 Siipt. of Agencies. 
 
 TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. Ill 
 
 of Hand, Williams S: Wilcox. After two years there and two in Albany' he returned 
 to Hartford in 1S55, and was connected with the Phojnix Bank till he took thesecre- 
 tarj'ship of the Travelers in 1864. At first he attended to all the details of the busi- 
 ness without assistance of any kind, toiling till late into the night, and keeping up 
 the habit with few relaxations for many years. There was a constant struo-o-le 
 between physical endurance and consecration to work. Other employees caught his 
 spirit and followed his example. Thus largely was success won. 
 
 A man of public spirit and great heart Mr. Dennis has opened his purse with 
 notable freedom to aid a great variety of enterprises that held out a promise of pro- 
 moting the welfare of the city, and to charities, organized and private, has given 
 tinstintingly of money, time and effort. 
 
 Looking to both sides the company has always dealt fairly and justly in settling 
 with claimants. By holding old and attracting new patrons the policy has been 
 fruitful in benefits. 
 
 George Ellis, secretary', was born in Hartford September 17, 1843, educated as 
 a civil engineer at the Rensselaer Polytechnic, Troy, and entered the navy in Novem- 
 ber, 1861, as an oflicer of the engineer corps, remaining till 1868, when he resigned to 
 enter upon the practice of his profession in connection with railway construction in 
 ]\Iinnesota. In 187 1 he removed to New York city to act as professional consulting 
 engineer in railway enteq^rises in which his friends were engaged. He became 
 actuary of the Travelers in June, 1874, and was elected secretary January 27, 1S97. 
 
 John E. Morris, assistant secretary, was born in Springfield, Mass. , November 30, 
 1843, came to Hartford in the spring of i860, was connected with the Charter Oak 
 Bank till September 20, 1862, when he enlisted in Company B, Twenty-second regi- 
 ment Connecticut Volunteers, and remained in service till the expiration of the term 
 of enlistment, July 7, 1863. He was the first clerk employed by the Travelers, 
 having taken his place at the head of the column July 6, 1864. In May, 1874, he 
 was elected assistant secretary. 
 
 Edward V. Preston, superintendent of agencies, was born in Willington, Conn., 
 June I, 1837, moved to Hartford in 1850, and followed mercantile pursuits till the 
 outbreak of the war. In July, 1861, he was appointed quartermaster of the Fifth 
 Connecticut, with the rank of first lieutenant. After various services he was com- 
 missioned by the president, February 19, 1S63, as additional paymaster United States 
 Volunteers, with the rank of major, and so continued till honorably discharged July 
 31, 1865. He at once entered the Travelers, and, after working two years as special 
 agent, was appointed superintendent of agencies — a position which he has since held 
 contiinioush'. 
 
 John B. Lewis, M. D., surgeon and adjuster, was born in Suffolk county, N. Y., 
 March 10, 1832 ; graduated on his twenty-first birthday from the University Medical 
 College of New York city ; settled at Vernon, Conn. ; was commissioned as surgeon of 
 the Fifth Connecticut, July 3, 1861 ; in the spring of 1862 was commissioned as 
 brigade surgeon United States Volunteers, and was soon after made medical director 
 of Shield's division ; and from 1863 to '65 was in charge of the United States general 
 hospital at Cumberland, Md. He remained till after the close of the war, having 
 been present in thirteen battles and skirmishes, including Antietam. 
 
 Since 1869 he has devoted his time and talents to the medical department of the 
 Travelers, writing meanwhile numerous papers on historical, medical and medico- 
 legal subjects. His most elaborate work is a large volume prepared under the joint 
 authorship of himself and Dr. C. C. Bombaugh, of Baltimore, describing the 
 many plots and stratagems for defrauding life insurance companies and the manner 
 of their detection.
 
 112 INSURANCE IX CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Sylvester C. Dunham, counsel, was born in Mansfield, Conn., April 24, 1846; 
 was educated at the State Normal School, New Britain, Conn., and at Mount Union 
 College, Ohio ; studied law with Charles E. Mitchell, of New Britain ; and on admis- 
 sion to the bar moved to Hartford in 1871, where he was engaged in general practice 
 for twelve years. In 1885 the interests of the Travelers Insurance Company in Colo- 
 rado irrigation enterprises became involved in litigation through the operations of 
 The Colorado Loan and Trust Company. Accounting proceedings were commenced 
 in the United States Circuit Court by which it was sought to recover a judgment 
 against the Travelers for more than ^1,000,000. Mr. Dunham was employed to 
 devote his entire attention to this litigation, for which purpose he visited Colorado 
 eighteen times. The litigation continued seven years and resulted in the recovery 
 by the Travelers, and companies associated with it, of absolute title to some seventy 
 thousand acres of land and the canals built to supply it with water, and a judgment 
 in favor of the Travelers and against the plaintiffs for about §94,000. Mr. Dunham 
 has since had the general oversight of the properties so acquired, which are held by 
 five Colorado land and canal companies of which he is the secretary and treasurer, 
 the Travelers being the principal stockholder. He is also the general counsel of 
 the Travelers, having charge of its legal affairs at the home office, and is a member 
 of the board of directors. 
 
 January i, 1897, the total assets of the Travelers amounted to §20,896,684.63, 
 with a surplus to policy-holders of §2,976,424.36, of which §1,000,000 is in capital 
 stock. 
 
 THE HARTFORD STEAM BOILER INSPECTION AND INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 As remarked already two attempts in Hartford to introduce novel and untried 
 forms of insurance have proved notably successful. In both cases the result, made 
 more striking by the failure of imitators and short-lived rivals, is clearly due to intel- 
 ligence and skillfulness of management. 
 
 In the mind of the projectors the conception of the above company was several years 
 in taking form. At the time water was still largely used to drive machinery in manu- 
 facturing villages, but in towns steam, from necessity, was taking its place. Change 
 to the new motive power was hastened by the inevitable concentration of skilled 
 labor in cities. But the transfer was attended by great destruction of life and prop- 
 erty. Conspicuous among casualties was the almost daily record in newspapers of 
 steam-boiler explosions. Engine makers and users had not learned how to handle 
 with safety the mighty agent. In not a few instances criminal carelessness came to 
 the help of ignorance in inviting disaster. 
 
 There was no legal and little moral restraint to hold in check the recklessness. 
 The notion prevailed that a certain waste of life and property in the use of steam was 
 unavoidable. Attention, too, was diverted from responsible agents by the habit of 
 speaking of disastrous explosions as the "act of God," or by otherwise hiding the 
 human element under similar euphemistic expressions. 
 
 In the year 1857 a coterie of young men in Hartford, drawn together by con- 
 genial aims, organized the "Polytechnic Club," with the view primarily of investi- 
 gating and discussing questions of science in relation to practical utilities. Among 
 the members were Elisha K. Root, who succeeded Colonel Colt in the presidency of the 
 armory, Francis A. Pratt, Amos W. Whitney, E. M. Reed, Professor C. B. Richards, 
 of Yale; Charles F. Howard, Joseph Blanchard, J. M. Allen and others. Several 
 members of this earnest but unpretentious club have since won international fame. 
 
 As a power coming more and more into use, but then under very imperfect con-
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 113 
 
 trol, steam became a favorite topic in the club. Tlie results of foreign study and 
 experiment were eagerly appropriated. Members discussed the causes of boiler 
 explosions and means of prevention. It became known that the Manchester Steam 
 Users' Association had already been organized in England with the view of prevent- 
 ing such accidents bv periodical inspection. Under the s>stem as started there the 
 manufacturer paid a certain sum annually for examination, receiving in return either 
 a certificate of the safe condition of his boiler or a report condeuming it, but the cer- 
 tificate, like those in some places since issued by direct appointees of the state, 
 involved no pecuniary obligation whatever, and if disaster occurred, the paper, while 
 relieving the holder from the charge of carelessness, entitled him to no indemnity. 
 
 Although not one of the members of the Polytechnic Club was connected with 
 insurance, the body unconsciously drew inspiration from the local predominance of 
 the interest, which was then making Hartford famous as the home of skilled under- 
 writers. In the course of the debates on the subject the attention of members was 
 attracted to the feasibility of combining a guaranty with tlie inspection, thus giving 
 both parties to the contract a pecuniary interest in the safet\' of the boiler. So far 
 as known, the conception had not at that time materialized elsewhere. Although 
 distinctly evolved in the club, the seminal idea waited several years for further de- 
 velopment on account of the intervention of the Ci\il War. 
 
 A charter was procured in Jtme, 1866, incorporating The Hartford Steanr Boiler 
 Inspection and Insurance Company, "for inspecting steam boilers, and for insuring 
 against loss or damage to property arising from explosions or other accident in the 
 use of steam boilers." The capital stock was to be not less than two hundred thou- 
 sand nor more than one million of dollars, of which ten per cent, was required in 
 cash at the time of subscription, and ten per cent, more within sixty days after or- 
 ganization. 
 
 August 31, 1 866, the connnissioners met and decided to open books on the loth 
 of September at the office of the Connecticut River Banking Company for subscrip- 
 tions to the capital, which they fixed at five hundred thousand dollars. The shares 
 having all been taken, the stockholders met, October 6th, and elected the following 
 board of directors : Henry Kellogg, Richard W. H. Jarvis, Frank W. Cheney, John 
 A. Butler, Charles M. Beach, Jonathan B. Bunce, Daniel Phillips, George M. Bar- 
 tholomew, James G. Batterson, Marshall Jewell, Edward M. Reed, all of Hartford; 
 George Crompton, Worcester ; Daniel L. Harris, Springfield ; Earl P. ]\Iason, Provi- 
 dence ; George Ripley, Lowell ; F. Ratchford Starr, Philadelpliia ; Edwin D. Mor- 
 gan, New York. 
 
 There was some delay in completing the organization. As an initial step the 
 board desired to secure J. M. Allen as president. Although then a >oung man of 
 thirt)--three, Mr. Allen had become known as an earnest investigator in the fields of 
 science. ludirectlv the discussions in which he took a leading part had led up to 
 the formation of the compan}-. At this juncture, however, he had made an engage- 
 ment for a )ear in New York city and was forced to decline. October 13th H. H. 
 Hay den was elected secretary, and November loth Enoch C. Roberts, president. 
 
 At the outset, strangely enough, the enterprise suflFered from open lack of faith 
 on the part of those who appeared before the public as its sponsors. After a trial of 
 a few weeks, Mr. Roberts sent in his resignation, but was induced to let it rest with- 
 out action till the following summer. Director after director sold his stock and fol- 
 lowed the example of the president. Others with difficulty were induced to step 
 into the vacancies. General demoralization prevailed. The question of retiring 
 from business was seriouslv discussed. 
 8
 
 Hi INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Ill its troubles the board again turned to Mr. Allen. He was now free to listen 
 to overtures, and, on the report of the committee appointed to confer with him, was 
 elected president, September i6, 1867. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the stockholders in 1868, the condition of the com- 
 pany had so improved that a special vote was passed expressive of their gratification, 
 and their confidence in the future. 
 
 For a long time the process was slow, the toil incessant, and the way weari- 
 some. Most seemed to regard the new departure as a useless novelty, that must soon 
 run its short-lived course. What will Hartford people undertake to insure next? 
 was a question often asked in tones of undisguised derision. In the hands of a man- 
 ager less firm in conviction, or less conciliatory in manner, the prophecy of disaster 
 irrust have wrought its own fulfillment. Mr. Allen met the fla\'or of sarcasm with the 
 antidote of pleasantry, and toiled on to create a demand which it should be his future 
 business to supply. 
 
 For the first five years the company occupied a single room, sixteen by eighteen 
 feet square, and for the same period the floor of the vault was spread with papers for 
 the protection of the books, from the unwillingness of the officers to go to the 
 extravagance of fitting it up with shelves. In a moment of self-indulgence, the 
 l^resident did invest $14 in a desk for his own use, but such outbreaks of luxury 
 seldom occurred. 
 
 It is an open secret that all the successful insurance companies of Hartford prac- 
 ticed the most rigid economy till their business became thoroughlv established, while 
 those which set out with tlie theory that success could be hastened bv a liberal scale 
 of exjjenditure, invariably dropped into the sleep that knows no awakening. Other 
 beginners may profit by the lesson. 
 
 Although the income of the company was at first small, the thoroughness of its 
 inspections saved it almost wholly from losses. Tiie cost of testing far exceeded any 
 other item of outlay. For several years state insurance departments, recognizing 
 the exceptional character of the business, and noting the infrequency of losses, did 
 not require any charge to be made to liabilities for reinsurance-reserve. Hence 
 savings over current ex2:)enses appeared on the books as net profits. Ten per cent. 
 in dividends on the cash capital was paid in 1869, eight in 1871, and since then never 
 less than ten. Besides, in 1872, ;g20,ooo from profits were indorsed on the stock notes, 
 ^30,000 in 1873, $25,000 in January, 1874, and ^15,000 the following October. In 
 less than three years, out of surplus earnings, the cash capital had grown from $100,- 
 000 to $190,000. Meanwhile laws had been passed in several states excluding stock 
 notes from admitted assets. Under the head of capital these were charged as a lia- 
 bility, and, hence, instead of a help, became a dead weight, burdensome in the ratio 
 of volume. Accordingly, in October, 1874, under an act amending the charter, the 
 capital was reduced from $500,000 to $200,000, and the par of the shares from $100 
 to $40. The stockholders were called on for $10,000 to make it fully paid at once. 
 In 1883 the General Assembly empowered the company to restore the capital to the 
 amount authorized in the original charter by increasing either the number or par of 
 the shares. In February it was increased to $250,000 by a dividend of $50,000 from 
 profits. Here it remained till the annual meeting in 1887. Meanwhile the yearly 
 business had grown thirteen-fold since, in October, 1868, the board saw fit to spread 
 on the record a vote of congratulation over brightening prospects. Numerous fail- 
 ures in all kinds of insurance had taught tiie public to demand strength on the part 
 of those to whom they looked for indemnity. Rivals came and went, and, during 
 their brief sojourn in the land of the living, often sought patronage by a vain show
 
 INSURANCE IX CONNECTICUT. ]]r, 
 
 of wealth. To meet the situation, tlie company early in iSS/rai.sed the capital to 
 $500,000 bv allowing each .stockholder to take hi.s proportion at par in cash. 
 
 During the first year of his incumbency, Mr. Allen .started the J^ocomolivi\ a 
 mouthh' which has built up a body of valuable literature concerning the .steam 
 boiler and cognate subjects. In it, after exhaustive investigation, are treated, with 
 various illustrative aids, particular cases of explosion, with the view of explaining 
 the exact cause. From the multiplicity of inquiries thus pursued, generalizations 
 of the utmost value have been formed. Thirty-two thousand copies are distributed 
 each month, and the paper is highly prized, not only b)' practical men, but also by 
 students of science. A. D. Risteen, a graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic School, 
 is associate editor. 
 
 In the prosecution of the work the energies of the company are mainly directed 
 to the cure of defects and the prevention of disaster. Boilers under its care are 
 visited by experts at stated periods, and thoroughly examined, while the appliances 
 intended to secure safety are put in complete order. During the year 1896, twelve 
 thousand, nine hundred and eight)-eight dangerous defects were reported, and six 
 lumdred and sixty-three boilers were condemned. From the outset the company has 
 made two millions, one hundred and sevent}- -seven thousand and forty-five inspections, 
 discovered one hundred and ninety-six thousand and forty-six dangerous defects, and 
 condemned ten thousand, four hundred and sixty-three boilers. Had these been 
 allowed to go undetected, the neglect in bad cases would have borne fruit hereafter 
 in the needless destruction of life, limb, and property. This part of the work is 
 performed by two hundred and twenty-five skilled and trained insjiectors. 
 
 Some defects are bejond the reach of human scrutiu}-, and hence, with the 
 resources now at our command, the element of danger cannot be completely elimi- 
 nated. In case of explosion or rupture, the company makes good all loss or damage 
 to property, with indenmity for loss of life or personal injury, to an amount not 
 exceeding the sum insured. 
 
 The home office is a magazine of statistics and information, collected from all 
 parts of the country, and relating to every phase of the business, and of the whole 
 patrons have the benefit free. 
 
 The company furnishes to the insured plans and specifications for boilers, 
 settiirgs, and piping ; also for steam chimneys, and when desired, supen-ises the 
 erection, at reasonable expense. These embody the principles taught by scientific 
 research and approved by experience, as made to subserve the attainment of the 
 highest degree of economy, efficiency and safety. Many large plants thus built in 
 a few years ha\e saved the original cost in fuel alone. Suggestions in the way of 
 economv, care and management make a part of the ordinary inspections. 
 
 Calls upon the company for structural plans long ago became so numerous as to 
 require a separate department for attending to this branch of the work. Advice is 
 asked on all kinds of mechanical and engineering questions connected with the use 
 of steam both for power and heating. Of special value are the studies here prosecuted 
 in regard to the material, form, setting and riveting of boilers. The matter of rivet- 
 ing joints has been worked out with great care. As each hole weakens tiie plate, 
 the problem is to find the frequency and size that assure the highest attainable strength. 
 After solving the problem mathematically, President Allen caused joints to be made 
 in exact conformitv with the theory thus deduced. These were then tested at the 
 United States arsenal at Watertown, Mass., when the strength was found to be within 
 two-tenths of one per cent, of his computation. He foretold, too, the exact place of 
 fracture when the resistance of the joint was finally overcome.
 
 116 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 The compan)- has a chemical laboratory under immediate charge of George H. 
 Seyms, for the analysis of water. In some parts of the country water apparently 
 good is found to be wholly unsuitable for steam, depositing a scale and corroding 
 the interior of boilers. In each case the company points out the counter-agents 
 which remedy the trouble. 
 
 No officer or employee is permitted to have a pecuniar)- interest in any boiler or 
 boiler appliance. While the best advice is given, an attitude of impartiality towards 
 the trade i.s strictly maintained. 
 
 They now insure about sixty-two thousand boilers, the annual explosions aver- 
 aging about one one-hundredth of one per cent. The imagination alone can deal 
 with the saving of life, of suffering, and of property, through the methods which have 
 been elaborated and introduced to the world by a company which might, without 
 violence to language, be classed among the beneficent institutions of the country. 
 
 Up to January i, 1897, the company had returned to patrons in losses paid and 
 cost of inspections, nearly $4,000,000. During the year i S96, gross premiums reached 
 $910,054.34, and income from investments, $84,422.30. There was disbursed in 
 losses only $87,078. 1 1. The company pays out a great deal to prevent trouble, and 
 hence comparatively little in the way of indemnity. On the same date gross assets, 
 inclusive of the capital of $500,000, reached $2,119,09669, with unadjusted losses of 
 $10,885. As the outgo is used largely to defray cost of inspection, the reser\'e 
 ($1,291,858) may be regarded from the standpoint of the layman as technical rather 
 than essential. 
 
 It -should be borne in mind that the expansive force of steam is sufficient to rend 
 any boiler in use. Hence none but competent engineers should be employed. Once 
 in a while, in case of sudden sickness or some other emergencv, a green hand is put 
 temporarily in charge, and from this cause have come the most distressing casualties 
 that have occurred under the policies of the company. 
 
 In 1873 the company moved into the present yEtna Life Insurance building, 
 where its rooms are equipped with all scientific appliances for the conduct of the busi- 
 ness. It occupies the entire second, and a large part of the third floor. 
 
 The history of this company is also the stor^- of the life-work of its president, 
 Jeremiah Mervin Allen. Born at Enfield, Conn., Alay 18, 1833, of a lineage wherein 
 love of science and mechanics has been hereditary, his earl 3- studies and predilections 
 seemed to lead up directly to the calling which fell to him unsought. While a 
 teacher for four, and a fire insurance adjuster for two years, he attended to his duties 
 with a fidelity that attracted attention, and at the same time gave his leisure to study. 
 When Mr. Allen accepted the presidency there was no demand for the policies of the 
 company. To convince steam users of the utility of the system, he made frequent 
 and arduous journeys, often traveling by night, and using honeyed words of per- 
 suasion by day. A change, complete and universal, and having its sources in this 
 early niissionar)' work has since taken place. Regular inspections are now regarded 
 as hardly less indispensable than fuel and water. 
 
 Mr. Allen's methods are rigidly scientific. He has prepared man)- formulae that 
 express with mathematical precision tlie rules of construction and criticism constantly 
 observed. L,ove of their chief, born of fatherly courtesy and kindness, explains in good 
 part the loyalty of employees to the company. 
 
 Outside of his profession Mr. Allen has been of great service to the public by 
 his skill in applying scientific principles to practical affairs. He is often called upon 
 to discover hidden causes of trouble and to find a remedy. He has written much and 
 delivered many addresses on scientific subjects. He holds many positions of trust.
 
 .ecvcv.-^^' 
 
 ^^ ytl.f''^^. 
 
 '"^''hn. 
 
 J. M. ALLEN', 
 President. 
 
 ■•-uitor " r 
 
 THE HARTFORD STEAM BOILER INSPECTION AND_ INSURANCE CO.
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 117 
 
 When the Hartford Board of Trade was organized in 1888, Mr. Allen was elected 
 president, and by public importunity has been almost forced to retain tlie position 
 ever since. Towards its n.sefulness in promoting the solid growth of the city his 
 tact aud judgment have very largely contributed. 
 
 The office of first vice-president is honorary, its incumbent not belonging to 
 the active force. It is filled by Gen. William B. Franklin, late of the. United 
 States Army. 
 
 Francis Burke Allen, second vice-president, was born in Baltimore, Rid., June 
 I, 1S41 ; served the Illinois Central Railroad in the department of mechanical engi- 
 neering, 1857-1861 ; served as an officer in the engineer corps of the United States 
 Navy, 1862-1S68; resigned in 1868 to become foreman of the Novelty Iron Works 
 of New York ; in 1871 accepted the position of assistant to the superintendent of 
 motive power on the Northern Pacific Railway; in 1872 entered this company as 
 special agent in the New York department; in 1882 was invited to Hartford as super- 
 vising general agent, and in 1887 was made second vice-president. Incidentally he 
 has been a leading spirit in various military' and naval associations. 
 
 Joseph Bancroft Pierce, secretary, was born in Thomaston, Conn., October 13, 
 1835, and after a short experience in manufacturing entered the in.surance field in 
 Hartford in 1S60 as bookkeeper for the North American Fire, with which he 
 remained as general agent, adju.ster, assistant secretary and secretary till its extinc- 
 tion in the Chicago fire of 1871. He then became general agent of the National Fire 
 of Hartford, and in March, 1873, secretary aud treasurer of the Steam Boiler Inspec- 
 tion and Insurance Company, where he has since remained. 
 
 L>'man Bushnell Braiuard, assistant treasurer, was born March 27, 1856, in West- 
 chester, Conn., and at the age of twenty began to acquire experience in insurance as 
 a canvasser. For a year from April, 1878, he solicited for the State Mutual of Hart- 
 ford, giving np the position to become general agent and adjuster for the Jersey Cit\-, 
 with which he continued till August, 1S86, when he accepted a more lucrative posi- 
 tion with the Equitable Mortgage Company of New York city, which he served as 
 secretarv and head of the bond department. He resigned March 2, 1894, to take his 
 present place. 
 
 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT LOCALIZED. 
 
 \\'ith the exception of a few scattered mutual fire companies the business of 
 iilsurance in Connecticut is now almost confined to Hartford. From time to time 
 about one hundred and thirty separate institutions have received charters from the 
 General Assembly of the state giving authority to engage in various forms of under- 
 writing. Many tried the experiment and failed. Not only large fires, but long 
 periods of mercantile depression have brought great fatality. 
 
 In Hartford towards the close of the eighteenth century a number of leading 
 merchants and others, with the \ie\v ])riinarily of protecting vessels and cargoes sail- 
 ing from the river towns to the West Indies, undertook the work in constantly changing 
 partnerships. In 1803 they formed a chartered company, which, tiiough prosperous 
 at first, withered during the Napoleonic wars and the War of 1812. While this ven- 
 ture was still struggling with perils of the sea the Hartford and the /Etna took up 
 the work on land. Success attracted others. A profession was graduall)' formed to 
 discover correct theories to which practice ma\-, in the long run, safely be made to 
 conform. 
 
 Here leadership has been gained, not b\- luck or accident or favoring circum- 
 stances, but by profound stud\- of the facts and principles invol\-ed in the business, 
 by high native intelligence, sharpened to a keen edge in frequent adversities, by
 
 118 INSURANCE IN CONNECTICUT. 
 
 patient endurance through periods of misfortune, by heroic courage in meeting 
 exceptional calamities, and not least by scrupulous integrity in dealings with the 
 public. 
 
 The business, too, is conducted in a cosmopolitan spirit. Present managers have 
 won their places not through favoritism or inherited influence, but through merit 
 alone. Ability, character, technical skill, special gifts are welcomed from every 
 quarter. The sketches above given show the breadth of area and the wealth of ex- 
 perience now brotrght together in the different offices of the city. In a word, con- 
 spicuous success has been won by intelligence and integrity. The decisive way in 
 which occasional lapses from rectitude have been treated emphasizes the general 
 truth by ^'ividlless of contrast. 
 
 STATE COMMISSIONERS. 
 The office of commissioner of insurance was created by a law passed in 1865, 
 but singularly enough his duties were defined by a law enacted in 1S64. The de- 
 jjartment was not established till 1871. 
 
 COMJIISSIOXERS. TERMS OF SERVICE. COMMISSIONERS. TERMS OF SERVICE. 
 
 Orsamus R. Fyler 1886-1893 
 
 *JohuS. vSeymour 1S93- 
 
 Burton INIansfield 1893-1895 
 
 Frederick A. Belts 1895- 
 
 Benjamin Noyes 1865-1871 
 
 George S. IMiiler 1871-1874 
 
 John \V. Stediiian 1S74-1880 
 
 John \V. Brooks 1880- 1883 
 
 Ephrahn Williams 1883-1S86 
 
 * John S. Sej'niour held the office from March 4th to .\pril i ith, 1893, when he resigned to take 
 the office of commissioner of patents at Washington. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT, JULY ist, 1897. 
 
 ^TNA Insur.\nce Company. — The foregoing history was brought down to 
 February, 1897. During the interval several important changes have taken place. 
 March 19th James F. Dudley, vice-president of the ^-Etna Insurance Company, 
 while absent on a business trip, died suddenly of apoplex>- at New Orleans. April 
 7th E. O. Weeks was promoted to the vice-presidency and A. C. Adams and Henry 
 E. Rees were elected assistant secretaries. Mr. Adams was born in Barnstable, 
 Mass., April 9, 1847. He entered upon insurance work in 1865, and since 1891 has 
 been special agent of the yEtna in the New England field. Mr. Rees was born in 
 Macon, Georgia, April 29, 1857, and has been engaged in insurance since 1881, hav- 
 ing served as special agent of the ^tna at the south since 1889. F. C. Bennett, 
 general agent of the Western Branch office at Cincinnati, Ohio, since 1870, died 
 May 25 th, aged sixty-seven. N. E. Keeler, the a.ssistant general agent and Thomas 
 E. Gallagher, a valued special agent of the company in New York, have been ap- 
 pointed to fill the vacancy under the firm-name of Keeler & Gallagher. President 
 William B. Clark, having served as president also of the National Board of Under- 
 writers, in May declined a re-election to that honorable position, owing to pressure 
 of duties connected with his own company. 
 
 Hartford Life Insur.^nce Company. — At tlie last session of the Connec- 
 ticut Legislature the name of the Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company 
 was changed to the Hartford Life Insurance Company.
 
 INJIRX 
 
 I'Ai-.E 
 
 A BBdT, William G (iti 
 
 ^^ AckU'v, Elijiih fiO 
 
 Adams, A. C - ... IIS 
 
 .■Vtlains, Chester Kl-I 
 
 .\rlams. Penias IS 
 
 .Aclims, Jolin T 11 
 
 jKtiKi Insiiiaiice Company ■ 
 
 Why started, 22; organization, 22; modest 
 heginnings, 23; Henry L. Ellsworlli, 23; re- 
 insurance of the Middletown Fire Insurance 
 (Jninpany, 23; labors and vigilance of directors 
 23 ; extension of tlie agency system, 2-t ; a 
 c.uitions secretary, 24 ; sore trials overcome 
 lij- conrage of direclors, 24; companies saved 
 
 bv united action. 
 
 Isaac Perkins, 25 ; fire 
 
 losses a gauge of general conditions, 25 ; panic 
 of 1837, 25; trip of the president, 26; first 
 fire policy in Chicago, 2(i ; travels of directors, 
 26; .Toseph, Junius S., and J. Pierpont Mor- 
 gan, 26 ; inland insurance, 26 ; fire of 1845 in 
 New York City, 27 ; turning the half century, 
 27; business fr.ni the Protection, 27; rajiid 
 growth, 28; increases of capital, 28; Thomas 
 K. Brace, 28; Edwin (i. Kipley, 28 ; Thomas 
 A. Alexander, 29 : contest over re-insurance 
 reserves, 29 ; cla.ssification of losses, 29 ; first 
 chromo poster, 29; introduction of outline 
 charts, 29; in 1819 a book of instructions, 30; 
 losses at Chicago, 30 ; Lucius J. Hendee, 30 ; 
 Jotham (^ioodnow, 30; E. J. Bas.sett, 31; 
 A. C. Bavne. 31; William B. Clark, 31; 
 James F. Dudley, 31 ; William H. King, 31 ; 
 Egbert O. Weeks, 31 ; assets, 32; A. C.Adams, 
 118; H. E. Rees, 118. 
 j'Etua Life Insurance Company: 
 
 Origin, 90 ; first directors, 90; early develop- 
 ment slow, 90 ; war stimulus causes rapid 
 growth, 91 ; productive investments, 91 ; farm 
 loans, 91 ; large returns to policy-holders, 91 ; 
 increa.ses of capital, 92; Eliphalet A. Bulke- 
 lev, 92; Thomas (). Endeis, 92; IMorgan G. 
 Hidkeley, 93; officers, 93 ; statistics, 93 ; acci- 
 dent department. 93; John ('. Webster, 93; 
 Joel L. English, 93 ; Howell W. St. John, 94 ; 
 Charles E. (iilbcrt, 04 ; home office, 94. 
 
 .Alcott, Samuel 3 
 
 Alexander, David 18 
 
 Alexander, Thomas A 29 
 
 Allen, Francis B., Sketch of 117 
 
 Allen, J. M 87,112,11.3,114,115,117 
 
 Sketch of 116 
 
 Allen, Stephens & Companv 84 
 
 Allyn, T. C .' 18,21 
 
 Alsop, Joseph 8 
 
 Alsop, Kichard 3 
 
 American Mutual Life & .\merican National Life 
 and Trust Company of New Haven : 
 Formation and first officers, 69 ; incorrect and 
 
 fatal assumptions respecting rates of interest 
 and mortality, 70; connnissioner Eli/.ur 
 Wright puzzled 70; high character of Presi- 
 dent Sillim.-in, 70, 71 ; Kenjamin Noyes, pre- 
 sident, 70 ; also insurance connnissioner, 71; 
 a prophet more honored at home than abroad, 
 71 ; a faithful trustee banished, 71 ; swapping 
 scrip, 71 ; an attack from Norwich, 72 ; a new 
 charter, 72 ; legislative stupidity or criminal- 
 ity '.' 72; long gestiitiou, 72; change in name 
 oidy, 73; action of new commissioner, 73 ; re- 
 insurance of National Life of iS'ew York, 73; 
 a bad bargain .'infl uue.xiiccted obstacles, 73; 
 .John W. Stediiian, insurance commissioner, 
 assailed by complaints, 73 ; his examination 
 and its discoveries, 73; application for ap- 
 pointment of trustee, 74; fle.xible decision of 
 court, 74; a "guaranty capital" of words 
 only, 74 ; securities mostly mythical, 75; im- 
 conscirius share-holdei-s, 75 ; phantoms treated 
 as realities, 75; report of connnissioner to the 
 General Assembly and reply of directors, 76; 
 action of the legislature, 76 ; sudden conver- 
 sions, 76; plain talk from connnissioner, 77; 
 over $27,000 for the lobby, 77; second trial 
 and miscarriage, 77 ; a vanishing bank credit, 
 77; plotting a flank movement, 77; purchase 
 of a Washington charter, 78 ; dark seances, 
 78 ; borrowed bonds, 78 ; born again, 78 ; 
 re insurance of a New Jersey company, 79; 
 'Mersey justice," 79; appointment of re- 
 ceiver, 80; .scant assets, 80; Noyes in prison, 
 80; triumphant return, 80; darkness at the 
 end, 81. 
 Atlas Insurance Company, Hartford : 
 Succeeds the Charter Oak and retires after a strug- 
 gle of eight years 57 
 
 Averill, Eliphalet '. 33 
 
 Ayrault, James 63 
 
 T3ACKUS, Asa 11 
 
 Backus, Joseph 60 
 
 Baker. William E 36 
 
 Baldwin, Simeon 11.21 
 
 Baldwin, Simeon E 74 
 
 Ball, Stephen 104, 105 
 
 Barnes, .Tonathau, Jr ... 22 
 
 Barnes, William (io. 96 
 
 Barrows, Edwin G 110 
 
 Bartholomew, George M 88,89 
 
 Bassett, Erastus J 31 
 
 Batterson, James G., 50, 106,107,108 
 
 Sketch of 110 
 
 Bayne, Andrew C 30, 31 
 
 Beecher, Robert E 99 
 
 Belden, H. K 21 
 
 Bennett, F. C 32,35,118 
 
 Itennett, J. B 35 
 
 119
 
 120 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Bennett, Martin 38, 39 
 
 Foreign agencies 57 
 
 Slvetch of 57 
 
 Beresford, Samuel B 82 
 
 Betts, Frederick A 118 
 
 Bill, Elijiili A 60 1 
 
 Billings, Coddiugton 8 
 
 Bishop, J. A 75 
 
 Bissell, George F IS 
 
 Bissell, George 1* 87 
 
 Bliss, Lewis 15 
 
 Boardman, H. F 60 
 
 Boardraan & Spencer . 3'.^ 
 
 Bodwell, George B. . . 5i' 
 
 BoUes, Armin 5vt 
 
 Bolles, James G. 16, 20, 54 
 
 Bombaugh, C. C Ill 
 
 Bowers, Caleb B 21, 30, 54 
 
 Bowers, William N 54 
 
 Brace, .Tonathan .... . 6 
 
 Brace, Thomas K 1 2, 23, 26, 27 
 
 Sketch of 28 
 
 Brainard, Leverett 36 
 
 Braiuard, Lyman B 117 
 
 Breed, Shubael 12 
 
 Brewster, Augustus 12 
 
 Brewster, Augustus 12 
 
 Brewster, James H 57 
 
 Sketch of 57 
 
 Bridge|iort Fire and Marine Insurance Company : 
 Organization, 36; exclusion from New York, 
 
 36 ; padding assets, 36 ; a frightened director, 
 
 37 ; insolvency, 37 ; officers, 37. 
 
 Bristol, Willis 36, 48, 70, 72 
 
 Brooks, Isaac 89 
 
 Brooks, John VV 55-118 
 
 Browne, John D 21 
 
 Sketch of 39 
 
 Buck, Daniel 12 
 
 Buck, Daniel 54 
 
 Bnck, John K 88-101 
 
 Bulkelev, Eliphalet A 63-90 
 
 S'ketch of 92 
 
 Bulkelev, Morgan G 9-' 
 
 Sketch of 92 
 
 Bulkeley, William H 93 
 
 Bull, Michael and Thomas 3 
 
 Sketch of 6 
 
 Buiice, Edward M 66 
 
 Sketch of 69 
 
 Bunce, Jonathan B 89, 96, 97 
 
 Sketch of 98 
 
 Bunce, .lohn L 82 
 
 Burdick, George H 42-43 
 
 Sketch of 44 
 
 Burns, James 1<" 9.5-96 
 
 Burt, Charles K 38, 39 
 
 Sketch of 40 
 
 Bushnell, Cornelius S 47 
 
 Buswell, John 12 
 
 r^ALDWELL, John 2, .3, 5, 6, 7, 3 1 
 
 ^ Sketch of 4 
 
 Cilhoun, Philo C 37 
 
 Callingliam, W. J. 56 
 
 Camp, John N. . . . 60 
 
 Camp, William S 60 
 
 Campbell, James 93 
 
 Cannon, llenry L 37 
 
 Page 
 
 Carter, Buswell 77 
 
 Catlin, Julius 60 
 
 ('hadwick, Daniel 88 
 
 ChamVierlin, A 56 
 
 Charter Oak Fire and Marine Insurance Company : 
 Formation, 52; chronic impairment, 52; re- 
 duction of capital, 52; destruction by Chicago 
 fire, 52; officei-s, 52. 
 Charter Oak Life Insurance Company: 
 
 Charter requirements, 82; large over-sub- 
 script on, 82; first directoi-s and officers, 82; 
 Gideon Welles, 82; stock notes, 82; early 
 officers, 83; votes for the eyes of examiners, 
 83 ; good agents outside, bad management 
 inside, 83 ; warning from Commissioner Sted- 
 mau, 84; failure of Allen, Stephens & Co., 
 84; building a railway, a sununer hotel, a 
 costly office, etc., 84; Henry J. Knrber, 84; 
 bis contract, 85; reorganization, 85 ; discov- 
 eries of experts, 85; Furber's fertility of re- 
 source and advantageous purchases, 86; dis- 
 trust of Fnrber, 86 ; a special commission, 86; 
 in the courts and another reorganization, 87; 
 Marshall Jewell president, and departure of 
 Furber, 87; investigations, 87; liabilities 
 scaled, 88; reorganization on nmtual basis, 
 88; trial for conspiracy, 88 ; secret contracts, 
 88; George M. Bartholomew, president, 88 ; 
 large reduction of liabilities, but hopele.ssuess 
 of the case, 88; appointment of receivers, 89; 
 final distribution, 89. 
 
 Chase, Charles E 21 
 
 Chase, Edwin S. . 69 
 
 Chase, George L 18 
 
 Sketch of 18 
 
 Chatfield, H. W 37 
 
 Cheuevard, John 3 
 
 Sketch of 6 
 
 Chew, Colby 8 
 
 City Fire Insurance Company (Hartford): 
 
 Changes of name and policy, 36 ; careful 
 management and prosperity, 36; destroyed 
 by Chicago fire, 36 ; officers, 36. 
 City Insurance Company (New Haven) : 
 
 Early pi-osperity, 37; turn of the tide, 37; 
 retirement after the Civil War, 37 ; revival 
 after long dormancv, 37; se(«)nd retirement, 
 37. 
 
 Clanett, William H 78, 79 
 
 Clark, Daniel W 33, 34 
 
 Clark, Joseph N 36 
 
 Clark, L. W 39, 56 
 
 Clark, Willi.am B 28,30,42,118 
 
 Sketch of 31 
 
 Cleveland, II. M 86 
 
 Coffin, O. Vincent 60 
 
 Cofran & Bissell 21 
 
 Coit, George M 21 
 
 Coit, Samuel 82, 93 
 
 Colt, David 8 
 
 Commissioners' insurance, of Co:;necticut ... 118 
 
 Comstock, Frederick R 105 
 
 Condict, II. I). . ;W 
 
 Connecticut Fire Insurance Company: 
 
 Org.anization and first directors, 37; cautious 
 policy, 38; extinguishment of stock notes, 
 38; Benj;miin W. Greene, 38; John B. 
 Eldredge, 38; heavy losses in the Chicago 
 fire, 38; charter saved, 39; good fortune fol- 
 lowing, 39; increase of capilal, 39; J. D.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 121 
 
 Ilrowne, o9; home office, 39; sUilislics of 
 giowlh, 40; Charles K. Jiiiit, 40; l>. \V. 
 Clark, 40. 
 Connicticiit (ienoral Life lusnrance Coinpaiiv: 
 Insurance of impaired lives, 101 ; clianges 
 of capital, lO'J; lii'st liirectors anil ollieers, 
 lOL'; sliriiika;;e after llie panic, 102; in ISTll 
 permanent turn, 102; T(nnine policies, Hl'J; 
 Tliomas \V. Kussell, 10:1; a uotalile Kancpiet, 
 103; statistics, 103; Frederick \'. Hudson, 
 103; Kd»ard B. Peck, 103; Kol.ert \V. 
 Huntington, 103. 
 Connecticut Health Insurance Company ; 
 
 Health insurance a failure, Si ; change of 
 name and aim. 81 ; insurance of slaves and 
 coolies, .SI ; incurable wounds, 81; ollieers, 81, 
 Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company ; 
 
 Local studies in insurance half a century ago, 
 ti2; a charter regardful of all rights, ti2; 
 organization and first directors, t>3 ; guaran- 
 tee fund provided, tio ; dissensions provoked 
 by economies, (i3; defeat of the disati'ected, 
 64; new directory and peace, 64; retirement 
 of guarantee notes, (J4 ; situation in 1.S61, 
 64 ; the premium note, 64 ; official impertinence 
 delied , 6.5 ; no booty for blackmailers, 65 ; equit- 
 able distribution of savings, 6-5 ; plots, onset 
 and failure of land speculators, 66 ; Guy K. 
 Phelps, 66; James Goodwin, 66; .successive 
 officers, 66 ; Jacob L. Greene, 67 ; John M. 
 Taylor, 67 ; conservative methods of the com- 
 pany, 67 ; discussion and action in regard to 
 fall in rates of interest, 67; to tontine frauds, 
 68; statistics, 68; Edward M. Bunce, 69; 
 Daniel H. Wells, 69; John D. Parker, 69. 
 
 Connor, William 21, 33 
 
 Continental Life Insnr.,nce Company: 
 
 Organization, 99; the time prolific in new 
 life insurance companie.s, 99; first directors 
 and officers, 99 ; revolution with change of 
 officers, 99 ; how sixty per cent, of capital 
 was reported as paid, 100; examination by 
 special commission, 100; bewildering confu- 
 sion of fictitious credits, 100; disappearance 
 of securities loaued to plug up a hole, 101 ; 
 appointment of receivers, 101 ; shrinkage of 
 assets, 101. 
 
 Cook, Howard W 66 
 
 Cooke, Lorrin A 101 
 
 Cooper, Samuel 60 
 
 Courant, The Connecticut 6 
 
 Courtuev, Thomas E 37 
 
 Cowles, "\V. A 105 
 
 Cowles, E. B 56 
 
 Cowls, Samuel 14 
 
 Crosby, E. H 104, 105 
 
 Cross, Isaac 61 
 
 T^AGGETT, Alfred 48 
 
 ^-^ Danforth, J. W' 54 
 
 Davis, Gustavus F 87, 107 
 
 Davies, J. C 35 
 
 Day, Isaac C 42 
 
 Day, Robert E 54, 87, 89 
 
 Denison, Austin 8 
 
 Denison, Charles ... 21 
 
 Denison, Elihu ... 8 
 
 Denison, John L 12, 71 
 
 Dennis, Kodney 107 
 
 Sketch of ." 110 
 
 Devotiim, John L 61 
 
 Dewell, J. D 55 
 
 De Witt, J 61 
 
 De Witt, John H 61 
 
 Diiksou, Robert 40 
 
 Dillon, A. H 85 
 
 l)i.\on, James 28 
 
 Sketch of 81 
 
 Do.lge, David S 63, 64 
 
 Doolittle, Tilton K 47 
 
 Dornin, George I) 52 
 
 Dorsheimer, Gov 88 
 
 Dnclos, Henrv P 104, 105 
 
 Dudlev, James F 30, 118 
 
 Sketch of 31 
 
 Dunham, Austin 93 
 
 Dunham, Sylvester C 112 
 
 Douglass, hrancis D 99 
 
 Dwight, Timothy 8 
 
 E 
 
 I^ATON, William W. 
 Eldredge, John P.. 
 Sketch of . . . 
 
 Ellis, George VV • ,• 
 
 Ellsworth, Henry L 23, 
 
 Ellsworth. Pincknev W 
 
 Ellsworth, William' \V ' 
 
 Sketch of 
 
 F^lmore, Samuel E 
 
 Embargo and non-intercourse acts 
 
 English, J. L., sketch of 
 
 Enders, Thomas 87 
 
 Sketch of 
 
 Erving, D. D 
 
 Erving, K. A 
 
 Erving, William A 
 
 38 
 
 39 
 
 111 
 
 110 
 
 109 
 
 61 
 
 32 
 99 
 9 
 93 
 , 93 
 92 
 60 
 60 
 60 
 
 93 
 
 TTAXON, Walter C 
 
 -■- Fay, A. Goodrich 78 
 
 Fessenden, Edson 95, 96 
 
 Fillmore, C. J 61 
 
 Fisher, .\ugustus F 59 
 
 Flower, Ebenezer 64, 66 
 
 Foote, John P 33 
 
 Foreign trade of Connecticut 9 
 
 Foster, E. K 46, 47 
 
 Foster, Frederick K 105 
 
 Foster, L. F. S 77, 88 
 
 Franklin, William B 50 
 
 French, B. W 56 
 
 Furber, Henrv J 84,85,86.87,88 
 
 Fyler, Orsamus R 101,118 
 
 44 
 l.S 
 36 
 59 
 
 p ALACAR, Ch irles E 
 
 ^^ Gallagher, Thos. E 1 
 
 Galpiu, Philip S 
 
 Galpin,John 
 
 Glea.son & Cowles • 3 
 
 Gilbert, Charles E 93 
 
 Sketch of 94 
 
 Gill, A 82 
 
 Gill, Ellas 83 
 
 Gillett, Ralph 36, 52 
 
 Sketch of 61 
 
 Glover, Thomas 1^ 
 
 Goodman, Aaron C 90, 97 
 
 Goodnow, Jotham ... 31 
 
 Sketch of 30 
 
 Goodrich, Elizur H
 
 122 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 (ioodwin. James 63, 04 
 
 8ketcli of 6(i 
 
 Goodwin, James J 26 
 
 (Toodwin, Jaines L 33 
 
 Goodwin, James M 25 
 
 Goodwin, Jonathan, Jr 28 
 
 Grant, David 59, tiO 
 
 Green, Natlianiel 37 
 
 Greene, Fienjainiii \V., .Sketeli of 38 
 
 Greene, Jacob I G6 
 
 Sketch of 67 
 
 Greenslit, David 59 
 
 Griffiug. John S 36 
 
 Griswold, Wareham 104 
 
 Gross, Charles £ 89-97 
 
 TTAMERSLEY, William 88 
 
 Hammond, Asael 59 
 
 Hale, Benjamin E 94, 95 
 
 Harris, C.' VV 60 
 
 Harrison, Justns S, 36 
 
 Harrison, Henry B 74 
 
 Harrison, Lvnde 76 
 
 Hartford Bank 1,6, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 59. 
 
 Hartford County Mutual Fire Insurance Company : 
 Limit of operations and premium note, 59; 
 modest start, 59 ; in 1S42 a crisis safely met, 
 59; etlects upon it of Chicago tire, 59; busi- 
 ness confined to Connecticut and to safer class 
 of risks, 60; officers, 60. 
 Hartford Insurance Company (Marine) : 
 
 In 1,S03 organized, 6; merger in the Protec- 
 tion, 7, 10, 32. 
 Hartford Fire Insurance Company: 
 
 Organization, 12; difficulty of investing, 12; 
 first purchase, lo ; laws of average, 13 ; capri- 
 cious rates, 13; character and care, l-'S; pay 
 of agents, 14; spirit of Puritanism, 14; slow 
 growth, 14;causes, 14; indemnity for losses the 
 primary object, 14; novelties unpopular, 14; 
 planting early agencies, 14; who, not where? 
 15; gratuities, 15; city watch, 15; re-insu- 
 rauce of the New Haven Fire Insurance Com- 
 pany, 15; salary of officers, 15; first clerk, 
 15; income and outgo, 15; impairment 15; 
 paying losses by loans 15 ; in early days no 
 reserves laid by, 16 ; Eliplialet succeeds Na- 
 tlianiel Terry, 16 ; meeting a crisis, 16 ; re- 
 ward of courage, 16 ; extraordinary losses, 
 17 ; action of directors, 17 ; increases of cap- 
 ital, 17; Hezekiah Huntington, 17; T, C. 
 Allen, 18; George L. Chase, 18; a more ag- 
 gressive policy, 18 ; new departments, 18; the 
 great Chicago fire, IS; the Boston fire, 19; 
 President Chase and the Ocean Bank of New 
 York, 19 ; successive offices, 20 ; present 
 building, 20; small stock liability, 20; secre- 
 taries, 21; P. C. Royce, 21; Tliom.as Turn- 
 bull, 21 ; Charles E.Chase, 21; departments, 
 21 ; large assets, 2 1 . 
 Hartford Life and Annuity (now Hartford Life) : 
 Chartered to do accident as well as life in- 
 snrance, 103 ; first directors and officers, 103 ; 
 changes of name and abandonment of acci- 
 dent feature, 104 ; impairment of capital, 104 ; 
 recovery under the presidency of C. C. Kim- 
 ball, 104 ; after changes, 104 ; scheme of 
 Henry P. Duclos, 104; presidents, 105; sta- 
 tistics, 105; Kienzi B. Parker, 105; Stephen 
 Ball, 105; home office, 105; name changed, 118. 
 
 Hartford and New Haven Insurance Company, 2, 
 
 3, 5, 32, 
 Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance 
 Company : 
 Transition from water to steam power, 112 ; 
 frequency of casualties, 112; the Polytechnic 
 chil>, 112; fii'st directors and organization, 
 113; lack of faith with failure imminent, 
 113; J. M. Allen accepts the presidency, 
 114; his tact and carefulness, 114; rapid and 
 solid growth, 114 ; Tin: Loeuniotu'e, 115 ; aims, 
 cure of defects and prevention of disaster, 115; 
 magnitude of the work, 115; home office a 
 bureau of scientific information, 115; furnish- 
 ing plans for steam plams, 115; responses to 
 scientific tests, 115; chemical laboratory, 
 116 ; impartiality tow.ird the trade, 116 ; sta- 
 tistics, 116; J." M. Allen, 116; (ieneral 
 William B. Franklin, 117: Francis B, Allen, 
 117; Joseph B. Pierce, 117; Lyman B, 
 Brainard, 117. 
 
 Hartford, supremacy in underwriting 4, 117 
 
 Hastings, A. F 54 
 
 Hastings, W. C 54 
 
 Hatch, George E 87 
 
 Havens, Waller H. 60 
 
 Hayden, H. H 113 
 
 Hazard, Augustus G 27,29 
 
 Hendee, Lucius J 99 
 
 Sketch of 30 
 
 Hill, W, H 95 
 
 Holcorabe, James H 95 
 
 Holcombe, John M 87, 96, 97 
 
 Sketch of 98 
 
 Hollister, Nelson 85 
 
 Homans, Shep;ird 65 
 
 Home Insurance Company ( New Haven). 
 Formation, 53 ; capital increased to one million, 
 53 ; dividends from capital, 53 ; reckless zeal, 
 53; reduction to one-half million, 53; bank- 
 ruptcy, 53; indignation of Commissioner 
 Noyes, 53. 
 
 Hooker i!i: Brewster 14 
 
 Hooker i>i Chaffee 3 
 
 Hooker, William T ... 63,81 
 
 Hopkins, Dan 3 
 
 Hough, Timothy 37 
 
 Howard, James L 61, 62 
 
 Howard, Mark, courage and foresight . 34, 3.3, 49, 52 
 
 Sketch of '. 50 
 
 Howe, Edmund G. 67 
 
 Howe, William 3 
 
 Hovt, John W 60 
 
 Hnblia.d, Elijah 22 
 
 Hubbard, George W 93 
 
 Hubbard, Gurdon S. . . 26 
 
 Hubbard, Richard D 50, 109 
 
 Hubbard, Thomas 22 
 
 Hudson, B 52, 94 
 
 Hudson, Frederick V 102 
 
 Sketch of 103 
 
 Hudson i Goodwin 3 
 
 Sketch of 6 
 
 Hudson, Henry 12 
 
 Huntington, Charles P 12 
 
 Huntington, Ebenezer . . 12 
 
 Huntington, Edward B 57 
 
 Huntington, Hezekiah; Sketch of 17 
 
 Huntington, John G 12 
 
 Huutiugton, Levi 11
 
 ixn/ix. 
 
 123 
 
 Pali 
 
 lliiiitini;tiiM, HiclKiril (iO 
 
 ]:liintiii;;toii, Kobt'lt \V 103 
 
 IluiiliiiiLtton, Zachariah 11 
 
 Ilv.le. A. P 88 
 
 n'yi\v, l.owis IL' 
 
 I 
 
 Ml.AV. Willi; 
 
 .liov 
 
 2, 30, 43 
 
 [ AMES, Fred. S. 
 " Jeiiness, F. AV. 
 
 .lewelK Marshall ii, 
 
 .Icnetl, (ieoiTje D 
 
 .lillsou. Awl 
 
 Sketi'h of 
 
 Jolinsoii, Klisliu 76, 
 
 Johnson, Hobert A. . . 
 
 Jones, Daniel 
 
 31 
 
 87 
 
 0-1 
 
 42 
 43 
 
 87 
 
 54 
 
 3 
 
 ir^EELER, N. E. . . . . 118 
 -•-^ Kellogg, Henrv 40, 41 
 
 Sketfh of . . ". 43 
 
 Kimball, C. C 104 
 
 King, llezeUiali 33 
 
 King, William H 30 
 
 Sketch of 31 
 
 Kingsbnrv, Eplirairn 14 
 
 Kinney, J. W. ... 11 
 
 Knox, Jolni 3 
 
 Knox, John B 44 
 
 Knox. Norniantl 3, 6, 7 
 
 T AMB, Jo.^eph (J 71 
 
 -'-' Eaw, Kichanl 8 
 
 Lawrence, Charles 11. . . 97 
 
 Sketch of 99 
 
 Lawrence. Sanuiel 3 
 
 Lathrop, Bnrrel 11 
 
 Lathrop, Tlioma,< 12 
 
 Learned, Ebenezer, Jr 12 
 
 Learned, Joshna C 8 
 
 Leavitt, Hooker 14 
 
 Lee. William T 82 
 
 Leete, Charles S Sti 
 
 Lewis, H. (i 75 
 
 Lewis, John B.; Sketch of Ill 
 
 Lewis, William 36 
 
 Lester, George S 55 
 
 Lester, (ieorge W . . . 3t), 55, 56 
 
 Life Insurance, beginnings of 61 
 
 " " Denounced bv Elder Swan 62 
 
 Lobdell, E. Thomas . . ' 49 ! 
 
 Loomis, Simeon L 25,26,41,42.93 ' 
 
 Lyman, C. C. .... 16, 21 
 
 Lvnde, John H 21 
 
 Lyon, K. F 72 
 
 Lyon, William 8 
 
 A/TACK, Samuel E 35, 41 
 
 ^^^ Magill, H.M 35,44 
 
 Magill, R. H 41, 44 
 
 Maltby, C. S 75 
 
 Planning, W. S 104 
 
 JMansficld, Burton 118 
 
 Marcy, Tlionias K 86 
 
 Marine Insurance (earlv) 3 
 
 Mason, E. J. . . . . " 37 
 
 Mason, James M 37 
 
 Mason, H. . . 36, 37 
 
 PAr.E 
 
 Matthews, Edward 86 
 
 MacFarlane, John J 96,97 
 
 .Merchants' Fire Insurance Co. (See National) . 
 Meriilen Insurance ('omi)any: 
 
 llelirement after a fairly succe.ssful career, 56. 
 
 Merrilt, ( leorge S 57 
 
 Mcrwin, S. E 53 
 
 iliddletowii Insurance Company 7,8 
 
 lieinsured 22 
 
 .Mi<ldlesex .Mutual .Vssnrance Company : 
 
 Largest of state nuituals, 60; methods and 
 
 progress, 60 ; otficers, 60. 
 
 .Miller, Asher 8 
 
 Miller, George S 72,118 
 
 Miller, Henry L 81 
 
 Milligan, Kd'ward 44 
 
 Miscellaneous insurance 100 
 
 Mitchell, J. C 35 
 
 Mitchell, J. H 44 
 
 .Mitchell, Walter 12, 15, 16, 22 
 
 .Morgan, Forrest 110 
 
 Morgan, John 2, 3, 32 
 
 Sketch of 5 
 
 Morgan, Joseph 26, 66 
 
 Morgan, Junius S 26, 66 
 
 iMorgaii, J. Pierpoiit 26 
 
 Morgan, Nathaniel II., sketch of 41 
 
 Morgan, N. D 64 
 
 Morg;iu, Samuel 12 
 
 Morris, John E., sketch of Ill 
 
 Morris, Luzon B 48 
 
 Mortimore, J. A 79 
 
 Mutual Assurance Companv of the Citv of Nor 
 
 wich ■ ■ ... 11, 58 
 
 Mutual Assurance Company of New Haven . . . 11 
 Mutual Insurance Companies, dates of incorpora 
 
 tion and gross assets , 58 
 
 "^ A TION A L Fi re Insurance Company (successor 
 "^ to Merchants') : 
 
 Organization and first directors of the Mer- 
 chants', 49; experience of Mark Howard, 
 president, 49; stock fully paid in cash. 49; 
 overwhelmed by Chicago tire, 49; all a.s.sets 
 distributed pro rata, 50; revival in the Na- 
 tional, 60; first directors, 50 ; Mark Howard, 
 50; his instruction book, 51 ; James Nichols, 
 51 ; home office, 52 ; statistics of progress, 52; 
 Ellis G. Eichards, 62; Benjamin E. Stillman, 
 52; departments, 52. 
 Naval victories won by sailors trained in merchant 
 
 marine 10 
 
 Nevers, George 52 
 
 New England Fireand .Marine IiisuranceCompany: 
 
 Formation, struggles and death 54 
 
 New Haven Fire Insurance Company . , . . 3, 7, 15 
 
 Keinsured 21 
 
 New London Conntv ilulual insurance Companv: 
 
 Officers . . . ' "60, 61 
 
 Nichols, David P 86 
 
 Nichols, James 49, 50 
 
 Sketcli of 51 
 
 Niles, John M 102 
 
 North .\mericau Fire Insurance Company: 
 
 Organization, 53; depletion by dividends and 
 death, 54; officers, 54. 
 
 Northrop. Frederick W 47, 48 
 
 Norton Ebenezer F. ... 14 
 
 Norwalk Marine ami I'ire Insurance Company ; 
 
 Sale to a foreign comp.-niy 54
 
 124 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Norwich Fire Insurance Company 7, 8, 10 
 
 Sketcli of ■ 11 
 
 Noves, Benjamin, 45, 47, 53, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 7(i, 
 77, 7S, 79, 80, 118. 
 
 r)CEAN Bank receivership li) 
 
 ^ Ocean Insuiance Company, of New Haven N 
 
 Orient Fire Insurance Company (Hartford) : 
 
 Successor of the City Fire Insurance Com- 
 pany, 55 ; organization and tirst directors, 55; 
 l^oston tire, 55; increases of capital, 55; 
 Charles B. Whiting, 55; panic of 1893, and 
 its eflects on insuiance, 56; statistics, 56; 
 officers, 56; James U. Taintor, 56; Howard 
 W. Cook, 56; departments, 56. 
 
 "DALMER, James C 59 
 
 Palmer, John ... .^9 
 
 Palmer, Noves S 83 
 
 Park, John' D 77 
 
 Parker, E. F (;il 
 
 Parker, John D 66 
 
 Sketch of 69 
 
 Parker, Reinzi B., sketch of 105 
 
 Parsons, Enoch 8 
 
 Parsons, Edward W 102 
 
 Parsons, James S 99, 101 
 
 Parsons, John C 97 
 
 Par.sons, S. (i 54 
 
 Pa-ssing the hat 10 
 
 Patten. Nathaniel 12, 13 
 
 Pearl, William M 1 10 
 
 Peck, Edward B 103 
 
 Perkins, Charles E 88 
 
 Perkins, George L 12 
 
 Perk ns, Isaac . . . . , 23, 24 
 
 Sketch of 33 
 
 Perkins, Thomas C 25, 32 
 
 Sketch of '33 
 
 Perkins, Tliomas S 8 
 
 Petei-son, Charles 36 
 
 Phillips, Daniel 85 
 
 Phelps, Anson G 15 
 
 Phelfjs, Elisha 59,60 
 
 Phelps, Guy R 61,63,65,101 
 
 Sketch of 66 
 
 Pliieui.x Fire Insurance Company: 
 
 .An inspiration of Henry Kellogg, 40; organi- 
 zation and lirst directors, 41 ; Nathaniel H. 
 Morgan, 41; agents and husiness from the 
 Protection, 41 ; occupation of the Pacific 
 coast, 41 ; no prolonged infancy, 41 ; in- 
 creases of cajiital, 42, 43; payment by Mar- 
 shall Jewell of iirst loss after Chicago fire, 
 42 ; reaction from despair, 42 ; forest fires, 
 43; successive rjuarte's, 43; Henry Kellogg, 
 43; D. W. C. Skilton, 43; J. \\. Mitchell, 
 44; statistics of growth, 44 ; (t. H. Bnrdick, 
 44; Charles E. Galacar, 44 ; Edward .Alilli- 
 gan,44; John B. Kno.t, 44; departments, 41. 
 Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Com|iany: 
 
 Temperance theories, 94 ; organization and 
 fii-st directors, 94 ; adoption of regular ]ilans, 
 95; early officers, 94, 95; panic of 1873, and 
 excessive returns to policyholders, 9"); 
 change of policy and officers, 96 ; .Aaron ( '. 
 (ioodman, 96; repair of assets, 96; ap]ie;ir- 
 ance of John J. McFarlane, 96; results. 97; 
 by retirement of stock the company made 
 
 Page 
 mutual, 97; statistics, 98; new office, 98; 
 Jonathan B. Bnnce, 98; John M. Holcombe, 
 98; Cliarles 11. Lawreuce, 99 
 
 Pierce, J. B ■ . . . . 54 
 
 Sketch of 117 
 
 Post, Augustus T 78 
 
 Post-Revolutionary poverty and isolation, 1 ; ac- 
 tivities, 1. 
 
 Pratt, Elisha B 61, 63, 64 
 
 Pratt, Francis k 112 
 
 Pratt, Henry Z 31, 64 
 
 Prentice. .Amos 54 
 
 Preston, Edward V., sketch of Ill 
 
 Preston, Selden C 55 
 
 Preston, Zephaniali 67 
 
 Pi'otection Insurance Company : 
 
 Lineal successor of the early underwriters of 
 Ilarlford, 7, 10; fall of its business to the 
 ^Etn,i 28 ; inherits a stock of traditions and 
 gnod-will, 32; first directors, 32; William 
 AV. Ellsworth, 32; Thomas C. Perkins, 33; 
 work of Ephraim Kobuins, 33; his success, 
 33; Cincinnati office a club room of whig 
 chiefs, 33 ; Mark Howard, first special agent, 
 34 ; profits scattered in dividends, 34 ; St. 
 Louis fire, 34 ; a spicy interview, 34 ; a con- 
 stricted treasury, 34 ; struggles and collapse, 
 35; lessons from the failure, 35; residuary 
 legatees, 35. 
 Putn-.im Fire Insurance Company : 
 
 Intestine war, 54; unjustifiable presumptions, 
 54; general mismanagement, 54; struggles 
 and destruction by Chicago fire, 55. 
 
 QUINNIPIAC Insm-ance Conipanv (New 
 Haven : 
 Return of capital to shareholders and re- 
 tirement, 55. 
 
 "RANSOM, Amos 12 
 
 ^^ Redfield, S. B 8 
 
 Rees, Henrv E 118 
 
 Rice, John's 99 
 
 Kice, O. P 54 
 
 Richards, Ellis G 51 
 
 Sketch of 52 
 
 Richardson, Joseph 37 
 
 Riplev, Edwin G., Sketcli of 28,31 
 
 Riplev, David 12 
 
 Ripley, G. B 11 
 
 Risteen, A. I) 117 
 
 Roath, William 61 
 
 Roberts, Enoch C 113 
 
 Robertson, John B .50, 72 
 
 Robins, Ephraim, Sketch of 33 
 
 Robins, W. B 34 
 
 Robinson, David F 33 
 
 Robinson, Vine .58, 59 
 
 Root, Elisha K .... 112 
 
 Root, Ephraim (i 
 
 Royce, Philander C 21 
 
 Ruggles, Samuel B 36 
 
 Russell, Gnrdon W 93 
 
 Russell, Talcott II 80 
 
 Russell, Thomas W S3, 102 
 
 Sketch of 103 
 
 aAGE, Ehenezer 8 
 
 ^^ Sanford, Elihn 8 
 
 Sauford, Peleg 4
 
 INDEX. 
 
 125 
 
 Page 
 
 Sanford, Thomas 3 
 
 Sanfonl iV \V;ulsw(ii-tli 2, 5, S2 
 
 Sattfi-lec, I). K 5.S 
 
 Security Insiirant't* ("(nupanv (New Haven) : 
 
 Kscapes tlie great tii-es at rliieagii and Boslfin, 
 35; changes of policy, 3o; successive otlieers, 
 36; its prosperitv. l-iti. 
 
 Sexton, .Inlins M. ". ' 52 
 
 Seymour, Daniel K 104 
 
 Seyniiiur, .lames 8 14 
 
 Sevnionr, John S IIS 
 
 Seymour, .lohii W 90, 93 
 
 Seymour, (Jrigeii S 8H, 100 
 
 Seyms, George II llti 
 
 Sliepard, Charles 59, 60 
 
 Sherman, Ko^er 8 
 
 Shipnian, Elias 2, 5, 8, 32 
 
 Shipman. .loliu 8 
 
 Shullas, .Tames I? 60 
 
 Sillimau, lieujaniiii 69, 70, 71 
 
 Simrall, .1. W'. (i 35 
 
 Skilton, 1>. \V. C, Sketch of 43 
 
 Skinner, Koger S 15, 21, 23 
 
 Smith, A. T; . 104, 105 
 
 Smith, .Tosepli A 60 
 
 Smith, .Joseph L 75, 79 
 
 Smith A Tatley 44 
 
 Smith, Thomas M 85 
 
 Soutli worth. Wells 37 
 
 Sprague. .Joseph H 52, 57 
 
 Squire, William .1 85 
 
 Stanton, Lewis E 88 
 
 Starr, .Tared 8 
 
 State Fire Insurance Company (New Haven): 
 
 Mysterious origin, 45 ; adding zero to zero, 
 45 ; unconscious beneficiaries, 45 ; entry into 
 Massachusetts, 45; disappearance of the sec- 
 retary, 46 ; Elizur Wright, commissioner, de- 
 ceived, 46 ; talk on a steamhoat, 46 ; discov 
 eries, 46; anger of Mr. Wright, 46; call 
 upon the State's attorney to prosecute, 46; 
 correspondence, 47 ; Benjamin Noyes elected 
 secretary, 47 ; a test suit, 47 ; penalty for 
 being caught in bad company, 47 ; list of 
 as.sets, 47. 
 State Mutual Insurance Company (Hartford). 61 
 
 Stedman, Edmund A ' 85,89 
 
 Stedman, .John W., 73, 76, 79, 80,84, 86, 87, 88, 
 101, lis. 
 
 Steel, George T 77 
 
 Steere, W. T 12 
 
 Stevens, G. Farnliam 56, 57 
 
 Stevens, Ha^sey 83, 85, 88 
 
 Stillman, Benjamin R 51 
 
 Sketch of 52 
 
 St. .lolin, Daniel 60 
 
 St. .John, Howell W 93 
 
 Sketch of 94 
 
 Stock notes 7 
 
 Storr-, Aaron H 59 
 
 Storrs, Z. A S3 
 
 Sugden, W'illiam E 60 
 
 Sumner, George 64 
 
 Swan, Elder 62 
 
 fyABER, .tob S 
 
 Taintor, James U., sketch of 5() 
 
 Taylor, Charles 20 
 
 Taylor, James P 104 
 
 Pagr 
 
 Taylor, John M 66 
 
 Sketch of 67 
 
 Taylor. Stephen 60 
 
 Terrv, Eliphalct . . 15, 16 
 
 Sketch of 17 
 
 Terrv, Nathaniel 12,1.3,15 
 
 Skechof 16 
 
 Thames Fire Insurance Company: 
 
 Formation, mistortunes and retirement, 54 ; 
 officers, .54. 
 
 Triomas. Simeon 12 
 
 Thorp, P. M 37 
 
 Totten, Gilbert 8 
 
 Tomlinson, Isaac 21 
 
 Toucey, Isaac 63, 109 
 
 Towner, Theron ;<6 
 
 Tracy, Henrv B 11 
 
 Tracy, John "C 100 
 
 Travelers' Insurance Company: 
 
 Inception of the scheme, 106 ; first directors 
 and officers, 107 ; lianl work, severe economy 
 and close study of new problems, 107 ; making 
 paths without precedents, 107 ; generalizing 
 laws, 107; diversified dangers, 108; birth and 
 death of new accident companies, 108 ; loyalty 
 of employes, 108 ; secession, jokes and funeral, 
 108; addition of a life department, 109; in- 
 creases of capital, 109; purchase for home 
 office of an historic mansion, 109; character 
 of casualties, 109 ; The Travelers' Record, 110; 
 causes of success, 110; James Goodwin Bat- 
 terson, 110; Rodnev Dennis, 110; (ieorge 
 Ellis, 111 ; John E. Morris, 111; Edward V. 
 Preston, 111 ; John B. Lewis, 111 ; Sylvester 
 C. Dunham. 112; statistics, 112. 
 
 Trezevant t*i Cockran 56 
 
 TurnbuU, Thomas 21 
 
 Twining, A. C 71 
 
 T TNION Fire Insurance Comp;iny (Hartford): 
 
 Returns capital to share holders and retires, .54. 
 Union Insurance Company of New London . . . 
 
 ■y A1,L, Thomas J 104 
 
 T\rADSWORTH, Daniel, sketch of 4 
 
 ** Wadsworth, .leremiah 2,4,32 
 
 Sketch of 4 
 
 Wadsworth, Tertius 94 
 
 Wales, (ieorge 15 
 
 Wallace, J. A 54 
 
 Walklev, James C 82, 83, 84, 85, 88 
 
 Walker, Henrv D 78, 79, 80 
 
 Waite, C. C. ; 36 
 
 War of 1812 followed by commercial distress . . 10 
 
 Washburu, J. H 37 
 
 Waterman, Nathan M 54 
 
 Watkinsou, David 12, 15 
 
 Watkinson, Edward B 67 
 
 Webster, Charles T. . . . . 55 
 
 Webster, J. C, sketch of 93 
 
 Weeks, E. O., sketch of 31,118 
 
 Welch, Archibald 82 
 
 Welch, George M 54 
 
 Wells, Daniel H., sketch of 69 
 
 Weils, James H 12 
 
 Welles, Gideon 82
 
 126 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Wheaton, B 59 
 
 Wliite, Adams 59 
 
 White, Joel W 10 
 
 VVliite, Samuel H 83, 85, 88 
 
 Whiting, Charles B ly, 21,51 
 
 Sketch of 55 
 
 Whitiug, Spencer 3 
 
 Whitman, H. A. ... 105 
 
 Whitne.v, Amos W 112 
 
 W'hittemore, B. B 54 
 
 Whittlesey, Chauncev 8 
 
 Wiggin, Edwin R. ". 85, 88 
 
 Wilco.x, Jedediah 56 
 
 Willard, Charles E 88 
 
 Willard, William D 60 
 
 Williams, Abram 40 
 
 Williams, Benjamin 8 
 
 Williams, Ephraim 89, 118 
 
 Williams, Ezekiel, Jr 3, 7, 32 
 
 Sketch of 5 
 
 Page 
 
 Williams, Joseph 11, 12 
 
 Williams, J. F til 
 
 Williams, Thomas S.; Sketch of 7 
 
 Williams, William 12 
 
 Wilmarth, A. F 21, 28 
 
 Wilson, Charles 53 
 
 Windham County Mutual Insurance Company : 
 
 Incorporation, methods and assessments, 58 ; 
 
 pay of officers and ilirectors, 58 ; officers, 59. 
 
 Wintei-s, Charles J GO 
 
 Wolcott, Oliver . . 109 
 
 Woodhridge, Samuel ... 12 
 
 Woodhridge, Ward 12 
 
 Woodruff, Samuel ... ... 54 
 
 Woodward, Truman 8 
 
 Woodward, William 60 
 
 Wooster, William B 80 
 
 Wright, Elizur 46, 47, 70 
 
 Wyman, Williaru H 32, 35 
 
 Young & llodges .21 
 
 ^^^^^mmK<m 
 
 ^^ 
 
 S— &>! 
 
 ■fe— 5 
 
 ^^M^jim^f- 
 
 ^^ 
 
 J»— !
 
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