33 
 
 SARBETr^OCAL 
 
 EVANSTON?
 
 HARTFORD NATIONAL HANK, 
 
 SB State Street, 
 
 HARTFORD, CONN,
 
 1892 
 
 ONE HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HARTFORD BANK 
 
 NOW 
 
 THE HARTFORD NATIONAL BANK 
 
 OF 
 
 HARTFORD, CONN. 
 
 PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTORS 
 
 P. H. WOODWARD 
 
 S 
 
 HARTFORD, CONN. 
 
 PRESS OF THE CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD COMPANY 
 1892
 
 PREFATORY 
 
 THIS volume was prepared at the request of the presi- 
 dent and directors of the Hartford National Bank, in antici- 
 pation of its one hundredth anniversary, June 14, 1892. 
 Without taking space to enumerate the books to be found 
 in every well-equipped library, the writer wishes here to 
 express his obligations to those who in various ways have 
 kindly aided him. Most of the facts in regard to Col. 
 Jeremiah Wadsworth were derived directly or indirectly 
 from Jonathan F. Morris. Much assistance has been drawn 
 from a series of able and accurate papers on " Currency 
 and Banking in Connecticut," prepared by Joseph G. 
 Woodward, and printed in the Courant during 1876. 
 For valuable suggestions and for the loan of rare books 
 and pamphlets, the writer is under special obligations to 
 Sherman W. Adams, whose library is exhaustive in most 
 matters pertaining to Connecticut. Charles J. Hoadly has 
 made liberal contributions from his vast and varied stores. 
 Other facts were furnished by Nathan Starkweather. Clerks 
 at the Capitol have shown unfailing courtesy in hunting for 
 ancient accounts and papers. John W. Stedman, president 
 of the Connecticut Historical Society; Frank B. Gay, of the 
 Watkinson Library; and Miss C. M. Hewins, of the Hartford 
 Library Association, have been specially helpful. Others also, 
 by furnishing old manuscripts and by showing a generous 
 interest in the work, have contributed to make the task a 
 
 pleasure. 
 
 P. H. W. 
 HARTFORD, CONN., March 22, 1892.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Organization 9 
 
 The hundredth anniversary Relative age Prosperity of the 
 colonies before the Revolution Experiences with fiat money 
 Deplorable condition of the people after the war " The curse 
 of barter" Early steps to secure a bank A charter obtained 
 
 Its provisions The bank organized June 14, 1792 Rules 
 adopted. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 The Situation in 1792 22 
 
 Financial measures of Alexander Hamilton and their effects 
 
 Hartford a provincial village in 1792 Streets Agriculture and 
 trade Manufactures Mail facilities, wealth, and taxation A 
 leading literary center Social phases. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 The Founders . . . . . . . 31 
 
 Jeremiah Wadsworth, John Caldwell, John Morgan, George 
 Phillips, Barnabas Deane, Timothy Burr, James Watson, Caleb 
 Bull, Ephraim Root, Oliver Ellsworth, John Trumbull, Chauncey 
 Goodrich, Enoch Perkins, Hudson & Goodwin of the Courant, 
 Nehemiah Hubbard, Oliver Phelps, Noah Webster, Thomas 
 Tisdall, Peleg Sanford, Jacob Ogden, Ezekiel Williams, Jr., 
 Amasa Keyes, James Burr, John Chenevard, Elisha Colt, Chas. 
 Hopkins, Daniel Wadsworth. 
 
 (5)
 
 5 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Early Incidents and Progress . . . . . 57 
 
 Early quarters, vault and safe The burglar and the 
 iron door Scarcity of currency Its motley character A 
 church subscription paper of 1786 Of what did the early assets 
 consist-^ The bank first introduces the decimal system in Con- 
 necticutSchoolmasters speak Esoteric rules First Bank dis- 
 count of Connecticut Distrust of bank notes State indents 
 Confidence won The engraved plates Influence of the bank 
 coterie in the sale of the "Western reserve "Salary of the cashier 
 Capital increased Normand Knox, cashier Counterfeiting 
 Laborious transition from farm to town. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Occupancy Exclusive but Beneficent . . . 79 
 
 Business activity stimulated and broadened Connecticut 
 becomes a stockholder Introductory supervision Further en- 
 largement of capital Tempting offers to religious societies and 
 to educational and charitable incorporations Distribution of 
 premiums and disregard of surplus Unjust conditions 
 Lessons in punctuality Beginnings of local underwriting, fire 
 and marine The West India trade The first chartered in- 
 surance company Results of the embargo of 1807, and of the 
 non-intercourse acts The Hartford and New Haven Turnpike 
 Company Occupation of the present bank building. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 A Rival and a Revolution War and Panic . 99 
 
 Widespread confidence in the bank Resistance to the es- 
 tablishment of a rival Warning from " Probus" Charter of 
 Phoenix Bank Quarrel over the disposition of the bonus Rise 
 of the "toleration" party Its constituent elements Its success 
 The constitution of 1638-9 The charter of 1662 Union of 
 Church and State Sundry concessions Imperfect separation 
 of legislative and judicial powers The upper house a self per- 
 petuating oligarchy The constitution of 1818 Horace Burr suc- 
 ceeds Normand Knox as cashier Financial follies of the 
 Middle and Southern States during the war of 1812 The 
 United States Bank retired Reckless creation of new banks 
 New England escapes the infatuation and profits accordingly 
 Unpopularity of the war at the East Wise conservatism of our 
 banks Post notes authorized Outpouring of "shin plasters "- 
 Peace Connecticut bankers vainly try "to persuade or compel" 
 New York banks to resume Struggles for a sound currency 
 Par of shares made $100 Industrial distress The second Bank 
 of the United States The crisis of 1819 Retirement of Presi- 
 dent CaldwelL
 
 CONTENTS 7 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 The Second Generation 125 
 
 Reefing sails Gen'l Nathaniel Terry, second president 
 Depression of 1820-1 Another step in supervision The city 
 watch Employes must not trade or speculate Courtesies to the 
 United States branch bank English panic of 1825 Failure of 
 the Eagle Bank of New Haven, and of the Derby Bank Hart- 
 ford and the "Boston Alliance " Joseph Trumbull elected presi- 
 dent The Hinsdale defalcation Mild adversities Cashier 
 Burr exonerated and succeeded by Henry A. Perkins The 
 man for the emergency Sworn statement before and after 
 Dividends suspended A stockholder wants "her interest" An 
 overdrawn account Resumption of regular dividends More 
 legislation The first State committee of examination Action 
 of the bank A board of bank commissioners created Its cool 
 reception at first Panic of 1837 Stand taken by the banks of 
 Hartford Sound condition of the banks of Connecticut Fail- 
 ures elsewhere Exact methods of the cashier Illustrative 
 anecdote The State and borrowing directors David F. Robin- 
 son elected president Book manufacture Collapse of United 
 States Bank No. 3 Comparative results of sound and unsound 
 methods Effect of railways upon the trade of Hartford with 
 the upper Connecticut valley Fall of the stage coach and of 
 the country inn Liberated capital applied to insurance and 
 banking Retirement of Mr. Robinson. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 The Past Forty Years 154 
 
 Henry A. Perkins elected president Corporate economy 
 
 Utilizing letter-margins A. G. Hammond appointed cashier 
 
 George Ripley succeeds him Panic of 1857 The Hartford 
 Bank unscathed James Bolter made cashier War subscrip- 
 tions Enters the National system Death of Mr. Perkins 
 A typical Puritan James Bolter accepts the presidency W. S. 
 Bridgman, cashier Panic of 1873 Its length and severity 
 Uninterrupted prosperity of the bank The building modern- 
 ized The capital increased to $1,200,000 Aggregate dividends 
 
 President Bolter Rlsumi Volume of assets owned and held 
 in trust by Hartford banks and insurance companies Manu- 
 facturers Conclusion. 
 
 Appendix 167 
 
 List of the executive officers of the bank since 1792 
 List of directors from 1792 List of original subscribers 
 Officers and employes in 1892.
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 ORGANIZATION 
 
 IT HAS fallen to the lot of the present genera- 
 tion to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary 
 
 of many memorable events in American history. 
 Not only with noise and pomp and other outward 
 demonstrations of rejoicing, but also with diligent 
 study the men and women of to-day have recalled 
 the revolutionary struggle from the first gun at 
 Concord to the establishment of the federal union 
 in 1789. 
 
 And now having rounded a full century, the 
 Hartford (National) Bank, the oldest financial insti- 
 tution in the city, and with the exception of the 
 Union Bank of New London, which was chartered 
 at the same session of the General Assembly, the 
 oldest in Connecticut, turns aside from the beaten 
 track to review the work of the long procession of 
 officers and managers who have linked its name 
 with enduring associations of honor and strength.
 
 I0 HISTORY OF 
 
 Only four State banks antedate the Hartford: 
 the Bank of North America, of Philadelphia, incor- 
 porated by an ordinance of the Continental Con- 
 gress, Dec. 31, 1781, and chartered by Pennsylvania 
 in March, 1 782 ; the Bank of New York, organized 
 and in active operation in 1784, but unable to secure 
 a charter till March 21, 1791 ; the Bank of Massa- 
 chusetts, chartered Feb. 7, 1784; and the Providence 
 Bank, which began business in October. 1791. 
 
 To appreciate the changes wrought in the meth- 
 ods of business, and the benefits arising from the 
 formation of the bank, one must know the situation 
 of affairs when it was called into being. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Revolution the colonies 
 were prosperous. The meddlesome and repressive 
 legislation of Great Britain, while irritating the pas- 
 sions, failed to check the industrial energies of the 
 people. A virgin soil yielded a handsome surplus 
 for export. A long coast line indented with land- 
 locked harbors tempted the commercial spirit to 
 seek adventure and wealth upon the sea. Ship- 
 building brought technical skill and riches to the 
 builder. Manufactures sprang up in spite of Brit- 
 ish jealousy. Political leaders, impatient of inter- 
 ference and dictation from a court thousands of 
 miles away, were intoxicated by the signs of abun- 
 dance on every side. From this, in part, the brave 
 words of Adams and Hancock and Henry drew their 
 inspiration. 
 
 In ignorance of economic laws our fathers under-
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK : l 
 
 took to achieve independence with fiat money. As 
 John Law had taught before, as the promoters of the 
 French Revolution taught afterwards, they doubted 
 not that houses and lands and the boundless possi- 
 bilities of the continent afforded a solid foundation 
 for all the paper currency the wisdom of Congress 
 might see fit to emit. No repetition of bitter expe- 
 riences seems able to exterminate the error. On the 
 prairies of the West it flourishes to-day in all the 
 luxuriance that might be expected in the case of 
 a new and untried experiment. 
 
 In June, 1775, Congress voted to issue bills of 
 credit not exceeding two millions Spanish milled 
 dollars. Late in July another million was added. 
 Thenceforth till near the close of 1779 the printing- 
 press found no rest. Meantime, over $200,000,000 
 had been thrown into circulation, and as the vol- 
 ume increased its purchasing power fell toward zero. 
 The bill passed March 1 8, 1 780, for the redemption of 
 the old issues in "new tenor" at the rate of forty 
 for one only precipitated the collapse. The mass of 
 paper afloat retained a dubious fraction of value till 
 August or September, 1781, when its worthlessness 
 was conceded, and the stuff ceased to play any fur- 
 ther part either in the operations of government or 
 in the exchanges of trade. Gold and silver came 
 out from many hiding places. The French and 
 English armies disbursed large sums in coin. An 
 active trade with Havana brought in Mexican dol- 
 lars by thousands. Once more traffic was carried
 
 I2 HISTORY OF 
 
 on in the precious metals to the astonishment and 
 delight of every one except the enemy, who had 
 come to base the hope of ultimate triumph in sub- 
 duing the revolt more upon failure of the currency 
 than upon success in arms. Specie supplied the 
 sinews of war for the final campaigns of the Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 Peace did not usher in prosperity. For eight 
 weary years the brain and muscle of the confedera- 
 tion had been withdrawn in great measure from the 
 work of production. Armies had desolated broad 
 areas. British cruisers had destroyed the carrying 
 trade and cut off the profits of the fisheries. Colonial 
 estates which had furnished loans to the enterprising, 
 were, in many cases, wiped out of existence by 
 repayments in almost worthless paper currency. By 
 stimulating speculation and gambling, the inflation 
 had also unsettled the old habits of industry. With 
 peace came heavy importations of foreign goods, 
 which drained the country of coin, for the waste of 
 war left no other exportable commodity. Money was 
 scarce, rates of interest high, and the spirit of enter- 
 prise, always so characteristic of Americans, could 
 seize hardly a foothold for undertakings which tanta- 
 lized the imagination by the allurement of profits 
 that lay just beyond the grasp. 
 
 After the withdrawal of the common enemy the 
 thirteen states, loosely held together by the articles 
 of confederation, began to wage commercial war 
 against each other. New York, for instance, under
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK j- 
 
 the narrow leadership of Governor Clinton, levied a 
 tariff upon supplies from the farms of Connecticut 
 and the gardens of New Jersey. The distress and 
 anxiety caused by the collisions of petty sovereign- 
 ties, not less than the perils to be apprehended from 
 the poverty and weakness of the central government, 
 forced the calling of the convention of 1787. Little 
 good was anticipated from the experiment. Previous 
 attempts 'to form a union had failed. Antipathies 
 growing out of mutual irritations seemed to render 
 the last the most hopeless effort of all. Yet by 
 a series of remarkable compromises the members 
 agreed upon a constitution, and after the work had 
 been approved in due form the United States entered 
 the family of nations. 
 
 Within three years from the day when Wash- 
 ington took the oath of office as first president, active 
 measures were on foot for the establishment of the 
 Hartford Bank. In its issue of January 23, 1792, a 
 correspondent of the Connecticut Courant occupies 
 nearly a page in explaining the local need of such 
 an institution and how it would benefit the town. 
 Most of the arguments, novel perhaps then, seem 
 quite commonplace now. Others throw a strong 
 light on the situation. The writer contended that 
 during the fall and winter there was not enough 
 money in Hartford to buy the products from the 
 areas which naturally sought this market. Hence 
 was lost much business which ought to center here 
 with the profits accruing from the export trade. He
 
 I4 HISTORY OF 
 
 throws special emphasis on the influence it would 
 have "in destroying that bane of all regular trade 
 and that curse to the people of Connecticut, barter." 
 Taught in the school of bitter experience, the public 
 were keenly alive to the evils of truck. He con- 
 tinues, " Both parties take advantages and both are 
 at times defrauded. Barter is the father of fraud 
 and the instrument of knavery." . . . It " tends 
 to vitiate morals. Variable prices and uncertainty of 
 advance lead a man to take one little advantage 
 after another, till he loses his sense of right and 
 wrong ; and the man who sells as he can light of 
 chaps is or will be a downright knave." 
 
 An advertisement printed in the Courant of 
 February 27, 1792, announced a proposal to petition 
 the General Assembly at the May session for the 
 establishment of a bank in Hartford, and invited 
 all merchants and others favorable to the project to 
 meet the same evening at six o'clock at Mr. David 
 Bull's, then the leading tavern of the place. No 
 considerate reporter embalmed the names of the 
 respondents, or recorded for the enlightenment of 
 posterity their remarks and resolves. One must 
 look over those old files to appreciate the indebted- 
 ness of our own more eager age to the ubiquitous 
 news-gatherer. Seldom was reference made to local 
 happenings. These everybody was supposed to know 
 without having the facts thrust at him in the 
 columns of the weekly paper. It was the period 
 of solid essays written by solid men on the politi-
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK jc 
 
 cal and moral questions then stirring the thoughts 
 and hopes of the young republic. Such efforts, 
 supplemented by a brief digest of European news 
 from two to six months old, by the doings of 
 Congress and the Cabinet, by accounts of notable 
 events occurring at a distance, and a sprinkling of 
 correspondence often flavored with piquant personali- 
 ties, seemed to satisfy the ambition of the publisher 
 and the demands of the reader. So far as the press 
 of the last century has preserved materials for home 
 history, it is mostly through advertisements intended 
 only for ephemeral uses. 
 
 Talk floating in the air and brought to a focus 
 by the conference of February 2/th, now took form 
 in a definite scheme. Long and explicit articles of 
 association were drawn up. The capital of the bank 
 was fixed at $100,000, divided into two hundred and 
 fifty shares of $400 each. Maj. John Caldwell, Maj. 
 Barnabas Deane, and John Morgan were named a 
 committee to open books for subscriptions on the 
 first Thursday of May ensuing, in the State-house, 
 at ten o'clock in the forenoon, and to receive pay- 
 ment of the five per cent, required as a deposit at 
 the time of signature. They were also to call the 
 first general meeting of the stockholders and to 
 superintend the proceedings thereat. No person, 
 copartnership, or body politic was allowed to sub- 
 scribe for or to hold at any time over thirty shares. 
 
 John Trumbull, Chauncey Goodrich, and Noah 
 Webster were named a committee to prepare and
 
 j6 HISTORY OF 
 
 present to the Legislature a petition asking for an 
 act of incorporation. 
 
 On Thursday, May 3d, the books were opened. 
 One hundred thousand dollars was then a large sum 
 for the residents of Hartford and vicinity to embark 
 in a single venture. But through the teachings of 
 Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth mainly, as will be 
 explained further on, the community had been well 
 instructed in regard to the utility and profits of 
 banking. Nearly every one prominent in the mer- 
 cantile and professional circles of the city took a 
 hand in the enterprise. The sequence of names 
 raises a strong presumption that subscriptions did 
 not pour in with a rush. Probably time and solicit- 
 ation were required to fill the list. Local pride and 
 patriotism reinforced the hope of gain in pushing 
 through the work. 
 
 By the i4th of the month the capital had been 
 subscribed and " the agents " presented to the Gen- 
 eral Assembly their petition for an act of incorpora- 
 tion. After a statement of what had been done in 
 the matter, they say : 
 
 "The Objects of said Institution are to facilitate commer- 
 cial operations, and extend the trade of said City & State, 
 now too limited by the smallness of mercantile capitals; and 
 the stockholders flatter themselves that a well-regulated 
 Bank will be especially useful to our Export Business, as it 
 will provide Specie for the merchants wherewith to purchase 
 the Produce brot to Market. The Public, and particularly 
 commercial men, have with Regret for a long time seen the 
 dependent state of our trade; our imports and Exports in
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK l ^ 
 
 the Hands of the Merchants of other States; the trade of an 
 extensive inland Country on Connecticut River, daily grow- 
 ing in population & wealth, diverted from said city, its 
 natural place, into other channels, out of the State, and 
 merely from want of mercantile wealth. A bank, by bring- 
 ing into operation money not now used in commerce, and 
 combining mercantile capital and exertion, it is expected will 
 in some measure remedy this evil." 
 
 The document is dated at Hartford, May 14, 1792, 
 and is signed by John Trumbull, Chatmcey Good- 
 rich, and Noah Webster, Jr., as agents. The legis- 
 lature acted favorably. The charter follows closely 
 in its essential features the articles of association 
 and both were modeled after the charter of the 
 Bank of New York, which was drawn up by Alex- 
 ander Hamilton. With prophetic foresight of dan- 
 gers that did not begin their destructive work till 
 nearly a century later, and in classes of investments, 
 which were then unknown and undreamed of, the.- 
 founders aimed to prevent wrongs to the minority 
 and to the public by providing for a wide distribu- 
 tion of ownership and by limitations of the voting 
 power. While the capital remained at one hundred 
 thousand dollars no person, copartnership, or body 
 politic, except the State of Connecticut, was per-, 
 mitted to hold more than thirty shares. In the 
 choice of directors and other business respecting 
 the institution, the holders of one and two shares 
 were entitled to one vote, between two and ten to 
 one vote for every two shares, and between ten and 
 thirty to one vote for every four shares. No person
 
 jg HISTORY OF 
 
 or corporation could cast over ten votes. Had such 
 wise restraints been universally applied in con- 
 ferring corporate privileges it would have been 
 impossible for individuals or syndicates to accu- 
 mulate swollen fortunes by the wanton sacrifice of 
 helpless minorities as has too often occurred in 
 the management of great railway properties. Such 
 limitations would have gone far to prevent the 
 wrecking of joint stock life insurance companies, 
 by which those most needing protection have too 
 often been robbed. 
 
 To guard against surprises it was further 
 enacted that after the first election no share or 
 shares should entitle the holder to a right of suf- 
 frage unless he had been the legal proprietor accord- 
 ing to the regulations of the bank at least three 
 calendar months before the meeting at which he 
 claimed to exercise the right. 
 
 In case the stockholders should judge the in- 
 crease of trade to require it, they were allowed the 
 privilege of increasing the capital to the amount 
 deemed necessary and expedient, not exceeding five 
 hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The number of directors was fixed at nine, of 
 whom not more than three-fourths, exclusive of the 
 president, were eligible for re-election the next 
 succeeding year. 
 
 Some of the early promoters of the enterprise 
 desired to obtain such broad concessions as would 
 enable the bank to engage also in manufactures,
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK jo 
 
 land-operations, and other speculative ventures ; but 
 the conservative element effectually barred the door 
 against the entry of illegitimate schemes. By article 
 eleventh the corporation was forbidden to trade in 
 anything except bills of exchange, gold or silver 
 bullion, or in the sale of goods pledged for moneys 
 lent and not redeemed in due time, or in lands 
 necessarily taken for security of debts previously 
 contracted. It was also forbidden to take interest 
 on loans at a higher rate than six per cent, per 
 annum. 
 
 In addition to the original capital already sub- 
 scribed the State of Connecticut reserved the right 
 to take forty shares provided the option was im- 
 proved within twelve months after the rising of 
 the General Assembly. In that event the State 
 could appoint two additional directors, or one for 
 a subscription of twenty shares, subject to the same 
 regulations as other stockholders. 
 
 The directors were impowered to invest in the 
 funds of the United States so much of the capital 
 as they might judge to be for the benefit of the 
 institution. The lawful issue of notes or bills was 
 limited to fifty per cent, of the capital and actual 
 deposits combined. Other provisions of the charter 
 relate to customary details. 
 
 The stockholders met at the court-house, June 
 14, 1792, to organize the bank, Oliver Ellsworth pre- 
 siding. Jeremiah Wadsworth, John Caldwell, John 
 Morgan, George Phillips, Barnabas Deane, Timothy
 
 20 HISTORY OF 
 
 Burr, James Watson, Caleb Bull, and Ephraim Root 
 were elected directors for the first year. 
 
 At a meeting of the directors on Saturday, 
 the 1 6th, Jeremiah Wadsworth was first chosen 
 president ; but as he declined to serve, John Cald- 
 well was then elected. Hezekiah Merrill was 
 appointed cashier. At the same meeting it was 
 resolved that the sum of five hundred dollars be 
 allowed the cashier as compensation for his services 
 for one year, to be paid quarterly and to commence 
 from the fifteenth of July ensuing. He was re- 
 quired to give bond in the sum of $20,000. 
 
 It was also resolved that the bank notes to be 
 issued should be of the following denominations, 
 viz. : one, two, five, eight, ten, twenty, fifty, and 
 one hundred dollars each. 
 
 Pursuant to the requirements of the charter 
 the cashier, on June 25th, issued a call for thirty 
 per cent., or $120 per share, payable Monday, July 
 2d. This was the second installment, the first, of 
 five per cent., having been deposited at the time 
 of signing the articles. Subscribers were invited 
 "to call at the door next adjoining the post-office, 
 where attendance will be given for receiving the 
 same." * 
 
 At a meeting of the president and directors, 
 held July 8, 1792, the following rules were adopted, 
 entered on the records, and published in the Cou- 
 rant of August 6th: 
 
 * American Mercury, July 2, 1792.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 2I 
 
 RULES TO BE OBSERVED AT HARTFORD BANK IN 
 HARTFORD. 
 
 The bank to be open every day in the year; except Sun- 
 days, public Fasts, Thanksgivings, Christmas, and the Fourth 
 of July, from the hour of Nine o'clock till Twelve o'clock in 
 the morning, and from Two o'clock to Five in the afternoon, 
 Saturday afternoon excepted. 
 
 Proposals for discount will be received every Wednes- 
 day, and if accepted, the money will be paid the following 
 day. 
 
 Payments made at the Bank are never subject to revis- 
 ions errors (if any) must be discovered before the money 
 is taken off the Counter. 
 
 In order to obtain Discount, a note expressing the sum 
 wanted (in Dollars) must be inclosed in a letter, directed to 
 the Cashier of the HARTFORD BANK, with an indorser, re- 
 questing Discount may be made for any number of days not 
 exceeding Forty-five. 
 
 Notes presented for Discount must be executed in the 
 City of Hartford, and the drawer or the indorser must be a 
 resident within said City. 
 
 Charge shall be taken in said Bank of the Gold and 
 Silver of all those who chuse to place it there, free of 
 expence, and will be kept subject to their order, payable at 
 sight. And they will receive deposits of ingots of Gold, bars 
 of Silver, wrought Plate, or other valuable articles of small 
 bulk, and return the same on demand to the depositor. 
 
 Bills and notes left at the office for collection will be 
 presented for acceptance and the money collected or de- 
 manded withotit expence, except in case of protest, the 
 charges of which shall be paid by the person lodging the 
 bill or note. 
 
 Gold and Silver coins will be received and paid accord- 
 ing to the laws established by the Congress of the United 
 States.
 
 22 HISTORY OF 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE SITUATION IN 1792 
 
 ON Wednesday, the eighth of August, 1792, the 
 doors of the bank were opened for business. 
 Washington had completed the third year 
 of his first term, and the interval of orderly rule 
 had produced a marvelous improvement in the 
 prospects of the country. By a series of compre- 
 hensive and coherent measures Alexander Hamilton, 
 Secretary of the Treasury, had brought system out 
 of confusion, enthroned confidence in the place of 
 distrust, and set in motion the financial machinery 
 which in manifold ways stimulated industry, econo- 
 mized its processes, and multiplied its rewards. 
 
 For funding the domestic debt a loan was 
 authorized large enough to cover the whole amount 
 at the current price of the paper in the market. 
 Holders of certificates issued by the Continental 
 Congress were allowed to subscribe for the bonds, 
 paying in evidences of debt against the government 
 at their specie value. Continental currency was 
 funded in the ratio of one hundred to one in coin. 
 The new stock bore interest at the rate of six per 
 cent, per annum, but on one-third of the issues to 
 each subscriber interest did not begin to run till 
 after the year 1800. State debts incurred in carry-
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 33 
 
 ing on the war were assumed by the general 
 government, although the adjustment was beset 
 with difficulties. 
 
 Import and tonnage duties were laid to meet 
 the interest, and to provide for the gradual extin- 
 guishment of the principal. By the act of March 
 3, 1791, the revenues were reinforced by a tax on 
 domestic distilled spirits, and other internal taxes 
 were added later. 
 
 In 1791 the first United States bank, modeled 
 after the Bank of England, was chartered by Con- 
 gress. Individuals were allowed to subscribe for 
 four-fifths of the capital of ten million dollars, pay- 
 ing one-fourth in coin and three-fourths in govern- 
 ment stocks. For the other fifth the government 
 reserved the right to subscribe. Its duration was 
 limited to twenty years. The head office was 
 located in Philadelphia, and it was authorized to 
 establish branches in the principal cities of the 
 Union. No bills were to be issued for less than 
 ten dollars, and they were receivable in payment 
 of dues to the government. 
 
 Under the act of April 2, 1792, the mint was 
 established in Philadelphia also, but, owing to diffi- 
 culties and delays encountered in organization, the 
 first silver coins were struck in 1794, and the first 
 gold coins in 1795. For a number of years its 
 operations were slow and its methods costly. At 
 the close of the century a total of less than $2,000,- 
 ooo had been coined at an expense of $213,336,
 
 24 HISTORY OF 
 
 with an off-set of $48,041.42, the profit on cents 
 and half-cents. After much tribulation, however, it 
 grew into an efficient and indispensable piece of 
 mechanism. 
 
 To crown all, Hamilton devised a system of 
 accounts for the treasury department so complete 
 that it has never been essentially improved. 
 
 By arraying people of substance in support of 
 the Union these measures greatly improved the 
 prospects for permanence of a system of constitu- 
 tional government, which a large minority in several 
 of the States had opposed, and which many regarded 
 as a doubtful experiment. As stability became 
 more assured the dormant spirit of enterprise was 
 again aroused to activity, and in Connecticut one of 
 the most marked symptoms of the awakening was 
 the organization of the Hartford Bank. 
 
 To appreciate the changes which the institution 
 initiated and the solid growth which it has helped 
 conspicuously to foster, we must first see what sort 
 of a place Hartford was one hundred years ago. 
 
 Ambitious beyond their strength, as many resi- 
 dents thought, about one-sixth part of the town 
 procured a municipal charter in 1784. Measured by 
 modern standards the " city " eight years later was 
 still a provincial village. The population of the 
 entire township, then extending westward to Farm- 
 ington, slightly exceeded four thousand. Mercantile 
 business was mostly confined to Ferry, Commerce, 
 and State streets. State terminated on the east at
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 2 e 
 
 Front, and was not carried through to the river till 
 1 80 1, in pursuance of a vote passed by the Common 
 Council the 2/th of the previous December. Main 
 from the present junction with Morgan to the south 
 meeting-house was bordered by scattered residences, 
 varied by a sprinkling of shops and taverns. Trum- 
 bull, out in the country, was appropriately called 
 Back street, as marking the extreme western bound- 
 ary of the settlement. Pearl from Main to Back 
 was dignified as Prison Street, and thence to Little 
 River as Workhouse Lane. Asylum from Main 
 westward was laid out as part of the Farmington 
 turnpike, which received a charter from the Legis- 
 lature in October, 1801. It took its present name 
 after the dedication of the American Asylum for 
 the Deaf and Dumb, in 1821. 
 
 Advertisers rarely referred to streets to desig- 
 nate their locations. Buildings were not numbeied 
 till 1838. Not only citizens but residents of the 
 tributary country knew without telling just where 
 to look for every shop and store. If for any reason 
 an advertiser wished to be explicit he mentioned 
 the proximity of his place of business to some noted 
 landmark or well-known establishment. Thus, the 
 printing-office of Hudson & Goodwin served long 
 as a guide-board. The river, the ferry, and the 
 " Great bridge " often answered a similar purpose. 
 By the " Great bridge " was meant not the arches 
 first thrown across the Connecticut in 1809, but the 
 more modest structure spanning Park River on the
 
 2 5 HISTORY OF 
 
 line of Main. Not a little in the way of traffic was 
 done under or near "the large elm at the corner 
 of the street leading to the goal," now known as 
 the corner of Main and Pearl. 
 
 Income was derived chiefly from agriculture and 
 trade. Hartford carried on a lively commerce with 
 the West Indies, exporting horses, cattle, mules, 
 woods, and farm produce, and importing specie, 
 rum, and molasses, the last commodity destined, 
 unhappily, not so much for sweetening food as for 
 distillation into more rum. Less frequently ships 
 similarly laden sailed to London, Amsterdam, and 
 the Mediterranean. 
 
 Domestic trade met the competition of Norwich 
 and Providence, about thirty miles to the eastward. 
 Northward her merchants made a resolute fight to 
 control the traffic of the Connecticut valley far up 
 toward the sources of the stream. When not closed 
 by ice, the river brought down much timber and 
 produce from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and 
 Vermont. By means of standing posts and ropes 
 the sturdy navigators managed to work their way 
 homeward through the Enfield Falls and other 
 rapids. 
 
 Local manufactures were for the most part 
 primitive and rudimentary. The " Hartford Woolen 
 Manufactory," the first of the kind in the country 
 for making broadcloth, planted in 1788 near the 
 foot of Mulberry street, had already passed the 
 climax and was drifting into the troubled waters
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 2 y 
 
 which engulfed it in 1795. On its looms was woven 
 the cloth worn April 30, 1789, by Gen. Washington, 
 John Adams, and the Connecticut delegation in 
 Congress at the inaugural ceremonies of the first 
 president. But the best talent in the State could 
 not save from disaster a courageous but premature 
 venture. Enos Doolittle had erected "at great ex- 
 pense " the bell foundry in the rear of Main, 
 nearly opposite St. John's church, which, under 
 various ownership, survived for half a century. A 
 single silver four pence ha'penny dropped at each 
 casting into the molten mass served both to account 
 to church committees for the costliness of the mate- 
 rial and to soothe the conscience of the maker. 
 John and George Steele, from their foundry " four 
 rods north of the bridge," furnished " at a short 
 warning " stills and worms, brass kettles, and other 
 utensils. A little was done in the way of making 
 silverware, rope and cordage, soap and candles, 
 combing cards, pottery, linseed oil, horn combs, 
 nails, and coarse articles of prime necessity. Coop- 
 erage, tanning, and the weaving of hemp and flax 
 had risen to the rank of standard industries. 
 
 Then, as now, the main line of communication 
 between New York and Boston passed through Hart- 
 ford. From November first to May first the mail* 
 left Boston every Monday and Thursday, at one 
 o'clock in the afternoon, via Worcester, Springfield, 
 Hartford, Middletown, and New Haven, arriving at 
 
 * Proposals of Sept. 10, 1792, Timothy Pickering, Postmaster-General.
 
 2 g HISTORY OF 
 
 New York every Saturday and Wednesday (the 
 sixth day from its departure) by ten in the fore- 
 noon. The return schedule was the same. During 
 the other six months of the year the service was 
 tri-weekly and the running time each way three 
 days and eight hours. There was a second mail 
 route between Hartford and New York, served once 
 a week via Farmington, Litchfield, Danbury, etc. 
 Hartford also enjoyed a tri-weekly mail to Provi- 
 dence by way of Norwich. 
 
 The wealth of the city a century ago cannot be 
 estimated with any near approach to exactness. 
 Under the act passed at the October session of the 
 Legislature in 1792 granting a tax of one penny on 
 the pound, payable March i, 1793, and amounting 
 to 6588 2s. $(1., Hartford ranks the seventh town 
 on the list, Norwalk, Lebanon, Middletown, Guilford, 
 Fairfield, and Wethersfield, in the order named, sur- 
 passing her in taxable possessions. Still, the method 
 of making up the lists was such that no trust- 
 worthy inference can be drawn in regard to the 
 real or relative wealth of any town in the State. 
 Lands were classified according to uses and taxed 
 at a fixed sum per acre irrespective of location or 
 fertility, slight differences being allowed in favor of 
 some counties. Horses, cattle, vehicles, houses, in 
 short everything the law attempted to reach, went 
 into the list at a specific and invariable valuation. 
 Dwellings in good repair were estimated at fifteen 
 shillings per fire-place. Horses, cows, and steers
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 2Q 
 
 three years old were set at three pounds each, and 
 oxen four years old at four .pounds. Able-bodied 
 male persons from sixteen years of age to twenty- 
 one were valued for purposes of revenue at nine 
 pounds, and from twenty-one to seventy at eighteen 
 pounds. The governor, lieutenant-governor, assist- 
 ants, ministers of the gospel, teachers, and college 
 students were specially exempted. The opportunities 
 of the attorney were capitalized, "the least practi- 
 tioner at fifty pounds, larger practitioners higher in 
 proportion." Doctors went in at one-fifth the rating 
 of lawyers. Clergymen during continuance in the 
 ministry escaped scot-free in both estate and poll, as 
 did all property devoted to " pious uses." Chariots 
 were assessed at 20, coaches ^25, chaises $, gold 
 watches $, silver and other watches ^"i-io. From 
 extreme rarity these articles of luxury added little 
 to the revenue. 
 
 It will be seen that public burdens were thrown 
 more upon persons than possessions, and that the 
 latter were taxed with slight reference to values. 
 
 After the Revolution Hartford, the headquarters 
 of the " Hartford wits," became a leading literary 
 center of the country. The impulse then given to 
 the intellectual life of the place has since lost none 
 of its energy. 
 
 One hundred years ago Connecticut was living 
 under the charter granted by Charles II in 1662, 
 and re-adopted by the General Assembly in 1776. 
 Her population was homogeneous and almost exclu-
 
 ~ HISTORY OF 
 
 sively of English lineage. Slavery was a legal 
 institution, though steps had been taken for its 
 gradual extinguishment, all children born in servi- 
 tude after March i, 1784, becoming free at the age 
 of twenty-five. The privilege of enrollment in the 
 rank of voters depended on a property qualification, 
 the theory being that all participants in the trust 
 of governing must have a substantial stake in the 
 public welfare. Debtors could be thrown into prison 
 without allegation of fraud. The entire public were 
 taxed for the support of the clergy and for the 
 erection of meeting-houses, with no exemption in 
 favor of beliefs and preferences which fell without 
 the prescribed limits. 
 
 Such is a hurried outline of the situation 
 national, municipal, and State when the Hartford 
 Bank began its work.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE FOUNDERS 
 
 THAT Hartford so closely followed New York 
 and Boston in the establishment of a bank, 
 was due to the influence of Colonel Jeremiah 
 Wadsworth. An intimate associate, during- and after 
 the Revolution, of Robert Morris, Alexander Hamil- 
 ton and the coterie of financiers whose brilliant 
 services, based upon enlightened views, rescued the 
 confederation from bankruptcy, and provided the 
 means for carrying the struggle to a successful issue, 
 he belonged to the same economic school with those 
 great leaders. As the largest subscriber holding 
 one hundred and four shares of $400 each, he helped 
 to organize the Bank of North America at Philadel- 
 phia, in 1782. May 9, 1785, he was elected president 
 of the Bank of New York. An association composed 
 of the prominent capitalists and merchants of the 
 metropolis took from a provincial town its chief 
 executive officer on the urgent advice of Alexander 
 Hamilton, the dominant director, who for far broader 
 than reasons of prospective profit felt the deepest 
 solicitude for the success of the undertaking. Col- 
 onel Wadsworth held the position but a single year. 
 Confidence in his sagacity led his neighbors to act 
 upon his advice in founding the Hartford Bank.
 
 ~ 2 HISTORY OF 
 
 During the Revolution, Colonel Wadsworth filled 
 well, places of great responsibility, but if judged 
 from the space allotted to him in biographical 
 cyclopaedias, has not received from posterity ade- 
 quate recognition. He was born in Hartford, July 
 12, 1743, the son of Rev. Daniel Wadsworth, pastor 
 of the First church from 1732 till death closed his 
 ministry, in 1747. In early life he followed the sea, 
 making several voyages as master. At the. age of 
 thirty he settled in Hartford as a merchant. Two 
 years later he was appointed a member of the 
 commission for supplying Connecticut troops with 
 provisions and stores. In the spring of 1778, he was 
 made Commissary-General of purchases for the 
 colonies. The country was poor, the army destitute, 
 and the people dispirited. Under such conditions 
 the office had few attractions, but was accepted from 
 a sense of duty. Severe labors, rendered more 
 exhausting by the vacillation of Congress, wore out 
 his strength and patience. Broken in health, he 
 resigned in January, 1780. 
 
 A few months later he was made commissary 
 for the French army in America, and so continued 
 till the end of the war. Under his roof Washington 
 was entertained when he came east with Knox and 
 La Fayette for his first interview with Count Rocham- 
 beau and Admiral Ternay. 
 
 His partner 'in supplying the French troops was 
 John B. Church, an Englishman who came to 
 America before the Revolution, under the assumed
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ,3 
 
 name of John Carter, and engaged in underwriting. 
 By talents and push he acquired property and influ- 
 ence. He made a runaway match with a daughter 
 of General Philip Schuyler, thus becoming a brother- 
 in-law of Alexander Hamilton. Resuming his proper 
 name when the reason for concealment had ceased, 
 he afterwards hovered between the two continents, 
 in England, holding at one time a seat in Parlia- 
 ment ; in America, speculating heavily in wild lands, 
 and finally died in London, about 1816. 
 
 On the declaration of peace the partners 
 hastened to Paris for a settlement of their accounts. 
 These were found so clear in detail that an adjust- 
 ment was effected without delay or controversy. 
 
 In the fall of 1784 Col. Wadsworth returned to 
 America, bringing a large stock of foreign goods. 
 
 Few comprehended more fully the resources of 
 the country or labored more intelligently for their 
 development. 
 
 Col. Wadsworth served repeatedly in each branch 
 of the Connecticut Legislature, three years in the 
 Continental Congress, in the Convention called to 
 ratify the Constitution, and for three successive 
 terms in the Federal Congress. He was intimately 
 connected with four of the first six banks formed 
 after the separation from Great Britain, having in 
 addition to the others already mentioned held a 
 directorship in the Bank of the United States. The 
 wealthiest man in town, he was foremost in every 
 enterprise which promised to advance its prosperity.
 
 ~, HISTORY OF 
 
 In recognition of his scholastic attainments, Dart- 
 mouth College conferred upon him the honorary 
 degree of A.M. in 1792, and Yale in 1796. He died 
 April 30, 1804, leaving one son, Daniel Wadsworth, 
 founder of the Athenaeum, and one daughter, Cath- 
 erine, the wife of Gen. Nathaniel Terry. 
 
 Major John Cal dwell, president of the bank 
 from its organization till 1819, was a merchant 
 extensively engaged in domestic and foreign trade. 
 He built and owned ships, providing no small share 
 of the freight to and from the West Indies and 
 for occasional trips to Europe. Public-spirited and 
 liberal, he labored with hardly more assiduity to 
 enlarge his private fortune than to advance the 
 general welfare. John Trumbull, John Caldwell, 
 and John Morgan constituted the commission for 
 building the State House, begun in 1794. He was 
 .also on the commission which supervised the con- 
 struction of the bridge across the Connecticut in 
 1809. He was the first major of the Governor's 
 Horse Guards, incorporated in 1788 from a volunteer 
 troop that did service during the Revolution, and 
 was active in the establishment of the Asylum for 
 the Deaf and Dumb. He was also one of the 
 pioneers in local underwriting, issuing, with others, 
 policies on the vessels and cargoes that sailed from 
 the Connecticut. He was twenty times elected to 
 the State Legislature. 
 
 For a while the firm of John Caldwell & Co. 
 prospered greatly, but later suffered heavy losses
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ,c 
 
 as owners and insurers through the depredations 
 of French privateers. The paralysis of commerce 
 which preceded and accompanied the War of 1812 
 completed the wreck of his fortune. He lived about 
 twenty years after retirement from active work, 
 passing away May 26, 1838, in his eighty-third year, 
 having been born Dec. 21, 1755. 
 
 Major Caldwell is still remembered as a genial, 
 courtly, and kindly gentleman of the old school, 
 who never surrendered short breeches, long stock- 
 ings, silver knee-buckles, and ruffled shirt-bosoms to 
 the spirit of modern innovation. He was perhaps 
 a trifle over six feet tall and had a stalwart frame. 
 Through his daughter Sarah he was grandfather of 
 Col. Samuel Colt. 
 
 John Morgan, fifth in descent from James, the 
 emigrant ancestor, who arrived in Boston in 1636, 
 and in 1650 moved from Roxbury to New London, 
 where he took a prominent part in upbuilding the 
 infant settlement, was born at Killingworth (now 
 Clinton), June 27, 1753. Having graduated at Yale 
 College in 1772, he selected Hartford for his future 
 home, and became one of the leading merchants 
 of the Connecticut Valley. His operations reached 
 around the globe. In the " Empress of China," the 
 first American craft to enter Chinese waters, he 
 imported in 1785 an invoice of China ware, includ- 
 ing a special dining set ornamented with his name 
 and the family coat-of-arms. By the largest sub- 
 scription, reinforced by unwearied efforts, he pro-
 
 ^5 HISTORY OF 
 
 moted the construction of the bridge across the 
 Connecticut, the street thence to Main taking his 
 name, and from 1809 till 1820 held the presidency 
 of the company. Largely through his zeal and 
 contributions Christ Church was raised from weak- 
 ness to strength. Possessing a fine voice, he was 
 expected to read the service in the absence of 
 the rector. 
 
 In moments of excitement Mr. Morgan some- 
 times unconsciously peppered his conversation with 
 words which as found in the prayer-book are differ- 
 ently collocated and suggest different associations 
 of ideas. 
 
 After accumulating a large property, he lived to 
 see it take wings and to feel the stings of poverty. 
 He belonged to the small coterie that to the last 
 clung to the colonial style of dress, which well 
 became their high bearing and courtly manners. 
 He died in New York City, Sept. 19, 1842, aged 
 eighty-nine. Elias Morgan, half-brother of John, for 
 several years a hardware merchant of Hartford, died 
 in St. Croix, West Indies, May 15, 1812, at the age 
 of forty-one. Junius S. Morgan, the London banker, 
 who toward the close of life remembered Hartford 
 with a princely gift for a free public library, 
 descended from Miles Morgan, youngest brother of 
 James, who also came to America in 1636. 
 
 Gen. George Phillips resided at Middletown. 
 He was born April 4, 1750; graduated at Yale 
 College in 1769; settled in his native town as
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ^ 
 
 merchant and importer ; served in the Legislature 
 in 1787 and 1788; was active in the local militia; 
 and possessed large means for the period. He died 
 at Savannah, Ga., Oct. 2, 1^02. 
 
 Barnabas Deane followed his older brother Silas 
 from Groton to Wethersfield, whence Barnabas, after 
 the Revolution, removed to Hartford. He served 
 the usual novitiate as supercargo and master in the 
 West India trade, and took charge of the business 
 of Silas Deane on the election of the latter to Con- 
 gress in 1774. Early in the Revolution he saw a 
 little service as ensign in the famous company of 
 Capt. John Chester of Wethersfield, and for twenty 
 days in assisting to raise men and provisions for 
 the garrisons at Crown Point and Ticonderoga. 
 Preferring trade to war, he soon settled down as a 
 merchant. 
 
 In the spring of 1779 the business was enlarged 
 through the accession of Gen. Nathaniel Greene and 
 Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth as silent partners. Greene 
 was then quartermaster-general, and Wadsworth com- 
 missary-general of the Confederation. While there 
 is no evidence that either used official position to 
 advance the interests of the firm at the expense of 
 the public, both took every precaution to conceal 
 the connection through fear of scandal. The corre- 
 spondence was conducted in cipher. Greene re- 
 mained in the concern about two and a half years, 
 and Wadsworth till the death of Deane, Dec. 6, 1794. 
 Mr. Deane lived at the roomy place now known as
 
 -,g HISTORY OF 
 
 No. 73 Grove street, at present the residence of 
 Nelson Hollister. 
 
 General Timothy Burr succeeded to the mercan- 
 tile business in Hartford, left by his father, Timothy 
 Burr, Sr., who died August 19, 1799. From boyhood 
 he took a lively interest in military matters, rising 
 in the State militia to the rank of general. Shortly 
 before the outbreak of the last war with Great 
 Britain, he moved to Ogdensburg, N. Y. In 1812, 
 he was appointed commissary-general. In 1821, he 
 took up his residence at Rochester, where he died 
 of the cholera epidemic, in 1832, aged sixty years. 
 
 James Watson was born at Bethlehem, Conn., 
 April 6, 1750, graduated at Yale College in 1776, 
 and June loth, of the same year, was commissioned 
 2d lieutenant in Bradley's battalion, Wadsworth's 
 brigade. The command served around New York 
 City, during the summer and fall. January i, 1777, 
 he was commissioned captain in the regiment of 
 Colonel Samuel B. Webb, but resigned in a few 
 months on account of a dispute in regard to sen- 
 iority of rank. In April, 1780, he was appointed 
 commissary of purchases in the Continental line. 
 He married Mary, daughter of Colonel Samuel 
 Talcott of Hartford. After the war he became a 
 merchant in New York City. He was elected to the 
 General Assembly of New York in 1791-4-5-6, and 
 was speaker in 1794. He became State senator in 
 1797, and was a member of the United States Sen- 
 ate, 1798-1800. On the accession of Jefferson to the
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK -g 
 
 presidency, he was removed from the position of 
 naval officer, being the first martyr, it is said, to the 
 " spoils system." 
 
 The initial meeting for the organization of the 
 " New England Society of the City and State of 
 New York " was held in the parlor of Mr. Watson, 
 No. 6 State street, near the Battery. President 
 Dwight came from New Haven in a sloop expressly 
 to attend, having, by favor of wind and tide, made 
 a quick passage in two days. Mr. Watson was the 
 first president of the new society. Having retired 
 from active work, he was then enjoying a life of 
 elegant leisure. Trumbull, the artist, one of his 
 intimate associates, painted an attractive portrait of 
 him. After 1795, Mr. Watson was also one of the 
 regents of the University of New York. Among 
 his business ventures he bought a large tract of 
 land in Lewis and Herkimer counties, which still 
 remains in part a wilderness. He died May 15, 1806, 
 and was buried at Litchfield, Conn., leaving one son, 
 James Talcott Watson, who died in 1839. His large 
 estate was distributed among one hundred and 
 seventy relatives. 
 
 Caleb Bull was the eldest of twelve children of 
 Caleb and Martha (Cadwell) Bull, all of whom lived 
 to marry. Of these, six sons, Caleb, James, Heze- 
 kiah, George, Michael, and Thomas are found in the 
 original list of subscribers to the stock of the bank. 
 Caleb, Jr., was born -June 16, 1746, and died Febru- 
 ary 12, 1797. He left an estate of .12,380.
 
 , HISTORY OF 
 
 Ephraim Root, the ninth and last in the list of 
 original directors, was born in Coventry, Conn., Oct. 
 6, 1762, graduated at Yale College in 1782, was 
 admitted to the bar in 1784, and practised law in 
 Hartford. He died in 1825. His brother, Jesse 
 Root, Jr., was a merchant here, dealing in general 
 supplies. They were sons of Hon. Jesse Root, who 
 for over thirty years was almost constantly in public 
 service, becoming chief judge of the Superior Court 
 in 1798. At the age of eighty-one, he was an active 
 member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818. 
 
 Able as was the first directory of the bank, that 
 inner body by no means exhausted the talents of 
 the association. Among the stockholders * were 
 many who served their generation well, and quite a 
 large number whose personality was stamped con- 
 spicuously on the thought and progress of both state 
 and nation. 
 
 Oliver Ellsworth, LL.D., was born in Windsor, 
 Conn., March 24, 1746-7; graduated at the College 
 of New Jersey in 1 766 ; was admitted to the bar 
 in 1771; and soon rose to a commanding position. 
 Having served in the council of the State, he was 
 sent to the Continental Congress in 1777, and in 
 1784 was appointed judge of the Superior Court. 
 
 Judge Ellsworth rendered his most valuable 
 services to the nascent republic in the Constitutional 
 Convention of 1787. In the conflict between differ- 
 ences apparently irreconcilable, Ellsworth and Roger 
 
 *A list of the first stockholders will be found in the Appendix.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ^ 
 
 Sherman proposed and carried through the most 
 important of the three great compromises on which 
 the convention finally united. The large States 
 demanded that representation in Congress should be 
 proportionate to population, while the small States 
 insisted that each should have an equal vote. For 
 a month the point was bitterly contested. At length 
 when the danger of rupture seemed most imminent, 
 Ellsworth and Sherman presented with such force 
 and persuasiveness the method pursued in making 
 up the two houses of the General Assembly in 
 Connecticut that a majority voted to adopt the idea. 
 By the compromise each State has two votes in the 
 Federal Senate, and in the lower branch representa- 
 tion in the ratio of numbers. 
 
 Ellsworth strenuously opposed leaving with the 
 States the power to emit bills of credit, and would 
 have extended the prohibition to the federal govern- 
 ment also. He was one of the committee which 
 framed the federal judiciary, the crowning work of 
 the convention, which gave vitality to the rest of 
 its proceedings. Returning home he was sent to 
 the State convention called to ratify the instrument. 
 
 Judge Ellsworth was a member of the Federal 
 Senate from 1789 to 1796, when he became chief 
 justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 In 1799 President Adams appointed him envoy 
 extraordinary to negotiate, with others, a treaty of 
 peace with France. While abroad he resigned the 
 chief -justiceship on account of ill health. After his
 
 42 HISTORY OF 
 
 return Connecticut imposed upon him various duties, 
 some of which growing infirmities compelled him to 
 decline. He died Nov. 26, 1807. 
 
 In a speech delivered in the Senate, Feb. 12, 
 1847, J onn C. Calhoun placed the following estimate 
 upon the services of Mr. Ellsworth: 
 
 "It is owing mainly to the States of Connecticut and 
 New Jersey that we have a federal instead of a national 
 government the best government instead of the worst 
 and most intolerable on earth. Who are the men in those 
 States to whom we are indebted for this admirable govern- 
 ment? I will name them their names ought to be engraved 
 on brass and live forever. They are Chief Justice Ellsworth 
 and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Judge Patterson of 
 New Jersey. The other States further south were blind 
 they did not see the future. But to the coolness and sagacity 
 of these three men, aided by a few others not so prominent, 
 we owe the present Constitution." 
 
 John Trumbull a century ago was the most 
 popular poet, if not the most popular writer, in 
 America. The manner and matter, the jingle and 
 wit, of " McFingal " so suited the taste and temper 
 of the times that the work soon passed through 
 over thirty editions. Before the Revolution the 
 colonists regarded English poetry and belles-lettres 
 with contempt. Serious concerns pressing upon 
 every side left little leisure for the indulgence of 
 the fancy or the cultivation of the graces. At col- 
 lege the classics, mathematics, and logic tolerated 
 no intrusion upon their ancient domains. After 
 graduation, law, politics, and theology supplied food
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ^ 
 
 for the cravings of the educated. Trambull loved 
 literature for itself, and did lasting good as an 
 apostle of the new dispensation. 
 
 He was born April 24, 1750, at Westbury (now 
 Watertown), Conn., springing on both lines from 
 scholarly families. His father was the clergyman 
 of the place, and his mother the daughter of Rev. 
 Samuel Whitman of Farmington, granddaughter of 
 Rev. Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, and great- 
 granddaughter of Rev. John Warham of Windsor. 
 He was remarkably precocious, passing a successful 
 examination for college at the age of seven, though 
 he did not enter till six years later. Having 
 graduated at Yale in 1767, he remained as resident 
 and tutor, writing essays in Addisonian style and 
 wooing the Muses, his first elaborate effort being 
 the " Progress of Dullness." 
 
 In November, 1773, he entered the law office of 
 John Adams of Boston. 
 
 The first part of " McFingal " was published in 
 Philadelphia in 1775, with the view of goading 
 Congress to decisive action. The poem was not 
 finished till 1782. 
 
 Trumbull settled in Hartford in 1781, thence- 
 forth dividing his time between literature, politics, 
 and law. Besides filling many minor positions, he 
 was made district attorney, judge of the Superior 
 Court and of the Supreme Court of Errors. For a 
 while he was treasurer of Yale College, which con- 
 ferred upon him the degree of LL.D. In 1825 he
 
 44 HISTORY OF 
 
 moved to Detroit, Mich., where, May 12, 1831, he 
 died at the home of his son-in-law, Gov. Woodbridge. 
 
 Chauncey Goodrich, eldest son of Rev. Elizur 
 Goodrich, D.D., of Durham, Conn., was born Oct. 20, 
 1759; graduated in 1776, with high honors, at Yale 
 College, where he taught two years from 1779; was 
 admitted to the bar and settled in Hartford in the 
 fall of 1781. In the lore of the profession he 
 became an ardent and critical student, always basing 
 his arguments upon the broad principles of the 
 science. 
 
 In 1794, Mr. Goodrich was elected to the lower 
 house of Congress. Party divisions, heretofore 
 crystalizing around the personalities of Hamilton 
 and Jefferson, now found more solid aliment in the 
 controversy started by the Jay treaty with Great 
 Britain. Mr. Goodrich took an active part in the 
 debates, presenting his case so exhaustively that the 
 leader of the opposition, Albert Gallatin, usually 
 selected his arguments as the texts for his replies. 
 
 Resigning, in 1801, he resumed the practise of 
 law in Hartford. From 1802 to 1807, he belonged 
 to the upper house of the General Assembly, and 
 was then promoted to a seat in the United States 
 Senate. In the stormy debates growing out of the 
 embargo and non-intercourse acts, he ably presented 
 the views prevalent in New England. In 1812, he 
 was elected mayor of Hartford, succeeding Thomas 
 Seymour, who had held the place continuously from 
 the creation of the office in 1784. He was holding
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ^r 
 
 both this position and that of lieutenant-governor 
 at the time of his death, Aug. 18, 1815. He was a 
 member of the Hartford Convention in 1814. 
 
 A conviction that Mr. Goodrich, under all cir- 
 cumstances, must act with strict impartiality and 
 justice, gave him an immovable hold upon his 
 constituency. 
 
 Enoch Perkins was one of the most useful and 
 trusted members of the community. Persons near- 
 ing the end confided to him the settlement of their 
 estates, and the care of their children. Fair, just, 
 and well-balanced, he was for a long period called 
 upon more frequently than any one else in Hartford 
 to act as arbitrator or referee for the settlement of 
 all sorts of troubles and disputes. It goes without 
 saying, that, like others whose lives are here briefly 
 sketched, he often filled local offices, for the most 
 competent men then expected to devote their 
 energies, when invited, to the service of the public. 
 As an earnest promoter of education, he was long 
 the active trustee of the Hopkins Grammar School, 
 and it is said no boy could gain admission, except 
 on his certificate. 
 
 Mr. Perkins was born in Norwich, Conn., Aug. 
 1 6, 1760, graduated at Yale College in 1781, studied 
 law in the office of Wm. Channing of Newport, 
 R. I., held a tutorship at Yale, 1784-6, and, in 
 1786, took up his permanent abode in Hartford. 
 Professionally, he , belonged to the class of safe 
 counselors, who neglect nothing in the preparation
 
 ,5 HISTORY OF 
 
 of a case in the way of either matter or form. He 
 was a member of the commissions which revised 
 the statutes of Connecticut in 1795, and again in 
 1808, and was prosecuting officer, 1812-18. He died 
 August 12, 1828. 
 
 Whether Hudson and Goodwin cared or not for 
 posthumous fame, they unwittingly built for them- 
 selves an imperishable monument by an honorable 
 connection with the oldest newspaper on the conti- 
 nent. Established in 1764, the Connecticut Courant 
 has long outlived all early contemporaries. Before 
 the Revolution, the prevalent spirit of discontent 
 spoke through its columns. During the long 
 struggle its courage never faltered. Thenceforward, 
 till the contest over the constitution of 1818 brought 
 the democratic forces of the State into prominence, 
 the paper, to the eminent satisfaction of a widely- 
 scattered and trustful constituency, voiced the con- 
 servative convictions of New England on matters of 
 morals, religion, and politics. Mr. Goodwin's active 
 connection with the Courant covered a period of 
 seventy years, and was not fully closed by his retire- 
 ment in 1836. He died May 13, 1844, "the oldest 
 man in the town," having been born in 1757. Bar-' 
 zillai Hudson formed a double partnership in 1779, 
 first by marriage with the widow of Ebenezer 
 Watson, the late proprietor, and second, with George 
 Goodwin, whom the widow had already admitted to 
 a share in the business. Mr. Hudson withdrew in 
 1815.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ,~ 
 
 Nehemiah Hubbard resided in Middletown. 
 Born in April, 1752, at the age of fourteen he 
 entered the store of Colonel Matthew Talcott, and 
 after attaining his majority made several trips to 
 the West Indies, as supercargo and master. July 31, 
 1776, he was appointed paymaster of the regiment 
 commanded by Colonel Charles Burrall. Its term 
 expired January 19, 1777. In May following, Gen- 
 eral Nathaniel Greene appointed him deputy quar- 
 termaster for the Connecticut district. In Novem- 
 ber, 1780, he left the Continental service to accept 
 a position under Colonel Wadsworth, contractor for 
 supplying the French army, and in this capacity 
 witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis. His execu- 
 tive ability so impressed his associates that Alex- 
 ander Hamilton, while secretary of the treasury, 
 importuned him to take charge of an institution 
 which he desired to found for the promotion of 
 American manufactures. Settling in Middletown, 
 as a merchant, after the war, he was held in high 
 esteem for sound judgment, public spirit, and 
 liberality. He was president of the Middletown 
 bank, 1808-22, retiring at the age of seventy, and 
 of the savings bank from its establishment till his 
 death, February 6, 1837. 
 
 Oliver Phelps, like many others, was drawn into 
 the bank by army associations with Colonel Wads- 
 worth. Born in Windsor, Conn., in 1749, he moved 
 in boyhood to Granville, Mass., and thence, after 
 several years, to Suffield, Conn. He acted as deputy
 
 ,g HISTORY OF 
 
 for Colonel Wadsworth, in procuring supplies for 
 both the Continental and French armies. After the 
 war he became a member of the general court, and 
 of the Governor's council of Massachusetts. 
 
 New York having ceded to Massachusetts the 
 right of pre-emption to 6,000,000 acres of land in the 
 central part of New York, Mr. Phelps and Nathaniel 
 Gorham of Cambridge, Mass., bought, in 1788, the 
 entire tract for 300,000, payable in the consolidated 
 securities of Massachusetts, in three annual install- 
 ments. Extinguishing the more primitive claims of 
 the Indians by purchase, they divided the territory 
 into townships and sections. Colonel Hugh Maxwell 
 of Heath, Mass., aided in the survey. The system 
 devised by these parties was adopted by the United 
 States, and with some modifications has been 
 retained. Mr. Phelps, though unable to fulfill the 
 terms of the contract, grew rich rapidly, estimating 
 his wealth, in 1795, at a million of dollars. 
 
 When the State, in 1795, disposed of its lands 
 in the Western Reserve of Ohio, for $1,200,000, Mr. 
 Phelps was the largest purchaser. He headed a 
 syndicate of five which invested $168,185 in a single 
 block, giving a bond dated Sept. 2, 1795, and pay- 
 able on demand, and a syndicate of six which 
 ventured $80,000. He was also a partner on a third 
 bond for $85,675. 
 
 The mania for western land speculations was 
 hurrying to a crisis. Not content with the opera- 
 tions already mentioned, Mr. Phelps plunged into
 
 o 
 
 
 . 
 
 s 
 
 
 5- 
 
 
 x
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 40 
 
 the " American Land Company," the " Georgia Land 
 Company," etc., borrowing money and giving mort- 
 gages, till the collapse brought him face to face with 
 a mountain of debt on one side, and a mountain of 
 unavailable assets on the other. Crushed in spirits 
 and health by losses, he died February 21, 1809, at 
 Canandaigua, N. Y., whither he had removed in 1802. 
 
 Mr. Phelps was the first judge of Ontario 
 County, and the first member of Congress from 
 western New York, serving from 1803 to 1805. The 
 debts of the estate were compromised in a way to 
 save a handsome property for the heirs. 
 
 Noah Webster, LL.D., as one of the committee 
 of three, took an active part in procuring the charter 
 of the bank, but his resources "were then too slender 
 to allow him to go further. His labors for the 
 education of English-speaking peoples won gold as 
 well as fame, and, in 1817, we find him the happy 
 owner of one hundred and seventy-four shares of 
 the stock. During the intervening years of struggle, 
 though no longer a resident of the city, he had 
 never forgotten the child of his youth. 
 
 Thomas Tisdall, an Irishman, resigned the office 
 of paymaster in the British army from sympathy 
 with the colonies, and settled in Hartford, about 
 1778. The Gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 
 by Pease & Niles, published in 1819, contains an 
 elaborate eulogy of him, as does the Hartford Times 
 for Sept. 8, 1818. He died Aug. 31, 1818, aged 
 sixty-one.
 
 c O HISTORY OF 
 
 Peleg Sanford, confidential clerk of Colonel 
 Jeremiah Wadsworth, in 1791, addressed to his 
 employer several letters in regard to the establish- 
 ment of a bank, which are preserved in the valuable 
 collection of Mr. J. F. Morris. Nov. i2th, he writes, 
 that he has been sounding the minds of the princi- 
 pal merchants, and has found them favorably 
 inclined to the project. He thought fifteen or 
 twenty thousand dollars in specie would be sufficient 
 to start with, and enclosed a list of eight persons 
 and firms who agreed to subscribe to the extent of 
 $13,000. Nov. 3oth, he reports progress, and in com- 
 menting on the latest accessions, adds: 
 
 "It must also be much better than to have the stock- 
 holders increased to a great number, in which case people 
 of the description you caution me against would unavoidably 
 become subscribers." 
 
 Unfortunately, Colonel Wadsworth's cautionary 
 letter is not in the collection, and hence our curiosity 
 in regard to the qualifications deemed essential for 
 admittance to the association must go ungratified. 
 
 Gen. George Phillips, a subscriber for $2,000, is 
 quoted as saying that 
 
 "There would be no difficulty in getting incorporated if 
 it was not known that the subscription was filled, for this 
 reason, that there would be a number in the Legislature 
 who would wish to become subscribers, and would, of course, 
 advocate the bill while they supposed they could subscribe, 
 and, on the contrary, if it was known the subscription was 
 full, they would oppose it violently."
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK cj 
 
 If an eye-witness pictures the situation correctly, 
 queer things came to pass in the shady passages of 
 the antique State house, long before the birth of the 
 railway lobby, and while, as yet, the robust virtue 
 of the lawmaker is supposed to have risen superior 
 to the faults and vices of "modern degeneracy." 
 
 Mr. Sanford adds: 
 
 " I shall continue to stay any further proceedings till I 
 am favored with your plan of a bank, or have other direc- 
 tions from you on the subject. . . . Twenty thousand 
 dollars was only mentioned as a sum that could probably be 
 obtained, and which, small as it is, would yet answer a valu- 
 able purpose, but, there is little doubt, $60,000 or $80,000 can 
 be employed to great advantage, and as there is little danger 
 to be apprehended from a run on the bank, I should think 
 it most assuredly best to adopt the plan you proposed of 
 having two-thirds or three-fourths of the capital consist of 
 six per cents, or that the directors be impowered to invest 
 such part of the capital in the public funds as they shall 
 judge can be done with safety from time to time." 
 
 Afterwards, Mr. Sanford formed a partnership 
 with Daniel Wadsworth, under the firm name of 
 Sanford & Wadsworth, which was dissolved, by 
 mutual consent, Jan. 10, 1798. He then removed 
 to New Haven, and died in April, 1801, on the 
 passage from Charleston to New York. 
 
 Jacob Ogden was a hardware and grocery mer- 
 chant on State street. He came from Newark, N. J., 
 where he was born Nov. 10, 1749. Having sunk 
 considerable money in the State House, he left the 
 city, and in 1804 opened a hotel in New Haven. 
 He died March 30, 1825.
 
 i- 2 HISTORY OF 
 
 Ezekiel Williams, Jr., elder brother of Thomas S., 
 chief justice of Connecticut, and grandson of Rev. 
 Solomon Williams of Lebanon, was born at Wethers- 
 field, Dec. 29, 1765, graduated at Yale College in 
 1785, and in early manhood was a merchant in Hart- 
 ford, where he was also postmaster from January, 
 1795, till 1803. He was the first to introduce marine 
 insurance here, and at the outset did as much and 
 perhaps more than any one else to give the thoughts 
 of our people a trend toward underwriting. In this 
 connection more will be said of him elsewhere. He 
 married Abigail, daughter of Oliver Ellsworth. He 
 died Oct. 18, 1843. 
 
 Amasa Keyes held the rank of lieutenant in the 
 company of Capt. Samuel McClellan of Woodstock, 
 which hastened to Massachusetts after the fight at 
 Lexington. In April, 1775, he was appointed one 
 of the State commissioners for supplying stores and 
 provisions for the troops to be raised. In 1776 he 
 was a captain in Maj. Backus' regiment of light 
 horse, and took part in the campaigns around New 
 York City. After the war he settled as a merchant 
 in Hartford, and was four times elected to the 
 General Assembly. 
 
 James Burr, like John Caldwell, John Morgan, 
 and others who have passed under review, suffered 
 severely from the depredations of the French. He 
 owned the brig Lucy and most of her cargo, which 
 was captured, March 24, 1798, on the voyage from 
 Demarara to New London, his loss being estima-
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK c^ 
 
 ted at $18,717.50. James Burr was the father of 
 Alfred E. and Franklin L. Burr of the Hartford 
 Times. He was born Feb. 18, 1766, and died March 
 1 6, 1848. 
 
 John Chenevard, son of John Michael Chenevard, 
 a native of Geneva, who settled in Hartford about 
 1723, was born July 29, 1733. He was an active, 
 public-spirited merchant. Having been a member 
 of the council continuously from the charter of the 
 city in 1784 till March, 1799, ne was then elected 
 alderman in place of John Caldwell, who had also 
 served without interruption in one or other of the 
 boards during the same period. As the fruit of 
 enterprise and thrift Mr. Chenevard, at his death, 
 October 6, 1805, left an estate inventoried at over 
 thirty thousand dollars, which then passed for a 
 large fortune in Connecticut. 
 
 Elisha Colt, when a lad of seventeen, enlisted as 
 a private in the Eighth Connecticut regiment, raised 
 by order of the General Assembly in July, 1775, 
 and remained till the expiration of its term in the 
 following December. Later he became clerk of his 
 uncle, Peter Colt, who assisted Col. Trumbull as 
 supply agent in 1776, and was appointed by Con- 
 gress, Aug. 9, 1777, deputy commissary-general of 
 purchases for the eastern department, but resigned 
 in 1780 to accept a position under Col. Wadsworth, 
 for the supply of the French forces in America. 
 After the war Elisha Colt was for a time a whole- 
 sale and retail dry-goods merchant in Hartford. He
 
 CA HISTORY OF 
 
 was elected comptroller of Connecticut in 1806, and 
 continued to fill the place for thirteen years. When 
 the Society for Savings was organized in 1819 he 
 was appointed first treasurer, and tradition says that 
 for several months he carried home the assets of 
 the bank at night for safe-keeping, and slept with 
 them under his pillow. He was born Feb. 26, 1758, 
 and died Aug. 22, 1827. 
 
 Charles Hopkins, son of Capt. Thomas Hopkins, 
 was a prominent merchant and importer, trading 
 largely with the West Indies and making frequent 
 trips to Europe. He was a man of polished man- 
 ners and cosmopolitan ways. Peter W. Gallaudet 
 married his sister, Jane Hopkins. 
 
 Daniel Wadsworth long held a conspicuous place 
 in the community from his wealth, benevolence, and 
 the comparative elegance of his belongings, but is 
 chiefly known to the present generation from the 
 munificence of his gifts to the public. He was born 
 August 8, 1771, and at the age of twenty-three 
 married Faith Trumbull, daughter of the second 
 governor, Jonathan Trumbull, but left no children. 
 His father, Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, built for him 
 in 1798 the house on Prospect street, now occupied 
 by the Hartford Club, and there he lived for half 
 a century, having passed away July 28, 1848. 
 
 He gave for the site of Wadsworth 's Athe- 
 naeum land valued at $16,200, and $9,076 in cash 
 subscriptions toward the building, to make room 
 for which the family mansion, erected by Rev.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK cc 
 
 Daniel Wadsworth in 1730, and afterwards occupied 
 by Col. Jeremiah, was torn down. He bequeathed 
 to the Athenaeum thirty paintings by Sully, John 
 Trumbull, Thomas Cole, Sharpless, etc., and a mar- 
 ble bust of himself. The Connecticut Historical 
 Society was also remembered with a gift of 
 valuable art works. 
 
 Mr. Wadsworth left an estate appraised at $233,- 
 193.38. After providing liberal legacies and annu- 
 ities for the eight children and their representa- 
 tives of his sister, Catherine (Wadsworth) Terry, 
 the estate was left in trust until the death of the 
 last survivor of the nephews and nieces, when it 
 was to be distributed to their children or legal 
 heirs. This event occurred July 30, 1882. Although 
 during the thirty-four years of the continuance of 
 the trust, over $135,000 had been paid to the bene- 
 ficiaries from the income, at the end of the period 
 under the management of judicious trustees, the 
 property had increased to $786,042.20. 
 
 The foregoing sketches do not exhaust the list 
 of original stockholders. Enough has been said to 
 show the kind of men who came together to found 
 the institution. It was not a promiscuous but a 
 selected body. From the correspondence between 
 Col. Wadsworth and Pelcg Sanford, his confidential 
 clerk, it is apparent that the city and neighboring 
 towns were canvassed with a view to pick out the 
 persons whom for various reasons it was thought 
 desirable to invite into the association. Some doubt-
 
 c6 HISTORY OF 
 
 less declined. Some required urging. As a whole 
 they were rich in character, in talents, in experi- 
 ence, in memories of services to the infant repub- 
 lic, in almost everything esteemed good except 
 cash. Amid prevailing poverty it required brave 
 and united efforts to provide the needed capital. 
 As we shall see, the initial success gave a new 
 direction to the thought and growth of the town.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 EARLY INCIDENTS AND PROGRESS 
 
 VERY early, if not at the start, the bank is found 
 located on the south side of Pearl street, a 
 few steps from Main. Such precautions as 
 the ingenuity of the times could devise had been 
 taken for the protection of its funds. The front 
 door was divided into two parts, horizontally. Both 
 halves were sheathed with iron plates, and secured 
 by heavy bars. A strong, oak-incased lock was 
 bolted upon the outer surface of the upper section. 
 The chest was kept in a subterranean vault, 
 covered by a massive door which was raised and 
 lowered by a pulley. Persons still living remember 
 the ring in a beam overhead, whence the hoisting 
 apparatus was suspended. The chest, bought by 
 Colonel Wadsworth in New York, having done 
 good service in days less perilous to "safes" than 
 these, now reposes among the relics of the Connec- 
 ticut Historical Society. It is of thin, wrought iron, 
 two feet long, sixteen inches broad and high, with 
 the door on top. A trained porter could carry it 
 off without trouble. That neither the vault nor its 
 contents were ever invaded by felonious hands, 
 reveals the scant progress then made in the art of 
 burglary.
 
 eg HISTORY OF 
 
 In October, 1838, long after the bank had 
 removed to its present quarters, the premises then 
 occupied as a hat store by Hoadly & Chalker, 
 attracted the attention of a professional cracksman. 
 As he perambulated the unfamiliar streets, the iron 
 door, unchanged through the vicissitudes of forty- 
 six years, started in his imagination a dream of 
 untold plunder. Having stolen a sledge from a 
 blacksmith's shop on Trumbull street, he returned 
 when the town was buried in slumber, for the 
 execution of his purpose. Seven times he struck 
 the door, leaving seven deep dents to preserve the 
 record of his prowess, before the barrier gave way. 
 One would suppose that the clangor breaking upon 
 the midnight stillness would have called a crowd to 
 the rescue, but echoes alone answered to the din. 
 Even the watchman, presumed by trustful citizens 
 to be on duty in the neighborhood, asleep perhaps, 
 or on a lark, or possibly afraid, failed to interfere. 
 He afterwards alleged, by way of excuse, that he 
 thought some one in a great hurry was trying to 
 call up Doctor Sumner, who lived around the 
 corner. It is pleasant to add that the stolen goods 
 were subsequently found under a barn and recovered. 
 
 Charles J. Hoadly, LL.D., has a key belonging 
 to the original lock on the outer door. It is of brass, 
 and probably a duplicate made for the use of one 
 of the partners after the conversion of the premises 
 into a store. 
 
 The bank began operations with thirty per cent.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK eg 
 
 of the capital paid in. Nothing survives to tell 
 what the funds consisted of. Were subscription 
 books opened to-day for the stock of a corporation, 
 large or small, about ninety-nine per cent, of the 
 installments would be paid in checks. A little paper 
 currency with a few dollars in coin would be used, 
 if the shares were distributed widely, so as to 
 include people of small means. In 1792, Colonel 
 Wadsworth was, probably, the only person in the 
 city blessed with a bank account. Very little cur- 
 rency was afloat. The bubble of Continental money 
 had exploded twelve years before. By the constitu- 
 tion, no State was permitted to emit bills of credit. 
 An occasional bill from the Bank of North America 
 strayed into Connecticut, but, from extreme rarity, 
 the specimens were more curious than useful. Silver, 
 a motley lot, the coinage of many nations, was 
 scarce, and gold much scarcer. The money in circu- 
 lation was insufficient to provide for the current 
 exchange of commodities, so that traffic, to no small 
 extent, was thrown back upon the primitive, cum- 
 brous, and costly methods of barter. 
 
 Bearing on this point, Doctor Hoadly, in the 
 "Annals" read by him Dec. 23, 1879, at tne cele- 
 bration of the semi-centennial anniversary of the 
 consecration of Christ Church, cites a number of 
 instructive entries from the original subscription 
 paper, dated November 28, 1786, and circulated for 
 the purpose of raising funds to build the first 
 Episcopal church in the city. By the terms of the
 
 6o 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 agreement contributions could be made in money, 
 labor, or any specific articles. John Morgan gave 
 .36, Jacob Ogden 24, John Thomas 20 ios., Samuel 
 Cutler 10, all payable in building materials. Major 
 John Caldwell promised ,10 in pure spirit. If the 
 worthy founders, from lack of silver and gold, gave 
 rum for pious uses, they were particular that the 
 quality should be the best. John Chenevard prom- 
 ised one hogshead of molasses (no gallons); Barnabas 
 Deane, 10 in materials for building or in rum; 
 Noah Webster, Jr., 3, and redeemed the promise 
 in seven dozen spelling-books. The Postmaster and 
 two or three others made small cash contributions, 
 all the rest, to the amount of a little over 300, 
 having been furnished in labor, materials, or goods. 
 
 During the following six years the situation 
 did not materially change. Public securities had 
 advanced several fold in value and people were 
 more hopeful; but of actual cash there had been 
 little increase. 
 
 In view of the general conditions we may rea- 
 sonably conjecture that at the outset the assets of 
 the bank consisted mainly of the promissory notes 
 of stockholders indorsed by each other, with a 
 moderate sum of silver, a slight sprinkling of gold 
 drawn from old hoards, and possibly a few notes of 
 the Bank of North America. 
 
 In his articles on currency and banking in 
 Connecticut, Joseph G. Woodward repeats a story 
 handed down by parties who long kept afloat many 
 curious facts of inner local history.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 6l 
 
 " One day Judge Ellsworth, who had been elected a 
 director, sat at the board when notes were offered for dis- 
 count by directors who had mutually endorsed for one 
 another. Against his wish the notes were approved, where- 
 upon he took his hat and, with the remark, 'Mr. President, 
 there is a great deal of hollow ground in Hartford/ departed 
 for Windsor." 
 
 The nearer to the date of organization the more 
 abundant was such paper. Judge Ellsworth was far 
 richer than most of his associates, and having his 
 resources well in hand did not need to lean upon 
 others for support. 
 
 The Hartford Bank took the lead in introduc- 
 ing the decimal system of notation in Connecticut. 
 June 1 6, 1792, the directors resolved that the notes 
 to be issued should be made payable in dollars, and, 
 August 26th, that in paper presented for discount 
 amounts should be expressed in dollars and cents. 
 At the time the English method of reckoning by 
 pounds, shillings, and pence was in almost universal 
 use. In different States these denominations bore 
 widely different values. In New England six shil- 
 lings were equivalent to a Spanish dollar, in New 
 York eight, in Georgia five, in South Carolina thirty- 
 two and one-half, and in Pennsylvania seven and 
 one-half. 
 
 Under the lead of Jefferson, who was largely 
 indebted in the matter to the studies of Gouverneur 
 Morris, Congress resolved in July, 1785, that the 
 money unit of the United States be one dollar, and
 
 6 2 HISTORY OF 
 
 that the pieces to be coined should increase in a 
 decimal ratio. In August, 1786, that body further 
 enacted that the money of account, to correspond 
 with the division of coins, proceed in a decimal 
 ratio, and be expressed in dollars, dimes, cents, and 
 mills. 
 
 For a long period the reform progressed slowly. 
 In the revised statutes published by Hudson & 
 Goodwin in 1796, and known as the revision of 1795, 
 the federal notation first appears in our State laws. 
 At the office of the treasurer of Connecticut the 
 change from the English to the American system 
 was made in July, 1797. Up to that time occasional 
 entries on the books in dollars and cents were con- 
 verted into equivalent values in pounds, shillings, 
 and pence before passing into the final accounts. 
 In many localities the English nomenclature was in 
 common use till the late civil war. 
 
 Still the seed scattered by the bank began to 
 sprout early, especially in the minds of progressive 
 teachers. Erastus Root, A.B., of Hebron, issued a 
 manual of arithmetic in 1795. In expounding the 
 superior merits of the decimal system the author 
 enlivens the dryness of rules and examples with a 
 touch of Fourth of July oratory: 
 
 "It (the table of federal money) is preferable to pounds, 
 shillings and pence for two very substantial reasons. Firstly, 
 it will destroy the present perplexing difference of curren- 
 cies in the different States ; and secondly, it is much more 
 simple and easy. Then let us, I beg of you, Fellow Citi-
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 63 
 
 zens, no longer meanly follow the British intricate mode of 
 reckoning let them have their own way and us, ours. 
 Their mode is suited to the genius of their government 
 for it seems to be the policy of tyrants to keep their ac- 
 counts in as intricate and perplexing a method as possible, 
 that the smaller number of their subjects may be able to 
 estimate their enormous impositions and exactions. But Re- 
 publican money ought to be simple and adapted to the 
 meanest capacity. This mode of reckoning may seem a 
 little odd at first, but when the coins of the United States 
 come into circulation, it will soon become familiar." 
 
 John Sterry & Co. of Norwich the same year 
 (1795) published an arithmetic by Consider and John 
 Sterry, in which they propose to supply " that grand 
 corner-stone of decimating all monies and accompts, 
 as required by the law of these United States, 
 thereby reducing perplexity to simplicity and brev- 
 ity." . 
 
 In despite of the stand taken by the federal 
 government it required seventy-five years for the 
 awkward English method of reckoning values to 
 die out in America. A still more impressive exhi- 
 bition of the inveteracy of habit, of the annoyance 
 and pain caused to the ordinary mind by any at- 
 tempt to break up rooted associations, may be 
 found in the retention of our artificial and arbi- 
 trary scales of weights and measures, in the pres- 
 ence of the simple, scientific, and every way admir- 
 able metric system of the French. 
 
 As the ancient schools of philosophy had two 
 sets of doctrines, the exoteric for the multitude,
 
 64 HISTORY OF 
 
 and the esoteric for initiates, so the directors of 
 the bank drew tip one body of rules for the inform- 
 ation of the public and another for the guidance 
 of the board. As already quoted, the first was pub- 
 lished in the Courant. The second, separated from 
 its twin by a waste of unwritten pages, was buried 
 in the body of the record. In the supplementary 
 code, though so carefully guarded, nothing will be 
 found that needs concealment. Lapses in syntax 
 and spelling will be pardoned to soundness of 
 matter. 
 
 " Proposed, relating to Discounting. That all questions 
 be determined by Ballot. That where there is two against 
 discounting a note (unless they withdraw their objection) no 
 discount to be made. 
 
 " A note once refused not to be tryed again. 
 
 "Any person not punctually paying his note when due, 
 either as Signer or endorser, will be refused any further 
 discount. Any person Suffering his note to be Sued, is to 
 have his name posted in the Bank. 
 
 "No reason to be given out of the bank for the re- 
 fusing a Discount. What passes in the bank not to be 
 spoke on at any other place, 
 
 "Approved & agreed to 2nd Augt, 1792." 
 
 To pay the debenture of the General Assembly 
 and other demands, the State of Connecticut, Octo- 
 ber 28, 1793, for the first time discounted a bank 
 note. The obligation amounted to 1,200, or $4,000, 
 and ran for sixty days. It was hoped that suffi- 
 cient collections on the current tax of \y 2 d, would 
 be made to meet the paper at maturity. By the
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 5c 
 
 fifth of December, however, only ^522, i$s. had been 
 received. Solicitous for the credit of the State, 
 Andrew Kingsbury, treasurer, on that date issued a 
 circular notifying the several sheriffs and collectors 
 that the debt to the Hartford Bank fell due the 
 28th of the month, and urging them to forward 
 all moneys collected by that time. He tells them 
 that promptness "may possibly save the expense of 
 another discount, and as an accommodation to col- 
 lectors, Hartford and the United States Bank bills 
 will be received for taxes until furthur informa- 
 tion." 
 
 During the next three weeks the appeal pro- 
 duced only .8, 9^, 8</. December 27th, Mr. Kings- 
 bury renewed the paper to the extent of ,675, iSs, 
 and the second note was taken up February nth, 
 when the deposits from time to time had become 
 sufficient for the extinguishment of the debt. 
 
 For a time the bills of the bank won confi- 
 dence slowly, especially in rural communities. Not 
 even the character and wealth of the owners and 
 managers could at once overcome the distrust at- 
 tached to paper money. The experience of the 
 generation then emerging from the shadows of the 
 Revolution had been too bitter to be soon forgot- 
 ten. The faith of the colonies in the efficacy of 
 the emissions sent forth under the authority of 
 Congress at the beginning of the struggle, came to 
 be equaled only by their disgust for the stuff at 
 the end.
 
 66 HISTORY OF 
 
 All along the descent toward the bottomless 
 abyss, till either self-deception or the deception of 
 others ceased to be possible, patriots, both in and 
 out of Congress, with a vehemence and frequency 
 proportionate to the growing desperation of the 
 prospect, had in ingenious variety of iteration, de- 
 clared an unshaken belief in the redemption of 
 every dollar. At a time when the laws of money 
 were little understood by legislators, and when the 
 multitude looked for guidance to the utterances of 
 favorite leaders, it is not strange that the Ameri- 
 can people learned to doubt whether any kind of 
 paper currency, except for the moment and by ar- 
 tifice, could be maintained on a parity with coin. 
 
 Locally the distrust was prolonged by the ac- 
 tion of Connecticut in putting out indents for in- 
 terest on the State debt. The form ran thus : 
 
 " For the payment of 
 
 No. Comptroller's Office 178 (or 179 ) 
 
 I hereby certify that is entitled to receive 
 
 the sum of Lawful money, out of any funds 
 
 appropriated for the payment of interest on the liquidated 
 Debt of the State of Connecticut. 
 
 Comptroller." 
 
 These indents, grazing if not overlapping the 
 constitutional prohibition in regard to the emission 
 by the states of bills of credit, continued to be 
 issued in diminishing quantities till well into the 
 nineties, were receivable for taxes, and in a lim- 
 ited way circulated as money at varying rates of 
 discount.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 5^ 
 
 When the farmer was offered for his produce 
 the bills of the new bank he was expected to 
 quote a little household wisdom about "the burnt 
 child," and to express a preference for silver, often 
 in terms too strong to leave the least doubt in 
 regard to his meaning. Meanwhile, the friends of 
 the institution, as occasion offered, scattered broad- 
 cast facts and assertions intended to inspire confi- 
 dence. Piles of coin were temptingly displayed 
 behind the counter. Bills presented by countrymen 
 were redeemed with smiling alacrity. Having got- 
 ten the cash so easily, before leaving town they 
 were often persuaded to change back by a conven- 
 ient " mutual friend," many of that serviceable fra- 
 ternity being on the alert to inject missionary work 
 wherever it promised to do good. Gradually the 
 course of the bank in keeping every promise to 
 the letter conquered the distrust produced by the 
 miserable fate of colonial and continental issues, 
 and so firmly established its credit that for three 
 generations the wildest financial panic has not 
 caused a tremor in the structure. " As sound as 
 the old Hartford Bank " early in the century be- 
 came a proverb not only in the Connecticut Valley, 
 but among the settlers on the shores of Lake Erie 
 and beyond. 
 
 In one direction the necessity of securing a good 
 name for the bills, by first deserving it, may have 
 acted as a salutary restraint. By the charter, " privi- 
 leges " were conferred which no banker would now
 
 68 HISTORY OF 
 
 ask or government grant. Section 21 enacts, "That 
 said corporation shall not issue their notes or bills, 
 to an amount exceeding, in the whole, fifty per cent, 
 over and above the capital stock of said bank, and 
 beyond the amount of monies actually deposited for 
 safe keeping in said bank." 
 
 An obligation payable on demand was thus per- 
 mitted to rest, in part, for security upon another 
 obligation of the same party, also payable on 
 demand. We hear occasionally of some plausible 
 fellow who contrives to live upon the interest of his 
 debts a style of financiering here unconsciously 
 invited by the thoughtless complaisance of the legis- 
 lature, but, in this case, never abused. The latitude 
 given the corporation, like the longitude of the land 
 grants from Charles II, sprang from unsophisticated 
 lack of knowledge on the part of all concerned. 
 While the managers were opening channels for the 
 currency of the bank, they were also learning in the 
 school of experiment, the only school then within 
 reach, the primary principles of the business. 
 
 The steel plates in early use were engraved by 
 Deacon Abner Reed of East Windsor, and for a 
 time the notes were printed in his shop on a hand 
 press. After the erection of the present bank build- 
 ing, the printing was done on the second floor. It 
 is difficult for the present generation even to con- 
 ceive that less than a hundred years ago mechanical 
 work of the highest excellence then attainable was 
 executed in isolated rural villages.
 
 ss'x/ 
 
 s s&Jrv 
 
 ~^*c\
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK Q 
 
 The directors and stockholders of the bank 
 appear among the prominent figures in a movement, 
 divided into several stages, which proceeded, halt- 
 ingly at first, but afterwards with an energy that, 
 though costly to Connecticut in drains upon the old 
 puritan stock, communicated a distinctive type and 
 an invaluable element to much of the new civiliza- 
 tion advancing upon the west. 
 
 By the charter of 1662, the colony was bounded 
 on the west by the South Sea, or Pacific Ocean. 
 Subsequent patents to James, the brother of Charles 
 II, and to William Penn, carved from the grant the 
 southeastern angle of New York, and a strip extend- 
 ing southward over sixty miles from the northern 
 border of Pennsylvania. After a bitter struggle, the 
 claims of Connecticut to the lands lying in Pennsyl- 
 vania were given up in 1782. In 1786, Connecticut 
 ceded to the United States her title and interest to 
 the western domain claimed under the original 
 charter, reserving a tract bounded on the east by 
 Pennsylvania, on the south by the forty-first parallel, 
 on the west by a line parallel to the western border 
 of Pennsylvania, one hundred and twenty miles dis- 
 tant from it, and on the north by the line marking 
 42 2' of north latitude. The tract contained a great 
 many square miles of the waters of Lake Erie, and 
 somewhat less than three million acres of land. 
 
 In 1792, the assembly granted half a million 
 acres from the western end of the reserve to certain 
 persons living near Long Island Sound as indemnity
 
 J Q HISTORY OF 
 
 for property of theirs burned by the British, and 
 hence known as " fire lands." Citizens of a specu- 
 lative turn, intoxicated by the enormous profits 
 accruing from the appreciation of government stocks 
 through the success of Hamilton's funding scheme, 
 and looking about for further opportunities, kept up 
 a constant agitation in favor of selling the residue 
 of the property. To enlist the powerful influence 
 of the established or Congregational Church, in 1791 
 a bill was introduced, but not passed, to distribute 
 the proceeds of the proposed sale among the several 
 ecclesiastical societies for the support of the ministry, 
 thus dispensing with a portion of the tax levied for 
 their maintenance. Two years later the scope of 
 the measure was enlarged so as to embrace churches 
 of all denominations, the avails "to be by them 
 applied to the support of their respective ministers 
 or preachers of the gospel and schools of education," 
 under rules to be adopted by the assembly. As 
 thus doctored, the scheme was carried through the 
 lower house by a majority of thirteen, and through 
 the upper house almost unanimously. 
 
 The law provoked discussion, warm in the 
 pulpit, hot in the press, and stormy often in the 
 informal debating clubs that met nightly at country 
 groceries. It went down in the tempest, and in 
 May, 1795, a substitute was passed devoting the 
 avails to the establishment of our school fund. 
 
 A sale of the lands for $1,200,000 was con- 
 summated the following November to a syndicate
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK * l 
 
 represented by thirty-five, who gave thirty-six bonds 
 to secure the purchase money. The principal fell 
 due Sept. 2, 1800, and bore interest at the rate of 
 six per cent, per annum from Sept. 2, 1797, except 
 of the bond of Oliver Phelps and others for $168,185, 
 which, on account of the magnitude of the sum, 
 viewed in connection with the uncertainty of human 
 events, was voluntarily given on demand. 
 
 In the " Connecticut Land Company," at once 
 organized by the purchasers for the purpose of buy- 
 ing Indian titles and of surveying and selling the 
 property, several of the leaders were also active in 
 the management of the Hartford Bank. Two of the 
 three trustees selected to hold and convey the lands 
 for the common benefit were John Caldwell and 
 John Morgan. Enoch Perkins was first and Ephraim 
 Root second secretary. From the inception of the 
 scheme onward the daring genius of Oliver Phelps 
 enlisted recruits, heightened the enthusiasm of the 
 zealous, and steadied the wavering. Nehemiah Hub- 
 bard, Elias Morgan, Timothy Burr, Peleg Sanford, 
 and James Bull were connected with both enter- 
 prises. Many other stockholders of the bank appear 
 on the bonds given to the State, and some of these, 
 though nominally sureties, had an interest in the 
 venture. 
 
 Early events failed to meet the expectations of 
 the promoters. Troublesome questions of jurisdic- 
 tion arose. Governor St. Clair tried to extend the 
 authority of Ohio over the purchase. The settlers
 
 72 HISTORY OF 
 
 resisted, and in October, 1797, the stockholders ap- 
 pealed to Connecticut for " suitable laws ... to be 
 administered at the sole expense of the proprietors." 
 The State declined to interfere, except to authorize 
 her Senators in Congress to execute a deed releasing 
 to the United States the jurisdiction of the Reserve. 
 The proposition was duly submitted at the next 
 session, but failed through a disagreement of the 
 two houses. 
 
 Meanwhile difficulties thickened around the com- 
 pany. Parties wishing to emigrate declined to buy 
 in a region without government and threatened 
 with still more serious disputes between contestants 
 for the right to govern. Owners hesitated to sell 
 so long as no legal machinery existed for enforcing 
 payments. An ominous cloud, too, hung over the 
 title. By many the claims of Connecticut to the 
 Reserve, derived from the charter of Charles II, 
 were considered too nebulous to sustain her pre- 
 tentions. Hence doubt tainted every conveyance 
 in the district. Besides, the notes given for the 
 property were hastening to maturity. Finally, after 
 years of struggle, a bill passed both houses and was 
 approved by President Adams, April 28, 1800, which 
 closed the controversy by establishing the title to 
 the soil through the deed from Connecticut. As a 
 part of the settlement the State relinquished to the 
 Federal government forever all claims to territory 
 lying westward of the eastern boundary of New 
 York.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ~- 
 
 From the interlocking relations of able and 
 determined men to the two associations, we can see 
 in outline how the bank aided the Land company 
 in the contest carried on with unfaltering purpose 
 but varying success, now before the Legislature and 
 now before Congress, to establish the title given 
 by Connecticut. Always open during the day, the 
 directors' room offered a convenient rallying point 
 where the keenest minds of the State could come 
 together to discuss the situation, to repair broken 
 defenses and to contrive new plans of attack. Here 
 converged the lines of intelligence from different 
 parts of the field, and here in emergencies timely 
 loans provided the sinews of war. 
 
 On the settlement of the controversy which gave 
 certainty to titles, and established local government 
 within the Reserve, there began an exodus from 
 Connecticut which threatened to depopulate the 
 State. A coast line tempting to maritime adven- 
 ture was then our main point of advantage. Manu- 
 factures, too feeble to attract capital, or to enlist 
 the talents of the brainy, afforded employment to 
 few. From Europe the flow of emigration had 
 hardly begun. A soil, ungrateful at best, seemed 
 trebly sterile in comparison with the exuberant fer- 
 tility of the broad acres temptingly advertised by 
 the Land company. A rage for moving seized rich 
 and poor alike. To go became the fashion. No 
 prophet protested in the name of the counter-charms 
 of New England. Explorers having made the jour-
 
 7 4 HISTORY OF 
 
 ney and secured new homes returned to sell their 
 ancestral farms. Numerous conveyances describe 
 the grantors as residents of Ohio. Young people 
 in their plays at social gatherings marched to rude 
 melodies which taught them to dream that toward 
 the setting sun lay an earthly paradise with gates 
 open to welcome them. From hill and valley the 
 procession hurried away. To-day many of our rural 
 towns are scarred and paralyzed by an outflow 
 which has built up the continent to no small degree 
 at their expense. From the year 1800 to 1840 the 
 population of Connecticut crawled up from 251,002 
 to 309,978, a gain of twenty-three and one-half per 
 cent, in forty years, or a trifle over one-half of one 
 per cent, per annum. 
 
 Meanwhile the Reserve fattened on the prodigal 
 gifts of her parent. The process of transplanting 
 quickened the mental and moral activities of the 
 Puritan stock. Freed from the intolerant and 
 repressive conservatism that then dominated the 
 religion and politics of Connecticut, thrown into a 
 tumult of ceaseless agitation, the emigrants became 
 peculiarly receptive of new ideas. In the Reserve 
 was organized the most intense and persistent 
 crusade against slavery. Through the Reserve ran 
 the main trunk of the underground railway from 
 bondage to freedom, and the hunted fugitive found 
 in every settler a friend. Here, as an inherited 
 theology lost its grimness, humanity grew more 
 tender, and conscience learned to look more to
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ^e 
 
 reason and less to authority for the sanctions of 
 duty. Here colleges were thrown open to girls, 
 and women were given an equal chance with men 
 to equip themselves for the battle of life. In a 
 development so swift and many-sided, much fanati- 
 cism was inevitable, but its evanescent forms have 
 left few traces of evil to mar the good. 
 
 June 12, 1794, the directors "voted that the 
 sum of eight hundred dollars be allowed H. Merrill, 
 as a full compensation for his services as cashier, 
 posting the books and doing all the clerkship neces- 
 sarily connected with the business of the bank, for 
 the term of one year, commencing the i3th day of 
 June, 1794, to be paid quarterly." The same day 
 they also voted "that the sum of thirty dollars be 
 allowed the cashier as a compensation for employing 
 a runner the two years past." 
 
 May 24, 1 796, the directors resolved that from 
 the increase of business it was deemed expedient and 
 necessary to enlarge the capital stock to the sum 
 of $160,000, and that to raise the additional $60,000 
 a subscription be opened under the superintend- 
 ence of the board. As the limitations on the num- 
 ber of shares that could be held by a single per- 
 son or corporation, and on the voting privileges of 
 the larger owners, stood in the way of the success 
 of the project, John Caldwell and William Mosely 
 were requested to apply to the General Assembly, 
 then in session, for a modification of the charter. 
 Before the end of the month the legislature passed
 
 *6 HISTORY OF 
 
 an act permitting any person, co-partnership, or 
 body politic to subscribe for and hold any number 
 of shares, and allowing to every stockholder one 
 vote for each share held. 
 
 Evidently bank stocks had not yet become pop- 
 ular with investors, for the public displayed a man- 
 ifest reluctance to accept the privilege. New shares 
 were absorbed to the value of $24,400 in 1796 ; 
 $9,200 in 1797; and $4,800 in 1798, making a total 
 increase of $38,400 in three years. Then for a 
 period the movement halted. Suddenly in March, 
 1802, with little apparent effort, $69,200 was added 
 to the capital, raising it to $207,600. Steady and 
 remunerative dividends had established the institu- 
 tion firmly in the confidence of the public. 
 
 By the introduction of stricter rules the bank 
 was enforcing upon the community habits of prompt- 
 ness and punctuality. Stringent measures were re- 
 quired to put an end to the old slipshod way of 
 meeting obligations. May 17, 1798, the board "voted 
 that in every Instance when a Note remains un- 
 paid (the three days of grace having expired), it 
 shall be the duty of the cashier to give immedi- 
 ate notice to the indorser. In case the note is not 
 paid within twenty-four hours after such notice, that 
 the note be put immediately in suit." 
 
 At the recurrence of the annual meeting in 
 June, 1799, Hezekiah Merrill declined a reappoint- 
 ment as cashier. At an earlier period he had been 
 an " apothecary and bookseller, at the sign of the 

 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 77 
 
 Unicorn and Mortar, a few rods south of the court- 
 house." His appetite for banking was probably ac- 
 quired by dealing's in public securities at a time 
 when dazzling profits rewarded the bold operator. 
 Soon after his retirement, he opened a grocery. 
 
 Normand Knox succeeded Mr. Merrill at a salary 
 of $800 per annum, payable quarterly. His yearly 
 compensation was raised to $900 in June, 1800, and 
 to $1,000 a year later. 
 
 During the Revolution, under the protection 
 and patronage of the British government, it was 
 claimed, counterfeiters had aggravated the discredit 
 and hastened the overthrow of the continental cur- 
 rency. Later the fraternity turned its attention to 
 the issues of various banks. The engraving on the 
 genuine was primitive and easily imitated. The 
 Hartford Bank made vigorous efforts to protect the 
 public. June 28, 1802, the directors "voted that 
 upon the exhibits and representations made by Capt. 
 George Woodward of his exertions in detecting a 
 number of persons engaged in counterfeiting the 
 Bank notes of this Bank, the cashier pay Capt. 
 Woodward one hundred and fifty dollars for his 
 services." 
 
 During the last decade of the eighteenth 
 century, through its new municipal government, 
 Hartford began to introduce the primary con- 
 veniences of city life and to repress the nuisances 
 left behind by the slow recession of agriculture. 
 Graveled sidewalks came in with the bank, and 
 adjoining proprietors were empowered to fence them
 
 ~g HISTORY OF 
 
 off from the highway by posts and a single rail. 
 Any person damaging or driving on a foot passage 
 was subject to fine. From time to time various 
 regulations were adopted for the prevention and 
 extinguishment of t fires. The wardens, distinguish- 
 able at fires by painted caps and white wands "at 
 least five feet in length," were required to make 
 careful inspections and given ample power to re- 
 move causes of peril. The common council went 
 doggedly to work to put an end to the pasturage 
 of streets by horses and cattle. Swine in and near 
 the highways, and especially as kept in great num- 
 bers at the gin distillery of Norman Butler & Co. 
 on Front street, presented a series of object-lessons 
 that brought the sense of decency to the aid of the 
 authorities. Still step by step the metamorphosis 
 from farm to town met obstinate resistance from 
 the agricultural interest. Thomas Y. Seymour was 
 appointed first city auditor in 1794, with authority 
 to adjust the accounts of the treasurer and to draw 
 orders for the payment of demands against the 
 corporation. He was required not only to present 
 a full statement to the annual meeting, but also to 
 explain at the same time the principles on which 
 all accounts had been adjusted by him. In 1796 the 
 office of city attorney was created, and was filled 
 first by Enoch Perkins. The same year a city 
 market was ordered on Central Row. On many 
 sides were seen evidences of public spirit striving 
 to make the young city a comfortable place of 
 residence.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 OCCUPANCY EXCLUSIVE BUT BENEFICENT 
 
 HARTFORD prospered in the decade following 
 the establishment of the bank. Her popula- 
 tion increased thirty per cent., the gain for 
 the State at large slightly exceeding five. Progress 
 was tranquil and unmarked by sensational incidents. 
 The fertile valley of the Connecticut continued to 
 yield bountiful harvests, and the surplus in the form 
 of grain, horses, cattle, beef, and pork, was largely 
 brought hither for sale and export. In the indus- 
 trial field appear the beginnings of permanence. In 
 1794 Normand Smith laid the foundations of the 
 prosperous firm now known as Smith, Bourn & Co. 
 But the most potent agency in upbuilding the 
 town was the bank itself. Before its formation, as 
 we have seen, the -hardships inseparable from the 
 prevalent method of conducting exchanges by bar- 
 ter, had become unbearable. Merchants held on 
 tenaciously to the little cash afloat, for each could 
 resort only to his private hoard in case of emer- 
 gency. Lenders were few and reserves small. 
 Hardly any one held a position to take advantage 
 of opportunities for exceptional profit, which the 
 possession of ready money often affords.
 
 8o 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 The bank soon changed the whole situation by 
 large additions to the aggregate financial resources 
 of the community, and by the economizing pro- 
 cesses introduced through its machinery. Traders 
 found that a credit on its ledger was more conve- 
 nient and safe than cash in the till, and hence 
 intrusted their funds to its custody. Experience 
 taught the managers that about two-thirds of the 
 deposits could be loaned with safety, and to that 
 extent the bank created a new capital, resting in 
 part on things unseen and incorporeal, but itself 
 none the less real and potent. As the prompt 
 redemption of bills obliterated the distrust caused 
 by the depreciation and collapse of public issues, 
 the volume of circulation expanded, and at least 
 two-thirds of this also was a clear gain to the cash 
 resources available for local uses. 
 
 Merchants and others learned to adjust by 
 checks, balances arising on mutual accounts. A 
 large proportion of domestic settlements was made 
 by transfers of credit on the bank ledger without 
 the handling of a dollar. Thus the institution put 
 in operation a set of appliances that manifolded the 
 volume and effectiveness of the funds within reach 
 of the community. Since money constitutes the 
 most generalized and efficient form of value, the 
 introduction of banks immensely facilitated the 
 marvelous growth which has marked the westward 
 march of empire. At different times in almost 
 every part of the country, ignorance, rashness, and
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK g x 
 
 dishonesty of management have caused incalculable 
 losses to the public, but such disasters, in every 
 instance avoidable, prove no incurable malady in 
 the system, but illustrate with another class of evi- 
 dence the danger of intrusting to folly or knavery 
 the manipulation of machinery that calls day by 
 day for prudence, foresight, and integrity. 
 
 In the adjustment of accounts between the Con- 
 federation and the States the commissioners made 
 their final report in December, 1793, crediting Con- 
 necticut with a balance of $619,121. By act of 
 Congress the creditor States on the sums found due 
 to them were allowed interest from Dec. 31, 1789, at 
 the rate of four per cent, per annum, and the several 
 amounts, bearing three per cent, annual interest, 
 were placed to their credit on the books of the 
 United States treasury. Provision was made for 
 funding the principal in United States stocks, on 
 seven-ninths of which the government reserved the 
 option to redeem two per cent, yearly at its 
 convenience. 
 
 Heavy expenditures prevented reduction of the 
 public debt till the accession of Jefferson to the 
 presidency. Gallatin, who then became secretary of 
 the treasury, applied the surplus revenues so ener- 
 getically to its redemption that by 1803, Connecticut 
 was called upon to provide for the disposition of the 
 sums thus paid back to her. 
 
 An excellent understanding seems to have 
 existed between the State authorities and the man- 
 agers of the bank. April 26, 1803, the directors
 
 g 2 HISTORY OF 
 
 "Resolved that this Bank in conjunction with the other 
 Banks in the State in case they agree, will in proportion to 
 the capitals of each receive from the state all the monies 
 it now has on hand and also all that it may hereafter have, 
 accruing from the reimbursement of the Capital of its Stock 
 of the U. States, as fast as the same comes into the hands 
 of the State, either on Loan at 6 per cent, per annum, or in 
 payment of shares to be issued to the State. And that John 
 Caldwell, Ephraim Root, John Morgan, and Ezekiel Williams, 
 Jr., be a committee to confer with committees from the Said 
 other Banks, and in conjunction with them to agree upon 
 and take the necessary measures for carrying the foregoing 
 resolution into effect." 
 
 There were at the time four other banks in the 
 State, the Union of New London, the New Haven, 
 the Middletown, and the Norwich. The stockholders 
 of the New Haven and Middletown banks joined 
 the Hartford bank in the above proposition. A few 
 weeks later at the May session the General Assem- 
 bly passed an act authorizing and directing the 
 treasurer of the State to subscribe to the shares of 
 the three banks, according to the terms submitted 
 in their proposal, and to embrace also the banks of 
 New London and Norwich, provided the stock- 
 holders of the latter by vote declare their assent to 
 the same conditions within one month after the 
 rising of the assembly. The law enacts that the 
 State shall be entitled to all profits and dividends 
 to accrue from the shares in the same manner as 
 other stockholders, and that it shall have the right, 
 on giving six months' previous notice, to withdraw
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK g., 
 
 the whole or any part of the investment. The 
 shares of the State were not transferable. 
 
 The law further provides that after any moneys 
 are so paid to any of said banks, the comptroller 
 shall be furnished, as often as he may require, not 
 exceeding once a month, with a statement of the 
 capital stock of such bank, and of the debts due to 
 the same, of the moneys deposited therein, of the 
 notes in circulation, and of the cash on hand ; and 
 shall have a right to inspect such general accounts 
 in the books as relate to the statement rendered. 
 
 Here appears the first attempt in Connecticut 
 at the supervision of our banks by the State au- 
 thorities, and the initial step was taken not for the 
 protection of depositors or bill-holders, but the in- 
 vestments of the State. 
 
 It is also enacted that in case the paid sub- 
 scriptions to any one bank shall exceed five thou- 
 sand dollars, the General Assembly may appoint, or 
 provide for the appointment of, a director, to have 
 the same powers as the other directors. The law 
 reserves the right to make further investments on 
 the same terms with other moneys than those ac- 
 cruing to the State from the redemption of federal 
 stocks. 
 
 May 24, 1803, the stockholders voted to admit 
 the State as a stockholder, and to allow it to in- 
 vest all or any part of the moneys accruing or to 
 accrue from the payment of its holdings of federal 
 funds, and that it be entitled to all profits and divi-
 
 g, HISTORY OF 
 
 dends on the shares subscribed and paid for in 
 the same manner as other stockholders. The com- 
 mittee appointed April 26th were directed to carry 
 the resolution into effect. In the course of the 
 next six years the State made the following sub- 
 scriptions to the stock of the Hartford Bank : 
 
 No. of Shares. Par Value. 
 
 1803, Dec. 10, 60 $24,000 
 
 1805, Dec. 13, 28 11,200 
 
 1806, June 14, 6 2,400 
 
 1807, Dec. 12, 35 14,000 
 
 1809, Dec. 13, 32 12,800 
 
 161 $64,400 
 
 March 7, 1805, the stockholders resolved to in- 
 crease the capital by $118,400, to open a subscrip- 
 tion for the purpose on the first of May, and to 
 allow any one purchasing and . paying for the new 
 shares before June I3th to receive the same at 
 $450 each an advance of 12^ per cent, on par. 
 Provision was made for an adjustment of rights in 
 case of over-subscription. 
 
 When the term expired, only $34,400 had been 
 taken. At the annual meeting, June i3th, authority 
 was given the directors to keep the books open 
 till the first day of October, and they were em- 
 powered to modify the conditions with the proviso 
 that if future subscriptions were admitted at an 
 advance of less than i2 l / 2 per cent., so much should 
 be returned on the shares taken between April ist 
 and June i3th, as would reduce the premium paid
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK gc 
 
 by all to an equality. To broaden the movement, 
 parties so desiring were permitted to take half and 
 quarter shares. The premium, now lowered by the 
 directors to five per cent., did not go into a surplus 
 but was distributed as a bonus among the holders 
 just prior to April ist. . 
 
 Tempted by more favorable terms, the subscrip- 
 tions between the annual meeting and the end of 
 the year reached $151,20x3. Still the ambition of 
 the board was not satisfied. January 15, 1806, they 
 secured an extension of authority till the thir- 
 teenth of the following June, and at the expira- 
 tion of the period further additions, aggregating 
 $128,000, brought the total capital up to $545,200. 
 
 May 9, 1806, led astray by the delusive grand- 
 eur of mere size, the shareholders took a step 
 which opened the door to injustice, and caused 
 much trouble in after years, when, under more 
 skillful leadership, the bank attained to enduring 
 strength through an ample surplus, for they voted 
 to receive subscriptions at any time within five 
 years for any number of shares from any religious 
 societies or school corporations in Connecticut, on 
 terms similar to those arranged with the State. 
 John Caldwell, Nathaniel Terry, and George Good- 
 win were appointed a committee to apply to the 
 General Assembly, then in session, for authority to 
 carry the resolution into effect. 
 
 An act inspired, and presumably prepared in 
 every detail by representatives of the institution,
 
 g5 HISTORY OP 
 
 was passed in May, 1807. It authorized an increase 
 of the capital stock to one million of dollars. On 
 the first day of the following September, and on 
 the first day of September in each successive year 
 thereafter, till the amount of five hundred thousand 
 dollars were added to the existing capital, the direct- 
 ors were required to open subscriptions for shares 
 for a sum not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, to 
 keep the same open at least ninety days after due 
 advertisement, and to admit any citizen of the State 
 upon paying four hundred dollars for each share, 
 with an advance thereon of four per cent., the ad- 
 vance to be divided among the stockholders at the 
 time of opening the several subscriptions. 
 
 As shown by the disposition of the premium, 
 the importance of accumulating a surplus had not 
 then dawned upon the bank or the public. Divi- 
 dends varied with current earnings and losses, 
 withdrawing the residuum of profit and leaving no 
 reserve for repairs in case of disaster. 
 
 Section six required the bank to be open at all 
 times to subscriptions of shares from the funds of 
 schools, ecclesiastical societies, or other incorpora- 
 tions for charitable purposes in the State, without 
 any advance thereon, and with the right on the 
 part of the privileged associations to withdraw their 
 moneys on giving six months' notice. Whenever 
 the holdings of any favored society reached fifty 
 thousand dollars, the full capital of a million having 
 been otherwise filled, it was entitled at the annual
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK g^ 
 
 meetings to the choice of a director. These shares 
 were not transferable. 
 
 In June the stockholders voted to approve and 
 accept of the law, which thus became a part of 
 their charter. 
 
 After a time the bank perceived that hardships 
 were liable to be imposed upon the ordinary share- 
 owners by the option granted to the State and to 
 privileged societies. If the price of the stock fell, 
 no matter how low, with the failure of dividends in 
 seasons of misfortune, these could after due notice 
 surrender their certificates at par. If, on the other 
 hand, profits and prices rose in a way to make 
 the investment desirable, they could also purchase 
 at par, thus both diminishing a premium earned 
 by the capital and efforts of others, and appropriat- 
 ing benefits to which they had made no contribu- 
 tion. Accordingly, in June, 1809, the directors were 
 authorized to present to the General Assembly at 
 some future session the request that the State with- 
 draw a part of its holdings, or at least make no 
 additions to the amount, and so alter the charter as 
 to release the bank from the obligation to receive 
 subscriptions from charitable societies, and from 
 individuals. 
 
 As often happens, the institution learned too 
 late that it is much easier to get into trouble than 
 to get out. From self-sought shackles it found no 
 escape till it entered the National system in 1865. 
 Till then it was held to strict compliance with the
 
 gg HISTORY OF 
 
 requirements of the law of 1807. Individuals eagerly 
 absorbed the annual increment of $50,000, while 
 charitable and religious societies were equally active. 
 By December, 1816, the capital reached $1,212,800, 
 of which $1,000,000 was transferable, and $212,800 
 non-transferable. 
 
 In May, 1802, the General Assembly enacted that 
 from the first day of the following September, no 
 bank in the State should issue any bill or note for 
 a less sum than one dollar, and prohibiting the cir- 
 culation of such notes issued elsewhere. Not from 
 books but from experience the people had learned 
 the law that paper drives out specie to the lowest 
 denomination to which it is issued. 
 
 One of the rules adopted before the bank began 
 business provided that the term of discount should 
 not exceed forty-five days. A few weeks later the 
 limit was extended to sixty, and in September, 1805, 
 to sixty-one days. In December, 1809, an enlarge- 
 ment of the limit to ninety days was improved to 
 enforce another lesson in punctuality, for borrowers 
 were notified that on all notes and bills running for 
 this period a payment of twenty per cent, would be 
 expected at maturity, and that no renewal note 
 would be received or entered on the books, if 
 written for a greater sum than four-fifths of the 
 principal falling due. 
 
 About this time manifestations of the monopo- 
 listic spirit became more visible. In 1809, the 
 directors voted that no loan on any note or bill
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK g g 
 
 should be made to any person thereafter for less 
 than one hundred dollars, or for renewal for less 
 than sixty dollars, that no notes or bills for less 
 than sixty dollars should be received for collection, 
 or unless lodged at least three days before falling 
 due, and that the bank would not be accountable 
 for any errors or loss accruing from omission to 
 give notice to drawers or endorsers. Such rules 
 seemingly belong to a period so archaic that the 
 business men of to-day comprehend with difficulty 
 the conditions which made their enforcement pos- 
 sible. Complaisance comes from competition. 
 
 In September, 1812, the board voted to con- 
 tribute one hundred and fifty dollars to the city to 
 aid in procuring a fire engine and " otherwise array- 
 ing the city to repel fire." 
 
 The seeds of underwriting were planted early 
 in Hartford by men closely identified with the 
 bank. Indeed, both lines of activity sprang from a 
 common parentage. From greater breadth of op- 
 portunity the younger child has become the famous 
 member of the family. Early in 1794, Sanford 
 and Wadsworth opened an office for the purpose 
 of insuring houses, furniture, merchandise, etc., 
 against fire. Policy No. 2, issued February 8, 1794, 
 insures the houses of Wm. Imlay one year for 800, 
 at the rate of one-half per cent. It is signed by 
 the firm "for the Hartford Fire Insurance Com- 
 pany." The persons forming the company are not 
 disclosed. The phrase may have been used as an
 
 g HISTORY OF 
 
 embellishment. Jeremiah Wadsworth, John Cald- 
 well, Sanford & Wadsworth, Elias Shipman, and 
 John Morgan, July 27, 1795, entered into a co-part- 
 nership "for the purpose of underwriting- on ves- 
 sels, stock, merchandise, etc., by the firm of the 
 Hartford and New Haven Insurance Company." 
 John Caldwell was appointed agent for Hartford, 
 and Elias Shipman for New Haven. 
 
 Local marine insurance begun in 1799 crys- 
 talized around Ezekiel Williams, Jr., and was carried 
 on not by an organized association, but by combi- 
 nations, variable in personnel, the members of which 
 agreed to take each a specified amount in the dif- 
 ferent risks. Mr. Williams formed the groups, col- 
 lected the premiums, kept the records, investigated 
 claims, and paid losses. The assurers agreed v to 
 bear perils of the 
 
 "Seas, men of war, fires, enemies, pirates, rovers, thieves, 
 jettisons, letters of mark and counter-mark, surprisals, tak- 
 ings at sea, arrests, restraints, and detainments of all kings, 
 princes, or people, of what nation, condition, or quality 
 soever ; barratry 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." 
 
 From the West Indies to towns on the Connec- 
 ticut River or to New London, the premium ranged 
 generally from five to eight per cent., according to 
 the liberty granted of touching en route at one or 
 more ports on the islands. For the round trip it
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK gl 
 
 often ran up to fourteen or fifteen per cent., with 
 an abatement of three or four per cent, in case of 
 safe return. For the premium it was the custom of 
 the assured to give their notes payable out of the 
 profits, or at the close of the venture. No liability 
 was incurred for a loss under five per cent., unless 
 in case of general average. 
 
 The amounts written by the several assurers on 
 a single vessel and cargo ordinarily ranged from 
 one hundred to six hundred dollars, and the num- 
 ber joining in the contracts from three to ten or 
 twelve, according to the magnitude of the aggre- 
 gate liability. Certain names appear on scores, if 
 not hundreds, of these policies. Among them are 
 John Caldwell, Normand Knox, Ezekiel Williams, 
 Jr., Michael and Thomas Bull, John Chenevard, 
 Samuel Lawrence, Hudson & Goodwin, Thomas San- 
 ford, Spencer Whiting, John Morgan, and others. 
 
 During the Napoleonic wars our carrying trade, 
 stimulated by enormous profits for brief intervals, 
 passed through long periods of harassment and rob- 
 bery from the disregard of the belligerents for neu- 
 tral rights, and later suffered hardly less from the 
 retaliatory measures adopted by our own government. 
 The books of George and John Pierce, afterwards 
 Pierce & Beach, from September, 1799, to Novem- 
 ber, 1812, lay open the character of the foreign 
 traffic of the Connecticut valley, and the difficulties 
 which then beset it. Exports to the West Indies 
 embraced horses, cattle, hay, lumber, hoops, staves,
 
 02 HISTORY OF 
 
 flour, corn, corn meal, potatoes, oats, beans, onions, 
 tobacco, cheese, lard, rice, beef, pork, butter, crack- 
 ers, etc. With the growth of urban population the 
 domestic consumption long since overtook the domes- 
 tic production of these articles, and omitting leaf 
 tobacco, the soil of the State now supplies but a 
 small fraction of the subsistence of her people. 
 
 Imports consisted mostly of rum, molasses, sugar, 
 and salt. 
 
 To the masters, selected for sound judgment 
 and versatile gifts, wide discretion was allowed. 
 Live stock was usually consigned to some dealer 
 on the islands, and the in-board cargo to the cap- 
 tain. After the first landing he was authorized to 
 proceed to other ports at his discretion, according 
 to the state of the market and existing political 
 conditions then a highly variable quantity in cal- 
 culations reaching a few weeks ahead. 
 
 With the old books spread out before one, it 
 is hard to resist the temptation to give copious 
 extracts from the instructions of the owners to the 
 masters. A few must suffice. 
 
 April, 1804, George Pierce thus instructs Capt. 
 Levi Goodrich, of the schooner Lydia, bound for 
 Barbadoes : 
 
 "You will be particularly careful not to do anything 
 that shall get you into difficulty by going into a blockaded 
 port, taking on board contraband goods, etc. Having full 
 confidence in your abilities and integrity I shall leave the 
 business of the voyage to be conducted as you think will
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK Q-, 
 
 be most for the interest of the concerned. You will not 
 fail to write every opportunity, mentioning your sales. 
 Wishing you a pleasant voyage and short passage," etc. 
 
 John Pierce, supercargo of the brig- Ontario 
 bound to Surinam, John Deshon, master, in June 
 of the same year is directed : 
 
 " .... If you get sugars you will be careful to 
 get those of a good quality and in good order. Be particu- 
 larly careful that your molasses is in good order, as the 
 voyage depends on getting good goods and in good order. 
 You will not get any rum at Surinam or Demarara, as 
 the quality is bad, and will not sell." 
 
 During the continuance of the embargo from 
 December, 1807, till March, 1809, the traffic was en- 
 tirely suspended. George Pierce died in 1806, and 
 in 1809 John Pierce formed a partnership under 
 the firm name of Pierce & Beach, with George 
 Beach, who had now reached the age of twenty- 
 one, and who while still a mere lad had filled 
 well the position of confidential clerk of the house. 
 Later, Mr. Beach was long president of the Phcenix 
 Bank. 
 
 During those troubled years a well-defined pol- 
 icy is enjoined in instructions from the home office. 
 Captains are directed to have their papers " fair 
 and correct," to comply with the laws, onerous as 
 these were, to avoid blockaded ports, to take no 
 risks for trifles, to shun dangerous complications, to 
 sell for coin whenever possible on account of the 
 depreciation of paper, and to buy goods of the best
 
 g, HISTORY OF 
 
 quality. Trained amid perils and compelled to meet 
 rapidly changing conditions, the masters became 
 adroit diplomats as well as skillful sailors and trad- 
 ers. The record covers a dozen years, the last 
 voyage before the war having been made to St. 
 Bartholomews by the brig Samuel, in the fall of 
 1812. 
 
 Educated by long practice in the principles 
 and methods of underwriting, the city in 1810 cen- 
 tralized its scattered efforts by organizing the Hart- 
 ford Fire Insurance Company. The capital was 
 fixed at $150,0x30, of which ten per cent, was to 
 be paid within sixty days from the passage of the 
 act granting the charter, and the remainder in 
 notes secured by mortgage or indorsement, payable 
 thirty days after demand by the president and di- 
 rectors. 
 
 The company was chartered at the May session 
 of the General Assembly. June 2/th, the directors 
 voted that the money received upon the first install- 
 ment be deposited in the Hartford Bank until 
 further order. November i4th, they voted that 
 Nathaniel Terry and Nathaniel Patten be a com- 
 mittee 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."
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 As the par of the bank shares was then 
 and they sold at an advance of four per cent., the 
 committee would have required $16,640, had they 
 decided to go to the limit of the discretion allowed 
 to them, while the cash installments yielded but 
 $15,000 to the company. November 27th, $16,224 
 were placed to their credit. Conservative counsels, 
 however, prevailed and they contented themselves 
 with the purchase, December i3th, of fourteen shares 
 at $5,824, returning the balance of $10,400 to the 
 treasury. October 29, 1817, the investment reached 
 one hundred shares, bought at a total cost of $43,- 
 684.25, or an average premium of .0921. 
 
 The insurance company now hold 556 shares of 
 the bank stock, par 100, representing a total cost of 
 $63,962.75, and at the close of the year 1891 it had 
 received in dividends from this source, $323,514. 
 Purchases were intermitted from May, 1819, to May, 
 1854. During the entire period only two shares have 
 been sold. 
 
 Close and cordial relations between the two 
 institutions have been maintained uninterruptedly. 
 From June 22, 1810, to the present time the insur- 
 ance company has kept a continuous account with 
 the bank, and it was an exclusive account, till 1863, 
 when a supplementary account was opened with 
 Dabney, Morgan & Company of New York City. 
 
 The embargo of 1807, and the subsequent non- 
 intercourse acts proved singularly oppressive to New 
 England. Exports from the United States fell from
 
 g6 HISTORY OF 
 
 $110,084,207, in 1807, to $22,430,960, in 1808. On 
 imports the duties received at New London dropped 
 from $201,838, in 1807, to $98,107, in 1808; $58,417, 
 in 1809; and $22,343 in 1810. Meanwhile the ship- 
 ping owned by the enterprising merchants of 
 Hartford lay idle and rotting in the river. To 
 commercial suffering was added the humiliation of 
 the slow discovery that the restrictive measures 
 enforced by the government were more injurious 
 to our own people than to the nations at which 
 they were aimed. In October, 1807, the General 
 Assembly of Connecticut sought to ease the pain 
 by authorizing the banks of the State " to issue post- 
 notes, payable to order and at a time subsequent to 
 the issuing of the same, any law to the contrary 
 notwithstan ding. ' ' 
 
 Little attention was paid to the highways of the 
 State, which were consequently very primitive, till 
 near the end of the last century, when a mania for 
 building turnpikes broke out and spread till the 
 introduction of railways suddenly killed the industry, 
 leaving the certificates of ownership valueless in 
 the hands of the holders. During the period about 
 one hundred and twenty charters were granted by 
 the General Assembly. Among the earliest was 
 the Hartford and New Haven, incorporated in 
 October, 1798. Its capital was divided into eight 
 hundred shares, the par depending on the cost of 
 construction. Two hundred and forty-four shares 
 were placed in New Haven, of which James
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK Q - 
 
 Hillhouse took one hundred and fifty. Hartford 
 subscribed for five hundred and twenty-one, almost 
 the entire amount going to the " bank crowd." Jere- 
 miah Wadsworth took no, Oliver Elsworth 150, 
 Hudson & Goodwin 100, Aaron Olmstead 50, John 
 Morgan 25, John Caldwell & Co. 20, Oliver Mather 
 20, Ezekiel Williams 10, etc. A few diminutive lots 
 were held in the intermediate towns. 
 
 The first meeting of the company was held at 
 the State House in New Haven, April 10, 1799, 
 when Jeremiah Wadsworth was chosen president, 
 James Hillhouse and Aaron Olmstead directors, 
 Oliver Mather clerk, and Simeon Baldwin treasurer. 
 An assessment of fifty dollars on each share was 
 laid, payable at such times and in such proportions 
 as the president and directors should appoint. 
 
 The cost, as found by the commissioners in 
 1803, amounted to $77,180.93. Since this was long 
 before railway financiering had taught the art of 
 sophisticating accounts pertaining to construction, 
 it may be assumed that the estimate was as near 
 correct as honest men could make it. The pro- 
 jectors anticipated an annual income of twelve per 
 cent, from the investment, but suffered disappoint- 
 ment. The yearly excess of tolls over cost of 
 collection and ordinary repairs climbed up slowly 
 to \y 2 , 2, and 2 l / 2 per cent, on the capital, and in 
 1836, as if to mock the stockholders with the delu- 
 sive -brightness of blessings about to take their 
 flight, the apparent profits reached 3 per cent.
 
 Q g HISTORY OF 
 
 October 26, 1811, the bank moved into its pres- 
 ent quarters on State Street. For Grecian symmetry 
 and obvious adaptation to uses required, the edifice, 
 after the lapse of eighty years, in the presence of 
 imposing architecture of recent date, still remains 
 one of the most attractive in the city. The dome 
 over the front room was added about the year 1820, 
 and as a work of art both in form and decoration, 
 bears the closest study.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 A RIVAL AND A REVOLUTION WAR AND PANIC 
 
 DURING twenty-two years the bank grew in 
 strength and influence without a rival. For 
 solidity and enterprise it had become one 
 of the best-known institutions of the country. On 
 converting his superfluities into money, the emigrant 
 preferred its bills to gold. From the motley cur- 
 rency of the period these were carefully laid aside 
 for a wet day or a pressing call, as far westward 
 as the axe of the frontiersman had pushed the out- 
 posts of civilization. Around home nearly every 
 enterprise undertaken for the public benefit or for 
 private gain was conceived and executed by parties 
 drawn together by the centripetal attraction of its 
 affairs. 
 
 But in a prosperous and forceful community this 
 state of things could not continue. Antipathies and 
 repulsions of various source and intensity perform 
 functions in the evolution of society hardly less 
 noticeable than the more gracious qualities which 
 cause congenial spirits to combine for common ends. 
 The Athenians tired of hearing Aristides called 
 "the Just." 
 
 The crisis came in 1814. Ambitious and worthy
 
 IOO 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 men, desiring seats on the platform raised aloft for 
 the financial magnates of the town, and finding the 
 chairs pre-empted, determined to build a platform 
 of their own. Politics and churches were drawn 
 into the controversy. In its progress, ancient affilia- 
 tions were broken up, and heterogeneous elements 
 united for the overthrow of the old order. When 
 the question of chartering a new bank was raised, 
 the political situation was somnolent from one-sided- 
 ness. Any radical change seemed impossible. How- 
 ever, a coalition was gradually formed which shat- 
 tered the power of federalism in its last stronghold, 
 and divorced church from state in Connecticut. 
 
 Before the spring session of the assembly in 
 1814, printed petitions were circulated about the 
 State, offering in return for a bank charter with a 
 capital of $1,500,000, "in conformity to precedents 
 in other States, to pay into the treasury of this 
 State, for the benefit of the State, the sum of 
 $60,000 to be collected by a tax or premium of 
 four per centum," etc. Although many signatures 
 were obtained the application took another form, 
 evidently from recognition of the need of enlisting 
 sectarian and local support. The petition presented 
 was signed by three citizens only. In this it was 
 suggested that the bonus be appropriated to the 
 uses of Yale College, of the medical institution in 
 New Haven, and of the Bishop's fund. The right 
 to establish a branch at Litchfield was also asked 
 for. Litchfield county had valuable votes but no
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK IQI 
 
 bank. Yale College was a pet of the Congregation- 
 alists. In the proposed contribution to the Bishop's 
 fund, a toothsome bait was thrown to the Episco- 
 palians, a denomination singled out for special favor, 
 not only on account of its wealth and influence, but 
 from personal bias on the part of leaders in the 
 movement. The Hartford Bank prepared to resist 
 the scheme. At a meeting of the stockholders on 
 the 5th of May, it was 
 
 " Voted, that Nathaniel Terry, John Caldwell, Andrew 
 Kingsbury, George Goodwin and John Morgan be and hereby 
 are appointed a committee to apply to the General Assembly 
 at their session in May instant, either to increase the Capital 
 of this Bank on such terms and to such an extent as they 
 may think proper ; or to discharge the Bank from the 
 obligation they are under to receive any further subscription 
 to its Capital according to the law passed in May, 1807, if 
 they should deem the same to be expedient, and generally 
 to represent this Bank, and to act in its behalf in all matters 
 affecting its interests which may come before said assembly." 
 
 In pursuance of the policy adopted by the stock- 
 holders the directors presented a counter memorial 
 offering to add one million of dollars to the capital 
 of the bank and pay the State a bonus of five per 
 cent, on the same, if in the judgment of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly more banking capital was needed. 
 
 The inevitable correspondent, in the Courant 
 of May 1 7th, sounds the customary note of warning. 
 After explaining the effect of a redundancy of cur- 
 rency in depreciating its value, " Probus " proceeds :
 
 IO2 HISTORY OF 
 
 " But the continual multiplication of banks and manu- 
 facturing institutions with the privilege of issuing bills of 
 credit, is a subject of just alarm to the community. The 
 power of creating these monied institutions is exercised by 
 the State legislatures, which appear to be governed by local 
 views, without any general regard to the state of trade. 
 Assailed, at every session, by applications from companies 
 of men, who want to be bankers, they seem to attend 
 more to the gratification of individuals, than to the effects 
 of a deluge of paper upon the commerce of the country. 
 The creation of forty-one banking institutions in Pennsyl- 
 vania at a single stroke is the most bold and inconsid- 
 erate step perhaps ever taken on this subject and shows 
 manifestly how little competent popular assemblies are to 
 manage the concerns of commerce. In other States the 
 same indiscretion is manifested, though in a less degree 
 and where the evil is to stop, no man can predict. It is 
 an undoubted fact, that the quantity of medium in our 
 country, now circulating, is far greater than the trade 
 of the country requires, or will long bear, without a seri- 
 ous catastrophe. Nor is the practice of purchasing charters, 
 by liberal donation to the State treasuries, to be viewed 
 without extreme anxiety. The corrupting influence of such 
 a practice cannot but be obvious; and once introduced, that 
 influence will swell like a torrent, which no public or pri- 
 vate virtue will be able to resist. Let those who question 
 this position acquaint themselves with the history of the 
 legislature of New York for a few years past. If our State 
 legislatures have not wisdom to foresee the effects of the 
 rage for multiplying monied corporations, and firmness 
 enough to set limits to it, the trade of this country must, 
 at no great distance of time, experience serious embarrass- 
 ments that will eventuate in great public and private 
 losses, and perhaps in a more general calamity."
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 An act incorporating the new institution passed 
 the House but failed in the Council. Before the 
 committee of conference reported, a modified act 
 granting a charter to the Phoenix Bank passed 
 both branches. Its capital was fixed at one million 
 of dollars, privileged societies being allowed to take 
 at par additional non-transferable shares. 
 
 At the same session, the Assembly resolved 
 that- 
 
 " Out of the first monies which shall be paid into the 
 treasury of this State, in pursuance of the act incorporat- 
 ing the Phoenix Bank, the treasurer shall . . . pay the 
 sum of $20,000 to D. Daggett, Wm. Leffingwell, and Charles 
 Denison . . . trustees . . . for the use and benefit of 
 the Medical Institution of Yale College." 
 
 The council also voted to appropriate $10,000, 
 accruing from the bonus to the Bishop's fund, but 
 the resolution was lost in the lower house. In Oc- 
 tober, 1815, both houses concurred in rejecting the 
 claim of the Episcopalians. Thus the manner of 
 granting the charter exasperated a church formida- 
 ble from numbers, wealth, culture, and compactness 
 of organization. They contended that in following 
 the petition only so far as it favored the " stand- 
 ing order," the General Assembly had violated an 
 implied pledge. A further grievance arose from 
 the persistent refusal of the dominant church, as 
 represented in the Legislature, to grant them a 
 college-charter. Ugly feelings provoked ugly words. 
 The pens of the disputants were dipped in gall.
 
 IQ . HISTORY OF 
 
 Sectarian bitterness overcame political cohesion. In 
 1816, the Episcopalians reinforced the Methodists, 
 Baptists, and other opponents of Congregationalism, 
 and all made common cause with the Jeffersonian 
 democracy for the overthrow of a system which, 
 as they alleged, ignored their rights. In 1817, the 
 Hartford Times was established to voice the de- 
 mands of "toleration," the shibboleth of the new 
 party. On the conservative side were arrayed the 
 federalists, the Congregational church, the Courant, 
 and the Hartford Bank. Through four years, in 
 face of continuous losses, they fought with dogged 
 resolution to save a system that had ceased to suit 
 the temper of the times. 
 
 The coalition nominated Oliver Wolcott for 
 governor, and Jonathan Ingersoll of New Haven 
 for lieutenant-governor. Wolcott succeeded Alexan- 
 der Hamilton as secretary of the treasury, and held 
 the office till near the end of Adams's administra- 
 tion. Ingersoll, a trustee of the Bishop's fund, was 
 a federalist. At the spring election Wolcott was 
 defeated, but Ingersoll by the aid of federal votes 
 was successful. 
 
 Alarmed at the strength of the opposition, the 
 federalists made concessions which merely irritated 
 the sores. In October, 1816, the General Assembly 
 distributed about five-sixths of the balances due 
 from the United States to the State, on account 
 of expenditures for defense in the late war, to 
 trustees for the use of the Congregational, Episco-
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK IQ r 
 
 pal, Baptist, and Methodist denominations, and to 
 Yale College, giving to the Congregationalists the 
 lion's share, a somewhat ungracious way, in the 
 light of previous favors to that body, of tendering 
 an olive branch to the disaffected. 
 
 In 1817, both Wolcott and Ingersoll were 
 elected with a favorable majority in the lower 
 house. In the spring of 1818, the victory of the 
 " tolerationists " was made complete by carrying two- 
 thirds of the council. Only four years earlier, be- 
 fore the apple of discord had been thrown, John 
 Cotton Smith, the federalist candidate, received 
 9,415 votes for governor, and Elijah Boardman, his 
 democratic competitor, 2,619. Never till then had 
 such a cyclone swept over the land of steady 
 habits. Before the end of the year the constitu- 
 tion under which the people of the State have 
 since lived was formed and adopted. 
 
 It is doubtless true that this controversy, in 
 which the Hartford Bank bore a leading and hap- 
 pily a losing part, only hastened an inevitable rev- 
 olution. Be this as it may, the event marks an 
 epoch in one of the most instructive and fruitful 
 experiments in self-government. 
 
 The constitution adopted in 1638-9 by Hartford, 
 Windsor, and Wethersfield, the first written constitu- 
 tion known to history, lodges the supreme power of 
 the commonwealth in the general court as the repre- 
 sentative of the people from whom it derived its 
 existence. The court was impowered to make and
 
 I0 5 HISTORY OF 
 
 repeal laws, to levy taxes, to admit freemen, to dis- 
 pose of lands, to punish crimes and misdemeanors, 
 and to deal in any other matter that concerned 
 the good of the commonwealth, except the election 
 of magistrates, which was left to the whole body 
 of freemen. No sovereignty was recognized outside 
 of the parties to the compact. Here in the wilder- 
 ness a handful of men, having put an ocean be- 
 tween themselves and the oppressions of tyranny, 
 were the first quietly but firmly to announce the 
 doctrine that the people have the right to order 
 their own affairs with a view solely to their own 
 good. 
 
 The charter of 1662, from Charles II, made no 
 change in the situation, but was successfully as- 
 sumed to confirm to the colony the privileges pre- 
 viously enjoyed. It was an ingenious instrument, 
 drawn up with great care in Hartford, and signed 
 by the youthful monarch in a rare paroxysm of 
 good sense. After conferring upon the colony the 
 ordinary attributes of a body politic and corporate, 
 it impowers the inhabitants to choose yearly a 
 governor, deputy-governor, and twelve assistants, to 
 admit freemen, to hold general assemblies, to es- 
 tablish courts, ordain laws, impose fines, and pun- 
 ish offenders. The " governor and company " are 
 authorized for the defense and safety of the colony 
 to " put in warlike posture the inhabitants," and to 
 commission suitable persons to command such 
 forces. Other loving subjects of the crown are not
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 to be hindered from fishing on the coast, or from 
 erecting on waste land wharves and stages neces- 
 sary for the drying and salting of their fish. To 
 this skeleton, purposely left bare, the people sup- 
 plied flesh, blood, and a living spirit. 
 
 Ardently religious and finding in dreams of 
 heaven the strength to bear with fortitude the ills 
 of earth, the freemen of Connecticut invoked the 
 aid of the law for the upbuilding of the church of 
 their love. To perpetuate usages at length vaguely 
 threatened by growing diversities of population and 
 opinion, in 1697 the court enacted that the several 
 towns and plantations in the colony should pay to 
 their respective ministers of the gospel the sums or 
 salaries agreed upon between them, by a tax 
 assessed on the inhabitants of each according to 
 their estates. Two years later a pastoral settlement 
 assented to by the major part of the householders 
 of a society was made binding on all. That the 
 wayfarer might not miss the road from lack of 
 guide-board, the assembly, in October, 1708, ordained 
 that all churches within its jurisdiction, uniting in 
 the doctrine, worship, and discipline approved by 
 the synod which met at Saybrook the previous 
 September, should " be owned and acknowledged, 
 established by law." An act passed in May of the 
 same year permitted sober dissenters to worship 
 separately, but without relief from the tax imposed 
 for the use of the Congregational ministry. 
 
 From 1727, members of the Church of England
 
 I0 g HISTORY OF 
 
 were permitted to pay the taxes collected from them 
 for the support of the gospel, to the settled ministers 
 of their own denomination. Two years later a 
 similar relaxation was made in favor of Quakers 
 and Baptists. 
 
 No further breach in the walls was effected for 
 two generations. At length, to still forever the 
 murmurs of discontent, a concession, supposed to 
 be final, was granted. By the law of October, 1791, 
 any dissenter from the worship of the standing 
 order, electing to join any other denomination of 
 Christians, by lodging a certificate thereof with the 
 clerk of the society, was thereupon exempted from 
 the payment of further taxes for the support of the 
 Congregational ministry, so long as he continued 
 to attend ordinarily the church of his choice. The 
 ancient power of levying taxes on members for the 
 salaries of ministers and for the erection and repair 
 of meeting-houses was extended to all Christian 
 sects. 
 
 Such, in part, was the situation in Connecticut 
 when the prosperity of the Hartford Bank brought 
 forward a competitor, and the quarrel arose over the 
 disposition of the bonus paid for the new charter. 
 In the fight for the retention of supremacy Con- 
 gregationalism and the political oligarchy closely 
 allied to it were pitted against the field. With 
 the expansion of secular interests the people had 
 been growing less theological, and hence less sym- 
 pathetic with a theocratic trend of civil government.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK IO g 
 
 Many were indifferent. Scientific generalizations 
 were producing mental conditions incongruous with 
 certain phases of old beliefs. In view of the insur- 
 mountable limits of human knowledge, reverent 
 minds, even in the strongholds of puritanism, 
 began to doubt whether creeds could be anchored 
 upon the billows of an unfathomable sea, and 
 whether any ecclesiastical mint was divinely com- 
 missioned to coin the infinite into legal tender and 
 force its acceptance in final settlement of questions 
 that besiege forever the human soul. 
 
 Reasons connected with the administration of 
 justice and the election of assistants also satisfied 
 many that the State had outlived the system slowly 
 built up on the generalities of the charter of 1662. 
 The legislative and judicial functions of govern- 
 ment were not definitely separated. At will the 
 General Assembly reviewed and overturned the 
 decisions of the judiciary, in effect making a mis- 
 cellaneous body, composed in one branch mostly of 
 farmers, the Supreme Court of the State. Concrete 
 cases arose which convinced thoughtful minds of 
 the unwisdom and danger of this undefined distri- 
 bution of authority. 
 
 Members of the upper house were elected 
 annually from the State at large in a way to 
 make the body virtually self-perpetuating. Vacan- 
 cies seldom occurred except through death, senility, 
 or promotion to higher office. Otherwise the same 
 men met year after year, a miniature house of
 
 IIO HISTORY OF 
 
 lords, elective in form rather than in fact. By an 
 act passed in 1801, freemen, when voting for assist- 
 ants or representatives in Congress, were required 
 to rise, or, if the accommodations were insufficient 
 to admit of seating, to hold up the hand. The law, 
 which grew more odious as the value of a secret 
 ballot became better understood, was repealed in 
 October, 1816, the first fruit of a still incomplete 
 success. 
 
 The constitution of 1818 presents a declaration 
 of rights in twenty-one sections, mostly explicit 
 statements of rights previously recognized as parts 
 of the written or unwritten law. A few, however, 
 involve radical changes. The enjoyment of religious 
 worship in a decorous manner is guaranteed to all 
 persons without discrimination, and a prohibition 
 is put upon giving preference by law to any 
 Christian sect. The powers of government are dis- 
 tributed between the legislative, executive, and 
 judicial departments, each independent, and each 
 having a separate magistracy. Senatorial districts 
 were not formed till after the adoption of the 
 amendment of 1828. By article seventh, while the 
 worship of the Supreme Being is declared to be 
 the duty of all men, it is ordained that no person 
 shall by law be compelled to join or support any 
 church or religious association, and equal privileges 
 are guaranteed to all Christian denominations. 
 
 Coalescing with other influences the constitution 
 gave a decided impetus to the development of
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK m 
 
 mechanical talent and mechanical industries, which 
 came most opportunely, not only to arrest the de- 
 population of the State caused by the decadence of 
 agriculture, but also to bring to it new and prolific 
 sources of wealth. 
 
 Having held the cashiership for fifteen years, 
 Normand Knox resigned the position July 22, 1814, 
 to accept the presidency of the Phoenix Bank. In 
 1 80 1 his salary was raised from $800 to $1,000, and 
 there it remained during the rest of his term. In 
 1807 fifty, and during the three subsequent years 
 one hundred dollars additional, were voted him for 
 extra services. He died in 1821. Horace Burr was 
 appointed cashier to succeed Mr. Knox. 
 
 A brief rtsumt of the general situation will pre- 
 pare the reader to appreciate more fully the attitude 
 of the Hartford and other Connecticut banks during 
 and after the war of 1812. 
 
 Strenuous efforts to secure a renewal of the 
 charter of the first United States Bank failed in 
 Congress by a bare minority. It had furnished the 
 country a sound currency redeemable at all times 
 in coin. It had rendered invaluable aid in estab- 
 lishing the credit of the young republic, and had 
 paid satisfactory dividends. Its continuance was 
 opposed less on grounds of public policy than from 
 desire on the part of many influential persons, out- 
 side of the circle of stockholders, to appropriate the 
 profits of the business through local banks which 
 they proposed to organize.
 
 II2 HISTORY OF 
 
 The charter expired March 4, 1811. As the 
 institution had its principal office in Pennsylvania, 
 the mania for the creation of new concerns raged 
 with exceptional violence in that State. Wild and 
 radically erroneous ideas prevailed. Many fancied 
 that in some way cities owed their prosperity to 
 banks, and that an extension of the system would 
 confer similar benefits upon the country. Says 
 Condy Raguet, in a report made to- the Pennsyl- 
 vania Legislature in January, 1820: 
 
 "It was supposed that the mere establishment of banks 
 would of itself create capital, that a mere promise to pay 
 money was money itself, and that a nominal rise of the 
 price of land and commodities, ever attendant upon a 
 plenty of money, was a real increase of substantial wealth. 
 The theory was plausible and too well succeeded." 
 
 During the session of 1812-13 the Pennsylvania 
 Legislature, by a majority of one in each branch, 
 voted to incorporate twenty-five banks; but the 
 scheme was killed by a veto from the governor. 
 At the next session a bill incorporating forty-one, 
 with capitals amounting to over $17,000,000, rushed 
 through over a second executive veto, became law 
 March 21, 1814. Of the number authorized, thirty- 
 seven went into actual operation. 
 
 The bona fide capital produced was very small; 
 for, after the collection of the first installment, sub- 
 sequent payments were often made in the promis- 
 sory notes of subscribers, having an element of 
 pennanence sadly lacking in other parts of the
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ll ^ 
 
 make-up. Ordinarily excessive issues are prevented 
 by the inflow of bills for redemption. Now, how- 
 ever, the war .stopped in great measure the ex- 
 port of specie, making it easy to float an extraor- 
 dinary volume of paper. Government made heavy 
 loans, taking the proceeds in bank notes. Intoxi- 
 cated by the speculative fever individuals borrowed 
 recklessly, the banks of the Middle and Southern 
 States meanwhile pouring out promises to pay, ob- 
 livious that a day of reckoning must come. 
 
 New England escaped the infatuation. At that 
 time the party built up by Jefferson had few ad- 
 herents east of New York. Even the bait of pat- 
 ronage, usually so effective in catching recruits, 
 made no sensible break in the ranks of her lead- 
 ers. Both Napoleon and the British cabinet in the 
 deadly struggle for mastery showed equal disregard 
 for the neutral rights of the United States, but the 
 embargo and other retaliatory measures of our gov- 
 ernment, while helping rather than hurting the bel- 
 ligerents, aroused in New England feelings of deep 
 and lasting resentment from the incurable injuries 
 they inflicted upon her commerce. 
 
 When at length war was declared, the step 
 found hardly an advocate or apologist among the 
 federalists of the East. Amid the heats of parti- 
 san rancor they refused to concede to the admin- 
 istration either patriotism or ability. The surrender 
 of Hull, the imbecility of Dearborn and the blun- 
 ders of Wilkeson, seemed to justify the charge that
 
 jj^ HISTORY OF 
 
 in the end hostilities were precipitated without 
 forethought or preparation. Among our presidents, 
 Madison stands preeminent for the unfitness of his 
 appointments. In aggravation of the mischief he 
 acted on the theory that his responsibility ceased 
 with the selection of subordinates, who must there- 
 after bear alone the blame for miscarriages in the 
 respective spheres assigned to them. 
 
 Whether the federalists were right or wrong, 
 anticipations of disaster repressed the speculative 
 fever usually produced by advancing prices. Con- 
 servatism marked the operations of financiers and 
 traders. The banks of Connecticut and Massachu- 
 setts issued their notes sparingly, keeping far 
 within the danger-line. A currency proportioned 
 to the needs of business held prices at a moderate 
 level in those States, while redundancy of paper 
 caused high prices and reckless activity wherever 
 the abuse existed. One market attracted buyers 
 and the other sellers. Accordingly streams of 
 domestic and imported commodities flowed con- 
 stantly westward and southward from New England. 
 Coin moved in the opposite direction to meet the 
 payments. Local settlements in New York, Phila- 
 delphia, and Baltimore were effected by paper, 
 while specie was sent eastward where its purchasing 
 power was much greater. To both a sound and 
 unsound currency applies the double truth of the 
 parable: "to him that hath shall be given, and from 
 him that hath not shall be taken even that which 
 he hath."
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK jje 
 
 The capture of Washington in August, 1814, 
 afforded to the inflated banks a convenient pretext 
 for suspension. From Baltimore to New York they 
 tumbled in quick succession, but in the East they 
 stood unshaken by the storm. 
 
 At once the bills of the Hartford and other 
 Connecticut banks disappeared from circulation, 
 either coming in for redemption or going into 
 private hoards. At first the issues of suspended 
 institutions, now relieved from all checks upon 
 prudence, rushed into the vacuum. According to 
 origin these represented various degrees of depre- 
 ciation, so that every trade and settlement involved 
 more or less difficult computations, the loss from 
 errors falling as a rule upon the poor and ignorant. 
 The situation deprived our banks of the profits of 
 circulation, and forced upon the people a very 
 unsatisfactory currency. Hence at a special session 
 in January, 1815, the General Assembly passed an 
 act impowering each incorporated bank in the State 
 to issue bills to the amount of one-half the actually 
 paid capital thereof, receivable for all debts due the 
 same, and payable in specie on demand two years 
 after the close of the war. Presidents and cashiers 
 were required to make semi-annual sworn statements 
 to the General Assembly of the amounts outstanding 
 at the time of such returns. The previous October 
 it had authorized them to issue promissory notes of 
 less denomination than one dollar for the payment 
 of money only.
 
 jj5 HISTORY OF 
 
 Our banks now put out bills under two forms, 
 the first promising to pay the bearer - - dollars 
 in notes of New York banks, on demand at the 
 bank in New York, or in specie two years 
 after the war; and the second promising to pay the 
 bearer - dollars two years after the war. Both 
 were receivable for all debts due the several insti- 
 tutions issuing the same. Borrowing a hint from 
 Virgil Facilis decensus Averni the public named 
 them " facilities." Fractional notes ranging from 
 six and one-quarter to fifty cents were also freely 
 injected into the currency. Individuals and corpora- 
 tions, barbers and bar-tenders as well as manufac- 
 turers and capitalists, the solvent and the insolvent, 
 further variegated the assortment of " shinplasters " 
 by liberal contributions, some professing to call for 
 money and others for services. Meanwhile, counter- 
 feiters took advantage of the disorder to scatter 
 abroad large quantities of spurious stuff. Treasury 
 notes, though receivable for public dues, were not 
 a legal tender, their value from day to day depend- 
 ing on the changing views of buyers and sellers. 
 
 The treaty of peace was signed at Ghent, 
 December 24, 1814, the news reaching New York 
 by the sloop-of-war Favorite, February n, 1815. The 
 people of Connecticut were so thoroughly apprecia- 
 tive of the value of a sound currency that the 
 subject was one of the first to enlist their attention. 
 At the May session of 1815 the power granted to 
 the banks to emit post-notes payable two years
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK j j ~ 
 
 after the end of the war, was made to cease and, 
 determine from the first day of January, 1816. The 
 issue by any unauthorized person, persons, or corpo- 
 ration of paper intended to pass in lieu of money 
 was prohibited under heavy penalties. The law 
 for the punishment of counterfeiters, contained in 
 the revision of 1784, was left in force, except that 
 the offender was in no case to be whipped on the 
 naked body. 
 
 As the banks of Connecticut had never sus- 
 pended, the post-notes being a mere eddy from the 
 general current, they now thought the time at hand 
 when the banks of the Middle and Southern States 
 should prepare for speedy resumption. New York 
 or Philadelphia could return for coin every stray 
 bill from the east, and laugh to scorn any attempt 
 to send back their own by way of offset. After 
 various consultations it was decided to hold a con- 
 vention at Middletown, July 7, 1815, to consider 
 " the expediency of taking measures to persuade 
 or compel the New York banks to resume specie 
 payments at such a period as may be deemed 
 proper." John Caldwell and David Watkinson were 
 appointed delegates from the Hartford Bank. On 
 the 8th these gentlemen reported to the directors 
 the action, of the meeting, which was unanimously 
 approved. John Morgan was selected to meet other 
 representatives from the State in the city of New 
 York, July iQth, to present the views adopted at 
 Middletown, to a committee of that city and receive 
 its reply thereto.
 
 jjg HISTORY OF 
 
 Wall Street manifested little anxiety to be saved 
 from the error of its ways, listening irresponsively 
 to the pleadings of the missionaries sent forth for 
 its conversion. With bills at a discount of fifteen 
 per cent., the banks of the city were generally 
 paying large dividends, and hence, as long as the 
 community remained reasonably quiet, were quite 
 content to allow matters to drift on without agitat- 
 ing for a change. In its issue of September 2/th 
 the Courant in a few lines summarizes the case : 
 
 " It would be a great accommodation to many persons 
 who give their notes, if their fellow citizens would keep 
 them in perpetual circulation as money without ever pre- 
 senting them for payment confiding in the assurance of 
 the promisors that they have property enough to make the 
 notes secure, but no cash they have a great estate, but no 
 money and the holders of notes must feel safe in this con- 
 viction, without ever using or testing it. And why should 
 not these note issuers be thus accommodated as well as the 
 individuals who compose a southern or any other bank ? " 
 
 As rates of depreciation varied with distances 
 from points of issue, an army of money-brokers 
 sprang up who drew handsome profits from the 
 exchange of dishonored promises. Self-interest led 
 the class to favor continuance of the suspension. 
 
 The labor of signing fractional currency proved 
 so burdensome that December 9, 1815, 'the board 
 passed a vote authorizing any one of the directors 
 to sign as vice-president, and Mr. Charles Goodwin 
 to countersign for the cashier. On the i4th of the 
 following June, James Burr, Charles Goodwin, or
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK ll g 
 
 either of the clerks, were impowered to countersign 
 for the cashier. 
 
 At the October session, 1816, the General Assem- 
 bly repealed the law permitting the banks to issue 
 bills of a less denomination than one dollar, and 
 prepared to suppress their circulation by enacting 
 that each person passing such bill from and after 
 the first day of March, 1817, should be liable to a 
 penalty of three dollars. 
 
 Step by step the Legislature proceeded to build 
 barriers against the future creation of irredeemable 
 paper. Meanwhile our stockholders were not quite 
 ready to forego the convenience or profit of circula- 
 tion. Yielding to a reactionary impulse they voted 
 at the annual meeting in June, 1816, to authorize 
 the directors, if in their judgment it should be 
 deemed expedient, to issue bills receivable for all 
 debts due to the bank, with the proviso that the 
 total amount should not exceed one-sixth part of 
 the capital. The next day, in declaring the semi- 
 annual dividend, the directors made it payable July 
 ist, either in the notes of New York banks, or in 
 its own notes receivable for debts due to it. 
 
 In 1817 the par of the shares was reduced from 
 four hundred to one hundred dollars each, four of 
 the new being exchanged for one of the old, and 
 the board of direction was increased from nine to 
 twelve. 
 
 From stocks on hand at the close of the war 
 the United States exported before the first of Octo-
 
 I20 HISTORY OF 
 
 ber, 1815, cotton, tobacco, and rice to the value of 
 twenty-eight and a half millions of dollars, and 
 wheat and corn to the value of over eight millions. 
 New England produced little for export. During 
 the earlier Napoleonic wars her shipping had proved 
 a source of enormous revenue, notwithstanding 
 vexatious harassments. But the embargo, the 
 restrictive acts, and the blockade had both cut off 
 the income and wasted the capital invested in the 
 business. In the carrying trade she thenceforth 
 came into direct competition with Great Britain 
 and France, and profits sunk toward zero. Simul- 
 taneously with the outflow of agricultural produce, 
 England, to relieve her congested warehouses, 
 inundated our markets with her manufactures, 
 which, to the disgust of the shippers, were sold on 
 the whole at a great sacrifice. The nascent indus- 
 tries of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode 
 Island, inordinately profitable during the blockade, 
 ceased to meet running expenses and were gen- 
 erally closed. 
 
 Misfortunes seldom come singly. Throughout 
 New England the summer of 1816 was very cold. 
 In Connecticut severe frosts occurred every month. 
 The corn crop proved almost a failure. The yield 
 of hay, potatoes, and grain did not exceed one-half 
 the average. An unfruitful season was followed by 
 a bitter winter and late spring. Many cattle died 
 of starvation. Industrious and prudent families suf- 
 fered from lack of food. A sort of mania impaired
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK I2I 
 
 the judgment of people, impelling them to ill-con- 
 sidered changes. During the summer hundreds 
 abandoned their ancestral homes for what was then 
 known as " the West," beginning life anew with 
 the few movables which they could take along into 
 the wilderness. Regrets came too late to be 
 availing. 
 
 Duties on imports, collected in the motley cur- 
 rency of the period, gave the government a large 
 surplus, but it had no facilities for transferring 
 balances to points where funds were wanted for the 
 payment of public obligations. Local bank notes 
 were accepted for taxes, and these in most cases 
 were at a heavy discount a few miles from the 
 place of issue. The need of fiscal machinery for 
 handling and moving the resources of the treasury, 
 according to the requirements of the service, and a 
 belief that the institution would hasten the return 
 of specie payments, led to the charter of the second 
 United States bank, which began business January 
 7, 1817. Its capital, to consist of specie and govern- 
 ment stocks, was fixed at $35,000,000, and its 
 duration limited to twenty years. It had the right 
 to establish branches according to the judgment 
 of the directors. 
 
 Gentle coercives applied by the Secretary of the 
 Treasury persuaded the banks of the Middle and 
 Southern States to agree to resume on the 2Oth of 
 the following February. No adequate steps in the 
 way of contraction were taken to insure . the success
 
 I22 HISTORY OF 
 
 of the experiment. Loans were shifted from one 
 shoulder to another, but the volume remained about 
 the same. Very early the United States Bank im- 
 ported seven millions bullion at a cost of $800,000, 
 but it went out as fast as it came in. April 21, 1819, 
 its specie reserve had fallen to $126,745.28. By mis- 
 management it had been brought in two years to 
 the verge of ruin. A change of presidents was fol- 
 lowed by a change of policy. Curtailment of loans 
 and withdrawal of circulation restored it to solvency, 
 but private fortunes were wrecked by the process. 
 
 With changes in the dramatis persona and minor 
 details, the history of all periods of inflation can 
 be told with substantial fidelity in one formula: 
 demoralization, extravagance, gambling, the robbery 
 of industry, the enrichment in many cases of craft 
 and cunning, a redistribution of wealth through 
 artificial contrivances, followed in due time by col- 
 lapse, failures, enforced idleness, the dislocation of 
 manufactures and trade, and paralysis of slow cure. 
 
 Niless Weekly Register, the highest contemporary 
 authority, gives graphic pictures of the ruin attend- 
 ant on the crisis of 1819. Of the sinister aspect of 
 the failures it says : 
 
 " So extensive were these among the merchants of the 
 cities east of Baltimore, that it seemed to be disreputable to 
 stop payment for less than $100,000; the fashionable amount 
 was from two to three hundred thousand dollars, and the 
 tip-top quality, the support of whose families had cost them 
 from eight to twelve thousand dollars a year, were honored 
 with an amount of debt exceeding five hundred thousand
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 dollars, and nearly as much as a million of dollars. The 
 prodigality and waste of some of these were almost beyond 
 belief; we have heard that the furniture of a single parlor 
 possessed by (we cannot say belonging to) one of them cost 
 forty thousand dollars. So it was in all the great cities 
 dash, dash, dash; venders of tape and bobbins transformed 
 into persons of high blood, and the sons of respectable citi- 
 zens converted into knaves of rank through speculation and 
 the facilities of the abominable paper system." 
 
 Of the disturbance and distress in the month 
 of August the Register says: 
 
 "It is estimated that there are twenty thousand persons 
 daily seeking work in Philadelphia; in New York ten thou- 
 sand able-bodied men are said to be wandering about the 
 streets looking for it, and if we add to them the women 
 who desire something to do, the amount cannot be less 
 than twenty thousand; in Baltimore there may be about ten 
 thousand persons in unsteady employment or actually suffer- 
 ing because they cannot get into business. We know several 
 decent men, lately good livers, who now subsist on such 
 victuals as two years ago they would not have given their 
 servants in the kitchen." 
 
 Connecticut suffered much less than the Mid- 
 dle States, because she had not departed from the 
 maxims of sound finance. At the same time, slow 
 constriction choked her prosperity. Former springs 
 of wealth were drying up. As yet were discerni- 
 ble only dim foreshado wings of the era of mechan- 
 ical invention and skill, which, from exceptionally 
 brilliant development in the State, has since cor- 
 respondingly enriched her people. In that gloomy 
 interval of transition, the crop that she could count
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 upon with greatest certainty was the yearly out- 
 put of emigrants the most exhaustive ever re- 
 moved from the soil. 
 
 Then, too, a perverse tendency on the part of 
 things to turn out badly brought confusion to well- 
 arranged plans. Shrewdness missed the mark. 
 Possessions won by industry and prudence evapo- 
 rated. Many who supposed they had accumulated 
 a competency for old age awoke to the realization 
 that they were poor, and that it was too late to 
 begin again. 
 
 In the cataclysm reverses thickened around 
 John Caldwell. Losses arising in his own business 
 were reinforced by others incurred in attempts to 
 aid different members of his family. Having easily 
 held the position of trusted leader in the civil and 
 mercantile affairs of the town, while a full genera- 
 tion were crossing the stage, in June, 1819, he re- 
 tired from the presidency of the bank after an 
 honorable incumbency of twenty-seven years. He 
 had long been the last official survivor of the 
 original directory. 
 
 For a quarter of a century the institution had 
 exerted an influence, not only in financial matters 
 but in politics and the church, that has never been 
 paralleled in the history of the State, and a repe- 
 tition of which from changed conditions long ago 
 ceased to be possible.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE SECOND GENERATION 
 
 JUNE 10, 1819, General Nathaniel Terry was 
 elected president and Horace Burr continued 
 as cashier. For several months the directors 
 had been reefing sails. They scrutinized with more 
 care the credit of borrowers and the character of 
 accommodations. On the first of January two- sets 
 of rules were adopted looking to increased caution 
 in the conduct of the business. It was agreed that 
 notes put into the hands of an attorney for collec- 
 tion should not be renewed. Any name appearing 
 as drawer, acceptor, or endorser on paper lying 
 unpaid, was not to be received on paper offered 
 for discount. All notes unpaid at the closing of 
 the doors on the last day of grace must be placed 
 with the attorney for collection immediately. Co- 
 partnerships desiring favors must disclose the names 
 of the members in a certificate signed by them. 
 Any director offering a note for discount is recom- 
 mended to be absent till a decision is made thereon. 
 The attorney must report the situation of all notes 
 placed with him for collection as often as once in 
 thirty days. One partner must not be accepted as 
 indorser for another. The cashier is required to
 
 I2 5 HISTORY OF 
 
 report to the directors at their next meeting when- 
 ever any account is overdrawn and not made good 
 immediately on notice, or whenever a person habit- 
 ually and knowingly overdraws. 
 
 General Nathaniel Terry, second president, was 
 born at Enfield, Conn., January 30, 1768; graduated 
 at Yale College in 1786, and was admitted to the 
 bar in 1790. Having moved to Hartford, he repre- 
 resented the town twelve sessions in the General 
 Assembly; was judge of the county court, 1807-9; 
 member of the Fifteenth Congress, 1817-19; served 
 in the constitutional convention of 1818, and was 
 mayor of the city, 1824-31. He was president of 
 the Hartford Fire Insurance Company during its 
 prolonged infancy from 1810 to 1835. He married, 
 March 14, 1798, Catharine, daughter of Colonel Jere- 
 miah Wadsworth. After a career of striking vicissi- 
 tudes he died at New Haven, June 14, 1844. 
 
 General Terry commanded the Governor's Foot 
 Guard from 1802 to 1813, experiencing in military 
 display the keenest delight. Six feet and four 
 inches tall, erect and imperious, he appeared in 
 uniform the born soldier. But for the details of 
 business he had little aptitude, and hence the selec- 
 tion proved unfortunate for the bank. 
 
 Recovery from the panic of 1819 made slow 
 headway. During 1820 and the first six months of 
 1821, the prices of land, fuel, beef, and flour ruled 
 at less than one-half of the prices of 1818. In our 
 cities many stores were empty and others found
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 12 7 
 
 tenants at greatly reduced rents. Laborers were 
 working on short time for low wages. In reversal 
 of prevalent movements, population for a while 
 drifted from town to country. Amid the general 
 disquiet, Connecticut did not wait for the horse to 
 be stolen before trying to lock the stable. In May, 
 1822, the General Assembly passed an act requir- 
 ing the incorporated banks of the State to lodge 
 annually, in the office of the comptroller, sworn 
 statements from the cashiers of the amount of 
 capital stock, of the debts due them, of moneys on 
 deposit, of notes in circulation, and generally of the 
 state of the bank on the first Monday of May, 
 changed the next year to the first Monday of March. 
 Wide latitude was allowed in the method of render- 
 ing the returns. No provision was made for per- 
 sonal inspections, or for the publication of the 
 reports. As our banks had pursued a conservative 
 course, and as no machinery was supplied for the 
 correction of abuses, the law took but a slight step 
 forward in the way of supervision. Perhaps the 
 Legislature wished to emphasize the right of the 
 people to know the condition of the institutions 
 which furnished their currency, and had custody of 
 their funds. 
 
 December 24, 1821, the directors voted that the 
 cashier pay to the watch wardens of the city twenty 
 dollars toward supporting a watch during the 
 winter. By vote of the council the watch at this 
 time was to consist of not less than two nor more
 
 I2 g HISTORY OF 
 
 than six persons, four being the usual quota. 
 Expenses were met by voluntary subscriptions in 
 the several wards, the agreement binding each 
 subscriber to serve the number of nights affixed to 
 his name, or " to pay one dollar for each night by 
 them subscribed for the purpose of hiring substi- 
 tutes." Turns of service were designated by lot 
 under direction of one of the three wardens. From 
 December ist till April ist, the watch was set at 
 ten o'clock P. M., and relieved at six A. M., the 
 warden in charge receiving twenty-five cents a 
 night for his services. Persons on duty were 
 required to " carefully and vigilantly watch for the 
 safety of the city from fire, thieves, and other dis- 
 orderly persons who may be abroad in the streets 
 or elsewhere." They were authorized to arrest and 
 hold for examination all suspicious characters found 
 straying about after ten o'clock. Such were the 
 beginnings of our police system. 
 
 In November, 1821, steps were taken to light 
 the city by lamps, to be located from time to time 
 as needed. 
 
 Circumstances, long forgotten, constrained the 
 directors, in December, 1822, to place on record 
 the " opinion that the cashier and clerks of this 
 bank ought not to be engaged or concerned in 
 any mercantile business or speculation," and to add 
 by way of warning that " the Board expect them 
 to conform to this opinion." 
 
 In 1824, the Connecticut branch of the United
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 12g 
 
 States Bank was moved from Middletown to this 
 city, the Hartford Bank, notwithstanding the rival- 
 ries of business, tendering the use of its vaults 
 and other facilities while permanent accommoda- 
 tions were in progress. 
 
 One of the severest panics known to history 
 struck England in 1825. A period of unusual -pros- 
 perity for manufactures, accompanied by large dis- 
 bursements in redemption of consols, on reduction 
 of the rate of interest from five to four per cent., 
 provoked a spirit of reckless speculation. Joint 
 stock companies, controlling an enormous amount 
 of capital, swarmed into existence. Promoters of all 
 sorts of chimerical schemes, in both hemispheres, 
 solicited cash from the credulous, and in such sea- 
 sons of delirium credulity becomes contagious. 
 Twenty millions sterling were subscribed for min- 
 ing projects in South America. When the tide 
 turned, and the drop in prices came, many banks 
 and mercantile houses failed. The stock of coin 
 and bullion, held by the Bank of England, fell 
 from 10,721,000, December 24, 1824, to 1,260,000, 
 December 25, 1825. 
 
 So extensive and close had become the connec- 
 tions between Great Britain and the United States 
 that our people, though in much sounder condition, 
 were drawn into the whirlpool. Two bank failures 
 occurred in Connecticut, one through mismanage- 
 ment, and the other through fraud. The Eagle 
 Bank of New Haven, the first in the State to 
 
 9
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 break, suspended in September. George Hoadly, 
 the president, whose reputation as a financier was 
 such that he dictated the choice of directors, and 
 managed the institution autocratically, on a capital 
 of $623,800, advanced to four persons and concerns 
 on nebulous security, $1,451,507. The committee of 
 investigation found about $300,000 of passable assets 
 against liabilities of over $1,500,000, outside of cap- 
 ital stock. 
 
 If possible the case of the Derby Bank was still 
 worse. Finding profits unsatisfactory, an honorable 
 management had wound up its affairs and dis- 
 tributed the assets. Shortly before the panic a 
 combination of swindlers in New York City picked 
 up the dormant charter and proceeded to issue 
 bills which bore marks of fraud on their face. 
 About $80,000 were put in circulation, the holders 
 obtaining a small dividend from the sale of the 
 banking-house, the only asset left in sight when 
 the bubble burst. At the next session of the 
 Legislature the charter was repealed. 
 
 In December, 1825, the semi-annual dividend of 
 the Hartford Bank was dropped from three to two 
 per cent., and dividends continued at this rate till 
 June, 1828, when they were suspended for two 
 years. 
 
 About this time the " Boston Alliance " re- 
 doubled its efforts to compel the banks of New 
 England to redeem their bills in specie, the bills of 
 other New England banks, or in Boston exchange,
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 at the Suffolk Bank, and to keep there deposits 
 sufficient to cover the issues of each, accumulating 
 at the agency during the ebb and flow of the 
 ceaseless round of settlements. For a time our 
 banks resisted the "Alliance" on the ground that 
 the system was arbitrary and unjust, and needlessly 
 curtailed the profits of circulation. Opposition, how- 
 ever, gradually died away, and the method became 
 and continued an essential feature of New England 
 banking till the adoption of the national system 
 removed the necessity. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the stockholders, 
 June 12, 1828, the opposition to General Terry had 
 gathered sufficient strength to secure his defeat. 
 Joseph Trumbull was elected president, and Horace 
 Burr continued as cashier. 
 
 Joseph Trumbull, son of David and grandson 
 of the first governor, Jonathan Trumbull, was born 
 at Lebanon, Dec. 7, 1782; graduated 1801, at Yale 
 College, which conferred upon him the degree of 
 LL.D. in 1849; an d was admitted to the bar in 
 Windham in 1803. On looking over the field with 
 a view to future advancement, he decided to make 
 Hartford his home. He was elected to the Legis- 
 lature, 1832, 1848, and 1851; was chosen to fill the 
 vacancy in the Twenty-fourth Congress left by the 
 resignation of William W. Ellsworth, and later 
 served in the same body two terms, 1839-43; was 
 governor one year from May, 1849; an ^ died 
 August 4, 1 86 1.
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 In the overturn of control a defalcation was 
 uncovered. For thirteen years Daniel Hinsdale, the 
 book-keeper, had been tapping the till and conceal- 
 ing the thefts by false entries and false footings on 
 the half-yearly balance sheets. The total stealings, 
 made up of many items, amounted to $31,020.23. 
 Property estimated to be worth $9,653.67 was con- 
 veyed to the bank by way of partial indemnity, 
 leaving a net loss of $21,366.56. By his own ac- 
 count, the larger part of the money taken was 
 expended for lottery tickets. He was supposed to 
 be unusually fortunate in his ventures. Comment- 
 ing on the affair, the New York Journal of Commerce 
 said, " We happen to know that a broker in this 
 city, some years since, paid him a prize of ten 
 thousand dollars." In the early days of the repub- 
 lic the country swarmed with lotteries, which, under 
 the sanction of law, and with the approval of good 
 people, were got up to promote various works of 
 public utility, including the building of churches 
 and the endowment of institutions of learning. It 
 required many examples of loss of character and 
 of financial ruin, due to this form of gambling, to 
 convince the public of its pernicious tendencies. 
 
 The bank was now contending with the 
 troubles of the only season of adversity in its 
 experience, touching the lowest point of depression 
 in the year 1828. Mr. Burr married a sister of 
 Hinsdale, and naturally enough the closeness of 
 the ties between the two men gave rise to ugly
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 rumors. After an examination of the books, the 
 directors, on the 26th of July, unanimously passed 
 a vote exonerating Burr from complicity in the 
 frauds and from knowledge of them till the facts 
 became public. On the same day his resignation 
 was accepted and Henry A. Perkins was elected to' 
 fill the vacancy. 
 
 Mr. Perkins brought to the place a practical 
 knowledge of the business acquired in Hartford and 
 Litchfield, indomitable energy, unflinching courage, 
 singleness of purpose, and a conscience that never 
 deflected from the line of rectitude. Inborn truth- 
 fulness did not permit him to soften refusals by 
 kindly prevarications, or to pad a " no " with pala- 
 ver to deaden the force of the impact. In his 
 intercourse with the world prophetic flashes of the 
 suaviter in modo were lost to view amid exuberant 
 activities of the fortiter in re. To borrowers his 
 communication was Yea, yea ; Nay, nay. When 
 invited to the position he was expected to apply 
 heroic remedies suited to the crisis, and as the 
 event proved, he did not disappoint expectations 
 raised by his previous record. 
 
 For thirty-three years Mr. Perkins was not 
 absent from his desk a day from sickness or for 
 recreation, and the continuity was at last broken 
 by indulgence in the dissipation of a hurried trip 
 to Saratoga. Fidelity of this unique quality, united 
 with intelligence and technical skill, furnish the 
 strongest possible guarantees of success.
 
 134 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 Reports to the comptroller, under the law of 
 1822, before and after the change of management, 
 differ widely in extent and precision of informa- 
 tion conveyed. The statement of the condition of 
 the bank, December 13, 1827, sworn to May 8, 1828, 
 runs thus : 
 
 Capital stock, $1,261,100.00 
 
 Bank notes in cir- 
 culation, 412,415.06 
 
 $1,673,515.06 
 
 Bills discounted on 
 
 hand, $1,444,823.37 
 
 Bank notes of other 
 
 banks, 35,616.93 
 
 Specie, 63,110.58 
 
 Balances in favor of 
 
 the bank, 129,964.18 
 
 $1,673,515.06 
 
 No debit is made for deposits or minor items, 
 neither is credit taken for the banking-house or 
 any assets except bills receivable and cash on 
 hand. How a balance could be struck with such 
 omissions is a lost art of book-keeping. 
 
 The statement of the condition of the bank, 
 March 2, 1829, the first made by Mr. Perkins 
 discloses the " frozen facts," with no warmth of 
 euphemistic phrase to take off the chill. 
 
 STATEMENT FOR MARCH 2, 1829. 
 
 Capital stock, $1,252,900.00 
 
 Bills in circulation, 362,663.06 
 Deposits except from 
 
 banks, 101,530.95 
 
 Deposits from banks, 22,426.84 
 Dividends unpaid, 1,014.03 
 
 $1,740,534.? 
 
 Due the bank, con- 
 sidered good, 
 
 Bank stock, 
 
 Cash on hand, 
 
 Cash deposited in 
 other banks, 
 
 Real estate except 
 Banking-house , 
 
 Banking-house , 
 
 Deficiency, 
 
 $1,396,902.56 
 
 104,300.00 
 
 84,946.68 
 
 53,746.10 
 
 9,418.26 
 24,169.54 
 67,051.74 
 
 $1,740,534.88
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 If for "deficiency" had been written "profit 
 and loss," or some mild equivalent the words would 
 have been more soothing to the sensibilities of 
 stockholders, but would have expressed with less 
 exactness the cashier's conception of the require- 
 ments of truth. Indeed, there prevailed a disposi- 
 tion to eliminate from assets any claim that could 
 not bear the closest scrutiny. At the annual meet- 
 ing of stockholders, in June, 1835, they voted to 
 reduce the valuation of the banking-house to 
 $18,000, charging the difference to profit and loss, 
 on the ground that the property ought not to 
 stand upon the books, or in any report to the 
 General Assembly, above its real value. 
 
 Of course the dividend for December, 1828, was 
 passed, every one familiar with the situation hav- 
 ing foreseen the necessity. In connection with the 
 event, Mr. Perkins often quoted the comment of an 
 antiquated and not over-amiable female stockholder 
 from Glastonbury, who always came in person to 
 collect her dividends. Dropping in at the usual 
 time she asked the clerk for her " interest." As 
 he failed dismally in the attempt to make the 
 case clear to her mind, the cashier stepped forward 
 to try his skill at explanation. She insisted that 
 she had paid in her money and was entitled to her 
 " interest." With much iteration he set forth the 
 losses of the bank and the need of retaining for 
 a while the profits. More bewildered than con- 
 vinced, she at length moved toward the door, but
 
 j-5 HISTORY OF 
 
 returned for a parting shot, "Well, I suppose your 
 salary goes right on, whether I get my interest or 
 not." 
 
 In encounters with delinquents the personal 
 force of Mr. Perkins usually won quick and decisive 
 victory, but he occasionally met a customer who 
 was slow to succumb. To X. Y., an eccentric char- 
 acter whose account was overdrawn, he sent in 
 rapid succession several notices stating the fact and 
 demanding that the deficit be made good. No 
 attention having been paid to the missives, on the 
 third or fourth day he called on the offender, and 
 without preamble stated vigorously his view of the 
 case. The only reply elicited by the torrent of 
 indignation was, " Sit down, Henry." 
 
 Again the ground was gone over and again 
 came the imperturbable invitation, "Sit down, 
 Henry." 
 
 Amazed at the audacity of a man who could 
 keep cool beneath the imminence of an overdrawn 
 bank account, Mr. Perkins held his breath in aston- 
 ishment, wondering what would come next. 
 
 " Henry," resumed X. Y., " you are depositing 
 with me now. Sometimes I deposit with you. 
 When I have money in your bank I don't write 
 you a note or send you a messenger to tell you 
 of it. I suppose you know it." 
 
 At the end of the first skirmish Y. seemed to 
 have the lead; but, like the rude boy found in the 
 apple tree of Webster's speller, he soon learned
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 that his antagonist had more effective weapons than 
 words and tufts of grass. The account was made 
 good. 
 
 May 31, 1830, regular semi-annual dividends 
 were resumed at the rate of six per cent, a year. 
 
 Francis Parsons was elected attorney for the 
 bank June 14, 1832, and was succeeded by his son, 
 John Caldwell Parsons, June 13, 1861. 
 
 In 1835 the General Assembly enacted that 
 from January 15, 1836, no bank in the State should 
 retain as surplus earnings more than five per cent, 
 on the amount of its capital stock actually paid in. 
 The original draft of the bill, the offspring of igno- 
 rance and meddlesomeness, written in a scrawling 
 hand on a fragment of paper, was tossed into the 
 legislative hopper to be ground like countless other 
 crudities into statutory law. In 1838 the act was 
 repealed. 
 
 The same body passed an act forbidding the 
 issue by any bank in the State of any note of less 
 denomination than two dollars after July i, 1835^ 
 and of less than three dollars after January i, 1836. 
 Penalties were provided for the punishment of per- 
 sons and corporations that should either receive or 
 offer to pay bills of the prohibited denominations. 
 In 1837 the minimum was fixed at five dollars, 
 from July i, 1838. 
 
 March 2, 1835, the surplus of the Hartford 
 Bank had grown to $93,472.59. The following June 
 the directors declared a dividend of $3.50 per share
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 for the previous six months and an extra of $2.50 
 from the surplus. 
 
 In 1836, by a resolution of the General Assembly, 
 the State Treasurer, Comptroller, and Commissioner 
 of the School Fund were appointed a committee to 
 examine the banks of the State, with authority to 
 inspect all books, accounts, and papers, and to 
 examine under oath all officers and agents. On the 
 iQth of September following, Jeremiah Brown, Wm. 
 Field, and Seth P. Beers, incumbents of the respec- 
 tive offices, issued a circular letter to the cashiers 
 of the thirty-one banks in Connecticut, calling for 
 a detailed statement of assets and liabilities, as 
 these should stand at the close of business on the 
 first day of October. While the Hartford Bank had 
 nothing whatever to conceal, the directors contended 
 that the proposed method of inquiring into its 
 affairs encroached upon the privileges of its charter, 
 especially as modified by the contract of 1803 for 
 the investment of the money of the State in its 
 shares, and embodied in a public act then passed. 
 By the terms of the agreement the State was 
 entitled to all dividends accruing upon the sub- 
 scriptions, with liberty to withdraw the same upon 
 six months' notice. The comptroller was empowered 
 to call for a statement not oftener than once a 
 month, with a right to inspect the books relative 
 to its correctness; and in case the subscriptions 
 exceeded $5,000, the State could appoint a director 
 to watch its interests. "And the said State will
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 not claim or exercise any other agency in the 
 choice of officers in said bank, or the management 
 of its concerns, than is expressed in this act." 
 
 Joseph Trumbull, David Watkinson, and James 
 B. Hosmer, to whom the circular was referred, 
 made a report to the directors, September 28th, and 
 in addition to the claims set forth above, further 
 contended that the charter itself was irrevocable, 
 and not subject to amendment without consent of 
 the stockholders. 
 
 The committee took the ground, however, that 
 the board should give respectful attention to the 
 requisitions of the General Assembly, and avoid 
 even a suspicion of unwillingness to grant a full 
 examination of the bank, and, so far as compatible 
 with the trust reposed in them, to gratify all 
 reasonable wishes of the community as to its sound- 
 ness, " fully persuaded that no bank in the country 
 has less reason to fear or shun a strict and rigid 
 scrutiny." 
 
 The committee, therefore, recommended that the 
 cashier be instructed to make full answers to all the 
 questions proposed, and that the return be accom- 
 panied by a resolution of the board showing that 
 they do not thereby intend to be understood as 
 relinquishing, or as feeling that they have power 
 to relinquish, any right or privilege conferred upon 
 the stockholders by their charter and by subsequent 
 acts in their favor. 
 
 The same day the directors adopted the report 
 and voted to instruct the cashier accordingly.
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 In 1837, the General Assembly provided for the 
 annual appointment by the Legislature of two bank 
 commissioners, whose expenses and pay of three 
 dollars per day each while employed on the busi- 
 ness, were to be apportioned among the banks 
 according to the amount of their capital. 
 
 To the inquiries of John C. Palmer and C. F. 
 Cleveland, the first appointees, President Trumbull, 
 by direction of the board, replied, repeating the 
 points made the previous year and adding, in 
 regard to the matter of expense, that the directors 
 did not deem themselves authorized to appropriate 
 money of the stockholders in payment for an 
 examination unasked for by them, and, as they 
 conceived, wholly at variance with their chartered 
 rights. 
 
 The City and the Mechanics banks of New 
 Haven reached substantially the same conclusion. 
 The General Assembly avoided joining issue on the 
 question by the passage of a resolution, in 1838, 
 making it the duty of Horatio Alden and George 
 Putnam, auditors, to draw an order upon the treas- 
 urer in favor of the commissioners for such sum 
 as the three banks above-named were required to 
 contribute, under provisions of the law of 1837, to 
 be paid out of any money in the treasury not other- 
 wise appropriated. 
 
 In 1841, when the commissioners presented a 
 bill of $71.21 for similar services, the board voted 
 to pay it without acknowledging any legal liability
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 for reasons already given, but as an act of grace, 
 believing " that the services of judicious bank com- 
 missioners are highly beneficial to the public 
 interest." 
 
 While the system of State inspection was 
 impending and new, bank officials were inclined to 
 regard it as an impertinence flavored with censure. 
 Greater familiarity with the theory and practise of 
 supervision convinced them both that the people 
 were entitled to know the standing of the institu- 
 tions which supplied them with currency, and that 
 such as were deserving of confidence could only 
 be helped by diffusion of the facts. Hence, gradu- 
 ally, opposition gave way to approval. 
 
 In 1836, and earlier, as in 1891, under the 
 adroit manipulation of speculators, the public clam- 
 ored for cheap money, and for a great deal of it. 
 Quality mattered little, provided quantity could be 
 depended upon to make prices soar skyward. On 
 the rising tide and swelling its volume, many su- 
 perfluous banks were created. These met the de- 
 mand by copious issues of paper, based not on 
 solid assets but bound up largely in the fortunes 
 of the schemes they were used to promote. Borne 
 upward by the unhealthy stimulus, public land 
 sales rose in round numbers from $4,800,000 in 
 1834, to $14,700,000 in 1835, and to $24,800,000 in 
 1836. In such condition of unstable equilibrium a 
 crash was unavoidable. 
 
 The storm broke in 1837 a year ever memor-
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 able for extent and blackness of speculative and 
 commercial disaster. The disease was not produced, 
 but the symptoms were temporarily aggravated by 
 the bitterness with which President Jackson op- 
 posed the re-charter of the second United States 
 Bank, and by the uncompromising persistence with 
 which both Jackson and Van Buren fought to se- 
 cure the establishment of an independent treasury, 
 and thus divorce the custody of the public funds 
 from the banking system of the country. 
 
 May loth, the banks of New York suspended 
 specie payments. On the following day the five 
 discount banks of Hartford united in a card to the 
 public announcing that they had decided on a 
 temporary suspension, as otherwise they must re- 
 fuse all further accommodations at whatever sacri- 
 fice to individuals, while their specie would be de- 
 manded and carried into other States. Committees 
 selected from each, for the weight of their names, 
 pledged their character that the banks to which 
 they respectively belonged "were safe and sound 
 beyond contingency." In conclusion, the circular 
 says, " Each bank in Hartford will receive the bills 
 of all the other banks in Hartford on deposit and 
 in payments of notes. These banks have more 
 than four dollars due them for every dollar of 
 their bills in circulation." Joseph Trumbull, David 
 Watkinson, and Calvin Day signed the paper as 
 committee for the Hartford Bank. Annexed to it 
 was an extract from the report of the special com-
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 mittee to the General Assembly, presented May 9th, 
 in which the opinion is expressed that the sound- 
 ness and solvency of all the banks examined by 
 them is unquestionable, and the public are invited 
 to place entire confidence in their ability to meet 
 all engagements. 
 
 At the close of business on the last Saturday 
 in March, 1837, the thirty-one banks of Connecticut 
 had of bills in circulation $3,998,325.30, and of coin 
 on hand $415,386.10, the ratio of coin to circula- 
 tion being .104 nearly. A year later the circulation 
 had been reduced to $1,920,552.45 and the specie 
 increased to $535,447.86, the ratio now being .28 
 nearly. Within the same period the Hartford Bank 
 reduced its outstanding notes from $434,079.06 to 
 $77,552.06, and increased its specie from $46,661.44 
 to $65,263.92, and at the date of resumption (May 10, 
 1838) was prepared, if called upon, to redeem every 
 bill in coin. 
 
 The impregnable strength of our banks during 
 the subsequent depression that culminated in the 
 autumn of 1839, wnen three hundred and forty- 
 three, mostly at the West and South, failed, was 
 drawn not so much from the specie in their vaults 
 as from the solidity of the resources of customers, 
 upon which rested ultimately their bills receivable. 
 To a great extent those ill-starred concerns "of few 
 days and full of trouble ", held against their liabili- 
 ties securities based on wild lands and mines, on 
 railways into the wilderness, on corner lots in towns
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 not yet cleared of forests, and, in short, made up 
 of drafts drawn by imaginative faith on the glitter- 
 ing but delusive possibilities of the future. 
 
 With the Hartford Bank the progress of recu- 
 peration after the troubles of 1828 was rapid and 
 free from reverses. The cashier, himself the in- 
 carnation of precision and punctuality, introduced 
 methods of exactness and economy, using the knife 
 freely in cases calling for surgery. Many illustra- 
 tive anecdotes might be told. 
 
 One day a person offered for discount a piece 
 of accommodation paper with a good indorser. " Is 
 this a loan which you expect to continue or to 
 pay?" asked the cashier. 
 
 "Oh, I shall pay it when due, or at any rate a 
 part of it." 
 
 When the note matured the borrower reappeared 
 and said he should like to renew it. 
 
 "We will not do 'it," replied the cashier. 
 
 " I do not see how I can pay it." 
 
 "We will not do it. That is all." 
 
 To the pleadings of the borrower he answered, 
 " Did you not say you would pay the note at matu- 
 rity, or at least a part of it?" 
 
 "Yes, that is so; but I do not see how I can 
 pay anything." 
 
 " You can pay something, can't you ? " 
 
 "No, I don't see how it is possible." 
 
 "Well, you can pay a dollar, can't you?" 
 
 "Yes, I can do that."
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 "Very well, pay a dollar, and we will renew the 
 note for the rest." 
 
 This was accordingly done, the principal being 
 reduced by one . dollar. 
 
 Mr. Trumbtill, the president, whose inbred 
 courtesy was heightened by political aspirations, 
 occasionally intervened so far as to apply emollients 
 to the bruises, but rarely or never interfered with 
 the vigorous policy of the cashier. 
 
 Through the early commissioners the complaints 
 and jealousies of the public first found efficient ex- 
 pression. For a long time the belief penetrated the 
 community that everywhere in the conduct of the 
 business, managers and their friends, especially in 
 emergencies, were accommodated to the neglect of 
 the less favored, whose requirements were equally 
 urgent. Annual reports recur again and again to 
 the evil of large discounts to directors, and suggest 
 remedial legislation. In answer to the first call, an 
 act was passed in 1838 disqualifying a person to 
 serve as director in any bank whose indebtedness 
 to the same exceeded nine thousand dollars above 
 the stock standing in his name. A provision of 
 such latitude presumes sinister origin. 
 
 The next year the commissioners renew the 
 discussion, showing how hard it is for directors sit- 
 ting around the same table, mostly personal friends 
 and liable to desire similar favors, to refuse loans 
 to each other. They say : 
 
 "Generally no debts are of such long continuance and
 
 j,6 HISTORY OF 
 
 perpetual renewal as the debts of directors. The same 
 pliant facility which first yielded to the application, per- 
 mits the debt to remain unpaid for the convenience of the 
 debtor. Thus the funds of the bank become locked up, and 
 often to the disappointment of men in active business, who 
 depend upon bank accommodations. In times of pressure 
 for money the evil is increased, for directors have as early 
 notice as others of the impending danger, and make sea- 
 sonable provision for their anticipated wants." 
 
 The matter rested in abeyance till 1840, when 
 the General Assembly enacted that 
 
 "The directors collectively of any bank in this State 
 shall not be indebted to such bank on notes and bills dis- 
 counted at such bank for their benefit, or for the benefit 
 of any or either of them, to an amount exceeding one-third 
 of the capital stock of such bank actually paid in." 
 
 The continuance of liberality betrays indisposi- 
 tion to meddle with the subject. 
 
 The loans by the Hartford Bank to directors 
 amounted to $19,334 Oct. 30, 1839; to $25,000 Jan. 
 30, 1840, and to $14,537.40 Feb. 10, 1841 ; or a trifle 
 over one and one-half, two, and one per cent, of 
 the capital at the respective dates. The returns 
 show that similar conservatism prevailed throughout 
 the State, there being but two flagrant exceptions, 
 both of which paid the penalty of their folly. 
 
 The board emphasized their approval of a cau- 
 tious policy still more strongly November 8, 1839, 
 when it 
 
 "Voted, That in our opinion it will be for the interest 
 of the stockholders, and of those who may deal with this
 
 ^^<
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 bank, that the president for the time being abstain from 
 becoming a borrower to this institution, directly or indi- 
 rectly, and that from and after six months it shall be con- 
 sidered the rule of the bank." 
 
 Mr. Trumbull, having been elected to the 
 Twenty-sixth Congress, resigned the presidency, and 
 November 8, 1839, David F. Robinson was chosen to 
 fill the vacancy. Mr. Robinson was born at Gran- 
 ville, Mass., January, 1801, was early left an orphan, 
 and while still a lad came to Hartford, where, 
 after serving as clerk in the store of Oliver Wood- 
 ford, he learned the trade of bookbinding in the 
 establishment of Silas Andrus. About the year 1825, 
 the firm of D. F. Robinson & Company opened the 
 leading book store of the city, selling by agents as 
 well as over the counter. They also engaged in 
 the publishing business on a large scale, controlling 
 among other works the school books prepared by 
 Jesse Olney, the series of Dr. J. L. Comstock, a 
 History of the United States by S. G. Goodrich, and 
 the Cottage Bible edited by Dr. William Patton, all 
 of which had a great run. About 1835, the sales 
 department was removed to New York City, and 
 thence, under the name of Robinson, Pratt & Co., 
 orders were afterwards supplied, although the print- 
 ing and binding were still done in Hartford. Mr. 
 Robinson was a member of the Common Council for 
 nineteen years, during a period when the seats were 
 filled almost exclusively by men of high character 
 and wide business experience, whose possessions
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 sharpened to keen edge their solicitude for the 
 welfare of the city ; was elected to the Legislature 
 in 1846, and again in 1854; was president of the 
 Hartford Bank nearly fourteen years, and president 
 of the Protection Insurance Company, 1837-40. 
 After a useful and honored life he died January 
 26, 1862. 
 
 In Hartford the earliest conspicuous develop- 
 ment of industrial activity was directed to the 
 manufacture of books, the business passing the 
 zenith before the middle of the century. Perhaps 
 the first strong impulse was given by the success 
 of Webster's Speller, published here in 1783, the 
 income from the sales supporting the family of the 
 author during the twenty years he was engaged 
 upon his dictionary. Then, too, from the time 
 when the " Hartford wits " made the little provin- 
 cial town famous, it has been the home of many 
 literary workers. In the production of educational 
 and subscription books the city took the lead in 
 the United States, and for a while easily held it. 
 Since the war the energies of the place have been 
 more and more diverted into other channels, though 
 several enterprising and successful houses still 
 remain in the business. 
 
 The United States Bank, chartered by the Legis- 
 lature of Pennsylvania in February, 1836, with the 
 view of succeeding to the good will and business of 
 its namesake, proved a thorn in the flesh to New 
 York and New England. It suspended, October 10,
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 1839, after a desperate and dishonorable attempt to 
 force the banks of New York to take similar action. 
 In inability to redeem its notes it had the company 
 of the other banks of Philadelphia, and of nearly 
 all at the South and West. In Pennsylvania the 
 suspension lasted till January 15, 1841, the date 
 fixed by law for resumption. Perhaps the attempt 
 at compliance would have been successful on the 
 part of the rest had it not been for the rottenness 
 of this concern, which, having suspended twice 
 before, closed its disorderly and vexatious career 
 by yielding up the ghost, January 15, 1841, to the 
 peace and comfort of the solid institutions north- 
 ward. In five years a capital of thirty-five millions, 
 held mostly by foreigners, had been lost and stolen. 
 Per contra, while the country south and west of New 
 York was convalescing slowly and with some serious 
 relapses from the crash of 1837, the Hartford Bank 
 paid forty-one per cent, in dividends in the five 
 years from 1838 to 1842, inclusive, held its surplus 
 at about ninety thousand dollars, and took good care 
 of customers. The States which maintained specie 
 payments after May, 1838, suffered much less than 
 the others, and had a long start upon the road to 
 renewed prosperity. 
 
 Till the fall of 1839, Hartford held the key to 
 the trade of the Connecticut River valley, northward, 
 nearly or quite to the border of Canada. Early in 
 the century, after many mistakes and delays due 
 to inexperience and lack of funds, canals were com-
 
 j r O HISTORY OF 
 
 pleted around the falls at South Hadley and at 
 Montague. By these helps the stream became nav- 
 igable for two hundred miles above the city for 
 boats of fifteen tons, and fifty miles further for 
 floats. Besides lumber for domestic use and ex- 
 port, surplus agricultural products found a natural 
 outlet through this channel. Among the statements 
 made to the directors of the Second United States 
 Bank to convince them that Hartford was the 
 proper location for the Connecticut branch, the firm 
 of Porter & Holbrook certified, January 2, 1817, that 
 more than twenty-five hundred barrels of pot and 
 pearl ashes, valued at $85,000, came to their address 
 from Vermont and New Hampshire in the year 
 1807. Afterwards the outflow was diminished by 
 the interruptions of commerce during the Napo- 
 leonic wars and the war of 1812, but was then re- 
 gaining its former volume. Another paper of the 
 series claimed that of the same material five hun- 
 dred barrels a year were often shipped hither from 
 the single town of Derby on the Canada line. 
 
 Boats returned laden with rum, molasses, gro- 
 ceries, and other supplies. Here, "at the head of 
 sloop navigation," the exchanges were effected. Our 
 river front, crowded with craft from above and be- 
 low, was during eight months of the year a cen- 
 tral point of activity. Droughts had less effect then 
 than now, as forests by retarding evaporation ren- 
 dered the flow of water more uniform. 
 
 In the fall of 1839, the railway was opened to
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK j c j 
 
 Springfield from Boston, when our merchants were 
 deserted by old customers in Massachusetts, Ver- 
 mont, and New Hampshire with painful sudden- 
 ness. Thenceforth inland traffic followed the loco- 
 motive. 
 
 Nor was this all. At the time over twenty mail 
 routes radiated from the city, and for long distances 
 trade moved back and forth along the thoroughfares. 
 Daily coaches poured upon our dealers incessant 
 streams of orders, and clerks were often kept busy 
 far into the night packing goods to be forwarded 
 by return stage. Westward our merchants sold their 
 wares through Litchfield county and beyond as far 
 as Great Barrington, Mass. Eastward they covered 
 the whole of Tolland and most of Windham coun- 
 ties. Twenty taverns offered good cheer on the 
 first twenty miles of the road to Albany. If less 
 thick on other turnpikes, they were still numerous 
 enough to afford wide latitude of choice to hungry 
 and thirsty travelers. 
 
 In 1839, too, the railway from New Haven to 
 Hartford was opened. The link between Hartford 
 and Springfield was not completed till December, 
 1844. About the year 1849 the New Haven & 
 Northampton, the Naugatuck, and the New Lon- 
 don Northern, running north and south, with the 
 east and west lines from Hartford to Willimantic 
 and to Bristol were opened almost simultaneously. 
 One by one the delightful old stage-coaches gave 
 up the unequal contest and passed out of sight. 
 Country inns, lately bustling centers of business
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 and pleasure, were deserted. Through a change of 
 locomotion one of the most picturesque phases of 
 social life, stretching back to remote antiquity, van- 
 ished like a dream. Each of the new roads from 
 the Sound northward seemed to deal a fresh blow 
 to the trade of Hartford. 
 
 A complementary movement, now pushed for- 
 ward with extraordinary vigor, skill, and success, 
 soon raised a subordinate interest to the front rank, 
 and gained for the city supremacy in insurance. 
 The attention of the country was first conspicuously 
 attracted to her method of meeting obligations in 
 the face of direful calamities in December, 1835, 
 when the officers of the Hartford Fire Insurance 
 Company pledged their own property to the Hart- 
 ford Bank to raise funds for payment in full of 
 losses exceeding $60,000 from the fire which then 
 desolated New York City. The instant annihilation 
 of cash assets left only the indomitable courage of 
 the management as a basis for subsequent opera- 
 tions. From 1835 to 1851, $100,000 of net earnings 
 were indorsed upon the stock-notes given by share- 
 holders, and $135,000 paid in cash dividends. 
 
 In 1841 the capital of the ^tna Fire Insurance 
 Company was $200,000. During the next decade it 
 paid $227,500 in cash and $100,000 in stock divi- 
 dends, or an average of over sixteen and one-third 
 per cent, per year. 
 
 With these examples of brilliant success thrust 
 upon the community, it is not strange that insur- 
 ance absorbed the talent and forces let loose by
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 the contraction of trade. The City Fire Insurance 
 Company was organized in 1847, the Connecticut in 
 1850, the Phoenix in 1854, the Charter Oak in 1856, 
 and the Merchants and the North American in 
 1857. The Connecticut Mutual introduced life insur- 
 ance in 1846 with such stimulating effect that the 
 Charter Oak followed in 1850, the Phoenix in 1851, 
 and the ^tna in 1853. Thus Hartford successfully 
 launched ten companies in eleven years. Although 
 over $12,000,000 were taken from her in payment 
 for property burned at Chicago and Boston in 
 1871 and 1872, and all but four of her fire compa- 
 nies were engulphed, the interest is now larger, 
 stronger, and more thoroughly equipped than ever 
 before. 
 
 The prosperity of our older banks, followed by 
 the exceptional profits of underwriting as conducted 
 here, led also to the rapid formation of new banks, 
 seven having been added to the local list between 
 1849 and 1857, each of which still enjoys the sup- 
 port of a valuable clientage. Before the rebellion, 
 Hartford had taken position as a leading monetary 
 center of the United States a position firmly held 
 ever since. 
 
 While a formidable array of competitors was 
 swarming into the field, the course of the Hartford 
 Bank continued to be marked by uneventful and 
 monotonous good fortune. In 1853, Mr. Robinson 
 'resigned the presidency to join in forming the 
 private banking-house of George P. Bissell & Co., 
 in which he became a silent partner.
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE PAST FORTY YEARS 
 
 JUNE 9, 1853, Henry Augustus Perkins was 
 elected president. For a quarter of a century, 
 lacking less than three months, he had held 
 the office of cashier, and during the entire period, 
 as already remarked, had never been absent a day 
 on account of sickness or for rest. From the be- 
 ginning his influence had been so pervasive that 
 his promotion brought no change of policy. 
 
 Mr. Perkins was a pronounced type of the class 
 of men whose predominance in the financial institu- 
 tions of Hartford has won for them the unqualified 
 confidence of the country. The golden rule only 
 requires one to love his neighbor as himself, and 
 this is about as far as ordinary people find it con- 
 venient to go. Not a few of our managers, how- 
 ever, have shown an economy, a disregard of per- 
 sonal comfort, an assiduity in attention to details, 
 while building up the corporations entrusted to 
 their care, which their private affairs could never 
 have extorted. Men liberal with their own funds 
 have pinched and sheared to save the funds of 
 their companies. The assertion might be proved 
 by a great variety of facts. Before the day of
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK j c c 
 
 envelopes and before metropolitan banks provided 
 blank forms for drafts, Mr. Perkins had a way of 
 drawing checks on New York correspondents upon 
 the margins of the outer sheets of letters received, 
 which were generally free from writing except for 
 the direction and postmark. During early years of 
 struggle, corporations which now count their assets 
 by millions took quarters up stairs to reduce rent, 
 tabooed carpets, and used kitchen chairs. Officers 
 wrote on desks bought at second-hand shops, ran 
 as errand boys, and often toiled while others slept. 
 Economy and honesty in corporate management are 
 children of twin birth, and upon these virtues 
 largely rests the phenomenal development of the 
 city in banking and insurance. 
 
 October 12, 1853, A. G. Hammond, of Greenfield, 
 Mass., was appointed cashier. He resigned in May, 
 1857, to accept an invitation to Chicago. Returning 
 after a short absence he was subsequently elected 
 president of the Exchange Bank, and held the place 
 about six years. 
 
 May 1 8, 1857, George Ripley, also of Greenfield, 
 was appointed cashier. 
 
 Another financial panic, short but destructive, 
 swept over the country in 1857. It grew out of 
 excessive railway building, accompanied by undue 
 expansion of the currency. During 1856 new con- 
 struction, mostly at the West, reached 3,642 miles. 
 Banks had made large loans on collaterals which 
 declined heavily through the summer. Confidence,
 
 je6 HISTORY OF 
 
 long wavering, snapped with the collapse of the 
 Ohio Life and Trust Company, August 24th. Many 
 failures occurred in September, the banks of Phila- 
 delphia, Baltimore, and of the interior generally, 
 suspending before the middle of the month. Prices 
 of stocks fell with a rush. Shops were closed and 
 thousands were thrown out of work. On the 6th 
 of October the Exchange, the Mercantile, and the 
 Charter Oak banks of this city stopped specie pay- 
 ments. The same day the following card, signed 
 by the six presidents, was issued to the public: 
 
 "The announcement that three banks in Hartford have 
 this day suspended specie payments, leads the six other 
 banks, undersigned, to state publicly 
 
 " i. That they believe themselves fully able to justify 
 and preserve the public confidence heretofore reposed in 
 them, and to that end 
 
 " 2. They, for themselves, deem it their imperative duty 
 not to suspend specie payments." 
 
 On the Qth of October, the treasurer of the 
 Illinois Central Railroad Company, which had com- 
 pleted the year before its line of 705.5 miles, 
 mostly through a new country, issued a circular 
 announcing its inability to meet pending obliga- 
 tions. The banks of New York city, after a reso- 
 lute fight against the inevitable, were obliged to 
 succumb on the isth. The next day the banks of 
 Hartford (except the Connecticut River), and of 
 Boston, followed. 
 
 The suspension lasted two months. Saturday,
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK jr^ 
 
 December i2th, the banks of New York city de- 
 cided to resume the following Monday. Practically 
 the Hartford banks had resumed already, but so 
 quietly that the event hardly attracted attention. 
 
 Between the first of July and the first of Jan- 
 uary, the circulation of the banks of Connecticut 
 was reduced from $10,411,000 to $4,130,265. At 
 the above dates the circulation of the Hartford 
 Bank stood $705,022.06 and $248,727.06, and its 
 specie $76,427.08 and $99,743.82, respectively. Almost 
 every piece of paper it held at the outbreak of 
 the storm was ultimately paid. Its surplus was not 
 impaired. The only hardship the stockholders were 
 called upon to bear was the reduction from five to 
 four per cent, in the dividend for December, 1857, 
 the regular five per cent, rate having been restored 
 the following June. 
 
 April 23, 1860, the resignation of Geo. Ripley 
 was accepted to take effect May ist. He is now 
 president of the Hide and Leather Bank of Bos- 
 ton. June 1 4th, James Bolter, who had been a 
 director since 1852, and was thoroughly acquainted 
 with the affairs of the institution, was appointed 
 cashier to succeed Mr. Ripley. 
 
 April 26th, the directors voted to subscribe for 
 $50,000 of treasury notes "of the issue proposed 
 by the United States," thus manifesting in the 
 initial stages of the war the spirit of devotion to 
 the cause of the Union, which continued to ani- 
 mate them to the end.
 
 jcg HISTORY OF 
 
 June 13, 1865, the stockholders voted almost 
 unanimously to change from the State to the Na- 
 tional system. The necessary steps were quickly 
 taken, and the institution began business under 
 the name of " The Hartford National Bank" on the 
 first of July following. The capital was fixed at 
 $1,132,800, with the privilege reserved of increasing 
 from time to time to $3,000,000. The number of 
 directors was reduced to eleven, the State of Con- 
 necticut and charitable institutions being deprived 
 of the possible representation allowed by the char- 
 ter. The date for annual meetings was moved 
 from June to January. 
 
 June 8, 1874, the board of directors by a unan- 
 imous vote invited President Perkins, in view of 
 ill health, to "take a recess for such time as he 
 may desire," urging that for at least three months 
 he "relieve himself from all care and labor con- 
 nected with his official position." Long and unre- 
 mitting attention to duty, however, had left little 
 vitality to build upon. He died on the 2pth of the 
 same month. 
 
 He was born in Hartford, Oct. 2, 1801, the son 
 of Enoch Perkins, one of the founders of the bank, 
 and great-grandson of Deacon Joseph Perkins, who, 
 with his brother Jabez, having migrated from Ips- 
 wich, Mass., settled in Norwich about 1695. 
 
 Enough has been said, perhaps, to indicate the 
 salient points in the character of Mr. Perkins. He 
 was dominated by a sense of justice, honesty, and 
 right to a degree that permitted no toleration of
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 fraud or sham. With him impatience of wrong- 
 doing easily mounted to detestation. Faithful in 
 the performance of duty, he could not compre- 
 hend, much less endure, obliquity, either in business 
 or personal conduct. In short, he was a typical 
 Puritan, amply endowed with the rigid and rugged 
 virtues of the stock, born into the nineteenth cen- 
 tury instead of the seventeenth. Sound judgment, 
 added to stalwart integrity, caused his services to 
 be widely sought for the settlement of estates and 
 the administration of trusts. 
 
 July 6, 1874, James Bolter accepted the presi- 
 dency, and William S. Bridgman was elected cashier. 
 Mr. Bridgman had held the post of assistant cashier 
 since March 26, 1864. July 8th, Joseph Breed was 
 elected to the position made vacant by the promo- 
 tion of Mr. Bridgman. 
 
 Anxieties caused by the financial cataclysm of 
 1873 undoubtedly hastened the death of Mr. Perkins. 
 Early in the crisis the management of the institu- 
 tion devolved upon Mr. Bolter. Intelligent bankers, 
 despite delusive appearances of prosperity, foresaw 
 the tempest, but were unable to avoid its ravages. 
 In modern society the interdependence of interests 
 is so close that in great convulsions the prudent 
 must suffer in a measure for the errors and follies 
 of the imprudent. 
 
 By the memorable fires of 1871 and 1872 at 
 Chicago and Boston, buildings and merchandise 
 estimated at $270,000,000 were swept out of exist- 
 ence. The processes of reconstruction made heavy
 
 i6o 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 drafts upon the resources of the country. Each 
 successive autumn larger sums were required to 
 move the crops and to otherwise meet the require- 
 ments of a rapidly-growing people, but an inflexible, 
 inconvertible, depreciated paper currency cut off 
 relief from the coin supplies of the world. In 1873, 
 after a number of premonitory disasters, including 
 the failure of several prominent houses, the Canada 
 Southern, the Northern Pacific, and the Chesapeake 
 & Ohio railway companies suspended on the i/th, 
 1 8th, and ipth of September, carrying down, among 
 others, Jay Cooke & Co. and Fisk & Hatch. By 
 the 2oth the panic had become so wild and uncon- 
 trollable that the governing committee closed the 
 doors of the New York Stock Exchange. 
 
 The causes were many, but the most conspicu- 
 ous was the inability of Europe to further absorb 
 American railway bonds, which had been thrown 
 upon the market for new construction at the rate 
 of four or five hundred millions a year. With the 
 stoppage of railway building kindred industries were 
 paralyzed, while in other fields of effort the prog- 
 ress of incomplete enterprises was largely arrested. 
 Above and behind all, the time had now come 
 when schemes born of the speculative frenzy that 
 accompanied and followed the war, were put to a 
 test which revealed every hidden weakness. As 
 ridicule of conservative management had become a 
 fashion, ruin suddenly smote the host of promoters 
 and adventurers who had long seemed to dominate 
 the financial situation.
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 161 
 
 During 1 the winter of 1876-7, owing, in part, to 
 the uncertain result of the election for president, 
 the depression was more disheartening even than 
 at any previous period of the trouble. Recovery 
 proceeded slowly. Not till the resumption of specie 
 payments January i, 1879, did prosperity return. 
 Meanwhile in the ultimate distribution of losses an 
 uncomfortable share fell upon the banks. 
 
 Still the stockholders of the Hartford Bank 
 found the investment a refuge in time of trouble. 
 During the six years from 1873 to 1878 inclusive, it 
 paid 68 per cent, in dividends, or an average of 
 11% per cent, per annum, besides making a sub- 
 stantial addition to the surplus. The following 
 comparison shows its progress under the national 
 system between 1870 and the date of the last official 
 statement. It should be remembered, too, that 
 latterly rates of interest have been unprecedentedly 
 low, though the downward tendency was arrested 
 temporarily in 1890 by British losses in South 
 America. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Capital. 
 
 Surplus. 
 
 Undivided 
 Profits. 
 
 Deposits. 
 
 Circulation. 
 
 Oct. 8, 1870, 
 Mch. i, 1892, 
 
 $1,132,800 
 
 1,200,000 
 
 $500,636.55 
 600,000.00 
 
 $55,631.75 
 168,740.77 
 
 $522,570.77 
 2,393,819.21 
 
 $389,513 
 42,220 
 
 One of the first acts of the new president was. 
 to take steps to modernize the bank building. In 
 1875 the floor was lowered and the interior finished
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 in solid mahogany by Herter Brothers of New 
 York City. The lobby is paved with tiling. 
 Dark and stormy days the blaze of a wood fire on 
 the open hearth suggests comfort and hospitality. 
 A strong and commodious vault opens into the 
 passage behind the counter. In the rear is the 
 directors' room, adorned with the portraits of all the 
 presidents. The outer walls are of great thickness, 
 as if intended by the early builders to harmonize 
 with the general solidity of the institution. The 
 second story behind the dome is used for the 
 storage of books, papers, and other belongings. 
 
 May 2, 1882, the stockholders voted to increase 
 the capital stock from $1,132,800 to $1,200,000 by 
 the addition of six hundred and seventy-two shares 
 of one hundred dollars each; and the directors 
 were authorized to dispose of the same by sale or 
 subscriptions to the highest bidder in such manner 
 as they might think best. May 23d the entire lot 
 was awarded to a single purchaser, 173 shares at a 
 premium of $75.62^ each, and the remaining 499 
 shares at a premium of $75.12^. 
 
 Early dividends were scant, three and one-half 
 per cent, having been paid in 1793, three per cent, 
 in 1794, and none the two following years. From 
 1797 they were declared once a year, at the rate 
 of three, three and one-half, and four per cent., 
 till 1802, and thenceforward semi-annually without 
 a break, except in December, 1828, and through 
 1829. The small returns at first were probably
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK j6~ 
 
 due to slowness and difficulty in converting the 
 notes given by subscribers to the stock into cash, 
 as money was very scarce. Till the end of 1815 
 it was the custom to divide up all the profits in 
 June and December, the two dividends for that 
 year having been $12.63 an( i SH-S/, respectively, 
 per share of $400. Between 1838 and 1852 eleven 
 extra dividends were distributed. During the sixty- 
 two years from 1830 to December, 1891, five hundred 
 and seventy-eight and one-half per cent, have been 
 paid in one hundred and thirty-five dividends, or 
 an average of nine and one-third per cent, per 
 annum. 
 
 In the Appendix will be found a complete list 
 of the directors, long, because under the provisions 
 of the charter not over three-fourths, exclusive of 
 the president, were eligible " the next succeeding 
 year." The original purpose to give brief sketches 
 of the most prominent was abandoned, after passing 
 the founders, from richness of material, as otherwise 
 this volume might have grown to encyclopedic size. 
 Many of them were eminent for usefulness in both 
 public and private walks. In countless ways their 
 good deeds survive to bless succeeding generations. 
 
 With the hundredth anniversary Mr. Bolter 
 rounds forty years of continuous service with the 
 bank as director, cashier, and president, having 
 been first elected to the board June 10, 1852. 
 He was born at Northampton, Mass., June 27, 1815; 
 came to Hartford to reside in 1832; and from
 
 j64 HISTORY OF 
 
 1843 till his acceptance of the cashiership in 
 1860, was a partner in the mercantile house of 
 C. H. Northam & Co. 
 
 Except for the admonition to pass in silence 
 the services of the living, the writer would attempt 
 to voice, however imperfectly, the esteem of fellow 
 bankers and of the community for Mr. Bolter. 
 He would direct attention to the remarkable 
 insight into the real condition of borrowers that 
 has caused his advice to be widely sought by buyers 
 of paper. He would recall acts of timely aid 
 judiciously rendered to the struggling; of duties of 
 citizenship fearlessly performed, not to gain applause, 
 but to protect public interests; of the courage shown 
 on occasion in the rebuke of wrong ; and, not least, 
 of the perennial cheerfulness and vivacity, of the 
 wealth of wit and anecdote, that win welcome every- 
 ' where. If permitted, he would embalm some of 
 the repartees of the happy hits exposing the core 
 of situations by a phrase that have had almost as 
 wide a currency as the bills of the bank. But such 
 suggestions are met by him with an imperative 
 " No." 
 
 From the exceptional ability and force of the 
 founders, the Hartford Bank gave a distinctively 
 financial trend to the subsequent development of 
 the town. In its bosom, as has been shown, began 
 the practise of fire and marine insurance, long 
 before the first local company was chartered. 
 Under its wings was gathered the early experience
 
 THE HARTFORD BANK jftr 
 
 destined, in time, to make the city pre-eminent for 
 skill and success in underwriting. Started soon 
 after the formation of the federal government, amid 
 general poverty, the country having made little 
 progress toward recovery from the ravages and 
 waste of the Revolution, the bank furnished the 
 funds that held for the town, till the advent of rail- 
 ways, the lucrative trade of the Connecticut valley 
 far up toward the sources of the stream. Such was 
 the prominence of its managers, not merely in com- 
 merce, but in the professions, in politics, and even 
 in literature, that the popular imagination ascribed 
 a sort of magical potency to the art. Hence, as the 
 community grew in wealth, other banks were rapidly 
 organized, far beyond local needs, till the city 
 became a center for supplying money to the whole 
 country. 
 
 We have now nine National and eight State 
 banks of discount and trust companies, with a 
 total capital of $7,975,000, reinforced by surplus and 
 undivided profits amounting, in January, 1892, to $3,- 
 514,320.57, and holding deposits reaching $17,277,- 
 705.07. At the same date, the assets of our four 
 savings banks reached $21,527,768.87; of eight fire 
 insurance companies, $31,620,007.67 ; of eight life 
 insurance companies, $125,060,733.87; of the Steam 
 Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, $1,556,- 
 435.12, making a total of $208,531,971.19, owned and 
 held in trust, January, 1892, by the banking and 
 insurance interests of Hartford.
 
 HISTORY OP THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 While the finite mind is incapable of tracing 
 streams of influence along their hidden and multi- 
 tudinous courses, enough is clear to show the 
 exceeding fruitfulness of the seed planted one 
 hundred years ago by the fathers of this institu- 
 tion. 
 
 The bank has lent cheerful aid in upbuilding 
 the industrial interests, which, though still in the 
 formative stage, have already made Hartford famous 
 for excellence of mechanical work, not only in 
 America, but in Great Britain, Germany, France, 
 and wherever civilization is sufficiently advanced to 
 demand the best. About one-third of the inhabit- 
 ants of the town draw their support directly from 
 manufactures, mostly of the highest grade. 
 
 The limited and imperfect outline presented 
 in the foregoing pages gives certain glimpses of 
 what an institution under typical New England 
 management has accomplished for the owners 
 and the public during the first century of its life. 
 If the future may be measured by the past, the 
 imagination is both dazzled and dazed in attempt- 
 ing to conjecture what new and strange, and at 
 present inconceivable, materials will lie around the 
 writer who shall continue the story to the year 
 nineteen hundred and ninety-two.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 LIST OF THE EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS 
 OF THE HARTFORD BANK 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL 
 NATHANIEL TERRY 
 JOSEPH TRUMBULL 
 DAVID F. ROBINSON 
 HENRY A. PERKINS 
 JAMES BOLTER 
 
 PRESIDENTS 
 
 June 16, 1792 
 
 June 10, 1819 
 
 June 12, 1828 
 
 Nov. 8, 1839 
 
 June 9, 1853 
 
 July 6, 1874 
 
 June 10, 1819 
 
 June 12, 1828 
 
 Nov. 8, 1839 
 
 June 9, 1853 
 
 June 29, 1874 
 
 CASHIERS 
 
 HEZEKIAH MERRILL 
 NORMAND KNOX 
 HORACE BURR 
 HENRY A. PERKINS 
 A. G. HAMMOND 
 GEORGE RIPLEY 
 JAMES BOLTER 
 WM. S. BRIDGMAN 
 
 June 16, 1792 
 
 June 17, 1799 
 
 June 18, 1799 
 
 July 22, 1814 
 
 July 22, 1814 
 
 July 26, 1828 
 
 July 26, 1828 
 
 June 9, 1853 
 
 Oct. 12, 1853 
 
 June I, 1857 
 
 June i, 1857 
 
 May i, 1860 
 
 June 14, 1860 
 
 July 6, 1874 
 
 July 6, 1874 
 
 
 WM. S. BRIDGMAN 
 JOSEPH BREED 
 WM. S. ANDREWS 
 
 ASSISTANT CASHIERS 
 
 Mar. 26, 1864 
 July 8, 1874 
 Sept. 14, 1891 
 
 July 6, 1874 
 Aug. 29, 1888 
 
 (167)
 
 i68 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 JEREMIAH WADSWORTH 
 
 1792- 
 
 IRA HOOKER 
 
 1810- 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL 
 
 1792-1818 
 
 CHAUNCEY DEMING 
 
 1810-1824 
 
 JOHN MORGAN 
 
 1792-1815 
 
 SOLOMON COWLES 
 
 1811- 
 
 GEORGE PHILLIPS 
 
 1792-1793 
 
 MARTIN ELLSWORTH 
 
 1813-1821 
 
 BARNABAS DEANE 
 
 1792-1794 
 
 JONATHAN COWLES 
 
 1814-1822 
 
 TIMOTHY BURR 
 
 1792-1795 
 
 DAVID WATKINSON 
 
 1815-1839 
 
 JAMES WATSON 
 
 1792- 
 
 JAMES H. WELLS 
 
 1816-1827 
 
 CALEB BULL 
 
 1792-1796 
 
 JAMES WARD 
 
 1816-1829 
 
 EPHRAIM ROOT 
 
 1792-1814 
 
 HENRY L. ELLSWORTH 
 
 1816-1819 
 
 OLIVER PHELPS 
 
 1793-1795 
 
 WILLIAM H. IMLAY 
 
 1817-1818 
 
 GEORGE GOODWIN 
 
 1794-1817 
 
 ELIPHALET TERRY 
 
 1817-1828 
 
 OLIVER ELLSWORTH 
 
 1794-1796 
 
 HENRY HUDSON 
 
 1817-1823 
 
 PELEG SANFORD 
 
 1793-1797 
 
 ISAAC SPENCER, 20 
 
 1818- 
 
 DANIEL WADSWORTH 
 
 1795-1799 
 
 GAD COWLES 
 
 1818-1826 
 
 E. MORGAN 
 
 1796-1797 
 
 SPENCER WHITING 
 
 1819-1822 
 
 WILLIAM MOSELEY 
 
 1797-1815 
 
 JOSEPH TRUMBULL 
 
 1820-1852 
 
 THOMAS BULL 
 
 1797-1806 
 
 WM. W. ELLSWORTH 
 
 1820-1828 
 
 EZEKIEL WILLIAMS, JR. 
 
 1797-1807 
 
 NATHAN MORGAN 
 
 1823-1836 
 
 A. OLMSTEAD 
 
 1798-1802 
 
 AMOS M. COLLINS 
 
 1823-1841 
 
 NATHANIEL PATTEN 
 
 1798- 
 
 HARMON HENDRICKS 
 
 1823-1830 
 
 BENJAMIN BIGELOW 
 
 1799-1805 
 
 JAMES B. HOSMER 
 
 1824-1863 
 
 SAMUEL GILBERT 
 
 1800-1803 
 
 HENRY KILBOURN 
 
 1824- 
 
 JOSEPH P. COOK 
 
 1801-1804 
 
 CHAS. S. PHELPS 
 
 1825- 
 
 DAN PITKIN 
 
 1802- 
 
 JAMES COWLES 
 
 1826-1857 
 
 SAMUEL RICHARDS 
 
 1804- 
 
 TIMOTHY COWLES 
 
 1827-1840 
 
 NATHANIEL TERRY 
 
 1805-1827 
 
 ROBERT WATKINSON 
 
 1827-1836 
 
 JULIUS DEMING 
 
 1806-1820 
 
 CHARLES GOODWIN 
 
 1829-1835 
 
 ANDREW KINGSBURY 
 
 1806-1822 
 
 RODERICK TERRY 
 
 1829-1834 
 
 BENJAMIN TALLMADGE 
 
 1807- 
 
 DANIEL P. HOPKINS 
 
 1830-1834 
 
 ELIJAH COWLES 
 
 1808-1816 
 
 SAMUEL DEMING 
 
 1830-1864 
 
 THADDEUS LEAVITT 
 
 1809-1812 
 
 BARZILLAI HUDSON 
 
 1831-1864 
 
 JOSEPH BULKLEY 
 
 1809-1815 
 
 M. W. CHAPIN 
 
 1831-1837
 
 KHZ. HUNTINGTON, JR. 
 RICHARD BIGELOW 
 THOS. S. WILLIAMS 
 E. B. STEDMAN 
 DAVID F. ROBINSON 
 ERASTUS ELLSWORTH 
 HEZEKIAH B. CHAFFEE 
 FRANCIS PARSONS 
 CHARLES SHELDON 
 CHAS. H. BRAINARD 
 ROSWELL BROWN 
 CHAS. H. NORTHAM 
 EZRA WHITE, JR. 
 EDMUND G. HOWE 
 EZRA S. HAMILTON 
 JAMES M. BUNCE 
 ROBERT BUELL 
 CALVIN DAY 
 JOHN OLMSTED 
 NEWTON CASE 
 LOYAL WILCOX 
 ALBERT W. BUTLER 
 FLAVIUS A. BROWN 
 BENJAMIN W. GREENE 
 
 * Present Directors 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 1831-1834 IRA PECK 
 
 1832-1834 RUSSELL G. TALCOTT 
 
 1834-1835 * ROLAND MATHER 
 
 1835- * JAMES BOLTER 
 
 1835-1854 HENRY A. PERKINS 
 
 1836-1847 GIDEON WELLES 
 
 1836-1847 MARSHALL JEWELL 
 
 1837-1849 FRANCIS W. COWLES 
 
 1837-1845 ELIJAH H. OWEN 
 
 1837-1862 * GEORGE S. LINCOLN 
 
 1838-1854 * DRAYTON HILLYER 
 
 1838-1848 JOHN E. COWLES 
 
 1841-1845 FRANCIS B. COOLEY 
 
 1842-1851 * HENRY C. JUDD 
 
 1842-1848 GEORGE B. BARNES 
 
 1846-1850 * EBENEZER ROBERTS 
 
 1846-1882 FRANK W. CHENEY 
 
 1847-1884 ZENO K. PEASE 
 
 1847- HENRY KELLOGG 
 
 1848-1852 * GEO. WELLS ROOT 
 
 1849-1864 * PLINY JEWELL 
 
 1849-1857 * WILLIAM H. POST 
 
 1849-1863 * RALPH H. ENSIGN 
 
 1851- * D. W. C. SKILTON 
 
 169 
 
 1851- 
 
 1851-1862 
 
 1852- 
 
 1852- 
 
 1853-1874 
 
 1855-1860 
 
 1856-1883 
 
 1859- 
 
 1859-1881 
 
 1860- 
 
 1861- 
 
 1862- 
 
 1864-1872 
 
 1865- 
 
 1865-1876 
 
 1870- 
 
 1873-1877 
 
 1876-1890 
 
 1878-1891 
 
 1881- 
 
 1883- 
 
 1885- 
 
 1891- 
 
 1891-
 
 170 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE FIRST SUBSCRIBERS TO 
 THE HARTFORD BANK, 250 SHARES OF $400 EACH 
 
 BENJAMIN, EVERARD 2 
 
 BOLLES, JOHN 2 
 
 BIGELOW, BENJAMIN 4 
 
 BULL, CALEB i 
 
 BULL, DAVID 4 
 
 BULL, GEORGE 2 
 
 BULL, HEZEKIAH 3 
 
 BULL, ISAAC i 
 
 BULL, JAMES 2 
 
 BULL, JOSEPH i 
 BULL, MICHAEL & THOMAS 8 
 
 BUTLER, N. 6 
 
 BURR, JAMES 4 
 
 BURR, JOSEPH i 
 
 BURR, TIMOTHY 6 
 
 CALDWELL, JOHN 8 
 
 CALDWELL, JOHN & Co. 6 
 
 CHENEVARD, JOHN 2 
 
 COLT, ELISHA 5 
 
 DEAN, BARNABAS & Co. 10 
 
 ELLSWORTH, OLIVER 10 
 
 GOODRICH, CHAUNCEY 2 
 
 GOODWIN, DAVID 4 
 
 HALL, JOHN i 
 
 HOPKINS, CHARLES 4 
 
 HUBBARD, NEHEMIAH 5 
 
 HUDSON & GOODWIN 4 
 
 INGRAHAM, N. G. i 
 
 JONES, DANIEL 2 
 
 KEYES, AMASA i 
 
 KILBOURN, FREEMAN 2 
 
 KILBOURN, SAMUEL 2 
 
 LAWRENCE, SAMUEL 3 
 
 LEDDIE, SAMUEL i 
 
 LYNDES, JOSEPH 
 MERRILLS, GEORGE 
 MERRILL, HEZEKIAH 
 MORGAN, ELIAS 
 MORGAN, JOHN 
 MOSELEY, WILLIAM 
 OGDEN, JACOB 
 OLCOTT, DANIEL 
 PATTEN, NATHANIEL 
 PERKINS, ENOCH 
 PHELPS, OLIVER 
 PHILLIPS, GEORGE AND T. 
 PITKIN, DANIEL 
 PRATT, JOSEPH 
 ROOT, EPHRAIM 
 ROOT, JESSE, JR. 
 SANFORD, P. 
 SMITH, REUBEN & Co. 
 THOMAS, JOHN 
 TISDALL, THOMAS 
 TRUMBULL, JOHN 
 WADSWORTH, CATHERINE 
 WADSWORTH, DANIEL 
 WADSWORTH, DECIUS 
 WADSWORTH, ELIZABETH 
 WADSWORTH, EUNICE 
 WADSWORTH, HARRIET 
 WADSWORTH, JERE. 
 WATSON, JAMES 
 WELLS, ASHBEL, JR. 
 WELLS, JAMES A. 
 WELLS, LUCY 
 WILLIAMS, EZEKIEL, JR. 
 WYLES, JOHN
 
 PRESENT OFFICERS AND EMPLOYES 
 
 JAMES BOLTER .... PRESIDENT 
 
 W. S. BRIDGMAN .... CASHIER 
 
 W. S. ANDREWS .... ASST. CASHIER 
 
 M. H. BRIDGMAN . . . TELLER 
 
 N. B. GILBERT .... DISCOUNT CLERK 
 
 W. H. GILBERT .... BOOK-KEEPER 
 
 F. A. SEARLE .... ASST. BOOK-KEEPER 
 
 H. C. NEY ..... CORRESPONDING CLERK 
 
 D. W. KNOX .... MESSENGER 
 
 JOHN F. RODNEY . . . PORTER
 
 INDEX 
 
 Adams, John, 27, 41, 43, 72, 104. 
 JEtna. Fire Insurance Co., 152. 
 Alden, Horatio, 140. 
 Ante-Revolutionary Prosperity, 10. 
 
 Baldwin, Simeon, 97. 
 
 Bank of New York, 10, 31. 
 
 Bank of Massachusetts, 10. 
 
 Bank of North America, 10, 31, 59, 60. 
 
 Bank of the United States, the first, 23, 
 
 33. "i- 
 Bank of the United States, the second, 
 
 121, 128, 150. 
 Bank of the United States, the third, 
 
 148 ; its collapse, 149. 
 Barter, evils of, 14. 
 Beach, George, 91. 
 Beers, Seth P., 138. 
 Bishop's Fund, 100, 101, 103, 104. 
 Bolter, James, elected cashier, 157 ; 
 
 elected president, 159, 163. 
 Boston Alliance, the, 130. 
 Breed, Joseph, 159. 
 Bridgman, w. S., 159. 
 Brown, Jeremiah, 138. 
 Burr, Horace, appointed cashier, m, 
 
 131, 132, 133. 
 
 Burr, James, sketch of, 52, 118. 
 Burr, Timothy, 20 ; sketch of, 38, 71. 
 Bull, Caleb, 20 ; sketch of, 39. 
 Bull, Michael and Thomas, 91. 
 
 Caldwell, John, 15, 19, 20 ; sketch of, 
 34i 52. 53. &* ?i 75. 82, 85, 9. 9 1 . 97. 
 101, 117 ; resignation of, 124. 
 
 Calhoun, John C., on Oliver Ellsworth, 
 42- 
 
 Capital, increase of, 75, 84, 162. 
 
 Charter, from Charles II, the, 29, 69, 
 72 ; provisions of, 106, 109. 
 
 Chenevard, John, sketch of, 53, 60, 91. 
 
 Christ Church, subscription for build- 
 ing, 59- 
 
 Church, John B., 32. 
 
 Clergy supported by taxation, 30, 107. 
 
 Cleveland, C. F., 140. 
 
 Clinton, George, Gov., 13. 
 
 Cold summer of 1816, 120. 
 
 Colt, Elisha, sketch of, 53. 
 
 Congregational Church, established 
 by law, 107 ; modifications of the 
 law, 108. 
 
 Connecticut, first bank discount, 64 ; 
 issues indents for interest, 66; in- 
 vests in stock of Hartford Bank, 
 81 ; business depression in 1819, 123 ; 
 bank failures in, 129; forbids surplus 
 over 5 per cent, and small notes, 137; 
 establishes bank commission, 140. 
 
 Connecticut Land Company, 71. 
 
 Constitution of 1638-9, 105. 
 
 Constitution of 1818, evils of previous 
 system, 109 ; provisions of, no; in- 
 dustrial effects, in. 
 
 Continental money, n ; funding of, 22, 
 65, 66. 
 
 Counterfeiting, 77, 116, 117. 
 
 Courant, Connecticut; T/ie, 13, 14, 20 
 its early power, 46 ; 101, 104, 118. 
 
 Crisis, financial, of 1819, 122 ; slow re- 
 covery from, 126 ; of 1825, 129 ; of 
 1837, 141 ; of 1857, i55 5 of J 873> !59- 
 
 Dartmouth College, 34. 
 
 Day, Calvin, 142. 
 
 Deane, Barnabas, 15, 19 ; sketch of, 37 ; 
 
 60. 
 
 Deane, Silas, 37. 
 Derby Bank, failure of, 130. 
 Directors, discounts to, 145, 163. 
 Dividends, rtsumi of, 162. 
 Doolittle, Enos, bell foundry, 27. 
 Dwight, Timothy, 39. 
 
 Eagle Bank, failure of, 129.
 
 174 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Ellsworth, Oliver, 19 ; sketch of, 40, 
 
 52, 61, 97. 
 
 Embargo of 1807, 95, 113. 
 Engraving of first steel plates, 68. 
 
 "Facilities," 116. 
 
 Field, William, 138. 
 
 Fire lands, 69. 
 
 Fires at Chicago, Boston, 159. 
 
 Fractional currency in 1802, prohibited 
 
 by the State, 88, 116 ; signing of, 118 ; 
 
 again in 1816, prohibited, 119. 
 
 Goodrich, Chauncey, 15, 17 ; sketch 
 
 of, 44. 
 
 Goodwin, Charles, 118. 
 Goodwin, George, sketch of, 46, 85, 101. 
 Greene, Nathaniel, Gen'l, 37, 47. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, 17; financial 
 measures of, 22 ; success of these, 24 ; 
 3 1 . 44. 47. !4- 
 
 Hammond, A. G., 155. 
 
 Hartford in 1792, 24 ; size and popula- 
 tion, 24 ; streets, 24 ; noted land- 
 marks, 25 ; trade and commerce, 26 ; 
 value of the river, 26 ; manufac- 
 tures, 26 ; mail service, 27 ; wealth 
 and taxation, 28 ; the " Hartford 
 wits," 29, 148 ; first sidewalks, 77 ; 
 fire wardens, 78 ; pasturage of 
 streets, 78 ; change from farm to 
 town, 78 ; entrepot for Connecticut 
 valley, 79, 150 ; prosperity promoted 
 by the bank, 80 ; West India, trade 
 of, 91 ; book-manufacture, 148 ; cor- 
 porate accumulations, 165 ; manu- 
 factures, 166. 
 
 Hartford Bank, the, 9, 10, 13, 14 ; arti- 
 cles of association, 15 ; stock sub- 
 scribed, 16 ; petition of agents to 
 legislature, 16 ; the charter, 17 ; or- 
 ganization, June 14, 1792, 19 ; elec- 
 tion of officers, 20 ; denomination 
 of notes, 20 ; first rules, 21 ; opens 
 for business, 22 ; early quarters, 57 ; 
 the vault and safe, 57 ; motley cur- 
 rency, 59 ; introduces the decimal 
 system in Connecticut, 61 ; esoteric 
 rules, 63 ; bills win confidence slow- 
 ly, 65 ; but surely, 67 ; charter basis 
 of circulation, 68 ; engraved plates, 
 68 ; prominence of stockholders in 
 
 purchase and subsequent handling 
 of the "Western Reserve " 71 ; char- 
 ter limitations on ownership, and 
 voting privileges removed, 75; enfor- 
 ces punctuality, 76; early benefits to 
 community, 80 ; receives the State 
 as a stockholder, 82 ; also religious 
 societies and school corporations, 
 85 ; injustice of the conditions, 87 ; 
 lengthens terms of discount ; grows 
 more exacting, 88 ; contributes to- 
 ward purchase of fire engine, 89 ; 
 part in early underwriting, fire 
 and marine, 89 ; connection with the 
 Hartford Fire Insurance Company, 
 94 ; with turnpikes, 96 ; moves into 
 its present quarters, 98 ; position in 
 1814 ; resists application for a rival 
 bank, 101 ; momentous results of 
 the controversy, 103 ; in July, 1815, 
 joins in attempt to make New York 
 banks resume specie payments, 117 ; 
 a reactionary step, 119 ; par of shares 
 reduced to $100, 119; extraordinary 
 influence of, during the first quarter 
 of a century, 124 ; adopts more strin- 
 gent rules, 125 ; Gen. Nath'l Terry 
 president, 125 ; the city watch, 127 ; 
 employes must not trade or specu- 
 late, 128 ; courtesies to United States 
 branch bank, 128 ; in 1828, suspends 
 dividends, 130 ; Joseph Trumbull, 
 president, the Hinsdale defalca- 
 tion, 132 ; elects Henry A. Perkins 
 cashier, 133 ; statements for 1827 and 
 1829, 134 ; dividends resumed in 1830; 
 surplus in 1835, 137 ; resists State 
 supervision, 138 ; in the crisis of 
 1837, 142, 149 ; smallness of loans to 
 directors, 146 ; presidents must not 
 borrow from bank, 146 ; D. F. Rob- 
 inson elected president, 147 ; rail- 
 way construction and its effects, 151; 
 rapid expansion of insurance and 
 banking interests, 153 ; H. A. Per- 
 kins, president, 154; A. G. Hammond 
 and George Ripley cashiers, 155 ; 
 in the panic of 1857, 1 55~7 > James 
 Bolter, cashier, 157 ; subscription to 
 United States loans, 157 ; change to 
 National system, 158 ; death of Mr. 
 Perkins, 158 ; James Bolter, presi- 
 dent, 159 ; progress under the Na- 
 tional system, 161 ; renovation of
 
 INDEX 
 
 175 
 
 banking-house, 162 ; increase of cap- 
 ital, 162 ; rlsumi of dividends, 162 ; 
 directors, 163 ; President Bolter, 163 ; 
 broad influence of the bank, 164 ; 
 relations to manufactures, 166. 
 
 Hartford Fire Insurance Company, 94, 
 
 126, 153. 
 
 Hartford Woolen Manufactory, the, 26. 
 Hillhouse, James, 97. 
 Hinsdale, Daniel, defalcation of, 132. 
 Hoadly & Chalker, store of, robbed, 58. 
 Hoadly, Charles J., 58, 59. 
 Hopkins, Charles, sketch of, 54. 
 Hosmer, James B., 139. 
 HubbaiKl, Nehemiah, sketch of, 47, 71. 
 Hudson & Goodwin, 25; sketches of, 46, 
 
 62, gij 97. 
 Hudson, Barzillai, 46. 
 
 Imlay, William, 89. 
 
 Indents for interest, 66. 
 
 Ingersoll, Jonathan, 104, 105. 
 
 Inns, disappearance of, 151. 
 
 Insurance, 89 ; fire, 89 ; marine, 90 ; pre- 
 miums, 90 ; rapid organization of 
 companies after 1846, 153. 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, 142. 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 44, 61, 81, 113. 
 
 Keyes, Amasa, sketch of, 52. 
 Kingsbury, Andrew, 65, 101. 
 Knox, Normand, elected cashier, 77, 
 91 ; resignation of, in. 
 
 Law, John, n. 
 Lawrence, Samuel, 91. 
 
 Madison, James, 114. 
 
 Mail service in 1792, 27 ; in 1839, 151. 
 
 Manufactures, 26, 79, 166. 
 
 Mather, Oliver, 97. 
 
 Merrill, Hezekiah, elected cashier, 20, 
 
 75 ; resignation, 76. 
 Middletown Bank, the, 82. 
 Mint, the, establishment of, 23. 
 Morgan, Elias, 36, 71. 
 Morgan, John, 15, 19, 34 ; sketch of, 35, 
 
 60, 71, 82, 90, 91, 97, 101, 117. 
 
 Morgan, Junius S., 36. 
 Morris, Governeur, 61. 
 Morris, Robert, 31. 
 Mosely, William, 75. 
 
 New Haven Bank, 82. 
 Newspaper, early, the, 14. 
 Niles's Weekly Register, 122. 
 Norwich Bank, the, 82. 
 
 Ogden, Jacob, sketch of, 51, 60. 
 Olmstead, Aaron, 97. 
 
 Palmer, John C., 140. 
 
 Parsons, Francis, 137. 
 
 Parsons, John C., 137. 
 
 Patten, Nathaniel, 94. 
 
 Penn, William, grant to, 69. 
 
 Perkins, Enoch, sketch of, 45, 71, 78. 
 
 Perkins, Henry A., elected cashier, 
 133 ; his character, 133 ; anecdotes 
 of 135, 136, 144 ; elected president, 
 154 ; death, 158. 
 
 Phelps, Oliver, sketch of, 47, 71. 
 
 Phillips, George, 19 ; sketch of, 36, 50. 
 
 Phoenix Bank, 93, 103. 
 
 Pierce & Beach, 91, 93. 
 
 Pierce, George and John, 91. 
 
 Police, beginnings of, 127. 
 
 Porter & Holbrook, 150. 
 
 Post-notes authorized, 96, 115 ; forbid- 
 den, 116. 
 
 Post-revolutionary poverty and per- 
 ils, 12. 
 
 Providence Bank, the, 10. 
 
 Putnam, George, 140. 
 
 Raguet, Condy, 112. 
 
 Railway construction in 1849, and re- 
 sults to the city, 151. 
 
 Reed, Abner, 68. 
 
 Ripley, George, 155, 157. 
 
 Robinson, David F., elected president, 
 147 ; sketch of, 147 ; resignation, 153. 
 
 Root, Ephraim, 20; sketch of, 40, 71, 82. 
 
 Root, Erastus, on decimal notation in 
 1795, 62. 
 
 Rules of the bank, exoteric, 21 ; esot- 
 eric, 64 ; more stringent, 125. 
 
 Sanford, Peleg, sketch of, 50, 55, 71. 
 Sanford, Thomas, 96. 
 Sanford & Wadsworth, 89, 90. 
 Saybrook platform, the, 107. 
 Seymour, Thomas Y., 78. 
 Shipman, Elias, 90. 
 Slavery in Connecticut, 29. 
 Smith, Normand, 79.
 
 176 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Stage coaches, disappearance of, 151. 
 Stand-up law, the, 109. 
 Steele's, J. & G., foundry, 27. 
 Sterry, John & Consider, on decimal 
 
 system, 63. 
 Supervision of banks by Connecticut, 
 
 83, 127, 138. 
 
 Taxation in 1792, 28. 
 
 Terry, Nathaniel, 34, 85, 94, 101 ; elect- 
 ed president, 125 ; sketch of, 126 ; re- 
 tired, 131. 
 
 Times, Hartford, The, 49, 53, 104. 
 
 Tisdall, Thomas, sketch of, 49. 
 
 Trumbull, John, 15, 17, 34; sketch of, 42. 
 
 Trumbull, Joseph, president, 131 ; 
 sketch of, 131, 139, 140, 142, 145, 147. 
 
 Turnpike, Hartford and New Haven, 
 96 ; turnpikes in 1839, 151. 
 
 Union Bank, 9, 82. 
 
 United States debt to Connecticut, 81. 
 
 Wadsworth, Daniel, 34, 51 ; sketch 
 of, 54. 
 
 Wadsworth, Jeremiah, 16, 19, 20, 31 ; 
 sketch of, 32, 37, 47, 48, 50, 53, 54, 55, 
 59. 9. 97, 126. 
 
 War of 1812, in ; bank mania in Penn- 
 sylvania, 112 ; excessive issues of 
 paper currency, 113 ; New England 
 
 escapes the craze, 113 ; unpopularity 
 of the war in New England, 113 ; 
 conservative course of her banks, 
 114 ; which attracts coin,. 114 ; sus- 
 pension elsewhere, 115 ; post-notes 
 authorized, 115 ; peace, 116 ; subse- 
 quent injurious effects upon New 
 England, 119. 
 
 Washington, George, 13, 22, 27, 32. 
 
 Watkinson, David, 117, 139, 142. 
 
 Watson, James, 20 ; sketch of, 38. 
 
 Webster, Noah, 15, 17 ; sketch of, 49, 60. 
 
 Western Reserve of Ohio, 48, 69 ; spec- 
 ulators' scheme for the sale of, 70 ; 
 sale comsummated, 70 ; terms, 71 ; 
 difficulties thicken, 72 ; uncertainty 
 of titles, 72 ; controversy closed, 72 ; 
 migration from Connecticut, .73 ; in- 
 fluence of transplanting on the Pu- 
 ritan stock, 74. 
 
 West India trade, 91. 
 
 Whiting, Spencer, 91. 
 
 Williams, Ezekiel, Jr., sketch of, 52 ; 
 82 ; organizes local marine insur- 
 ance, 90, 91, 97. 
 
 Woodward, George, 77. 
 
 Woodward, Joseph G., 60. 
 
 Wolcott, Oliver, 104, 105. 
 
 Yale College, 34, 35, 38, 40, 42, 44, 45, 52, 
 ioo, 101, 103, 105, 126, 131.
 
 ;U/3 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
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 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
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