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TltE • TRAVELERS INSURANCE ~G G0MPANY 8.54o I} .(;., etb JC( ,, 0

THE LATE JAMES G. BATTERSON, FOUNDER OF ACCIDENT INSURANCE IN AMERICA AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY • .~,.~~ROM the day, two hundred and seventy­ ~~ - f six years ago, when Sachem Sunckquasson deeded the land where Hartford now stands ~ ~~..£1ij) to Samuel Stone, William · Goodwin and 1 others, the history of the site upon which the addition_ to the Travelers building stands can be definitely traced, and .the events which have occurred thereon are written in both local and. American history. It was early in June, 1636, that the Rev. Thomas • Hooker and his congregation, . following "The Adven­ turers" who had preceded them the year, before, ~et forth from Newton (Cambridge), Mass., not as· individual settlers, but as an ecclesiastical and political organiza­ tion. After an arduous journey with their household goods and cattle they reached the Connecticut near the mouth of the Chicopee. River, and traveling down the eastern bank beheld across the river the:wide m·eadows and the w~oded uplands of their future home. • Along the western bank were the wigwams of the Indian town of Suckiage, while hidden by the forest about a mile to the south, where the ,Little river joins the Connecticut, lay the small · Dutch fort of Huys de Hoop (the House of Hope) built of brick and timber, and a few houses surrounded by cherry trees. It was merely a trading post, garrisoned by a com­ mander and fifteen soldiers and their families, and • destined to continue until Captain John Underhill eighteen years later, by order of parliament, seized it. It was the English who established an organized community, giving it first the name of Newtowne. •

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SYLVESTER C. DUNHAM, PRESIDENT OF THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY • But Stone and many of the settlers had come originally from Hertford, England, and amid the toil and priva­ tions of their exile in the wilderness their thoughts went back to the pleasant English country of their youth, and before the year was over they changed the name to "Harteford Towne. And likewise the plantacon nowe called Watertowne shall be called Wythersfield, and the plan­ tacon called Dorchester shall be called Windsor". In May, 1637, the meeting of the representatives of the three towns of Hartford, Windsor and Wethers­ fiel9- for the first time took the name of the General Court, composed in addition to the town magistrates of committees of three from each town, thereby establish­ ing the seminal principle of the senate and ,house of • representatives. In 1639 the little commonwealth drew up the first of all written constitutions, destined to be not only the earliest but with the exception of that of Rhode Island the longest lived of American documents of the kind, surviving unchanged until 1818 when a new constitu­ tion, containing practically all the fundamental prin­ 'ciples of the first, was enacted . • No English pen has described the Hartford of those days, but the Dutchman, DeVries, visiting the .House of Hope in 1639 has pictured it briefly. "The Dutch fort is on the margin of the river and along­ side it runs a little creek to a high woodland, out of which comes a valley where the English in spite of us have begun to make a settlement. A beautiful country, with many salmon in the river. The English have a fine church and one hundred houses" . Of the Hartford of those days there remains only • the well of Thomas Hooker still in existence in an iron foundry, and across the street from where the Travelers building stands, hidden behind the First Church

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ENTRANCE HALL containing a few timbers of the original meeting house~ the graveyard of the settlers~ The original deed to the land of Hartford execut~d • in 1636 was lost, but a deed confirming the first and extending the original grant westward, executed iri 1670 by the heirs of Sachem Sunckquasson, is recorded in Hartford Land Records. Under the form of government adopted by the settlers who were known as "proprietors" three distri­ butions were made of the property acquired under the Indian deed. To each proprietor was allotted a house lot, a piece of meadow land and a wood lot, and the • remainder of the land was called the Town Commons. Each grant was upon condition of .the lands being

Tenth Page improved or returned to the town, and the farm lands were distributed in different proportions according to the proprietors' contributions, services, and sometimes their dignity or necessities. In case any proprietor wished to sell, · the town paying only for any labor expended, had the preference of purchase. As was the custom in England title to these lots was not recorded until October 10, 1639, when The General Court passed an order that the "townes of Hartford, Windsor a.nd Wethersfield shall each provide a ledger Booke, with an index or alphabett unto the same: Also shall choose one who shall be a Towne Clerke or Register, who shall before the General Court in April next, record ·every man's house and land already graunted and meas­ ured out to him, with the bounds and quantity of the same, and whosoever shall neglect three months after notice given 'to bring into the said Towne Clerke or Register a note of his house and land, with the bounds and quantity of the same, by the nearest estimacon shall forfeit ten shillings, and so ten shillings for every month he shall soe neglect, the like to be done for all land hereafter graunt.ed and measured to any". This book, known as the Book of Distribution, is the first book of land records in the Town Clerk's • office in Hartford. Among these early proprietors was "John Steele, Sinor", and on page 461 of the Book of Distribution we find the following:

"Severall parsilles of land in Hartford upon tlie River of Coneckticott belonging to John Steele, Sinor, and to his heirs forever. · VIZ: One parsill on which his now dwelling house standeth with other outt houses, yardes and gardins thare in being con­ • tain, by estma. two acres be it more or les, abuting of the high­ way !~adding fro. the Mill to the Metting house on the West, . and on the Alley to the Metting house on the East, ap.d on Mr. Clement Chaplings' land on the North".

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ASSEMBLY HALL

• ----~------• ~· ------· In the southwestern corner of the Clement Chapling land stands that part of the Travelers building erected in 1906. In the northwestern corner of the land of John Steele stands the addition . • In February, 1639-40, John Steele sold this land and dwelling to John Taylcott and his heirs forever~ who immediately sold the same to John Moris. On March ~6, 1651, John Moris sold to Jeremy Addams "Several Parcells of land in Hartford upon the river Conecticott belonging to Jeremy Addams and to his heirs for­ ever. One P'sell on which a messuag or teniment now stand­ eth, which he bought of John Mores contains by estima two acres and two roods be it more or les, abutting on the high­ way leding fro' the Bredg to the Pound Hell on the West and on a Chase way leding to the Metting house on the East, and on • Mr. Goodwings and Mr. Stones land on the South and on Mr. Clement Chaplens land on the North". Probably the "twenty pounds lent in 1660 to Jeremy Addams for one year to be repaid in wam­ pum" furnished part of the means of payment. Under order of the General Court in 1644, inns had been ordered to be established "not only in Hartford but others in each town upon our river". In the • same year Jeremy Addams, then a young man of high spirit, comes into notice in the record of the Gen­ eral Court and receives formal censure for "distem­ perate speeches and loud language and unmanly con­ duct in setting on Thomas Hosmer to resist a constable in the levy of an execution". But Jeremy became a staid and sober citizen and was by two magistrates judged fit for employment as innkeeper, and established an inn shortly after he purchased the property . • In 1661 we find the following: "Jer. Adams hath mortgaged his house and home lot wch. he bought of John Mouice with all other ye buildings erected thereon since his Purchase (unto Capt. John Talcott as Treas-

Thirteenth Page urer to Connecticut Collony)" etc, and in the Colonial Records May, 166~-"lt is granted and ordered by this court upon the motion and desire of Jeremiah Adams that ye house that the said Jer: doth now possess and improve for an Ordnary, or house of common entertainment, shalbe and remaine to ye said Jeremie and his successors, provided as hereafter expressed. 1st. That ye said Jeremie, his heirs and successors carry on this • worke by such prson or prsons inhabiteing in ye said house as shalbe to ye good likeing and approbation of ye Genl. Court from time to time. ~d. That ye said house be fitted and made capable to give suffi~ cient entertainment as need and occasion shal require, both to neighbours and strangers. Sd. That there be at all times necessary and comfortable accom- ' modation and provision made for the entertainment of Travell­ ers with horse and otherwise and that both respecting wine and liquors and other provision for food and comfortable re­ freshing, both for man and beast. 4th. It is ordered that if Jer. Adams shall not attend his • agreement in attending the provision made in ye foregoing Articles he shall not forfeit his license,* but shalbe liable to be censured by the Court as they shall judg most suteable". *It should be noted that the license is perpetual, obliga­ tory and irrevocable and the colony is mortgagee of the tavern. There w~s a sign over the inn and Jeremy once neglecting it was ordered by the Court to set up, a complete one or pay a fine of forty shillings. An old authority on the rights of guests tells us • what was expected of Jeremy. If a guest came to his house "He was not to challenge a lordlie authority over him, but clean otherwise, since any man may use the inne as his owne house; and have for monie how great and how little varietie of vittels and what 'other service himselfe shall thinke expedient to call for, and have clean sheets to lie in wherein no man had • been lodged since they came from the landresse, and have

Fourteenth , Page a servante to kindle his fire and one to pull off his boots and ' make them clean, and have the hoste and hostess to visit him, and to eat with the hoste, or at a common table if he pleases, or eat in his chamber, commanding what meate he will according to his appetite. Yea, the kitchen being open to him to order the meat to be dressed as he liketh it best". But the landlord was not to suffer any person to be intoxicated in his house, or to drink exce5sively. Nor was he to allow tippling to continue after nine of the clock at night. The Hartford of those days contained about twelve hundred inhabitants. Half a mile west of the Connecticut lay the main highway, extending in a straight line from the Palisado (or fort near the South Green) to the fort at Sentinel Hill, a rise oi ground at the corner of Main and Morgan streets. These forts were armed with two small cannons and the sentinels had a clear view from on,e end of the town to the other. On this highway and on both sides of the little river which flows through Hartford into the Connecticut most of the settlers had their homes. Dingy but often commodious homesteads looked (__ out from the retirement·of orchard or garden where tall well-sweeps showed among the trees. Clapboarded ho~ses of two stories, with gambrel or quick falling roofs that cut the rear to a single- story, vied in picturesque rivalry with the rough cabins of the earlier days. In the rougher dwellings the windows wer~ still filled with oiled paper, but in the more commodious the windows were paned with glass and the ground floor was occupied by a kitchen and pantry, and by a large living-room wher~ beds were sometimes placed. The .living-room and kitchen were generally about twenty feet square, but the family life centered in the kitchen. Great chimney places with crane and swinging kettles swallowed six foot logs, ' ,··.

Fifteenth Page OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT • • • • and along the chimney breast hung the long muskets, corselet or pike, flitches of bacon and strings of corn hung from the rafters, and pewter utensils glistened in the open cupboards. High-backed settles pro­ tectel the backs of the elders from draughts, and in the • chimney corners were the seats for the children. The ' houses though substantially built were not tight, and the winter draughts poured in under the doors and windows and down the chimney. There were two schools and the teachers enjoyed the proverbial thirty pounds a year. There were saw and griit mills and a tannery. When Jeremy Adams first opened his tavern, wampum, beaver skins and produce were the mediu~ • of exchange, though silver, sent from the Indies or Europe in exchange for fish, fur and lumber was gradually supplanting them. The general court that sat in Jeremy Adams's tav­ ern ruled the community with a strong hand. Practically all the inhabitants were English or of English descent, but there were a few Jews, traders who secured permission to stay a few months, and a small number of negro slaves. • No idler, pauper, beggaror vagrant, no vicious or abandoned person, no Quaker, Adamite, ranter or like "hereticks", were admitted to the settlement or per­ mitted to tarry. Homespun garments of sober hue set off~with white collars, steeple­ chase hats and :> ·' ( =.__

tiedloose at breeches the knee -:;~~:_::_,.. ~i;~~~i~~~i~~~~! • distinguished the opulent and the magistrates,

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ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT WORK ROOM

others wore buff coats and caps, and the farm laborers were dressed in leather, but the taste for finery was creeping in despite the orders of the Court. e Arbitrary regulations which made no distinction between self-regarded sins and crimes against society were in force, and liar and idler were terms sufficiently defined for legal regulation and punishment. Wages and the hours of labor were regulated. No person under the age of twenty, nor any other who had not already accustomed himself to its use, could use tobacco without license from Court or some- one approved for knowledge in physics, nor take it pub- e licly in the street.. At church and at town meeting were armed sentries and every townsman, who after notification did not

Eighteenth Page attend, unless excused, or departed before the close of the meeting, subjected himself to a fine. Before the meeting a bell was rung by the watch up and down the streets an hour before daybreak, and it was ordered that • ~very house should have a light within one-quarter of an hour after the bell ringing ceased. Every male person between the ages of sixteen and sixty performed military duty once a month. The train band was composed of pikemen, the tallest, and musketeers, many of whom wore corselets or coats faced with cotton wool. Each train band had its clerk and drummer. In 1657 a troop of horse had been organized. The suppression of luxury and the penalty against idleness, the supervision of every detail of social and pusiness life and the geographical isolation which virtually compelled New England to a life of its own, had already intensified the individuality and concen­ trated the energy of the people upon the cultivation of land and the development of trade. Unlike its neighbor colony of Massachusetts where citizenship was confined to church members (one of the • causes which led to the settlement of Hartford), Con­ necticut was a democracy and not a theocracy, but the authorities nevertheless did not accord any welcome to those who wished the privilege of thinking or acting contrary to the principles and regulations they them- selves laid down as nee- .JV:>. ,.c:· essary for righteousness ftnd social order. Such was Hartford • and its peoplewhen Jere:::ny hung out his sign and opened the doors of his

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ACCIDENT DEPARTMENT WORK ROOM

official tavern. Here the Court of As~istants and the General Court began to hold their meetings in September 1661, and the Committee of the Indian Court in 1678 held its meetings at the same place. It is often named as the place of appearance in answer to summonses issued by the governor and counsel and court of assistants, and we find that among the requirements to be met by Jeremy Adams was

"a chamber for the meeting of the court, furnished with chairs and tables, a large leather chair and carpet, with &ccom­ modation for forty or fifty people". The tavern was situated in a lot of between two and three acres; a well stood on the north fifth of the land 1~5 feet back from the highway and the house . stood 50 to 60 feet back of the well.

Twentieth Page Jeremy was compelled to conduct his inn with severe propriety. The constable and selectmen were ordered to take special care and notice of any person frequenting public hous.es where wine, liquors, cider and strong beer were served, and spending his pre­ • cious time there, and if after warning he continued he was speedily fined or made to sit in the stocks. Woe also to him who was found gaming, dancing, card playing orl drinking healths. From 1661 for nearly fifty years the whole govern­ ment of the colony was conducted in the tavern, in­ cluding every act of legislation and of administration, all orders for the regulation of public or private life, all settlements of estates, all diplomatic correspondence • with England and with the other colonies, treaties with the Indians, trials of witches, the controversies with Governor Andros, all questions of war and trade and commerce. Here in rotation sat the commissioners of confederated New England. Here Winthrop told the story of how he persuaded the King to grant the charter and spread it before their eyes. Here the magistrates read the message that told of that fiery outbreak of King Phillip and the Indian tribes that shook New England • to its foundations, and later received the bloody head of · Canonchet the Narragansett, the unfortunate son of the most unfortunate Miantonomah. The hospitality of the tavern was abundant. Beef, mutton, poultry and pork, venison, wild game, salmon and sturgeon were in abundance, ; vegetables and all manner of fruits - ~~- ~ in season were plentiful, while shad was so plentiful that masters were • under contract not to provide it for their slaves more than a certain number of times a week. Rum,

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LIFE DEPARTMENT WORK ROOM the common liquor of the time, was brought in from the West Indies and formed the basis of the hot drinks and e punches frowned upon by the magistrates. Beer and hard cider, brandy and port were known, and in the winter evenings, lighted by candles or candlewood and the light of the fire, its common rooms were familiar with good cheer, and when the wearied guest went to his feather bed on winter nights the warming pan took the chill off the sheets. Jeremy, from a stocky youth, perhaps, blossomed into a rotund person as landlords are supposed to do, • but he never became a good business man. The mort­ gage remained on his tavern and was renewed in 1673. In 1680

Twenty-secon~ Page "Past over his house and lott in Hartford to the use of the Colony of Connecticut to sattisfy and Pay what he is indebted to the Colony."

In 168~ we find him and his son-in-law Zachary Sanford mentioned in connection with a delivery of land under that curious old English law "By turf and twig"

"June 15, 82. The deposition of Giles Hamlin and James Steel and John Olcott saith that in May eighty as we were going from Hartford towards Wethersfield, Jeremy Adams overtook us and desired us that we would step aside and take notice of his giving possession of a parcel of land to Zachary Sanford, which we did; and we did see Jeremy Adams deliver by Turf£ and twigg all the right title and interest • that he hath or ever had of this whole parcell of land unto Zachary Sanford."

Two years later he was dead and in l\fay, 1685, the Court appointed a committee to make sale of the house and home lot, and authorized the Treas­ urer, to sign the deed of sale of the same, further proof if any were needed that the colony was the proprietor in fee. • On December ~d of the same year the lot was conveyed by the Treasurer to Sergeant Zachary Sanford, grandson of Jeremy Adams, his heirs and assigns forever; as follows:

"One Parcell of land with a messuage or tenement which he bought of the Colony Treasurer of Connecticutt by order of the Generall Court May 14, 1685, which sayd Parcell of land contains by estimation three acres (be it more or less) and • abutts on the highway leading from the bridg to the Meeting House on the West, Mr. Gilbert's house lot on the North and Mr. Way and Mr. Gardner's land on the South and on the Chasse land on the East." ':-\4-. GZ. ~~~s - 'lh

Twenty-third Page BOARD ROOM So Zachary Sanford became landlord and the Gen­ eral Court continued to sit in the Court Chamber. Through the early months of the new landlord's occupancy there were mysterious goings and comings, an atmosphere of anxiety, many meetings of the Court, and finally on October 31, 1687, there broke upon the ears of the members of the court discussing the situation and sit­ ting expectant, the crashing of many hoofs, the sound of horsemen dismounting, the opening of doors-it was Governor Andros come in person with trumpeter and clerk, a retinue of Massachusetts magistrates and mem­ bers of the council, and twenty red-coated troopers to take over the great charter and assume the government. Entering the court chamber he took his seat in the Governor's chair and called the court to order. Twenty-seven years before, March, 1660, Charles the Second had been restored to his throne and the General Court of Connecticut sent Governor John Winthrop the younger to England to offer loyal address and to ask him for a charter. The King in his enthusiasm at his resto­ ration, warmed by the loyalty of his subjects in the Con­ necticut Colony in contrast to the tardy and ungracious proclamation of his restoration by the colony of New Haven, and generous in the easy good nature that dis­ tinguished him, granted April ~0, 166~, a charter almost without limitation and such as no other colony had secured, containing all the necessary powers of self­ government by the people. But with the accession of James II came a change. ·wishing to make Connecticut a part of his consolidated New England under Andros, he sought to revoke the charter and to force its surrender. The most authoritative account of what occurred in the Court Chamber of the tavern that 31st day of

Twenty-fifth Page October is furnished by Albert C. Bates, Librarian of the Connecticut Historical Society. "Calling the governor and council together, Andros de­ manded the surrender of the charter, according to their dutiful assurances. The meeting was secret. What happened we • learn only from tradition, and the brief account of a later inti- mate of the actors. The colonial officials protested and debated till after dark. That this was prearranged is not only morally certain in itself, but Trumbull's account of a long speech by the governor, to no conceivable purpose otherwise, deepens the certainty. Can­ dles were lighted; the charter was (or the charters were) at last brought in and laid on the table: suddenly some officious can­ dle-snuffers put out all the lights, and when they were relighted no charter was to be seen. But if Andros had no longer a charter to suppress, equally the colony had no longer one to appeal to. • The old government was just as effectually extinguished as if they had let him have the paper. They cannot have fore»een a revolution in England, and it is not evident what they intended to do with it. Most likely, from their previous actions, it was merely to save their "face" from the humiliation of a formal surrender. There was no outcry by Andros, no charge made against the officials, no appearance of ill-will to them, no report of the affair to England, seemingly no disclosure of it to the train of Massachusetts magnates who accompanied him (and may or may not have attended the meeting), or to anyone else; • and (perhaps the most curious of all the circumstances of this <;urious affair) both our informant and tradition stop short at the relighted candles and the missing document, and give no hint of what Andros said or if he said anything, or whether he seemed puzzled or offended, or any of the immediate sequalae of the business"

Possibly, too well regaled by good food and wine, after a hard ride in the brisk October weather, the snuffing of the candles (which he may have thought e was merely an accident) and the disappearance of the charter did not trouble him. The governor (Treat) called a meeting of the General Court, which accepted

Twenty-sixth Page the situation and the annexation, the secretary in­ scribed it on the colonial records and wrote "Finis" and the next day Andros publicly proclaimed his commission and appointed his council. The charter (or charters) was probably handed to Captain Joseph Wadsworth by someone who was present at the meeting, and was hidden in a cavity of a large oak ever after known as the Charter Oak, a tree seven feet in diameter which stood in the south end of the city and which was blown down in a storm on the ~1st of August, 1856. This oak, a thou­ sand years old, was venerated by the Indians, who before the settlers came are said to have held their councils in its shade and its leafing out in the spring told them the time to plant their crops. In 1689, when James was overthrown and Andros with him, the colony resumed its government under the charter brought from hiding. At the beginning of the year 1718 Landlord Zachariah Sanford of "Harteford in the County of Hartford, in the colony of Connecticut, in New England, innholder," died and by his will the tavern and the home lot passed to his daughter Sarah and her husband, Jonathan Bunce. The tavern had grown old and dilapidated. Hardly had Zachariah Sanford died when the Court vacated its old meeting place ~ , and removed to the new , ~ tavern of Caleb Williamson, which stood on the site of the old Travelers' building vacated by the Company in 1907. There the General Court continued to meet ' until 1719-17~0.

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LIABILITY DEPARTMENT WORK ROOM In 1717 Jonathan Bunce died and during the years 17~8-1731 the estate was distributed by agreement among his heirs and Samuel Flagg, by his marriage with Sarah Bunce, and by purchase from the other heirs, came into possession of the old tavern. • Immediately on acquiring possession, Flagg tore down the old building, (173~-3), and built the famous Black Horse Tavern near to the present street line, using some of the heavy timbers of the old inn in its construction. For nearly fifty years the Black Horse Tavern was the most widely known of all the inns for miles around. Officers of the troops passing on their way to the French and Indian wars enjoyed its hospitality. • It heard the pathetic story of the exiled Acadians who were sent to Hartford in the general distribution through-

Twenty-eighth Page out the English colonies. Here was celebrated in 1755 the victory of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham that ended the French wars. The commandant of Ticon­ deroga and many of the captured British officers quar­ tered in Hartford tasted of its good cheer, and a little to the south, Washington, Lafayette and Rochambeau reviewed the colonial reinforcements and the French army on the march to Yorktown. The Bunch of Grapes Tavern of David Bull had now acquired a greater popular favor, the trade of the old tavern passed and probably with the death of its landlord Samuel Flagg, its doors were closed. In 1774 Hannah Flagg, daughter of Samuel Flagg, had married Captain John Chenevard, and on Jan­ uary 1~, 1788, the property was deeded to him by the other heirs. On the death of Captain Chenevard it came into possession of his daughters, 1\tlargaret and Hepzibah. The old tavern had been turned into a double dwelling house and the north part was occupied by these sisters. The old house continued in use until1859, when, after having been in the possession of Jeremy Adams and his descendants for over ~08 ( t years, the property was sold by Margaret Chenevard to the Universalist Society and was purchased from it in turn by The Travelers Insurance Company in 1905. Some four years after the Universalist Church had sprung up on the site of the old tavern there came into existence, in June, 1863, by act of the legislature, The Travelers Insurance Company, destined in its turn to sweep away the church and to occupy after a unique history of its own the historic site . • In two small rooms on the second floor of the City Bank building, still standing at the corner of Main and Kingsley streets, The Travelers Insurance Company

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LIABILITY DEPARTMENT WORK ROOM inaugurated the business of accident insurance in the United States and laid the corner stone of a new form of insurance, at that time generally considered extremely experimental and destined to a brief career. The architect of its fortunes was James G. Batterson, a man of remarkable intellectual and physical powers and of varied interests, who had already become a commanding figure in the business and political life of the community and the state. Mr. Batterson's attention was first called to the subject of accident insurance while traveling in England in 1859, when he purchased at Leamington an insurance ticket issued by the Railway Passengers Assurance Society of London, insuring the traveler in case of accidental • death or injury while traveling from Leamington to Liverpool. It was this ticket which first suggested to

Thirtieth Page INSURA TJ2B~";~;... write hit aamo FOR ASINGlE dO .. . oa the other aide ;berote commeach:i1 tbe Ia a Flrot Cia•• Ca. rlage from journey, •• a n*a.ns Pf identiAcatioa io e&M of LEAMINGTON ST'N, G. W. R. · frltal aceideat.- In the event of injury, ~~(OTto It IDUit FORTBWITB ~ l iYeD to the IIUl&li!TJ.fl.Y --··- --of tbe.&II(W-A:Y -P';t.. .P•Masaa! Aaau&AM9.J:.Co.. ____ _ 3 ~ld Broad Street London, · To·traDtf•lrthia·Tieket is puDitbable a ~ ~,~:.~::r8 :~da the 1~\l:~rJ.:.c'4~\ II; 15 .. & 16. Vic, c. 100. ·

him the possibilities of a business providing insurance against accidents of all kinds. Learning from the Railway Passengers Assurance Society of London that its rates were based on scientific data and encouraged by the great English actuary, Cornelius Walford, who agreed that it would be possible by experiment to establish a rate at which according to (_. occupation men could be insured for a stated amount in case of death from accidents and weekly compensation for total disability from all hazards, he returned home with the intention of organizing an accident insurance company. Four years later, June 17, 1863, the charter of The Travelers Insurance Company was approved by Governor Buckingham, and in April of the following year the first written contract was issued. The original incorporators of the Company were James G. Batterson, Gustavus F. Davis, John L. Bunce, George Sexton. W. L. Collins, Elijah H. Owen, James L. Howard, Charles F. Howard, Alfred E. Burr, Henry Keney, w·m. H. D. Callender and GeorgeS. Gilman. The first contract, a verbal one, was made about March 4th, 1864, by President Batterson with James Bolter, of Hartford, who many years after became a director of the Company, whereby in consideration of the premium of two cents the Travelers insured the life • of Mr. Bolter in the sum of $5,000 against accident while journeying from the Post Office to his home on Buckingham Street.

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CASUALTY ACTUARIAL WORK ROOM The second contract was also a verbal one, insuring E. S. Tyler, of Hartford, for $5,000 in consideration of a premium of $2.00 while traveling to and from Wash­ ington, D. C. The first written contract was issued on the life of e President Batterson in the sum of $5,000, April I, 1864. The project was regarded by many as visionary and hazardous and it was only after considerable difficulty that the right to do business in many of the States was secured. · As was expected the first rates, based on English statistics, were soon found to be inapplicable to American conditions, and the Company was compelled to gather its own experience and to feel its way. Many ye&.rs of e experience have proved the accuracy of the original rate for preferred classes which still continues the basic rate for accident insurance in this country. The whole ex-

Thirty-secund Page periment has consisted in fitting rates to more hazard­ ous occupations and in shifting such occupations to their various classes according to the hazard to which the insured were exposed. Yfl The first contracts were limited in scope, for not only was the business experimental, but the industries of the country were in a state of transition and the utmost caution was necessary. Little by little as expe­ rience showed the way restrictions were removed, bene­ fits increased, and the coverage broadened. The policy of to-day bears little resemblance to the original con­ tract of a doubtful and hazardous venture. The business grew very slowly at first but a series of disastrous railroad accidents in 1865 and 1867 called public attention to the value of this new form of insur­ ance, and the ultimate success of the Travelers and its constituent company, The Railway Passengers Assurance Company of Hartford, organized in 1865, was assured. By 1869 over seventy accident companies were doing business but most of these were shortly swept away by a series of railroad and steamship calamities. However disastrous to others, these accidents served to advertise the value of accident insurance throughout the country, and the prompt payment of claims in full and the survival of the Company amid so many failures established its reputa­ tion. In the building up of the business Mr. Batterson was aided by a corps of able admin­ istrators whom he at­ tached to the Company. Among these was the

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WHERE THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY STARTED BUSINESS, SECOND FLOOR

THE SECOND HOME OFFICE OF THE COMPANY, GROUND FLOOR ANP BASEMENT late Rodney Dennis, first secretary of the Company, the late George Ellis, actuary and its second secretary, the late John E. Morris, who became its third secretary, Major E. V. Preston, its present general manager of agencies, and Dr. John B. Lewis, who lately retired from the position of medical director of the Company after forty years of service. The great growth of the business of accident insur­ ance during the last thirty years has brought a large number of companies into the field but the Travelers -continues by a large and constantly growing margin to maintain its position as the greatest accident company in the world. The total amount paid in accident benefits during • the first year of the company's existence was $4~6.85. In 191~ the benefits to accident and health policy­ holders amounted to over $2,300,000.00 distributed among ~4,048 policyholders. The premium income of the accident department in' 1864 was $49,~89, in 191~ it was $4,673,800. Since the organization of the com­ pany 607,000 accident and health claims have been paid and $39,649,000 distributed in benefits. In 1866 The Travelers began writing life insurance, adopting from the beginning the plan of issuing non­ participating or guaranteed low cost policies, and with the exception of a brief period has confined itself to the issuance of such forms of contracts, of which it has been the chief exponent in this country; it has also been foremost in introducing and developing in life insurance many notable features of value to the insuring public. Eliminating all speculative features guaranteed low cost • life insurance offers in its different contracts, adapted to the varying needs of the individual, the best form of life insurance, and the growth of this form of insurance

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THE HOME OFFICE, GROVE AND PROSPECT STREETS, 1872 •

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THE GROVE AND PROSPECT STREETS OFFICE AT TIME OF REMOVAL, MAY, 1907 in the favor of business men as its merits are understood finds proof in the fact that the Travelers has in force more than $~80,000,000 of life insurance, having practically doubled the amount in the last eight years. In 191~ the company showed a gain over the preceding year of over ~5 per cent. in new life insurance issued and paid for. In 1889 The Travelers further enlarged its sphere of operations by writing Liability insurance, and has established itself as the leader in this, and its latest development, compensation insurance, with a premium income for the year 191~ of $7,191,778. In connection with liability and compensation insurance the company has inaugurated a service of inspection and safety en­ gineering for the prevention of industrial accidents noted • for its efficiency in the service of policyholders and their employees. The original cash capital of the Travelers was $~00,000, and this has been increased from time to time as the business required up to its present capital of $5,000,000. The remarkable growth of the company during the last fifty years is illustrated by the following table:

• CAPITAL AND TOTAL CASH ASSETS SURPLUS INCOME

1864 $372,122 $363,200 $179,500 1872 2,231,708 615,736 1,192,149

1882 6,667,394 1,678,922 2,756,890 1892 15,029,921 2,537,659 4,940,780 1902 37,078,367 5;334,328 9,889,921

1912 85,628,857 12,953,240 24,172,527 • As has been previously stated the company started business in two small rooms on the second floor

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ACTUARIAL LIBRARY of the City Bank building. Its office force consisted. of James G. Batterson, president, and Rodney Dennis, secretary. John E. Morris, who later became the sec­ retary of the ·company was its first and for a time only clerk. Within a few months two more clerks were • employed, one of whom, Levi L. Felt, became comp­ troller of the company in 1899 and the company re­ moved to more commodious quarters on the first floor and basement of the building on the corner of Asylum street and Union Place. In the fall of 187~ the Governor Ellsworth residence on the corner of Grove and Prospect streets was bought, and this was enlarged from time to time, namely in • 1886, 189~, 1894, 1899 and 190~. In 1903 a printing building was erected, and in 1905 a supply and storage

Thirty-eighth Page building. It became evident that the old Home Office had reached the limit of expansion and a much larger and more modern building was imperatively de­ manded. In 1904 property was acquired on the corner of Main and Grove streets and early in 1906 work on a • ten-story fireproof building to occupy a little more than half the property was commenced. The corner stone was laid June 29, 1906, and the building was finished and occupied the 7th of the following May. The original office force of four had by this time increased to 482 officers, heads of departments, and employees.

THE COMPLETED HOME OFFICE The plans adopted for the Home Office of the • Travelers provided for a building of which the part com­ pleted in May, 1907, was but little more than half. It was computed· at that time that at the ratio of growth then prevailing it would be seven years before it was neces­ sary to complete the building; but the growth of the Company has been more rapid, so that it was necessary to commence· the addition at the end of five years. April 1st, 1912, the demolition of the old building • on the site of the extension was commenced, and the fiftieth anniversary of the company finds the entire building completed, including the erection of the new part and the remodeling of the old. The building has a frontage of 128 feet and a depth of 196 feet. The floor area is 225,000 square feet . • The area of the addi­ tion is 88% of the area of the original building, the .

Thirty-ninth· Page wing of that building being duplicated on the south, thus forming an interior court 34 feet wide and 123 feet deep. The construction of the new part is similar to that of the old part in appearance, the exterior walls being of pink Westerly granite and the walls of the court light brick. The main entrance doorway, which was at the • side, now becomes a central entrance to the building on Main Street. As one enters, a great change is immediately noticeable, owing to the fact that it has been possible to complete the entrance hall as originally designed. The front lobby of the original building has been extend­ ed to the southward. The staircase hall is two stories high, containing a marble staircase leading to the assem­ bly room situated in the court formed by the north and south wings. The staircase hall is treated in Hauteville • marble up to the second story level, above which the walls are finished in Caen stone. The assembly hall finished with a low wainscoting is in Hauteville marble, the walls, panels, columns and cornices of Caen stone plaster. This room will seat 400 people. It is lighted by a large east window, and from above by a skylight. The Grove Street entrance lobby has been extended - by a corridor through the building to the alley on the south, and three new elevators have been installed to • serve the new wing. New coat and toilet rooms have been built and the old ones remodeled to incorporate improvements gained from experience with the original building. All improvements indi­ • cated by the company's own experience or by

Fortieth Page general building experience have been adopted through­ out the building, old and new. The increase in the size of the building has required another boiler of 340 horse-power, or a total of 860 horse­ power for the whole building. Additional ventilating • machinery has been installed, and as the ventilating sys­ tem had thoroughly proven its worth the increase is greater in proportion than the increase in the amount of space. Three additional elevators making a total of eight are nowin operation, besides a large freight elevator. Two electric dumbwaiters, making a total of six, larger systems for vacuum cleaning and for filtering and cool­ ing the drinking water have also been added. All windows have bronze covered frames and sashes and are glazed with wire glass. It is believed that the • building is fireproof. The entire interior is finished in oak with the ex­ ception of a portion of the executive offices on the eighth floor which are finished in mahogany. On the first floor, the Main Street front of the building will be occupied on both sides of the entrance by banking companies, on the Grove Street side by the branch office of the company. The security vault of the company is located on the first floor; this vault is • built in accordance with the latest practices in such matters; it has both the main door and the emergency door; the outer main door w~ighs fl7 tons. The bal­ ance of the first floor, with portions of the base­ ment and sub-basement, is given up to the general file rooms . • The south wingofthe second floor will be occu­ pied by the mortgage loan

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STENOGRAPHIC DEPARTMENT division, with its vault for the preservation of the papers of the department; the north wing, by the agents con­ nected with the Hartford branch office. The front and south wing of the third floor is occupied by the general accounting and audit depart­ • ments · of the company. In the north wing is the assistant secretary's department and certain divisions of the life department. The entire fourth floor will be occupied by the life underwriting, actuarial and medical de­ partments. The fifth floor is required for the accident and health department, including the underwriting and • claim work, also the ticket and . railroad accident insurance departmE:>nts.

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PRINTING AND SUPPLY BUILDING

The north wing of the sixth floor is assigned to the stenographic department, the south to the liability claim department. • The seventh floor is occupied by the liability and the indemnity company underwriting and accounting departments. On the eighth floor is the agency department, the legal department, with the law library, and the general offices of the company. On this floor is the directors' room, handsomely paneled with English oak, which occupies the center of the building, the old directors' room having been made an agents' reception room. • On the ninth floor, in the north wing, is located the engineering and inspection division. In the center

Forty-thi1·d Page of the building are the quarters of The Travelers Club. The casualty actuarial department occupies the south wmg. The penthouse, practically constitutes a tenth floor; the north wing and center contain the labora- • tory and museum of safety devices and defective appliances of the engineering and inspection division. In the south, wing is located a part of the actuarial departments, with the tabulating machines. The Travelers home office building presents a complete and harmonious appearance and affords ac­ commodation with a reasonable margin for growth, for its present office force which, including employees of the printing department, now numbers 955 persons. The number of the Company's salaried employees e including its Branch Offices is over flSOO. Number of Branch Offices in the United States and Canada 51. The agency force, composed at the organization almost entirely of fire insurance agents who wrote acci­ dent insurance as a side line, now numbers 3500 agents under exclusive contract, and an equal number of independent agents and brokers. e

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Party-fourth Page JAMES G. BATTERSON

James G. Batterson, the pioneer of accident insur­ ance in the new world, and for thirty-eight years the president of The Travelers Insurance Company, was • born in Bloomfield, Connecticut, February ~8, 18~8, and died September 18, 1901. Receiving only the education that the country school of that time could afford and prevented from obtaining a college educa­ tion, he worked as a printer by day, went to college with himself by night, and continued educating himself to the end of his life. He read law with Origin S. Seymour, afterwards chief justice of Connecticut, • then he went to marble cutting with his father. He came to be a great builder in granite, an Egyptologist, geologist, and an engineer.. He loved to read and translate Homer and Virgil, as Macauley said, with his feet on the fender, and was one of the best Greek scholars of the country. He spoke French and Italian as fluently as he did English. He was an author of repute on questions of science, insurance and political • economy, and wrote like a master on taxation. He was a formidable speaker and debater, full of wit and reason. During the civil war· he was chairman of the Republican State Central Committee and the War Committee, and a presidential elector of the electoral college which elected Abraham Lincoln to his second term as president. He was one of the most forceful figures of his time as a bu~iness man, scholar and citizen.

Forty-fifth Page SYLVESTER C. DUNHAM

Sylvester C. Dunham was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, in 1846 and was admitted to the Hartford County bar in 1871. In 1885 he entered the service of e The Travelers as its general counsel. In January, 1897, he was elected a director of the Company, and two years later became its vice-president. He succeeded Mr. Batterson as president October 14, 1901.

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DOORWAY ASSEMBLY HALL

Forty-sixth Page • DIRECTORS

WILLIAM B. CLARK

AUSTIN C. DUNHAM

GEORGE ROBERTS

CHARLES C. BEACH

SYLVESTER C. DUNHAM

CHARLES L. SPENCER

JOHN R. HILLS

JAMES G. BATTERSON

JOHN L. WAY

EDWARD B. BENNETT

ARTHUR L. SHIPMAN

FRANCIS T. MAXWELL

LOUIS F. BUTLER

CHARLES L. F. ROBINSON

Fcmy-seventh Page OFFICERS AND HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS • SYLVESTER C. DUNHAM President JOHN L. WAY. Vice-President LOUIS F. BUTLER Vice-President BERTRAND A. PAGE Vice-President WALTER G. COWLES Vice-President JAMES L. HOWARD Secretary EDWARD V. PRESTON General Manager of Agencies HIRAl\I J. MESSENGER Actuary • WILLIAM BROSMITH Counsel L. EDMUND ZACHER T.-easurer J. W. H. PYE . Comptroller DONALD A. DUNHAM Assistant Secretary BENEDICT D. FLYNN . Assistant Secretary JOHN B. LEWIS, M. D. ) ARTHUR B. WRIGHT, M. D. Medical Directors • FRANK L. GROSVENOR, M. D. CHARLES C. BEACH, M. D. Consulting Medical Director WILLIAM P. CONKLIN Cashier GEORGE B. NEWTON . Manager Mortgage Loan Division ROBERT C. DICKENSON Attorney CHARLES S. ROBBINS Assistant Cashier GEORGE W. ELLIS Editor LOUIS N. DENNISTON Agency Instructor • FRANK W. THEIS Purchasing Agent HENRY E. FITTS Home Office Cashier

Forty-eighth Page OFFICERS AND HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS (CONTINUED)

LIFE DEPARTMENT

J. STANLEY SCOTT Secretary • FRANK H. LANDON, JR. Assistant Secretary EDWARD B. MORRIS Assistant Actuary EARL D. CHURCH . Superintendent Policy Loan Division

AcciDENT DEPARTMENT

JOHN E. AHERN . Secretary HARWOOD . E. RYAN, Assistant Actuary Superintendent of Ticket GEORGES. PENFIELD ~ ~ and Railway Insurance • LIFE AND AcciDENT DEPARTMENTS SAMUEL R. McBURNEY Superintendent of Agencies H. H. ARMSTRONG Asst. Superintendent of Agencies WALTER E. MALLORY Agency Assistant McLEOD C. WILSON, M. D. I Assistant Medical Directors w. w. ROSE, M. D. I DAVID N. CASE r • Chief Adjuster • LIABILITY DEPARTMENT ROBERT J . SULLIVAN Secretary M. GOOD WOLFE . Assistant Secretary HARWOOD E. RYAN Assistant Actuary HOWARD A. GIDDINGS Superintendent of Agencies JOHN McGINLEY, JR., Assistant Supt. of Agencies THERON U. LYMAN Manager Claim Division CHARLES DECKELMAN Asst. Mgr. Claim Division GEORGE GILMOUR Chief Engineer • CHARLES A. AUSTROM Assistant Chief Engineer ERNEST H. CADY Superintendent Pay Roll Audit EDWIN P. PIPER Superintendent

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