MenofmarkinConnecticut MENF O MARK IN CONNECTICUT Menf o Mark in Connecticut IDEALSF O AMERICAN LIFE TOLD IN BIOG RAPHIES AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF EMINENT LIVING AMERICANS EDITEDY B COLONEL N . G. OSBORN EDITOR " NEW HAVEN JOURNAL AND COURIER" VOLUME I V WILLIAM R . GOODSPEED HARTFORD, C ONNECTICUT 1908 " l ч» ' 2Í55806B Copyright 1 908 by W. R. GOODSPBKD U .J CAM. L OCÏWOOO * BMIWMO Ссч^млг. Рчиии», HutTFCMB, COMÍ. MENF O MARK IN CONNECTICUT COL..G. N OSBORN, Editor-in-Chief ADVISORY B OARD HON. W ILLIAM S. CASE . HARTFORD JUDOS S UPERIOR DOUBT HON. G EORGE S. GODARD . HARTFORD STATE L IBRARIAN HON. F REDERICK J. KINGSBURY, LL.D. WATERBURY MEMBER C ORPORATION YALE UNIVERSITY CAPTAIN E DWARD W. MARSH . BRIDGEPORT TREABURER P EOPLE'S SAVINGS BANK .COL. N G. OSBORN ...... NEW HA VEN EDITOREW N HAVEN JOURNAL AND COURIER HON. H ENRY ROBERTS HARTFORD EXGO - VER NOR HON. J ONATHAN TRUM BULL NORWICH LIBRARIAN P UBLIC LIBBARY "* WILLIAM D ARIUS BISHOP BISHOP, W illiam Darius, late president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Eailroad Company and of the Naugatuck Railroad Company and at his death vice-president of the board of directors of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Eailroad Com pany, a pioneer in railroading in Connecticut and a master of state craft, was a descendant of the Rev. John Bishop, who came from England about 1640 and settled at Stamford. He was the son of Alfred and Mary Ferris Bishop. Alfred B ishop was born in Stamford, December 21st, 1798. He married Mary, daughter of Etham Ferris of Greenwich, and removed to New Jersey, where he began his great career as a railroad contractor. He built the Morris Canal and the Bridge over the Raritan River at New Brunswick. In 1836 he went to Bridgeport, where plans were under way for building a railroad through the Housatonic Valley. Shouldering the larger part of the financial burden, he put the road through, and also, later, the Berkshire, Washington & Saratoga road. Having procured a charter in 1845, with Timothy Dwight of New Haven, Green Kendrick and William H. Scovill of Waterbury, Wil liam De Forest of Bridgeport, Seth Thomas, Jr., of Thomaston, An- son G. Phelps of New York, William M. Smith, Jonathan Nicholson, and Luicius Clark as fellow incorporators, he began the construction of the Naugatuck railroad, an equally stupendous undertaking in those days. The cost was $1,580,723, or $27,731 a mile. Timothy Dwight was the first president. In 1847 he also took up the great task of building the New York & New Haven road, the directors of which, in 1849, said : " The work which owes its execution to him will be a monument to carry down his name with honor to the future." The capital stock, $2,500,000, was all subscribed by Decem ber 31st, 1846, largely through Mr. Bishop's efforts. With all these projects maturing and others in contemplation, he died in Saratoga, New York, June llth, 1849. His capacity for administration was 9 10 W ILLIAM DARIUS BISHOF. never b etter illustrated than in his last sickness. His death came just before the completion of the New Haven road and three months before the Naugatuck road was opened to Winsted. William. D Bishop was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, on Sep tember 14th, 1827. He entered Yale in 1845, where he was pre eminent as a political debater and was president of Linonia Society, one of the highest honors in the college world in those days. He was graduated in 1849. The death of his father in June of that year threw heavy responsibilities upon the young man, but he proved him self well able to carry them. He completed the railroad contracts, including not only the Naugatuck road but roads in the West. An early director of the Naugatuck road, he first was superintendent and then, in 1855, president, the road being then fully equipped and, as it is today, one of the best paying roads in the country. This p osition he held until 1867, when he was called upon to do an equally great work as president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford road, but he retained his interest in the Naugatuck and was recalled to the presidency in 1885. Russell Tomlinson was presi dent from 1867 to 1869 and E. F. Bishop, Mr. Bishop's brother, from 1869 till his death in 1883. During William D. Bishop's manage ment it became one of the most notable roads in America, having neither floating nor bonded indebtedness. It was on a ten per cent basis for years and was leased to the New York, New Haven & Hart ford road on that basis in 1887. Mr. Bishop continued as president till failing health compelled him to retire in October, 1903, when he was succeeded by his son, William D. Bishop, Jr. eWhen h resigned the presidency of the Naugatuck in 1867, as said above, it was to accept the presidency of the New York & New Haven, which office he held from May 17th of that year until March 1st, 1879, when the condition of his health compelled him to relin quish the duties. During his presidency the road developed from a small institution into a powerful corporation and his name remained at the head of the board of directors until his death. While he was president and at the same time a member of the House of Repre sentatives, an act was passed consolidating the New York & New Haven and the Hartford and Springfield lines. Subsequently the Shore Line was leased and the Harlem & Portchester and the Hart- WILLIAM D ARIUS BISHOP. 11 ford & C onnecticut Valley roads were acquired. The vast railroad improvements in Bridgeport, costing as much as the original cost of the road from Harlem to New Haven, were due largely to Mr. Bishop. Alsoe h was director for many years of the Housatonic, until the road passed into the hands of the Bostwick.Starbuck Syndicate, and he was a director of the Bridgeport Steamboat Company, now con trolled by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. When t he Eastern Railroad Association was formed, largely at his instigation and to protect the railroads of the East against patent suits, he was made president and continued as such until his death. But w ith all Mr. Bishop's native ability and genius as a railroad man — and never in the railroad companies with which he was con nected has there been a man of equal power and influence — he was preeminent in the halls of legislation and one of the foremost of that coterie of Democrats who gave strength to their party in the old days. Elected to Congress in 1857, he was the youngest and, as many at tested, one of the most eloquent and forceful members of that body. Failing of re.election, he was appointed by President Buchanan to be United States Commissioner of Patents. His term continued while the Democrats were in power and during that time he worked a wonderful change in the department, largely by systematizing the work. In 1 870 he was admitted to the bar. The following year he was chosen representative from Bridgeport and in 1877 and 1878 he was a member of the Senate. He drafted and carried through the general railroad law, which was a model in itself and would have been more generally recognized as such had it been adhered to in later years when trolleys were inaugurated. A m an of few words, he gathered in all that others had to say, which was worth retaining, so that when he did speak he commanded attention and carried conviction. His power lay not only in the fact that he was firm in his opinion when once formed, but also in the fact that he was a true philosopher. As the New Haven Register said of him : " Therein lay the secret of his great success as a manager of men, which he certainly was. Personally he was a man of charm ing characteristics, with a keen sense of humor." 12 W ILLIAM DARIUS BISHOP. He m arried Julia A., daughter of Russell and Martha H. Tom. linson. They had six children. Those living are Mary Ferris Bishop, Dr. Russell Tomlinson Bishop, William D. Bishop, Jr., Henry A. Bishop, and Nathaniel W. Bishop. Mr. Bishop died at his home at No. 179 Washington Avenue, on February 4th, 1904. л HENRY A LFRED BISHOP BISHOP, H ENRY ALFRED, of Bridgeport, is a descendant on both paternal and maternal sides from leading pioneers in America, men who left highly honored names in their com munities. Among these may be mentioned Matthias Hitchcock of Boston, who came from England in 1635 ; the Rev. John Bishop, who emigrated from England and settled in Stamford in the middle of the seventeenth century, and Henry Tomlinson, who, coming from England, was among the settlers in Milford in 1652. Members of both the Bishop and Tomlinson families were destined to play a prom inent part as pioneers in railroading and thus in developing one of the greatest manufacturing sections of America. The r emarkable careers of Alfred Bishop as a railroad builder and William D. Bishop as a railroad man and as a Congressman and member of the Legislature are told in the sketch of William D. Bishop. William. D Bishop married Julia Ann Tomlinson, sister of Rus sell Tomlinson. Henry Alfred Bishop, their third son, was born in Bridgeport, December 4th, 1860. Prom e arliest boyhood the son was fond of outdoor sports and manly athletics, and today he gets much recreation in hunting, fishing and yachting.