Minotte Estes Chatfield (1859-1952)

Portrait from the Commemorative Biographical Record of New Haven County, 1902.

    New Haven, Connecticut resident Minotte Estes Chatfield is another in a long line of distinguished Nutmeg State businessmen/state representatives profiled recently, and, like his oddly named contemporary Plumb Nichols Fairchild, made his fortune through the manufacture of paper. During a long life that extended from the administrations of Buchanan to Truman, Chatfield branched out into other walks of New Haven life (being a newspaper company and bank president) and served terms in both houses of the Connecticut legislature.

   Born in Centerville, Connecticut on March 13, 1859, Minotte Estes Chatfield was one of four children born to George Wooster and Cornelia Andrews (Ford) Chatfield. Descended from a family with roots in Connecticut dating back to the early 17th century, Chatfield's education took place in the public school system of New Haven, as well as the Hopkins Grammar School. Upon reaching age sixteen Chatfield entered the workforce, assuming a clerkship under New Haven postmaster Nehemiah Day Sperry (1827-1911), who would later represent Connecticut's 2nd district in Congress for eight terms. In 1880 Chatfield married Stella Rowe Russell (1858-1916), to who he was wed for thirty-six years. The couple had three children, Russell Estes (1884-1962), Sterling Russell (1891-1973), and Helen Russell (1893-1988). 

   Chatfield's postal clerkship extended from 1875 to 1882 when he resigned. He soon found employment with the F.S. Bradley and Co., one of New Haven's premier dealers in hardware supplies and paper. Chatfield's tenure at that company saw him placed in the paper department, and through seven years of diligent work learned the ins and outs of the papermaking trade, and "acquainted himself with every branch of the department." By 1889 Chatfield, now equipped with extensive knowledge of the paper business, resolved to go into business for himself. In that year he purchased the Bradley Co.'s paper and twine departments, and within a short period, the Chatfield Paper Company was born. This business (incorporated in 1895), grew to be "among the largest concerns of the kind in New England" and Chatfield himself served as its president and treasurer. 

   Minotte Chatfield continued to expand his business savvy through the remainder of the 1890s, becoming affiliated with the New Haven Pulp and Board Co. He would hold the presidency of that company (as well as being a large stockholder) and branched out into the publishing world when he assumed the directorship of the Evening Leader Co., publishers of the New Haven Times Leader, a popular city newspaper. Chatfield also added the title of bank director to his resume when he became a director of the Yale National Bank in early 1918. In addition to banking and business Chatfield loomed large in city civic affairs and social clubs, being a director of the New Haven Public Library, as well as a member of the Quinnipiac Club and the New Haven Country Club.

   Acknowledged as one of New Haven's leading young Republicans, Chatfield was a member of that city's Young Men's Republican Club and served on the New Haven city council and board of aldermen. In November 1902 Chatfield won election to the Connecticut General Assembly, garnering 9, 247 votes on election day. It can safely be said that Chatfield had plenty of oddly named company amongst his fellow legislators in the 1903-05 session, as he served alongside such men as Fessenden Leverett Ives, Allerton Cushman Kibbe, Maltby Gaylord Gelston, Scovill McLean Buckingham, Urban Todd Harrison, Aretas Frederick Kibbe, and Mayro Keeney. 

Portrait from the Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut, 1903.

   Chatfield's term in the house saw him sit on the committee on constitutional amendments and in 1905 sought election to the state senate. He was elected to that body in November of that year with 3,270 votes and during the 1906-08 term chaired the committee on cities and boroughs. During the waning months of his Senate term Chatfield was put forth as the Republican candidate for Mayor of New Haven, and in September 1907 accepted the nomination, remarking

"The honor of heading the ticket has fallen to my lot. That it will be my endeavor to fill the office to the best of my ability, all who know me will understand. If elected mayor it will be my pleasure to advocate such improvements as will, in my judgement, cause city betterments."

   Chatfield's opponent that year was Democrat James B. Martin, a former member of the city council and city clerk. On election day in October it was Martin who emerged victorious, and following his win served as mayor until his defeat in 1909. Following his loss Chatfield remained prominent in New Haven, being an active Mason and commissioner of the city's sinking fund from 1921-1930. Widowed in 1916, Chatfield remarried in June 1920 to Charlotte Snider (1874-1947). Widowed for the second time in 1947, Chatfield celebrated his 90th birthday in 1949 and died at his summer residence "Pine Orchard" in Branford, Connecticut on August 19, 1952, at age 93. He was interred at the Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven, the same resting place as that of his wives Stella and Charlotte.

From the New Haven Journal-Courier, September 25, 1907.

From the New Haven Evening Register.

Stiles Rust Nettleton (1834-1911), Stiles Trumbull Stanton (1849-1888), Stiles Ashbel Crandall (1851-1932), Stiles Denison Woodruff (1837-1906)

Portrait from Steel and Searl's Legislative Souvenir of 1895-1896.

   Buckeye state native Stiles Rust Nettleton spent the better part of his seventy-seven years with a case of wanderlust, journeying around the United States. From humble beginnings in Ohio Nettleton rose to be a veteran of the Civil War, took a bride in Michigan, grew cotton in Alabama, was a newspaper owner and Judge in Minnesota, and served as a special treasury agent for the Pribilof Islands in Alaska. Relocating to Seattle, Washington in the early 1890s, Nettleton served one term in that state's house of representatives from 1895-1897. Truly a multifaceted man!

   Born on April 7, 1834, in Delaware County, Ohio, Stiles Rust Nettleton was one of several children born to Hiram and Lavina (Janes) Nettleton. In addition to Stiles Rust, the Nettleton family would also boast Alvred Bayard Nettleton (1838-1911), who went on to prominence in his own right, being a Brevet Brigadier General during the Civil War and Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under Benjamin Harrison from 1890-93.

  Little could be found in regards to Stiles Nettleton's early life or education, excepting notice of his casting his ballot for Lincoln in the election of 1860, and his enlistment for service in the Twelfth Ohio Volunteers. Nettleton's time with that unit saw him see action in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, and in the latter state participated in attacking "the salt supply of the Confederacy" on several occasions. Nettleton would also take part in the raids conducted by General George Stoneman that destroyed portions of Confederate railway supply lines in Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

    Research has shown that during the late 1850s, Nettleton was a resident of Sanilac County, Michigan, and during his time there served as a Notary Public, Commissioner of Roads, and town clerk of Lexington. Stiles R. Nettleton married in Sanilac County on March 20, 1862, to Almeda Orline Mills (1834-1921). The couple was wed for nearly five decades and within a year of their marriage had returned to Ohio. Their lengthy union would see the births of nine children: Elva (1863-1913), Alma (1864-1872), Hiram Sherman (1866-1951), Clark Mills (1868-1943), Fannie Lavinia (1868-1872), Alice Lyra (1873-1962), Mabel Orline (1874-1946), Stiles Rust Jr. (1876-1942) and Sarah Marie (1880-1975). 

   Following his discharge from service in November 1865 Stiles Nettleton is recorded as residing in Alabama, where in 1866-67 he had an interest in a "cotton raising and mercantile enterprise." By 1868 he was again residing in Ohio and in the early 1870s went west as a special agent with the Jay Cooke and Co. In 1872 Nettleton had moved his family to Minnesota, and was later employed as "a local agent for the land department of the Northern Pacific Railroad". 

    Nettleton's early residency in Minnesota saw him residing in the Clay County town of Glyndon, and in 1872 he and his wife became charter members of the Glyndon church. Nettleton also made his first foray into Minnesota politics during this period, being elected as Clay County Judge of Probate in 1879. He would be reelected to that office in 1881 and three years later removed with his family to  Northfield. Following his arrival, Nettleton would add another feather to his cap, that of a newspaper editor. He would purchase the Northfield News, "which he would conduct with success for four years."

    In the late 1880s, Nettleton would move once again, this time purchasing a stock farm in the southern portion of the state. In 1889 he received the appointment as an assistant special agent for the U.S. Treasury Department on the Pribilof Islands, a group of rocky, sparsely populated islands located off the coast of mainland Alaska. Despite being sent to such a remote location, Nettleton took to the appointment with vigor, and in the autumn of 1889 settled into his duties on the Island of St. Paul, keeping a diary of his work with the local citizenry, as well as taking notes on the fur seal population. In the following year, he returned to Minnesota and in 1891 was again dispatched to Alaska, first returning to St. Paul. He was later transferred to the island of St. George, remaining there until June 1892. During his time on St. Paul Island Nettleton was joined by his wife and youngest daughter, with his wife serving as a school teacher on the island during their stay.

Portrait from the 1895-96 composite photo of the Washington House of Representatives.

    After concluding his work on the Pribilof Islands Stiles R. Nettleton resettled in Seattle, Washington, where he worked in the customs service on the Puget Sound. In 1894 he was elected as one of King County's representatives to the Washington state legislature, and during his term (1895-97) sat on the house committees on Corporations, Counties and County Boundaries, Federal Relations and Immigration, Harbors and Waterways, Labor and Labor Statistics and Public Morals. 

    Following his time in the legislature, Nettleton resided in Kirkland, Washington, where he was a mining broker. He died in Kirkland on May 17, 1911, at age 77, and was survived by his wife Almeda and several of his children. Both Stiles and Almeda (along with four of their children) were interred at the Kirkland Cemetery. Prominence would continue in the Nettleton family with Clark Mills Nettleton, a former engineer and railroad contractor who in 1918 took over the ownership of the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

Nettleton's death notice from the Seattle Republican, May 26, 1911.

Portrait from the Evening Post Annual, 1885.

  Hailing from Stonington, Connecticut, Stiles Trumbull Stanton packed an incredible amount of activity in Connecticut state government despite living to the age of just 38. In addition to serving terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives and Senate Stanton was also an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1880 and ran an unsuccessful candidacy for Secretary of the State of Connecticut two years later. The son of Stiles and Abby W. Stanton, Stiles Trumbull Stanton was born in Stonington on December 10, 1849.

  Stanton's education in Stonington occurred at the Russell Collegiate and Commercial Insitute and he went on to further study at the Collegiate Institute of New Haven. Deciding to pursue a career in journalism, Stanton was employed on the staff of the Worcester Press and the Norwich Bulletin, and his time on the latter publication saw him garner a wide reputation as a humorist and "funny man", even having his work copied in various newspapers outside Connecticut.

  Following a three-year stint on the brigade staff of the Connecticut National Guard, Stanton cut ties with the Norwich Bulletin in 1877  and following a trip to Europe returned to his home state. Within a few short years of abandoning his journalistic career Stanton had made substantial inroads in Republican politics in the state, serving as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1880 and in that same year held the post of Secretary of the State Republican Committee. 

   Further honors were accorded to Stanton in May 1881 when he won election to the Connecticut House of Representatives from New London County and would win a second term the following year. 1882 also saw Stanton set his sights on higher office, becoming the Republican nominee for Connecticut Secretary of State. While he would lose that election to David Ward Northrup Stanton would achieve a measure of consolation in 1883 when he was elected to the Connecticut State Senate. Stanton served in the sessions of 1884-1886 and was also president pro tempore of that body during the last Senate session.

  Stiles Trumbull Stanton married in June 1884 to Lucy Bell Babcock (1849-1928) with the couple's marriage being recorded as childless. In early winter 1888 Stanton is recorded as staying at the Grand Union Hotel in New York City, where he would contract pneumonia. His health failed rapidly and by February was reported by the New York Times as being in a coma. On February 3, 1888, Stanton died at that hotel at the age of just 38, and in the wake of his untimely passing was memorialized as having been "handsome and popular, his career fraught with success from the first." Stanton was survived by his wife Lucy, who, following her death in 1928, was buried beside her husband at the Evergreen Cemetery in Stonington.

From the Waterbury Evening Democrat, February 3, 1888.

Portrait from the Biographical Review of New London County.

  Another "Stiles" that made his name known in Nutmeg State politics is Stiles Ashbel Crandall, who, like Stiles T. Stanton, hailed from New London County. Prominent in the towns of Ledyard and Norwich, Crandall served terms in both houses of the Connecticut legislature, was mayor of the city of Norwich and in 1895 was an unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of his state. Born in the town of Ledyard on October 12, 1851, S. Ashbel Crandall was the son of Stiles and Caroline (Greene) Crandall. Crandall's youth was spent on his family's farm and, following study in district schools of the area, began a teaching career at age eighteen. 

  After several years spent teaching Crandall resumed his studies and left Connecticut for the Iowa State University, where he would read law. After graduating in 1878 he returned to his home state and in the following year was admitted to the Connecticut bar. He would soon relocate to Norwich to establish his law practice and in 1880 was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, where he served for one term. In April 1883 S. Ashbel Crandall married Jane Stoddard (ca. 1851-1885) and later had two children, Mary Stoddard (born 1884) and Billings Francis Stoddard (born 1885). Jane Stoddard Crandall would die shortly after her son's birth in 1885 and Crandall never remarried following her death.

  Crandall returned to political life in 1887 when he won election as Mayor of Norwich, a  post he would continue to serve in until 1892. In 1892 he was elected to the Connecticut Senate, garnering 2, 796 votes on election day. Crandall's term (1893-95) saw him sit on the committees on Education and Forfeited Rights and in 1895 became the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor. He would lose that contest to former Lieutenant Governor Lorrin Alanson Cooke, who in 1897 would go on to win the Connecticut governorship.

  After leaving the senate Crandall continued prominence in Norwich, serving as a city school board member for six years and held memberships in a number of fraternal groups, including the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, and the Improved Order of Red Men. S. Ashbel Crandall died at the Masonic Home of Wallingford, Connecticut on November 14, 1932, at age 81. He was later interred at the Gales Ferry Cemetery in Allyn's Point, Connecticut, the same resting place as his wife Jane.

Portrait courtesy of www.saveseeds.org

  Orange, Connecticut resident Stiles Denison Woodruff served two terms in his state's house of representatives and would achieve additional prominence as a founder of S.D.Woodruff & Sons, one of the largest dealers of garden seeds in the eastern portion of the United States. Born on November 27, 1837, Stiles D. Woodruff was the son of Jeremiah and Charlotte Emeline (Nettleton) Woodruff. Stiles would marry in Orange in October 1862 to Elizabeth Maria Clark (1839-1906), with whom he had four children, Frank Clark (born 1866-1944), Watson Stiles (1869-1930), Robert Jeremiah (born 1874-), and Mary (born 1876). Of these children, Watson Stiles and Frank Woodruff would follow in their father's footsteps and serve in the Connecticut legislature, the former being a member of the house of representatives in 1907-08 and in the Senate from 1919-20. Frank Woodruff too would win election to the Senate, serving in the session of 1911-12.

   In the same year as his marriage, Stiles Woodruff entered into military service, enlisting in Co. G of the 27th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. In the spring of 1863 Woodruff (along with many other soldiers from the 27th Regiment) was taken prisoner at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and for two weeks was held at the Libby Prison in Richmond. Woodruff and his fellow prisoners were later swapped in a prisoner exchange and Woodruff himself later saw action at Gettysburg prior to his discharge from service.

   After his return from war Woodruff began a small business venture, the growing of garden seeds. After purchasing the Lyman Treat farm in Orange, Woodruff started out with beets, turnips, parsnips, cabbage and sweet corn. Woodruff's small enterprise eventually evolved into an extensive wholesale and retail enterprise, and by the time of his death in 1906 was acknowledged as "one of the largest growers of garden seeds in the east." In the early 1890s Woodruff's sons Watson and Frank joined the business, and in later years the company added "Maine seed potatoes and onion sets" to their catalog, along with a new type of corn breed called the "Country Gentleman".

A Woodruff & Sons advertisement from 1901.

  While his name grew prominent in Connecticut agricultural circles, Stiles D. Woodruff also cultivated a name in civic, religious, and political affairs in his native county of Fairfield. A longstanding member of the Orange Congregational Church, Woodruff served as church clerk, treasurer, and deacon, and would hold the posts of grand juror and Orange town clerk for two decades. In 1878 Woodruff was elected to represent Orange in the Connecticut House of Representatives, and during his two terms (1879 and 1880) sat on the house committee on the School Fund.

  Following his legislative service, Woodruff continued with his seed business and with his sons Watson and Frank, would lease a house in Long Island, New York, where further varieties of seed were developed. In March 1906, Elizabeth Woodruff, Stiles' wife of over forty years, died. Sickly at the time of his wife's passing, news of his wife's death was withheld from him for a time, and on April 11, a little over a month after his wife's death, Stiles Woodruff died at his home, aged 68. Both were later interred at the Orange Center Cemetery.

Woodruff's obituary from the New Haven Morning Journal and Courier, Apr. 12, 1906.

Carnot Obadiah Spencer (1832-1908), Carnot Bolton Meeker (1836-1911)

From Taylor's Legislative  History and Souvenir of Connecticut, 1901.

    Described as an "ideal public functionary" and  a "worthy citizen and gentleman", Essex, Connecticut native Carnot Obadiah Spencer served terms in both houses of the Connecticut General Assembly and in the twilight of his life held the post of State Commissioner of the School Fund, being responsible for tracking education expenditures throughout the state. 

  The son of Obadiah and Susanna Pratt Spencer, Carnot O. Spencer was born on May 27, 1832 in what is now Essex, Connecticut. A former state assemblyman and Warden of the borough of Essex, Obadiah Spencer had married in 1818 and would have a total of four children, Carnot being the fourth born. Carnot's early education occurred in the common schools of Middlesex County and as a young man was employed by his father in the latter's general store in Essex. Spencer continued his education at the Connecticut Literary Institute in the town of Suffield and married in 1855 to Maria Jane Fuller (1834-1900), a Suffield native. The couple was to remain childless through the entirety of their marriage. 

  In 1861 Spencer followed in his father's stead and was elected as Essex's representative to the Connecticut State Assembly. He would be returned to that body in 1862, 1878, and 1879 and also served Essex as a school board member, town assessor, selectman in 1866, and town clerk from 1875-1878. In 1869 Spencer was elected to the state senate from Connecticut's 19th district and served here until the close of the 1869-70 session. 

  Carnot Spencer left Essex in 1880 and moved to the city of New Haven, where in 1881 he was selected to be chief clerk in the Connecticut School Fund commissioner's office.  He relocated to Hartford sometime afterward but continued in his role as chief clerk until 1898, when he took the reigns as State School Fund commissioner, being appointed to that office in the wake of Commissioner Jeremiah Olney's death. 

  Spencer's time as school fund commissioner extended until his death at age 76 on June 21, 1908. Before his death Spencer had been a longstanding member of Hartford's First Baptist Church and had served as a church treasurer and deacon. Spencer was memorialized in the Budget Report of the Connecticut Department of Finance, which related that 

"In the death of Carnot O. Spencer on the 21st of June 1908, the school fund met with a loss not to be measured or recorded in columns of statistics, although his actions for twenty years was felt in the statistics of the department......The present condition of the School Fund is excellent, owing to his faithful oversight and management."

  Spencer had been preceded in death in July of 1900 by his wife Marie, and following her passing remarried to Josephine C. Williams (1957-1926), who would survive him upon his death in 1908. Both Carnot and Josephine were interred at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford.

                                                              From the Connecticut Legislative Souvenir of 1905.

From the Biographical and Genealogical History of Morris and Sussex County, 1899.

  Civil War veteran Carnot Bolton Meeker was a lifelong resident of Morris County, New Jersey and entered into political life in the late 1880s when he won election to the New Jersey General Assembly. One of four children born to Daniel and Sarah Richards Meeker, Carnot's birth occurred in what is now Afton, New Jersey on November 28, 1836. 

   A graduate of the Frame Academy in Bloomfield and the Woodbridge Institute, Meeker enlisted in the Union Army and was prominent in the establishment of the 2nd Regiment New Jersey Calvary. He received the promotion to second lieutenant of Co. B. in that regiment and in 1864 became a first lieutenant and aide-de-camp to Union General Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana. 

   At the war's conclusion, Meeker returned home to New Jersey and engaged in farming.  In November 1886 he was elected as a Republican to the New Jersey State Assembly from Morris County and during the 1887-89 session, Meeker would hold a seat on the assembly committees on Agriculture, Fisheries, and Lunatic Asylums. After leaving the assembly he served as the chairman of the Morris County Republican Committee and in the late 1890s was a member of the county Board of Registry. 

  In addition to his political doings in Morris County Carnot Meeker was a member of the A.T.A. Corbett Post of the Grand Army of the Republic as well as being a parishioner at the Hanover Presbyterian Church. A lifelong bachelor, Meeker died on September 13, 1911, in Florham Park, New Jersey, with his burial being at the First Presbyterian Church of Hanover Cemetery.

Heusted Warner Reynolds Hoyt (1842-1894)

Portrait from the Evening Post Annual 1887.

   During a short life that extended just 51 years, Heusted Warner Reynolds Hoyt rose to become a prominent figure in Connecticut law circles, having earlier been brevetted as a Colonel in the Connecticut National Guard. A multi-term member of both houses of the Connecticut legislature, Hoyt's political career reached its apex in 1887 when he was elected as Speaker of the Connecticut State House of Representatives.

   With the exception of a short residency in New York City, Heusted W.R. Hoyt was a lifelong resident of Connecticut, being born in the town of Ridgefield on November 1, 1842.  The son of Warner Hoyt (a Ridgefield minister) and Elizabeth Phillipina Reynolds, Hoyt lost his father when just three years of age and as a youngster moved with his mother to the home of her father, located in Greenwich. Described as a child of "alert mind", young Heusted would attend school at the Greenwich Academy and would later study at Columbia University in New York, being admitted at age seventeen. He would be afflicted with "a protracted illness" during his first term and because of this "could not continue"  with his studies. In 1863 Hoyt joined the Connecticut State Militia, being appointed as a Second Lieutenant in Co. F. of the 8th Regiment, Connecticut National Guard. He would eventually be promoted to Colonel in the Connecticut 4th Regiment and served in this capacity until his resignation in March of 1877.

   Hoyt began the study of law in New York City in the early 1860s with Henry H. Owen and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1865. Soon after receiving his degree Hoyt removed back to Greenwich to establish a law office, and through his practice served as "local counsel" for former U.S. Representative and Tammany Hall leader William Marcy Tweed (a part-time Greenwich resident), who had a $160,000 suit levied against him in 1871 by James H. Ingersoll in the "Connecticut Superior Court". Hoyt would marry around 1872 to Anne E. Waite, with whom he would have three children, Elizabeth Warner, Turner Waite, and Annie. 

   Within a few years of his return to Connecticut Hoyt won election to the State Senate at age 26, being the youngest man to serve during that legislative session. His term extended from 1869-70 and he was returned to that body in the election of 1872, serving from 1873-74. During his first term he chaired both the committee on Enrolled Bills and the Military, and in the second was chair of the committee on Incorporations. Following these terms he returned to practicing law, subsequently being retained as counsel for the Greenwich Savings Bank (where he also served as a trustee) and was a director for the Byram Land Improvement Company.

                    Heusted W.R. Hoyt in 1869, from the "Other Days In Greenwich", published 1913.

   Hoyt reentered political life in November 1885 when he was elected to represent his hometown in the Connecticut House of Representatives. During the 1886-87 term, he served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was reelected to the house in November 1886 and at the start of the 1887 house term was selected as its Speaker, continuing in this post throughout the 1888 and 1889 house terms. Described by the Popular Biography of Connecticut as being a "staunch Republican", Hoyt was also noted as an "able debater" and "affable man" who:

"In every measure presented or discussed he manifested a lively interest, and, whether in the chair or on the floor, always commanded respect and wielded important influence in legislative affairs."

  In 1889 Heusted W.R. Hoyt was honored by his fellow Greenwich citizens by being elected as the first judge of the Borough of Greenwich, and sat on the bench until his death at age 51 on April 8, 1894. His funeral took place during a "blinding snowstorm" and was attended by many members of the Fairfield County bar. A week after his passing Hoyt was memorialized by the Fairfield County Bar in a resolution that noted:

"That in the death of Brother Hoyt this bar fully realizes the loss of one of its most respected and talented members, one whose kindly and genial qualities, loyal friendship, amiable, polished and courteous manners, heroic courage, unswerving integrity in the discharge of his professional duties, and superior intellectual attainments has long commanded the admiration of his fellows, and are worthy of emulation."

  A burial location for both Hoyt and his family is unknown at this time and is presumed to be somewhere in the Greenwich vicinity, where he spent nearly all of his personal and professional life.

  

From "Other Days In Greenwich", 1913.

Luzon Burritt Morris (1827-1895)

   A prominent Connecticut lawyer and legislator, Luzon Burritt Morris etched his name in the annals of history in 1892 when he was elected as the 52nd Governor of Connecticut. This oddly named Governor remained "faceless" for many years because this author failed to locate an actual portrait of him. In 2002 a portrait of a statue of him was located, and that
remained the only actual picture that I found until the discovery of the above print in the 1891 work Representative Men of the State of Connecticut. Since that portrait's discovery a few months ago I've managed to locate three additional pictures of him (courtesy of Google Books) and I'm proud to relate that because of this following profile, there will now be at least a few new pictures of him available online.
   Luzon B. Morris was born on April 16, 1827, in Newtown, Connecticut, the son of Eli Gould and Lydia Bennett Morris. Luzon attended schools local to the Newport area and during his teenage years was employed as a toolmaker and blacksmith. Morris eventually accumulated enough savings to put himself through school and in 1848 enrolled in the Connecticut Literary Institute. After graduating from here he moved on to Yale University, where he received his law degree. While still pursuing his education, Morris began to test the political waters, being elected to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1855 and 1856 and in the latter year was admitted to the state bar. Also in 1856, Morris married Eugenia Tuttle, with whom he had three sons and three daughters.

From the Illustrated Popular History of Connecticut, 1891.

   In addition to his law practice and early legislative service, Luzon B. Morris also served as Probate Judge for the district of New Haven from 1857 to 1863. Over the next few decades, he earned a reputation as one of the most distinguished members of the Connecticut Bar and was reelected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1870, 1876, 1880, and 1881. In 1874 Morris was elected to the State Senate, and during his term served as the chairman of the senate judiciary committee. He is also recorded as serving as President Pro tem of the senate during his one term.
   While Morris continued honing his political and judicial career, he is also mentioned as having a keen interest in the financial affairs of his home state. The Representative Men of Connecticut notes that Morris served as the Vice President (and later President) of the Connecticut Savings Bank of New Haven for over two decades. He was later named to the New Haven Board of Education and eventually served as its president.
  During his time in the legislature and afterward, Luzon Morris put his law expertise to use by serving on several committees that aided in the revising of probate laws in Connecticut. His work in these areas eventually caught the eye of Connecticut Democratic party leaders, who in 1888 urged him to run for Governor. In that year's gubernatorial election, Morris faced off against Republican nominee Morgan Gardner Bulkeley (1837-1922). 
   When the results were tallied in November 1888, Morris had accumulated more votes than his opponent but neither candidate had the required 50% to claim an election victory. Following a then-existing state law, the decision was left in the hands of the Connecticut General Assembly. Seeing that the Assembly had a large Republican majority, Morgan Bulkeley was declared the victor. Similar election chicanery occurred when Morris ran again in 1890 (this time losing the Democratic nomination to Samuel Merwin) but it is reported by the 1905 work Governors of Connecticut that even in the face of skewed election results and political bickering, Morris remained "perfectly conservative and very dignified."
  

           This portrait of Morris appeared in the "Governors of Connecticut", originally published in 1905.

    Luzon Burritt Morris eventually won the Connecticut governorship in 1892, defeating Republican candidate Samuel Merwin by a vote of 82,878 to 76,745. He officially took office in January 1893 and during his two-year term pressed for improvements in existing Connecticut state election laws. During the second year of his term, Morris was named as the director of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company and continued serving in this post after his term as Governor concluded. Also during his tenure, Morris had to contend with the financial panic of 1893-94, and it is mentioned that his overall popularity with voters suffered immensely because of this. Morris did not seek reelection in 1895, and on August 22nd of that year was felled by a stroke in his law office. He was subsequently taken to a local hospital, where he died sometime later. Following his death, he was interred at the Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven. Morris's obituary below appeared in an August 23, 1895 edition of the Glens Falls Morning Star.